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Jesus is very near to us: in Christian countries where there are so many tabernacles we are hardly ever more than a few miles from Him. How difficult it is not to see the walls or at least the spire of some church whether we are in the middle of a crowded city or traveling by road or by train. Christ is there! It is the Lord! ?our faith and our love exclaim. We can say it because Our Lord is present there really and substantially: He is the same one who appeared to the disciples and who has always shown such interest in everybody.

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Jesus has remained in the Blessed Sacrament. In this memorial Sacrament He is really, truly and substantially present, his Body and Blood together with his Soul and Divinity and, consequently, the whole Christ. The presence of Christ in the Blessed Eucharist is real and permanent, because once Mass is over, Our Lord remains in each one of the consecrated hosts that has not, been consumed. He who is present is He who was born, died and rose again in Palestine, the one who is at the right hand of God the Father. ?We meet with Him in the tabernacle and He sees us and knows us. We can speak to Him as the Apostles did and tell Him what things we are enthusiastic about and what things are causing us concern. There we always find true peace, of the kind that endures in spite of all sorrow and every obstacle.

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The Visit to the Blessed Sacrament.

Eucharistic piety, says Pope John Paul II, should be centered above all on the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, which perpetuates the pouring out of His love on the Cross. But it has a logical prolongation … in the adoration of Christ in this divine Sacrament, in the visit to the Blessed Sacrament in prayer beside the Tabernacle, as well as in those other exercises of devotion both personal and collec?tive, private and public, which you have been practicing for centuries … Jesus waits for us in this Sacrament of Love. Let us not be mean with our time when it comes to going to meet him in adoration, in contemplation that is filled with faith, and disposed to make reparation for the grave faults and crimes of the world.

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Jesus is there in the nearest Tabernacle. Perhaps just a few miles away or even perhaps a few yards … How could we not go to see Him, to love Him, to tell Him about our affairs, to ask Him for things? What a lack of consistency on our part if we were not to do this with faith? How easy it is to understand that centuries-old custom of the daily visit to the divine tabernacle. There the Master has been waiting for us these past twenty centuries and we can be together with him like Mary, the sister of Lazarus – the one who chose the better part.

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Jesus is waiting for us to visit Him. It is, in a way, a return of His visit to us in Holy Communion, and it is a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, an acknowledge?ment of the Lord’s presence. It is a continuation of our act of thanksgiving for the previous Communion and a preparation for the next. ?When we find ourselves before the tabernacle we can indeed say in all truth and accuracy: God is here! And in the presence of this mystery of faith there is no room for any other attitude except that of adoration – Adoro te devote … 0 hidden God, devoutly I adore You; of respect and astonishment; and, at the same time, of unlimited confidence. Dwelling with Christ Our Lord, the faithful enjoy his intimate friendship and pour out their heart before Him for themselves and their dear ones, and pray for the peace and salvation of the world. They offer their entire lives with Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit, and receive in this wonderful exchange an increase of faith, hope and charity.. . Thus they nourish those right dispositions which enable them with all due devotion to celebrate the memorial of the Lord and receive frequently the bread given us by the Father.??

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Fruits of this act of piety.

The Visit to the Blessed Sacra?ment is an act of piety that only takes a few minutes; nevertheless, what a lot of graces and what fortitude and peace does Our Lord give through it. There we find that our sense of presence of God throughout the day is improved and we gather new strength to take the difficulties of the day in our stride. There our desire to work better is enkindled and we are provided with a good supply of peace and joy to take with us to our family life. Our Lord, who always pays generously, is grateful for the fact that we have gone to visit Him. And as to paying us, he is so careful about this that you need to have no fear He will leave us without our reward if only we raise our eyes to Heaven and remember Him.

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In the Visit to the Blessed Sacrament we go to keep Jesus company for a few minutes. It could be that on a par?ticular day not many have gone to visit him even though He was expecting them. Therefore He is all the more pleased to see us there. We shall say some of the usual prayers to Him as well as making the spiritual Communion. We’ll ask Him for help – both spiritual and material; we’ll tell Him what is causing us concern and what we are happy about; we’ll tell Him that, in spite of our miseries, He can count on us for the re-evangelization of the world and we’ll tell Him, perhaps, that we want to bring a friend close to Him. What shall we do, you sometimes ask, in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament? Love Him, praise Him, thank Him and ask Him for things.

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What does a thirsty person do when he sees a pure clean fountain? ?When we leave the Church after these moments of prayer, we will have in us greater peace, a determination to help others, an eager longing to receive Holy Communion, because the only way that intimate union with Jesus can be fully realized is in the Eucharist. It will effectively have helped us to increase our sense of the presence of God in the course of our work and our daily tasks. It will be easy for us to keep up a relationship of friendship and confidence with him throughout the day.

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Once we are in the church, we can easily find out where the tabernacle is – which is the first place we should direct our attention to – because it should be located in a truly prominent place … suited to private prayer. And there the presence of the Blessed Eucharist will be indicated by the small lamp which as the sign of honor to Our Lord, will be continuously burning before it. As we finish our prayer we ask our Mother Mary to teach us how to love Jesus really present in the tabernacle as she loved Him all those years of His life in Nazareth.

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from Fr. Francis Fernandez (In Conversation with God)

The Grace of Christmas

Jesus speaks: I was born, born for you in a cave in December, in the cold, homeless, in the middle of a winter’s night, in the unheard-of poverty of the extremely poor, in solitude, in an abandonment unique in this world. What, my children, do I want you to learn from my birth? To believe in My love, to believe that I have loved you until now. To hope in Me, who have loved you so dearly. I want to teach you to despise the world, which was so unimportant to Me. I want to teach you poverty, lowliness, soli­tude, humility, penance. I want to teach you to love me, for I was not content with giving Myself to the world in the Incarnation, sanctifying it invisibly in the visitation; no, that did not satisfy My love. From the moment of My birth onward, I showed myself to you, giving myself wholly to you, putting myself in your hands. From then on, you could touch Me, hear Me, possess Me, serve Me, console Me.

Love Me now; I am so close to you. In My unimaginable goodness, I did not merely give Myself to you at My birth for a few hours or years: I am still in your hands, and shall be henceforth until the end of the world. Think of the unending good fortune I brought you in My birth: the ability to serve Me – to serve Me by serving the Church, to serve Me by serving your neighbor, to serve Me Myself, living there near you in the tabernacle. Not only can you serve Me, you can also console Me …

How happy you should be to be able to console Me at every moment of your lives! By becoming so small, so gentle a child, I was crying out to you: Have trust! Come close to Me! Do not be afraid of Me, come to Me, give Me what children need: loving embraces. Do not be afraid, do not be so frightened in the presence of such a gentle Baby, smiling at you and holding out His arms to you. He is your God, but He is all smiles and gentleness. Do not be afraid.

Bl. Charles de Foucauld

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a meditation on THE FIRST GLORIOUS MYSTERY:

THE RESURRECTION

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honor, glory and praise!” (Rev 5:12)

Meditation:

The Glory of Faith: “Faith is the confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see.” (Heb 11: 1)

The glorious resurrection of Our Lord continues in the glory of this most Blessed Sacrament BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE OUR RISEN SAVIOR DWELLS, pouring out His life, His light, and His love to all who come into His presence. If our faith in the Eucharist is weak, then we simply pray “Lord, I do believe, help my unbelief.”

For the gift of faith, all we have to do is ask: “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened.”

Like the apostles we humbly pray: “Increase our faith.”

Blessed Sacrament Prayer:

Jesus increase our faith in Your Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, the mystery of faith, that like the disciples who came to know You in the breaking of the Bread we may come to know You in the Eucharist in an intimate and personal way with a deep and living faith that grows to ‘conviction about the things we do not see’ and enables us to experience the sweetness of Your love “which surpasses all knowledge.”

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We pray through the Immaculate Heart of Mary that You help our parish and all parishes to become a faith community by responding to Your appeal to be loved day and night in this most Blessed Sacrament, where You call us to “pray without ceasing”, for this is where You, Our Risen Savior, dwell, helping us by the power flowing from Your resurrection to share in the pattern of Your sufferings, that we may share also in the glory of Your resurrection. On each bead of this mystery, deepen our union with You until our single-hearted prayer becomes  “ALL I WANT IS TO KNOW CHRIST JESUS… “

Fr. Martin Lucia