The Eucharist is astonishing, joyful, profound, healing, encouraging. Just keep showing up.
There is no love without sacrifice. This is a lesson our culture desperately needs to learn. The problem is we've become addicted to comfort. Our love of comfort eliminates sacrifice from our lives, and there is no love without sacrifice. So our obsession with comfort is eliminating love. In a world that can be cold and harsh, violent and at times brutal, the Saints prove that our humanity has a better side. Our better side is kind and caring, compassionate and gentle. The Saints fostered this better side with spiritual disciplines and acts of loving service. These acts required personal sacrifices that can be directly linked to the cross via the Eucharist.
Maximilian Kolbe demonstrated the power of love and sacrifice in the midst of the brutality of Nazi Germany. His moment of heroic selflessness was an epic demonstration of generosity. In the face of cold indifference, it was a moment of white, hot, glowing love. In the face of stunning brutality, it was a moment of gentle surrender. Kolbe was a priest in Poland during World War II. After Germany invaded Poland, he organized a temporary hospital in the monastery where he lived with the help of a few brothers who remained. Between 1939 and 1941, they provided shelter and care for thousands of refugees who were fleeing Nazi persecution. This included hiding more than 2,000 Jewish men, women, and children from the Germans. The center of daily life at the monastery was perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Kolbe recognized the evil that was confronting the world and called for constant prayer before the Eucharist. The rise of evil led Maximilian Kolbe to place Jesus at the heart of his community. Eventually, the monastery was shut down. Maximilian Kolbe was then arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz. In July of 1941, a man escaped from the camp. The deputy commander picked 10 men to be starved to death in an underground bunker to discourage others from trying to escape. One of the men selected cried out, "My wife, my children." Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to take his place. After two weeks without food or water, Maximilian Kolbe was the only one alive. The guards killed him with a lethal injection so they could reuse the bunker. He died on the 14th of August.
The history of Christianity is paved with sacrifices large and small that echo the love of Jesus's sacrifice on the cross in every place and time. Self-denial and sacrificing for the sake of others is another rich theme that runs through the lives of the saints. Our modern times seem addicted to comfort and allergic to sacrifice. Both postures make the Christian life at least difficult and at most impossible. In order to love and love deeply, we have to be willing to give up some comfort and to take on some sacrifice. Love of comfort is a form of self-worship. Let us set aside our fixation with comfort and worship the one true God by adopting the spirit of sacrifice that Jesus embraced on the cross. Our willingness to make sacrifices for those we love is one of the ways we give weight to the words, "I love you." And where does the courage, the strength, and the grace to make life-giving sacrifices come from? From Jesus in the Eucharist.
Maximilian Colby had laid down his life in small ways for other people thousands of times before that day in Auschwitz. You and I may never find ourselves in a situation like that, but each day is filled with opportunities to take someone else's place. Each time we do, that is a holy moment. It is a Eucharistic moment. What small sacrifice are you willing to make today for somebody else? Trust, surrender, believe, receive. There is no love without sacrifice. Become a member of the International Society of the Eucharist today. We'll send you a free copy of 33 Days to Eucharistic Glory, a copy of the Children's Version, a copy of the limited-edition Journal, which includes an amazing Holy Week retreat. Click on the button below and become a member today. Have a great day and remember, be bold, be Catholic. We are people of the Eucharist.
Jesus, I believe that you are truly present in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist. Every day, I long for more of you.
I love you above all things.
And I desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot receive you
Sacramentally at this moment
I invite you to come and dwell in my heart.
May the spiritual communion
Increase my desire for the Eucharist.
You are the healer of my soul.
Take the blindness from my eyes
The deafness from my ears
The darkness from my mind
And the hardness from my heart.
Fill me with the grace, wisdom, and courage
To do your will
In all things.
My Lord and my God
Draw me close to you
Nearer than ever before.
Amen. Consecrate America to the Eucharist.
Bye-bye.
Have a great day.
Have a great day.
Have a great day.
Come on.
Have a great day.
Hey, Isabel. One simple way to be mindful of God's presence in the world is to know where the nearest tabernacle is. So while we've got a couple of minutes, I thought we might work on your geography a little.
Sounds good, Dad. You're always coming up with something.
And if I was at latitude 32.07 and longitude of negative 81.09, where would the nearest Tabernacle be?
St. Benedict, Savannah, Georgia