First Holy Communion (1st in series of 3)...

 "If angels could be jealous of men, they would 

be so for one reason: Holy Communion."

 St Maximilian Kolbe

  

In the spring of 1891, when Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity was

almost eleven years old she made her First Communion. Sensitive

by nature, especially to things sacred, she was profoundly affected

by her first reception of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Tears of joy were seen to run down the young girl's face after 

her Communion.   Upon leaving the church, she said to a close friend,

 

"I'm no longer hungry.  Jesus has fed me."

On the afternoon of her First Communion, Elizabeth also encountered the prioress of the Carmel of Dijon for the first time.  The prioress, upon learning the name of the child, explained that "Elizabeth" means "house of God."  A few days later, she would send this same message to Elizabeth, writing on the back of a holy card:

"Your blessed name hides a mystery, 

accomplished on this great day. 

Child, your heart is the House of God on earth, 

of the God of love."

This theme of being the "house of God," then, was at first closely associated with the mystery of the Eucharist in the mind of Elizabeth. In a poem that she would later write to commemorate the seventh anniversary of her First Communion,  she meditates upon the day:

 

"When Jesus made in me His dwelling place, 

When God took possession of my heart, 

So well that since that hour, 

Since that mysterious colloquy, 

That divine and delicious meeting, 

I have aspired to nothing else but to give my life

In order to return a bit of His great love

To the Beloved of the Eucharist

Who reposed in my feeble heart, 

Inundating it with all of His favors."

Elizabeth once wrote the following words to a friend

who had just made her First Communion: 

"If He came this morning into your little heart, 
it was not to pass through it and go away, 
but to remain there always."

Excerpt from article, The Saint of the Divine Indwelling

by Fr. Gregory Ross, O.C.D., S.T.L.

 

Painting: After the First Holy Communion ~ Carlo F Smith (1892)

Photo: St Elizabeth of the Trinity

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Do you remember/can you figure out 

your First Holy Communion date? 

 

Do HEARTILY celebrate it!

 

Transformed!...

  "If you could only understand 

the value of one Holy Communion! 

A single Communion should 

make us other Christs!"

 St Madeleine Sophie Barat

 

 "I am espoused to Him 

Whom the Angels serve,

at Whose beauty 

the sun and the moon wonder.

Already is His Flesh united to mine

and His Blood glows in my cheeks."

Saint Agnes 

When more is more...

"The more you will love Him ...

the more He will delight you." 

St Angela of Foligno (+1309)

 

 

"My burdens were lightened

or completely lifted

whenever I came to the tabernacle."

Bl. Margaret Ebner (+1351)

Dominicn nun

The mystery of love...

"Jesus (in the Blessed Sacrament) is such a sweet, 

irresistible Lover; how can one fail to love Him with 

one's whole heart and soul?  How can one not wish 

to be wholly absorbed in Him, and consumed in the 

flames of His holy love?" - St Gemma Galgani

godongphoto | Shutterstock

“The Mystery of Love” 

by Archbishop Alban Goodier

You loved me from all eternity, 

therefore You created me.

You loved me after You had made me,

therefore You became man for me. 

You loved me after You became man for me, 

therefore You lived and died for me.

You loved me after You had died for me, 

therefore You rose again for me.

You loved me after You had risen for me, 

therefore You went to prepare a place for me. 

You loved me after You had gone to prepare 

a place for me, therefore You came back to me. 

You loved me after You came back to me, 

therefore You desired to enter into me and be united to me. 

This is the meaning of the Blessed Sacrament. 

The mystery of love. 

_______________________________

"We become what we love and who we love shapes 

what we become." - St Claire of Assisi

After the great and wonderful prayers...

  No one can lay a foundation other than the one 

that is there, namely, Jesus Christ, alleluia. 

 I Cor 3:11 (Today’s Communion Antiphon)

"You shall see the Levites bringing loaves 
and a cup of wine, and placing them on the table. 
So long as the prayers of supplication and entreaties 
have not been made, there is only bread and wine. 
But after the great and wonderful prayers have 

been completed, then the bread is become the Body, 

and the wine the Blood, of our Lord Jesus Christ.

'And again:'  Let us approach the celebration 

of the mysteries. This bread and this wine, 

so long as the prayers and supplications have 

not taken place, remain simply what they are. 

But after the great prayers and holy 
supplications have been sent forth, the 

Word comes down into the bread and wine 

- and thus His Body is confected." 

-"Sermon to the Newly Baptized" - ante 373 A.D.

St Athanasius

Alexandria ~ c. 297-373

Bishop and Doctor of the Church

 "The Father of Orthodoxy"

Battled against Arianism*  

(*heresy that denies divinity of Christ)

Feast Day - May 2

“You will not see anyone who is really striving after 
his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading.  
And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon 
be observed by his progress."  - St Athanasius

Click here: Athanasius Contra Mundum: The Courage to Act Alone - Crisis Magazine 

St. Athanasius - YouTube 

Click here: SAINTS SPEAK: St. Athanasius (Holy Repentance) - YouTube (4 mins)

St Athanasius, pray for us!

Picture above: Girl Reading by Candlelight ~ Maedchen