If you need to see Jesus right now, I know a place

Many of us do not yet understand what love God has shown us by sending his Son. And what beautiful gesture it is that he has allowed men, you and me, to minister to him; to serve him. Share in his life, his divinity; in his priesthood.

Now, whenever you look at the Church you see :

“..a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”

Where is Jesus in all these?

First of all, Jesus is present in the Eucharist in the realest way possible. What this means is, when you receive communion, Jesus REALLY comes into your heart. This is not some figurative statement, this is literal: Christ is present under the appearances of bread and wine. He is there body, blood, soul and divinity. Yet many of us do not understand it.

Jesus can be with us in many other ways, many of which are less ‘obvious’ than in Sacramental form. Jesus is present to us in the Gospels, in the Church as a body, in the poor, our neighbors. He is present to us in our prayers especially as a community. He is present in his priests, especially when they’re celebrating the Sacraments.

But, He is most present in the Eucharistic Species.

A story:

One day, i was speaking with a member of the “Charismatic Renewal”. I cannot remember what led to my asking him why he was always in a hurry to run out of the Parish Church. He said “We’re having prayer meetings at the back of the Church”, to which i said “Oh, nice. You abandon Christ where he really is, then you go to the back of the Church to look for him”?. To which he laughed, punched me and ran off.. lol.

I later asked him: “What if you could really see Jesus sitting, amidst all his Angels and Saints. Sitting at the altar of the Church, would you still run off?”. He looked at me funny and said “No”. Then i said to him “The problem is, you look at him every time, but refuse to see him”.

The problem:

We do not have Faith. Whenever we are down and low, we usually seek human comfort. We want someone to be there for us, we want to talk to someone about our issues. And this makes sense, that is why you have friends and one of the reasons you have a marital partner. We need human support.

However, many of us are unable to form any sort of bond with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. We do not visit him or feel the need to talk to him. Many of us just attend Sunday masses every week and that’s all the time we have to come to the Church (Sadly some don’t even go to Church anymore). And the reason for this is: Your eyes of faith are closed to Jesus’ presence in the Blessed Sacrament. If we could really see him with our physical eyes, most of us would NEVER leave the Church anymore.

Now

Form the habit of visiting Jesus. If you are ever low and depressed, make out time to see him. If you live close to a Chapel, make it a daily “date” with him. (Even if you live far, but still can, this would show more love). It doesn’t need to be long all the time. A quick pop-in is better than nothing. 5 minutes, or even less is a good start. Search online or buy books that are dedicated to your moment in the Blessed Sacrament. Since it might be some work to get any, I will publish my favorite prayer for visiting Jesus:

Prayer while visiting the Blessed Sacrament

by St Alphonsus Liguori

My Lord Jesus Christ, for the love which You bear to men, You remain night and day in this Sacrament full of compassion and of love, awaiting, calling, and welcoming all who come to visit You. I believe that You are present in the Sacrament of the Altar: I adore You from the abyss of my nothingness, and I thank You for all the graces which You have bestowed upon me and in particular for having given me Yourself in this Sacrament, for having given me your holy Mother Mary for my advocate, and for having called me to visit You in this chapel. I now salute
Your most loving Heart: and this for three ends:

1. In thanksgiving for this great gift;
2. To make amends to You for all the outrages which You receive in this Sacrament from all Your enemies;
3. I intend by this visit to adore You in all the places on earth in which You are the least revered and the most abandoned.

My Jesus, I love You with all my heart. I grieve for having so many times offended Your infinite goodness. I promise with Your grace never more to offend You in the future.
Now, miserable and unworthy though I be, I consecrate myself to You without reserve; I give You my entire will, my affections, my desires, and all that I possess. From now on dispose of me and of all that I have as You please. All that I ask of You and desire is Your holy love, final perseverance, and the perfect accomplishment of Your will. I recommend to You the souls in purgatory; but especially those who had the greatest devotion to the most Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I also recommend to You all poor sinners.

My dear Saviour, I unite all my affections with the affections of Your most loving Heart; and I offer them, thus united, to Your eternal Father, and beseech Him in Your name to vouchsafe, for Your love, to accept them.