Day 198: The Love of Jesus

I'm Father Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars of Renewal, and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast where through prayer and meditation.

The Rosary brings us deeper into a relationship with Jesus and Mary and becomes a source of grace for the whole world.

The Rosary in a Year is brought to you by Ascension.

This is day 198.

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Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the fifth fifth luminous mystery, the institution of the most holy Eucharist.

So our review and reflection today, I'd like to begin with the language we use when looking at the Eucharist,

namely the creativity of love.

I shared this story of

of a kind of a monastic sister in response to one of the brothers asking, like, how can we pray like we did on this mountaintop back in the the friary in the South Bronx?

And she gave us this phrase, the creativity of love.

When you love someone, you create a way, a space to be with them.

But we have to always remember that the creativity of our love is always a response.

It's a response to the creativity of God's love.

And how beautiful an expression

of the creativity of love

is Jesus remaining with us in the form of bread and wine through the mystery of the most Holy Eucharist

and how Jesus gives himself totally to us in the Holy Eucharist.

He remains to us in our neighborhood parish missions.

But also he's able to give himself totally.

The creativity of his love can get into, if you will, like prisons.

And I've been a part of the celebration of the most holy Eucharist in the prisons in Honduras.

And there is Jesus sacramentally present, body, blood, soul, and divinity, giving himself, receiving totally in those prison cells or in the mountaintops, or Jesus can come to those who are homebound, right?

The creativity of the love of Jesus, which invites the response of the creativity of our own love, that we, like, create space, particularly in our own lives, to remain with him.

And then also,

aided by St.

Catherine of Siena's dialogue,

we just spent some time just receiving again the gift, to seeing again the truth that the heart of God, truly present through the most Holy Eucharist, is an abyss of love.

And that in Luke's gospel, as Jesus says, like, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you.

It's like this visceral, this deep, this abyss of love, which desires to eat this Passover with us.

It is an abyss of love, a burning fire of love who gives himself to us, who remains with us through this sacrament, through this mystery, and that yearns, that longs, that earnestly desires to give himself to us and to receive us.

This abyss of love is the heart of the divine bridegroom who gives himself to the bride, his church, desiring to give himself to the church, but also to receive.

the church his bride and this is true for us as individuals as well like the divine bridegroom of our souls like his heart is an abyss of love giving himself to us and earnestly desiring totally desiring like inflamed with desire to receive us totally so as we come to the eucharist particularly to receiving holy communion

on the surface it's somewhat sober and still and solemn and simple

but above the senses through faith

We know that Jesus is burning with love.

And that Holy Communion is this most intense and intimate and beautiful of exchanges where he gives himself again with fire, with love, with desire to us.

And he receives us with this same desire and fire.

So I think this is a beautiful reflection each time we prepare for Mass, each time we go to visit.

the Holy Eucharist for adoration and particularly in those moments before and after receiving Holy Communion.

And then, lastly, for today, as we looked at the Mosaic of the Last Supper by Giacomo Raffaelli, we notice Jesus' peacefulness at the Last Supper.

He knows the chaos and the commotion, the betrayal, the arrest, the passion that's about to come.

But still, in this moment,

he's at peace.

He's at peace.

Why?

Because he knows who who he is.

He knows who the Father is.

And that Jesus, rooted in his sonship,

lives in trust, lives in surrender, lives in confidence.

The upcoming betrayal and passion will not steal his peace.

Because he knows there's nothing outside the providence of his father.

There's nothing that his his father can't use.

Even before his passion,

Jesus knew and trusted and was confident in the resurrection.

So at the Last Supper,

he's at peace.

And in this, there's this invitation to become what we receive, to be transformed by the Most Holy Eucharist, by Jesus himself, and that the grace we receive

through the most holy Eucharist gives us a greater, fuller, richer share

in Jesus' own relationship with the Father.

Of course, by baptism, this is true, like we share in this relationship, but it continues to grow and to come to a place of fulfillment.

And a primary, a principal place of receiving this grace so that we can experience the trust, the surrender, to the peace of Jesus at all times and in all situations, like

through a holy, prayerful, devout reception of most holy communion.

So, I believe this is a beautiful intention and a beautiful way for us to come, asking

to receive that grace, to experience the peace and the confidence that Jesus has in his Father,

no matter what awaits us or what already surrounds us.

So, now we'll go ahead and just take some time to be still, to reflect.

Perhaps something we review today on the creativity of love, the abyss of love,

the peace of Jesus.

You experience as a prompting, an invitation

to prayer.

Or perhaps as we meditate upon this mystery, the Lord's inviting you to reflect reflect on, to pray with

another truth, another invitation.

So now we'll go into these four Rs.

Today for you, what is the grace being offered?

The truth being revealed

that you are invited to receive.

How can you respond?

What is the grace

that you would like to request?

now rejoice.

Give thanks and praise to the Lord for the gift of the Most Holy Eucharist

and for this time of prayer

and the graces bestowed

and the life shared.

And now together with Mary, let us pray.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners.

Now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Hail Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Thanks so much for joining me and praying with me today.

I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow.

Poco, Poco, friends.

God bless y'all.