When we love someone very much, we desire to be constantly in his company. Our Divine Lord had an immeasurable love for every member of the human race, and gave proof of this by shedding His blood for the salvation of all mankind. However, after His task on earth was completed, He was destined to ascend into heaven to take His place at the right hand of His Father; and so it would seem that He could no longer associate intimately with men. But His love and power devised a means whereby He could still remain on earth, not merely in one place but in every church, and thus be the intimate companion of every one of His faithful followers. This means is the Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist, wherein Our Lord remains truly present under the appearances of bread and wine.
The Catholic doctrine of the Holy Eucharist contains many mysteries. It is beyond our comprehension how the same living Christ who is in heaven should also be on earth, in every place where the Holy Eucharist is consecrated. We cannot understand how the body of our Savior with its full stature can be present beneath the small host. We cannot attempt to explain how our Divine Redeemer can be present, whole and entire, in the smallest portions of the consecrated species of bread and wine, although we have some resemblance to this miracle in the presence of our entire soul in every portion of our body. But we have the statement of Our Lord Himself for the truth of these mysteries, and hence it is our duty to believe them without hesitation. When Our Savior first announced the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist to His followers, some of them would not believe. They said: "This is a hard saying, who can listen to it?" (John, 6, 62), and some of them even left Him forever. Today there are many persons in the world who say that the doctrine of the Real Presence is too hard to believe, and claim that the Eucharist is only bread and wine representing Christ. But Catholics accept the words of Our Lord Himself who said: "This is my body. . . this is my blood," and adore Him as truly present in the Holy Eucharist.
The Holy Eucharist is the very center of Catholic worship, the heart of Catholic life. Because the Church believes that the Son of God is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, she erects beautiful cathedrals and adorns them with exquisite sculpture and priceless paintings. The most magnificent liturgical ceremonies of the Catholic Church are directed toward honoring the King of kings, who for the love of mankind dwells beneath the appearances of bread and wine. Music and lights and incense and flowers the Church uses lavishly in her desire to show fitting honor to the Son of God, dwelling in our midst. Twice a year the Church celebrates in a special manner the great privilege of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. On Holy Thursday the Church recalls to our minds the institution of the Blessed Sacrament by Our Divine Lord on the night before His death. But since our predominant sentiment in Holy Week is sorrow, the Church has assigned another day, the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, to be the Feast of Corpus Christi, when with sentiments of unrestrained joy we thank Our Savior for the wonderful gift of the Holy Eucharist. Moreover, it is customary to have annually in every parish church the Forty Hours' Devotion, when Our Lord is enthroned in the monstrance for a period of almost three days. The purpose of Eucharistic Congresses, bringing together Catholics from all parts of the earth, is to give glory and praise to Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
Every loyal Catholic should be in harmony with the Church in expressing his devotion toward the Holy Eucharist in a fitting manner. The first sentiment of our hearts toward Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament should be profound adoration, for even in His human nature Jesus Christ is a divine person, worthy of the highest form of worship. Our next sentiment should be ardent love. It was out of love for us that He established this wondrous sacrament; in return He asks our love. We can testify our love for the Holy Eucharist in many ways: Mass, Holy Communion, visits to Our Lord in the tabernacle. Whenever we enter a church in which the Blessed Sacrament is kept our first thought should be: "Our loving Lord is present here just as truly as He was present in the little house of Nazareth when He dwelt on earth nineteen centuries ago."