Presence is a necessity of love, and the Master, who had left to his own the supreme commandment of love, could not avoid this characteristic of true friendship: the desire to be together. In order to realize this living together with us, while waiting for Heaven, he stayed in our Tabernacles. Thus he made possible those lively recommendations before his departure: Abide in Me and I in you. From now on I will no longer call you servants. I say to you: you are my friends..... Abide in my love. A deep friendship with Jesus has been growing in so many Communions, in which Christ has visited us, and on so many occasions as we have gone to see Him in the Tabernacle. There, hidden from the senses, but so clear to our faith, He waited for us; at His feet we have affirmed our best ideals, and in Him we have abandoned our worries, which on some occasions could have overwhelmed us.... The Friend understands the friend well. There, at the fountain, we have gone to drink the way to practice the virtues. And we have tried to make his strength our strength, and his vision of the world and of people, ours? If only one day we too could say, like St. Paul: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ in me!
St. Thomas affirms that the virtue of this sacrament is to bring about a certain transformation of man into Christ through love. We all have the experience that each one lives, in good part, according to what he loves. Men who are fond of study, of sport, of their profession, say that these activities are their life. Similarly, if a man seeks only his own interests, he lives for himself. And if we love Christ and unite ourselves to Him, we will live by Him and for Him, in a way that is all the more profound the deeper and truer our love is. What is more, grace shapes us from within and endures us. "Do you love the earth? -St. Augustine exclaims, "You will be earth. Do you love God? What shall I say, that you will be God? I dare not say it, but the Scripture tells you: I said: you are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High (Ps 81:6)".
We go to see Jesus hidden in the Tabernacle, and distances are annulled, and even time loses its limits before this Presence that is eternal life, seed of resurrection and pregustation of heavenly joy. It is there that the life of the Christian radiates the life of Jesus: in the midst of his work, in his habitual smile, in the way he bears adversities and sorrows, the Christian reflects Christ. He, who remains in the Tabernacle, manifests himself and makes himself present to men in the ordinary life of the Christian.
Tabernacles of silver and gold // who shelter the omnipresence // of Jesus, our treasure, // our life, our knowledge // I bless you and adore you with profound reverence.....
For two thousand years the Son of God has dwelt among men. "He in whom the Father finds ineffable delights, in whom the blessed drink an eternity of bliss! The Incarnate Word is there, in the Host, as in the time of the Apostles and the crowds of Palestine, with the infinite fullness of a capital grace, which asks only to overflow over all men to transform them into Him. We should approach this saving Word with the faith of the humble people of the Gospel, who rushed to meet Christ to touch the fringe of his garment and returned healthy". In this way, we should make it our purpose to draw near to him.