“The God of our faith is not a distant being”

Consider what is most beautiful and most noble on earth, what pleases the mind and the other faculties, and what delights the flesh and the senses. And the world, and the other worlds that shine in the night: the whole universe.

Well this, along with all the follies of the heart satisfied, is worth nothing, is nothing and less than nothing compared... with this God of mine!--of yours! Infinite treasure, pearl of great price, humbled, become a slave, reduced to the form of a servant in the stable where he chose to be born, in Joseph's workshop, in his passion and in his ignominious death... and in the madness of Love which is the blessed Eucharist. (The Way, 432)

We must adore devoutly this God of ours, hidden in the Eucharist [1] — it is Jesus himself, born of the Virgin Mary, who suffered and gave his life in the sacrifice of the cross; Jesus, from whose side, pierced by a lance, flowed water and blood [2].

This is the sacred banquet, in which we receive Christ himself. We renew the memory of his passion, and through him the soul is brought to an intimate relationship with God and receives a promise of future glory [3]. The liturgy of the Church has summarised, in a few words, the culminating points of the history of our Lord’s love for us.

The God of our faith is not a distant being who contemplates indifferently the fate of men — their desires, their struggles, their sufferings. He is a Father who loves his children so much that he sends the Word, the Second Person of the most Blessed Trinity, so that by taking on the nature of man he may die to redeem us. He is the loving Father who now leads us gently to himself, through the action of the Holy Spirit who dwells in our hearts. (Christ is passing by, 84

[1] Cf hymn Adoro te devote

[2] Cf hymn Ave verum

[3] Cf hymn O sacrum convivium

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