5. WE ARE LIVING TABERNACLES Rome, January 8, 1947
The devotion to Jesus Master leads us to act rightly in making the Visit, receiving Communion, assisting at Mass. It spurs us on, moreover, to live a life of union with Jesus, a real eucharistic life.
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The Most Holy Virgin bore Jesus in her heart; you received him many times in the Most Holy Eucharist.
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When we receive Holy Communion, Jesus' real presence lasts only for a short time, while his spiritual presence can always last. Every person who worthily receives communion becomes God's abode; our heart, our bosom becomes a living tabernacle of the Most Holy Trinity. Ad eum veniemus et mansionem apud eum faciemus1 (We shall come to him and make our home with him).
If a person leaves the church after receiving Communion and takes up the proper duties - in the garden, in the kitchen, doing the cleaning up, also in walking down the streets - she/he is always a Christbearer, a Godbearer. She/He is like a walking tabernacle that goes from place to place.
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I picture how the Blessed Virgin during the time she had Jesus in her womb, lived a life of intimate recollection, always fully conscious of the treasure she carried within her. Even externally, the loftiness of her thoughts, the fullness of her love, the total dedication of her whole self to God was mirrored.
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How joyful are the footsteps of the person who is a Christbearer! My treasure is with me; what a joy!
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There are persons, on the other hand, who are devilbearers because of sin in their soul; there are those who are vanitybearers.
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Be bearers of Jesus, of God! If you lower your eyes, if you withdraw within yourselves, there, you meet Jesus whom you bear in your bosom!
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This is the grace which Mary Most Holy had. She is also depicted bearing the Child Jesus who is carved in her bosom. It can also be for you; so it is !
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Jesus has preferences and shows particular fondness; he prefers the humble, the insignificant, the simple. He called the shepherds to his crib; they were Jesus' first apostles because they were the first to speak of him to their acquaintances, without getting up to a teacher's desk.
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What a blessing it is to have Jesus living in one's heart! It is an anticipation of that of Heaven.
The person who has Jesus, must bear him with delicateness, politeness, reserve and with special love.
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When I was entrusted to carry out the duties of a sacristan, I was taught what I had to do. When I entered the church I had to recite the prayer O Sacrum Convivium on the first step of the altar, never to turn my back on the tabernacle, to walk without making noise; if I found it necessary to talk, I had to whisper, with sign language, because I was in Jesus' presence.
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The Sister likewise, must have such behavior and delicateness, because she bears Jesus in her bosom, and her bosom has become the abode of the Most Holy Trinity. Consequently, she will never be less than polite, she will not talk nonsense and foolishness, she will always be joyfully holy as well as prayerfully holy. She has no time to let her mind wander because her communication is with the Lord and she has so many things to tell him. Her Communion is prolonged throughout the day and her day is a continual spiritual conversation. Conversatio nostra in coelis est1 (let ours be heavenly talk), just like the Angels in Heaven who bowing down adore the Lord, pray, supplicate, love and thank him.
Say a Glory be… to the Most Holy Trinity whom you bear in your bosom. Glory be to ....
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When Mary bore Jesus in her womb, she burst forth with that canticle which Bossuet1 calls the ecstasy of Mary's humility: the Magnificat.2
Always and everywhere, even out on the road the soul is caught up in her Jesus; she notices the persons and things she encounters, but she is not distracted by them. Her eyes are fixed on the Trinity like the Angels who are always seeking the face of their God.3 This person who lives so united to God, bursts out spontaneously into her Magnificat and praises the Lord for everything that comes her way, good or bad: pursuits, ailments, difficulties, little crosses. Magnificat...Magnificat....and my spirit exults in God, my Savior....
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She says to herself: I am a poor creature, created out of nothing, whose life in this world is but a few days, yet I have been and still am so loved by Jesus, I carry him within me. Respexit humilitatem ancillae suae1 (he looks on his servant in her lowliness). He has seen my distress, my poverty and he has come to help me. Magnificat! He who scatters the proud-hearted and gives his grace to the humble.2 Haughty Herod was left in his wickedness, while Mary the humble handmaid overflowed with God's grace! The person who puffs himself or herself remains empty, because God resists, resists and resists the proud and bends down towards the humble and guides, consoles, enriches them. If you learn how to be humble, how much luckier you will be than the proud philosophers or the great men of this world, full of themselves!
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The person who knows and is aware that she is a bearer of the Most Holy Trinity, has feelings similar to Mary's and so, she is
always a suppliant: Bless me Lord...Deo gratias...come to my aid, give me your love, do not leave me without your grace... It is a continuous communion. It is also good to repeat your spiritual communion often during the day. Try to establish a certain number, but your aim must be to reach this habitual communion which is unending. Dilectus meus mihi, et ego illi1 (My beloved is with me and I am with him); Jesus is with us and we are with Jesus. We live in Him and even in the evening when we go to rest, let us think: Jesus is there in the holy Tabernacle...but I have him also here in my bosom. I am resting in the arms of the Father, I place my head on Jesus' heart. He is in me and I am in Him.
The days then, become meritorious! First of all, we rid ourselves of so many defects and imperfections; then, follows an increase of merits
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The angelic St. Aloysius1 always made his communion flow on throughout the day, living in the manner of the Angels, always caught up in God. Let us also tend to this until the soul, set free from the bonds of the body, returns to its God to sing the Magnificat 2 of praise and love for ever!
Now let us say three Glory be to the Father with the intention that our life may be a continuous Glory to the Most Holy Trinity who lives in us, a Glory that terminates in saecula saeculorum, that is, in eternity.
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1 Jn 14, 23.
1 Phil. 3, 20.
1 Bossuet James Benigno (1627-1704), holy orator.
2 cf. Lk. 1, 46-55.
3 cf. Mt. 18, 10.
1 Lk. 1, 48.
2 cf. 1Pt. 5, 5.
1 Song 2, 16.
1 St. Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591) of the Company of Jesus.
2 Lk. 1, 46-55.