JESUS: MY JOURNEY TO SEE HIS REAL PRESENCE

Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving: We praise you Jesus for inviting each one of us to experience your presence at this LOW retreat during the Year of Eucharist. Through the Eucharist, we are connected to your Universal Church around the world including your chosen Bishops currently meeting in Rome to celebrate the Eucharist: The Source & Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church. We trust that it is YOUR WILL to use each one of us, your humble servants, to fulfill your mission in the Church, in our families, in our marriages, in our schools, in our workplaces, & in our communities. We thank you, Holy Spirit, for calling each one of us to say YES to living the Catholic life strengthened by the Holy Eucharist. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

It is very humbling to put into words my personal journey to discover the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I struggled when preparing for my witness since how do you put words to such a holy mystery? Even though I am not worthy, JESUS makes me WORTHY and gently encouraged me when I was led to his words in Matthew 28:20...“I am with you always.”

I smile when I think about my first encounter with the Real Presence of Jesus before my first communion…being a strong willed child who wanted to be like my parents going to communion, I would walk to altar rail, cup my hands, and say….“I want community.” I look back grateful that Jesus was with me even then preparing the heart of a demanding little girl who over the years has discovered is that it is through the COMMUNITY of the teaching Church, participation in adoration, & Mary’s obedience & prayerful example that has led me to view the holy MYSTERY of the Eucharist with greater REVERENCE.

For me someone with a “Martha” tendency to serve, I realized the importance of growing my “Mary” side or reflective side & giving MY TOTAL PRESENCE to the REAL PRESENCE of Jesus shared by our Catholic Community in ADORATION. By slowing down & taking silent time to deepen my relationship with Jesus, I experience clarity of direction, hope, & peace to face daily challenges. It creates a hunger to experience the “light” of the Eucharist more frequently at mass and through adoration to comfort my anxieties & FOCUS my priorities. Most importantly, by focusing my presence with Jesus, I experience & in turn am strengthened to GIVE greater love, acceptance, strength, & patience as I look at Him and He looks back at me.

With Mary as a teacher & encourager, she showed me that for years I have prayed for focus to know God’s will for my life and that His answer was with me always but I did not LISTEN & see until I SLOWED down & invested time in building my relationship with Jesus at last spring‘s LOW retreat….It is through the Eucharist at Mass that he lovingly gives me His Eucharistic body. When I cup my hands and bow my head, I experience Mary holding HER SON who died on the cross. I place all my DREAMS, FEARS, WEAKNESSES, & LOVE on the altar & surrender my will in thanksgiving of His sacrifice & forgiveness.

Besides experiencing the real presence of Jesus at Mass and adoration, it is truly a blessing to see the face of Jesus in people we meet & in our daily circumstances.

For example -

1) I saw the presence of Jesus & placed my dreams on the altar when he challenged me to surrender to His timing vs. my timing for finding a man who would share his devotion to the Lord & encourage me to grow in holiness. It meant sacrifice & embracing my singleness as my calling for the moment. This surrender moment took place for me when I took a vacation with only Jesus as my companion to Washington. I was in awe of a beautiful sunset over Lake Crescent which moved me to my knees at the same level of the blooming daffodils in spring. I was moved by God‘s goodness & beauty in nature & thanked the Lord for my singleness & accepted how he called me to a greater plan to serve him…to share my love with the homeless when my love & giving heart was too overwhelming for my other relationships in the past. On my knees, I felt the wind of the Holy Spirit & a silent whisper saying, “Trust me.“ It seems that just when I am getting comfortable, Jesus challenges me to push my comfort zone. This time, he asked me to move away from my church, my family, friends, & a ministry I felt called to…..I found myself moving here to Crystal Lake. However, Jesus did not forget the dream buried in my heart that I sacrificed at the altar and in his steadfast love & perfect timing led to meeting Jerry, my loving husband, at Theology on Tap, a gathering for Young Adult Catholics who want to learn more about their Catholic faith.

As a couple, Jerry & I felt the presence of Jesus & the Holy Spirit on the day of our engagement marked by the mysterious glow of a white dove in the snow in February and as we received the Eucharist on our wedding day acknowledging that we were now THREE in our marriage.

2) I saw the presence of Jesus with his Mother, as Woman of the Eucharist, as I surrender to the altar my desire for motherhood. It was a year ago that I was healed of a fearful heart by the Holy Spirit when I was called to noon mass at Marytown in Libertyville. The priest shared how blessed we are that we are all connected with Mary and her obedience when we receive the Eucharist. For when we partake in the Eucharist, we too are carrying the living Jesus in each of bodies & called as a community to go forth & be Jesus’ hands, feet, & heart to serve others.

With Jesus’ present in me, I am strengthened to accept God’s will who wants me for the moment to share him in the workplace through my servant leadership, encouraging a community of prayer to celebrate the National Day of Prayer in various global locations, and learn from our personal testimonies & service as part of a lunchtime Christian Unity prayer group. So, thanks to the Grace of God, I do experience the miracle of motherhood each time I receive the Eucharist with a reconciled heart.

3) I saw the real, healing presence of Jesus by the transforming sacrifice of the Eucharist, God’s grace, & the community of prayers that strengthened me to face a recent FEAR over the past month with an intraductal Papilloma found in my right breast which resulted in being benign.

4) I smile at the real presence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit who gently invites me back when my busyness takes time away from quiet conversation to invest in my most important relationship, Jesus. For example, one time, Jerry and I walked out of our room at a B&B and I felt Jesus’ inviting presence when on the wall directly outside our room was a sign….CHAPEL with an arrow leading us to the left. He was calling us to quiet, prayerful time since he desires to grow our relationship with each one of us. I am grateful that Jesus has given me Jerry as a daily reflection of His love for me. Jesus used Jerry as my role model to draw out my reflective side. I also saw Jesus’ invitation to say YES when Jerry brings home a flyer from Health Bridge not only to take a metabolism class at health club but to wake up and be there by 6:15 am. I feel Jesus’ presence when Jerry says he will be there by my side to take the class together.

Lastly, Jesus taught ME the importance of being PRESENT in relationships with family and friends…by listening, encouraging dreams, & walking by one’s side in times of struggle & loss. By using prayers and the rosary vs. words to change hearts.

Today’s meditation in the “Word among you” summarizes best the presence of Jesus with us everyday.

-The Word Among You: St. Francis of Assisi (Pg 36)

Jesus’ generosity is unlimited. He gives himself to us entirely in the Eucharist, not once only, but every day. Thousands of times a day at liturgies celebrated all around the world, “he humbles himself just as he did when he came from his heavenly throne into the Virgin’s womb; every day he comes to us and lets us see him in lowliness, when he descends from the bosom of the Father into the hands of the priest at the altar” (St. Francis of Assisi).

In the words of Pope John Paul II the Great, “Once we have truly met the Risen One by partaking of his body and blood, we cannot keep to ourselves the joy we have experienced….For the Eucharist is the mode of being which passes from Jesus into each Christian, through whose testimony it is meant to spread throughout the society and culture.”

This is our calling….To honor Jesus is to go out into the world to TEACH in our uniqueness as he taught, SHARE HIS PRESENCE since he is with us always, and LOVE as he loved.

As we prepare for the Eucharist , we can give thanks to Jesus by REFLECTING & putting a VOICE to our personal experiences of the mystery of the Eucharist & how it continues to transform lives.

How is he inviting you? What dreams, fears, weaknesses, & love is he asking you to place at the altar when we hear the words….

Take this, all of you, and eat it: This is my body which will be given up for you. Then he took the cup of wine and said to them: Take this all of you and drink from it: This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all, so that sins may be forgiven….DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.

It is through our WITNESS & daily ACTION strengthened by the Eucharist that shares a powerful message to those who have questions & seek answers of the Catholic Church. Jesus thanks you for taking this personal responsibility IN UNION with the church to REBUILD the church by attending this LOW retreat. Unity is essential to any victory. Jesus gives us that victory of unity & community (as I desired as a child) in the gift of the Eucharist.

Word Among You - Year of Eucharist (Page 36)

One year ago, Pope John Paul II initiated the Year of the Eucharist, extending from October 17, 2004, to October 16, 2005. Although this special year comes to a close today, let’s never stop giving thanks to God for this sacrament of love. When you receive Communion today, tell Jesus that you love him and that you want more of him. And then stand back and watch what happens!