In beginning his account of the Passion of Our Lord, St. John says: "Jesus, having loved His own who were in the world, loved them to the end," which means, not that He loved them only up to death but as much as He could love them. And how did He love them? By leaving them this divine gift through which He gives Himself to us and so begins on earth the blessed union that will continue in Heaven. If you could only understand the value of one Holy Communion! A single Communion should make us other Christs! And yet, after all these years during which we have had the happiness of uniting ourselves to Our Lord, of receiving Him in Holy Communion many times each week... how cold we still are. We go before Our Lord in His Tabernacle and we do not know what to say to Him, though we have received Him this morning and we shall receive Him again tomorrow! A God has come down to us and we do not love Him. Faith and love are wanting to us. But it takes only a moment for that love to flame up in our hearts. We must love Jesus Christ; we must imitate Him!

St. Madeleine Sophie Barat