The Eucharist is Jesus

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The Eucharist is Jesus.

When Teresa of Avila heard some persons saying how great it would have been to have lived at the time when Christ walked the Earth, she used to laugh to herself. She wondered what more they wanted since in the Eucharist they had Him just as truly present as He was then. The only difference being the appearance. During his life most of the people ignored Jesus because when they looked at him they did not see God but only a man. Many people today do not spend time with Jesus in the Eucharist because when they look at it they see only bread and not God. In both cases, the Son of God is truly present.

1374 The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique… In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." "This presence is called Real …because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present."

The only difference between the presence of Christ when he was with the disciples after the Resurrection and His presence in the Eucharist now, is the appearance. It is the same Jesus.

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Soon after my conversion in 1991 I began to go Daily to Eucharistic Adoration.

Then I went to receive a masters and Doctorate in theology. I have been working in full time ministry since 1994. My 1st Job in the Church was as youth minister. I was married, had baby twins and worked for two workaholic priests. Most days I was in the office by 8 am and many nights not home until 10:30 which included almost every weekend. And I fell away from frequent if not daily Eucharistic Adoration. I became too busy saving souls.   That is the trap of the devil – get busy. Busy = being under Satan’s yoke.

We lived 14 miles from the church in a small rural town surrounded by corn and bean fields. As I can to a 4-Way Stop, I pushed in the clutch and the brake and kind of rolled through the intersection when a voice said to me: “You don’t worship me.” I pushed the clutch and brake all the way down and stopped – right there in the middle of the intersection and argued back: “Yes I do – I work for you.” The voice came back saying: “You don’t worship me, you worship yourself, you chase success in your ministry and you rely on yourself, not on me.” I continued to argue my case but the voice (it was the Lord) said “I wait in the Eucharist 24hrs, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and you never spend time with me anymore because you are too busy with your programs trying to save the world. You think you are the Savior, you worship and rely on yourself.” God was right. Thankfully I got fired from that Job because I was no good at Youth Mistry. I recommitted the first hour of each day to spending time with Jesus in friendship in the Eucharist because friends like to be together, face to face. It is not always possible to go to Eucharistic Adoration, but for sure the first hour of every day in silent meditation with Him. We are not the Savior. No programs will save the world, the Church or souls – only Jesus. What Jesus longs for is deep friendship with us. Yes, He wants us to help others encounter Him but what He thirsts for most is you. Time alone with you. This is why He says “I thirst.”

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Diary of Faustina 1385 November 19. 

After Communion today, Jesus told me how much He desires to come to human hearts.  “I desire to unite Myself with human souls; My great delight is to unite Myself with souls  Know, My daughter, that when I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, My hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul.  But souls do not even pay any attention to Me; they leave Me to Myself and busy themselves with other things.  Oh, how sad I am that souls do not recognize Love!  They treat Me as a dead object.”  I answered Jesus, “O Treasure of my heart, the only object of my love and entire delight of my soul, I want to adore You in my heart as You are adored on the throne of Your eternal glory.  My love wants to make up to You at least in part for the coldness of so great a number of souls.  Jesus, behold my heart which is for You a dwelling place to which no one else has entry.  You alone repose in it as in a beautiful garden.”

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The benefits of Holy Communion CCC 1391

Receiving the Eucharist increases our union with Christ. The Lord said: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.” John 6

The Eucharist nourishes our Soul. “Growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of the Eucharist. The bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of death.”

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Holy Communion separates us from sin.

The Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins. As St Ambrose said: If as often as his blood is poured out it is poured out for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it so that it may always forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.

There is no surer pledge or clearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells than the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is celebrated the work of our redemption is carried on and we break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ. CCC 1405