#apostleoftheeucharist

Thought for the Day – 2 August – The Memorial of St Peter Julian Eymard “Apostle of the Eucharist”

“I can remember very clearly that afternoon when I ran out of this room, down the stairs and out the front door. I ran into the church with all the energy of a five-year-old. It was empty.   I did something so out of place. I climbed and sat on the table of the altar and I just leaned my head against the tabernacle. My sister, Marianne, asked me, “What are you doing there?” I quickly answered, ‘I am near Jesus and I’m listening to him.’”

Anticipating the renewal brought about by the Second Vatican Council, Saint Peter Julian Eymard had a vision of Eucharistic communities of priests, deacons, brothers, sisters and lay people living lives of total dedication to the spiritual values that are inspired by the celebration of the Eucharist and deepened through prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. His life was a true journey to Christ in the Eucharist, a journey begun intuitively on that day when a small boy wandered away from his family home to go to church―to listen to Jesus in the tabernacle.

Prayer to Saint Peter Julian Eymard

St Peter Julian, the Lord has given you, as he once did to Jacob, His servant, an ever-searching faith. All your life long, you have sought the way to deepen your union with God and to satisfy the hungers of humanity. In the Eucharist, you have discovered the answer to your searching: God’s love was there for you and for all humanity. Answering this gift of love, you made the gift of yourself to God and you have given of yourself to the service of His people. Your life, modeled on that of the Cenacle, where Mary and the apostles were united in prayer, inspired your disciples to live in an atmosphere of prayer. Their apostolic zeal caused them to build Christian communities where the Eucharist is the center and source of life. Saint Peter Julian, accompany us on our journey of faith. May our ardent prayer and our generous service help us to contribute to the establishing of a world where there is justice and peace. May our celebrations of the Eucharist proclaim the liberating love of God for the renewal of His church and the coming of His kingdom. Amen.

St Peter Julian Eymard, Pray for us!

Our Morning Offering - 2 August

EXCERPT from the ‘Our Father’ Paraphrase By St Peter Julian Eymard

Grant me the grace to find all my joy in wanting You alone, in desiring You alone and in thinking of You alone. Grant that by denying myself, I may find light and life in obeying Your good, acceptable and perfect Will. I will what You will. I will it because You will it. I will it as You will it. I will it as long as You will it. Keep my thoughts and desires purely from You, for You and in You. In You, O Lord Jesus, have I hoped; let me not be confounded forever. You alone are good. You alone are powerful. You alone are eternal. To You alone be honour and glory, love and thanksgiving forever and ever. Amen

For the full Paraphrase go here:https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/08/02/our-morning-offering-2-august/

Saint of the Day – 2 August – St Peter Julian Eymard SSS – “Apostle of the Eucharist” – (4 February 1811 at La Mure, France – 1 August 1868 at La Mure, Isère, France following a stroke).   He was Canonised on 9 December 1962 by Pope John XXIII.   Priest, Religious, Founder of two religious institutes, Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers and Brothers and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament.   Attributes – Eucharist, Monstrance, Eucharistic Adoration, Eucharistic Congress, Cope Humeral Veil Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.

He once described himself as “a little like Jacob, always on a journey,” always seeking. But, in truth, it was there from the beginning―the great love and the driving passion of his life:  Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

One day, young Peter Julian Eymard [pronounced A-mard], just five years of age, wandered off from the family home.   His sister and half-sister searched frantically for the boy and finally located him in the parish church, standing on a stool close to the tabernacle of the high altar.   In response to their anxious questioning, he answered simply, “I am here listening to Jesus.”

The Early Years – 1811-1839

Like all of us, Peter Julian Eymard was conditioned by his familial and cultural background as well as by the social and political milieu of his time.

Life in France during the first half of the nineteenth century was difficult.   Years earlier, the French Revolution had radically altered the political, social and religious landscape of the country.   As a teenager, Eymard would experience the Industrial Revolution which swept across Europe.   As a young man, he witnessed the dawning of the Age of Romanticism in art, music, and literature.

Peter Julian’s road to the priesthood, as well as his life as a priest, was shadowed by the cross.   An intransigent anti-clericalism marked French society and his father, having seen several sons die, did not want his only surviving son to become a priest.   His first attempt to pursue the priesthood ended in serious illness.   Following his father’s death, he tried once again and on July 20, 1834, at age 23, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Grenoble.

The church of Eymard’s day was greatly affected by Jansenism, a religious movement which focused on the gravity of human sinfulness and a corresponding belief in the unworthiness of human motivation and activity.   Thus, in his seminary years and first years of ministry, Father Peter Julian Eymard  was influenced by a predominantly reparation spirituality.   He would struggle his whole life to seek that inner perfection that would enable him to offer the gift of his entire self.

Perhaps it was the intensification of this spiritual struggle along with his lifelong devotion to Mary that led him to enter religious life.   On August 20, 1839, Father Eymard professed vows as a member of the Society of Mary (the Marists).

The Marist Years – 1839-1856

Throughout his life, Peter Julian had an intense devotion to Mary, the Mother of God.   He knew about the apparition of Our Lady of La Salette and enjoyed traveling to various Marian shrines.   It was Father Eymard’s apostolic work for the Society of Mary that would put him in contact with the various currents of eucharistic piety that were flowing through the French church and elsewhere in Europe.

Despite persistent health issues, Peter Julian was an amazingly energetic and hardworking priest and religious.   Naturally drawn to contemplation, the demands of his ministry, especially his preaching schedule and the various administrative duties assigned to him, made it impossible for him to live a purely contemplative life.   He was an outstanding organiser of lay societies, a zealous educator, a well-prepared preacher and something of a prophetic figure in his Marist community and even to his superiors.

Father Eymard was especially effective at preaching eucharistic devotions, very popular at the time.   It was on one such occasion, on Corpus Christi, May 25, 1845, that he had a powerful experience that would change the course of his life. While carrying the Blessed Sacrament in procession at Saint Paul’s Church in Lyons, he felt an intense attraction to Christ in the Eucharist and resolved to“bring all the world to the knowledge and love of our Lord;  to preach nothing but Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ Eucharistic.”

This grace would gradually consume his life and his energies over the next several years. When responsibility for writing a rule for the new Third Order of Mary was entrusted to him by Father Jean Claude Colin, the Marist founder, Peter Julian asked permission to write a eucharistic rule.   Father Colin answered that this was not the charism of the Society of Mary.   Nevertheless, the idea for such a rule had already been written in the mind and heart of Father Eymard, and, in 1856, he made the painful decision to leave the Marists in the hope of a founding a religious congregation dedicated to the Eucharist.

The Years of Founding – 1856-1868

Founding the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament was not an easy task.   Faithfully following the Holy Spirit’s inspiration brought Father Eymard relational conflicts, situations of personal embarrassment, financial troubles and physical exhaustion.   The first hurdle was getting approval for the new eucharistic institute.

The work of preparation for First Communion, especially among adults, was the aspect of Eymard’s vision that interested Archbishop Marie Dominique Auguste Sibour of Paris when the two met and the priest shared his project.   Eucharistic communities and organisations were springing up throughout France―many of them emphasising only prayer and reparation―but Archbishop Sibour rightly perceived that Eymard’s intuition into the Eucharist was not limited merely to adoration but to reaching out to those who were estranged from the church and evangelising them.   He gave approval on May 13, 1856.

Father Eymard immediately directed his ministry to the young workers, the “rag pickers” and the other barely employable men who made up a large segment of the labour force of Paris.   No sooner did he attract a few men to join him than he had to close the house and move to another location.   This happened twice within the span of a few years.   At times, the Eymardian communities were so poor that a neighbouring convent of sisters fed the priests and brothers.   Not being able to provide food and shelter did not help Father Eymard attract vocations!

Saint of the Day – 12 June – St John of Sahagun O.E.S.A. – Religious, Priest, Apostle of the Holy Eucharist – Born John Gonzales de Castrillo (1419 at Sahagun (Saint Fagondez), Léon, Spain – 11 June 1479 at Salamanca, Spain of natural causes (although he may have been poisoned by a woman whose lover, a nobleman, broke off their relationship after hearing John preach and for this reason he is sometimes listed as a martyr.  His relics in churches in Spain, Belgium and Peru).   Patron of the city of Salamanca, Spain and the diocese of Salamanca, Spain.   Attributes – holding a Chalice and the Holy Host surrounded by rays of light, in monks/friar robes.

St John was born in the year 1419, at Sahagún (or San Facondo) in the Province of Leon. He was the oldest of the seven children of Juan González del Castrillo and Sancha Martínez, a wealthy family of the city.   He received his early education from the monks of the Royal Monastery of St. Benedict in his native city, a leading religious and educational center in the region known as the Cluny of Spain.   He received the tonsure while still a youth, according to the custom of the times, after which his father procured for him the benefice of the neighbouring parish of Tornillo.   He was later introduced to Alfonso de Cartagena, the Bishop of Burgos (1435–1456), who was impressed by the bright, high-spirited boy. Cartagena had him educated at his own residence, gave him several prebends, ordained him a priest in the year 1445, and made him a canon at the Cathedral of Burgos.

Possessing all of these offices simultaneously caused González many qualms of conscience, as it was contrary to Church law.   He soon resigned all, retaining only that of the Chapel of St. Agatha in a poor neighborhood of the city, where he said Mass, preached and the faith to the poor.   He then began to lead a life of strict poverty and mortification.   With his bishop’s consent, González obtained permission to enter the University of Salamanca, where for four years he applied himself to the study of theology.   During this time he exercised the ministry at the chapel of the College of St. Bartholomew (in the Parish of St Sebastian), and held that position for nine years.   He devoted himself to pastoral care.   Owing to illness, he was obliged to undergo an operation for the removal of kidney stones. He vowed that if his life were spared, he would become a Religious.

Upon his recovery in the year 1463, González applied for admission to the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, at the Monastery of St. Peter, from that point on, being known simply as Brother (or Friar) John.   In the following year, on August 28, 1464, John made his profession of solemn vows as a member of the Order.   By the command of his superiors, John gave himself wholeheartedly to the salvation of souls and with the best results, to preaching the “Word of God.”   By his zeal he was able to effect the entire reformation of the city of Salamanca.

John made such progress in religious perfection that he was soon appointed master of novices, and later in the year 1471, prior of the community. He conducted the Religious under his rule more by example than by his words.

Great was St John’s devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, that at the celebration of Mass he frequently saw the Sacred Host resplendent in glory.   He was gifted with a special power to penetrate the secrets of conscience, so that it was not easy to deceive him, and sinners were almost always forced to make good confessions. He was able to obtain wonderful results in doing away with enmities and feuds.   In many ways, John was like a fellow Religious who lived nearly 500 years later, Pio of Pietrelcina, who also had the uncanny ability to discern the secrets of conscience.

St John spent hours in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, as often as he could.  While he celebrated Mass St John often enjoyed the sight of Jesus in glory, becoming enraptured in ecstasy and holding conversations with Him.

In his sermons, John preached the Word of God and scourged the crimes and vices of the day, by which the rich and noble were offended.   He soon made many enemies, who went so far as to hire assassins but these, awed by the serenity and angelic sweetness of his countenance, lost courage.   Some women of Salamanca, embittered by the saint’s strong sermon against extravagance in dress, openly insulted him in the streets and pelted him with stones until stopped by a patrol of guards.   Saint John was acclaimed by the people of Salamanca as a wise and prudent confessor, an effective reconciler of feuding families   and a champion of the rights of workers. A contemporary, when asked about Saint John, explained:  “If you ask me about the actions of Friar John, with regard to the poor and afflicted, exploited widows and children, the needy and the sick, I would have to say that he was naturally compelled to help them all in word and in deed. He was particularly interested in leading all to peace and harmony, and putting an end to hostility. Living in Salamanca, where the entire city was split into factions, he succeeded in preventing much bloodshed.”

John’s scathing words on the “sins of impurity” produced salutary effects in a certain nobleman who had been living in open concubinage but the woman swore vengeance.   It was popularly believed that she had caused the saint’s death by poison (this statement is found only in later biographies).   His sermons against sinful living conditions and in support of the rights and dignity of workers brought him great opposition of some local leaders.   He became known as an outstanding preacher, whose style, clarity, sincerity, and integrity attracted large crowds and created many opportunities for conversion.   To the Duke of Alba, who complained of John’s stern denunciation of the sins of nobility and commoners alike form the pulpit, John replied:  “It is becoming of Your Grace to know that a preacher must be prepared in his soul to speak the truth, both in denouncing and correcting shortcomings and in praising virtue, to such a point that he is willing in that cause even to face death.”  Incensed, the duke hired assassins to stop Saint John’s preaching but upon recognizing John’s holiness, they repented, confessing and begging forgiveness—which he freely gave.  The duke later fell ill and was healed by John’s prayers, himself repenting and renouncing his former ways.

John died on 11 June 1479, in his monastery. His remains were buried in the Old Cathedral of the city.   Soon after John’s death, his “cult” spread throughout Spain.   The process of beatification began in 1525 under Pope Clement VII and in 1601 he was declared “Blessed” by Pope Clement VIII.

New miracles were wrought through his intercession and on 16 October 1690 Pope Alexander VIII canonised him.   In 1729 Pope Benedict XIII inscribed his liturgical feast day in the Roman Calendar for 12 June, since 11 June, the anniversary of his death was occupied by the feast of Saint Barnabas.   In the 1969 revision of the Roman liturgical celebration was left to local calendars because of the limited importance attributed to him on a universal level.   In the Roman Martyrology, the official list of saints of the Catholic Church, his feast day is 11 June.   John’s life written by John of Seville towards the end of the fifteenth century with additions in 1605 and 1619.

Saint of the Day – 6 June – St Norbert – also known as St Norbert of Xanten – Bishop, Confessor, Founder, “Defender of the Eucharist” and “Apostle of the Eucharist”, Exorcist, Reformer, Preacher – (c1080 at Xanten, Germany – 6 June 1134 at Magdeburg, Germany,  relics in Prague) – Patron for peace, invoked during childbirth for safe delivery, of infertile married couples, Bohemia (Czech Republic), Archdiocese of Magdeburg, Germany – Attributes – monstrance, cross with two cross-bars.

St Norbert was a German from illustrious Frankish and Salic German stock.   Offered as a youth to the collegiate church of St. Victor in Xanten, he was educated both in literature and the ways of the court and the world.   At Xanten, he became a Subdeacon and at this period of his life, showed no inclination to pursue the dignity of the Priesthood.   Rather, St. Norbert, who was wealthy, handsome, thin and somewhat tall, sought approval in the courts of the great and of the emperor. Known to be an eloquent speaker and possessed of an affability that won him admiration and friendships, St. Norbert used these natural gifts, not to seek the glory of God but to gain the love and esteem of men.   His biographer describes him at this period before his conversion as one who “had no time for piety and quiet” and that he “lived his life according to his own desires.”

But soon life became one of interior strife for St Norbert.   He had witnessed Emperor Henry V’s mistreatment of Pope Paschal II in Rome in 1111, when he traveled there in Frederick of Cologne’s retinue.   These events left St. Norbert with a sense of uneasiness he could not dispel.   The man who had been so happy to live at court no longer felt comfortable in that atmosphere of intrigue, where the emperor’s arrogance took the place of law.   He left the court and returned to Xanten, where we find him in 1115.   In late spring of this year, St. Norbert, accompanied by a single servant, was traveling on the road to Freden when a storm suddenly came up.   A bolt of lightning struck the ground before his horse’s feet and he was thrown to the ground.   Shaken, he asked, “Lord what do you want me to do?”   In response, he seemed to hear these words from Psalm 34, “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”   St. Norbert underwent a profound conversion.   Under the influence of grace and led by the Gospel, he became sure of one thing:  he wanted to put on the new man (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10) and live a life of perfection in the service of the Church, according to the Gospel of Christ and in the footsteps of the Apostles.

From the beginning of his conversion, St Norbert aimed at a life of priestly perfection through imitation of the Apostles.   He sought ordination to the priesthood and gave his considerable wealth to the poor, in order “that he may follow the naked cross naked”  ( Vita Norberti B, IX 22).   Inflamed with the zeal of divine fervour, St. Norbert went about with “no purse, no sandals nor two tunics,” (Mk. 6:8) proclaiming by his words and example the necessity of poverty of spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God.   As Christ had sent out his Apostles not only “to proclaim the message,” but also “to have authority to cast out demons,” (Mk. 3:15)   St Norbert was well known as an exorcist and his biographer records many instances when he was called upon to exercise this office. Regarded as a “minister of peace and concord,” he had the gift of reconciling people and establishing peace between feuding parties.   At the center of St Norbert’s spiritual life and ministry was the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.   Contrary to custom of his times, he celebrated Mass every day and it was after offering the Eucharistic sacrifice that he loved to preach, while his heart was overflowing with the love he had drawn from intimate contact with Christ.   The Acts of the Apostles record how the first Christians “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers,” (2:42) and that “the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul” (4:32).   St Norbert sought to realise the fullness of this Apostolic ideal in the founding of a new religious family.

In 1121, St Norbert established the first monastery of our Order in Prémontré, France.   He had a great talent to speak to people, to fill people with enthusiasm for the kingdom of God, so much so that in a short period of time he was able to attract many men and women to the Apostolic Life and to start many foundations of religious communities of this “ordo novus”.   Liturgical prayer held a central place in the life of Norbert and his first companions.   The Eucharist, the heart of liturgical prayer occupied such a place at Prémontré and in the life of St. Norbert that later tradition made Norbert the Apostle of the Eucharist.   His order, the Premonstratensian or Norbertine Canons and Sisters are today in Europe, the US, Canada, South America, Zaire, South Africa, India and Australia are involved in education, parochial ministry, university chaplaincy and youth work.

In 1126, St Norbert was elected archbishop of Magdeburg, Germany.   He worked for the kingdom of God on all levels and ready to commit himself to peace and justice, did not shy away from arguments and conflicts, neither in his own diocese nor in the conflict between emperor and pope, as he courageously defended the rights of the Church.

St Norbert died on June 6th 1134, the Wednesday after Pentecost.   By order of the emperor, his body was laid at rest in Abbey Church of St. Mary’s at Magdeburg, where he had installed the confreres of his Order.   St. Norbert’s body was transferred to the Norbertine Abbey of Strahov in Prague in 1627 after numerous attempts were made over the centuries by the Abbey of Strahov in Prague to retrieve the saint’s body.   Only after several military defeats at the hand of Emperor Ferdinand II was the abbot of Strahov able to claim the body.   On 2 May 1627 the body was finally brought to Prague where it remains to this day, displayed in a glass-fronted tomb in the Royal Canonry of Strahov, Prague and is venerated by his sons and daughters from all over the world.   As mentioned above, St. Norbert is venerated as the “Apostle and Defender of the Eucharist”.   He is usually depicted with a ciborium or monstrance in his hand on account of his extraordinary devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament.   St Norbert is also a patron of childbirth/expectant mothers, as well as traditionally invoked by married couples who want to conceive a child, with many favours attributed to his intercession.

Why is St Norbert Patron of Expectant Mothers & Infertile Married Couples?

A pious woman once approached St. Norbert asking whether she and her husband ought to separate and enter monasteries because they lived in an infertile marriage.   St. Norbert prophesied that they would be blessed with children, the first of whom would be dedicated to God.   This child, Nicholas, did indeed become a Norbertine at Prémontré.    St. Norbert is traditionally invoked for a good childbirth. The Norbertine Canonesses at Doksany (Czech Republic) in modern times promote this devotion to St. Norbert as patron of infertile couples or endangered pregnancies and report hundreds of families now blessed with children, the sisters having well over 3,000 spiritual children as of 2012.

A Prayer to St. Norbert for a Good Childbirth

St. Norbert, great and faithful servant of God! You venerated the holy and miraculous birth of our Saviour, Who His Mother, the purest Virgin Mary, conceived without the loss of her virginity and gave birth remaining a virgin. You connected the origin of the Premonstratensian Order with the day of the birth of Jesus Christ. I humbly pray to you, St. Norbert, as a great protector, so that God will give me the grace, through your intercession, to give birth to this conceived child. And so that He will give me also the grace that this child will join the Church of Christ through the sacrament of Baptism and that he/she will serve Him, Our Lord, the whole of his/her life so that in the end we both will reach eternal salvation. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Amen.

(Translated from The Little Hours, 1749, by one of our Norbertine Sisters at Doksany)