MAY, THE MONTH OF MARY (MAY 20) – THE EUCARISTIC LORD JESUS
Both the shepherds and the Magi, one at the announcement of the Angel and the other with the guidance of the star went to the cave of Bethlehem. They found the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and the Child Jesus, wrapped in poor clothes. Certainly, they did not content themselves with gazing at the Celestial Child, but they would have caressed, kissed and hugged Him.
A feeling of holy jealousy makes us exclaim: Fortunate shepherds! Fortunate Magi!
But we are more fortunate than they are, because we have the Eucharistic Jesus at our complete disposal. The Eucharist is a mystery of faith, but also a sweet reality.
Jesus, loving us with infinite love, after His death wanted to remain alive and true among us in the Eucharistic state. The Eucharist is Emmanuel, that is, God with us. We can visit Him and contemplate Him under the Eucharistic Species, indeed we can nourish ourselves with His Immaculate Flesh through Holy Communion. What do we have to envy the shepherds and the Magi?
The “watered down” Christians, weak in faith and in other virtues, are those who only once a year, in Easter, come to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. Souls more disposed to the good communicate several times a year, on solemnities and even monthly. There are those who communicate daily and consider the day when they cannot receive Jesus to be lost. There are many groups of such souls; the devotees of Mary are called to tend to this perfection of the Eucharistic life: Daily Communion.
Communion gives glory to God, is a tribute to the Queen of Heaven, an increase of grace, a means of perseverance and a pledge of the glorious resurrection. Even when you do not feel the sensible attraction or external fervor at the time of Communion, it is good to communicate all the same. Jesus said to St. Gertrude: Dragged by the vehemence of my loving Heart, when I enter with the Holy Communion in a soul that has no mortal sin, I fill it with goodness, and all the inhabitants of Heaven, all those of the earth and all the souls in Purgatory, at the same moment they feel some new effusion of my goodness. Sensible attraction is the least of the advantages deriving from the Eucharistic Sacrament; the main fruit is the invisible grace.
Let us therefore communicate frequently, especially on the holy days of Our Lady and every Saturday.
Let us do everything to draw near to the Eucharistic Banquet.
Our Lady grieved to see the Child Jesus, the King of Eternal glory, dwelling in a grimy cave. How many hearts receive Jesus which are more miserable and unworthy than the cave of Bethlehem! With such an icy coldness! With such scarcity of good works!
If we want to please Jesus and Mary more, let us communicate fruitfully with these counsels:
1. Prepare ourselves the day before, in order to be able to bring to Jesus acts of charity, of obedience … and small sacrifices.
2. Before we communicate, let us ask for forgiveness of all the small deficiencies and let us promise to avoid them, especially those in which we fall more often.
3. Let us revive our faith, thinking of the Consecrated Host as Jesus truly alive and palpitating with love.
4. Having received Holy Communion, let us think that our body becomes a Tabernacle and with so many Angels around us.
5. Let us get rid of distractions! Let us offer every Holy Communion to make amends to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Let us pray for enemies, for sinners, for the dying, for the souls in Purgatory and for the consecrated persons.
6. We promise Jesus to do some good work or flee away from some dangerous occasions of sins.
7. Let us not leave the Church until about a quarter of an hour of personal thanksgiving has passed.
8. One who approaches us along the day, must realize through our kindness and good example that we have received holy communion.
9. Along the day let us repeat this prayer: “Jesus, I thank you that today you have come into my heart!”
EXAMPLE:
It is a duty to repair sacrileges and Eucharistic desecrations. L’Osservatore Romano, on the 16th of December 1954, published the following: “The weekly magazine of Montréal Partie published an interview with the Mother Superior of Carmela of Bui Chu, presently in Canada with the sisters. Among other things, the Superior narrated to us an extraordinary fact, which happened in that Carmel itself.
A Communist soldier, one day entered the Carmel, determined to inspect it from top to bottom. Penetrating the chapel, a nun told him that this was God’s house and was to be respected. “Where is your God?” The military asked, There, the Sister said, and pointed to the Tabernacle. Placing himself at the center of the Church, the soldier took up his rifle, took aim and pulled. A bullet pierced the Tabernacle, breaking the ciborium and dispersing the Sacred Host: The man then remained motionless with the rifle leveled, no longer making any movement, his eyes fixed, rigid, petrified. A sudden paralysis had made him an inanimate figure, which at the first shove falls immediately on the floor, in front of the altar of which he so despicably profaned. “
A Little Spiritual Flower Offering to our Lady:
– Do many Spiritual Communions during the day.
Prayer to Mary:
– May the Most Blessed and Most Divine Sacrament be praised and thanked in every moment!
Adapted and Translated from:
MARIA REGINA E MADRE DI MISERICORDIA (Mese di Maggio) – by DON GIUSEPPE TOMASELLI
