Tonight during Nocturnal Adoration my niece was reading The Man Who Fought With the Devil by Eva Betz. She remarked afterwards. "Aunt Esther, the book was really good!"
"If we could comprehend all the good things contained in Holy Communion, nothing more would be wanting to content the heart of man. The miser would run no more after his treasures, or the ambitious after glory; each would shake off the dust of the earth, leave the world, and fly away towards heaven."- St. John Vianney
"When we go before the Blessed Sacrament, let us open our heart; our good God will open His. We shall go to Him; He will come to us; the one to ask, the other to receive. It will be like a breath from one to the other;"
"Jesus Christ, after having given us all he could give, that is to say, the merit of his toils, his sufferings, and bitter death; after having given us his adorable body and blood to be the food of our souls, willed also to give us the most precious thing he had let, which was his holy Mother."
"I throw myself at the foot of the Tabernacle like a dog at the foot of his Master."
"All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of men; but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man."
"Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself".
"My little children, your hearts are small, but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God. Through prayer we receive a foretaste of Heaven and something of paradise comes down upon us. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the souls and makes all things sweet. When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun".
Happy Birthday to my Uncle Manny and it is also the birthday of my late grandpa Manuel and my late uncle Pepe.
One of the main reasons I never completely left the Church was the Presence of Christ. As much as I was tempted by the protestant churches I attended I was always aware of their emptyness-there was simply no Presence-that warmth and life that is so obvious when we enter a Catholic church where the Tabernacle is.
ReplyDeleteI thought I was the only one who was aware of this until I read Michael O'Brien's book 'A Cry of Stone' in which he describes the Presence as a beating heart. So so true!
Then recently my oldest son mentioned something of the same awareness and asked me what I thought.
I told him I too sensed it.
I could never quite convince myself to walk away from that.
Esther,
ReplyDeleteYou have so many wonderful book suggestions. I would love to get a list from you of "must reads" or your favorites. If you ever get a chance, you should list them here on your site. Like you are not busy enough, right? ;)
His writings are so wonderful! I love reading about St. John Vianney.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post Esther about the Blessed Sacrament. As patron saint of parish priests, we all must pray to St. John Vianney to protect our precious priests.
ReplyDeleteWhitestone, today while waiting to go to confession, a homeless man stopped in front of the Tabernacle and showed such reverence on his kneels that it put me to shame. He was deeply aware of the Real Presence.
ReplyDeleteAlexandra, I will have to keep that in mind for a project...maybe with the Library thing.
So do I Matthew.
Thank you for reminding us about our parish priests Micki.
Esther,
ReplyDeleteHere is a part of one of John Vianney's sermons:
"Go to confession to the Blessed Virgin, or to an angel; will they absolve you? No. Will they give you the Body and Blood of Our Lord? No. The Holy Virgin cannot make her Divine Son descend into the Host. You might have two hundred angels there, but they could not absolve you. A priest, however simple he may be, can do it; he can say to you, “Go in peace; I pardon you. ” Oh, how great is a priest! The priest will not understand the greatness of his office till he is in Heaven. If he understood it on earth, he would die, not of fear, but of love. The other benefits of God would be of no avail to us without the priest."
I think it's wonderful - and so does my parish priest!
God Bless,
Jackie
Beautiful Jackie. Thanks for sharing that quote. I remember my mom telling us that the angels envy the priest's power to consecrate or something like that.
ReplyDelete