"Suffer me not to be separated from thee."

"Suffer me not to be separated from thee."
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When we receive Holy Communion,

we receive the very same Jesus,

who was conceived in Mother Mary's womb,

who was  obedient to His mother and Foster father for thirty years,

who went about preaching His word and curing people for three years ,

who sacrificed Himself on the Cross for the salvation of humanity,

who rose to life on third day of His death, 

who went up to heaven forty days after His resurrection

and

who is still with us in the Holy Eucharist to feed us with His body and blood

so that we may live eternally with Him in heaven.

The above words are meant to bring home to us the reality behind Holy Eucharist.

Is it  merely a memory? 

No, it s is real.

We keep statues of Saints in the church and even at home.

They are kept in their memory,

that is,

they are kept to remind us of the Saints,

whose statues they are.

But statues are statues, not Saints.

It is only to be helpful to us to venerate the Saints they refer to

that we keep statues.

We venerate the Saints, not statues.

It is not so with Eucharist.

Eucharist does not refer to Jesus, it is Jesus Himself.

Just as living we are realities,  not memories,

Holy Eucharist is a reality, not memory.

Jesus is really present in the Eucharist.

When we receive the consecrated host, we receive the very Jesus who was born of May.

When receive Holy Communion

we become in a way  Mother Marys,

as we have in ourselves the same Jesus she had in her womb!

We bear (take)  the same Jesus

whom Mother Mary bore (gave birth to)!

After receiving Jesus through Holy Communion,  we pray to Him,

"Suffer me not to be separated from thee."

We request Jesus not let us to be separated from Him.

Why don't we simply say, "Jesus, I won't separate myself from you."?

We know we are frail.

Even if we decide to do something good,

the human frailty in us will come in our way

and will prevent us from keeping to our decision.

How many times have we made new year decisions

and failed to carry them out in practical life?

So, even if we decide,

when we receive Jesus,

never to separate ourselves from Him,

Satan,

who is roaming about in search  of 'Adams and Eves' to be devoured,

will near us with attractive 'fruits'.

There is a danger of our leaving  Jesus to follow  Satan.

Humbly accepting our inability to remain united with Jesus,

left to ourselves,

each one of us must tell Him,

"Jesus, my Lord,

I have received you just now.

You are within me.

I love you.

I want to remain united with you always. 

But, I know my weakness.

Left to myself,  I may fall away from you at any time.

So, please, help me.

You are all-powerful.

Knowing my weakness I surrender myself totally before you for protection.

Please,   don't  let me be  separated from you  by any external power.

Keep me united with you so that I may not fall a prey to the snares of Satan.

Fill me with your grace

to enable me to lead a holy spiritual life,

which must continue with you with me eternally."

Jesus will surely answer our prayer thus:

''My dear child,

I have promised to  be with you

all through the days that are coming,

until the consummation of the world.

I will keep to my promise.

You have received me in person.

My presence within you is not something to be kept and enjoyed by yourself, 

but to be given to others, to enjoy a spiritually united heavenward journey.

Why do you come to Holy Mass, to receive or to give?

To receive in order to give.

First you receive my Words through  Gospel reading and preaching.

Then you receive me.

Whosoever truly loves me will love his neighbours too.

Whosoever loves his neighbours will share with them what he thinks good for him.

If you love your neighbours,  share me and my words with them.

I created all the human beings in my image.

So see me in all your neighbours,

Whatever you do to them, you do to me.

When  you are at peace with them, you are at peace with me.

When  you are spiritually united with them, you are united with me too.

Your relationship with me and Your relationship with your neighbours  are interrelated,

that means,

I must be the centre of all your relationships.

In short, I must be the uniting factor of all your relationships.

I am love.

So love for me must be the life giving force of your love for others.

Worldly love without me is not spiritually meritorious.

As long as you love and serve your neighbours for me,

you are united with me.

My dear child, I am always with you as I have promised.

Keep in mind all your Baptismal Promises and keep to them."

Receiving Jesus is not enough.

We must share Him with our neighbours all our life through our love and service for them.

As long as we love and serve others in the name of Jesus,

we remain united with Him.

Lourdu Selvam.