{"id":4967,"date":"2012-06-07T10:36:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-07T10:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2012\/06\/07\/feast-of-corpus-christi-tynong\/"},"modified":"2023-05-10T02:20:53","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T02:20:53","slug":"feast-of-corpus-christi-tynong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2012\/06\/07\/feast-of-corpus-christi-tynong\/","title":{"rendered":"Feast of Corpus Christi ~ Tynong"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is the
\nloneliest place in the world?  <\/span>I will
\ntell you.  <\/span>Picture to yourself an immense
\ndark room.  <\/span>There is no light, save for a
\ntiny red glow floating feebly at the further end.  <\/span>Yet its puny radiance enables you to pick out
\nan ornate table, with a sort of box standing on top of it.  <\/span>On either side gleam tall, cold, brass
\ncandlesticks, standing stiff like frigid sentinels.  <\/span>And as you realize where you are, and slide
\nto your knees, you feel a Presence.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\nYes, reader,
\nthe loneliest place in the world is an empty Catholic Church.  <\/span>Whether in the dimness of an immense
\ncathedral, or smothered in the smoky smallness of a tiny chapel, there is always
\nthe same atmosphere of silent solitude. 
\n<\/span>Here dwells One, Who for 2000 years has voluntarily shut Himself up in
\nour tabernacles, in order to be near us. 
\n<\/span>And we have abandoned Him.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Who can even
\nbegin to measure the self-abasing love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament?  <\/span>Almighty God conceals His Infinite Majesty
\nunder the appearance of a tiny piece of bread! 
\n<\/span>And Jesus desired that He should be placed in the Tabernacle, amongst
\nus, close to us, so that we may not fear to approach Him.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“Come to
\nMe, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you!”  <\/span>Such is His silent plea.  <\/span>He has come to help us in our trials, to be
\nwith us in Person, but do we turn to Him? 
\n<\/span>Oh, how the Divine Prisoner must strain against His chains when He sees
\nso many souls sitting sullenly in a swamp of sins and all the sorrows spawned
\ntherefrom.  <\/span>“Come to Me!”  <\/span>They are deaf to His call – either they
\nrefuse to hear Him, or they forget to listen. 
\n<\/span>Dazed by the demands of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, their wills
\ngrow steadily colder, and turn away from their Saviour, Who pleads still, even
\nthough His Voice is drowned by the clamour of His enemies.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n

Day after
\nday, week after week, year after year – aye, century after century, Jesus waits
\nin the Blessed Sacrament.  <\/span>He is hidden
\nin the tabernacle, but His Eye beholds all the souls of the world.  <\/span>He sees them, hundreds of them, as they daily
\nhurry past His door, intent upon their business, caught up in a tortuous whirlwind
\nof worldly worries and care.  <\/span>He watches
\nthem with loving, sorrowful Eyes.  <\/span>He
\npities these souls rushing here and there, ever in pursuit of happiness, and
\nnever finding it.  <\/span>Our Lord holds out His
\nHands to them, eager to draw them apart from the brutal bustle of the world and
\ngive them peace.  <\/span>But they hasten on, ignorant
\nof the true Source of Happiness within arm’s reach, unaware of the consolations
\nthey could have for the asking, if only they would turn to Him!<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

True, on
\nSundays His House is visited – perhaps by many, or perhaps only a few.  <\/span>He welcomes them all eagerly, and sets out
\nHis richest graces, ready to pour them in abundance upon His guests.  <\/span>But here again, His Love is slighted.  <\/span>Souls do not think to open their hearts to Him,
\nto tell Him all their troubles, to ask for His graces.  <\/span>They sit there, wrestling with worries,
\nunaware that the all-powerful, all-loving Sacred Heart, only a few feet away,
\nhas an avalanche of grace, strength and consolation all ready to pour down upon
\nthem, driving away all their cares, if they would only ask Him.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And what about
\nwhen these souls receive Holy Communion? 
\n<\/span>Here is a fresh proof of the sublime love of the King of Kings, for He
\ndoes not come to be ministered to, but to minister.  <\/span>He comes, the Source of Grace, with all the
\ngraces He sees each individual soul needs. 
\n<\/span>He is omnipotent – by His mere presence in that poor weak, sin-infested
\nsoul, He can turn all its sorrows into joy. 
\n<\/span>But forgetfulness, ignorance, and even neglect paralyse His action, and
\nHe, respecting the freewill of His creatures, is obliged to leave much work
\nundone.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What a
\npitiful condition He is in!  <\/span>Our Lord in
\nthe Blessed Sacrament is consumed with a scorching desire to heal us, to
\nconsole us, and yet He cannot reach us, for we do not approach Him.  <\/span>Let us kneel before Him, and console Him in
\nHis loneliness.  <\/span>Let us turn to Him in
\nevery trouble – He will be much more anxious to hear the tale of our miseries
\nthat we could ever be to recite it.  <\/span>And
\nwe may be sure that His Sacred Heart will not be unmoved – no, He will not let
\nus leave without His blessing.  <\/span>Let us
\nvisit Him, the poor Prisoner of the Tabernacle, the Loneliest of all Captives,
\nas often as we can; and let us open wide the doors of our souls so that He may
\nfill them with the graces He is so anxious to bestow.  <\/span>And when we cannot visit Him, let us often
\nturn our thoughts to Him and send our guardian angels to greet Him on our
\nbehalf, so that at the Last Day we may have the inestimable joy of hearing these
\nwords from His Lips:<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“Come,
\nye blessed of My Father, and possess the Kingdom which was prepared for you
\nfrom the beginning . . . for I was in prison, and you visited Me.”<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the loneliest place in the world?  I will tell you.  Picture to yourself an immense dark room.  There is no light, save for a tiny red glow floating feebly at the further end.  Yet its puny radiance enables you to pick out an ornate table, with a sort of box standing on top … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-convent-life","infinite-scroll-item","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4967"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5221,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4967\/revisions\/5221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}