Dear Apostles of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Daily, from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the marvelous act of Consecration, which was first performed by Christ in the Cenacle, is perpetuated by His chosen priesthood on every Catholic Altar. The festival of Corpus Christi commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist and, logically, follows the festivals of the Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, the Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Ghost. Each glitters as a golden link in the wondrous chain of ineffable mercies uniting earth with Heaven. In the Holy Eucharist, divine love restrains omnipotence; God is bound by space, the divine immensity descends to our littleness, concealing Its radiant splendor and every attribute of the Infinite Lover of men yields to His intense longing to be with the children of men. Only omnipotence could establish a union so intimate, so perfect, so wonderful!

Our Eucharistic King enters into this sublime mystery and becomes one with us to supernaturalize our every faculty, every thought, every desire, every sense and every act. He strives to free us from our servitude of our worst enemy, our unmortified self, and take possession of us. Self-denial must be the fixed law of our lives. Our flesh must be disciplined, inordinate love of the world completely stifled and every power of our soul must be dedicated to His service. We see Christ in the Blessed Sacrament not with our bodily eyes but with the most wondrous, spiritual vision – PURE FAITH! We must die to ourselves that He may live in us.

Our lives must be silent and calm if we are to be conformed to the Divine Solitary of our Altar. We must possess our souls in peace and thus commune with the God of Peace, so that He may form His image in us. After receiving Holy Communion, the world soon disquiets us amidst its distracting cares and we are carried away by its incessant activity. The bond of union between God and us is weakened almost before we are conscious of it. Is He not wounded by our want of love? Is He not bitterly disappointed by our infidelity? Yet, He still abides with us, feeding us daily and bearing with our fickleness. He is constant in His Love for us despite our fitful changes. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever! He knows our shortcomings because He is our God and He cannot abandon us, because He loves us too much. He silently endures our selfishness and disloyalty. He incessantly pleads with us to surrender ourselves to Him so that this Sacrament, the masterpiece of divine love and omnipotent power, may finally awaken a response in our souls that shall by its deep, penitential love, remit the guilt of our coldness, our ingratitude and our faithlessness! We should pray that He may bear with us and help us in spite of our neglect that He may enkindle the ardor of the fire of love which He has come to cast upon earth.

May the burning furnace of His sacramental presence among us enable us to love Him more ardently and follow Him more closely in our exile upon earth until the veil shall be removed at last and we can gaze upon Him in the fullness of His divine beauty when we shall become like unto Him in the brilliant light of the glory that will ravish our souls forever!