Sr Mary Grace Langrell, SV — Eucharistic Intimacy: Letting Love Conquer Your Heart

we continue with the patronage today of St John Paul II on his feast day and in his beautiful encyclical in the Holy Eucharist he described what would be a proper introduction for our second talk this morning St John Paul II said the worship of the Eucharist outside of mass is an of inestimable value for the life of the church it's Pleasant to spend time with him to lie close to his breast like the Beloved disciple and to feel the infinite love present in his heart if in our time Christians must be distinguished Above All by the art of prayer he said how can we not feel A Renewed need to spend time in spiritual conversation in silent adoration in heartfelt love before Christ present for us in the Most Blessed Sacrament with that thought mind about the infinite love present in Jesus's heart it's my pleasure to introduce Sister Mary Grace langrell of the sisters of life she grew up on the shores of Sydney Australia after World youth day 15 years ago in her hometown after serving for a while in campus ministry she was captivated by the beauty of each human life and felt compelled to give her life to protect it through serving vulnerable pregnant women in their precious unborn children she entered the sisters of Life 10 years ago and has served in various places in New York Canada and Colorado she now directs the evangelization mission of the sisters two months ago on August 5th at St Patrick's Cathedral she made her final vows and we congratulate her for that and thank her for that witness from personal experience serving the sisters for seven years as a daily mass chaplain I can tell you that the schedule of the Cy of life is intensely Eucharistic and therefore what Sister Mary Grace will be speaking about today not only has Apostolic but autobiographical content her talk is entitled Eucharistic intimacy letting love conquer your heart please join me in welcoming Sister Mary Grace well thank you Father Landry it's a yeah I had paper I don't have an iPad it's a gift to be with you all it's a gift especially um to have our sisters here together it's uh such a joy I'm just going to bring this really nice and close Okay well I wanted oh that's nice I want to start with the story story uh about the time that I believe that I survived spring break in New York City I led a a trip for a group of college students about 25 of them that came to New York City and it was one of the most daunting uh and exciting experiences of my life I became an instant mom of 25 women overnight it was amazing we spent the entire week together in New York City we woke up at the crack of dawn hours of City traffic together serving in our missions but there was a point in our trip where everything changed gears it was about Midway through and we were all exhausted and really kind of getting to know each other they came to serve but what they found was the mighty work of God was doing far closer in their hearts in their own Hearts God was moving mountains bringing light to obstacles lies and temptations that once held them back from the believing the truths that we take so easily for ourselves truths like your gift your life is sacred no matter what you've done or struggled or failed to do your plans or detours that God has sent his son to heal and restore us to life so here we were mid midweek uh conveying these truths to women that we were serving and we arrived back to our accommodation late one night to a monastery behind 20ft walls in the right in the middle of Brooklyn so it was totally silent and this bustling City we unloaded our buses and everyone was estatic we went into the dining room uh and as sisters we like to say we were tired but inspired and piling into the small dining room I decided to just go over the next day's schedule when I felt moved to end the day with what I would just consider a song of Praise what I didn't expect was what happened next we started singing and one by one each of these young women started to stand up and thank God out loud for the Wonders that he was doing in their hearts that week Jesus I thank you for surprising me for for opening my heart and Trust for meeting me where I am they went on Jesus I thank you for coming to me in my loneliness for healing my anxiety and giving me New Hope and it went on and on and as each of these women expressed uh and spoke of their W what they witnessed in their own hearts and the joy and freedom they're receiving about God's plans unfolding in their life that week the Clapping got louder the voices got higher and some women are even free enough to start dancing and then suddenly there was a pounding on the door I went out there and there was a priest this chaplain that lived there was ministering to the cled sisters he was fully vested and had just come out of a liturgy I was absolutely horrified and I thought oh my God we've woken the nuns I said we're going to get kicked out of all people we should know better so I blur it out before even giving him a chance to speak I said father father I promise we're praying I said these women inside that room room they're receiving so much grace they can't contain it we're thanking and we're praising God for all that he's done in this week and then I saw something I'll never forget father's face went from this concerned look into a wide smile and his hand went from a hushing over his mouth to The Stance of a blessing and all he said was I bless you in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit now I can only imagine what he told the nuns upstairs that night turns out they were praying night prayer and they could feel the floor beneath them moving and all I know is that next year when we asked them if we could stay there again they made us sign a contract that we keep silence at nighttime there is nothing that moves the Father's Heart more than when you receive his love there is nothing that moves the Father's Heart more than when you re receive his love God sees you now God has always seen you in fact he's never taken his hand of mercy and his hand of blessing away from your life and when we receive his love no matter how obvious or mysterious it is in our lives our sight is recovered the kingdom is restored and we begin to see clearly again and it reminded me of the martyrs you know men and women that did kind of the unthinkable for the faith right what was going on in their hearts that made them so brave what were they receiving that allowed them to be so giving or rather who has conquered their hearts that made them unconquerable to the world and the worst of it and this is just what I want to talk a little bit about with you today is the motive of every M because looking at these men and women that walk this soil that we're walking on today and reflecting on our own stories of Salvation there's only one reason this can be true and that's Jesus is Alive and his love makes these things possible St Shan Paul II said that Saints aren't those who conquered the world Saints are those that let Christ conquer their hearts the same Jesus that conquered these martys comes to you and me Eucharistic intimacy is not reserved for few lucky blessed ones it's the original plan of God's goal for your life you know to be with us in you for you and and always with us you know we heard yesterday when Patrick Kelly was talking about the high percentage of anxiety in the world you know we know that 80% of our youth feel lonely and half of our young adults feel unloved we're plagued with a loneliness that threatens Our Hope and it's not just a Health crisis we're talking about our hearts we're talking about our hearts that we were made for God and don't we know it you know intimacy with God is the antidote to this so let us not treat ourselves cheaply you and I whatever we whatever state we find ourselves in this moment today are called to the Heights and the depths of this love so just ask you to um pray with me now Jesus we just ask you to open our hearts as we speak together Jesus you know what we need to hear today and we just ask you to send your Holy Spirit now open our hearts help us to receive what you want us to receive we give you permission to come on this sacred soil we give you permission to enter into this Coliseum in Jesus we give you permission to enter our hearts we turn them to you as we sing Come Lord Jesus come come Lord [Music] Jesus [Music] come come Lord [Music] Jesus come amen so we're just going to take three points on what this Eucharistic intimacy can look like one it's about letting love take us to the heights two letting love me Us in the depths and three letting Jesus restore our sight so we have a regular event in New York City that we call The Source uh and we open the doors of St Patrick's Cathedral onto steps that literally burst out into one of the busiest streets of the world Fifth Avenue we don't do much other than expose Jesus on the bless in the Blessed Sacrament on the altar which is the proof and pledge of God's love for us and we invite strangers in so you can picture the scene you know sisters are approaching strangers passes by on Fifth Avenue they're standing outside money exchange and Victoria Secret it's quite the sight and one night uh I approached this one woman she's probably middle-aged as she stred down the path high heels and shopping bags in hand and I just said to her would you like to come inside and sharing with me that she she actually does often come inside to light candles we stood at the rear of the church as Jesus was coming out into the monstrance and she Lent over to me in wonder and said wow sister what Relic is that I stunned not sure quite actually what to say next I said CLA that's that that's no Relic I was like that's that's Jesus my faith got suddenly very simpler I said that Circle contains God he's alive and he's here he's no past particle and reacting appropriately she nearly fell over and then she said to me why is he here why did he come to this Cathedral why did he come to that altar why tonight I was so moved I was like good question not sure how to answer I just said I think he came for you and without even a second passing she said excuse me sister I'm gone front row beautiful but sometimes I think we can settle for lighting a small candle of faith when the Blazing furnace of Love is pouring out on every altar in the Eucharist every altar he's here for you God's love is universal but he's radically personal radically personal and from his point of view he's got his Gaze on you his mind is set on you when he comes out and when we experience this or it remains hidden to us Faith turns our eyes back in the direction that it was created for this father that sees you and we take rest in the reality of his love without measure and poured out this is God's will for our life that you and I know and receive the gift of his love and not just get it but live in it a constant encounter our church teaches that the Eucharist has our entire spirit spiritual wealth in Christ and in every communion we receive Jesus and in letting him love us we let his mission move good news to our poor Hearts release where we're captive recovering sight where we're blind and Liberty to all our oppressions intimacy with God is Not optional and it's not reserved for the martyrs it's the whole point of your life to be seen by God and to know his love and live in the sight of it you know I wasn't always aware of this truth I'm the second oldest in my family but I kind of lived growing up like I was the first you know um I'm no genius but I sure can try hard and with all my effort I was able to achieve a lot in my life at school we had um an annual academic Awards night and I never got an award for academic Excellence but every year managed to get what we call the effort award I was a professional tryhard and this was the same in sport too you know I was Sports captain of and champion of about every sport I went in I was all in and got to serve my school as Vice Captain I was used to calling the shots and being in control I led but I was leading by winning and unaware to myself at the time I was in deep need of God's saving love but I was ignorant of my need for rescuing and there's two moments in my life where an encounter with the Eucharist changed the trajectory moments when my way of dealing with my stuff no longer worked it wasn't enough and everything got turned upside down the first moment was when I encountered Christ in the core of my heart in Eucharistic adoration God revealed me revealed to me the heights of the love that he was calling me to and second was also in adoration 3 years after I tragically lost the life of my little sister and best friend God revealed The Depths to which he was wanting to meet me in the amazing truth is that God was the first one who had the idea of your life before your parents thought of you before your family looked forward to you you were God's idea first and he designed desired that you be he loved the idea of you and in loving that idea you came to be he saw our whole lives even before they began to beat right the joys and the Sorrows the victories and the failures and he declared over you you are very good you are very good and he planned to meet you in the middle of your mess so growing up in Australia I never met a sister um nuns were those ones only on the movie screens and those ones seemed to dance and sing two things I was deprived of so I didn't discern any further for a while um but I had no idea that uh this was an option for me or could actually ever really make me happy when I was 13 I wrote a letter to myself my future self about all my future hopes and dreams that I had you know I want to fall in love with the perfect man who'd lay down his life for me and my children my top dream was to represent my country in the Olympics at rugby sevens I had Big Dreams dreams being a sister was not part of it but the first time I really I think I thought about my vocation uh was in an unplanned prayer I was on my way home after school for a surf and I remember saying out loud in my heart God I desire I want to do something great with my life I have no idea what that looks like but I want to do something great with my life well I'll never forget the first time I met sisters uh it was when I was 18 I'd grown up Catholic but that was mostly about going to mass following the rules and trying to stay out of stay out of trouble most of the time but when I saw these women I saw more than a vocation I saw the greatness that I longed for even though I wasn't wasn't where I expected to see it I saw women alive and in love with God and I didn't have that but I wanted it so I started praying more and going to mass more than Sundays and I began to discover that this desire wasn't outside of me that it was calling me from within as if it was always there but it was being resuscitated by the Eucharist and I found my purpose began to resurface God has placed this desire in every one of our hearts we all want for more desire a love that is faithful and forever we have like a god-shaped ache in our hearts and it's not reserved for religious priests and monks it's it's the heights that you and I have been created to seek but I felt kind of held back until a a friend asked me what I was afraid of and so I remember going into chapel and I just wrote Pages pages and pages of all the fears that I had you know from giving up my vomite on toast to leaving my homeland the possibility of my own family being distant from my friends marriage I believed God could make me holy but it was hard to believe he could really make me happy I was was scared he'd ask me to do something I didn't want to do and that was before I came to before uh this moment I had with him that very night before the Eucharist unlike any other presence in the world I knew I could be completely vulnerable with him and I didn't plan this prayer and I felt like Jesus asked me like he asked his disciples what are you looking for what are you looking for and for the first time with Messy tears I got real with God and listed fear after fear after fear and one deep desire remained buried under it all I want to love you I want to belong to you Jesus and I'll never forget the clarity that he put on my heart as if he had said it himself what if what you want is what I want and what I want is what you want for your life and slowly it was like fear began to fall out of my heart as I realized I didn't need to fear his will because God's Will and my and my deepest desire are not two distant realities that we need to forge together to make work God created us to beat alongside of his heart and he knows what will satisfy us even more than we do when we come before the Eucharist we come before the God who created us life makes sense before God and when we receive him we adore him we don't only recognize the good news of his incomprehensible kindness that died and Rose to stay with us but we ReDiscover the gift and the purpose of our own lives to stay in love with him there is a space reserved in your heart for the love of God alone and that no one else whoever was who is or ever will be be able to give that space for God that Sacred Space in your heart you are irreplaceable and Jesus hides himself in an unintimidating host that you and I need hide no more but to let his story live in ours so when I returned uh from I returned to Australia from visiting the Bronx which our neighbors like to call you know The Sisterhood my heart was changed you know I remember one of my friends sitting down in a cafe she said to me what about that Olympic dream and surprising my own heart I said to her I want this more I think I want this more every every Eucharist is consecrated to be consumed by a human heart every Eucharist it's the more we all hungry for so let us not dismiss our desires or dump them to the roadside bring we can bring them to Jesus and share our fears and let his love take us to the heights through them on another night of the source in the city on Fifth Avenue a gentleman uh was walking with quite good speed trying to um clock past the sisters and I think he knew that if a sister approached him he'd really have a tough time saying no so one bold sister approached him in his line and reluctantly he stepped inside for a brief moment and I'll call him Steve we didn't see him till the end of that hour and when he was leaving with tears in his eyes he couldn't even talk to the sisters and just waving to us he said thank you sisters I just had the best night of my life in every encounter with the source we see reality again right we see why we're here where we're going who is with us and even nonbelievers Can See For the first time so you are no mistake and if you are ever tempted with uh the thought of your life being valueless let the Eucharist be the measure of your worth let the Eucharist be the measure of your worth in our evangelization mission we're often traveling quite a bit so um I'm often on a plane and and you have to know that walking down an aisle on a plane is one of the biggest acts of courage any sister ever has to do we get all kinds of reactions you know some people are so grateful we're on the plane they feel safer other people look like they've just seen a ghost which we often have to remind them that where where uh we for real so one time I sat down next to this woman I'll call Ellie she was middle-aged she had dyed blond hair and she was wearing a rainbow face mask and uh she began to share with me that she' grown up Catholic but lost interest uh in her faith after disappointing Catholic experiences and yet she said sister I wonder if I ever really heard the truth you know because I still want so much more in my life and wondering whether the church could make sense of her desires that were still there she began to share about her sufferings and all the ways that broken relationships had hurt her heart and she said sister you know there's not much worse feeling than waking up beside someone who does doesn't even know your name and now on the verge of retirement she noticed that her desires for healing and for love had been resurging and she was left wondering if there was something wrong with her or if she had missed out and as we uh continued our conversation she came out with this curveball she's like sister I wish you could have got married and to her surprise I was like I am but then seeing her reaction I knew I needed to explain a little bit more uh and I said to her I said I'm I'm married to Jesus I said I met I met him and I when I met his love I knew I needed that more than anything else in the world and I said he's he's there for you too and thinking about where I should take this next her next question revealed something that amazed me she said well then sister how often do you pray it's amazing Ellie hadn't hadn't prayed since her teens you know know she hadn't walked inside a church for half a century yet she knew that meeting him was to be found in prayer this longing for a heart where a heart speaks to Heart prayer is this place of intimacy where we can be totally ourselves and God totally with us God desires intimacy with you God is always desired intimacy with you and whatever our history long and loaded with sin and shortcomings or faithful and fervent all our lives or unaware of this invitation to intimacy where wherever we find ourselves God still Dei desires intimacy with us to forgive us and to restore us to the intimacy that he has won for us and saying goodbye to Ellie and after she heard this truth that I think her heart was longing to hear she said thank you sister I've been waiting 30 years to hear that you know when God first intervened in my life I was a college student seeking success you know and he drew me back to the heights that I was trying to earn on my own were made for so much more so much more than a perfectly planned life right career or no career Convent or outside the convent you know married or single Widow jobless or busier than ever injury or no injury there is no time in our life no circumstance that God excludes his plan of love and life for us and receiving more of him so Jesus we just we believe in your plan of love for us help our unbelief Jesus we just give you permission to take our hearts and remind us of the heights that we are born for Jesus we let your love in so as I said um number two uh letting his love take us to the depths so as we said God's plans are more uh than just making just a matter of making things go well right God takes the discords of our life the gaping holes even the painful places and with the light of his love Jesus touches Us in every sacramental encounter he heals but when Jesus heals he does so much more he transforms the same places into places of life and love so I'll never forget uh you know when I returned to the convent after my sister suddenly died months after I had entered religious life and I had felt like all the strength was shattered within me you know and the only prayer that my heart could pray was God my heart is broken you need to put it back together but like every cross Jesus gives himself God always knew that this cross would be a part of of my life even before our stories begin in this world he knew that our wounds would be essential to us becoming ourselves and that we couldn't become ourselves without it my sister Lauren and I we were very close before I enter the convent but um growing up it wasn't so in high school it was uncool to hang out with grades below you uh so we didn't we didn't know each other too well we were opposites in every way she liked theater singing and dancing you know three activities I was a guaranteed failure so you know I couldn't hold a note I'm still working on it um and I never quite understood why people were interested in theater when what appeared to me was a voluntary public humiliation I was into sport uh so all my extra time I was either on the field or losing my voice in the grandstand but it wasn't until college that we began to get really close and Faith forged a friendship that I'll forever be grateful for our Social Circle circles merged and every day we'd run de View at a local cafe we'd call the secret Cafe it was like this hidden hipster cafe around the corner from college just so we could escape the college dramas and hang out together I never considered my life without my sister so when she died it sh me to the call but God is not a Punisher he's not a tough coach that Waits on the sideline for an aame performance and neither of he waiting for us to break Under Pressure right he's not distant or out of touch with our stuff he's a father way closer and Relentless in compassion and he never ceases to move towards us especially places our life that are open or broken but being the big sister growing up I always wanted to be the one everyone turned to you know the one that people could rely on make stuff happen I'd taken on a caretaker identity you know but living like this led me to think like it was all on me I could get stuff done and if it wasn't it was my fault but our culture can make it hard to live differently than this right there's an unnamed pressure that promotes an ever increasing dependence and self-sufficiency and it rejects any sound of need and detests a dependence on one another as if growing up is all about making something of our lives or as if it's on us to create a life worth living or managing our image but God's plans are far more creative than this his ways are higher in his thoughts he's always healing saving and redeeming us you are not a burden and no one is beyond his reach but I was living even though I didn't realize it at the time like I was the Savior like it was all on me and handling stuff and staying in control it was dangerous and a subtle road that I needed saving from so we were unaware that my sister was unwell for some time which one day put her in hospital and she unexpectedly died 6 weeks later and from that day on I felt like I was living in another world you know a world that I didn't know how to walk in a world that uh I didn't know the language of a world that seemed to strip me of all the future Joys that I'd look forward to like sharing in my sister's wedding or looking forward to the letters that she'd write being an aunt to her children all these things that I wouldn't receive and for three years I actually shed no tears after a passing I wanted to of course but I was so terrified that if I started to cry that I wouldn't stop I thought that if I got angry I'd lose control if I really allowed my heart to grieve that I'd be overcome so I felt numb and I didn't know another way God's plan of mercy and healing is at work 100% of the time God doesn't tap out his Providence doesn't take a break and even when we can't see it like I didn't he remains faithful and he cannot deny himself we went on a mission trip recently to Texas and visited this school and spent the entire day just going from classroom to classroom 8-year-olds to 18y olds and uh foolish or Brave we let them ask us whatever they wanted so as you can imagine we got everything from how old are you to what did your mom say when you were born a nun but the most common question I kid you not across the board was do you see God do you you see God we all long to see where God is especially in times of suffering you know when our sight can seem lost I know that I switched to survival mode you know I just concluded that life was now just about getting to heaven where everything then would be better but one aspect of Faith seized me in everything God works good for those who love him and I held on to a string of hope that the if God is who he says he is and his word is true then there must be some greater good that I cannot see but is worth waiting for and so for three years I struggled in just about every way I had the gift of great family great friends great sisters I spoke to a psychologist frequently and my superiors regularly but my doubts plagued me you know could I how could I ever leave my family again how could I ever speak or be of help to anyone how do I pray now but then what then came what I consider the second uh biggest moment of my life when the Eucharist changed the trajectory again it was my sister's third anniversary of death and to be honest I dreaded this day every year it always felt like the first time I was bent with grief and utterly exhausted and emotionally depressed and this day seemed to go on forever I was in profound need of help and I had more support than I could have ever have asked for but in my heart seen only by God I knew I needed a god remedy that there was some part of my heart that needed a Divine physician so we were in our Chapel for daily prayer a Eucharistic holy hour and I could barely kneel so I just sat back as soon as I could and I'll remember it was it was an early afternoon and the sun was coming through in the chapel Through the Windows and as I breathed uh deeply and sighed silently I had just one prayer in my heart I just said I want you God I want you God I want God just over and over and over again and then in a moment that also felt like a Time Eternal I sensed a deeper than any physical sensation or thoughtful calculation the light of God's love enter me in a whole new way literally like from the end of my strained hands up my arm into my entire being filling my whole self from my soul to my tippy toes I felt God full and it wasn't outside me or by my side but entirely inside it was like the God that I adored before me was being revealed within me and immediately I knew without any effort or Good Deed on my own that I am not alone I never was alone and never will be again Jesus came into the darkness I deemed unbearable and the light and peace came to me and the same Jesus I think that entered the lock room of the disciples at Pentecost walked into mine and changed me forever my circumstances remained the same but his love changed everything and this is the same Jesus who never left us right the spirit that has descended upon every altar since that day and upon this altar that you and I might receive his life and his love in a new way that no matter how dark seemingly dead or done with our past might be nothing is impossible for God it's been almost 10 years since my sister uh passed away and I'm still in need of saving I still rely on this light uh that has entered my life seeking professional help when I need it speaking with my sisters but I'm constantly amazed that there's always more more healing more freedom from the wounds that once held me back I don't know if you've ever been to the Holy Land but uh you'll know that the place of where the crucifixion lies in on Mount Calvary is now inside a large church but what fascinated me is barely a few steps away from the place of the crucifixion is the tomb where Jesus rose where Jesus suffers Jesus rises it's the same place you know since that first real cry in Chapel I haven't ceased crying out and I don't plan to do so so do not be afraid to cry out as the father created us to the voice I found uh within me that I unknowingly had suppressed for so long this cry is not just a cry of our own Hearts it's the spirit welling up in our heart that cries out to our father Abba Father and Jesus is setting us free in this cry to live in the freedom of his sons and daughters you know the women in our mission of Hope and healing witness this truth to us first one woman who had suffered an abortion said to us for so long I defined myself by my abortions it affected all my thinking after confession and the day of prayer and healing I learned that I am defined by God's infinite love for me tragedy doesn't Define us neither do our sins or settings of Shame Love Alone defines the human human person and Jesus declares his love for us in these very places your wounds are worthy of his love your wounds are worthy of his love now missions we don't have any Secret Service that we offer we turn to Jesus in the same places that he promises to come we offer the remedies that we seek the sacraments the Eucharist confession Jesus is drawn to us but especially in the places that we keep hidden not to punish or condemn or critique us but so that the love of God that has been poured out into our hearts may make all things new one woman said to me when I dropped off to to the train station after one of these days of prayer and healing she said sister you got to start charging for these days she said if people knew what you got going on in here you'd be making a killing but that's the point none of us deserve intimacy with God God chose you and he desired that you receive it he desired that you receive it and he desires that all of us receive it more one man walked into our uh Source event OFF Fifth Avenue and after spending some time he came out and he said sisters I've been walking up and down this street all day and this is the first place that didn't charge me entrance fee and he said I'm walking away with the most I'm walking away with the most every encounter with the Eucharist changes us forever changes us forever some are more memorable than others but every Eucharist is an act of Jesus's saving love and you're worth being reminded of so we talked about letting his love take us to the heights entering our depths and now we want to finish with as we begun to see when we receive him in these places our sight is restored the Eucharist is restoring sight all over the world and healings are happening much more than we realize and I just want to share a couple with you you know just a couple of months ago at World Youth Day in Fatima you might have heard there was a 16-year-old Spanish girl by the name of Jama was traveling with her friends in Fatima and she had been suffering from a loss of sight for over two and a half years when 95% of her vision was completely gone and this past August 5th was the last day of a novena that she and her family were praying she had come to a moment she had just received Holy Communion and returning to her Pew she began crying as she realized this was day nine and that physical healing may or may not be done in her life but regardless in the middle of her mess of her distress she cried out to the Jesus who had come within her and what happened next has left Bishops and Priests and doctors amazed she didn't have an extraordinary feeling or Vision but with a faith that chose to see the love that had come to her as she opened her eyes from prayer she could see perfectly she said quote I was overwhelmed and looking up I saw the altar the Tabernacle my girlfriends were there and I looked even a little older I could see them perfectly her blurred vision had instantly at the M the most intimate moment of Jesus coming into our lives After we receive Holy Communion had restored her to sight during our Eucharistic Thanksgiving Jesus comes closest so be aware of your heart at that time and cry out to him ask him for what you need healings are always happening they're always happening some of them are physical but everyone is spiritual because when we believe we let his mission move in our hearts and restore our sight good news to our hearts Liberty to where we're captive she said this day feels like my new birthday when two of the disciples were on their way to emus scripture says Jesus came up and walked along with them but it says they were kept from recognizing him ever since the resurrection Jesus is moving in our midst his company is closer than we realize but he keeps himself from being recognized when they encountered his hidden loving presence Jesus and flamed their desire for more stay with us They begged him and as they expressed their desire Jesus came to stay it goes on when he came at table with them he took bread gave thanks broke it and began to give it to them their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he disappeared from their their sight Jesus hides from our eyesight only to be found by our faith only to be found by our faith we may or may not experience physical he healings no has answered uh appropriately on day nine but we all have access to Jesus's saving love revealed and yet entirely hidden in every Eucharist his love is no longer limited to the Christ who walks by but the Christ who walks within us now loving us from the inside out just before he ascended Jesus said to his be his bewildered friends asked him will you restore the kingdom of heaven and he said to them it's not for you to know times and Seasons Jesus is no longer bound by times and Seasons to one town or another this ministry or that this family or that this kind of story or that one his plan of restoring the kingdom is so much greater he immediately follows with but you will receive the Holy Spirit you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit when it comes upon you you shall receive power the power of love that dwells in God is now receivable to you and me the same Holy Spirit That Came Upon that first Eucharist That Came Upon Emmas that came upon the men and women at Pentecost that came upon the mar is that comes upon this Coliseum today every Eucharist restores us to the kingdom and it brings down the Holy Spirit and the whole meaning of Our Lives is made manifest you are fed filled and formed in love and that little white unintimidating host is the window to the kingdom and our life makes sense again our sight is restored in the Eucharist where God says I love love you I see you I love you and I see you so even closer to home a sister of ours who's given me permission to share her story sister antoniana received um a healing recently that I want to end with sister had suffered from an autoimmune disease uh that caused her eyes to swell uh and she has a double vision that literally disturbs everything about her sight and the only way that she could literally get around is look at the ground so her life as you can imagine changed dramatically quickly it was slower simpler and was really just made up of rest um doctor's appointments and outings to mass but she began to meet people that she had never had the time for before and she said that every outing now became a long Apostolic Adventure she began to uh pray with people along the way and listen to their stories even security guards became her new best friends and one in particular started to call her sis Tony and he'd encourage her every day by saying you're going to be fine kid but then one day during a normal Mass Jesus made himself known to her in a new way exactly at the moment when G when the priest raises the cruc raises the host at consecration like every other Mass sister usually keeps her eyes closed because even opening them is painful and she sees two things but this time she was moved to look up and when she did suddenly everything became single as she looked up she saw one host one priest one altar it was also the birthday of our founder and uh late Archbishop of New York Cardinal o Conor you and I are not excluded from God's plan of healing and recovery of sight every Eucharist we encounter restores our sight to see with greater Clarity the love that has been reserved for each one of us the Ascension continues as they were looking up he was lifted up and took from their sight two men in white robes said men of Galilee why do you stand looking into heaven this same Jesus who was taken up from you will come in the same way you see him go g this same Jesus Will will come to you in the same way you see him grow looking on lifted up and out of their sight Jesus comes to you and me in the same way he's lifted up out of our sight this is the mass this is the Eucharist this is the way God has chosen to stay the Mars saw the love of God revealed in every Eucharist and that that enabled them to love as they had been loved without limit intimacy with God was the only goal God had for your life when he thought of you he desires you to know more of his love and more of that today he's come to make your heart his home your heart his dwelling place I've seen it for myself and I see it in you how immeasurable is your worth what a wonder you are so let us just turn our hearts to Jesus and ask for him to remove any fear of ours that keeps us from receiving this Kingdom that has come as we pray Jesus we thank you and we adore you we ask for the grace to let your love in to let your love take us to the heights to let your love uh go to the depths we give you permission Jesus to look upon us and see us as we pra our trust in you amen we thank sister Miry Grace for a wonderful Talk Jesus is the source the summit the root and the center of any life that's truly Christian and Jesus wants as she describes to take us to the heights to the depths and to restore us let's prayerfully now Ponder how

Channel: New York State Eucharistic Congress

Views: 21,438

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Id: Kd174QJqMno

Length: 50min 37sec (3037 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 25 2023