The love of Jesus is projected from the tabernacle on all those who come with faith to visit him. His love is like a breath of cool breeze in the hours of intense heat, like a ray of light in the cold winter days of the soul. From the tabernacle comes a powerful light that illumines our life to see the path we must follow, thus eliminating darkness and doubts.
The love of Jesus the Eucharist has no comparison with anything in this world. We can put together in one caress all the affection of fathers for their children, all the kisses that have flowed from the lips of mothers for their children throughout the centuries, or all the fire of love of all the loving hearts that have existed on earth. And all this will not even be a shadow of all that Jesus loves us. Jesus, in the tabernacle, has a heart that beats with love for us, he has eyes that look at us with love and he has ears to hear our pleas. Let us not leave him abandoned! Let us not miss so many blessings that he has in store for us!
When you enter a church and see the flickering light of the lamp, think that there is Jesus, your God, waiting for you. In the holy host is the greatest miracle in the world, a miracle that the human mind cannot comprehend, because it is a miracle of love. He has been waiting for you for two thousand years, hidden in the host, small, invisible, but the same Jesus of Nazareth. Come to Him with love and devotion like the shepherds, like the Magi, like Mary and Joseph did on that Christmas day. After Mass and Communion, the best recipe I can give you to solve your problems is: Ten minutes in the tabernacle every day!
When you need Jesus, look for him in the tabernacle of our churches, look into his eyes, thirst not to lose sight of him, thirst to stay at his feet, thirst to love him with all your heart. Do not tire of loving him day and night. At all times, raise your eyes to the nearest tabernacle. There is your friend Jesus. There is Love and Life. There is Health and Peace. How many secrets of love are enclosed there! How much light comes from the tabernacle! Jesus the Eucharist must be the center of your life, your dearest friend, your most precious treasure. In Him you will find God's tenderness.
Look at Jesus in the tabernacle and let yourself be loved by Him. Go every day to visit Him. There you will learn more than in books. Listen to his Word like the Magdalene, who was at the feet of Jesus. Put your problems and needs in his hands. Talk to him about your life, about your loved ones, about the whole world, for everything interests him. And you will feel an immense peace that nothing and no one can ever give you. He will calm your spirits and give you the strength to go on living. He will say to you as he did to Jairus: Do not be afraid, only trust in me (Mk 5:36).
How blessed are the moments spent with Jesus in the Eucharist, how they help us to grow spiritually! It is something sublime that cannot be explained. Don't miss so many treasures. Don't say you don't have time. Even if it is for a few moments, do not fail to enter, when you pass in front of a church and, if it is closed, say a few words of love to him from outside. Tell him that you love him and greet him with a smile.
In the tabernacle there is life, there is the source of life, there are streams of life, springs of life, mysterious fires of life. There is Jesus, the God of life. There you will receive the immense riches of an Almighty God, who wants to be your friend and use you to save your brothers and sisters.
Pope John Paul II said: Jesus Eucharist is the beating heart of the Church. Therefore, going to the tabernacle every day is like going to a world of infinite wonders, because you will meet Jesus, the God of Love, the God of wonders and divine surprises. Each day will have a special gift for you, even if you don't realize what it is. But, without a doubt, every day you will receive immense blessings, which you would not have received if you had missed the appointment with Jesus.
Martha said to her sister Mary: The Master is there and is calling you (Jn 11:28). Yes, Jesus is waiting for you every day and every night. Won't you have at least five minutes every day to go and visit him? How lonely Jesus is in so many tabernacles of the world, where he spends hours and hours without anyone visiting him! How few realize the enormous desire he has to be visited and loved in this Most Holy Sacrament of the altar!
So, even if time is scarce, even if you only have a few minutes, do not fail to enter every day to visit Jesus. And, if one day you cannot, make up for your visit with love; because Jesus, from the tabernacle, is asking you as he did Peter (Jn 21:15-17): Do you love me?
The more often you visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the stronger your soul will be; what sublime moments you will spend before Jesus! The red light of the lamp flickers as if it were a heart beating with love for Jesus.
Offer him all your life and love and let yourself be bathed by his blessed rays of light and love, invisible but real.
What is the sun for the physical life is the sun of the Eucharist for the spiritual life. Pope Benedict XVI, when he was a cardinal, used to say: God waits for us in Jesus Christ, present in the Blessed Sacrament. Let us not make him wait in vain! Let us not pass him by... Let us take some time during the week, let us enter as we pass by and remain for a moment before the Lord who is so close. Our churches should not be dead houses during the day, standing there empty and seemingly without any purpose. An invitation from Jesus Christ always comes from within them. The most beautiful thing about Catholic churches is precisely that in them there is always liturgy, because in them the Eucharistic presence of the Lord always remains.
The tabernacle is, in a word, the madness of an omnipotent God who wanted to live among men with a human heart. And Jesus continues to say to you from the tabernacle: Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes find delight in my ways (Prov 23:26). Jesus does not need material things, Jesus only seeks your affection and your love. How consoling and gentle are the moments spent with this God of goodness! Are you dominated by sadness? Come for a moment and lie down at his feet and you will be consoled. Are you despised by the world? Come here and you will find a friend who will never break faithfulness. Are you tempted? Here is where you will find the surest and most terrible weapons to overcome the enemy. Do you fear God's judgment? Are you oppressed by poverty? Come here, where you will find an immensely rich God, who will tell you that all his goods are yours.9 How many, in the silence of the tabernacle, have found their lost faith! How many have returned to the abandoned Catholic faith!
In your tabernacle, Lord, there is fullness of life. What are you doing there alone so many days and nights? Waiting for me? Do you love me so much? Lord, I love you and I want to love you with all my being. I offer you my love, with all the kisses and flowers of my heart.
Fr Angel Peña