June 2, 2026 • 29 mins
In this week’s podcast, Fr. Leo Agustina shares a reflection on the treasure of Christ, present in the Eucharist, and how we can become a living tabernacle in the world today. Fr. Leo draws our attention to the moments prior to the Ascension as Christ shares with his disciples the Great Commission: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, … teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:19-20).
This powerful message is an invitation from Christ to participate in his salvific work, drawing all men and women toward Heaven. Christ humbles himself to become bread so that he may dwell fully within us, as a living tabernacle, and gives us the opportunity to participate more fully in his mission to share the gift of faith with future generations to come.
As you pause and reflect today, how will you continue to mold your life of faith and prayer to draw closer to our Eucharistic Lord?
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SPEAKER_00 (00:10):
My Lord amegad, I firmly believe that you are
here, that you see me, that youhear me.
I adore you with profoundreverence.
I ask your pardon for my sinsand the grace to make this time
of prayer fruitful.
My Immaculate Mother, SaintJoseph, my Father and Lord, my
(00:35):
guardian angel, intercede forme.
Any time is good for prayer.
Any time is an opportunity totalk to you, my Lord.
And as usual, I pray with thegospel, because in the gospel I
have your life, which is alwaysa treasure to rediscover.
(01:00):
And during the year, I have theliturgical calendar.
And it's also very helpful to gothrough the year in the church
and like in a family tree todiscover the traditions of my
family, the church.
Traditions that have been passedto me by my brothers and sisters
(01:22):
in faith throughout centuries.
And to know that I'm holding inmy hands such a legacy gives me
reassurance and joy andconnection with people from all
over the place, all over theworld, from any time in history.
It's such a powerful experienceto think that we are praying
(01:42):
with the same Jesus that earlyChristians prayed, and later on,
all the traditions in everycountry have followed.
So, anyway, in this time of theyear, after Easter, we have the
chance almost every Sunday tohave different mysteries, to
consider mysteries of our faith.
(02:03):
The Blessed Trinity or Pentecostor as today, Corpus Christi.
Like a little pearl, a joy, areality that permeates my faith.
And as usual, I was saying, I goto the gospel to understand
(02:24):
better, to put myself in theshoes of the apostles, to the
early Christians, the samething.
And we read in the last wordsthat uh Saint Matthew has
recorded, uttered by you, myLord, that the eleven disciples
went up to Galilee, up to themountain to which Jesus had
(02:45):
ordered them to go.
So they were excited after theresurrection.
They knew that you were alive,and uh, and at the same time
they were more mature in theirfaith.
Three years with you, seeingmiracles, uh teachings, seeing
you as a person, and then thevery dark and intense moments of
(03:11):
the crucifixion and yourresurrection, the joy of your
resurrection.
And then when they saw him, thegospel says in Matthew says that
when they saw you, someworshiped, but some of them
doubted.
They were still saying tothemselves, Is this for real?
Is he really alive?
Wonderful, right?
(03:31):
Because it shows the reality ofyour resurrection.
It was not easy to accept such abig news, obviously.
Sometimes it happens to me aswell.
Can I be so happy as to knowthat God loves me?
Is this for real?
So then Jesus approached themand said, All power in heaven
(03:52):
and on earth has been given tome.
And I want to stop for a second.
He doesn't say some power, a lotof power, he says, all power in
heaven and on earth has beengiven to me.
Go therefore and make disciplesof all nations.
(04:13):
I have overcome death.
I have a tremendous good news totell you that I want you to help
me to bring to all nations thisjoy of my resurrection.
Go.
Go therefore and make disciplesof all nations, baptizing them,
(04:33):
talking to them about theFather, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observeall that I have commanded you.
And uh just pause for a secondagain.
All the miracles, but also allthe teachings.
Go to other countries.
Go to neighbors, to friends, toco-workers, and explain to them
(04:54):
the beauty of the Trinity.
Explain to them the beauty ofthe parable of the prodigal son.
Explain to them how my father inheaven is preparing like a
wedding feast.
Explain to them what you haveseen, how I washed your feet, or
my conversations, or when weprayed together at the sea.
(05:15):
Explain to them everything, thecatching of the fish, all the
great moments that we hadtogether.
11 apostles on top of a mountainwith some women, the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene,most likely, maybe 15 people, 20
if you want.
And then at the end, our Lord,the last words, the very last
words of Jesus Christ in thisworld.
(05:37):
And behold, I am with youalways, until the end of age.
I am with you, I am with youuntil the end of time.
Behold, I'm sending you, we willchange the world.
You have in your hands thefuture of mankind.
(05:57):
And the good news is that I amwith you always.
Thank you, my Lord, for beingwith me, with being for being
with us.
I think it's very fitting thattoday in Corpus Christi we
meditate, we pondered on theselast words.
Behold, I am with you always.
(06:19):
There is nothing you shouldfear.
I will accompany you in thisadventure, in this revolution of
love that is Christianity.
We don't know exactly whathappened that morning after
that, but you can picture theapostles going back home and
maybe grabbing a map or I don'tknow, a compass or whatever, and
(06:43):
saying, Where do you want to go?
And it is wonderful to thinkthat throughout history we are
linked to one of those 11, ormaybe to one of the women.
So you, wherever you are rightnow, maybe you're driving, maybe
you're in the living room orwalking or running, or maybe
you're in a chapel.
You and I have a straight linkwith one of those 11 or 15
(07:07):
people that were there thatmorning on that mountain.
And I will love when I go toheaven, I will do it for sure.
Who brought me the faith that Ihave in Jesus Christ?
Of course, my parents, and thenmy grandparents, and then you go
down the line throughout thecenturies, and at the end it was
James, or maybe John, or maybeMary Magdalene, that the
(07:31):
following morning went to talkto a neighbor and in the
marketplace or to a relative ata party, and they grabbed their
faith and they said, Wow, thisis interesting.
Let me tell me more.
And they got baptized and theytransmitted what they have
received to the next generation.
And someday, somehow, the HolySpirit guided someone to talk to
(07:55):
you, to bring you that faiththat has a connection with the
first apostles and with JesusChrist.
Now, the question is how?
How did they do it, my Lord?
They were 11, they were not veryinfluential, they were not rich,
they were not powerful.
They did it because theybelieved in these last words.
(08:17):
Behold, I am with you.
Behold, I'm staying here, hiddenin the Eucharist.
In a way that uh is not easy tounderstand or to believe or to
see the consequences of myactions, but is those actions or
those graces are for real.
(08:39):
I am with you in the Eucharist,and you has you have been here
for more than 2,000 years,accompanying every mom, every
dad, every friend, everyneighbor through your beautiful
hidden presence in theEucharist.
And the other thing that I wantto consider today, my Lord, is
(09:00):
that I want to continue thistradition.
I want to pass on this legacy,this treasure to the next
generation.
And for that to happen, I wantto be very devout to the
Eucharist, obviously.
Saint José Maria, the founder ofOpus Dei, commenting on this
idea of Jesus living this worldand at the same time staying,
(09:23):
says something reallyremarkable, beautiful.
I'm reading now a quote by SaintJosé Maria in his book Christ is
Passing By.
And he says, like the apostles,we remain partly perplexed and
partly saddened at hisdeparture.
It is not easy, in fact, to getaccustomed to the physical
absence of Jesus.
(09:46):
He has gone to heaven and at thesame time, he gives himself to
us as a nourishment.
Still, we miss his human speech,his way of acting, of looking,
of smiling, of doing good.
We would like to go back andregard him closely again, as he
sits down at the edge of thewell, tired from his journey, as
(10:09):
he weeps for Lazarus when hedied, as he prays for a long
time at night, as he feels pityfor the crowd.
End of the quote.
And it is so true.
It is not easy to getaccustomed, it is impossible, I
would say, to your physicalabsence, Jesus.
(10:30):
In a way, I'm envious of theapostles, they saw you.
And uh, it would be just uh sowonderful to make eye contact
with you, just to see can youimagine Jesus Christ asking you
something?
Like you're walking or or youreceive a phone call, and then
Jesus calling you, hey, how areyou doing today?
And then the voice of God, itwould be so awesome, or just to
(10:54):
sit down at a table and Jesuslooking at you, hey, how's your
day?
And then looking at you andsaying, My oh my gosh, it's like
the second person of this of theBlessed Trinity is just right
now looking at me.
So we miss that part, obviously.
And your human speech, yourJesus laughing.
Can you imagine Jesus laughingor or making a joke to you or to
someone else, and then justlaughing, or Jesus crying at the
(11:19):
funeral, or when you know Jesuscrying when he sees, I don't
know, pornography in the world,and then Jesus crying, or when
he sees someone dying, or andthen our Lord moved with pity.
So any aspect of the humanity ofJesus Christ is a treasure, and
at the same time, knowing thatuh you are not here now with
(11:44):
your human body is a gift in away because I can grow in my
faith.
It's a gift that helps me todevelop my friendship with you
at a deeper level.
You planned the Eucharist.
Someday, in your prayer, in yourrelationship with the Father and
(12:07):
the Holy Spirit, the three ofyou, my Lord, decided something
spectacular beyond telling tostay here.
And then among the possibilitiesthat you had, you chose the best
one.
God always chooses the bestbecause He can do that.
So, in their wisdom, in theireternal kind of a seeing
(12:28):
everything, the three of themdecided, you know what?
The best way to help them, tohelp humans after the
incarnation, after thecrucifixion and resurrection, is
going to be being hidden inbread, transforming bread into
my body, allowing myself toenter inside them would be the
(12:53):
best way to help them.
And you did it.
And uh, my lord, in theEucharist, I have you.
In the Eucharist, I can hearyou, I am with you always, until
the end of the world.
So thank you so much.
I want to be very grateful forthis treasure that I have.
(13:14):
I was reading recently somewritings by Pope Benedict.
He's Pope Benedict is so sharp,is it simple, easy to
understand?
And then he said, I copied thissentence because it's very
again, very simple, but soreassuring.
And he says, Jesus himself iswhat we call heaven.
(13:36):
I'm gonna say it again.
Jesus Himself is what we callheaven.
That's it.
That's what we need.
Heaven is not a place, it's notjust uh it's Jesus Himself.
It's more than a place.
It is you.
And uh good news is that you arepresent in the Eucharist, and I
(13:58):
can adore you, talk to you, andyou can come to me, and it is
nothing I can fear I shouldfear.
It's just uh it's beyondtelling.
It's disarming to kneel down infront of you.
It gives me so much peace, andthat's how Catholics have
(14:21):
transformed the world inhistory.
Being close to you in theEucharist.
The other day I had a chance togo to a hospital to ICU to visit
uh someone uh struggling foryears with cancer.
A mom was there, is still there,you can pray for her, and then
(14:42):
the dad asked me to go foranointing her, and just in case
something would happen.
So I entered the room with thedad, with the husband, and uh
the kids weren't there.
But uh we saw her lying on thebed, intubated, um a little
groggy because of the drugs,right?
(15:03):
And um, and then when thehusband introduced me, uh she
knew me already, but anyway,Father Leo is here, and then she
opened the eyes uh peacefully,and then grabbed my hand, and
then with the other hand grabbedher uh husband's hand, and uh
and then we talked for a while,and then I gave the anointing.
The three of the three of us,sorry, were crying because it
(15:25):
was a powerful moment, but itwas beautiful.
From the very beginning,entering into that room, there
was something beautiful,peaceful, um serene.
And I wondered, how do you dothis?
It's a Eucharist.
Jesus Christ is transforminglives, and then anything that
(15:49):
happened in our lives filteredthrough the Eucharist is
meaningful, it's still painfulmany times, or it could be dark
or difficult to accept, but hassome beauty because our Lord
doesn't abandon anybody.
Actually, it was funny becauseleaving the hospital that same
day, we were walking with thehusband, getting to the entrance
(16:11):
to the parking lot, he wasaccompanying me, and in front of
us it was a narrow kind of ahall, and there was this couple,
I don't know how old, butmaybe '90s.
And they were walking veryslowly and then very slow.
And uh and they were blocking alittle bit us, so they were
creating a little bit of a linebehind them, and we but nobody
(16:33):
dared to say anything, like goto the side or whatever, because
it was wonderful, they wereholding hands.
I don't know how many years hadthey been married, but a lot, I
guess.
And uh and they were holdinghands, walking in very slow
motion, and then we were behindthem at the beginning.
(16:54):
We were talking, but then westarted looking at them like
this is so remarkable.
It is so easy to hold hands whenyou are dating someone first
weeks or whatever, first night,or but after 50 years, to still
hold hands, to love each other.
That's something different.
And I don't know if they wereCatholics, but I'm sure they
were at least Christian.
(17:16):
Because when when we seedignity, when we see respect and
beauty, there's a connectionwith God, there's a connection
with the Eucharist, that's whatit is, and it's a fountain that
eternally giving us clear water,eternally inspiring us,
eternally renewing us.
(17:39):
So, my Lord, I want to discover,to rediscover the treasure of
the Eucharist.
I want to be sent like theapostles to all the corners of
the world, to the last corner,to the most abandoned person, to
the most far away person fromyou, and to tell him or tell
(18:01):
her, God loves you, you are notalone, you have dignity, recover
your hope.
There is something wonderfulinside you, available for you.
And if I know that, it's notbecause I am better, it's
because you and your wisdom thatI don't understand, you gave me,
(18:24):
you gave it to me, thepossibility of knowing you right
now, when I'm young or when Iwas young.
But many people are waiting forthat, and I want to, I don't
know how, but I want to sharewith them this good news.
Right now we can pray for allthe people in the world that
(18:44):
don't know you.
I'm not better than them.
I was just given the grace ofknowing the Eucharist, the Holy
Spirit, and the Hail Mary, andthe truths of our faith.
I was given that.
I'm not better, but I have atreasure, and I wish that right
now, Jesus, through your HolySpirit, through the Father,
(19:07):
through yourself, you wouldreach out to every single heart
in this world.
And I want you to help, I wantto help you to knock at those
doors and to say, Come here.
There is light, there isstrength.
Pope Benedict continues.
Human life is a journey.
(19:29):
Life is like a voyage on the seaof history, often dark and
stormy, a voyage in which wewatch for the stars that
indicate the route.
It's not easy.
You get in darkness sometimes,you get wind waves.
So we need stars, we needguidance.
(19:50):
The true stars of our life arethe people who have lived good
lives.
They inspire me.
Good people, people in thehospitals, in the streets,
friends, moms, dads, neighbors.
They are lights of hope.
They shine, they tell me withoutwords.
(20:11):
Many times just with theirpresence, with their joy, with
their serenity, they tell melife is meaningful.
Life can be wonderful if you aregenerous, if you forgive.
They are telling me that.
Certainly, continues the Pope,Jesus Christ is the true light,
the sun that has risen above allthe shadows of history.
(20:33):
I mean, there is one light thatmakes other lights possible, is
Jesus Christ.
You are the light of the world.
But, says the Pope, to reachHim, we also need lights close
by, people who shine with Hislight, and so guide us along our
(20:54):
way.
That is so interesting in ourChristian faith, in our Catholic
faith, to know that there's thiscombination between God in His
providence using secondarycauses to bring the benefits of
salvation.
That is so God, I mean, soChristian, so Jesus, to say,
(21:16):
okay, I don't want to do it bymyself.
I have the power, all power inheaven and on earth has been
given to me.
But I don't want to use it bymyself.
So go and help me.
Let's do it together.
That's the promise and that'sthe gift of Jesus Christ that He
wants us to not only to save us,but to help us save in people.
(21:36):
And today, thinking about theEucharist.
Thinking about what we have inour hands.
The real Jesus.
Heaven.
Jesus Himself is what we callheaven.
I want to be light for theworld.
Again, not because it's mylight, it's because I'm
(21:57):
reflecting you.
I'm just the last rag of thisworld.
I'm like the moon.
With all my respects, an uglystone.
No water, no nothing, novegetation.
It's so beautiful at night whenit reflects the sun.
It is so awesome to see a youknow a full moon or half moon in
(22:21):
the middle of the night, it's sowonderful, and it's just a stone
there, but it's reflecting thesun.
The same with me.
I want to reflect you in my lifein order to help people to have
hope, to rediscover howmeaningful their lives can be.
And the Eucharist will give methis daily nourishment, this
(22:44):
daily encounter with you.
I don't know if it's true, andquote unquote, I don't care with
all my respects, but there isthis story that someone told me
about a woman, I think she'sfrom Colombia, that uh had a car
accident or something like that,and then she was dying, and
apparently she was falling tohell, according to herself.
(23:07):
And then uh halfway through thisfalling, the blessed Virgin Mary
appeared to her and grab her byher hand and lift her up, so to
speak, and then told her youwere dying in this car accident.
But there was another driverpassing by when he saw you, or
the whole mess with the cars,and uh, he prayed a Hail Mary
(23:30):
for you.
So uh that Hail Mary gave youkind of a second chance to go
back and uh now take advantageof this experience to talk about
what you you have gone throughand and tell the world how
beautiful it is that we savedeach other or that we help each
other in praying for for otherhuman beings.
(23:53):
And then the person came backand she's talking about this
again.
I don't quote unquote, I don'tcare if this is true or not,
because uh it doesn't change mymy faith or my I don't need
that, all right?
The gospel is enough for me, butuh but still I'm sure that
things like this happen all thetime, that our Lord is moved by
(24:14):
you praying for others.
Of course, he does the all thejob for so to speak, but at the
same time, he wants us to reallybe protagonists.
And the best way to pray, theshortcut for anything is is the
Eucharist, because we haveJesus.
It's not that we are talking tohim or we are him coming to me.
(24:39):
I can be so close to God.
I have heaven in my hands, and Iwant to bring all the souls, I
want to enlarge my heart when Igo to mass.
Even in many times I getdistracted or I'm thinking about
my job, or but I have you, and Isay, Jesus, all the souls in the
world that don't know you, allthe sinners in history myself,
(25:03):
souls in purgatory, people thatare having are having a hard
time in their marriages, withtheir jobs, whatever.
I want to pray for them.
And then in our hearts, we willreceive people that we don't
know.
And your heart will be a shelterfor many people, maybe millions
(25:23):
of people, if you want to.
Our Lord is not limited byanything.
If you ask to have billionpeople in your heart, sheltering
there from the storms ofhistory, from the confusion of
our age, whatever our Lord willallow those guys to be part of
your life, and you will be sohappy to be Jesus for them, or
(25:45):
to be with Jesus, doing thetremendous, the wonderful dream
of redemption.
Some years ago, there was thisgame.
I never played, I tried, but Iit didn't work in my phone.
So, but I want to sharesomething.
There was this game, I think thename was Pokemon Go or something
like that.
(26:06):
And it was about, I thought itwas an interesting idea because
it was kind of a going throughsort of a scenarios like Google
Maps, so to speak, that youwould move through your city or
whatever for real.
But on the screen, some like uhdifferent um characters would
appear and they will give youpoints if we would point at them
(26:26):
or or or reach out to them inthe screen.
And I think it was too dangerousbecause people were uh mixing up
reality with fiction, and uh, Idon't know if it uh at the end
if it was uh a good game forpeople, but I thought it was a
great idea anyway.
And I think we can play PokemonGo in a Christian way, so to
(26:47):
speak.
When we're walking on thestreets, when we're driving,
we're surrounded by souls, byeach one of them is a
tabernacle, is a house of God.
If our Lord came to this world,if you, my Lord, came to this
world, it's not because youwanted to be in tabernacles made
(27:09):
out of gold.
They're wonderful.
And it's how we express ourfaith.
So it's fitting that we put alot of money and and cleanness
and details in in buildingwonderful churches, and this is
great.
It shows our affection to you,so it's good.
But you didn't come to be inbuildings or in boxes, you came
to be in hearts.
(27:31):
That's your place where you wantto be, right?
So when you are in thetabernacle, you want to get out
of there in order to get insideus, which is your destination as
a Eucharistic bread.
This is what you meant when youcreated the Eucharist.
So when I go around in thestreets, in my neighbors, uh my
(27:54):
neighbors or in my family, orjust at home, every single
person I see is a tabernaclecreated by God.
You want to be manifested tothat person, to enter into
dialogue, into friendship.
So I want to help you in doingthat.
I want to light up all thosetabernacles with my prayer, and
(28:17):
uh and then to help them torediscover or discover for the
first time the beauty of yourpresence.
Speaking of tabernacles, thefirst one in history is the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
The first communion in historywas made by our wonderful
(28:37):
mother.
So if uh today we arecelebrating Father's Day and
also the Corpus Christi, let'sask our Lady to be aware that we
have God the Father revealinghimself to us, and for us men to
be good fathers, both physicaland spiritually speaking, and
(28:59):
then for that to happen, toreceive Jesus with the same
purity, with the same humility,with the same devotion that the
Blessed Virgin Mary had in herheart when she received Jesus
for the first time.
I thank you, my God, for thegood resolutions, affections,
and inspirations that you havecommunicated to me in this
(29:22):
meditation.
I ask your help to put them intoeffect.
My Immaculate Mother, SaintJoseph, my father and lord, my
guardian angel, intercede forme.
My Lord amegad, I firmly believe that you are
here, that you see me, that youhear me.
I adore you with profoundreverence.
I ask your pardon for my sinsand the grace to make this time
of prayer fruitful.
My Immaculate Mother, SaintJoseph, my Father and Lord, my
(00:35):
guardian angel, intercede forme.
Any time is good for prayer.
Any time is an opportunity totalk to you, my Lord.
And as usual, I pray with thegospel, because in the gospel I
have your life, which is alwaysa treasure to rediscover.
(01:00):
And during the year, I have theliturgical calendar.
And it's also very helpful to gothrough the year in the church
and like in a family tree todiscover the traditions of my
family, the church.
Traditions that have been passedto me by my brothers and sisters
(01:22):
in faith throughout centuries.
And to know that I'm holding inmy hands such a legacy gives me
reassurance and joy andconnection with people from all
over the place, all over theworld, from any time in history.
It's such a powerful experienceto think that we are praying
(01:42):
with the same Jesus that earlyChristians prayed, and later on,
all the traditions in everycountry have followed.
So, anyway, in this time of theyear, after Easter, we have the
chance almost every Sunday tohave different mysteries, to
consider mysteries of our faith.
(02:03):
The Blessed Trinity or Pentecostor as today, Corpus Christi.
Like a little pearl, a joy, areality that permeates my faith.
And as usual, I was saying, I goto the gospel to understand
(02:24):
better, to put myself in theshoes of the apostles, to the
early Christians, the samething.
And we read in the last wordsthat uh Saint Matthew has
recorded, uttered by you, myLord, that the eleven disciples
went up to Galilee, up to themountain to which Jesus had
(02:45):
ordered them to go.
So they were excited after theresurrection.
They knew that you were alive,and uh, and at the same time
they were more mature in theirfaith.
Three years with you, seeingmiracles, uh teachings, seeing
you as a person, and then thevery dark and intense moments of
(03:11):
the crucifixion and yourresurrection, the joy of your
resurrection.
And then when they saw him, thegospel says in Matthew says that
when they saw you, someworshiped, but some of them
doubted.
They were still saying tothemselves, Is this for real?
Is he really alive?
Wonderful, right?
(03:31):
Because it shows the reality ofyour resurrection.
It was not easy to accept such abig news, obviously.
Sometimes it happens to me aswell.
Can I be so happy as to knowthat God loves me?
Is this for real?
So then Jesus approached themand said, All power in heaven
(03:52):
and on earth has been given tome.
And I want to stop for a second.
He doesn't say some power, a lotof power, he says, all power in
heaven and on earth has beengiven to me.
Go therefore and make disciplesof all nations.
(04:13):
I have overcome death.
I have a tremendous good news totell you that I want you to help
me to bring to all nations thisjoy of my resurrection.
Go.
Go therefore and make disciplesof all nations, baptizing them,
(04:33):
talking to them about theFather, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observeall that I have commanded you.
And uh just pause for a secondagain.
All the miracles, but also allthe teachings.
Go to other countries.
Go to neighbors, to friends, toco-workers, and explain to them
(04:54):
the beauty of the Trinity.
Explain to them the beauty ofthe parable of the prodigal son.
Explain to them how my father inheaven is preparing like a
wedding feast.
Explain to them what you haveseen, how I washed your feet, or
my conversations, or when weprayed together at the sea.
(05:15):
Explain to them everything, thecatching of the fish, all the
great moments that we hadtogether.
11 apostles on top of a mountainwith some women, the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene,most likely, maybe 15 people, 20
if you want.
And then at the end, our Lord,the last words, the very last
words of Jesus Christ in thisworld.
(05:37):
And behold, I am with youalways, until the end of age.
I am with you, I am with youuntil the end of time.
Behold, I'm sending you, we willchange the world.
You have in your hands thefuture of mankind.
(05:57):
And the good news is that I amwith you always.
Thank you, my Lord, for beingwith me, with being for being
with us.
I think it's very fitting thattoday in Corpus Christi we
meditate, we pondered on theselast words.
Behold, I am with you always.
(06:19):
There is nothing you shouldfear.
I will accompany you in thisadventure, in this revolution of
love that is Christianity.
We don't know exactly whathappened that morning after
that, but you can picture theapostles going back home and
maybe grabbing a map or I don'tknow, a compass or whatever, and
(06:43):
saying, Where do you want to go?
And it is wonderful to thinkthat throughout history we are
linked to one of those 11, ormaybe to one of the women.
So you, wherever you are rightnow, maybe you're driving, maybe
you're in the living room orwalking or running, or maybe
you're in a chapel.
You and I have a straight linkwith one of those 11 or 15
(07:07):
people that were there thatmorning on that mountain.
And I will love when I go toheaven, I will do it for sure.
Who brought me the faith that Ihave in Jesus Christ?
Of course, my parents, and thenmy grandparents, and then you go
down the line throughout thecenturies, and at the end it was
James, or maybe John, or maybeMary Magdalene, that the
(07:31):
following morning went to talkto a neighbor and in the
marketplace or to a relative ata party, and they grabbed their
faith and they said, Wow, thisis interesting.
Let me tell me more.
And they got baptized and theytransmitted what they have
received to the next generation.
And someday, somehow, the HolySpirit guided someone to talk to
(07:55):
you, to bring you that faiththat has a connection with the
first apostles and with JesusChrist.
Now, the question is how?
How did they do it, my Lord?
They were 11, they were not veryinfluential, they were not rich,
they were not powerful.
They did it because theybelieved in these last words.
(08:17):
Behold, I am with you.
Behold, I'm staying here, hiddenin the Eucharist.
In a way that uh is not easy tounderstand or to believe or to
see the consequences of myactions, but is those actions or
those graces are for real.
(08:39):
I am with you in the Eucharist,and you has you have been here
for more than 2,000 years,accompanying every mom, every
dad, every friend, everyneighbor through your beautiful
hidden presence in theEucharist.
And the other thing that I wantto consider today, my Lord, is
(09:00):
that I want to continue thistradition.
I want to pass on this legacy,this treasure to the next
generation.
And for that to happen, I wantto be very devout to the
Eucharist, obviously.
Saint José Maria, the founder ofOpus Dei, commenting on this
idea of Jesus living this worldand at the same time staying,
(09:23):
says something reallyremarkable, beautiful.
I'm reading now a quote by SaintJosé Maria in his book Christ is
Passing By.
And he says, like the apostles,we remain partly perplexed and
partly saddened at hisdeparture.
It is not easy, in fact, to getaccustomed to the physical
absence of Jesus.
(09:46):
He has gone to heaven and at thesame time, he gives himself to
us as a nourishment.
Still, we miss his human speech,his way of acting, of looking,
of smiling, of doing good.
We would like to go back andregard him closely again, as he
sits down at the edge of thewell, tired from his journey, as
(10:09):
he weeps for Lazarus when hedied, as he prays for a long
time at night, as he feels pityfor the crowd.
End of the quote.
And it is so true.
It is not easy to getaccustomed, it is impossible, I
would say, to your physicalabsence, Jesus.
(10:30):
In a way, I'm envious of theapostles, they saw you.
And uh, it would be just uh sowonderful to make eye contact
with you, just to see can youimagine Jesus Christ asking you
something?
Like you're walking or or youreceive a phone call, and then
Jesus calling you, hey, how areyou doing today?
And then the voice of God, itwould be so awesome, or just to
(10:54):
sit down at a table and Jesuslooking at you, hey, how's your
day?
And then looking at you andsaying, My oh my gosh, it's like
the second person of this of theBlessed Trinity is just right
now looking at me.
So we miss that part, obviously.
And your human speech, yourJesus laughing.
Can you imagine Jesus laughingor or making a joke to you or to
someone else, and then justlaughing, or Jesus crying at the
(11:19):
funeral, or when you know Jesuscrying when he sees, I don't
know, pornography in the world,and then Jesus crying, or when
he sees someone dying, or andthen our Lord moved with pity.
So any aspect of the humanity ofJesus Christ is a treasure, and
at the same time, knowing thatuh you are not here now with
(11:44):
your human body is a gift in away because I can grow in my
faith.
It's a gift that helps me todevelop my friendship with you
at a deeper level.
You planned the Eucharist.
Someday, in your prayer, in yourrelationship with the Father and
(12:07):
the Holy Spirit, the three ofyou, my Lord, decided something
spectacular beyond telling tostay here.
And then among the possibilitiesthat you had, you chose the best
one.
God always chooses the bestbecause He can do that.
So, in their wisdom, in theireternal kind of a seeing
(12:28):
everything, the three of themdecided, you know what?
The best way to help them, tohelp humans after the
incarnation, after thecrucifixion and resurrection, is
going to be being hidden inbread, transforming bread into
my body, allowing myself toenter inside them would be the
(12:53):
best way to help them.
And you did it.
And uh, my lord, in theEucharist, I have you.
In the Eucharist, I can hearyou, I am with you always, until
the end of the world.
So thank you so much.
I want to be very grateful forthis treasure that I have.
(13:14):
I was reading recently somewritings by Pope Benedict.
He's Pope Benedict is so sharp,is it simple, easy to
understand?
And then he said, I copied thissentence because it's very
again, very simple, but soreassuring.
And he says, Jesus himself iswhat we call heaven.
(13:36):
I'm gonna say it again.
Jesus Himself is what we callheaven.
That's it.
That's what we need.
Heaven is not a place, it's notjust uh it's Jesus Himself.
It's more than a place.
It is you.
And uh good news is that you arepresent in the Eucharist, and I
(13:58):
can adore you, talk to you, andyou can come to me, and it is
nothing I can fear I shouldfear.
It's just uh it's beyondtelling.
It's disarming to kneel down infront of you.
It gives me so much peace, andthat's how Catholics have
(14:21):
transformed the world inhistory.
Being close to you in theEucharist.
The other day I had a chance togo to a hospital to ICU to visit
uh someone uh struggling foryears with cancer.
A mom was there, is still there,you can pray for her, and then
(14:42):
the dad asked me to go foranointing her, and just in case
something would happen.
So I entered the room with thedad, with the husband, and uh
the kids weren't there.
But uh we saw her lying on thebed, intubated, um a little
groggy because of the drugs,right?
(15:03):
And um, and then when thehusband introduced me, uh she
knew me already, but anyway,Father Leo is here, and then she
opened the eyes uh peacefully,and then grabbed my hand, and
then with the other hand grabbedher uh husband's hand, and uh
and then we talked for a while,and then I gave the anointing.
The three of the three of us,sorry, were crying because it
(15:25):
was a powerful moment, but itwas beautiful.
From the very beginning,entering into that room, there
was something beautiful,peaceful, um serene.
And I wondered, how do you dothis?
It's a Eucharist.
Jesus Christ is transforminglives, and then anything that
(15:49):
happened in our lives filteredthrough the Eucharist is
meaningful, it's still painfulmany times, or it could be dark
or difficult to accept, but hassome beauty because our Lord
doesn't abandon anybody.
Actually, it was funny becauseleaving the hospital that same
day, we were walking with thehusband, getting to the entrance
(16:11):
to the parking lot, he wasaccompanying me, and in front of
us it was a narrow kind of ahall, and there was this couple,
I don't know how old, butmaybe '90s.
And they were walking veryslowly and then very slow.
And uh and they were blocking alittle bit us, so they were
creating a little bit of a linebehind them, and we but nobody
(16:33):
dared to say anything, like goto the side or whatever, because
it was wonderful, they wereholding hands.
I don't know how many years hadthey been married, but a lot, I
guess.
And uh and they were holdinghands, walking in very slow
motion, and then we were behindthem at the beginning.
(16:54):
We were talking, but then westarted looking at them like
this is so remarkable.
It is so easy to hold hands whenyou are dating someone first
weeks or whatever, first night,or but after 50 years, to still
hold hands, to love each other.
That's something different.
And I don't know if they wereCatholics, but I'm sure they
were at least Christian.
(17:16):
Because when when we seedignity, when we see respect and
beauty, there's a connectionwith God, there's a connection
with the Eucharist, that's whatit is, and it's a fountain that
eternally giving us clear water,eternally inspiring us,
eternally renewing us.
(17:39):
So, my Lord, I want to discover,to rediscover the treasure of
the Eucharist.
I want to be sent like theapostles to all the corners of
the world, to the last corner,to the most abandoned person, to
the most far away person fromyou, and to tell him or tell
(18:01):
her, God loves you, you are notalone, you have dignity, recover
your hope.
There is something wonderfulinside you, available for you.
And if I know that, it's notbecause I am better, it's
because you and your wisdom thatI don't understand, you gave me,
(18:24):
you gave it to me, thepossibility of knowing you right
now, when I'm young or when Iwas young.
But many people are waiting forthat, and I want to, I don't
know how, but I want to sharewith them this good news.
Right now we can pray for allthe people in the world that
(18:44):
don't know you.
I'm not better than them.
I was just given the grace ofknowing the Eucharist, the Holy
Spirit, and the Hail Mary, andthe truths of our faith.
I was given that.
I'm not better, but I have atreasure, and I wish that right
now, Jesus, through your HolySpirit, through the Father,
(19:07):
through yourself, you wouldreach out to every single heart
in this world.
And I want you to help, I wantto help you to knock at those
doors and to say, Come here.
There is light, there isstrength.
Pope Benedict continues.
Human life is a journey.
(19:29):
Life is like a voyage on the seaof history, often dark and
stormy, a voyage in which wewatch for the stars that
indicate the route.
It's not easy.
You get in darkness sometimes,you get wind waves.
So we need stars, we needguidance.
(19:50):
The true stars of our life arethe people who have lived good
lives.
They inspire me.
Good people, people in thehospitals, in the streets,
friends, moms, dads, neighbors.
They are lights of hope.
They shine, they tell me withoutwords.
(20:11):
Many times just with theirpresence, with their joy, with
their serenity, they tell melife is meaningful.
Life can be wonderful if you aregenerous, if you forgive.
They are telling me that.
Certainly, continues the Pope,Jesus Christ is the true light,
the sun that has risen above allthe shadows of history.
(20:33):
I mean, there is one light thatmakes other lights possible, is
Jesus Christ.
You are the light of the world.
But, says the Pope, to reachHim, we also need lights close
by, people who shine with Hislight, and so guide us along our
(20:54):
way.
That is so interesting in ourChristian faith, in our Catholic
faith, to know that there's thiscombination between God in His
providence using secondarycauses to bring the benefits of
salvation.
That is so God, I mean, soChristian, so Jesus, to say,
(21:16):
okay, I don't want to do it bymyself.
I have the power, all power inheaven and on earth has been
given to me.
But I don't want to use it bymyself.
So go and help me.
Let's do it together.
That's the promise and that'sthe gift of Jesus Christ that He
wants us to not only to save us,but to help us save in people.
(21:36):
And today, thinking about theEucharist.
Thinking about what we have inour hands.
The real Jesus.
Heaven.
Jesus Himself is what we callheaven.
I want to be light for theworld.
Again, not because it's mylight, it's because I'm
(21:57):
reflecting you.
I'm just the last rag of thisworld.
I'm like the moon.
With all my respects, an uglystone.
No water, no nothing, novegetation.
It's so beautiful at night whenit reflects the sun.
It is so awesome to see a youknow a full moon or half moon in
(22:21):
the middle of the night, it's sowonderful, and it's just a stone
there, but it's reflecting thesun.
The same with me.
I want to reflect you in my lifein order to help people to have
hope, to rediscover howmeaningful their lives can be.
And the Eucharist will give methis daily nourishment, this
(22:44):
daily encounter with you.
I don't know if it's true, andquote unquote, I don't care with
all my respects, but there isthis story that someone told me
about a woman, I think she'sfrom Colombia, that uh had a car
accident or something like that,and then she was dying, and
apparently she was falling tohell, according to herself.
(23:07):
And then uh halfway through thisfalling, the blessed Virgin Mary
appeared to her and grab her byher hand and lift her up, so to
speak, and then told her youwere dying in this car accident.
But there was another driverpassing by when he saw you, or
the whole mess with the cars,and uh, he prayed a Hail Mary
(23:30):
for you.
So uh that Hail Mary gave youkind of a second chance to go
back and uh now take advantageof this experience to talk about
what you you have gone throughand and tell the world how
beautiful it is that we savedeach other or that we help each
other in praying for for otherhuman beings.
(23:53):
And then the person came backand she's talking about this
again.
I don't quote unquote, I don'tcare if this is true or not,
because uh it doesn't change mymy faith or my I don't need
that, all right?
The gospel is enough for me, butuh but still I'm sure that
things like this happen all thetime, that our Lord is moved by
(24:14):
you praying for others.
Of course, he does the all thejob for so to speak, but at the
same time, he wants us to reallybe protagonists.
And the best way to pray, theshortcut for anything is is the
Eucharist, because we haveJesus.
It's not that we are talking tohim or we are him coming to me.
(24:39):
I can be so close to God.
I have heaven in my hands, and Iwant to bring all the souls, I
want to enlarge my heart when Igo to mass.
Even in many times I getdistracted or I'm thinking about
my job, or but I have you, and Isay, Jesus, all the souls in the
world that don't know you, allthe sinners in history myself,
(25:03):
souls in purgatory, people thatare having are having a hard
time in their marriages, withtheir jobs, whatever.
I want to pray for them.
And then in our hearts, we willreceive people that we don't
know.
And your heart will be a shelterfor many people, maybe millions
(25:23):
of people, if you want to.
Our Lord is not limited byanything.
If you ask to have billionpeople in your heart, sheltering
there from the storms ofhistory, from the confusion of
our age, whatever our Lord willallow those guys to be part of
your life, and you will be sohappy to be Jesus for them, or
(25:45):
to be with Jesus, doing thetremendous, the wonderful dream
of redemption.
Some years ago, there was thisgame.
I never played, I tried, but Iit didn't work in my phone.
So, but I want to sharesomething.
There was this game, I think thename was Pokemon Go or something
like that.
(26:06):
And it was about, I thought itwas an interesting idea because
it was kind of a going throughsort of a scenarios like Google
Maps, so to speak, that youwould move through your city or
whatever for real.
But on the screen, some like uhdifferent um characters would
appear and they will give youpoints if we would point at them
(26:26):
or or or reach out to them inthe screen.
And I think it was too dangerousbecause people were uh mixing up
reality with fiction, and uh, Idon't know if it uh at the end
if it was uh a good game forpeople, but I thought it was a
great idea anyway.
And I think we can play PokemonGo in a Christian way, so to
(26:47):
speak.
When we're walking on thestreets, when we're driving,
we're surrounded by souls, byeach one of them is a
tabernacle, is a house of God.
If our Lord came to this world,if you, my Lord, came to this
world, it's not because youwanted to be in tabernacles made
(27:09):
out of gold.
They're wonderful.
And it's how we express ourfaith.
So it's fitting that we put alot of money and and cleanness
and details in in buildingwonderful churches, and this is
great.
It shows our affection to you,so it's good.
But you didn't come to be inbuildings or in boxes, you came
to be in hearts.
(27:31):
That's your place where you wantto be, right?
So when you are in thetabernacle, you want to get out
of there in order to get insideus, which is your destination as
a Eucharistic bread.
This is what you meant when youcreated the Eucharist.
So when I go around in thestreets, in my neighbors, uh my
(27:54):
neighbors or in my family, orjust at home, every single
person I see is a tabernaclecreated by God.
You want to be manifested tothat person, to enter into
dialogue, into friendship.
So I want to help you in doingthat.
I want to light up all thosetabernacles with my prayer, and
(28:17):
uh and then to help them torediscover or discover for the
first time the beauty of yourpresence.
Speaking of tabernacles, thefirst one in history is the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
The first communion in historywas made by our wonderful
(28:37):
mother.
So if uh today we arecelebrating Father's Day and
also the Corpus Christi, let'sask our Lady to be aware that we
have God the Father revealinghimself to us, and for us men to
be good fathers, both physicaland spiritually speaking, and
(28:59):
then for that to happen, toreceive Jesus with the same
purity, with the same humility,with the same devotion that the
Blessed Virgin Mary had in herheart when she received Jesus
for the first time.
I thank you, my God, for thegood resolutions, affections,
and inspirations that you havecommunicated to me in this
(29:22):
meditation.
I ask your help to put them intoeffect.
My Immaculate Mother, SaintJoseph, my father and lord, my
guardian angel, intercede forme.
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