September 10
"Our sensible appetites, inclined to sensuality and to sloth, need to be vivified by contact with the virginal body of Christ, who endured most frightful sufferings for love of us. We, who are always inclined to pride, to lack of consideration, to forgetfulness of the greatest truths, to spiritual folly, need to be illumined by contact with the sovereignty luminous intellect of the Savior, who is 'the way, the truth, and the life.'"
-Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life
Today’s Reflection:
What do we do if our faith in the Eucharist isn't very alive? Make one resolution today that you will carry through this week to increase your love and devotion.
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September 9
"O Heart, fountain of sweetness!
Give me to drink, unworthy as I am,
of the wine of Thy comfort.
In Thy divine charity raise up the ruins of my spirit,
and out of Thy superabundance of charity,
atone for all the beggary and neediness of my soul."
-Prayer of St. Gertrude the Great (adapted)
Today’s Reflection:
Be receptive to all that God wants to do in and through you by the grace of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
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September 8
"...Fourteen years later, God opened my heart to consider the claims of the Catholic Church. The Church taught that Jesus meant what He said to the Jews in John, Chapter 6: 'Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed' (John 6:53-55). I finally realized that if the Eucharist is Christ, there is no where else on earth to be but the Church our Savior established and for which He gave His life, and through which He gives us His very self -- Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity -- as our Food."
-Rosalind Moss, Mother Miriam of the Lamb of God, O.S.B.
Today’s Reflection:
Rosalind Moss was a Jewish convert to Christianity. Now she is Mother Miriam. How does her account enhance your appreciation of the Holy Eucharist?
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September 7
"...We have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharist prayer set down by him...is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus."
-St. Justin Martyr
Today’s Reflection:
St. Justin Martyr is affirming to us that Jesus Christ himself taught us that the Eucharist is his flesh and blood. Our faith in this teaching is a gift. Spend time in gratitude for the gift of the Eucharist and the fact that you embrace this teaching. If you do not believe, ask Our Lord to unveil this gift to you
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September 6
"How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?"
-Romans 10:14
Today’s Reflection:
Many have never heard the Catholic Church teaching that Jesus is really and truly present in the Eucharist -- body, blood, soul and divinity. This includes many Catholics. Who can share this amazing truth with today?
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September 5
"Anyone who approaches this august sacrament with special devotion...experiences how great is the value of communing with Christ...for there is nothing more effective for advancing on the road to holiness.
-Pope Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei
Today’s Reflection:
Consider your preparation time before mass? Is it such that you may receive the Holy Eucharist with special devotion? Are you aware that you are in communion with Christ?
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September 4
"O God, Who in a wonderful Sacrament
hast bequeathed to us the memorial of Thy Passion,
Grant we pray that we may so venerate
the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood,
as to continually experience within us the fruit of Thy Redemption. Amen.”
-Prayer of St. Peter Julian Eymard
Today’s Reflection:
How can you receive the Body and Blood of Christ with greater faith, hope
and love?
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September 3
"They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again.”
-St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Smyrnaeans (110 AD)
Today’s Reflection:
Do you think believing in the Real Presence is more our less difficult today than it was for people in the time of St. Ignatius? Why or why not?
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September 2
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
-John 6:51
Today’s Reflection:
Many of Jesus's disciples found this teaching so difficult that they left Him. Take time today to read and ponder the entire chapter of John 6. What does it speak to your heart?
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September 1
"Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died."
-1 Corinthians 11:23 - 30
Today’s Reflection:
How do we discern the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist? What is
St. Paul telling the early Church of Corinth?
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