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Thursday, February 13, 2025

Blessed Carlo Acutis

Blessed Carlos Acutis insisted that holiness was impossible without Mass, the Rosary, and time before the Blessed Sacrament, saying “the Eucharist is the highway to heaven” and “by standing before the Eucharistic Christ, we become holy.” He was born to an Italian family in London, England, in 1991. At the age of fifteen, Acutis already hungered for heaven, telling his mother, “I can die happy, because I haven’t wasted even a minute on things that aren’t pleasing to God.” As a young child, Acutis baffled his parents with his piety. Though he was baptized, his family did not practice the faith. As a preschooler, Acutis would ask his mother to go to church to see Jesus. His longing to receive the Blessed Sacrament led him to receive permission to make his First Holy Communion at a younger age than customary. He became a daily communicant by the age of seven and would spend time before and after Mass in front of the Eucharist. The Eucharist was at the center of Acutis’s life, and he thought that others would be drawn to Jesus if they truly understood the miracles that happen at every Mass. He researched Eucharistic miracles and built a website to document and share them. Acutis led many people to Christ, including his mother and a Hindu man he befriended in his community. Acutis encouraged those around him to make daily Mass a habit, saying, “the more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on Earth we will have a foretaste of heaven.” He argued that the first rule to becoming holy was that “you have to want it with all your heart.” Acutis befriended everyone he met, sticking up for those being bullied and comforting those going through difficult times. He regularly volunteered and had a close relationship with the homeless in his neighborhood. His generosity and love for those around him stemmed from his relationship with God. Even after his death in 2006–three days after being diagnosed with acute leukemia–this ordinary young man who played video games and soccer and radiated his love for the Eucharist inspires people around the world. Acutis’s cause for canonization was opened in 2013; he was declared blessed by Pope Francis in 2020 after a healing miracle was attributed to him. Acutis reminds us that we are all called to become saints by living our ordinary lives with the extraordinary love of Christ at the center. We can become more generous, more holy, and more like Christ by spending time with him at Mass, in the sacraments, and through prayer and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Can you attend daily Mass at least once this week?

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Servant of God Ragheed Aziz Ganni

Servant of God Ragheed Aziz Ganni was an Iraqi priest committed to celebrating Mass and offering the Eucharist to Catholics in a predominantly Muslim country torn apart by terrorism. Born in 1972 in Mosul, Iraq, he earned a degree in civil engineering from Mosul University. After completing his required military service, he entered the seminary in Rome. He was ordained in 2001 and returned to Iraq to serve in his diocese. Following the US invasion in 2003, Ganni and his flock were in daily danger of terrorist attacks—churches were bombed and Christians were killed. Despite the risk, Ganni and his parishioners continued to gather for Sunday Mass, risking their lives to receive the Eucharist. “Without the Eucharist, the Christians in Iraq cannot survive,” Ganni said. During a speech at an Italian Eucharistic Congress, Ganni shared his fear, but added, “When holding the Eucharist, I say, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,’ I feel his strength in me.” Ultimately, Ganni would give his life for the Eucharist. In 2007, he and three subdeacons were stopped by armed men while returning from Mass one Sunday. One of the men began screaming at Ganni about repeatedly being told to close the church. “How can I close the house of God,” Ganni responded. All four men were killed by the terrorists after they refused to convert to Islam. They are all now servants of God in the process of canonization for their martyrdom. Will you offer up prayers for those across the world who are suffering for their faith this week?

Thursday, February 13, 2025

St. Kateri Tekakwitha

St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American to be canonized by the Catholic Church, had a deep devotion to the Eucharist. Her familiar nickname is “Lily of the Mohawks,” but because of her devotion, she also has been called “Princess of the Eucharist” and “Lily of the Eucharist.” Born in 1656 to a Mohawk father and Algonquin mother in what is now New York, she lived a difficult life. Her parents and brother died during an outbreak of smallpox when she was a young child. She was left with facial scars, weakness, and difficulties with her vision. Inspired by the lives of the Jesuit missionaries who came to her village, Tekawitha refused to marry any of the suitors her uncle wanted for her, for which she was punished and given extra work. She converted to Catholicism at nineteen and was baptized with the name Kateri after St. Catherine of Siena. Baptism not only transformed Tekawitha but also caused greater animosity from her tribe. She was treated like a slave, and because she would not work on Sundays, went without meals. Tekawitha wanted Jesus to be her only love, saying “I am not my own; I have given myself to Jesus. He must be my only love. The state of helpless poverty that may befall me if I do not marry does not frighten me.” Her piety and vow of chastity were not understood by her people and Tekawitha was forced to flee, walking two-hundred miles to a Christian Native American community near Montreal, where she grew in holiness. She was known for being an ascetic, often inflicting harsh penances on herself as she prayed for the conversion of her people. Tekawitha found true nourishment in the Body of Christ. She said, “I have abandoned this miserable body to hunger and any other misery so my soul could be content and have its usual nourishment.” She spent much time in prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, waiting for the chapel to open at dawn and remaining there until after the final Mass of the day. She died in 1680 when she was twenty four and was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. Though she suffered immense physical and emotional trials, Tekawitha trusted in God’s goodness, grace, and mercy. She recognized the miracle of the Eucharist, giving her life to Jesus. While we may not be called to endure the same mortifications and sacrifices as Tekawitha, we can accept the crosses that Jesus entrusts to us. By developing a greater devotion to the Eucharist, we can learn how to unite our daily sufferings and struggles to the suffering of Christ on the Cross. How can you bring your suffering to the Eucharistic Lord this week?

Thursday, February 13, 2025

St. Teresa of Calcutta

“The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best time you will spend on Earth. Each moment that you spend with Jesus will deepen your union with him and make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in heaven, and will help bring about everlasting peace on Earth.”—St. Teresa of Calcutta Mother Teresa–born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910–devoted her life to care for the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta, India. She won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in 1979. It was her love of the Eucharist and daily Adoration that gave her and fellow members of the Missionaries of Charity the strength to carry out their difficult work. “Unless we believe and see Jesus in the appearance of bread on the altar, we will not be able to see him in the distressing disguise of the poor,” she said. Mother Teresa believed that an hour spent in Adoration helped her and the other sisters to love the poor more fully. It’s a pillar for the religious community she founded in 1950. “Jesus has made himself the Bread of Life to give us life. Night and day, he is there. If you really want to grow in love, come back to the Eucharist, come back to that Adoration,” she said. Mother Teresa grew up with great reverence for the sacraments, having received her First Communion at age five and Confirmation a year later, She joined the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland in 1928, where she was soon sent to India to serve as a high school teacher in the city of Calcutta. She taught history and geography for seventeen years, educating the daughters of the city’s wealthy elite. In 1946, she experienced a new call, which led her to establish the Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa devoted herself and her community to caring for the Eucharistic Christ visible in the poor and vulnerable, the sick and the dying. Her selfless love was not formed on her own strength. Rather, she started every day with the Eucharist. It was through his Body and Blood that she heard Christ calling her to deeper love. Mother Teresa advocated for perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in every parish around the world. “Nowhere on Earth are we more welcomed or loved than by Jesus in Eucharist. When you look at the crucifix, you understand how much Jesus loved you. When you look at the Sacred Host you understand how much Jesus loves you now. Are you able to find a few minutes to spend with the Real Presence of the Lord this week?

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Servant of God Dorothy Day

Servant of God Dorothy Day is best known for her radical activism and work with the poor through the Catholic Worker Movement. A convert to the faith, Day developed a deep devotion to the Eucharist which guided her vocation. Day grew up in the Episcopal Church but was drawn to Catholicism by the beauty of the Mass and Christ’s humility in giving his very Body and Blood to us in the Eucharist. She reflected on the importance of this spiritual nourishment, explaining, “We are nourished by His flesh that we may grow to be other Christs. I believe this literally, just as I believe the child is nourished by the milk from his mother’s breast.” Day was initially skeptical of Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. She wrote, “It took me a long time as a convert to realize the presence of Christ as Man in the Sacrament. He is the same Jesus Who walked on earth, Who slept in the boat as the tempest arose, Who hungered in the desert, Who prayed in the garden, Who conversed with the woman by the well, Who rested at the house of Martha and Mary, Who wandered through the cornfields, picking the ears of corn to eat.” After her conversion, Day relied on the Eucharist daily to help her realize Christ’s love for us. She said that receiving His Body and Blood allows us “to put on Christ” and to become Christ for others. Adoration also was central to Day’s life and ministry. As you pray before the Eucharist this week, will you ask God for the grace to allow the Real Presence to help you live out the Gospel?

Thursday, February 13, 2025

St. José Sánchez del Rio

José Luis Sánchez del Río grew up a pious Catholic with a strong devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. At the age of twelve, he desperately wanted to defend against religious persecution in Mexico. Mexican Catholics were facing grave persecution from the socialist government, which sought to destroy the influence of the faith in the country by closing churches and parish schools, regulating preaching, dictating Mass attendance and the sacraments, and killing priests. Eventually, the government forbade the public practice of Catholicism altogether and made religious vows illegal. The Cristero War, as it came to be known, began in 1926 as faithful Catholics protested against the implementation of anti-clerical laws. Sánchez wanted to fight as a Cristero alongside his older brothers and community members for religious freedom, but his parents—and a Cristero official—refused. After much pleading, Sánchez was first allowed to perform tasks such as preparing the fire, serving food, and cleaning rifles; then he became a flagbearer of a Cristero troop. The men gave him the nickname Tarcisius after an early Christian saint martyred for protecting the Eucharist. Sánchez was captured during a battle against government forces. He was tortured and commanded to renounce his faith, which he refused to do. On February 10, 1928, when Sánchez was fourteen, he was condemned to die by his godfather–a government sympathizer. A half-hour before his execution, his aunt was able to deliver the Eucharist given to her by a priest and hidden within his final meal. Soldiers cut off the soles of his feet before forcing Sánchez to walk to the cemetery. He was shot as he shouted, “Vivo Cristo Rey y Santa Maria de Guadalupe!” (Long live Christ the King and Holy Mary of Guadalupe!), a martyr for his faith. Sánchez was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 and canonized by Pope Francis in 2016. How can you approach the Eucharistic Christ with the heart of a martyr?

Thursday, February 13, 2025

St. Isaac Jogues

St. Isaac Jogues was a seventeenth-century Jesuit priest from France who served in the North American missions to Native Americans. He taught and served tribes, including the Ojibwa and Huron, in what is now Canada. In 1642, he was captured by the warring Iroquois with his companion René Goupil. Goupil was killed, while Jogues faced thirteen months of captivity and torture, from which he lost several fingers. Aided by the Dutch in what is now New York, Jogues returned to France for a short time in December of 1643. His hands were too damaged to celebrate Mass, as required by Church law. The Blessed Sacrament must be held with the thumb and forefinger, which are known as the “canonical digits.” However, Pope Urban VIII, who considered Jogues to be a “living martyr,” granted his request for a dispensation to celebrate Mass, saying, “It would be shameful that a martyr of Christ not be allowed to drink the Blood of Christ.” Jogues returned to North America in 1645 and worked to establish peace between the French and the Mohawk tribe. A year later, the Mohawks accused him of witchcraft because they believed he caused a deadly outbreak of European diseases. This accusation led to his murder at the age of 39. Jogues was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930, alongside Goupil and several other North American martyrs. He brought the sacraments, particularly Baptism and the Eucharist, to the indigenous people of North America. Ultimately his mission resulted in his martyrdom. Jogues's dedication to the Eucharist reminds us that the Blessed Sacrament is truly “the source and summit” of our faith. Jogues reminds us that we can be missionaries for Christ in the world today by telling those around us about our faith and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. We can receive Jesus at Mass with reverence, remembering that Jogues and other saints gave their lives so that we can freely celebrate the Eucharistic Feast. We also can serve as Eucharistic ministers in our parishes and to the hospitalized and homebound. How will you live out your mission to bring Christ to others?