Tag: pope benedict XV

Saint of the Day – 21 June – Feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus

“Jesus, knowing His hour was come, that He should pass out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end.”
John 13:1

Today we celebrate a Feast which is all too little known – the Feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. This feast falls after the second Thursday after Corpus Christi and, appropriately, within the Octave of the Sacred Heart. This Feast calls to mind the inexhaustible Love which beats from the Sacred Heart, found in the Holy Eucharist and of the continual gift of Himself which He wishes us to receive in Holy Communion, so that our heart may be untied to His.

On 9 November 1921, Pope Benedict XV (1854-1922) instituted the Feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus to be celebrated on the Thursday within the Octave of the Sacred Heart with a Proper Mass and Office.
The Feast continues to be celebrated in some places and by some communities, notably by the Redemptorists, who maintain it in their Proper Calendar.
In instituting the Feast, Pope Benedict XV wrote:

“The chief reason of this Feast, is to commemorate the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Mystery of the Eucharist. By this means the Church wishes, more and more, to excite the faithful to approach this Sacred Mystery with confidence and, to inflame their hearts with that Divine Charity which consumed the Sacred Heart of Jesus, when, in His Infinite Love, He instituted the Most Holy Eucharist, wherein the Divine Heart guards and loves them by living with them, as they live and abide in Him.
For in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, He offers and gives Himself to us as Victim, Companion, Nourishment, Viaticum and Pledge of our future glory!”

The adorable Mystery of the Eucharist embodies, contains and communicates to us the entire Mystery of Christ – His Incarnation, Life, Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension and outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
If you seek the open Side of the glorious ascended Christ, you will find it in the Eucharist.
If you seek the pierced Heart of Christ, beating with love for the Father and with mercy for sinners, you will find it in the Eucharist.
“Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Mt 28:20).

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast poured forth the riches of Thy love for men in instituting the Sacrament of the Eucharist, help us, we beseech Thee, to love Thy most loving Heart and ever to make worthy use of so great a Sacrament. Who livest and reignest …. Collect of the Mass of the Feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus

Eucharistic Heart of Jesus,
lonely Heart,
humiliated Heart,
abandoned Heart,
forgotten Heart,
despised Heart,
outraged Heart,
Heart ignored
by men,
Heart which loves
our own hearts;
Heart pleading for our love,
Heart so patient
in waiting for us,
Heart so eager
to listen to our prayers,
Heart so anxious
for our requests,
Heart, unending
source of new graces,
Heart so silent,
yet desiring to speak
to souls,
Heart, welcome refuge
of the hidden life,
Heart, teacher of the
secrets of union with God,
Heart of Him Who sleeps
 but watches always,
Eucharistic Heart of Jesus,
have mercy on us.