Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
In harder times past, the story is told of an orphan named Joseph. Joseph went to be examined by the orphanage doctor. When he came back to class the nun asked him, “What did the doctor say to you, Joseph?” And Joseph answered, “He said to me, ‘What a miserable species you are.’” Then Joseph added, “But Sister, I don’t think that he knew that I had made my first communion.”
You see, that is the greatest thing that gives us the greatest value. We don’t need to fight or fume to win love and respect. For the God who made us likes us so much, even if others do not, that he comes to us in communion and comradeship. Joseph, young as he was, knew that Christ comes to us powerfully in the Eucharist and imbues within us his very self. The saints throughout history have known that. It might do us good to hear from some of them today.
“This morning my soul is greater than the world since it possesses You, You whom heaven and earth cannot contain” (St. Margaret of Cortona).
“When a Eucharistic spark is planted in my soul, implanted therein is a divine seed of life and of all the virtues which are self-sufficient” (St. Peter Julian Eymard).
“Our Lord does not come from heaven everyday to stay in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven, the heaven of our souls in which he loves to dwell” (St. Therese of Lisieux).
“The proper effect of the Eucharist is to transform man into God” (St. Thomas Aquinas).
“Yesterday, on approaching the Most Blessed Sacrament, I felt myself burning and I had to withdraw. I am astounded that so many who receive Jesus are not reduced to ash.” (St. Gemma Galgoni).
The Eucharist is the divine spark within us. May we eat and drink in this spirit.
—Timothy J. Cronin