Patrick O’Hearn is a husband and father. He has authored seven books including the Parents of the Saints, The Shepherd at the Crib and the Cross, Courtship of the Saints, The Grief of Dads, Go and Fear Nothing, Our Lady of Sorrows, and Nursery of Heaven (coming this August by Sophia Press).
Have you ever pondered Jesus’ Eucharistic Virtues? St. Peter Julian Eymard, “the Apostle of the Eucharist,” did. He wrote the following:
Few persons think of the virtues, the life, the state of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. We treat Him like a statue; we think He is there merely to forgive our sins and to listen to our prayers. That is a wrong viewpoint. Our Lord lives and acts in the Eucharist. Look at Him, study, and imitate Him. Those who do not find Him in the Eucharist must go back nineteen centuries, read the Gospel and complete it in its intimate details. They miss the sweetness of our Lord’s words as actually spoken: “I am your way, today; I Myself am your way!” Without doubt, truth never fails, and the Gospel is an immortal book. But how laborious for one to be always going back to the past! And it is a mere mental representation, obtained at the cost of effort and fatigue. It is a more speculative way, but less of a help to virtue.1
Following His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, Jesus could have reigned exclusively in Heaven at the right hand of His Father. And yet, Jesus also wanted to dwell on earth in the Holy Eucharist until the end of time at the right hand of His brother: you and me. It was as if Jesus preferred our human heart to the perfect bliss and love of His Father, though we know this not to be the case. It would seem as if Jesus is a fool to dwell in the Holy Eucharist after being scorned and murdered by the ones He loved. Love caused Jesus to become Incarnate once before and now Incarnate once again in the Holy Eucharist. Love is the main reason for the Holy Eucharist, but not the only reason. ….
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