St. Francis of Assisi used to go before the Lord in the tabernacle. Francis would communicate all his labors and undertakings to Jesus. We have so many people that when they think of Francis think of animals and gentle love. Well, yes — but where did Francis spend his available time? Before Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament.
St. Francis Xavier spent his overburdened days laboring for souls. But he spent his nights in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
The list goes on and on. St. Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the late great John Paul II. The Eucharist is our Source and Summit of our worship and our Church.
We are so grateful to our guest, popular motivational speaker Jesse Romero. We contacted Jesse and he gave us permission to make excerpts from his wonderful talk entitled LIFE-CHANGING STORIES OF THE EUCHARIST. We only extracted a few segments. His talk is much longer than what we share in this podcast; the talk is one found on the Lighthouse Catholic Media CDs. Along with many other wonderful Catholic speakers, you can order CDs by going to www.lighthousecatholicmedia.org . In fact, Lighthouse offers a wonderful program for providing informative and inspirational CDs for your parish. This can also be a fund-raising program in additional to a great motivational program for your parish. Go to the Lighthouse site for more information.
Jesse has much to share. A retired law enforcement officer, he’s now a great lay evangelist with lots and lots of experience sharing the Gospel, his story and more. You can listen to some of his talks and more by going to his website:
http://www.jesseromero.com/ Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesse. Thank you Lighthouse Media.
Books & Resources
This show we mentioned several books. We admit that there are hundreds of beautiful and persuasive books about the Eucharist. Among ones that I have used and still refer to are these:
The Lamb’s Supper – The Mass as Heaven on Earth by Scott Hahn
No Wonder They Call It the Real Presence — David Pearson
The Mystery and Meaning of the Mass — Fr. Joseph M Champlin
Catholics and the Eucharist — A Scriptural Introduction by Stephen B. Clark
The Eucharist — Our Sanctification by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa
The Hidden Manna — A Theology of the Eucharist by Fr. James T. O’Connor
The Breaking of the Bread by Fr. Joseph M. Champlin
Instruction on the Eucharist — Redemptionis Sacramentum
With Burning Hearts — A Meditation on the Eucharistic Life by Henri J. M. Nouwen
Our closing song is Here and Now by Nancy Krebs, a member of the Catholic Association of Musicians and sent to us by Nancy. Thanks so much. You can find more about Nancy and her music by going to http://www.nancykrebs.com