What could happen if we believed that Jesus is Really Present in the Eucharist?

Tonight, we’ll rediscover this mystery. Learn about how you can grow in closeness with Jesus Christ and find healing, consolation, and hope.

You can join us! We’ll take emails and phone calls live. (See below for listening details.)

How can I listen & participate in this program?

South Texans can tune their radio to 89.7 FM – and anyone can listen online by clicking the LISTEN LIVE button on CatholicismLive.com from 8pm – 9pm Central Time! Submit questions / comments using the form on CatholicismLive.com

Note: This program will NOT air on Catholic Television of San Antonio, due to their summer hiatus.

More information related to this episode of Catholicism Live!:

• Official Website of The Pilgrim Center of Hope
• Eucharistic Healing Service – August 9, 2012
• Learn more about The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist
• “Transformed By His Love – What Jesus Reveals in Scripture and the Eucharist” (by Deacon Tom Fox)
• Intercessors of the Pilgrim Center of Hope are invited to their annual Retreat on Saturday, August 4th; 9am-1pm with lunch.  Theme:  Encountering Jesus in the Eucharist. MUST RSVP by August 2nd.  (210-521-3377)

Saint of the Week: St. Peter Julian Eymard

(Feast Day: August 2)

Like all of us, Peter Julian Eymard [pronounced A-mard] was conditioned by his cultural background as well as by the sociopolitical atmosphere of his time. The French Revolution of 1789 had radically altered the political, legal, social and religious structures of the country. As a teenager, the industrial revolution was changing the face of Europe.

Struggle to Become a Priest

Peter Julian Eymard’s road to the priesthood, as well as his life as a priest, was marked by the cross. In French society, there was a strong anticlericalism. In addition, the Eymard family was poor and Peter Julian’s father was reluctant to give his blessing to his son’s decision. His first attempt to attain priesthood ended because of serious illness. He tried again. On July 20, 1834, at 23 years of age, Eymard was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Grenoble.

In Eymard’s day there was a religious movement called Jansenism. This movement focused on the gravity of human sinfulness and as a consequence stressed our unworthiness in the presence of a transcendent and perfect God. In his early years as a seminarian and priest, Fr. Eymard was influenced by this reparation spirituality and he would struggle his whole life long to seek that inner perfection that would enable him to offer to God the gift of his entire self.

Taking His Vows

Perhaps it was the intensification of this growing spiritual struggle along with Fr. Eymard’s desire to accomplish great things for God that led him to enter religious life. On August 20, 1839, Fr. Eymard became a member of the Marist Congregation by professing the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

All his life Peter Julian had an intense devotion to Mary, the Mother of God. He knew about the apparition of Our Lady at La Salette and enjoyed traveling to various Marian shrines [throughout France]. It was Eymard’s work for the Society of Mary that put him in contact with the various currents of eucharistic piety that were flowing in the French Church. Peter Julian, despite his poor physical health, was an unusually energetic and hardworking priest/religious. He always had a desire to spend time in contemplation; but with his work, travel, writing, preaching, spiritual direction, and responsibilities as Marist provincial [superior], there was neither the environment nor the time for this desire to be fulfilled very frequently.

What did Fr. Eymard do as a Marist? He was an outstanding organizer of lay societies, a zealous educator, a well-prepared preacher, and a bit of a prophet to his fellow priests and even to his religious superiors.

Peter and the Eucharist

He asked his Superior General, Fr. Jean-Claude Colin, for permission to write a eucharistic rule for the Third Order of Mary of which, he, Peter Julian, was the director. Fr. Colin said no. Nevertheless, the idea for such a rule had already been written in the mind and heart of Fr. Eymard.

He wanted to begin a Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, but it was not an easy task. In fact, responding to God’s Spirit as a founder involved him in relational conflicts, personally embarrassing situations, financial troubles, and physical exhaustion. His first hurdle was getting the founding of the Congregation approved by several local bishops. When this approval came, Fr. Eymard opened his first community in Paris.

Bringing People to Jesus

The work of preparation for First Communion, especially among adults, was the aspect of the new eucharistic venture that had interested the archbishop of Paris. Other eucharistic communities and organizations were springing up throughout France but Archbishop Sibour rightly perceived that Eymard’s intuition about the Eucharist was not limited merely to the worship of the holy sacrament but to actively reach out to those who were estranged from the church and to evangelize them. Father Eymard directed his ministry firstly to the children and young workers that made up a large segment of the labor force of Paris.

No sooner did he attract a few men to join him than he had to close this house and move to another location. This happened twice within the span of a few years. These early Eymardian communities were so poor that on several occasions a neighboring convent of sisters fed the fathers and brothers. (Not being able to provide the basics of food and shelter did not help Fr. Eymard attract vocations!)

As early as 1845, Eymard began to move away from a spirituality of reparation toward a spirituality of Christ-centered love. Three years prior to his death, Fr. Eymard made a long retreat in Rome. During this retreat, he was powerfully struck by the force of Christ’s love within him – a love he felt taking over his whole person. Anticipating the renewal of the Church brought about by Vatican Councils I and II, Eymard had a vision of priests, deacons, sisters, and lay people living lives of total dedication to the spiritual values that are celebrated and contemplated in the Eucharistic celebration and in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

Blessed Pope John Paul II declared St. Peter Eymard, “Apostle of the Eucharist.”

Read more about this saint from Bob & Penny Lord.

St. Peter Julian Eymard, pray for us, that we would discover Jesus in the Eucharist and become close friends with Him.

Pearl of the Week: The Real Presence (by St. Peter Julian Eymard)

The Pearl of the Week is a resource, recommended to you – so that you can more deeply understand and hold our Faith, which is great treasure.

A collection of sermons dealing with the Eucharist which leads to a better knowledge and deeper love of Christ in the Eucharist.

Purchase this book from Christ the King Books & Gifts – or – read it online here.

WHY HAVE THE U.S. Bishops called for a “Fortnight for Religious Freedom”?

Is our religious freedom really at stake? Arland Nichols, National Director of HLI America, joins us to discuss the answers to your questions. Tune in!

About our Guest: Arland K. Nichols is the National Director of HLI America, an educational initiative of Human Life International.

While serving as instructor of Morality and Bioethics at Pope John XXIII High School in Katy, Texas, he co-founded the Archdiocese of San Antonio’s continuing education program for medical professionals, “Converging Roads: Bioethics, Healthcare and Catholic Teaching,” where he remains the Associate Director. In his years teaching he is most proud of his having founded “Ladies of Virtue,” a student-run organization dedicated to providing formation and fellowship to young women in high school.

Mr. Nichols graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.A. in Philosophy, and he earned a Masters of Divinity from the University of St. Thomas Graduate School of Theology. He holds a certification in Health Care Ethics from the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), and is a member of the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), NCBC, and Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.

An accomplished writer on issues that touch upon the dignity of the human person, Mr. Nichols’s work has been published in National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, The Linacre Quarterly, New Oxford Review, and Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly. A highly regarded speaker, he has given presentations at Texas A&M University, University of St. Thomas, Christus Santa Rosa Hospital, UT School of Medicine, Houston, the poster session of the annual conference of the CMA, Baylor University, UT School of Medicine, Galveston, and numerous parishes. He has also guest-hosted a San Antonio television and radio program, “Catholicism Live.”

Mr. Nichols and his wife, Cindy, reside in Katy, Texas with their three children, Joseph Daniel, Mary Catherine, and Thomas Augustine.

How can I listen & participate in this program?

South Texans can tune into Time Warner Cable channel 15 or radio 89.7 FM – and anyone can listen online by clicking the LISTEN LIVE button on CatholicismLive.com from 8pm – 9pm Central Time!

Submit questions / comments using the form on CatholicismLive.com or call during the program: (210) 734-5371

More information related to this episode of Catholicism Live!:

• Official Website of The Pilgrim Center of Hope
• Official Website of HLI America
• Religious Freedom – Archdiocese of San Antonio Prayer & Activities
• UPCOMING: Let Freedom Ring – Church bells will ring at noon on Sunday, June 30th, at 12pm for religious freedom.
• U.S. Bishops’ official website — See “Pearl of the Week” below

Relevant links:

• “The Threat to Freedom of Religion: A Real and Present Danger” – by Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, M.Sp.S., San Antonio
• “Launching the Fortnight for Freedom” – Address by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia

Thomas saying farewell to his daughter

Saint of the Week: St. Thomas More

(Feast Day: June 22)

St. Thomas More was born at London in 1478. After a thorough grounding in religion and the classics, he entered Oxford to study law. Upon leaving the university he embarked on a legal career which took him to Parliament. In 1505, he married his beloved Jane Colt who bore him four children, and when she died at a young age, he married a widow, Alice Middleton, to be a mother for his young children.

A wit and a reformer, this learned man numbered Bishops and scholars among his friends, and by 1516 wrote his world-famous book “Utopia”. He attracted the attention of Henry VIII who appointed him to a succession of high posts and missions, and finally made him Lord Chancellor in 1529. However, he resigned in 1532, at the height of his career and reputation, when Henry persisted in holding his own opinions regarding marriage and the supremacy of the Pope.

The rest of his life was spent in writing mostly in defense of the Church. In 1534, with his close friend, St. John Fisher, he refused to render allegiance to the King as the Head of the Church of England and was confined to the Tower. Fifteen months later, and nine days after St. John Fisher’s execution, he was tried and convicted of treason. He told the court that he could not go against his conscience and wished his judges that “we may yet hereafter in heaven merrily all meet together to everlasting salvation.” And on the scaffold, he told the crowd of spectators that he was dying as “the King’s good servant – but God’s first.” He was beheaded on July 6, 1535.

St. Thomas More, pray for us, that we might courageously witness to the Gospel with our lives.

Pearl of the Week: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ “Fortnight for Freedom” website

The Pearl of the Week is a resource, recommended to you – so that you can more deeply understand and hold our Faith, which is great treasure.

The Pearl of the Week is the Fortnight for Freedom page on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website. Find resources to make the most of this period of prayer and activism. One particular gem is the reflections offered for each day of the Fortnight. These reflections come from the Vatican II document, ‘”Declaration on Religious Liberty’.”

Click here to access these FORTNIGHT FOR FREEDOM resources.

TAKE ACTION — Actions you can take to defend religious freedom.

Get your spiritual blood pumping!

Have you heard about the Saint whose leg was blown off by a cannon? He founded one of the largest religious orders in the world, the Society of Jesus, and was a spiritual mastermind. We speak with Fr. James Marshall, SJ, about St. Ignatius of Loyola and his spiritual exercises.

We’re also joined by special long-distance guest Fr. Phil Hurley, S.J., director of a retreat coming to San Antonio for young adults that’s setting hearts on fire! Tune in!

Sounds interesting. How can I listen & participate in this program?

South Texans can tune into Time Warner Cable channel 15 or radio 89.7 FM – and anyone can listen online by clicking the LISTEN LIVE button on CatholicismLive.com from 8pm – 9pm Central Time!

Submit questions / comments using the form on CatholicismLive.com or call during the program: (210) 734-5371

More information related to this episode of Catholicism Live!:

• Official Website of The Pilgrim Center of Hope
• Learn more about Hearts on Fire Retreat in San Antonio
• Register for Hearts on Fire in San Antonio
• Download free & learn more – Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola
• Learn more about Jesuits in the USA
• Learn more about our Eucharistic Healing Service and the Real Presence
• Religious Freedom – Archdiocese of San Antonio Prayer & Activities

St. Ignatius of Loyola
(Feast Day: July 31)

Inigo Lopez de Loyola, who later took the name Ignatius, was the youngest son of a nobleman of the mountainous Basque region of northern Spain. Trained in the courtly manner of the time of King Ferdinand, he dreamed of the glories of knighthood and wore his sword and breastplate with a proud arrogance.

When Ignatius was born in 1491, the Middle Ages were just ending and Europe was entering into the Renaissance. So Ignatius was a man on the edge of two worlds.

Europe of the late 15th Century was a world of discovery and invention. European explorers sailed west to the Americas and south to Africa, and scholars uncovered the buried civilizations of Greece and Rome. The printing press fed a new hunger for knowledge among a growing middle class. It was the end of chivalry and the rise of a new humanism. It was a time of radical change, social upheaval, and war.

Devastation & Conversion

In a quixotic attempt in 1521 to defend the Spanish border fortress of Pamplona against the French artillery, Inigo’s right leg was shattered by a cannon ball. His French captors, impressed by the Inigo’s courage, carried him on a litter across Spain to his family home at Loyola where he began a long period of convalescence.

During that time, he read several religious books, the only reading material readily available. These books and the isolation of the recovery period brought about a conversion which led to the founding of the Jesuits. Ignatius began to pray. He fasted, did penance and works of charity, dedicated himself to God and, after some troubles with the Spanish Inquisition, decided to study for the priesthood.

As a student in Paris he drew a small band of friends to himself and directed them in extended prayer and meditation according to his Spiritual Exercises. After further studies, the first Jesuits were ordained to the Catholic priesthood in Venice and offered themselves in service to Pope Paul III. In 1540, Paul III approved the Institute of the Society of Jesus. Ignatius was elected General Superior and served in that post until his death in 1556 at the age of 65. (Biography from The Society of Jesus.)

Notable quotations from St. Ignatius

“If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for there is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great sacrifice of boundless charity.”

“Do not let any occasion of gaining merit pass without taking care to draw some spiritual profit from it; as, for example, from a sharp word which someone may say to you; from an act of obedience imposed against your will; from an opportunity which may occur to humble yourself, or to practice charity, sweetness, and patience. All of these occasions are gain for you, and you should seek to procure them; and at the close of that day, when the greatest number of them have come to you, you should go to rest most cheerful and pleased, as the merchant does on the day when he had had most chance for making money; for on that day business has prospered with him.”

Dedication to Jesus (St. Ignatius’s prayer)
Lord Jesus Christ, take all my freedom, my memory, my understanding, and my will.
All that I have and cherish you have given me. I surrender it all to be guided by your will.
Your grace and your love and wealth are enough for me.
Give me these, Lord Jesus, and I ask for nothing more.
Amen.

Pearl of the Week: “How to Listen When God Is Speaking: A Guide for Modern-day Catholics” by Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J.

The Pearl of the Week is a resource, recommended to you – so that you can more deeply understand and hold our Faith, which is great treasure.

Published by The Word Among Us – Click here to order online.

How do we listen to God speak to our hearts, minds, and wills–especially above the noise and stress of the modern world?
What is the process of discerning God’s will?

Best-selling author and popular EWTN host Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, tackles these and other questions in this comprehensive book on discernment.

He says that first we need to believe in God and his moral laws and make a commitment to please him in all that we do. Then we need to pray so that we can experience the peace that can come only from God.
Fr. Pacwa draws from St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, using plenty of everyday examples as well as stories from Scripture to help clarify his points. He encourages readers to develop a rich prayer life and says we can learn to listen to God’s powerful voice and hear him speaking lovingly to us even when we are suffering in some way.

• Confronts modern-day assumptions that can prevent us from being open to God’s will for our lives.
• Emphasizes the many ways we can develop our prayer life to nourish an authentic relationship with the Lord.

A great gift to anyone, especially that young adult that you may know that is searching for meaning in their lives.

Who is San Antonio?

Today is the feast of our city’s namesake: San Antonio de Padua, Saint Anthony of Padua. Who was he? Why is the city of San Antonio, Texas named after him? Additionally, we examine something he loved deeply: the Eucharist. What is it, and what is the Eucharistic miracle Anthony is known for? We’ll discover all this and more…Tune in!

Sounds interesting. How can I listen & participate in this program?

South Texans can tune into Time Warner Cable channel 15 or radio 89.7 FM – and anyone can listen online by clicking the LISTEN LIVE button on CatholicismLive.com from 8pm – 9pm Central Time!

Submit questions / comments using the form on CatholicismLive.com or call during the program: (210) 734-5371

More information related to this episode of Catholicism Live!:

• Official Website of The Pilgrim Center of Hope
• Learn more about The Basilica of St. Anthony in Padova, Italy
• Learn more about Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, including Eucharistic miracles
• Learn more about our Eucharistic Healing Service and the Real Presence
• Religious Freedom – Archdiocese of San Antonio Prayer & Activities

St. Anthony of Padua
(Feast Day: June 13)

St. Anthony of Padua is one of the most famous disciples of St. Francis of Assisi. He was a famous preacher and worker of miracles in his own day. Since his death he has so generously come to the assistance of the faithful who invoke him, that he is known throughout the world. St. Anthony was devoted to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and Our Lady from his childhood, when he served as an Altar Boy for his uncle who was a priest.

He was ordained to the priesthood at a young age, and became a member a religious community named after St. Augustine – The Augustinians. While living in Portugal, he worked in the Kitchen and served the other members of his community. He was asked to preach a sermon at a Priest’s Ordination. He had never done so…and they all thought it would be a poor delivery, since he wasn’t very educated at the time. When Anthony began to speak, everyone was taken by surprise, not only was he eloquent, not only was he learned, but he knew the Gospels and Holy Scriptures so intimately that he seemed like a living icon of the Word of God himself.

When St. Francis heard about Anthony – he invited Anthony to join the Franciscan Community and devote his time to teaching and preaching to the Friars. St. Francis recognized in Anthony an authentic and deep spiritual love he had for Christ and the Truth. Anthony did become a Franciscan. He spent the rest of his life traveling around Italy and Southern France preaching against the heresies of the day, working miracles and astonishing all by his humility and obvious sanctity. He drew huge crowds who came for many miles to hear him.

St. Anthony placed greater value in the salvation of souls. He urged his listeners to put the Holy Scriptures at the center of their lives, just as he did. If you wish to know God, if want to see his Face – go to the Holy Scriptures – this was his advice. The number of those who came to hear him was sometimes so great that no church was large enough to accommodate and so he had to preach in the open air. Frequently St. Anthony wrought veritable miracles of conversion. Enemies were reconciled.

He was so energetic in defending the truths of the Catholic Faith that many heretics returned to the Church. He would spend hours during the day teaching, preaching and hearing Confessions….but would also spend many hours of the night in intimate union with God in prayer. One night, the Child Jesus appeared to the Saint and held him in his arms. For this reason St. Anthony is often depicted holding the Child Jesus.

Later, he was elected as Provincial of the Franciscan Friars and lived in Padua, Italy. Thus he resumed the work of preaching. He died on June 13th, at 36 years old! His tomb is in a Basilica in Padua, Italy – The Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua. His tongue and vocal cords are incorrupt and are kept in a reliquary in the Basilica in Padua. St. Bonaventure, a friend of St. Anthony, in discovering that the St. Anthony’s tongue was incorrupt said: “O blessed tongue, which always blessed the Lord had made others bless him, now you show all the great merits you have acquired with God.”

From the time of his death up to the present day, countless miracles have occurred through St. Anthony’s intercession, so that he is known as the Wonder-Worker. In 1946, St. Anthony was declared a Doctor of the Church.

Saint Anthony of Padua, pray for us, that we would strive to know and love Jesus – and recognize Him in the Church, the Scriptures, and the Holy Eucharist.

Books to read about St. Anthony: “St. Anthony: The Wonder-Worker of Padua” by Charles Warren Stoddard (TAN Books). For children: “Saint Anthony and the Christ Child” by Helen Walker Homan (Ignatius Press).

Pearl of the Week: “Eucharistic Adoration” pamphlet

The Pearl of the Week is a resource, recommended to you – so that you can more deeply understand and hold our Faith, which is great treasure.

Published by Our Sunday Visitor Press – Click here to order online.

It is the heart of who we are as Catholics: the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. The Holy Father, in his recent encyclical The Church and the Eucharist, is calling for heightened appreciation of this beautiful gift from God through adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. But how many Catholics in the pews participate in Eucharistic adoration, or even really understand what it is?

A new pamphlet from Our Sunday Visitor is the perfect tool with which to teach and inspire your parishioners. Eucharistic Adoration is a how-to guide for prayerful and thoughtful devotion. Concrete suggestions, spiritual meanings, even illustrated explanations of the objects used in adoration are wrapped into an attractive, easy-to-read, and distribute, package.

Use this pamphlet to challenge your parishioners or religious-education students to apply one of the suggestions for Eucharistic adoration during your next exposition. Or send it to the households in your church community with a letter encouraging adoration and listing times to observe this devotion in your parish.

Make pamphlets available at the church entrances during scheduled exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Or supply copies to your youth and young-adult group.