Receiving the Holy Eucharist. If we only knew the great gift awaits us and that great gift is Christ! To receive the Holy Eucharist in the greatest awe as did Blessed Imelda, we would all die of joy inside!
Blessed Imelda, was raised beautifully by her parents, to love the Catholic faith, especially prayer and holiness of the mass. Her mom had taught her to cook and sew for the poor, and to perform corporal works of mercy. By the early age of nine, her parents gave her permission to live with the Dominican nuns at a neighboring monestary. Imelda longed to receive holy communion with the nuns. The Saints became her secret companions. In nurturing the longing she had felt to receive Jesus intimately in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. She had begged to receive the Holy Eucharist at a vigil of the Ascension. While praying quietly in the chapel, as the sisters received communion, Imelda had begged to receive the Eucharist, and Jesus did a little insisting of his own. After mass one nun clearing the altar heard a noise and looked up to the choir to see Imelda, and saw a glowing light shining above her head with Sacred host suspended in the light. The chaplan was called at once , and he understood Jesus was making his desire known. Let the children come to me and do not stop them! The priest then gave Imelda First Holy Communion, and Imelda kneeling with a smile on her face, and her body was still, she died of pure joy upon consuming the precious body of our Lord! She continues to offer the witness of a child with mature desires and a faith unspoiled in its intensity.
If only we could all desire Christ the way Imelda did that day. The outpouring of grace would touch the most hardened of all hearts and convert all souls. Let us turn toward Christ today with that same desire!
