Monday, August 17, 2009

You truly carry Christ within you

"There is so much I still have to say to you about Christ, especially about his Incarnation for us in the Eucharist. The Word Incarnate is always there for us in the Eucharist. This overpowering mystery allows the unworthy hands of the priest to hold the same body of Christ that the Virgin Mary held in her arms and pressed to her heart. Yet it is the same Christ! The priest takes Christ in his hands and gives him to others! When you receive him, you are like the Virgin Mary during the months she carried her child. You truly carry Christ within you and want to be absorbed in profound thanksgiving. You carry him living within you! How necessary is silence so that the Holy Spirity can reveal to us the grandeur of this mystery."

-- Fr Jaques of Jesus, ocd
Cited in Père Jacques: Resplendent in Victory by Francis Murphy, SJ

3 comments:

pia49 said...

Dear Sister, Please post more of Fr Jaques of Jesus's book. His thoughts on the Eucharist are so wondrous. I had to read your excerpt four times and still I need to read it again. The reality of it brings me such joy but such a feeling of unworthiness.It really is difficult to grasp that this happens to me at Holy Communion. With prayers for you and your community and grateful thanks. pia49

Anne said...

"Like the Virgin Mary in the months she carried her child". I love that image!

ocd sister said...

Dear pia49,

I will go through what we have here to bring you more of Fr Jacques' writings on the Eucharist. Just give me a few days, as I will probably need to translate from the French (no problem with that) and the next two or three days are a bit busy. Unfortunately, there isn't much in English, but I'll post whatever I find. For today (18 August), please accept a poem he wrote.

Please pray for me.