"Behold me, then, O my Lord and God, before this altar, on which Thou residest night and day for my sake. Thou art the Source of every good; Thou art the Healer of every ill; Thou art the Treasure of every poor creature. Behold now at Thy feet a sinner, who is of all others [...]
"The Holy Eucharist, then, brings Christian initiation to completion and represents the centre and goal of all sacramental life." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS (Sacrament of Charity), 2/22/2007
"As Ambrose says (De Sacram. v), just as Christ's sacrifice is denoted by the offering of Melchisedech, so likewise it is signified by the water which flowed from the rock in the desert, according to 1 Cor. 10:4: 'But they drank of the spiritual rock which came after them.'" Source: St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa [...]
"As Communion is the end here below of all the mysteries of Jesus Christ's life, let it be the end of your life, also. It alone is worthy of being your end, the end in which you will abide in which you will take your rest, for it alone perfectly gives you Jesus Christ, and [...]
"Do not say that you are not worthy. What nonsense! It is true you are not worthy, but you are in need. If our Saviour had had our worthiness in view He would never have instituted His beautiful Sacrament of love, because no one in the world, not even the Saints nor the Angels, nor [...]
"The mystery of the Eucharist – sacrifice, presence, banquet – does not allow for reduction or exploitation; it must be experienced and lived in its integrity, both in its celebration and in the intimate converse with Jesus which takes place after receiving communion or in a prayerful moment of Eucharistic adoration apart from Mass." [...]
"The three synoptic Gospels and St. Paul have handed on to us the account of the institution of the Eucharist; St. John, for his part, reports the words of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum that prepare for the institution of the Eucharist: Christ calls himself the bread of life, come down from heaven." [...]
"The devout Father Nieremberg says, that bread being a food which is consumed by eating, and which keeps when preserved for use, Jesus was pleased to dwell on earth under its species, that He might thus not only be consumed by uniting Himself to the souls of His lovers by the means of the Holy [...]
"A contemplative gaze 'upon him whom they have pierced' (Jn 19:37) leads us to reflect on the causal connection between Christ's sacrifice, the Eucharist and the Church. The Church 'draws her life from the Eucharist'. Since the Eucharist makes present Christ's redeeming sacrifice, we must start by acknowledging that 'there is a causal influence of [...]
"The path itself is long and strewn with obstacles greater than our human resources alone can overcome, yet we have the Eucharist, and in its presence we can hear in the depths of our hearts, as if they were addressed to us, the same words heard by the Prophet Elijah: 'Arise and eat, else the [...]