The Eucharistic Life of the Carmelite Saints
A very special thank you to Loretta Gallagher, OCDS (STA-Danvers) for compiling the majority of these eucharistic quotes from the writings of our beloved Carmelite saints, and for diligently researching each of the references, to insure accuracy.
The quotes are organized by Carmelite Saint, starting with our three Doctors of the Church.
St. Teresa of Avila
"I cannot say this without tears and great joy of soul! How You desire, Lord, thus to be with us and to be present in the [Blessed] Sacrament ... You would be glad to be with us since You say that Your delight is to be with children of the earth.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Life, ch.14, no.10.
“... I always returned to my custom of rejoicing in this Lord, especially when I received Communion. I wanted to keep ever before my eyes a painting or image of Him since I was unable to keep Him as engraved in my soul as I desired.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Life, ch.22, no.4.
“… Corpus Christi [is] a feast for which I have much devotion.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Life, ch.30, no.11.
“We have Him so near in the Blessed Sacrament, where He is already glorified... Behold Him here without suffering, full of glory, before ascending into heaven, strengthening some, encouraging others, our companion in the most Blessed Sacrament; it doesn’t seem it was in His power to leave us for even a moment.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Life, ch.22, no.6.
“Sometimes … after receiving Communion I was at peace. And sometimes, in approaching the Sacrament, I felt at once so good in soul and body that I was surprised. It seems that in only a moment all the darknesses of the soul disperse.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Life, ch.30, no.14.
“One day, while I was hearing Mass, at the elevation of the host, I saw Christ on the cross. He spoke some words of consolation… and everything came about afterward as the Lord had told me.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Life, ch.38, no.14.
“When I approached to receive Communion and recalled that extraordinary majesty I had seen and considered that it was present in the Blessed Sacrament (the Lord often desires that I behold it in the host), … the whole experience seemed to annihilate me.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Life, ch.38, no.19.
“O Wealth of the poor, how admirably You know how to sustain souls! … When I behold majesty as extraordinary as this concealed in something as small as the host, it happens afterward that I marvel at wisdom so wonderful.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Life, ch.38, no.21.
“… understand the power of the words of consecration and how God does not fail to be present, … all out of love for me and for everyone. I understood well how much more priests are obliged to be good than are others, how deplorable a thing it is to receive this most Blessed Sacrament unworthily.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Life, ch.38, no.23.
“On occasion there came over me such ardent desires to receive Communion that I don’t think they could be exaggerated. ... I was already so outside myself with the desire for Communion that, even should lances have been held to my heart, I think I’d have gone into their midst.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Life, ch.39, no.22.
“From certain things He told me, I understood that after He ascended to heaven He never came down to earth to commune with anyone except in the most Blessed Sacrament.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Spir. Test., 12, no.6.
“One day, after having received Communion, I truly thought my soul was made one with the most sacred Body of the Lord. He appeared to me and by His presence caused me to make much progress.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Spir. Test., 44.
“Once, after receiving Communion, I was given understanding of how the Father receives within our soul the most holy Body of Christ, and of how I know, and have seen, that these Divine Persons are present, and of how pleasing to the Father this offering of His Son is ...”
St. Teresa of Avila, Spir. Test., 52.
... He realizes that we are weak and knows that the laborers must be nourished with such food.”
St. Teresa of Avila,Way, ch.3, no.8.
“It’s as though Jesus tells the Father that He is now ours, since the Father has given Him to us to die for us; and asks that the Father not take Him from us until the end of the world; that He allow Him to serve each day.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Way, ch.33, no.4.
“… He realizes that we are weak and knows that the laborers must be nourished with such food.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Way, ch.3, no.8.
“In this petition [Our Father] the word “daily” seems to mean forever … I’ve come to think that it is because here on earth we possess Him and also in heaven we will possess Him if we profit well by His company. He, in fact, doesn’t remain with us for any other reason than to help, encourage, and sustain us.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Way, ch.34, no.1.
“Since the Father has already given us His Son and, just because he wanted to, sent Him into the world, the Son, just because He wants to, desires not to abandon us bot to remain here with us, to the greater glory of His friends and the affliction of His enemies. He asks again for no more than to be with us this day only, because it is a fact that he has given us this most sacred bread forever. ...In no matter how many ways the soul may desire to eat, it will find delight and consolation in the most Blessed Sacrament. ... There is no need or trial or persecution that is not easy to suffer if we begin to enjoy the delight and consolation of this sacred bread.”
St. Teresa of Avila,Way, ch.34, no.2.
“Ask the Father ... together with the Lord, to give you your Spouse “this day” so that you will not be seen in this world without Him. To temper such great happiness it’s sufficient that He remain disguised in these accidents of bread and wine.“
St. Teresa of Avila,Way, ch.34, no.3.
“... let us ask the Eternal Father that we might merit to receive our heavenly bread in such a way that the Lord may reveal Himself to the eyes of our soul and make Himself thereby known since our bodily eyes cannot delight in beholding Him, because He is so hidden.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Way, ch.34, no.5.
“Do you think this heavenly food fails to provide sustenance, even for these bodies, that it is not a great medicine even for bodily ills? I know that it is. ... the wonders this most sacred bread effects in those who worthily receive it are well known ... when she [Teresa] heard some persons saying they would have liked to have lived at the time Christ ... walked in the world, she used to laugh to herself. She wondered what more they wanted since, in the most Blessed Sacrament, they had Him just as truly present as He was then.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Way, ch.34, no.6.
“Receiving Communion is not like picturing with the imagination, as when we reflect upon the Lord on the cross or in other episodes of the Passion, when we picture within ourselves how things happened to Him in the past. In Communion, the event is happening now, and it is entirely true. There’s no reason to go looking for Him in some other place farther away. ...Now, then, if when He went about in the world, the mere touch of His robes cured the sick, why doubt, if we have faith, that miracles will be worked while He is within us and that He will give what we ask of Him, since He is in our house? His Majesty is not accustomed to paying poorly for His lodging if the hospitality is good.”
St. Teresa of Avila,Way, ch.34, no.8.
“Be with Him willingly; don’t lose so good an occasion for conversing with Him as is the hour after having received Communion. ...If you immediately turn your thoughts to other things, if you pay no attention and take no account of the fact that He is within you, how will He be able to reveal Himself to you? This, then is a good time for our Master to teach us, and for us to listen to Him.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Way, ch.34, no.10.
“But after having received the Lord, since you have the Person Himself present, strive to close the eyes of the body and open those of the soul and look into your own heart. ... you should acquire the habit of doing this every time you receive Communion. ...Though He comes disguised, the disguise, as I have said, does not prevent Him from being recognized in many ways, in conformity with the desire we have to see Him. And you can desire to see Him so much that He will reveal Himself to you entirely.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Way, ch.34, no.12.
“Spiritual communion is highly beneficial; through it you can recollect yourselves in the same way after Mass, for the love of this Lord is thereby deeply impressed on the soul.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Way, ch.35, no.1.
“… the devil will make you think you find more devotion in other things and less in this recollection after Communion. Do not abandon this practice; the Lord will see in it how much you love Him.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Way, ch.35, no.2.
“Certainly, I think that if we were to approach the most Blessed Sacrament with great faith and love, once would be enough to leave us rich. How much richer from approaching so many times as we do. The trouble is we do so out of routine, and it shows.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Meditations, ch.3, no.13.
“… You are mine … You came into the world for me; for me You underwent severe trials; for me You suffered many lashes; for me You remain in the most Blessed Sacrament.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Meditations, ch.4, no.10.
“… we took the Blessed Sacrament and had it reserved in the church with great and well-organized solemnity. It caused much devotion.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Foundations, ch.29, no.29.
“I felt a great dislike to journeys, especially when they were long; but once I had started, I thought nothing of them, thinking of Him for Whose service they were undertaken and remembering that Our Lord would be praised and the most Holy Sacrament would dwell in the house I was going to found... It should be a great consolation to us - though many of us do not think of it - that Jesus Christ, true God and true man, dwells, as He does, in so many places in the most Holy Sacrament.”
St. Teresa of Avila, Foundations, ch.18, no.4.
St. John of the Cross
This eternal spring is hidden
In this living bread for our life’s sake, Although it is night.
This living spring which I long for,
I see in this bread of life,
Although it is night.
St. John of the Cross, Stanzas 9-11 of “Song of the Soul That Rejoices in Knowing God Through Faith,”
“His [St. John of the Cross] special charity toward the sick was also evident in his custom upon arriving at a monastery of first visiting the sick after his visit to the Blessed Sacrament.”
From the General Introduction to The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, ICS Publications.
When I try to find relief
seeing You in the Sacrament
I find this greater sorrow:
I cannot enjoy You wholly.
All things are affliction
since I do not see You as I desire,
and I die because I do not die.
St. John of the Cross, Stanza 5 of “Stanzas of the Soul That Suffers With Longing To See God”
“His [St. John of the Cross] greatest suffering in the prison of Toledo was being deprived of Mass. The Blessed Sacrament was ‘all his glory, all his happiness, and for him far surpassed all the things of the earth.’ The only privilege he sought when major superior in Segovia was the cell closest to the Blessed Sacrament.”
From the General Introduction to The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, ICS Publications.
St. Therese of Lisieux
“And now, in the Holy Eucharist, I see You complete Your self-abasement, O Divine King of Glory, with wondrous humility, You submitted Yourself to all Your Priests, without any distinction between those who love You and those who are lukewarm or cold in Your service. They may advance or delay the hour of the Holy Sacrifice: You are always ready to come down from Heaven at their call.
O my Beloved, under the white Eucharistic Veil You appear to me Meek and Humble of Heart To teach me humility, You can’t further abase Yourself, and so I wish to respond to Your Love, by putting myself in the lowest place, by sharing Your humiliation, so that I may “have part with Thee” in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, excerpt from “Prayer to Obtain Humility” written for a Novice on July 16, 1897 (Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, just months before she died). This is from "The Prayers of St. Therese of Lisieux" (ICS Publications).
“How sweet it [First Communion] was, the first kiss of Jesus to my soul.” Yes, it was a kiss of love. I felt I was loved, and I too said: “I love Thee, I give myself to Thee forever!” Jesus asked nothing of me, demanded no sacrifice. Already for a long time past, He and the little Therese had watched and understood one another … That day our meeting was no longer a simple look but a fusion. No longer were we two: Therese had disappeared as the drop of water which loses itself in the depths of the ocean, Jesus alone remained; the Master, the King! Had not Therese begged Him to take away from her, her liberty? That liberty made her afraid; so weak, so fragile did she feel herself that she longed to be united forever to Divine Strength.”
St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, ch.4.
“What shall I say of my thanksgivings after Holy Communion? There are no moments in which I feel less consolation. And is not this very natural, seeing that my desire is to receive Our Lord’s visit, not for my own satisfaction, but solely for His pleasure. I imagine my soul to be as a plot of waste ground and beg the Blessed Virgin to remove from it all the rubbish – meaning its imperfections; then I beseech Her to erect thereon, a vast canopy worthy of Heaven and to decorate it with Her own treasures, and I invite all the Angels and Saints to come and sing canticles of love. It seems to me, then, that Jesus is pleased to see Himself so magnificently received; and I, I share His joy. All this does not hinder distractions and sleep from molesting me; therefore it not rarely happens that I resolve to continue my thanksgiving all the day long, since I have made it so badly in the Choir.”
St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, ch.8.
“[Jesus] gave Himself to me far oftener than I should have dared to hope. I had taken as my rule of conduct, to receive most faithfully Holy Communion as often as my confessor permitted, without ever asking that it might be more frequent. In those days, I hadn’t the daring I have now or I would have acted quite differently; for I am absolutely certain that people must tell their directors of the longing they have to receive God. For it is not to remain in a golden ciborium that He comes down each day from Heaven. He comes to find another Heaven, the Heaven of our souls, created in His image, the living temples of the adorable Trinity!”
St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, ch.5.
“At the time of Holy Communion I sometimes picture my soul under the figure of a little child of three or four years, who at play has got its hair tossed and its clothes soiled. These misfortunes have befallen me in battling with souls. But very soon the Blessed Virgin hastens to my aid: quickly, She takes off my little dirty pinafore, smooths my hair and adorns it with a pretty ribbon or simply with a little flower … and this suffices to render me pleasing and enables me to sit at the Banquet of Angels without blushing.”
St. Therese of Lisieux,Counsels and Reminiscences
“One day my sister Marie, speaking of suffering, said that instead of making me walk by that way, the good God would no doubt carry me always like a little child. These words recurred to me after Holy Communion on the following day, and my heart was fired with an ardent desire of suffering. I felt, too, an inward assurance that crosses in great number were in reserve for me. Then my soul was inundated with consolations such as I have never had again in all my life. Suffering became my attraction, in it I found charms that entranced me. Another great desire that I felt was to love but God alone and to find no joy save only in Him. Often, during my thanksgiving after Holy Communion, I used to repeat this passage from the Imitation of Christ: “O Jesus, Who are ineffable sweetness, turn for me into bitterness all the consolations of earth.” [Imitation III, ch.26, 3.] These words came from my lips without effort; I uttered them like a child who repeats, without too well understanding, words prompted by a friend.”
St. Therese of Lisieux,Story of a Soul, ch.4.
“… I think I must tell you something that has caused me great pain. … It is that my little Marie is not receiving Communion. … Oh! What pain this gives to Jesus! … The devil must indeed be clever to deceive a soul like that! … But surely you know … that that is the one goal of his desires. He realizes, traitor that he is, knows well that he cannot make a souls who wills to belong wholly to the good God commit sin; therefore he endeavors only to persuade her that she sins. That is a great deal gained, but it is not yet enough to satisfy his rage … he aims at something further, he wants to deprive Jesus of a loved tabernacle. Not being able himself to enter into this sanctuary, he wishes that it may at least remain empty and without its Lord. Alas! What will become of this poor heart? … When the devil has succeeded in driving away a soul from Holy Communion, he has gained his ends, and Jesus weeps … Don’t listen to the devil, laugh at him and go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love! [Therese] has also passed through the martyrdom of scruples, but Jesus gave her the grace to receive Communion all the same. … I assure you that she realizes that it was the only way to get rid of her demon, for when he sees that he is wasting his time, he leaves you in peace. No, it is not possible that a heart “that finds no rest save in the sight of the tabernacle” should offend Jesus enough to be unfit to receive Him … Receive Communion often, very often … there you have the sole remedy if you want to be cured …”
St. Therese of Lisieux,Letter to her cousin Marie Guerin
“A novice related that she wanted to deprive herself of Holy Communion because of some lack of fidelity. She wrote her determination to Sr. Therese, who thus replied: “Little flower cherished by Jesus, it is amply sufficient that by the humiliation of your soul your roots eat of the earth … You must open a little, or rather raise on high, your corolla so that the Bread of Angels may come as a divine dew to strengthen you, and to give you all that is wanting to you.”
St. Therese of Lisieux,Counsels and Reminiscences
“How great was this grace which I received this morning at the moment when the priest began the Confiteor, before giving me Holy Communion, and all the Sisters continued. I saw Jesus very close to giving Himself to me, and this confession appears to me as a very necessary humiliation. “I confess to God, to Blessed Mary, ever virgin, and to all the saints, that I have sinned exceedingly ...” Oh yes, I said to myself, they do well to beg pardon for me from God and from all the saints for me at this moment. I felt myself to be, like the publican, a great sinner, and God appeared to me as being so merciful! I found that address to the whole heavenly court, to obtain through their intercession the forgiveness of my sins, to be so touching. Ah! I had much difficulty in holding back my tears, and when the sacred Host rested upon my lips, I was really moved … It was extraordinary to have experienced this at the Confiteor!”
St. Therese of Lisieux,Counsels and Reminiscences, August 12, 1897: six weeks before her death
“How I loved the feasts! ... I especially loved the processions in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. What a joy it was for me to throw flowers beneath the feet of God! ...I was never so happy as when I saw my roses touch the sacred monstrance.”
St. Therese of Lisieux, Story of A Soul, ch.2.
You who know my extreme littleness,
You aren’t afraid to lower yourself to me!
Come into my heart, O white Host that I love,
Come into my heart, it longs for you!
Ah! I wish that your goodness
Would let me die of love after this favor.
Jesus! Hear the cry of my affection.
Come into my heart!St. Therese of Lisieux,You Who Know My Extreme Littleness, (Last poem, written July 12 or 13, 1897)
Living Bread, Bread of Heaven, Eucharist Divine,
O Sacred Mystery! That Love has brought forth ...
Come live in my heart, Jesus my white Host,
Just for today.St. Therese of Lisieux, My Song for Today, Stanza 8
Heaven for me is hidden in a little Host
Where Jesus, my Spouse, is veiled for love.
I go to that Divine Furnace to draw out life,
And there my Sweet Savior listens to me night and day.
“Oh! What a happy moment when in your tenderness
You come, my Beloved, to transform me into yourself.
That union of love, that ineffable intoxication,
That is Heaven for me!”St. Therese of Lisieux, Heaven for Me, Stanza 3
For you the Kingdom and the Glory,
The Riches of the King of kings.
For me the ciborium's humble Host.
For me the Cross's treasure.
With the Cross, with the Host,
With your celestial aid,
In peace I await the other life,
The joys that will last forever.St. Therese of Lisieux, To My Guardian Angel, Stanza 5
O Jesus! on this day, you have fulfilled all my desires.
From now on, near the Eucharist,
I shall be able To sacrifice myself in silence, to wait for Heaven in peace.
Keeping myself open to the rays of the Divine Host,
In this furnace of love, I shall be consumed,
And like a seraphim, Lord, I shall love You.St. Therese of Lisieux, Canticle of a Soul Having Found the Place of Its Rest!, Stanza 3
You heard me, only Friend whom I love.
To ravish my heart, you became man.
You shed your blood, what a supreme mystery!...
And you still live for me on the Altar.
If I cannot see the brilliance of your Face
Or hear your sweet voice,
O my God, I can live by your grace,
I can rest on your Sacred Heart!St. Therese of Lisieux, To the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Stanza 5
Oh! how I loved Jesus in the Host,
Who came to betroth himself to my enchanted soul
In the morning of my life.
Oh! how I opened my heart
With happiness! ...St. Therese of Lisieux, The Canticle of Céline, Stanza 10
Little Key, oh, I envy you!
For each day you can open
The prison of the Eucharist
Where the God of Love resides.
But, O what a sweet miracle!
By just an effort of my faith
I can also open the tabernacle
To hide near the Divine King ...
Being consumed near my God
In the sanctuary,
I would like To burn forever with mystery
Like the Lamp of the Holy Place ...
Oh! what happiness ... I have flames within me,
And each day I can win
A great number of souls for Jesus,
Inflaming them with his love ...
At each daybreak I envy you,
O Sacred Altar Stone! As in the blessed stable,
On you the Eternal One wants to be born ...
Ah! Deign to grant my prayer.
Come into my soul, Sweet Savior ...
Far from being a cold stone,
It is the sigh of your Heart!
O Corporal surrounded by angels!
How enviable is your lot.
On you, as in his humble swaddling clothes,
I see Jesus, my only treasure.
Virgin Mary, change my heart
Into a pure, beautiful Corporal
To receive the white host,
Where your Sweet Lamb hides.
Holy Paten, I envy you.
Upon you Jesus comes to rest.
Oh! may his infinite grandeur
Deign to humble itself even to me ...
Fulfilling my hope, Jesus
Does not wait until the evening of my life.
He comes within me; by his presence
I am a living Monstrance! ...
Oh! how I envy the happy chalice
Where I adore the divine Blood ...
But at the Holy Sacrifice
I can take it in each morning.
To Jesus my soul is dearer
Than precious vessels of gold.
The Altar is a new Calvary
Where his Blood still flows for me ...
Jesus, holy and sacred Vine,
O my Divine King,
You know I am a cluster of golden grapes
Which must disappear for you.
Under the wine press of suffering,
I shall prove my love for you.
I want no other joy
Than to sacrifice myself each day.
Ah! what joy, I am chosen
Among the grains of pure Wheat
Who lose their lives for Jesus.
My delight is truly great! ...
I am your dear spouse,
My Beloved, come live in me,
Oh! come, your beauty has ravished me.
Deign to transform me into You! ...St. Therese of Lisieux, My Desires Near Jesus Hidden in His Prison of Love
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes
“… receive Communion with fervor. May Jesus find in your souls a haven where He may rest. Prepare yourselves well by considering Who it is that you are about to receive. It is God Himself Who, making us like Gods, converts us into Himself. How I’d love to help you understand … what it is like to receive Communion here in Carmel! For a Carmelite, Communion is heaven; and Communion should be the same for every believing soul. Why don’t we die of love in seeing that God found it far too little to give us His infinite love drop by drop? In His infinite love He wants to give us more, and yet humanity prepares His death. He becomes our food in order to give us life. A God Who is nourishment, bread for His creatures; isn’t that enough to make us die of love? And to think that we receive Communion without the least spark of love! Jesus comes full of infinite love; and we receive Him coldly, concerned only with seeking favors for ourselves, without adoring Him, without weeping our gratitude at His divine feet. He comes in search of comfort and love, finding nothing. Strive, then, not to receive Communion the way everyone else does.”
-St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, Letter 151
“I wish I could help people understand that the Eucharist is a heaven, given that “heaven is only a tabernacle without doors, a Eucharist without veils, a never-ending Communion.” Yes … you must prepare [your daughter’s] heart that it may always be a tabernacle for Jesus.”
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, Letter 112 to her sister Lucia
“It is in the Eucharist that Jesus is present; that God who wept, who sighed and suffered our miseries. That bread contains a divine heart with the tenderness of a shepherd, a father, a mother, a spouse and God. Let’s listen to Him, for He is Truth. Let’s gaze upon Him, for He is the image of the Father. Let’s love Him, for He is the love who gives Himself for His creatures. He comes to our souls that they may be lost, deified in Him. What union, however great it may be, can be compared with this one? And I eat Jesus. He is my nourishment. I am assimilated by Him. What greater happiness is there than this: to hold tightly to our heart the God who is our God! Receive Communion as well and be deeply aware of the One who visits you, infinite love, divine madness; of One who not only became man like ourselves, but who became bread. After you receive Communion, ask Jesus, the God you hold prisoner in your soul, to stay with you throughout the day so that you may love Him and give Him thanks. Ask the Most Holy Virgin to prepare you with faith, humility and love for Communion. Ask that in every free moment you may think of your God whom you hold in your soul.”
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, Letter 141
”What scant respect we have for the One before Whom the seraphim cover themselves with their wings, prostrating themselves before Him. And He bears it all in silence, remaining without splendor, hidden beneath the bread, that He may live in the midst of those He created. Oh, how good He is! What infinite love He has! Why aren’t we crazy with love for Him?”
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, Letter 115
“Try every morning, when you have the joy of receiving Communion, to ask Our Lord to remain with you all day in your soul. In this way you will live with, and immersed in, God. … He’s present in the tabernacle. I gaze upon Him in faith and hear Him. When I receive Communion, I receive not only His visit in an exterior way, but my soul, too, is fused with His. What greater union could there be between Jesus and His poor creature? …search for Jesus in the Eucharist, and you will live with Him as the Most Holy Virgin did at Nazareth.”
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, Letter 133
“When they speak of the Eucharist I feel something so strange in myself that I’m unable to think or do anything. It’s as though I’m paralyzed and I believe that, if in that instant there came to me impulses of love, I’d be unable to resist them. My Jesus, I annihilate myself before Your love! You, God of heaven and earth, of the seas, of the mountains, of the star-studded firmament; You, Lord, who are adored by the angels in an ecstasy of love; You, Jesus, in Your humanity; You, the living bread! Oh, to be annihilated, all this would be so little! If they had left a relic of You it would be a token of love worthy of our veneration; but You Yourself remain, knowing that You would be the object of profanations, sacrileges, ungratefulness, abandonment. Lord, are You mad with love? You are not just in one place on earth for us but in all the tabernacles throughout the world. Oh, Lord, how good You are, how great is Your love that You make it appear to be nothing. What is more, You disappear by letting them see a creature, a criminal nothingness.”
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes, Diary 42, Retreat of 1918
“After I receive Communion, I feel as if I’m in heaven dominated by the infinite love of my God. Sometimes my only consolation in this exile is holy Communion, where I unite myself intimately with Him.”
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes,Letter 116
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
“To have divine love as its inner form, a woman’s life must be a Eucharistic life. Only in daily, confidential relationship with the Lord in the tabernacle can one forget self, become free of all one’s own wishes and pretentions, and have a heart open to all the needs and wants of others. Whoever seeks to consult with the Eucharistic God in all her concerns, whoever lets herself be purified by the sanctifying power coming from the sacrifice at the altar, offering herself to the Lord in this sacrifice, whoever receives the Lord in her soul’s innermost depth in Holy Communion cannot but be drawn ever more deeply and powerfully into the flow of divine life, incorporated into the Mystical Body of Christ, her heart converted to the likeness of the divine heart”
Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Essays on Woman, 56
“At the moment when some external force were to cut us off from receiving the Sacraments, He could compensate us, superabundantly, in some other way; and He will do so all the more certainly and generously the more faithfully we have adhered to the sacraments previously.”
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Volume 4, page 103.
“And the word was made flesh." This became reality in the stable of Bethlehem. But it has also been fulfilled in another form. “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life." The Savior, knowing that we are, and remain, men who have daily to struggle with our weaknesses, aids our humanity in a manner truly divine. Just as our earthly body needs its daily bread, so the divine life in us must be constantly fed. "This is the living bread that came down from heaven." If we make It truly our daily bread, the mystery of Christmas, the Incarnation of the Word, will daily be re-enacted in us. And this, it seems, is the surest way to remain in constant union with God and to grow every day more securely and more deeply into the mystical Body of Christ. I am well aware that many will think this an exaggerated demand. In practice it means, for most of those who start this habit, that they will have to rearrange their outer and inner life completely. But this is just what it is meant to do. Is it really demanding too much to make room in our life for the Eucharistic Savior, so that He may transform our life into His own? We have time for so many useless things: we read senseless rubbish in books, periodicals and newspapers, sit in cafés and chat for a quarter or half an hour in the street. All these are distractions by which one wastes time and strength. Should it really be impossible to save an hour in the morning in which one is not distracted but recollected, in which one does not spend oneself but gathers strength sufficient to carry one through the whole day?
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, The Mystery of Christmas
“It is most important that the Holy Eucharist becomes life’s focal point: that the Eucharistic Savior is the center of existence; that every day is received from His hand and laid back therein; that the day’s happenings are deliberated with Him. In this way, God is given the best opportunity to be heard in the heart, to form the soul, and to make its faculties clear-sighted and alert for the supernatural...Moreover, life with the Eucharistic Savior induces the soul to be lifted out of the narrowness of its individual, personal orbit. The concerns of the Lord and His kingdom become the soul’s concerns...Those who attain the freedom of these heights and expansive views have outgrown what is usually called ‘happiness’ and ‘unhappiness’”
Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Essays on Woman, 125-126
“Communion delivers us from evil because it cleanses us of sin and gives us peace of heart that takes away the sting of all other “evils.” It brings us the forgiveness of past sins and strengthens us in the face of temptations. It is itself the bread of life that we need daily to grow into eternal life. It makes our will into an instrument at God’s disposal. Thereby it lays the foundation for the kingdom of God in us and gives us clean lips and a pure heart to glorify God’s holy name.”
The Collected Works of Edith Stein: The Hidden Life; I.2 The Prayer of the Church
St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi
“How is it possible to find anything more sublime and profitable than the Eucharistic union? Oh! what a colloquy of love is entered into with Thee by the soul almost deified by union with Thee! Who can explain the feelings of a soul who, having received Thee, corresponds to Thy voices and inspirations? Oh! happy the soul, though oppressed by all the passions and torments of the world, who receives her compassionate and true Consoler! O infinite charity of our good Jesus! What graces and treasures can the Eternal Father refuse us, seeing within us His Onlv Begotten Son, His Beloved, Who is the only object of His complacency? ...Moreover, in the union with this Most Holy Sacrament the Bridegroom comes to us, sups with us, sets in order charity in us (Cant, ii, 4), and many pure and chaste embraces take place, which can be offered up in union with the most intimate ones of the Three Divine Persons in the unity of the essence of the Most Holy Trinity, of which they are like an image and a symbol.”
From The Works of St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, compiled by Fr. Placido Fabrini. “Of her contemplations on the principal mysteries of our faith, On the humanity of Christ and On the Divine Attributes, Section IX:
Of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament.”