Saturday, September 3, 2011

St. Therese on the Eucharist

"Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you - for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart...don't listen to the demon, laugh at him, and go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love...
"Receive Communion often, very often...there you have the sole remedy, if you want to be cured. Jesus has not put this attraction in your heart for nothing..."
- St. Therese of Lisieux

How can God possibly love us this much, to spend so many years upon earth and allow Himself to be ignored and mistreated so often, just to give us the joy of being united with Him? How can God love us so much that He burns with desire to come into our hearts even when we are still sinners? This is incredible-who could have believed it unless God Himself had said it? "He said to them, 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God'" (Luke 22:15-16). When we see His great love for us in the Eucharist, what can we do but love Him in return? And what greater way is there to express our love or to increase our love than to receive His great love in the Eucharist every day?