The Eucharist forges martyrs of love
The Eucharist is a clear expression of the faithfulness of Christ to the Church, His Bride. With the Eucharist, so must we clearly express our faithfulness and closeness to the Bridegroom. The constant dedication in prayer, in listening and in communicating our love before the Eucharistic presence, forges in the consecrated heart a total disposition to the daily offering of oneself, to the extreme of giving up one’s life. “In this century, as in other periods of history, consecrated men and women have borne witness to Christ the Lord with the gift of their own lives” (VC, n.86).

The faithfulness of so many consecrated souls amidst long and heroic sufferings, to the point of giving their last drop of blood in perfect imitation of Christ Crucified, is a fruit of the assiduous contemplation of the great mystery of love and oblation of Christ in the Eucharist. In this contemplation we discover his faithfulness, his love to the extreme and his sublime abnegation, to the point of the Cross and the Eucharist. In number 83, Vita Consecrata tells us that “dedication to the point of heroism belongs to the prophetic nature of the consecrated life”. That total faithfulness to Christ is embedded in the character, and in the essence of religious life; it predisposes the soul to undertake the most heroic sacrifices. That kind of love is forged before the Eucharist. As Blessed Fr. Damian said: “If it wasn’t for the constant presence of our Divine Teacher in this humble chapel, I wouldn’t be able to persevere in participating of the same fate as the lepers in Molokai”.

The love of the Eucharistic Heart will always beget love in the human heart. By attending this school of selfless and sacrificial love, our hearts are transformed and predispose to the same type of faithfulness. It empowers us to be faithful to Christ and to be witnesses of His love, even if it takes the giving up of our own life. Saint Maximilian Kolbe, the Knight of the Immaculata, was known for his constant visits to the Blessed Sacrament. He would say that he went there, “to the school of love, to transform my heart and to resemble His”. That is why he was able to take the place of a man at the concentration camp in Auschwitz and be, in that place of hatred, an eloquent witness of love, dying as Christ did, giving up his life for another.