Do you stay with Jesus?
I mean, literally: do you stay with Him?
After every Mass, the living source of merciful love, who alone can satisfy your every longing, is inside of you. He is deeply united to you. He is closer to you then than at any other time during your earthly life.
So, do you stay with Him?
I've been thinking about how many of us, having received Jesus in the Eucharist, typically leave immediately after Mass. This seems to makes sense since, at that point, we have been dismissed and told, "Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord."
Instead of going, though, maybe we should wait. I think about how amazing it is that this same Jesus, the One who walked the earth 2,000 years ago and who thirsts for me, is inside my very being at that moment. He is truly there, in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity - the living furnace of merciful love. He is there, waiting for me to let Him love me.
It’s like that awkward moment when you realize, Someone’s loving me but I’m not paying attention. I have often complained to God that I don't feel loved. Yet, the ONE person who loves me more than anyone else actually unites Himself with me, intimately and truly, at every Holy Communion. How could I not spare a few minutes to be with Him in a reciprocal exchange of love?
Many of us beat ourselves up about our sins. We do this, but at the same time we allow distraction to separate us from the ONE person who actually longs to consume our brokenness. The flame of His love is there, ready to devour all of our anxieties; to make us new. He just asks for a little time to sit with Him and let Him do His work deep within us.
So it's true. We're not paying attention. Distraction often hinders us from allowing Jesus, present in the Host, transform us into little Christs. Maybe we have this idea that the Eucharist is some kind of magic potion that will have an effect on us no matter what we do. That’s not true, though, because the Eucharist is a Person; a Person who loves us deeply and who wants a relationship with us. When a person we love is with us, we don't just ignore them. We give them our full attention. We listen when they are speaking, and they listen when we are speaking. We strive for intimacy.
I think it’s amazing that after we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, we have the opportunity to completely bask in His merciful love for about 15 minutes. We have the chance to be completely immersed in the very love that we long for and in the mercy that we so desperately need. As Jesus told St. Faustina, “I am Love and Mercy itself!”1 Those are precious minutes, and it is during this time that we can best allow God to pour out on us what St. Therese of Lisieux called His “waves of infinite tenderness.”2
It would be worthy to reflect on how Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity always stay after Mass. They recite a series of prayers together. Their time of prayer and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is so important that even in dire situations, Mother Teresa would not allow her Sisters to dispense with them. Fr. Leo Maasburg relates a particular incident:
In 1972 when a flood struck Bangladesh, Mother Teresa immediately sent her Sisters there to help out. The needs were enormous, and the work demanded superhuman efforts on the part of the Sisters. So they were asked if they would make an exception and not interrupt their work for their prayer sessions.
Mother Teresa decided against it: "No, the Sisters will come home for Adoration and Holy Mass." Many of the relief workers who had responded to the catastrophic flood did not understand, but for Mother Teresa it was clear that the Sisters' strength dries up if they are not nourished daily by Mass and their Adoration of the Holy Eucharist.3
One beautiful testimony to the life-changing reality of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist happened the night St. John Paul II died. It was the night before Divine Mercy Sunday 2005. Fr. Michael Gaitley describes it:
[Then-Archbishop Stanislaw] Dziwisz reports that on the night of April 2, as John Paul was nearing his death, he, Dziwisz, suddenly felt a strong imperative in his heart, telling him to celebrate Mass right away. Obediently, Dziwisz began to set up for Mass right then and there in John Paul's room, by his bedside.
As he was setting up for Mass, Dziwisz realized that it was well after sundown on a Saturday, and so he set up the vigil Mass for the Sunday, which of course, was the Sunday of Divine Mercy. Dziwisz celebrated the Mass as the Pope was going in and out of consciousness. At the time of Communion, John Paul was able to receive the Eucharist, doing so through a droplet of the Precious Blood. Less than half an hour after receiving the Lord, John Paul went home to his eternal reward. As Pope Benedict XVI would later describe it, John Paul went to the Father, "in the arms of mercy."4 (Emphasis mine)
Without a doubt, those minutes after Holy Communion, when the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is within us, are the most precious minutes we will spend on this earth. In those minutes, we are “in the arms of mercy.”
Life moves quickly, but mostly because we live distracted. Let's not waste those precious minutes when we can sit with Jesus. There may be instant anxiety at the thought of giving up more time, but the Lord says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). I promise the anxiety over the simple gift of time will be lifted as He gives you rest.
We can start small. We already know that God will not be outdone in generosity. The more we give Him, the more we will receive. So invite your family to join you. If they choose not to, give them the opportunity to visit with others while you visit with the Lord. If alone, set a specific time, hour and minute, until which you will stay. (For example, if weekday Mass is at 6:30 am and usually ends at 6:54, resolve to stay until 7:00 if not later. If it's a Saturday morning and Mass is at 8:00 and ends at 8:29, resolve to stay until 8:35 or 8:40.) Then use whatever minutes are left after Mass to just be with Jesus.
I worry some of you still have not really met Jesus—one to one—you and Jesus alone. We may spend time in chapel—but have you seen with the eyes of your soul how He looks at you with love? Do you really know the living Jesus—not from books but from being with Him in your heart? Have you heard the loving words He speaks to you? Never give up this…intimate contact with Jesus as a real living person—not just the idea.5
- St. Teresa of Calcutta
Give God the chance to give you what He desires to give you. Stay with Him while He is with you, and then take the love and mercy you have received and share it with the whole world. There will always be distractions… but for that moment, allow yourself to be distracted by Love Himself.
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Notes
- St. Faustina Kowalska, Diary (1074).
- St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, trans. John Clarke, (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1996), p. 276.
- Leo Maasburg, Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Personal Portrait, trans. Michael J. Miller (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011), 84.
- Michael E. Gaitley, MIC, The Second Greatest Story Ever Told, (Stockbridge, MA: Marian Press, 2015), pp. 84-85.
- St. Teresa of Calcutta, Varanasi Letter (March 25, 1993).