The Guardian Angel: Eucharistic Miracle and True Peace in the World

Starting this blog and show with some insights from one of the most beautiful priests that I have known, sadly yet happily by his writings and by joining the Marian Catechists and being a part of Father Hardon's work and being with Cardinal Burke at times. Please Share, and meditate on what Father Hardon says before reading the Eucharistic Miracle. To Jesus through Mary & Joseph, GregoryMary

Perpetual Adoration, True Peace in the World Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. We begin by making a simple statement. The true peace about which we are speaking is peace of heart. There is no need to explain why we should talk about peace of heart. If there is any single recommendation, and even mandate, that His followers received from Christ, it was to be at peace.

Before the birth of Christ, Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, was filled with the Holy Spirit to prophesy the Benedictus, which he concluded with the promise to us that “the rising Sun will visit us, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

When Christ was born at Bethlehem, the angels sang the first Gloria in excelsis with the promise again of “peace to men of good will.”

During His public life, when Christ forgave sinners and healed the sick., He told them to go in peace.

Before His passion, when the Savior wept over Jerusalem, He was overcome with sorrow because its inhabitants did not heed “the things that are to your peace.” And at the Last Supper, Jesus told the disciples (and through them He was telling us what we are so prone to forget)

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me.”

“Peace I bequeath to you, my peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27).

Then, on the evening of His resurrection from the dead, Christ’s first word to the frightened apostles was the command, “Peace be with you,” which He repeated: “Peace be with you.”

True to the spirit of the Master, the apostles, especially St. Paul, never tired of telling the faithful to be at peace. And finally, in the opening verse of the last book of the Bible, John pronounces the invocation, “Grace and peace to you from Him who is, who was, and who is to come,” that is, from Jesus Christ.

So the theme goes on, and so the Church in her liturgy keeps praying to the Lord to give us peace. And so the heart of man keeps hungering and searching for that peace which Christ promised to those who serve Him. Now we ask: If peace of soul is such a precious commodity, is it inevitable for those who believe in God, or do we have to strive to achieve it?

Peace of Heart from the Eucharist

The most powerful means of obtaining peace of heart is from Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. What are we saying? We are saying that in order to obtain that self-mastery which is the precondition of internal peace, we need nothing less than God’s miraculous grace.

Today’s world is so filled with confusion that nothing less than supernatural grace can provide us with the peace of mind without which there can be no peace of heart. Where do we go; to whom do we turn; whom do we ask to give us that peace of mind which is so tragically wanting in the modern world? Who alone can give us that serenity of spirit which is another name for peace of soul? Who, but Jesus Christ who is the Prince of Peace. We do not normally think of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament as food for the mind and the will but we should. To be at peace, what we first need is to know the truth; what we next need is to do the will of God. On both counts, Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is our principal source.

Christ could not have been plainer than when he told us to eat His Body and drink His Blood. What we may overlook however, is that the spiritual nourishment from the Eucharist does not end with Holy Communion. There is also a nourishment that takes place in what we casually call “spiritual communion.” How cheap the phrase sounds. But it is neither casual nor cheap. It is deeply meaningful.

As we pray before the Blessed Sacrament our souls are fed by the Person of the Savior in the two faculties of spirit that need to be constantly fed. They are the mind and the will. In the mind we need light; in the will we need strength. Both needs are met in an extraordinary way through prayer before the Holy Eucharist.

We might ask, why not? Is it not the same Christ who taught the multitude, who gave the sermon on the mount and who took time, and a lot of time, to tell His disciples and to further share with them the secrets that until then had been hidden from the minds of men? It is Jesus and He is here. We would not expect His lips to be sealed. He has a message to give and we have a lot to learn. Did He not say He was the Truth and the Way – the Truth who knows what we should know and the Way who knows how we should serve almighty God? It is this Truth and Way become Incarnate who is with us and near and available to us. All we need to do is to believe sufficiently, to come to Him in the Blessed Sacrament and ask very simply, “Lord, teach me. I am dumb.” And that is no exaggeration! “Your servant is listening and ready to learn.”

In the will we need strength to supply for the notorious weakness that by now we know how really stupid and weak we are. What a precious secret! But again, is it not the same Christ who encouraged the disciples, who braced up the faltering Peter and promised to be with us all days? That promise is to be taken literally. He is here. Jesus is here telling us today, “Peace I bequeath to you. My own peace I give you.” Thanks, Lord I sure need it! “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” How well you know, Lord, I am scared. “Have courage; I have overcome the world.” No less than then, so now Christ is not merely encouraging us in words, which we appreciate, but strengthening us with grace. His words, being those of God, are grace. And the words and the grace are once more accessible to all who come to Him as He foretold, “Come to me all you who labor and are overburdened and I will give you strength.” Jesus, that is me. But we must come to Him, the Emmanuel, in the Eucharist to tell Him what we need. If we do and as often as we do He will do the rest.

There seems to be no need to say what everyone knows only too well. Peace is not automatic even with the possession of faith or, for that matter, with the possession of considerable virtue. Peace must be achieved to be acquired. It is the fruit of grace, no doubt, but also and very much the result of our cooperation with the grace we receive.

Saint Faustina Kowalska

The most recent practical link to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the devotional icon of the Lord’s Merciful love came from the Polish nun Saint Faustina Kowalska. Jesus appeared to her on February 22, 1931, with His right hand bestowing blessings and His left hand pointing towards His Sacred Heart, which emitted two rays: one pale; the other a bright red. These rays represent the Water and Blood that came out of Jesus’ pierced side while on the Cross. This symbolizes the purifying virtues of Baptism and Confession and the regenerative virtue of the Holy Eucharist.

Let’s report the words of Jesus to St. Faustina: “I desire that this image be venerated by the entire world. I promise that the souls of those who attribute veneration to this image will not perish. I even promise victory over their enemies, already here on earth, but especially at the hour of death. I will defend that soul in the name of glory.” Jesus, Himself explained the significance of this devotion: “My daughter, tell all that I am love and mercy personified. The wound in my Heart signifies the unlimited living waters of Mercy. Tell all the souls that I protect them with my shield of Mercy; it is for them that I fight, bearing the just umbrage of my Father […] My daughter! Tell suffering humanity to secure itself to the Mercy of my Heart and I will fill them with peace […] Souls are perishing, regardless of my sorrowful Passion. I concede to them the last table of salvation, meaning my merciful feast […] this icon is a sign of the end days, after such, the day of judgment is upon you.”

After showing His Infinite Mercy, the Lord also showed St. Faustina “hell”. “Today, under the guide of an angel, I went into the abyss of hell. It is a place of extreme torments in the entire, huge, terrifying surroundings. These are the various tortures and torments that I have seen:

First torture: This consists of hell as being the loss of the Presence of God;

Second: the continuous remorseful conscience;

Third: the knowledge that such a destiny will never change;

Fourth: This torture is a pain that penetrates the soul, but does not nullify it; it is a terrible torture and it is a purely spiritual, living fire lit only by God’s wrath.

Fifth: This is the torture of eternal darkness, a horrible suffocating, putrid odor; even if it is dark, the demons and the condemned souls can see each other among themselves and see all the evil that others have done as well as their own evil.

Sixth: This torture is the knowledge of having Satan as a constant companion.

Seventh and last: This torture is the incomparable desperation of God’s wrath, in blasphemy, cursing and swearing.

The sinner should realize the same ways that he sins is the way he is going to suffer for all eternity. I am writing this by the Lord’s direction, so that no one can say that there is no hell, or that no one has ever been there or that no one knows how it is. I, Sister Faustina, under the Lord’s direction, have been in the abyss of hell, for the simple reason of being able to tell everyone and to witness that hell does exist. What I have written is only a weak shadow of what I have actually seen.”

Saint Faustina said: “During Holy Mass when Jesus was exposed through the Holy Sacrament before Holy Communion, she saw two rays of light coming out of the Holy Host; one very pale and the other a bright red light, just as depicted in this image.”