Liturgy & Devotions | Daily Meditations

I will visit Our Lord in the Eucharist

by Catholic.net | Source: Catholic.net

Luke 23:1-49

Introductory Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I look to you with great confidence as I set out this week to walk the path to Calvary accompanying your Beloved Son on his way to redeeming us. I know this period is an opportunity to see my difficulties and trials as ways to conform my life better to that of your Son. Here I am Lord, ready and desiring to learn from you and imitate you.

Petition:

Lord Jesus, let my thirst for happiness be quenched by your love.

1. The Search for Happiness:

Everyone  is passionately fond of liberty, but there is one thing we crave even more, and without which existence and even liberty is painful: happiness. It is one of life's greatest paradoxes that as much as people seek to be free, they still wish to be a slave; not a slave in the sense that their liberty is denied to them, but in the sense that they yearn for something they can worship, something that will solicit their will, pull at their heartstrings, tempt their energies and command their affections. They want to be free to choose between various kinds of happiness, but they do not want to be free from happiness; they wish to be its slave.

2. Two Ways:

There are two ways of responding to this hunger of the soul and this thirst of the heart: one is the way of the world, the other is the way of Christ. Before we indulge in the pleasures of the world, they seem desirable and appear to be all that we will need to make us happy. But after we have them, they become disappointing and sometimes even disgusting. The contrary is true of the pleasures of Christ. Before we have them, they are hard, unattractive, and even repulsive. But after we possess them, they are satisfying and become all our heart could ever desire.

3. Jesus Christ Is the Answer:

What the world deems success is really failure and unhappiness. What the world deems failure and defeat is really success and victory. This reality is played out in Our Lord's Passion. Jesus is the happiness we seek and the answer to all our desires. His way is the way of the cross, and therefore, as his followers, we must follow the same path. Jesus assures us that the poor shall not always be poor; the crucified shall not be always on a cross; the poor shall be rich; the lowly shall be exalted; those who sow in tears shall reap in joy; those who mourn shall be comforted; and those who suffer with Christ shall reign with him. In the words of the poet Francis Thompson, Christ says to you, "All which I took from thee I did but take, not for thy harms, but just that thou might'st seek it in my arms. All which thy child's mistake fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home: Rise, clasp my hand, and come!"

Conversation with Christ:

Jesus, come and be the king of my heart. During this week of your

Passion I want to grow in my love and appreciation for you and all

you do for me. Help me with your grace to be a faithful follower

and give me the strength to take up my cross with love and generosity.

Resolution:

I will visit Our Lord in the Eucharist, renewing my desire to be totally his and praying that Jesus be totally mine.