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Blessed Virgin Mary, devoutness, Eucharist, holiness, Mother of God, prostration, sacrament, worthiness
This is the last of thirteen posts from Venerable Mother Mary of Agreda’s ‘The Mystical City of God’ Book II of the Transfixion.
In the previous installment Our Heavenly Queen stressed the importance of receiving Our Lord worthily and devoutly and mentioned that many communicants receive the Lord without the proper intentions.
In this communication the Blessed Virgin Mary focusses on the reverence, fear and humility that Catholics must show when receiving the Holy Eucharist.
We also learn of some of the great heavenly treasures that are in store for those who show great love toward the Holy Eucharist during this mortal life (our earthly test).
491. Though all the children of the Church largely incur this fault, yet more to be blamed are the unworthy and wicked priests; for by the irreverence with which they treat the blessed Sacrament the other Catholics have been drawn to undervalue it.
We should pray for our priests so that they may grow in holiness. And, we should pray especially for those clerics and religious who contend with great, but unknown to us, spiritual battles. May the Lord give them the graces and strength to win the race and save many souls in the process.
If the people see that their priests approach the divine mysteries with holy fear and trembling, they learn to treat and receive their God in like manner.
Those that so honor Him shall shine in heaven like the sun among the stars; for the glory of my Divine Son’s humanity will redound in a special measure in those who have behaved well toward Him in the Blessed Sacrament and have received Him with all reverence; whereas this will not happen to those who have not frequented this holy table with devotion.
Moreover the devout will bear on their breast, where they have so often harbored the Holy Eucharist, most beautiful and resplendent inscriptions, showing that they were most worthy tabernacles of the Holy Sacrament.
This will be a great accidental reward for them and a source of jubilation and admiration for the holy angels and all the rest of the blessed.
They will also enjoy the special favor of being able to penetrate deeper into the mystery of the presence of the Lord in the sacrament and to understand all the rest of the wonders hidden therein.
This will be such a privilege that it alone would suffice for their eternal happiness, even if there were no other enjoyment in heaven. Moreover, the essential glory of those, who have worthily and devoutly received the Holy Eucharist, will in several respects exceed the glory of many martyrs who have not received the body and blood of the Lord.
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492. I wish thee also to hear, my dearest daughter, from my own mouth, what were my sentiments when in mortal life I was about to receive Holy Communion.
In order that thou mayest better understand what I say, reflect on all I have commanded thee to write about my gifts, merits and labors in life.
I was preserved from original sin and,
at the instant of my Conception, I received the knowledge and vision of the Divinity, as thou hast often recorded.
I knew more than all the saints;
I surpassed the highest seraphim in love;
I never committed any fault;
I constantly practiced all the virtues in a heroic degree and
in the least of them I was greater than all the saints in their highest perfection;
the intention and object of my actions were most exalted and
my habits and gifts were noble without measure;
I imitated my most Holy Son most closely;
I labored most faithfully;
I suffered with eagerness and
co-operated with the doings of the Lord exactly as was becoming to me;
I ceased not to exercise my love and gain new and supereminent merits of grace.
Yet
I thought myself to have been fully repaid by being allowed to receive Him even once in the Holy Eucharist;
yea,
I did not consider myself worthy of this one favor.
Ponder: The Blessed Virgin Mother did not consider herself worthy of receiving the Holy Eucharist even once!
Reflect then what should be thy sentiments, and those of the rest of the children of Adam, on being admitted to the reception of this admirable Sacrament.
And if for the greatest of saints one Holy Communion is a superabundant reward, what must the priests and the faithful think, when they are allowed to receive It so frequently?
Open thy eyes in the deep darkness and blindness which overwhelm men around thee, and raise them up to the divine brightness in order to understand these mysteries.
Look upon all thy works as insufficient,
all thy sufferings as most insignificant,
all thy thanksgiving as falling far short of what thou owest for such an exquisite blessing as that of possessing in the Holy Church, my divine Son, present in the Holy Sacrament in order to enrich all the faithful.
If thou has not wherewith to show thy thanks for this and the other blessings which thou receivest, at least humiliate thyself to the dust and remain prostrate upon it; confess thyself unworthy in all the sincerity of thy heart.
Magnify the Most High, bless and praise Him, preserving thyself at all times worthy to receive Him and to suffer many martyrdoms in return for such a favor.
Related articles
- Eucharist, our Thanksgiving (padrerichard.wordpress.com)
- Establishment of the Holy Eucharist Part 1 of 13 (credointhecommunionofsaints.wordpress.com)
- Establishment of the Holy Eucharist Part 12 of 13 (credointhecommunionofsaints.wordpress.com)