Presence of God

Sacred Heart of Jesus, teach me how to live with You through the Sacrament of Your love.

Meditation

I. Devotion to the Sacred Heart should bring us to a life of intimate union with Jesus who, we know, is truly present and living in the Eucharist. The two devotions— to the Sacred Heart and to the Eucharist—are closely connected. They call upon one another and, we may even say, they require each other. The Sacred Heart explains the mystery of the love of Jesus by which He becomes bread in order to nourish us with His substance, while in the Eucharist we have the real presence of this same Heart, living in our midst. It is wonderful to contemplate the Heart of Jesus as the symbol of His infinite love, but it is even more wonderful to find Him always near us in the Sacrament of the altar. The Sacred Heart which we honor is not a dead person’s heart which no longer palpitates, so that we have only the memory of him, but it is the Heart of a living Person, of One who lives eternally. He lives not only in heaven where His sacred humanity dwells in glory, but He lives also on earth wherever the Eucharist is reserved. In speaking of the Eucharist, Our Lord says to us, "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Mt. 28, 20). In Holy Communion, then, this Heart beats within us, it touches our heart; through the love of this Heart, we are fed with His Flesh and with His Blood, so that we may abide in Him and He in us. "In the Eucharist," said Benedict XV, "this divine Heart governs us and loves us by living and abiding with us, so that we may live and abide in Him, because in this Sacrament... He offers and gives Himself to us as victim, companion, viaticum, and the pledge offuture glory."

II. The Eucharistic presence of Jesus in us is limited to the brief moments while the sacred species last, and ceases as soon as these disappear. However, Jesus expressly said, "He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me and I in him" (Jo. 6, 57). Now the word "abide" does not signify a passing visit, but is expressive of a stable, permanent state. Hence, from Our Lord’s own words, we can see that our union with Jesus continues even after the sacred species are consumed. And this is the literal truth. First, union with the divinity of Jesus does not cease, since the three divine Persons dwell continually in souls in the state of grace; but there is also a certain enduring union with His humanity. Even when Christ in His sacred humanity is no longer substantially present in the one who has received Holy Communion, He is there by the influence of His operative presence and by the effusion of His grace. The Heart of Christ is no longer with us sacramentally when the appearances of bread and wine have disappeared, but He still abides with us spiritually by the irradiation of His love and His vivifying action, since we receive through the medium of the sacred humanity all that is given to us in the supernatural order. This spiritual union with Jesus, with His Sacred Heart, does not necessarily require Holy Communion; the state of grace suffices. Nevertheless, the Eucharistic Bread nourishes, consolidates, and strengthens this union, making it more profound in the sense that Jesus always exerts greater influence over the soul of the communicant, and His divine Heart radiates more completely His love and all His virtues in the hearts of those who receive Him in this Sacrament. Hence, it is not extravagant to aspire to an effective, permanent union with Jesus and His Sacred Heart; on the contrary, this is the union which the Church bids us ask for every day in the beautiful prayer before the Communion of the Mass : "a te mmquam separari permittas," never permit me to be separated from You.

Colloquy

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who, by the will of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, hast by Thy death given life to the world, deliver me by this Thy most sacred Body and Blood from all my sins and from every evil. Make me always adhere to Thy commandments and never permit me to be separated from Thee" (RM).

"O what a wonderful and intimate union is established between the soul and You, O lovable Lord, when it receives You in the Holy Eucharist! Then the soul becomes one with You, provided it is well disposed by the practice of the virtues, to imitate what You did in the course of Your life, Passion, and death. No, I cannot be perfectly united to You, O Christ, or You to me in Holy Communion, if I do not first make myself like You by renouncing myself and practicing the virtues most pleasing to You, and of which You have given us such wonderful examples.

"My union with You in Holy Communion will be more perfect to the degree that I become more like You by the practice of the virtues" (cf. St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi).

"O Jesus, You alone do I love and desire, for You alone do I hunger and thirst, in You I wish to lose myself and be consumed. Envelop me in the flame of Your charity and make me cling so closely to You that I can never be separated from You!

"O Lord Jesus, O immense ocean, why do You wait to absorb this little drop of water in Your immensity? My soul’s one desire is to leave myself and enter into You. Open, O Lord, open Your loving Heart to me, for I desire nothing but You and I wish to cling to You with all my being. O wonderful union! This intimacy with You is, in truth, of more value than life itself! O my Beloved, permit me to embrace You in the depths of my soul so that, united to You, I may remain there, joined to You by an indissoluble bond!" (St. Gertrude).