#eucharist — Public Fediverse posts

Hidden Fires & Inner Skies

https://neurodivine.ie/2026/07/05/hidden-fires-inner-skies/

Hidden Fires & Inner Skies

https://neurodivine.ie/2026/07/05/hidden-fires-inner-skies/

Hidden Fires & Inner Skies

https://neurodivine.ie/2026/07/05/hidden-fires-inner-skies/

Hidden Fires & Inner Skies

https://neurodivine.ie/2026/07/05/hidden-fires-inner-skies/

Hidden Fires & Inner Skies

https://neurodivine.ie/2026/07/05/hidden-fires-inner-skies/

https://www.europesays.com/uk/1070253/ Pope: May the Church in the US continue to evangelize and serve society #Eucharist #mass #PopeLeoXIV #SaintsAndBlessed #UnitedStates #us #USA #VideoMessage

#GianluigiGugliermetto: "The #Mass is a #Eucharist (= Thanksgiving): gratitude about one’s life in the cosmic context, & gratitude about all life. It connects us to the Source (which we may call God) not because we claim to believe in God’s existence, but as a felt reality. https://linkly.link/2kQpy

Latest podcast now online: FBP 1032 - Suffering, Life, & Celebration
www.frbill.org/frbillpodcast/2026/6/9/suffering-life-amp-celebration #CorpusChristi #Eucharist #Jesus #Procession

When God Feeds His Children — Silvio José Báez, ocd

Today, with gratitude and wonder, we celebrate the gift of the Risen Christ, present in the bread of the Eucharist to satisfy our hunger for life and love. Today’s first reading, from the book of Deuteronomy, recalls Israel’s experience as they journeyed through the desert toward the promised land. In that barren place, where there could be no harvest and no food, the book of Deuteronomy reminds Israel: “The Lord fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors knew” (Dt 8:3). Forty years without fertile land, without certainties, without a clear path forward. And yet, in that desert, God was present, feeding his people.

In the deserts of life, when our human securities collapse and we come face to face with our own insufficiency, God remains beside us like a father who lovingly provides for the needs of his children. Let’s think of the personal desert of loneliness and sadness, of discouragement and fear. Let’s think of the desert of our people, subjected for years to an irrational and aging power that deprives them of freedom and a future. Let’s think of the desert of uprooting and exile, which many of us have experienced. And yet, there’s no desert where God leaves us abandoned to our own strength, without sustaining us and feeding us with the power of his love.

But the manna in the desert held an even deeper lesson: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Dt 8:3). The desert taught Israel that material bread isn’t enough. There’s a hunger no abundance can satisfy, a thirst no success can calm, a loneliness no noise can fill. The deepest longings and desires of the heart can be fulfilled only by God, who continually offers us the bread of his presence and love.

Using that same image of bread, Jesus speaks in the synagogue of Capernaum the boldest words ever heard: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51). Jesus is bread. Bread is simple, but it’s effective: it satisfies the one who eats it, nourishes life, and sustains existence. That’s what Jesus was, and that’s what he remains: bread. He is the bread that came down from heaven, the one who offered his life to bring us into communion with the Father and make us his children. He is bread that strengthens and heals us, forgives us, and gives us life.

Jesus is the bread that can fill our life with meaning and constantly renew it with his love: “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). The bread that gives us life is his life handed over, his merciful love, his words that enlighten and set us free, his tenderness toward the poor, his faithfulness unto death, his glorious life risen from the dead. All of this is Jesus, the bread that came down from heaven, who wants to be the daily bread of our fragile existence. Let’s not forget his words: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53).

In a world full of broken promises and deceitful words that try to manipulate our conscience, Jesus is the bread that feeds us with light and truth. In the face of authoritarian regimes that subjugate people through fear and repression, Jesus is the bread that nourishes us with strength and hope. Before unhinged rulers who distort history, calling repression peace and slavery a blessing, Jesus is the bread that sustains our dreams of freedom and keeps us from being deceived. To feed on Jesus is to believe in him, to trust in his love, to be nourished by his words, by his way of living and loving, and to let ourselves be transformed by him.

This encounter of faith with Jesus, this feeding on him, reaches its fullest and most concrete expression in the Eucharist. In the broken and shared bread of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus truly comes to us: “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink” (Jn 6:55). In the simplicity of the eucharistic bread, the real presence of Jesus becomes food that strengthens us and renews our hope. When we receive Jesus in the bread of the Eucharist, our life is born anew again and again. We know ourselves to be freely loved, and we’re impelled to love our brothers and sisters with the same intensity. We can’t receive Christ in the Eucharist and remain indifferent to the suffering of the poor, dismiss those who think differently, foster fruitless divisions, or close our eyes to injustice.

The eucharistic bread is like a fountain of living water that refreshes our withered life and waters our parched heart. As the Pope recalled today at the Corpus Christi Eucharist in Madrid, Saint John of the Cross, in a beautiful poem, imagined the Eucharist as bread from which there flows, in the middle of the night, the living fountain who is God:

“This eternal spring is hidden
in this living bread for our life’s sake,
although it is night.

It is here calling out to creatures;
and they satisfy their thirst,
although in darkness, because it is night.

This living spring that I long for,
I see in this bread of life,
although it is night” (Poetry 8, sts. 9–11).

Saint John of the Cross reminds us that Jesus is present in the eucharistic bread as he is present in the night: he can be recognized and welcomed only through the darkness of loving faith. There is Jesus, “in this living bread for our life’s sake, although it is night” (Poetry 8, st. 9). Jesus is truly present in the simplicity of this bread: humble, silent, and discreet. From this bread, he cries out his love, calls us, and waits for us:

“It is here calling out to creatures;
and they satisfy their thirst,
although in darkness, because it is night” (Poetry 8, st. 10).

Commenting on this poem by Saint John of the Cross, Pope Leo invited us today in Madrid to open ourselves to Jesus, who, by the grace of the Eucharist, “transforms us and makes us protagonists of the transformation of history, a sign of hope.” And he added:

“Let us return to him with sincere love. Let us open ourselves to the encounter with him, let us allow him to quench the thirst of our hearts, so that we may then go forth into the paths of life and history, bringing to the people this stream of fresh water, a stream of love, peace, justice and joy” (Leo XIV, Homily of the Holy Father, June 7, 2026).

Let’s draw near to the table of the Lord with the simple, trusting faith of Israel in the desert, knowing that what we need most isn’t something we make for ourselves, but something given to us by God. Let’s receive Jesus with gratitude. Let’s allow his love, “the fount that flows and runs, although it is night,” to nourish us and transform us into bread, broken and shared for the life of the world.

Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d.

Auxiliary Bishop of Managua
Homily, 7 June 2026

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Leo XIV 2026, ‘Homily of the Holy Father: Holy Mass, Procession and Eucharistic Blessing in the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, Sunday, 7 June 2026’, The Holy See, 7 June, viewed 7 June 2026, https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/homilies/2026/documents/20260607-spagna-messa-madrid.html.

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Adriaen van Ostade, Father Feeding his Child, 1610–85, etching. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain). Image adapted for 16:9 format with parchment background.

When God Feeds His Children — Silvio José Báez, ocd

Today, with gratitude and wonder, we celebrate the gift of the Risen Christ, present in the bread of the Eucharist to satisfy our hunger for life and love. Today’s first reading, from the book of Deuteronomy, recalls Israel’s experience as they journeyed through the desert toward the promised land. In that barren place, where there could be no harvest and no food, the book of Deuteronomy reminds Israel: “The Lord fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors knew” (Dt 8:3). Forty years without fertile land, without certainties, without a clear path forward. And yet, in that desert, God was present, feeding his people.

In the deserts of life, when our human securities collapse and we come face to face with our own insufficiency, God remains beside us like a father who lovingly provides for the needs of his children. Let’s think of the personal desert of loneliness and sadness, of discouragement and fear. Let’s think of the desert of our people, subjected for years to an irrational and aging power that deprives them of freedom and a future. Let’s think of the desert of uprooting and exile, which many of us have experienced. And yet, there’s no desert where God leaves us abandoned to our own strength, without sustaining us and feeding us with the power of his love.

But the manna in the desert held an even deeper lesson: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Dt 8:3). The desert taught Israel that material bread isn’t enough. There’s a hunger no abundance can satisfy, a thirst no success can calm, a loneliness no noise can fill. The deepest longings and desires of the heart can be fulfilled only by God, who continually offers us the bread of his presence and love.

Using that same image of bread, Jesus speaks in the synagogue of Capernaum the boldest words ever heard: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51). Jesus is bread. Bread is simple, but it’s effective: it satisfies the one who eats it, nourishes life, and sustains existence. That’s what Jesus was, and that’s what he remains: bread. He is the bread that came down from heaven, the one who offered his life to bring us into communion with the Father and make us his children. He is bread that strengthens and heals us, forgives us, and gives us life.

Jesus is the bread that can fill our life with meaning and constantly renew it with his love: “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). The bread that gives us life is his life handed over, his merciful love, his words that enlighten and set us free, his tenderness toward the poor, his faithfulness unto death, his glorious life risen from the dead. All of this is Jesus, the bread that came down from heaven, who wants to be the daily bread of our fragile existence. Let’s not forget his words: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53).

In a world full of broken promises and deceitful words that try to manipulate our conscience, Jesus is the bread that feeds us with light and truth. In the face of authoritarian regimes that subjugate people through fear and repression, Jesus is the bread that nourishes us with strength and hope. Before unhinged rulers who distort history, calling repression peace and slavery a blessing, Jesus is the bread that sustains our dreams of freedom and keeps us from being deceived. To feed on Jesus is to believe in him, to trust in his love, to be nourished by his words, by his way of living and loving, and to let ourselves be transformed by him.

This encounter of faith with Jesus, this feeding on him, reaches its fullest and most concrete expression in the Eucharist. In the broken and shared bread of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus truly comes to us: “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink” (Jn 6:55). In the simplicity of the eucharistic bread, the real presence of Jesus becomes food that strengthens us and renews our hope. When we receive Jesus in the bread of the Eucharist, our life is born anew again and again. We know ourselves to be freely loved, and we’re impelled to love our brothers and sisters with the same intensity. We can’t receive Christ in the Eucharist and remain indifferent to the suffering of the poor, dismiss those who think differently, foster fruitless divisions, or close our eyes to injustice.

The eucharistic bread is like a fountain of living water that refreshes our withered life and waters our parched heart. As the Pope recalled today at the Corpus Christi Eucharist in Madrid, Saint John of the Cross, in a beautiful poem, imagined the Eucharist as bread from which there flows, in the middle of the night, the living fountain who is God:

“This eternal spring is hidden
in this living bread for our life’s sake,
although it is night.

It is here calling out to creatures;
and they satisfy their thirst,
although in darkness, because it is night.

This living spring that I long for,
I see in this bread of life,
although it is night” (Poetry 8, sts. 9–11).

Saint John of the Cross reminds us that Jesus is present in the eucharistic bread as he is present in the night: he can be recognized and welcomed only through the darkness of loving faith. There is Jesus, “in this living bread for our life’s sake, although it is night” (Poetry 8, st. 9). Jesus is truly present in the simplicity of this bread: humble, silent, and discreet. From this bread, he cries out his love, calls us, and waits for us:

“It is here calling out to creatures;
and they satisfy their thirst,
although in darkness, because it is night” (Poetry 8, st. 10).

Commenting on this poem by Saint John of the Cross, Pope Leo invited us today in Madrid to open ourselves to Jesus, who, by the grace of the Eucharist, “transforms us and makes us protagonists of the transformation of history, a sign of hope.” And he added:

“Let us return to him with sincere love. Let us open ourselves to the encounter with him, let us allow him to quench the thirst of our hearts, so that we may then go forth into the paths of life and history, bringing to the people this stream of fresh water, a stream of love, peace, justice and joy” (Leo XIV, Homily of the Holy Father, June 7, 2026).

Let’s draw near to the table of the Lord with the simple, trusting faith of Israel in the desert, knowing that what we need most isn’t something we make for ourselves, but something given to us by God. Let’s receive Jesus with gratitude. Let’s allow his love, “the fount that flows and runs, although it is night,” to nourish us and transform us into bread, broken and shared for the life of the world.

Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d.

Auxiliary Bishop of Managua
Homily, 7 June 2026

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Leo XIV 2026, ‘Homily of the Holy Father: Holy Mass, Procession and Eucharistic Blessing in the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, Sunday, 7 June 2026’, The Holy See, 7 June, viewed 7 June 2026, https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/homilies/2026/documents/20260607-spagna-messa-madrid.html.

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Adriaen van Ostade, Father Feeding his Child, 1610–85, etching. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain). Image adapted for 16:9 format with parchment background.

When God Feeds His Children — Silvio José Báez, ocd

Today, with gratitude and wonder, we celebrate the gift of the Risen Christ, present in the bread of the Eucharist to satisfy our hunger for life and love. Today’s first reading, from the book of Deuteronomy, recalls Israel’s experience as they journeyed through the desert toward the promised land. In that barren place, where there could be no harvest and no food, the book of Deuteronomy reminds Israel: “The Lord fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors knew” (Dt 8:3). Forty years without fertile land, without certainties, without a clear path forward. And yet, in that desert, God was present, feeding his people.

In the deserts of life, when our human securities collapse and we come face to face with our own insufficiency, God remains beside us like a father who lovingly provides for the needs of his children. Let’s think of the personal desert of loneliness and sadness, of discouragement and fear. Let’s think of the desert of our people, subjected for years to an irrational and aging power that deprives them of freedom and a future. Let’s think of the desert of uprooting and exile, which many of us have experienced. And yet, there’s no desert where God leaves us abandoned to our own strength, without sustaining us and feeding us with the power of his love.

But the manna in the desert held an even deeper lesson: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Dt 8:3). The desert taught Israel that material bread isn’t enough. There’s a hunger no abundance can satisfy, a thirst no success can calm, a loneliness no noise can fill. The deepest longings and desires of the heart can be fulfilled only by God, who continually offers us the bread of his presence and love.

Using that same image of bread, Jesus speaks in the synagogue of Capernaum the boldest words ever heard: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51). Jesus is bread. Bread is simple, but it’s effective: it satisfies the one who eats it, nourishes life, and sustains existence. That’s what Jesus was, and that’s what he remains: bread. He is the bread that came down from heaven, the one who offered his life to bring us into communion with the Father and make us his children. He is bread that strengthens and heals us, forgives us, and gives us life.

Jesus is the bread that can fill our life with meaning and constantly renew it with his love: “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). The bread that gives us life is his life handed over, his merciful love, his words that enlighten and set us free, his tenderness toward the poor, his faithfulness unto death, his glorious life risen from the dead. All of this is Jesus, the bread that came down from heaven, who wants to be the daily bread of our fragile existence. Let’s not forget his words: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53).

In a world full of broken promises and deceitful words that try to manipulate our conscience, Jesus is the bread that feeds us with light and truth. In the face of authoritarian regimes that subjugate people through fear and repression, Jesus is the bread that nourishes us with strength and hope. Before unhinged rulers who distort history, calling repression peace and slavery a blessing, Jesus is the bread that sustains our dreams of freedom and keeps us from being deceived. To feed on Jesus is to believe in him, to trust in his love, to be nourished by his words, by his way of living and loving, and to let ourselves be transformed by him.

This encounter of faith with Jesus, this feeding on him, reaches its fullest and most concrete expression in the Eucharist. In the broken and shared bread of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus truly comes to us: “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink” (Jn 6:55). In the simplicity of the eucharistic bread, the real presence of Jesus becomes food that strengthens us and renews our hope. When we receive Jesus in the bread of the Eucharist, our life is born anew again and again. We know ourselves to be freely loved, and we’re impelled to love our brothers and sisters with the same intensity. We can’t receive Christ in the Eucharist and remain indifferent to the suffering of the poor, dismiss those who think differently, foster fruitless divisions, or close our eyes to injustice.

The eucharistic bread is like a fountain of living water that refreshes our withered life and waters our parched heart. As the Pope recalled today at the Corpus Christi Eucharist in Madrid, Saint John of the Cross, in a beautiful poem, imagined the Eucharist as bread from which there flows, in the middle of the night, the living fountain who is God:

“This eternal spring is hidden
in this living bread for our life’s sake,
although it is night.

It is here calling out to creatures;
and they satisfy their thirst,
although in darkness, because it is night.

This living spring that I long for,
I see in this bread of life,
although it is night” (Poetry 8, sts. 9–11).

Saint John of the Cross reminds us that Jesus is present in the eucharistic bread as he is present in the night: he can be recognized and welcomed only through the darkness of loving faith. There is Jesus, “in this living bread for our life’s sake, although it is night” (Poetry 8, st. 9). Jesus is truly present in the simplicity of this bread: humble, silent, and discreet. From this bread, he cries out his love, calls us, and waits for us:

“It is here calling out to creatures;
and they satisfy their thirst,
although in darkness, because it is night” (Poetry 8, st. 10).

Commenting on this poem by Saint John of the Cross, Pope Leo invited us today in Madrid to open ourselves to Jesus, who, by the grace of the Eucharist, “transforms us and makes us protagonists of the transformation of history, a sign of hope.” And he added:

“Let us return to him with sincere love. Let us open ourselves to the encounter with him, let us allow him to quench the thirst of our hearts, so that we may then go forth into the paths of life and history, bringing to the people this stream of fresh water, a stream of love, peace, justice and joy” (Leo XIV, Homily of the Holy Father, June 7, 2026).

Let’s draw near to the table of the Lord with the simple, trusting faith of Israel in the desert, knowing that what we need most isn’t something we make for ourselves, but something given to us by God. Let’s receive Jesus with gratitude. Let’s allow his love, “the fount that flows and runs, although it is night,” to nourish us and transform us into bread, broken and shared for the life of the world.

Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d.

Auxiliary Bishop of Managua
Homily, 7 June 2026

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Leo XIV 2026, ‘Homily of the Holy Father: Holy Mass, Procession and Eucharistic Blessing in the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, Sunday, 7 June 2026’, The Holy See, 7 June, viewed 7 June 2026, https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/homilies/2026/documents/20260607-spagna-messa-madrid.html.

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Adriaen van Ostade, Father Feeding his Child, 1610–85, etching. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain). Image adapted for 16:9 format with parchment background.

When God Feeds His Children — Silvio José Báez, ocd

Today, with gratitude and wonder, we celebrate the gift of the Risen Christ, present in the bread of the Eucharist to satisfy our hunger for life and love. Today’s first reading, from the book of Deuteronomy, recalls Israel’s experience as they journeyed through the desert toward the promised land. In that barren place, where there could be no harvest and no food, the book of Deuteronomy reminds Israel: “The Lord fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors knew” (Dt 8:3). Forty years without fertile land, without certainties, without a clear path forward. And yet, in that desert, God was present, feeding his people.

In the deserts of life, when our human securities collapse and we come face to face with our own insufficiency, God remains beside us like a father who lovingly provides for the needs of his children. Let’s think of the personal desert of loneliness and sadness, of discouragement and fear. Let’s think of the desert of our people, subjected for years to an irrational and aging power that deprives them of freedom and a future. Let’s think of the desert of uprooting and exile, which many of us have experienced. And yet, there’s no desert where God leaves us abandoned to our own strength, without sustaining us and feeding us with the power of his love.

But the manna in the desert held an even deeper lesson: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Dt 8:3). The desert taught Israel that material bread isn’t enough. There’s a hunger no abundance can satisfy, a thirst no success can calm, a loneliness no noise can fill. The deepest longings and desires of the heart can be fulfilled only by God, who continually offers us the bread of his presence and love.

Using that same image of bread, Jesus speaks in the synagogue of Capernaum the boldest words ever heard: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51). Jesus is bread. Bread is simple, but it’s effective: it satisfies the one who eats it, nourishes life, and sustains existence. That’s what Jesus was, and that’s what he remains: bread. He is the bread that came down from heaven, the one who offered his life to bring us into communion with the Father and make us his children. He is bread that strengthens and heals us, forgives us, and gives us life.

Jesus is the bread that can fill our life with meaning and constantly renew it with his love: “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). The bread that gives us life is his life handed over, his merciful love, his words that enlighten and set us free, his tenderness toward the poor, his faithfulness unto death, his glorious life risen from the dead. All of this is Jesus, the bread that came down from heaven, who wants to be the daily bread of our fragile existence. Let’s not forget his words: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53).

In a world full of broken promises and deceitful words that try to manipulate our conscience, Jesus is the bread that feeds us with light and truth. In the face of authoritarian regimes that subjugate people through fear and repression, Jesus is the bread that nourishes us with strength and hope. Before unhinged rulers who distort history, calling repression peace and slavery a blessing, Jesus is the bread that sustains our dreams of freedom and keeps us from being deceived. To feed on Jesus is to believe in him, to trust in his love, to be nourished by his words, by his way of living and loving, and to let ourselves be transformed by him.

This encounter of faith with Jesus, this feeding on him, reaches its fullest and most concrete expression in the Eucharist. In the broken and shared bread of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus truly comes to us: “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink” (Jn 6:55). In the simplicity of the eucharistic bread, the real presence of Jesus becomes food that strengthens us and renews our hope. When we receive Jesus in the bread of the Eucharist, our life is born anew again and again. We know ourselves to be freely loved, and we’re impelled to love our brothers and sisters with the same intensity. We can’t receive Christ in the Eucharist and remain indifferent to the suffering of the poor, dismiss those who think differently, foster fruitless divisions, or close our eyes to injustice.

The eucharistic bread is like a fountain of living water that refreshes our withered life and waters our parched heart. As the Pope recalled today at the Corpus Christi Eucharist in Madrid, Saint John of the Cross, in a beautiful poem, imagined the Eucharist as bread from which there flows, in the middle of the night, the living fountain who is God:

“This eternal spring is hidden
in this living bread for our life’s sake,
although it is night.

It is here calling out to creatures;
and they satisfy their thirst,
although in darkness, because it is night.

This living spring that I long for,
I see in this bread of life,
although it is night” (Poetry 8, sts. 9–11).

Saint John of the Cross reminds us that Jesus is present in the eucharistic bread as he is present in the night: he can be recognized and welcomed only through the darkness of loving faith. There is Jesus, “in this living bread for our life’s sake, although it is night” (Poetry 8, st. 9). Jesus is truly present in the simplicity of this bread: humble, silent, and discreet. From this bread, he cries out his love, calls us, and waits for us:

“It is here calling out to creatures;
and they satisfy their thirst,
although in darkness, because it is night” (Poetry 8, st. 10).

Commenting on this poem by Saint John of the Cross, Pope Leo invited us today in Madrid to open ourselves to Jesus, who, by the grace of the Eucharist, “transforms us and makes us protagonists of the transformation of history, a sign of hope.” And he added:

“Let us return to him with sincere love. Let us open ourselves to the encounter with him, let us allow him to quench the thirst of our hearts, so that we may then go forth into the paths of life and history, bringing to the people this stream of fresh water, a stream of love, peace, justice and joy” (Leo XIV, Homily of the Holy Father, June 7, 2026).

Let’s draw near to the table of the Lord with the simple, trusting faith of Israel in the desert, knowing that what we need most isn’t something we make for ourselves, but something given to us by God. Let’s receive Jesus with gratitude. Let’s allow his love, “the fount that flows and runs, although it is night,” to nourish us and transform us into bread, broken and shared for the life of the world.

Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d.

Auxiliary Bishop of Managua
Homily, 7 June 2026

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Leo XIV 2026, ‘Homily of the Holy Father: Holy Mass, Procession and Eucharistic Blessing in the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, Sunday, 7 June 2026’, The Holy See, 7 June, viewed 7 June 2026, https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/homilies/2026/documents/20260607-spagna-messa-madrid.html.

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Adriaen van Ostade, Father Feeding his Child, 1610–85, etching. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain). Image adapted for 16:9 format with parchment background.

More than 1 million people flood Madrid streets to see Pope Leo preside over open-air Mass

Pope Leo honoured Spain’s centuries-old tradition of religious devotion on Sunday as a “school of faith” for today,…
#Spain #ES #Europe #Europa #EU #Madrid #Benedictinemonastery #catholicchurch #CorpusDomini #eucharist #Galicia #GeneralFranciscoFranco #HolySee #LatinAmerica #Leo #MiguelHurtado #MontserratAbbey #PlazadeCibeles #Poland
https://www.europesays.com/spain/36393/

Pope Leo tells secular Spain not to leave Catholic faith in the ‘museum of the past’

MADRID (RNS) – Over 1.2 million people gathered at Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid on Sunday (June 7)…
#Spain #ES #Europe #Europa #EU #CorpusChristi #eucharist #PapalvisittoSpain #PopeLeoXIV #secularims
https://www.europesays.com/spain/36287/

https://www.europesays.com/uk/1011313/ Pope Leo tells secular Spain not to leave Catholic faith in the ‘museum of the past’ #CorpusChristi #EU #Eucharist #Europe #PapalVisitToSpain #PopeLeoXIV #secularims #Spain

Quote of the day, 7 June: Blessed Marie-Eugène

What does Jesus do in the Eucharist? He gives his immolated body, his flesh; he gives the blood that he poured out; he gives himself completely to us to become our food, our drink. He loved them completely, to the end. We must interpret this text: he will love his own, all Christians, until the end; he will love them through the Eucharist; he will love them through the sacrifice of the Mass, which will be celebrated every day, and through the participation of his own in this sacrifice, in daily Communion.

In giving himself to us, Jesus gives supernatural life. He pours it into our souls, and at the same time, he increases the potential of this supernatural life; he builds up the Church. What is this life that he gives us? It is participation in his divine nature through grace. At the same time, Jesus gives us all his privileges. He gives himself completely to us so that we may become him.

As Saint Augustine observes: it is he who eats us; it is he who takes us, assimilates us to himself, and makes us himself (Confessions VII.10). He therefore gives us everything he has, by progressively bringing about in our souls union with him, a likeness of love, an identification with him.

This is the supreme proof of love: he gives himself to us so that we may become him, so that we may be identified with him here below through this shared life, through the union, and even the unity, that he brings about in us: the unity of the Mystical Body. In this way, he wants to draw us with himself toward the heights, toward the Most Holy Trinity, to which he is about to ascend.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

Eucharistie: Don suprême de l’amour
Holy Thursday Homily (excerpt)
Notre-Dame de Vie, 14 April 1960

Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus 1986, Jésus, Contemplation du Mystère Pascal, Editions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: La Cène (1872), oil on canvas by Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (1852–1929). Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).

Heute Festgottesdienst in Garching mit 18 Ministrant*innen und Mozarts Missa brevis in C. Today: Festive Pentecost Mass in Garching with 18 altar servers and Mozart's Missa brevis in C. #Kirche #Church #Gottesdienst #HeiligeMesse #HolyMass #Eucharistie #Eucharist #Pfingsten #Pentecost

David Starkey’s ‘Magic’

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/david-starkeys-magic/

I swear, I look up one video on #youtube about #hispanic #Christmas traditions and now every other video on my feed is a long confessional from someone who converted to #Catholicism about why the #Protestant denominations are wrong about the #Eucharist. Why do I continue to click on these videos? Why am I suddenly drawn to the #magisterium and the #apostolic succession and the early Church fathers? Why does YouTube want me to become a #Catholic?

I swear, I look up one video on #youtube about #hispanic #Christmas traditions and now every other video on my feed is a long confessional from someone who converted to #Catholicism about why the #Protestant denominations are wrong about the #Eucharist. Why do I continue to click on these videos? Why am I suddenly drawn to the #magisterium and the #apostolic succession and the early Church fathers? Why does YouTube want me to become a #Catholic?

I swear, I look up one video on #youtube about #hispanic #Christmas traditions and now every other video on my feed is a long confessional from someone who converted to #Catholicism about why the #Protestant denominations are wrong about the #Eucharist. Why do I continue to click on these videos? Why am I suddenly drawn to the #magisterium and the #apostolic succession and the early Church fathers? Why does YouTube want me to become a #Catholic?

I swear, I look up one video on #youtube about #hispanic #Christmas traditions and now every other video on my feed is a long confessional from someone who converted to #Catholicism about why the #Protestant denominations are wrong about the #Eucharist. Why do I continue to click on these videos? Why am I suddenly drawn to the #magisterium and the #apostolic succession and the early Church fathers? Why does YouTube want me to become a #Catholic?

I swear, I look up one video on #youtube about #hispanic #Christmas traditions and now every other video on my feed is a long confessional from someone who converted to #Catholicism about why the #Protestant denominations are wrong about the #Eucharist. Why do I continue to click on these videos? Why am I suddenly drawn to the #magisterium and the #apostolic succession and the early Church fathers? Why does YouTube want me to become a #Catholic?

Holy Thursday begins the Triduum.

The Mass of the Lord’s Supper remembers the Last Supper, the gift of the Eucharist, and the example of service when Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. This night invites us to reflect on humble love and faithful service. ✝️🍞🕊️

https://young-catholics.com/840/mass-of-the-lords-supper-lent/

#HolyThursday #Triduum #Eucharist #CatholicFaith

Quote of the day, 20 January: Hermann Cohen

Holy Communion! That is my safeguard, and I ask only one thing of this great God, so full of love: that He grant me, at the hour of death, that inestimable grace of being able to receive Communion—the holy viaticum of the poor traveler!

Oh! it already seems to me that I see it, that delightful and ardently desired hour, when the chains that hold me captive far from my God will finally fall into dust.

Ah! it seems to me that I see it, that final hour, that hour of love! Yes—there, in my poor little cell, lying on the hard floor, surrounded by my Carmelite brothers, who will exhort me to weep for my faults and to lift up my heart to God, and who will sing the hymns of our homeland!…

And then I hear footsteps in the distance, and as it were plaintive voices chanting in cadence; it is a procession… it advances, it draws near to my narrow retreat. Oh my brothers, quickly, I beg you, scatter flowers along my path; it is my Beloved—it is Jesus, my Spouse, who is coming to fetch me!… He Himself!

Great God! You deign to descend into the hovel of this wretched and unworthy sinner! From where does this favor come to me? Unde hoc mihi? (Why has this happened to me? Lk 1:43). What! My God, You enter under my humble roof to visit me and to give me the kiss of peace—and I would fear Your justice?

But do You not Yourself come to reassure me by Your gentle embraces, and does not the priest, in showing You to me, say: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world… Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my wretched dwelling; but say only the word, and my soul shall be saved.”

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Death Before the Eucharist (1860)

Note: On January 9, 1871, Hermann Cohen contracted smallpox while anointing two prisoners of war in Spandau—likely through a small scratch on his finger—and his condition steadily worsened. By January 13, he was confined to bed, already entrusting the work he had begun to others and expressing a calm readiness to be taken by God. On January 15, after a seizure, he received the last rites with visible joy and peace, renewed his Carmelite vows, and joined in the Te Deum, Salve Regina, and De Profundis, before bidding farewell to his brothers and requesting burial at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin. As his strength failed further, he told the sister caring for him, “So I am going to die. May God’s holy will be done; besides, if I were cured, I would have to witness distressful things.” He gave his final blessing to those around him and died quietly on the morning of January 20, 1871, at the age of forty-nine—a true martyr of charity, having laid down his life in loving service, and yielding his generous soul into the arms of eternal love.

Augustin-Marie du Très-Saint Sacrement 2020, Qui nous fera voir le bonheur? : sermons et autres textes, ed. S-M Morgain, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Featured image: A Discalced Carmelite nun in Valladolid receives Holy Communion on Saint Teresa’s feast day in 2016. Image credit: Angel Cantero, Iglesia en Valladolid / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #death #Eucharist #HermannCohen #ServantOfGod

Kidapawan bishop urges renewed devotion to Eucharist amid low Mass turnout

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://interaksyon.philstar.com/trends-spotlights/2025/12/12/306277/kidapawan-bishop-urges-renewed-devotion-to-eucharist-amid-low-mass-turnout/

Kidapawan bishop urges renewed devotion to Eucharist amid low Mass turnout

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://interaksyon.philstar.com/trends-spotlights/2025/12/12/306277/kidapawan-bishop-urges-renewed-devotion-to-eucharist-amid-low-mass-turnout/

“[The Eucharist] embodies the actual presence of the grace it represents; and this grace is the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ himself."
- John Nevin, The Mystical Presence (1867)

THAT is good (or better yet, faithful) Reformational sacramental theology (as opposed to the shallow memorialist theology that has infected too many Protestant churches)! That is theology that has meat to it and invites us to come, truly experience the Lord, and be utterly transformed as we encounter him. It is theology for the whole person and the whole of life, not just the life of the mind.

#eucharist #sacraments #theology @theologidons

"In my mouth be the essence of the life of the Sun … In my mouth be the essence of the joy of the Earth … There is no part of me that is not of the Gods"—Sayyadina Jessica, probably

https://hermetic.com/information/in-my-mouth-be-the-essence/index

#meme #dune #WaterOfLife #thelema #GnosticMass #eucharist #CakeOfLight #wine #SexMagick

"In my mouth be the essence of the life of the Sun … In my mouth be the essence of the joy of the Earth … There is no part of me that is not of the Gods"—Sayyadina Jessica, probably

https://hermetic.com/information/in-my-mouth-be-the-essence/index

#meme #dune #WaterOfLife #thelema #GnosticMass #eucharist #CakeOfLight #wine #SexMagick

"In my mouth be the essence of the life of the Sun … In my mouth be the essence of the joy of the Earth … There is no part of me that is not of the Gods"—Sayyadina Jessica, probably

https://hermetic.com/information/in-my-mouth-be-the-essence/index

#meme #dune #WaterOfLife #thelema #GnosticMass #eucharist #CakeOfLight #wine #SexMagick

"In my mouth be the essence of the life of the Sun … In my mouth be the essence of the joy of the Earth … There is no part of me that is not of the Gods"—Sayyadina Jessica, probably

https://hermetic.com/information/in-my-mouth-be-the-essence/index

#meme #dune #WaterOfLife #thelema #GnosticMass #eucharist #CakeOfLight #wine #SexMagick

"In my mouth be the essence of the life of the Sun … In my mouth be the essence of the joy of the Earth … There is no part of me that is not of the Gods"—Sayyadina Jessica, probably

https://hermetic.com/information/in-my-mouth-be-the-essence/index

#meme #dune #WaterOfLife #thelema #GnosticMass #eucharist #CakeOfLight #wine #SexMagick

Several parishes in my area are coming together for a #Pride in the Park #Pentecost Potluck this Sunday, June 8. We’ll begin by celebrating a #Eucharist together at 4:30 then enjoy a potluck meal (attendees are asked to bring a side or desert to share) and some social time.

I’m looking forward to getting to know some of my fellow #DioNeb #Episcopalians and hope that this will be the first of many joint events. We could all use more face to face community opportunities not to mention letting our light shine in public spaces where folks might not otherwise realize the #EpiscopalChurch is. All are welcome!

Several parishes in my area are coming together for a #Pride in the Park #Pentecost Potluck this Sunday, June 8. We’ll begin by celebrating a #Eucharist together at 4:30 then enjoy a potluck meal (attendees are asked to bring a side or desert to share) and some social time.

I’m looking forward to getting to know some of my fellow #DioNeb #Episcopalians and hope that this will be the first of many joint events. We could all use more face to face community opportunities not to mention letting our light shine in public spaces where folks might not otherwise realize the #EpiscopalChurch is. All are welcome!

Several parishes in my area are coming together for a #Pride in the Park #Pentecost Potluck this Sunday, June 8. We’ll begin by celebrating a #Eucharist together at 4:30 then enjoy a potluck meal (attendees are asked to bring a side or desert to share) and some social time.

I’m looking forward to getting to know some of my fellow #DioNeb #Episcopalians and hope that this will be the first of many joint events. We could all use more face to face community opportunities not to mention letting our light shine in public spaces where folks might not otherwise realize the #EpiscopalChurch is. All are welcome!

Some #theological hills I am willing to die on:
1) The plenary inspiration of #scripture
2) At bare minimum, adherence to the #doctrines proclaimed by the first four Councils of the undivided #church must be upheld.
3) The #eucharist / #lordssupper ought to be celebrated *weekly*.
4) The #eucharist / #lordssupper , while symbolic, is not merely symbolic but also a true/real encounter/communion with Jesus.
5) #Baptism *must* be done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
6) Baptism is #regenerative
7) #Liturgical #worship is essential because the #bible itself reveals the Church’s worship as liturgical.
8) The #unity of the Church is not merely a spiritual reality (i.e. invisible), but a reality that ought to be visible for all the world to see.
9) Except in the cases of #heresy or wholesale unrepentant #sin within a portion of the Church, rending the Church’s unity is sinful. (So, disagreements over adiaphora are not worthy of division -- no matter how much one love's their pet theological theory)
10) All #christians must pray for and actively work towards and for the reunification of the Church.

Some #theological hills I am willing to die on:
1) The plenary inspiration of #scripture
2) At bare minimum, adherence to the #doctrines proclaimed by the first four Councils of the undivided #church must be upheld.
3) The #eucharist / #lordssupper ought to be celebrated *weekly*.
4) The #eucharist / #lordssupper , while symbolic, is not merely symbolic but also a true/real encounter/communion with Jesus.
5) #Baptism *must* be done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
6) Baptism is #regenerative
7) #Liturgical #worship is essential because the #bible itself reveals the Church’s worship as liturgical.
8) The #unity of the Church is not merely a spiritual reality (i.e. invisible), but a reality that ought to be visible for all the world to see.
9) Except in the cases of #heresy or wholesale unrepentant #sin within a portion of the Church, rending the Church’s unity is sinful. (So, disagreements over adiaphora are not worthy of division -- no matter how much one love's their pet theological theory)
10) All #christians must pray for and actively work towards and for the reunification of the Church.

Some #theological hills I am willing to die on:
1) The plenary inspiration of #scripture
2) At bare minimum, adherence to the #doctrines proclaimed by the first four Councils of the undivided #church must be upheld.
3) The #eucharist / #lordssupper ought to be celebrated *weekly*.
4) The #eucharist / #lordssupper , while symbolic, is not merely symbolic but also a true/real encounter/communion with Jesus.
5) #Baptism *must* be done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
6) Baptism is #regenerative
7) #Liturgical #worship is essential because the #bible itself reveals the Church’s worship as liturgical.
8) The #unity of the Church is not merely a spiritual reality (i.e. invisible), but a reality that ought to be visible for all the world to see.
9) Except in the cases of #heresy or wholesale unrepentant #sin within a portion of the Church, rending the Church’s unity is sinful. (So, disagreements over adiaphora are not worthy of division -- no matter how much one love's their pet theological theory)
10) All #christians must pray for and actively work towards and for the reunification of the Church.

Some #theological hills I am willing to die on:
1) The plenary inspiration of #scripture
2) At bare minimum, adherence to the #doctrines proclaimed by the first four Councils of the undivided #church must be upheld.
3) The #eucharist / #lordssupper ought to be celebrated *weekly*.
4) The #eucharist / #lordssupper , while symbolic, is not merely symbolic but also a true/real encounter/communion with Jesus.
5) #Baptism *must* be done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
6) Baptism is #regenerative
7) #Liturgical #worship is essential because the #bible itself reveals the Church’s worship as liturgical.
8) The #unity of the Church is not merely a spiritual reality (i.e. invisible), but a reality that ought to be visible for all the world to see.
9) Except in the cases of #heresy or wholesale unrepentant #sin within a portion of the Church, rending the Church’s unity is sinful. (So, disagreements over adiaphora are not worthy of division -- no matter how much one love's their pet theological theory)
10) All #christians must pray for and actively work towards and for the reunification of the Church.

Some #theological hills I am willing to die on:
1) The plenary inspiration of #scripture
2) At bare minimum, adherence to the #doctrines proclaimed by the first four Councils of the undivided #church must be upheld.
3) The #eucharist / #lordssupper ought to be celebrated *weekly*.
4) The #eucharist / #lordssupper , while symbolic, is not merely symbolic but also a true/real encounter/communion with Jesus.
5) #Baptism *must* be done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
6) Baptism is #regenerative
7) #Liturgical #worship is essential because the #bible itself reveals the Church’s worship as liturgical.
8) The #unity of the Church is not merely a spiritual reality (i.e. invisible), but a reality that ought to be visible for all the world to see.
9) Except in the cases of #heresy or wholesale unrepentant #sin within a portion of the Church, rending the Church’s unity is sinful. (So, disagreements over adiaphora are not worthy of division -- no matter how much one love's their pet theological theory)
10) All #christians must pray for and actively work towards and for the reunification of the Church.

#Origen stressed that the #Eucharist benefits only those who receive it with #faith and #spiritual awareness; without this, it is no different than ordinary #food.

https://www.copticchurch.net/patrology/schoolofalex2/chapter14.html

#Origen stressed that the #Eucharist benefits only those who receive it with #faith and #spiritual awareness; without this, it is no different than ordinary #food.

https://www.copticchurch.net/patrology/schoolofalex2/chapter14.html

I decided late in life that I would take upon myself, and felt God’s approval, to join the Catholic Church as a part of my path as a follower of Christ.

My Journey into Catholicism: https://bit.ly/3RYRrpw

#faith #bible #christian #religion #spiritual #philosophy #life #JesusChrist #PraiseGod #catholic #transubstantiation #saints #eucharist #prayer #confession

Quote of the day, 17 April: Blessed Marie-Eugène

What can we say on this day except to repeat the words of John the Evangelist: “Before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1).

Jesus had loved his own during his earthly life; he loved them to the end. The Apostle then recounts the washing of the feet, which precedes his great act: the institution of the Eucharist.

And so the Apostle—he whom Jesus loved, who had penetrated most deeply into the secrets of his heart—presents the institution of the Eucharist as the supreme proof of Jesus’ love for his own. John seems to place it even above Christ’s Passion and death.

In the sacred texts, especially in St. Paul, the Passion is presented as the testimony of Christ’s obedience to his Father. It is the Father who handed him over; through the Incarnation and death of his Son—through his blood—he repairs sin. He reunites in Christ all that sin had separated.

And Jesus, who gives his suffering and death as proof of his obedience to the Father, gives us the institution of the Eucharist as the supreme proof of his love.

What does Jesus do in the Eucharist? He gives his sacrificed body, his flesh; he gives the blood he has poured out. He gives himself completely to us, to become our food and our drink.

He loved them completely, to the end.

This text must be interpreted: He will love his own—every Christian—until the end. He will love them through the Eucharist, he will love them through the Sacrifice of the Mass, celebrated every day, and through the participation of his own in this sacrifice, in daily communion.

Let us thank Jesus for this gift; let us thank him for all the supernatural life that has already flowed into the world and into souls through the Eucharist; let us thank him for all the ways the Eucharist identifies us with Christ.

And let us thank him in advance for the magnificent work that will be brought about by this Eucharist—his complete Mystical Body. From all eternity, God contemplates with delight this triumphant Mystical Body.

Jesus will evoke it before Pilate as his supreme vindication; he desires no other than this: “You will see the Son of Man with all his chosen ones”—with all those he has chosen, united to himself, transformed; with all those who, by contact with him and through the Eucharist, will be made one with him.

This is the vindication of his love: He loved his own to the end.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

Eucharistie: Don suprême de l’amour
Holy Thursday Homily (excerpt)
Notre-Dame de Vie, 14 April 1960

Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus 1986, Jésus, Contemplation du Mystère Pascal, Editions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: La Cène (1872), oil on canvas by Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (1852–1929). Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
If the Passion reveals Christ’s obedience to the Father, what does the Eucharist reveal to you?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#BlessedMarieEugeneOfTheChildJesus #Eucharist #LastSupper #love #sacrifice #thanksgiving

Quote of the day, 6 April: St. Edith Stein

“And the word was made flesh.”

This became reality in the stable of Bethlehem. But it has also been fulfilled in another form: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” The Saviour, knowing that we are and remain human—daily struggling with our weakness—aids our humanity in a manner truly divine. Just as our earthly body needs its daily bread, so the divine life in us must be constantly fed: “This is the living bread that came down from heaven.”

If we truly make it our daily bread, the mystery of Christmas—the Incarnation of the Word—will be re-enacted in us each day. And this, it seems, is the surest way to remain in constant union with God and to grow every day more securely and more deeply into the Mystical Body of Christ.

I am well aware that many will think this an exaggerated demand. In practice, it means for most of those who start this habit that they will have to rearrange their outer and inner life completely. But this is just what it is meant to do. Is it really demanding too much to make room in our life for the Eucharistic Saviour, so that He may transform our life into His own?

We have time for so many useless things: we read senseless rubbish in books, periodicals, and newspapers, sit in cafés, and chat for a quarter or half an hour in the street. All these are distractions by which one wastes time and strength. Should it really be impossible to save an hour in the morning in which one is not distracted but recollected—in which one does not spend oneself but gathers strength sufficient to carry one through the whole day?

It is true: more is needed for this than just the one hour. We must live from one such hour to the next in such a way that we are allowed to come again. It is no longer possible to “let ourselves go,” even only for a little while. We cannot escape the judgment of a person with whom we are in daily contact. Even without words, we feel what others think of us. We will try to adapt ourselves to our surroundings, and if this proves impossible, it will be torture to live together.

Thus it is also in daily intercourse with our Lord. We shall become ever more sensitive to what pleases and displeases Him. If before we had been, on the whole, quite satisfied with ourselves, this will now become very different. We shall find much that is bad and change it if possible. And we shall discover many things that we cannot think are satisfactory—and yet are so hard to change.

And so we shall gradually become very small and humble, as well as patient and indulgent with the motes in the eyes of others, because we are busy with the beam in our own. And finally, we shall learn even to bear with ourselves in the light of the divine presence, and to give ourselves up to the divine mercy which can deal with all the difficulties that are too much for our own strength.

It is a long way from the smug self-satisfaction of the “good Catholic” who “does his duties,” reads a “good paper,” etc., but apart from that does what he likes, to a life guided and provided by the hand of God in the simplicity of the child and the humility of the publican. But whoever has walked in this way will no more turn back.

Thus, being a child of God means to become small—and at the same time to become great. Living eucharistically means quite naturally to leave the narrowness of one’s own life and to grow into the breadth of the Christ life. If we seek the Lord in His house, we shall not always occupy Him only with ourselves and our own affairs. We shall begin to be interested in His affairs.

Saint Edith Stein

The Mystery of Christmas: Incarnation and Humanity
Lecture given to Catholic academics, 13 January 1931
Ludwigshafen, Germany

Stein, E 1931, The mystery of Christmas: incarnation and humanity, translated from the German by Rucker, J, Darlington Carmel, Darlington UK.

Featured image: Photographer Tim Foster captured this golden hour image of hikers at El Hoyo volcano in Nicaragua. Image credit: Tim Foster / Unsplash (Some rights reserved).

💠 Appreciate these quotes from the Carmelites?
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💠 Reflection question:
What might Christ wish to rearrange in your life so you can live more eucharistically?
Share your thoughts in the comments.

#Eucharist #faithful #incarnation #little #presenceOfGod #relationship #StEdithStein #transformation

Propter nimiam charitatem!…

That day was God-ordained:
the Father, by decree,
Laid down that you began
my Mother here to be.
I hail that joyous day:
the Triune Loving — more,
‘Excess of Charity’!
I see it, and adore.

Such overflowing love! —
that’s what it is, I know,
When God, in prescient love,
arranged that this be so —
For He (that I should make
oblation here fore-known)
Had consecrated you
with unction of His own.

And, from the very start,
O Mother, God was pleased
To love as one in Him
His victim and His priest:
His gaze of love on us
from all eternity,
He’ll always look and see
not two, but unity.

So, if your little ‘host’
(O Pontiff, whom I love!)
Is very soon transferred
up to the Home Above,
She will be yours still more! —
I think it might be so —
Than when the night of faith
she lived in, here below.

Have you not seen a priest
who’s going through the town
Carrying God, the Host,
hidden beneath his gown? —
On your maternal heart
that way, will not it be
That Laudem Gloriae
spends her eternity?

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

P 122 [for 9 October 1906]

Note: St. Elizabeth wrote this poem for the fifth anniversary of the election of the prioress, Mother Germaine. Elizabeth refers to herself as a “victim” and “little ‘host'”; she refers to Mother Germaine as “priest” and “Pontiff”.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, Marmion, C and Bancroft, A 2001, Barb of fire: twenty poems of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity: with selected passages from Blessed Columba Marmion, OSB, Gracewing, Leominster.

Featured image: Image credit for St. Elizabeth of the Trinity: Discalced Carmelites. Collage created in Adobe Express.

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/11/07/sabeth-p122/

#Eucharist #LaudemGloriae #monasticLife #MotherGermaine #poetry #StElizabethOfTheTrinity

I would like you to live totally by the Eucharist. May he be the source of your thoughts, feelings, words and deeds. May he be the light that guides you, your inspiration, your model and your constant preoccupation.

As Magdalen shed tears and poured perfume over the feet of Jesus, may you never tire of offering your prayers, aspirations and gifts before the tabernacle.

I wish the Eucharist to be for you a fire of love, a burning fire, into which you can throw yourself so as to emerge as a flame with love and generosity.

May the altar where Jesus sacrifices himself, also receive your sacrifices, so that with him you may become a victim of love, whose odor of sweetness rises before the throne of the eternal.

Servant of God Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Hermann Cohen)

Various spiritual counsels (excerpt)

Tierney, T  2017,  A Life of Hermann Cohen: From Franz Liszt to John of the Cross,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN

Featured image: First Mass, a photo by Jerome Stevenson, captures a solemn moment between two brothers. One has just been ordained and the other is still a seminarian who has just assisted at his brother’s first Mass. The photo was taken on 24 December 2006 in Rome. Image credit: Jerome Stevenson / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/10/21/cohen-vieeuch/

#AugustineMaryOfTheBlessedSacrament #Eucharist #fireOfLove #HermannCohen #Jesus #ServantOfGod #victimOfLove

As Christians, we should focus on what we share in common rather than harping on what divides us. But that’s just it: What do we share in common?

https://theliturgicalpentecostal.wordpress.com/2023/09/08/what-binds-us-together/

#AncientFaith #Baptism #Belief #Christianity #Church #CommonBelief #Communion #Denominations #Eucharist #Faith #Unity

As Christians, we should focus on what we share in common rather than harping on what divides us. But that’s just it: What do we share in common?

https://theliturgicalpentecostal.wordpress.com/2023/09/08/what-binds-us-together/

#AncientFaith #Baptism #Belief #Christianity #Church #CommonBelief #Communion #Denominations #Eucharist #Faith #Unity