APRIL : MONTH OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

APRIL is traditionally set aside for devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament.

April is almost always partly, or fully, in Eastertide.  In Easter, we were set free from the Old Life, just as the Hebrews were set free from their old life in Egypt, a life of slavery and oppression.  Our Old Life was a life of slavery to sin, and the wages of sin is death.

Just as the Hebrews passed safely through the waters of the Red Sea to the safety of the other side, in the waters of baptism, we have passed safely from the Old Life which leads to eternal death to the New Life which is Life Eternal in the Promised Land of Heaven.

But it's a long way between now and Heaven.  Just as Israel had to pass through the desert for forty years, and needed bread from heaven (the manna) to survive, we need the Bread of Heaven to survive our years on earth, between baptism and Heaven.  That Bread of Heaven is the Body and Blood of Christ.

"Unlike your fathers in the wilderness who ate and died nonetheless, he who eats this bread will live forever."

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of Your Eucharist!

 

A PRACTICAL SUGGESTION

One of the things we can do in April is make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament EVERY DAY in April.  It can be on a day you plan on going to Mass.  Just arrive early and be conscious of Our Lord's True Presence in the Tabernacle, and pray to the Lord waiting for you there.  On other days, stop in a church or chapel and spend a few minutes in adoration and prayer.  It can be even as brief as a few minutes.  Better that than nothing.

Here's one prayer of adoration you can say :

I adore Thee, 0 Jesus, true God and true Man, here present in the Holy Eucharist, humbly kneeling before Thee and united in spirit with all the faithful on earth and all the blessed in heaven. In deepest gratitude for so great a blessing, I love Thee, my Jesus, with my whole heart, for Thou art all perfect and all worthy of love.
  
Give me grace nevermore in any way to offend Thee, and grant that I, being refreshed by Thy Eucharistic presence here on earth, may be found worthy to come to the enjoyment with Mary of Thine eternal and ever blessed presence in heaven. Amen.

And then, don't forget to pray for the sick, those far from God, for peace in the world, for those suffering for their Christian faith and any other intention that comes to mind.

"Listen: there are two things the devil is deadly afraid of: fervent Communions and frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament."

~~~Saint John Bosco