“A Christian on leaving the holy place moved by the holy thoughts that have been aroused in him by the sight of the ceremonies he has seen, and the prayers that he has said, ought to say to himself: ‘I have just come from assisting at Holy Mass, a God has immolated Himself for me; He has shed His Blood for the salvation of our souls; what more could He do?

Oh! How miserable I am, I who for so many years have refused Him my heart, which He has created for Himself and which He asks of me only in order to make it happy. I have just celebrated the praises of God with this same mouth that I had often sullied by all sorts of sins. Oh! My God, shall I always then beg from creatures the peace they are powerless to give me! My tongue shall it serve sometimes to praise You, sometimes to mispraise You. No, Lord, I now wish only to bless and to love You.’”

St. John Vianney (Feast Day is August 4th)

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The sacred Liturgy is first and foremost the glorification of the most holy Trinity, which is of the Incarnate Son of God offered in the name of all mankind and the entire creation to His Divine Father in the Holy Spirit through His sacrifice on the Cross, as a sweet fragrance for all eternity.

The holy Mass renders present in a sacramental way the same Liturgy of the sacrifice of the Cross, with the same Priest, Jesus Christ, and the same Victim, Christ in His sacred humanity, present at Mass as was present at the sacrifice of the Cross.

Hence, the sacred Liturgy is primarily and essentially the glorification of the triune God. Such a perfect glorification of God secondarily brings graces and eternal salvation to all who celebrate it, who participate in it, and for whom it is specifically offered.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider

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(Jesus said): I am the life, supernatural, divine, celestial life, the life of Grace, true life compared to earthly life that is but a shadow. I have remained in the Eucharist to give you this life, that is, to give you Myself, who am Life, because I want to live in you, and your faculty is your soul, the senses of your body, and each drop of your blood. Stroke by stroke I want to imprint in your being My humility, zeal, obedience, abnegation, simplicity, patience, and love of the cross.

“I have come that they may have life and have it till the full.” And what better way to communicate it then through Holy Communion? Therefore, drink and fill yourself with Him who is life. Look and take in the silence and the power of the Eucharist, and reproduce Me in all your being. I want to put My living Heart in yours, and if you allow Me to take away your bad dispositions and vices it will no longer be you who live, but I will live in you a life of intimacy, through a divine transport  on the part of the Holy Spirit living in you. Sanctity is the fruit of constant acts of love. Therefore love Me; actively remove whatever separates you from Me.

Eat My Body, drink My Blood, satisfy your hunger for the divine by receiving the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Come to Me in humility and trust and with an ardent love. Then contemplate, be silent, enjoy, and admire Me, falling deeper to the abyss of Myself …

Blessed Conchita de Armida

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A prayer to ask for the grace we want as we approach Holy Communion:

O my Savior and my God, through the nativity, passion, and death, through Thy glorious Resurrection, grant me this grace_______…

I ask for it for the sake of this Mystery, in honor of which I am about to feed on Thy Flesh and Divine Blood; I ask Thee for it through Thy most sweet Heart, through Immaculate Mary, through Thy most holy Name, my Jesus, through which Thou provide us every grace. So be it.

Blessed Bartolo Longo

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When we receive our Lord in Holy Communion, we possess within us that Divine Heart which is a furnace of love. Let us ask Him earnestly that He will Himself grant us to understand this love, for in this one ray from on high is more efficacious than all human reasoning.

Let us ask Him to enkindle within us the love of His Person.  “If, by our Lord’s grace,” says Saint Theresa, “His love is imprinted one day in our heart, all will become easy to us; very rapidly and without trouble we should come to works of love.”

If this love for the Person of Jesus is in our heart, our activity will spring forth from it. We may meet with difficulties, be subject to great trials, undergo a violent temptation; if we love Christ Jesus, these difficulties, these trials, these temptations will find us steadfast. For when the love of Christ urges us we shall not wish any longer to live for ourselves, but for Him who loved us and delivered Himself up for us.

Blessed Columba Marmion

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Saint Lawrence’s love for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was extraordinary. Especially in his later years he spent unusually long time at the altar. The length of his Masses was most evident on the feasts of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The longest Mass he ever offered was in 1618 on the last Christmas of his life. This Mass took 16 hours! His Masses often lasted six, eight, and 10 hours during these years. Even when he was quite sick, his Mass would last for several hours.

Nothing could keep Saint Lawrence from saying Mass. One morning he walked 20 miles while fasting in order to reach a place where he could offer Mass after having walked 20 miles the preceding day for the same reason. During his Mass it would shed many tears and his face showed a variety of emotions, ranging from great sorrow to intense joy.

If there is one thing to remember about Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, it is that he was one of the greatest preachers in the history of Christianity. Those who knew him considered him to be the greatest preacher of his time. He has a natural endowment of a great orator: a good voice, an imposing appearance and a photographic memory. He tells us that when he stood in the puppet, his sermon was there before him, completely clear in his mind. But Saint Lawrence also possess the personal magnetism that would attract people to Him.

From the book “The 33 Doctors of the Church” bu Fr. Christopher Rengers, OFM Cap.

St. Lawrence was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope St. John XXIII and his feast day is July 21st

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 “A Christian on leaving the holy place moved by the holy thoughts that have been aroused in him by the sight of the ceremonies he has seen, and the prayers that he has said, ought to say to himself: ‘I have just come from assisting at Holy Mass, a God has immolated Himself for me; He has shed His Blood for the salvation of our souls; what more could He do?

Oh! How miserable I am, I who for so many years have refused Him my heart, which He has created for Himself and which He asks of me only in order to make it happy. I have just celebrated the praises of God with this same mouth that I had often sullied by all sorts of sins. Oh! My God, shall I always then beg from creatures the peace they are powerless to give me! My tongue shall it serve sometimes to praise You, sometimes to mispraise You. No, Lord, I now wish only to bless and to love You.’”

St. John Vianney (Feast Day is August 4th)

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We have access to the greatest Gift in the world, even every day!

Graces lost by missing one Communion:

1: visit to our soul of Jesus the Author of every Grace and holiness 

2: increase of sanctifying grace

3: sacramental grace which gives the right to actual graces needed to avoid sin, discharge duties a state, etc.

4: remission of every venial sin

5: remission of mortal sin if forgotten

6: preservative from sin; extinguish fire of passion

7: entire or partial remission of temporal punishment

8 spiritual joy and sweetness

9: special glory of the body at the resurrection

10 merit greater degree of glory

11 indulgences lost or possible graces lost. In one communion lost through one’s own fault may depend: complete victory over a fault or passion; some particular Grace long prayed for; conversion, salvation of some soul; deliverance of a soul in purgatory; graces for others.

+Fr. William Doyle

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Whenever a person, who wholly and unreservedly surrenders himself to the Immaculata, visits Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, he dedicates his whole visit more explicitly to the Immaculata even though by only one “Mary!”

He knows that he affords Jesus the greatest pleasure, that thus she makes that visit in him and through him, and he in her and through her.

Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe

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I thank you, Lord, holy Father Almighty and eternal God, that through Your merciful condescension, and not for any merit of mine, You have willed to feed me, Your unworthy servant with the precious Body and Blood of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

May this Holy Communion not bring me condemnation but obtain for me life-giving pardon. May it be the armor of my faith and the shield of a firm will. May it remove my vices, and destroy inordinate concupiscence and lust. May it make me advance in charity and patience, humility and obedience, and in all the virtues. Let it be a strong defense against the snares of all my enemies, visible and invisible, allaying for me every disturbance of flesh and spirit, binding me firmly to You, the one true God, and bringing my last hour to a happy close.

I pray, too, Father, that it may be Your pleasure to call my sinful self one day to that banquet, wonderful past all telling, were You with Your Son and the Holy Spirit feast your Saints with the vision of Yourself, who are true light, the fulfillment of all desires, unending joy, unalloyed gladness, and perfect bliss. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Thomas Aquinas

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