Seek Jesus in the Eucharist

My CYSC small group

So y'all haven't heard from me in a while, and I'd been posting on a pretty regular basis so you might be wondering what happened to me. Well, I finished my summer semester of classes, vegged out for a few days, and took off for 9 days of service to middle school and high school youth. The first 6 days I was gone I was at CYSC (read more about here). I was in charge of a small group of 8 middle school girls - mine were going into 7th and 8th grade. It was a beautiful, challenging, grace-filled week of growth in love, here). Which was a more relaxed weekend, filled with lots of Jesus love. There is so much I could tell you about all these days I spent away from the normal grind of life... and I'm sure it will continue to come out.
specifically self-less love. Then I went straight from camp to meet up with the high school youth group I serve with at a Steubenville Conference (read more about them

Let's see - on Friday of camp - when we send our campers home and Mason (a fellow counselor) and I headed to Steubenville, OH about 3 hours from camp. I had begun losing my voice - and it continued to go out all weekend. So come Sunday, I was pretty raw for a voice, but had convinced myself I wasn't getting sick.. Well, my voice didn't get better and by Wednesday it was starting to feel more like a cold. Come Thursday night I was pretty miserable. I'd gotten my voice back at this point, but I was hacking like it was job. Friday morning I woke up more miserable than I'd felt in a long time, so I crawled out of bed and headed straight to the local minute clinic, which wasn't going to have a physician present, so I called my doctors office and they squeezed me in that morning. I was very thankful. So I call my mom to kill time waiting to go to the drs office, and am crying for my mom to make me feel better because at that point I was in a lot of pain, in my head, in my ear, and had grossed myself out with the mucous coming out of my body. I go to my appt and after an hour of waiting finally see the doc. Where she progresses to look at me, get a second doctor's opinion on what medication to put me on - they put me on the strong stuff and send me home with some wonderful cough syrup and antibiotics. So I got home and put myself to bed where I proceeded to sleep from noon on Friday until about 2 Saturday afternoon. I may have been awake an hour or two here or there, but that was about it. And Saturday afternoon I still took it easy, just laying in bed watching movies.... but I was getting sick of television at this point too.. Okay - so I was sick and miserable and whiny and mucous-ey, and gross... what does this have to do with Jesus in the Eucharist...

It all started back in February. I was on a retreat and we had adoration that afternoon, and I just had this increased desire for Jesus in the Eucharist. So for lent this year my prayer 'add' was to go to mass or adoration everyday. Well since then, I've continued this practice, not necessarily everyday intentionally, but I tend to make a point to go to daily mass if it fits with my schedule. For the time I was at CYSC and Steubenville I went to mass everyday for 8 of the 9 days I was gone, and was able to adore Jesus in the Eucharist via Eucharistic Adoration at least 4 times. So coming back from my adventures I continued going to daily mass where I could and adoration and sometimes doing both because I have the time right now so I might as well take advantage of the time I have to grow in the grace of Christ. Well, from Thursday through Saturday I wasn't able to go to mass or adoration, or even spend time praying in the way I normally do - reading and reflecting on scripture, but was just stuck offering up my suffering for others when I was awake enough to do so.. yeah... I was pretty pathetic.. I clearly don't handle being sick well... but an ear infection and sinus infection consecutively makes for a lot of head pain..


Anyway, I was so excited to go to mass today! I was finally able to leave the house. I got dressed in clothes that weren't jammies... I smelled good, I looked good, I was feeling good - but best of all I finally got to seek Jesus in the Eucharist..

My friends, Jesus is everything. He is all we need. He is our source, our summit, our strength, our courage, our energy, our healer, our redeemer, our friend, our rock. He wants us. He seeks in each moment, and we should seek to receive him. Here a few quotes I found from saints on seeking the Eucharist, that really encompass all I wanted to get across in this post.

Happy is the soul that knows how to find Jesus in the Eucharist, and in the Eucharist all things! St. Peter Julian Eymard

I urge you with all the strength of my soul to approach the Eucharistic Table as often as possible. Pierre Giorgio Frassati

It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than without holy mass Padre Pio

There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious he would have given it to us. St. John Marie Vianney

If we only knew how God regards this sacrifice, we would risk our lives to be present at a single mass. Padre Pio

Jesus is everything we need, and he comes to us in the form of bread, to nourish our souls. May we seek him with all we have, may we risk our lives to seek him in his truest form.