A reflection on the Body and Blood of Christ by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB
As in the garden of Gethsemane when Christ soaked up all the evil of the world and took it upon Himself, when we receive the Body of Christ and our venial sins are forgiven, Christ soaks up from us all the evil. What are we doing with that? Do we just receive Communion and go on with life? Or do we really take it as a remedy to whatever is in us that is not of God? Do we ask for the graces that will change us? After receiving the Eucharist, we should never be the same. It should have an incredible effect in us. It should change us. But we have to be attentive to it, and we have to let God build on us. God can take everything out of you that is evil: jealousy, anger, agitation, pride, envy, etc. These things continually creep up in our lives, but we can fight against them by receiving Holy Communion as often as we can. If you want to be made new, God will do it, there is no doubt. When we start paying attention to the reality of what is happening, life changes for us.
Regarding the Precious Blood of our Lord, it is very powerful to spiritually cover ourselves with His Precious Blood. The Blood of Christ is the life of Christ. What gave Him life and poured through Him we ask to be poured over us. He pours it out as a fountain that never stops, and we can drink of it fully in the spirit. This will also help transform us. So we take steps of holiness; sometimes they’re big and sometimes they’re small. What matters is that we keep taking those steps forward, and little by little God truly will make all things new.
“Suppose that there are many who bring their candles, one weighing an ounce, others two or six ounces, or a pound, or even more,…in each candle, whether large or small, is the whole light, that is to say, the heat, the color, and the flame; nevertheless you would judge that he whose candle weighs an ounce has less of the light than he whose candle weighs a pound. Now the same thing happens to those who receive this Sacrament. Each one carries his own candle, that is the holy desire, with which he receives this Sacrament, which of itself is without light, and lights it by receiving this Sacrament…You receive this Light according to the love and fiery desire with which you approach It.”
St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, A Treatise of Prayer
Click here to learn about the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano, where a consecrated host was physically changed into heart tissue.