"You have given them Bread from Heaven" "Having all sweetness within it"

"O Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, and our dear Mother! O all ye holy angels, who, by your adoration in our churches, make up for the little love which your God and our Saviour receives from men, obtain for us the grace to comprehend a little the love of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament."
- St. Margaret Mary Alacoque



"You come to me and unite Yourself intimately to me under the form of nourishment. Your Blood now runs in mine, Your Soul, Incarnate God, compenetrates mine, giving courage and support. What miracles! Who would have ever imagined such!"
- St. Maximilian Kolbe


"From the Eucharist comes strength to live the Christian life and zeal to share that life with others."
- Pope John Paul II


"The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best time that you will spend on earth. Each moment that you spend with Jesus will deepen your union with Him and make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in heaven, and will help bring about an everlasting peace on earth."
- Mother Teresa of Calcutta


"The greatest love story of all time is contained in a tiny white Host."
- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

"When later he [St. Joseph] carried the Child in his arms, acts of loving faith welled up constantly in his heart. It was a worship that pleased our Lord more than that which he receives in heaven. Picture to yourself Saint Joseph, adoring the little Child in his arms as his God. He tells of his readiness to die for Christ, of all his plans to promote Christ's glory, and to win more souls to his love. No lover builds more scintillating plans for his loved one than a saint."
- St. Peter Julian Eymard

"This is the wonderful truth, my dear friends: the Word, which became flesh two thousand years ago, is present today in the Eucharist,"
- Pope John Paul II

"The Eucharist is connected with the Passion. If Jesus had not established the Eucharist we would have forgotten the crucifixion. It would have faded into the past and we would have forgotten that Jesus loved us. There is a saying that to be far away from the eyes is to be far away from the heart. To make sure that we do not forget, Jesus gave us the Eucharist as a memorial of his love … When you look at the Crucifix, you understand how much Jesus loved you then, when you look at the Sacred Host you understand how much Jesus loves you now."
- Mother Teresa of Calcutta

"To withdraw from creatures and repose with Jesus in the Tabernacle is my delight; there I can hide myself and seek rest. There I find a life which I cannot describe, a joy which I cannot make others comprehend, a peace such as is found only under the hospitable roof of our best Friend."
- St. Ignatius

"O Jesus of the Eucharist! O consecrated Host! O envied Monstrance! O blessed Ciborium, beloved of my heart! The Tabernacle is my Treasure, and, far or near, my eyes never lose sight of it, for it contains the God of Love."
- Concepcion Cabrera de Armida

"Wherever I may be I will often think of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. I will fill my thoughts with the holy tabernacle (even when I happen to wake up at night) adoring Him from where I am, calling to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, offering up to Him the action in which I am engaged. I will install one telegraph cable from my study to the Church, another from my bedroom, and a third from our refectory; and as often as I can, I will send messages of love to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament."
- Andrew Beltrami


http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/tes/quotes15.html

"I shall spend every moment loving..."

"O my soul, be the faithful imitator of Jesus meek and humble of heart. He who has been meek and humble of heart deserves to be glorified. O Mary, my dear Mother, here is your poor child, unable to carry on any longer. You know my needs and above all my spiritual distress. Have pity on me. Grant that one day I may be with you in heaven.

O Mary, most loving Mother, grant that following your example, I may be generous in all the sacrifices that Our Lord may ask of me during my life."

- Bernadette Soubirous, Personal Notes

"I must die to myself continually and accept trials without complaining. I work, I suffer and I love with no other witness than his heart. Anyone who is not prepared to suffer all for the Beloved and to do his will in all things is not worthy of the sweet name of Friend, for here below, Love without suffering does not exist."

"It is so good, so sweet and above all, so beneficial to suffer."

"O Jesus and Mary, let my entire consolation in this world be to love you and to suffer for sinners."

"I shall spend every moment loving. One who loves does not notice her trials; or perhaps more accurately, she is able to love them."


"From this moment on, anything concerning me is no longer of any interest to me. I must belong entirely to God and God alone. Never to myself."

"Love overcomes, love delights
Those who love the Sacred Heart rejoice."

"Jesus, my God, I love you above all things."

"O my Mother, to you I sacrifice all other attachments so that my heart may belong entirely to you and to my Jesus."

-St. Bernadette

“Love grows as sacrifice grows.”

One cannot embrace Christ without embracing His cross and the suffering it entails.

I sit holding the limp body of my Jesus in my arms. As I pull Him close, embrace Him, I feel a stabbing pain in my heart; but with this pain I also feel an abundance of love fill my heart from being so close to my Love, my Master. So I hold Him closer still and the pain increases but so does the love. I look down and realize that the thorns from His crown have pierced my heart; so painful and yet only a fraction of the pain He endured for my sake.
This realization drives me to hold Him closer still, that I may share in His suffering and also in His love.

“Love grows as sacrifice grows.”
- Fulton Sheen

Real Love

Thought I'd been in love before,
But in my heart I wanted more
Seems like all I really was doing
Was waiting for You.

"Don't need to be afraid
No need to be afraid

It's real love
It's real, yes it's real love
It's real."

-Real Love, John Lennon

Love is Here

come to the waters, you who thirst and you’ll thirst no more.
come to the father, you who work and you’ll work no more.
and all you who labor in vain and to the broken and shamed:

love is here.
love is now.
love is pouring from
his hands, from his brows.
love is near,it satisfies.
streams of mercy flowing from his side.
cuz love is here.

come to the treasure, you who search and you’ll search no more.
come to the lover you who want and you’ll want no more, no.
and all you who labor in vain and to the broken and shamed,

love is here.
love is now.
love is pouring from his hands, from his brows.
love is near, it satisfies.
streams of mercy flowing from his side.

and to the bruised and fallen,
captives, bound, and broken hearted.

he is the lord
he is the lord,

by his stripes he’s paid our ransom
from his wounds we drink salvation

he is the lord
he is the lord

love is here.
love is now.
love is pouring from his hands, from his brows.
love is near,
it satisfies.
streams of mercy flowing from his side.
streams of mercy flowing from his side.
cuz love is here
love is here.

-Tenth Avenue North

A Young Lady’s Prayer to St. Michael

Dear St. Michael, protector of souls, terror of demons, guard my heart today.
Help me to open my heart to love others as I should. But help me keep my heart safe.
Protect me from anyone, mortal or devil, who wishes to harm my heart, today and always.
Please help me remember how precious my heart is to God and that it is worth protecting and saving for those who truly love me.
Please also guard the hearts of all my sisters.
Amen.

The Loving Gaze

When you fall asleep before the Eucharist Jesus gazes at you. He doesn't grow bored. He doesn't begin to pick out your flaws and imperfections as someone else might. He would gaze at you, as you sit there resting peacefully, forever. He never grows tired of gazing at your face, which He finds so beautiful. In fact, He came down to earth, took on flesh and died so that one day you may rest completely at peace and He may gaze lovingly at you for all Eternity.

Sanguis Christi, Inebria Me.

He holds you close. You lean your head on His chest, your ear pressed against His heart. You can hear the blood pumping through His Sacred Heart, His Precious Blood, which He so willingly poured out for you; with which He bought you back from sin and death that you might live forever with Him in Paradise.

O Blood of Christ, intoxicate me.

O My Infinitely Lovable God

"I love You, O my God, and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life. I love You, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving You, than live without loving You. I love You, Lord and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally....My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to repeat it to You as often as I draw breath."
- Saint John Vianney

Sit at the Feet of The Master

Here I sit in the second row, I feel so far away.
I reach out to touch You , but my hands close on nothingness.
I wish I were the altar cloth, pure white, simple but beautiful,
Spread out on the altar as an offering to You.
The altar in so near to you.
I consider sitting on the sanctuary step, would that be alright?
Better even than the step would be to kneel up against the Tabernacle stand,
To sit at the feet of The Master,
To grasp His knees in supplication,
'Ne permittas me separari a Te, Domine.'

You Know the Depths of My Heart, O Lord

Your heart is breaking. The world is full of hurt. Life is too much to bear. You can’t keep on through the heartbreak, the constant disappointment. Mary appears, gently, softly, even though you hadn’t had the strength to call on her for help. She takes your hand and begins to guide you. She brings you to her Son. As you are about to reach Him your knees give way, you fall to the ground. Jesus approaches you, meeting you halfway, and Mary squeezes your hand. Jesus bends down and scoops you up as if everything that has been weighing you down is light to Him. He holds you close and tears fall quietly, shyly down your cheeks. He looks at you and you know it is alright to cry, that you shouldn’t be ashamed. So you cry, you weep. And He weeps to see your heart in such condition. Your beautiful heart, which He made lovingly, and pursues unfailingly, beaten, tattered, bruised.

Merciful Love

I magine, you’re walking home and all of a sudden you see Jesus waiting for you just inside the gate. Your heart is filled with an incomparable joy and you begin to run. Jesus gets down on one knee, arms open wide, huge smile on His face as He watches you run. You reach Him and He scoops you up in his arms and holds you close. But suddenly the joy that had just overpowered you vanishes. You remember all of the things you’ve done to hurt Him and your heart sinks. You feel you don’t deserve this loving greeting, you begin to pull away. But just as you do He pulls you close and kisses you softly on the forehead, and with that your sins are lifted. You know for certain that He knows everything you’ve done but still chooses to love and forgive you. There is no realization better than that, than knowing and feeling, so surely, such merciful love.

God is the Strength of My Heart

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.”

Psalm 73:26

The first thing I thought of when I read the words “but God is the strength of my heart” is a wall. The wall that we women often build around our hearts in order to protect them from hurt, heart break and damage. These walls are made up of disappointments, sadness, bitterness, despair. This is like building a wall out of chipped bricks, rotting logs and poorly made mortar. Such a wall can not last, it will not stand. The enemy will tear through the wall with ease, allowing our heart to be subject to damage all over again. But this new damage is all the more severe. Not only are we filled with disappointments in others but also disappointment in ourselves. “How could I let that get to me? I worked so hard to protect my heart! What am I, some sort of sap? I can’t let anyone else discover how weak I am.” And so we begin building again.

“But God is the strength of my heart.” God is the only one who can truly protect our hearts. He never disappoints, and is never disappointed in us. He doesn’t care how weak we are; in fact He usually uses our times of weakness to reveal His glory. He never judges us for being sappy, He created us as women, I believe He meant for us to be a little “sappy”, and He certainly meant for us to long for love. He hates to see our hearts ache. If it weren’t for free will He would unfailingly protect our hearts from every hurt. But as it is, we must choose to let Him protect us. We must open up our hearts and say, “God, I have been so hurt. I know that you are the only one who can protect my heart. I’m asking you now to come into my heart and keep it safe.”

The great thing about God’s protection of our hearts is that it is less like a wall and more like a protective force field. The advantage to this is that, unlike the wall, it keeps out the bad but lets in the good. It allows us to be loved and to love.

No Simple Thing

Imagine a medieval fair. Tents for merchants, magicians, and food vendors are set up on a field. In the center of it all are different tournaments. Archery and sword fighting are included in the order of the day, but jousting is the highlight. The people gather ‘round, the peasants and the nobles, children and old men, to behold the event. The king and his favorite nobles, and perhaps a jester or two make their way onto the shaded platform reserved for them. And there seated among them is the queen, a princess or some other noble woman. Her presence there is of the utmost importance, for it is for her favor, smile or maybe even kiss, that the brave men will fight.

Now I’m sure many women and maybe even some men would object to that last part. “How dare the men treat the lady as an object? Those pigs! Don’t they realize she’s worth more than that, more than just a prize?” They most certainly do. In fact, those medieval knights were far more aware of the lady’s worth than we are today.

The lady is seated with those who are considered most important. She is given a seat of honor. The knights are willing to fight in order that one of them might be the privileged one on whom the lady bestows special honor. How many men today are willing to fight so that a lady may look on them favorably in a dignified manner? How many men would be satisfied with a simple look or smile or kiss from a fair maiden? Would they sweat and possibly bleed for something so simple?

Why is it that these knights were so willing to suffer for such a simple pleasure? It was because they understood a woman’s worth. They saw women as were meant to be seen, the crown of creation, something to be beheld with awe and respect. So really a kind look, smile or kiss was no simple thing.