Eucharistic Gems with Fr. Donald Calloway

Adam Wright:

We always love having Father Don Callaway with us on the show. He is a Marian Father of the Immaculate Conception. And, you know, it’s just one of those things, Father. I don’t tire about talking with you, about the Blessed Mother. I don’t tire of talking about Saint Joseph. And today, especially, we get to talk about our Lord. So what’s not to love there? You’ve got a new book out, Eucharistic Gems, which is great for this revival. I was hoping to be able to hold up my copy here on the video, except it’s not getting delivered until about four o’clock today because there was a shipping delay with the carrier. So, luckily, you have yours.

Fr. Donald Calloway:

I do. Yeah, and it’s hot off the press. It’s the fourth book in this series of gems books that I have. So I’ve got one on Saint Joseph Gems, Rosary Gems, Marian Gems, and now Eucharistic Gems. So perfect for the Eucharistic Revival.

Adam Wright:

So let’s talk about some of these gems because I’ve loved your rosary gems most especially. I had a conversation earlier today. We were talking about revival being a thing that, you know, what is revival? You’re dead, and then they bring you back to life. And so if we’re being revived here, what are some of these gems you want to share with us today?

Fr. Donald Calloway:

Yeah. So, what it is, the book is basically just daily quotes on the Eucharist from great saints who really emphasize the Eucharist in their spirituality. I mean, all saints do, but some kind of stand out more than others: mystics of the church and popes. And probably the one that’s the most prominent in the book is a saint named Saint Peter Julian Eymard. He is not that well-known outside of France, but he’s actually been called the apostle of the Eucharist by several popes. His insights, his wisdom on the Blessed Sacrament as it relates to us, to Our Lady, to the saints, to confession, all these things, is off the charts. I mean, it’s really extraordinary. So I’ve got him in the book big time. And then, you know, venerable Fulton Sheen, nobody can say it like Fulton Sheen did, just incredible. Saint John Paul II, Saint Faustina, and a ton of others, all throughout the last 2,000 years of church history. Really good stuff.

Adam Wright:

And I can’t wait to – like I said, my copy is literally going to be delivered today. I can’t wait to pick it up and start thumbing through the pages on that. One of the things I was thinking about, and again, earlier today I was able to have an interview about the Eucharist Revival. And we were talking about this temptation to think about, “Well, that’s for other people. That’s for people that don’t believe in the Eucharist. It’s not for me. I mean, I go to Mass every week, Father. Sometimes more than once a week, and I go to adoration and whatnot” and yet, this period of revival, if it doesn’t start in our own hearts, I suppose we’re kind of missing the point, aren’t we?

Fr. Donald Calloway:

Yeah. You’re right about that. I mean, if you think about it, it’s really us who need to be revived. As you said, the Eucharist doesn’t need to be revived. It’s Jesus. He’s God, right? So the emphasis is kind of on us changing. Okay, so let’s say that somebody is already deeply in love with the Eucharist, and they believe that He’s truly present, praise God for that gift. Now maybe take it to the next level in this Eucharistic Revival. Maybe let your Eucharist spirituality start to be one of reparation, for example, for those who maybe are committing sacrileges against the Blessed Sacrament or offending our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. You can go deeper too, since you’re already in love with Him. Take it to the next level.

Adam Wright:

Oh, I love that because it’s something we talk about from time to time, especially as we’re getting closer to first Friday, which is coming up. Actually, I’ve got to remember that. This is the last Friday of the month we have this week. So, what do we do though? You know, that might be a new term for someone to say, “Well, you want me to do acts of reparation for the Eucharist.” Well, what do you do?

Fr. Donald Calloway:

Right. Yeah. So I think it’s important to remember that the Eucharist is a person. It’s Jesus. So, sometimes, unfortunately, sometimes people involved in the occult, for example, try to obtain a consecrated host in order to desecrate it. This is becoming more widely done today, actually. There’s crazy stuff going on. Or, for example, people who are in mortal sin, public figures profess to be Catholic, and then they don’t live according to the teachings of the church: promoting abortion, for example, and they receive Holy Communion. And they make it something televised and so forth, this is an offense against our Lord. So what can we do? We can spend time before our Eucharistic Lord, offering him our hearts. Remember it’s a relationship. He’s a person. And we can say, “Lord, for my own weaknesses and any way that I’ve offended you, and I ask you to please pardon those who have done these other things that have offended you. I offer you my heart. I will spend this time with you in reparation because you’re so good. You love us so much, and I’m sorry that this has been done to you.” That really does mean something to Jesus because He so much loves us.

Adam Wright:

You know, as you say that, that makes me think of this in a new way, and I don’t know why I haven’t thought of this before, but say my wife has just a terrible day at work. It happens time to time, I think, to all of us. She doesn’t want me to go to her work and say, “How dare you give my wife such a hard time? How dare you make this so difficult?” She wants me to be there with her, maybe to hold her hand, to sit down to dinner with her, and just be present to her. So what a beautiful image that is you’ve given us for just spending that time with our Lord in reparation for the sins against Him and the Blessed Sacrament.

Fr. Donald Calloway:

Yeah, exactly. Our Lord on occasion has actually appeared to certain saints throughout church history and told them about this and said, “Behold this heart, which is so loved mankind and yet is so offended” Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and many, many others. He invites them to spend time with Him, making reparation and just being present, as you said, with Him. I mean, that’s what the relationship is, right?

Adam Wright:

Alright. Now I want to end our time together with this because we can’t talk with Father Don Calloway without talking about the Blessed Mother and the Rosary. I just love the thought of praying the Rosary during a time of Eucharistic adoration. Some people say, “I don’t know how to make a holy hour. I mean, I get about 5 minutes in, and then I’m so antsy, antsy, antsy. I can’t sit still. What do I do?” And that’s when I say, “Hey, pull out your Rosary and meditate upon the life of our Lord. Why is it such a powerful thing and such a necessary thing for us to not only go to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament but to go to Him with His mother, through her intercession?

Fr. Donald Calloway:

Yeah, because He loves her so much. So we come with our petitions, with our needs, and He loves us. Oh, He loves us so much. But Our Lady as a mother has a way of kind of cleaning us up, as a mother does. Just like a mother, when you are about to go to church, mother says, “Okay, here honey” and she fixes your hair and she fixes your clothes. “Okay, now you look really good.” That’s what a mother does. And Mary does that in the spiritual life, too. She makes us kind of more presentable to Jesus. So when we come to our Lord through Mary, and with Mary, it’s extraordinary. Amazing things are going to happen, and praying that Rosary is powerful because we’re entering into the sacred and saving mysteries of the life of our Lord, and we’re making a pilgrimage. When you pray the Rosary, you’re going to Calvary. You’re going to Bethlehem. You’re going to Cana. You’re making a pilgrimage in your heart and in your mind, and there’s going to be graces. There’s going to be blessings that flow.

Adam Wright:

Alright. Now the book again, friends, is Eucharistic Gems by Father Don Callaway, and Father’s got many books as well. Father, where do they go online to buy the book? Because I know it really helps your fellow priests out when we buy it from you.

Fr. Donald Calloway:

Yeah. So we’ve got two websites. The easiest one, my religious community established for me, it’s just fathercalloway.com and you have to spell out the Father part. It’s fathercalloway.com. And when you go there, you’ll find all the books, and that’ll take you to shopmercy.org, which has a lot of other stuff. But if you go to fathercalloway.com first, you’ll see it pops up right away and you’ll be able to have easy access to it.

Adam Wright:

Alright. Well, Father, I have to ask you to close our time together with a prayer. It wouldn’t be right for us not to honor the Blessed Mother and honor our Lord after this time together.

Fr. Donald Calloway:

Absolutely. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of the Eucharist. And during this time of the Eucharistic Revival, help us to be revived, to be restored, renewed in our love for Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, especially through the intercession of Our Lady. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Adam Wright:

Amen. Alright. So, again, it’s Father Callaway, Father Don Callaway, and you can go to his website or you can go to shopmercy.org. The book is Eucharistic Gems. Father, thank you so much for being with us on Roadmap to Heaven today. We’re going to take a break but don’t go anywhere. We’ve got more of the show after this.