The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. It is the Sacrament that nourishes our souls and facilitates a personal encounter with Christ. Through this encounter, we have the opportunity to grow in virtue – and especially the virtues modeled for us by Christ Himself in the Blessed Sacrament. Let’s explore just a few of the Eucharistic virtues of Christ and their role in shaping our character, enabling us to reflect Him more perfectly in our lives.
The Eucharist, The Source of Virtue
Blessed Carlo Acutis, a holy youth who assisted at daily Mass and documented Eucharistic miracles worldwide, lived his brief life with the goal of “always being connected to Jesus.” He said, “[B]y standing before the Eucharistic Christ, we become holy.” But how does this happen?
In the Holy Eucharist, Our Lord perfectly possesses and models all the virtues. And He is the source of grace enabling us, His children, to imitate Him in these virtues. When we actively and prayerfully participate in the Holy Mass and receive the body and blood of Christ, a spiritual union is established between Christ and the individual Catholic. This union not only provides nourishment for our spiritual journey but also empowers us to live out our faith in the world. By consuming the Eucharist, we become one with the living God. By adoring Christ in the Blessed Sacrament we create space and time to dwell and communicate with the Creator of our souls, to learn from Him the path to joy, peace, and happiness, which is only found in doing God’s will. Christ in the Eucharist teaches us what that looks like. This reality has the power to change us, to give us strength to overcome temptation, and to live a life rich in virtue.
Let’s look at just a few of the virtues that Our Lord exhibits in the Blessed Sacrament and longs to share with us.
Our Lord’s Poverty
Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Apostle of the Eucharist, discussing our Lord’s poverty asks,
“What does [Jesus] possess. . .” or make use of? “[N]either glory, nor majesty, nor any of the other attributes of His divinity; and the same of the faculties of His humanity. He leaves all His possessions in heaven. . . [and] comes with only His Divinity and Humanity to give Himself to us. . . ” In the Eucharist, Our Lord “espouses holy poverty. . . He renounces all right over Himself. In The Blessed Sacrament, Jesus receives whatever treatment comes. He does not defend, nor resist. He is completely poor and selfless, docile to the will of the priest and to the Faithful who receive him in Communion. Saint Peter Julian says then to us,
“if poverty sometimes costs [you], raise your eyes, and look upon Jesus in the Eucharist. He is still poorer than you, He has much less than you.”
Our Lord, out of infinite love for us has embraced complete poverty, though He is the Creator of all that exists. We can imitate Him in this by praying for a spirit of poverty. But what does that look like? Does it mean we must give away all that we possess and go from town to town begging? We may be called to this, but not likely if it interrupts the fulfillment of the duties of our state of life. Our Lord often blesses us materially to care for the people He has placed in our lives and to support the Church and various apostolates.
Rather, a spirit of poverty is releasing our goods to Christ so that He may direct how they are used. It is a detachment from money and things so that we are not ruled by them. It is a deep trust in God for all that we need. One way to practice the spirit of poverty is to consecrate our hearts, our homes, and all our goods to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who loves and protects us as her children. She will guide us to use our possessions in the way that best serves Our Lord and our neighbor.
Our Lord’s Purity
When we think of the Lord’s purity, it is difficult to comprehend. He is the spotless Lamb, unblemished, with no shadow of imperfection in Him. The sacred scripture tells us He was tempted in every aspect as we are, yet there was no sin in Him. (Hebrews 4:15) Sin is anything contrary to the will of God. And we know Our Lord came to do the Father’s will and this mission filled every breath and every action of His days on earth.
We are called to imitate the purity of Jesus, by casting from us any thought, word, or action that is tainted with self-love or self-indulgence. But we are weak and we fall repeatedly. Sometimes it feels as though we will never make progress in the spiritual life because we cannot overcome the temptations that assail us in this area of purity.
Saint Peter Eymard points to the remedy for us, “In His Eucharist, Jesus is the very essence of purity, . . . [T]he grace of purity comes only from Our Lord. Communion gives it, increases it, strengthens it, preserves and maintains it against all the assaults of hell, the world, and the flesh.” If we want to be pure and chaste in whatever state of life we are in, we should frequently receive in Holy Communion “Purity in its essence, Jesus Christ, the God of all purity.” He will give us the fortitude to resist temptation so that we may live a pure and chaste life of holiness.
Our Lord’s Obedience
In our culture, the idea of obedience often elicits a negative reaction. But in the Christian life, obedience acknowledges the hierarchy put in place by God and takes it further to include that which is done out of pure love for Christ. Although, we see the virtue of obedience more clearly exemplified in certain religious vocations, nevertheless, we can find many ways to apply this virtue in the routine life of the lay Catholic husband, mother, worker, or even friend. There are times we are asked to do something we know is right, but is contrary to our will. It is Jesus in the Holy Eucharist that gives us the inspiration and grace to be obedient, regardless of the cost. We can practice this as Saint Therese did. She disciplined herself to put down whatever she may be working on immediately if someone knocked at her door, and though she may have been frustrated interiorly, she received them with kindness as an offering of obedience to the Lord, knowing He was the one who brought that person to her.
How can we grow in this wonderful virtue that trains us to deny our own will for the love of God? Saint Peter Eymard says we are to look to Jesus and His obedience in the Blessed Sacrament. “What passive, blind, absolute submission, without condition or reserve! The priest is His master, whom He always obeys. . . . [And Christ] obeys all the Faithful who oblige Him to come to them by Communion, when and as often as they present themselves. His obedience is lasting, constant, ever ready [in the Blessed Sacrament].”
Our Lord’s Humility
Let us consider the virtue of humility. It is defined and modeled for us in Jesus, Who says, “Learn of Me. For I am meek and humble of Heart.” Humility is at the core of Christ’s character. Saint Peter Eymard writes, “Our Lord, not being able to humble Himself for His sins, since He had never committed any, embraced humility through love [of us] . . .” during His earthly life and now in the Eucharist. He expresses His humility in His complete dependence on God the Father, in His quiet, silent waiting on our altars. He sets aside His glory to come to us under the simple aspects of bread and wine. And receiving or adoring Him in this humble state, we are called by God and His saints to be humble like Our Master. We should humble ourselves certainly because of our sins, but also because of our love for Christ. We are called to imitate Our Eucharistic Lord in His humility, rejecting the temptation to take pride in ourselves or insist on our own will, but instead depending completely upon God and His providence, freely acknowledging that we can do nothing apart from Him (John 15:5).
Our Lord’s Meekness
Let us consider the virtue of meekness since Our Lord calls Himself meek. Saint Peter Eymard expresses meekness as “man’s palm of victory over his pride, it is the renovation and the transformation of the whole natural man. . . . Meekness is not, then, a natural virtue, and one does not attain it by his own strength, . . . It is a virtue proper to Jesus Christ, entirely supernatural. . . .” We cannot practice it without His powerful grace. It requires “vanquishing one’s self-love entirely, and that is no easy thing.” It is only grasped through fervent devotion to Christ and all the more readily attained when that devotion brings us to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. As we ponder His meekness in the Eucharist and learn to love Him more, we receive the strength and the will to lay down our lives for him, as He has for us. When we are insulted or rejected, whereas we would naturally become angry or indignant, we look upon Our Lord in the Eucharist and are reminded that the God of all creation bore insults and rejection because of His love for us. We see His meekness before His persecutors and we are moved with gratitude and a desire to return the love that suffered so much injustice for us. Our sin caused His suffering and we can expiate that sin by responding with meekness toward someone who may have offended us.
Our Lord’s Patience
The sacred scriptures are full of verses that urge us to wait for the Lord and to trust in His providence and timing. And we often find it very difficult to wait. But look how the God who inspired the scriptures waits for us. We shall never find a saint who has waited with the patience exhibited by Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, waiting for us to receive Him in Holy Communion, waiting for us to visit Him just once, to take just a small bit of time for Him. Our Lord Who can command the elements, all the angels, all of creation, waits for us. He doesn’t nag, or coerce, or threaten. He waits with patience, silence, and love. He waits for us to come to the Feast, to tell Him we love Him, to repent of our sins. He, Who is the King of Kings, gives us His time, even when we do not want it.
Oh how much there is to learn from Our Lord’s virtue of patience in the Eucharist! Let us start by watching with Him in adoration as time and our schedule permits. Consider what activity you can lay down to make regular time to visit Him. He wants to see us. Marie-Julie Jahenney a visionary who bore the stigmata could hear the Lord asking her to “stay a little longer with me.” Our Lord asks His disciples, “Could you not watch with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40). If we cannot go to Him for an hour, we can always arrange to go to Mass early or stay a while after to sit with Jesus. That act of patient love for Him, quietly accompanying Him in the Blessed Sacrament will bring the fruit of patience in other areas of our lives.
Our Lord’s Love
“The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love. It signifies Love; It produces love.” – Saint Thomas Aquinas
All of the virtues of Christ are infused with infinite, indescribable love. Who cannot see at least a glimpse of Our Lord’s love for us in His willingness to hide His glory under the Eucharistic veils to be always accessible and never to leave us? And so few return His love, that His Sacred Heart is broken. It is His Sacred Heart that beats in the Blessed Sacrament as proven by careful study of the many Eucharistic miracles that have occurred throughout the world. Our Lord shows us in these miracles that He wants to share His very Heart of love with us. In His humanity, he has made Himself vulnerable. His heart desires fellowship with us, to be one with us. And in the Eucharist, He has made it possible.
Let us learn to love Him and others with His love. The love that is freely given without conditions, love that is pure, humble, meek, and selfless. He is our model and teacher in the Blessed Sacrament.
It is Jesus
The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Catholic faith and is the fount of all virtue precisely because It is Jesus, Himself. We cannot attain to a holy life apart from abiding in Christ and He in us (John 15). Therefore, we need Jesus in the Eucharist to heal us, forgive us, and share His virtue with us. Prayerful, frequent communion with Christ, both in receiving Him and adoring Him changes us, shapes our character, fosters growth in virtue, and becomes the ultimate source of grace in our lives. May we take every opportunity to approach Jesus in the Eucharist with reverence and love, asking Him to transform us by His power so that we can imitate His virtues, bear much fruit, and please Our Heavenly Father.
