Monthly Devotion & Holy Thursday

Ubi caritas et amor Deus ibi est
Where charity and love are, there is God

The Lord again presents us today with a timing that causes contemplation. Today being both Holy Thursday and April 1, the month whose devotion is dedicated to the Most Holy Eucharist. The True Presence of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist is a devotion which swells in our hearts today as we celebrate both the Institution of the Eucharist and the conferral of the Holy Priesthood. 

There is infinite subject matter to speak of concerning both Sacraments which our Lord gave His Church on Holy Thursday; yet sometimes when it comes to speaking about the great love which these Sacraments show forth, one is simply left in awe of the sublime mysteries. 

"Let the faithful be taught about the love with which Christ our Lord 'on the day before He suffered' instituted the sacred and holy Eucharist, Sacrifice and Sacrament, the perpetual memorial of His Passion, to be offered day by day through the ministry of His priests." - From the General Decree of 1955 restoring the liturgy of Holy Week (Maxima Redemptionis). 

Love: this is the key theme, the essential action which God (and His Church) wishes for His children to understand and experience in the Holy Eucharist. Love compelled God to humble Himself under the appearance of Bread so that He could remain with us until the consummation of the world. When we look at the Sacred Host, it is His love for us that God wishes us to be reminded of- the Love that underwent the Passion which we are about to commemorate in order to be wholly Present in the Blessed Sacrament - a Love that cost the shedding of Blood, an unfathomable amount of suffering, and ultimately the life of the Son of God. 

Love, too, God wishes us to find in the Holy Priesthood, for without priests, we cannot have the Eucharist. It is through the priest that Christ continues to live, act, and re-present the sacrifice of Calvary to the Father. It is through the priest that we are reminded of Christ's continual self-offering and victimhood. Where the priest is, so too is Christ. 

Let our hearts be filled, then, with the love of God and for God. Let our souls rejoice in His continually presence. Let out voice resound in thanksgiving for the heavenly gifts He has bestowed upon us. Let us begin this monthly devotion in the most perfect way by walking with Christ through His Passion and death through participation in the Sacred Triduum. 

Thank Him. Thank Him for the greatest gift - Himself - in the Holy Eucharist. Thank Him for the gift of the Holy Priesthood. Pray for priests, especially those who celebrate the Sacred Triduum in order that Christ's passion may be ever present to you. Pray that God may grant to all priests a renewal of the fervor and commitment they had on the day of their ordination. 

O Jesus, Eternal High Priest, ever-present in the Holy Eucharist, have mercy on us!