Through Thine institution of the most Holy Eucharist, Jesus, deliver us.
On the night before He suffered and died on the cross, Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist. He began His total sacrifice at that moment when He said, “This is My Body” and “This is the chalice of My Blood.” He completed the sacrifice on the cross. And now that sacrifice stands outside time, allowing it to be re-presented, made present for us, at every Mass, that we may enter into it.
When we receive the Eucharist, we receive Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The very substance of the bread and wine become Jesus Himself, His risen Body, His very Blood. Jesus enters into us, filling us with His presence, changing us from the inside out, immersing us in His love.
Through Thy joys, Jesus, deliver us.
We don’t often reflect on Jesus’ joys, but His life on earth must have been filled with them. Jesus was perfectly united with His Father, and that in itself is the highest joy. But He also experienced the joy of the love of His family and friends, the pleasures of the natural world, the little things in life. Jesus was, in fact, probably the most joyful Person Who ever walked the earth. We are called to share in that joy.
Through Thy glory, Jesus, deliver us.
Jesus is fully human but also fully divine, so the glory of God radiates within Him and through Him. On Mount Tabor, Peter, James, and John saw the divine glory of Jesus as His clothes became dazzlingly white from a light that came from within.
This glimpse of glory was intended to give the apostles strength the bear the trials they would soon encounter as Jesus suffered His Passion. Knowing Jesus’ divinity, having seen His glory, was supposed to provide Peter, James, and John the ability to withstand, with great faith, what was to come. For Jesus’ glory may have been hidden, but it never once diminished, any more than He ever ceased to be God.
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