We Are All Connected Through Your Blessed Sacred Heart

                “Dear Lord, today, I feel especially connected to all Your people. We are all joined through a deep love for You, through Your Blessed Sacred Heart, and under the loving care of Your blessed mother Mary. The prayers of those around me, though my ears can not distinguish them individually, I hear them all joined together like one big breath, a groan of deep loving desire for You. We all love You so much, though imperfectly and at different intensities and in different ways, but all joined together, all under the roof of love, contained in love, defined by love.

                “I was thinking as we all approached to humbly receive You in the Holy Communion, how we are all connected, like blood flowing through the veins to Your heart, reverently held in the humble hands of our beloved priest in the form of the bread and wine in the Eucharist. Through Your heart, in the Eucharist, we receive the graces and blessings we need to be energized to do Your will and to produce the fruits You seek of us. I look around and see people I think are very holy, filled with a deep love and faith for You; they are connected to me, they strengthen me with their faith. I hope my faith can strengthen others. All of our good works positively affect each other, strengthening the body of Christ through us, guided by Christ the head. I also humbly realize that my sins, my failings, my weaknesses, also infect everyone through this connected blood flow, like a disease that infects the body. When we sin, when we fail to do all that the head of the body asks, we weaken the body.

                “Oh dear Lord, may the Eucharist provide the medicine to fight the disease of sin in all of us. Through Your great mercy, You have forgiven us our sins, but may Your presence in the Eucharist provide all we need to fortify ourselves against sin, like our bodies’ immune system, always fighting off invading forces. Help me Lord to be a healthy, strong part of Your body. Help me help others to be healthy and strong.

                “Lord, may I never forget Your awesome power in the Eucharist. May I always receive it with the humble heart of a servant. May I always receive it with the reverence and gratitude of one receiving a supernatural gift. May I always remember to keep my body as a temple to receive You in the Eucharist, to honor and protect Your blessed presence within me. May Your presence strengthen me, guide me and join me together with Your people as one, as all part Your body.”