“O Church, pilgrim and suffering, of which I am the Mother, you must understand that the center of your life, the fount of your grace, the source of your light, the beginning of your apostolic action is found only here in the tabernacle where Jesus is truly kept…The more your life revolves wholly and entirely at the foot of the tabernacle, in intimate union with Jesus in the Eucharist, the more you will increase in holiness. (#360 c, d, B).
This is a quote from Fr. Gobbi’s book on what Our Lady spoke to him for the Church. I read this on a card given to me by Lilla Marie, a woman that is now apart of who am I not merely someone I met or someone that I know. In fact, I know her as an experience, which is internal rather than external. I met the love of God in that place. I learned something about God there and so desire to share it with anyone who is seeking their own identity or seeking to “know” God and His calling on their own lives. I think for me, this is going to transform how God will evangelize in and through me. Here is what I believe the Holy Spirit showed me.
The source of light, the font of grace to be center of our lives is the tabernacle that is not an external thing (although certainly we know Jesus is there) but in a mystical tabernacle within our hearts. Mary is the mystical declaration of this truth as first tabernacle. She embodied the incarnation of God, Jesus Christ within the tabernacle of her womb and she brought Jesus within this tabernacle of her heart to the world when she visited Elizabeth. In this demonstration she revealed what we are to do when Christ “lives” within us. We are to bring Him to others and their birthplace within them will “leap” for joy when they receive Him through us.
Intercourse of the heart is a 2-fold mystery. When we spend time with Jesus in the flesh a mystical infusion, penetration and intercourse with our hearts takes place and his “seed” is ejaculated there onto (hopefully) a receptive and fertile ground within us bringing about supernatural life.
It renews and refreshes us and it restores us, especially when we receive Him in the flesh because this is not just an intercourse of the heart (Holy Communion) but it is a unification of the body, soul and spirit within us receiving this Holy Seed, His Word and it is made flesh within us. We enflesh it when we live out the fruit that begins to grow within the tabernacle of our person. We are “possessed” means an enfleshment of this spiritual reality. The body, soul and spirit is 3 in 1 or Trinitarian view of our personhood and He comes to us in a profound way in all three of these parts of our personhood.
God the Father gave Himself as a full, free, faithful and fruitful gift to the son and the Son openly received this gift and gave Himself to the father in this same way and the love between them IS the Holy Spirit.
The more your life revolves wholly, meaning is surrendering your all and everything (I surrender all) in its entirety at the foot of the tabernacle within you, this submission allows Him to possess us and conforms our will more perfectly to His. Through this possession of our being, our tabernacle of our personhood then is possessed by the Holy Spirit and made manifest in intimate union (intercourse of the heart) with Jesus in the Eucharist.
When we are in His presence (Adoration) or receive Him in Holy Communion, a mystical restoration takes place through an intercourse of our person with God in His Three Persons, not just 1 of the three persons. This brings new meaning to “you are what you eat”.
We need to be recharged, to receive and be filled to overflowing so that we can be filled so as to spill out to those who are desperate for their thirsts to be quenched. It seems that intercourse of the heart with God is a profound way to do this and the purer the form of Him we receive the more capable we are to enflesh Him in and through our own lives, families, communities and friendships. The more we do this the more we will increase in holiness.
I desire to be filled. I desire to be capable of evangelizing in the way that Heidi Baker, founder of Iris Ministries declared in the foreword of Michelle Perry’s book LOVE HAS A FACE. She said “I have seen visions of a radical army of laid down lovers- a whole generation of those who are so full of passion and intimacy that they run into the darkness without fear to bring in the lost bride.” What I have to say to that is this. COME HOLY SPIRIT COME.
For more on this go to “Missionaries of Our Mother of The Eucharist. The website is linked HERE.
This is beautiful Christina. The timing is also gloriously inspiring for me because just this morning I was in chapel before the tabernacle praying. The card that you mention in your blog above (the one you received from Lila) fell out of my journal. I had not read the words on the back since the first time she gave it to me in June. I read the words again this morning and they penetrated my heart and I began to feel the Holy Spirit swell up in me. I found myself praying deeper and experiencing the communal love or as Lila expresses it the “intercourse of our hearts”. It was beautiful and then I come home to read your blog…Thank you Jesus! I think he wanted to make sure I didn’t miss what was going on. As the Holy Spirit is speaking to me I noticed one of the daily payer apps on my smart phone had a new prayer for me to read. It was a prayer written by Mother Teresa. It seems that she is popping up everywhere I turn lately so I’m paying attention. Here is her beautiful prayer. I think it ties in somehow and I pray this for all of us too. “Dear Jesus, Help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go, flood our souls with your Spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us but only Jesus. Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be your shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching not by words, but by our example by the catching force the sympathetic influence of what we do the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
You don’t know how much I needed that prayer. I need to be reminded that I am only His and I can just commune with Him in my heart and when I am with others I can just let Him shine through and then I don’t have to worry about being rejected or hurt because I am safely reposed by His heart. If I live that beautiful prayer, which I am not only going to be writing and rewriting and possibly memorizing, but Iam going to share it with as many people as possible. It gives me hope and courage today, thank you. Check out Brene Brown’s two TED videos on youtube one on vulnerability and the other on shame. I ordered her book today. It’s entitled “The Gifts of Imperfection” I also ordered “Daring Greatly”. It seems to be all about what God is telling me to share with Embracing Your Greatness…thank you so much.
Spread the word that I am now doing online zoom life coaching/counseling/prayer ministry sessions. Just email me at EmbracingYourGreatness@gmail.com