A Wondrous Exchange

"A Wonderous Exchange"

Jesus is the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Eucharist is Jesus, [Jesus (Body,Blood,Soul,Divinity) =Holy Eucharist]

There's no other way to better describe what is the Holy Eucharist, the greatest love residing, so devoid of the majesty that He is supposed to get, all for love of us. Dearest Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, Have Mercy on us!

Excerpts from Alone with God by Fr. J Heyrman S.J. and The Holy Eucharist by St. Alphonsus Ligouri

At Holy Mass, something happens which can be compared to a commercial transaction - but Holy Mass is so so so much more than just a commercial transaction. :) It is the actual sacrifice on Calvary, repeated daily, at every Mass, by the hands of a consecrated man, the very important priest.

We offer ourselves as holocausts, a humble offering of ourselves (our whole lives, all that we have, all that we are, heart to Heart) to the Almighty. But what do we get in exchange? We get, by Faith, the Body and the Blood of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, all present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Most Holy Eucharist.

This exchange is out of proportion. Totally.

It is an utterly unequal, a wondrous, a divine exchange: through the Consecration Jesus has been made present under the appearances of bread and wine, and through the hands of the priest He offers Himself to the Father; and the Father gives us back our oblation, which is now Christ Himself. as a sacrificial banquet in Holy Communion.

It is a sublime exchange resulting in a most awe-inspiring and most ineffable union: "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in Him" (John 6:57).

By Faith we know that this is true and real; we know it with a certitude, surpassing all human certitude, yet a certitude wrapped in the darkness of faith.

Taught by Christ, the Church maintaineth
That the Breath its substance changeth
Into Flesh, the wine to Blood.
Doth it pass thy comprehending?
Faith, the law of sight transcending,
Leaps to things not understood.

But in order to grasp the truth, our proud spirit must renounce its conceit and humbly bow before the power of God "with whom no word shall be impossible".

I believe all the Son of God has spoken,
Than truth’s own word, there is no truer token.

"Ego autem non contradico." - Isa. I.5 (And I do not resist). Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament remains there without moving Himself; HE allows Himself to be placed where men will, be it for exposition in the remonstrance, or to be enclosed in the tabernacle. He allows himself to be carried wheresoever He is borne, be it in houses or through the streets; He allows Himself to be given in Holy Communion to whomsoever He is administered, be they just or sinners. St. Luke says that whilst He dwelt on earth He obeyed the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph; but in this Sacrament, he obeys as many creatures as there are priests on earth: and I do not resist. Amor amorum - the Love of all Love.

As St. Thomas Aquinas so beautifully puts it in the Adoro Te Devote

Jesus, whom for the present veiled I see,What I so thirst for, oh! vouchsafe to me:That I may see Thy countenance unfolding,And may be blest Thy glory in beholding.

From the Holy Mass, we can see the beauty of the priesthood, what a priest really is! The priesthood exists solely for the continuation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

"Holy Orders, however, not only bestows on the priest the graces which he will require to perform his priestly functions fittingly, but imprints upon his soul an indelible seal (the character) by which he receives the power to accomplish sublime acts of worship and of sanctification (the Mass and the Sacraments) with a power almost divine."

Here's what Archbishop Lefebvre spoke about, on the true nature of the Priesthood. From the Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre, Vol. 3, Chapter LV. What is the Priesthood?

O Mary, Queen of the Clergy, Pray for us and send us many and Holy Priests! (ter)

The Golden Arrow

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most mysterious and unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified in heaven on earth and under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the altar.

This prayer was revealed by Our Lord to a Carmelite Nun of Tours in 1843 as a reparation for blasphemy.

"This Golden Arrow will wound My Heart delightfully." He said, "and heal the wounds inflicted by blasphemy."

Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee; Save Souls!

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum. (ter)