We
should understand that the priests are people like ourselves and that
they need to be understood, to be cared for. They need affection and
attention from us because they are giving their life to each one of us,
as Jesus did, by being consecrated to Him.
The
Lord wants the people of the flock that God has entrusted to the priest
to pray and help in his sanctification. Someday, when we are on the
other side, we will understand the marvels that the Lord has done,
giving us priests who help us to save our souls.
The
people began to leave their pews on their way to Communion.
The great moment of the encounter had arrived. The Lord said to
me: “Wait
a moment; I want you to observe something...” An interior
impulse made me raise my eyes towards the person who was going to
receive Communion on the tongue from the hands of the priest.
I
should clarify that this person was one of the ladies from our group who
the previous night was unable to go to confession, but this morning was
able to do so before the Holy Mass. When the Priest placed the Sacred
Host on her tongue, a flash of light, like a very golden white light,
went right through this person, first through her back, then surrounding
her from the back, around her shoulders, and then her head. The Lord
said:
“This
is how I Myself rejoice in embracing a soul who comes with a clean heart
to receive Me.” The tone of
voice of Jesus was that of a happy person.
I
was astonished to see my friend return to her pew surrounded by light,
embraced by the Lord. I thought of the marvel that we miss so many times
by going to receive Jesus with our small or large offences, when it
should be a feast.
Many
times we say that there are no priests to whom to go to confess at any
given moment. But the problem is not about confessing at each moment,
but the problem resides in our ease of falling into evil again.
On the other hand, in the same way that we make an effort to
search for a beauty parlor, or men search for a barber when we have a
party, we have to also make an effort to seek a priest when we need to
remove all that dirt from ourselves. We must not have the audacity to
receive Jesus at any moment with our hearts full of ugly things.
When
I went to receive communion, Jesus told me: “The
Last Supper was the moment of the greatest intimacy with My own.
During that hour of love, I established what could be thought of
as the greatest act of lunacy in the eyes of men, that of making Myself
a prisoner of Love. I established the Eucharist.
I wanted to remain with you until the end of the centuries
because My Love could not bear that you remained orphans, you whom I
loved more than My life.”
I
received that Host which had a different flavor. It was a mixture of
blood and incense that inundated me entirely. I felt so much love that
the tears ran down my cheeks without me being able to stop them.
When
I returned to my seat, while kneeling down, the Lord said: “Listen...”
A moment later, I began to hear the prayers of the lady who was seated
in front of me and who had just received communion.
What
she said, without opening her mouth, was more or less like this: “Lord, remember that we are at the end of
the month, and I do not have
the money to pay the rent, the car payments, nor the children's school.
You have to do something to help me... Please, make my husband stop
drinking so much. I cannot bear any more his being intoxicated so often,
and my youngest son is going to repeat the year again, if you do not
help him. He has exams this week... And do not forget our neighbor who
must move. Let her do it right away.
I cannot stand her anymore, etc., etc.”
Then
the Archbishop said: “Let
us pray,”
and obviously all the congregation stood up for the final
prayer. Jesus said in a sad tone: “Did
you take note of her prayer? Not a single time did she tell Me that she
loves Me. Not a single time
did she thank Me for the gift that I have given her by bringing down My
Divinity to her poor humanity, in order to elevate her to Me. Not a
single time has she said: thank You, Lord. It has been a litany of
requests, and so are almost all of those who come to receive Me.”
“I
have died for love, and I am risen. For love I await each one of you,
and for love I remain with you... But you do not realize that I need
your love. Remember that I am the Beggar of Love in this sublime hour
for the soul.”
Do
you all realize that He, Love, is begging for our love, and we do not
give it to Him? Moreover, we avoid going to that encounter with the Love
of Loves, with the only love who gives of itself in a permanent
oblation.
When
the celebrant was going to give the blessing,
the Holy Virgin said: “Be
attentive, take care... You do any old sign instead of the Sign of the
Cross. Remember that this blessing could be the last one that you will
receive from hands of a priest. You do not know when, leaving here, if
you will die or not. You do not know if you will have the opportunity to
receive a blessing from another priest. Those consecrated hands are
giving you the blessing in the Name of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, make
the Sign of the Cross with respect, as if it was the last one of your
life.”
How
much we miss in not understanding and not participating every day at the
Holy Mass! Why not make an effort to begin the day a half hour earlier
and run to the Holy Mass and receive all the blessings that the Lord
wants to pour over us?
I
am aware that, because of their obligations, not everybody can attend
daily Mass, but at least two or three times a week. So many avoid Mass
on Sundays with the smallest excuse, that they have a child, or two, or
ten, and, therefore, they cannot attend Mass.
How do people manage when they have other important types of
commitments? They take all the children, or take turns and the husband
goes at one hour and the wife another, but they carry out their duty to
God.
We
have time to study, to work, to entertain, to rest, but WE DO NOT HAVE
TIME, AT LEAST ON SUNDAY, TO GO TO THE HOLY MASS.
Jesus
asked me to remain with Him a few minutes more after Mass had finished.
He said: “Do
not leave in a hurry after Mass is over. Stay a moment in My company and
enjoy it, and let Me enjoy yours...”
As
a child, I had heard someone say that the Lord remained with us for five
or ten minutes, after Communion. I asked Him at this moment:
“Lord,
truly, how much time do You stay with us after Communion?”
I
suppose that the Lord must have laughed at my silliness, because He
answered: “All the time that you want to have Me with
you. If you speak to Me all day long, offering Me some words during your
chores, I will listen to you. I am always with you. It is you who leaves
Me. You leave the Mass, and the day of obligation ends. You kept the day
of the Lord, and it is now finished for you. You do not think that I
would like to share your family life with you, at least that day.”
“In
your homes, you have a place for everything and a room for each
activity: a room to sleep, another to cook, another to eat, etc. Which
place have you made for Me? It should not be a place where you only have
an image, which collects dust all the time, but a place where at least
five minutes a day the family meets to give thanks for the day and for
the gift of life, to ask for their needs of the day, to ask for
blessings, protection, health. Everything has a place in your homes,
except Me.”
“Men
plan their day, their week, their semester, their vacations, etc. They
know what day they are going to rest, what day they will go to the
movies or to a party, or visit grandmother or the grandchildren, the
children, their friends, and to their amusements.
How many families say at least once a month: `This is the day for
our turn to go and visit Jesus in the Tabernacle,' and the whole family
comes to talk to M<%18>e<%0>? How many sit down in front of
Me and have a conversation with Me, telling Me how it has been since the
last time, telling Me their problems, the difficulties they have, asking
Me about what they need, making Me part of these things? How many times?
“I
know everything. I read even the deepest secrets of your hearts and
minds. But
I enjoy your telling Me about your life, your letting Me participate as
a family member, as your most intimate friend. Oh, how many graces does
man lose by not giving Me a place in his life!”
When
I remained with Him that day and on many other days, He continued to
give us teachings. Today I want to share with you this mission that He
has entrusted to me. Jesus
said:
“I
wanted to save My creature, because the moment of opening the door to
Heaven has been impregnated with too much pain...”
“Remember that not even one mother has fed her child with her
own flesh. I have gone to that extreme of Love to communicate My merits
to all of you.
“The
Holy Mass is Myself prolonging My life and My sacrifice on the Cross
among you. Without the merits of My life and My Blood, what do you have
with which to come before the Father? Nothing, misery and sin...
“You
should exceed in virtue the angels and archangels, because they do not
have the joy of receiving Me as nourishment like you do. They drink a
drop from the spring, but you that have the grace of receiving Me, you
have the whole ocean to drink.”
The
other thing that the Lord spoke about with pain concerned
people who encounter Him out of habit, of those who have lost their awe
of each encounter with Him. That routine turns some people so lukewarm
that they have nothing new to tell Jesus when they receive Him. He also
said that there were so many consecrated souls who lose their enthusiasm
of falling in love with the Lord, and have made their vocation an
occupation, a profession to which nothing more is given, except that
which is demanded of one, but without feeling...
Then
the Lord spoke to me about
the fruits that must come from each Communion that we take.
It does happen that there are people who receive the Lord
daily but do not change their lives. They spend many hours in prayer and
do many works, etc., but their life does not go on transforming, and a
life that does not transform cannot bear true fruits for the Lord. The
merits we receive in the Eucharist should bear the fruits of conversion
in us and fruits of charity toward our brothers and sisters.
We
the laity have a very important role in our Church. We do not have the
right to be silent, because the Lord has sent us out, as all the
baptized, to go forth and announce
the Good News. We do not have the right to absorb all this
knowledge and not share it with others, and to allow our brothers to die
of hunger when we have so much bread in our hands.
We
cannot watch our Church crumble as we stay comfortable in our parishes
and homes, receiving and receiving so much from the Lord: His Word, the
homilies of the priests, the pilgrimages, the Mercy of God in the
Sacrament of Reconciliation, the marvelous union with the nourishment of
Communion, the talks of preachers.
In
other words, we are receiving so much and we do not have the courage to
leave our comfort zone and go to a jail, to a correctional institution,
to speak to the neediest. To go and tell them not to give up, that
they were born Catholic and that their Church needs them there,
suffering, because their suffering will serve to redeem others, because
that sacrifice will gain for them eternal life.
We
are not capable of going where the terminally ill are in the hospitals,
and by praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, helping them with our prayers
during that time of struggle between good and evil to free them from the
snares and temptations of the devil. Every dying person has fear, and
just taking their hand and talking to them about the love of God and the
marvel that awaits them in Heaven next to Jesus and Mary, next to their
departed ones, gives them comfort.
The
hour in which we currently live does not allow us to be indifferent. We
must be an extension of the hands of our priests and go where they
cannot reach. But for this, we need courage. We must receive Jesus, live
with Jesus, nourish ourselves with Jesus.
We
are afraid to commit ourselves a little more, and when the Lord says, “First
seek the Kingdom of God, and the rest will be added onto you,”
He says it all, brothers and sisters. It means to seek the Kingdom of
God, by all possible means and with all means, and to open your hands in
order to receive EVERYTHING in addition! This is because He is the
Master Who pays the best, the only One Who is attentive to your smallest
needs.
Brothers,
sisters, thank you for allowing me to carry out the mission that was
entrusted to me, that of having these pages reach you.
The next time you attend Holy Mass, live it. I know the
Lord will fulfill for you His promise that “your Mass will never again
be the same.” And when you receive Him, love Him!
Experience
the sweetness of feeling yourself resting against the folds of His side,
pierced for you in order to leave you His Church and His Mother, to open
for you the doors to His Father's House. Experience this so that you are
able to feel for yourself His Merciful Love by means of this testimony,
and try to reciprocate with your childlike love.
May
God bless you this Easter.
Your
sister in the Living Jesus,
Catalina Rivas. Cochabamba. Bolivia.
Lay Missionary of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
Copyright © 2004 by The Great Crusade of Love
and Mercy.
Lay Missionary of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus