Newsletter #54 – Our Lady of Mount Carmel USA

Dear Friends and Benefactors, 05/26/2020

“This title, ‘Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament’, is perhaps the most meaningful of all.” (Pope Saint Pius X)
Saint Peter Julian Eymard, of France, had a strong devotion to the Holy Eucharist and Our Lady and began his priestly life in the Society of Mary. “But his heart burned with the desire to establish perpetual adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament exposed upon a royal throne and surrounded by a large court of adorers. On February 2, 1851, at the shrine of Fourvière, the most Blessed Virgin had made him understand its necessity. ‘All the mysteries of my Son have a religious order of men to honor them. The Eucharist alone has none . . . .’ After several years of prudent reflection and interior combat, encouraged by Pope Pius IX, he founded the Congregation of the Most Blessed Sacrament at Paris on May 13, 1856” (St. Peter Julian Eymard: Apostle of the Eucharist Novena).
The title of ‘Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament’ (Feast Day – May 13) was first given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by Saint Peter Julian Eymard in May 1868, while speaking to his novices. A few years later he described what her statue should look like: “The Blessed Virgin holds the Infant in her arms; and He holds a chalice in one hand and a Host in the other.” He exhorted them to invoke Mary: “Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, pray for us who have recourse to thee!”
Later, Pope Pius IX enriched the invocation with indulgences. Twice, Pope St. Pius X did the same. On December 30, 1905, he granted a 300 days indulgence to the faithful who pray: “Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, pray for us.” “This title, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, is perhaps the most meaningful of all,” said Pope Saint Pius X.

Who Was Saint Peter Julian Eymard?
Saint Peter Julian Eymard, founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, wrote: “I am not at all worried about our daily bread. It is the King’s duty to feed His soldiers. Our task is to accommodate Him properly, to give Him a tabernacle, an altar, vestments… We will consecrate to Him everything we have—the Eucharistic King truly deserves it.” Who, then, is this Saint?

His Head Against the Tabernacle
As one Benedictine writer had written, one day in 1804, a knife grinder arrived in the little town of La Mure, in the diocese of Grenoble, France. His name was Julian Eymard. Death had wreaked havoc in his family, in which only two children, Antoine and Marie-Anne, had survived. Marie-Anne was 12 when Peter Julian was born on February 4, 1811. Mr. Eymard had the newborn baptized the next day. Peter Julian’s mother didn’t let a day go by without going to kneel a few moments in the church—she took little Peter Julian there in her apron, and offered him to Jesus. As soon as the child could walk, he accompanied his mother to the church, and soon went there all by himself several times a day. Marie-Anne once discovered him there behind the altar, on a stool, his head leaning against the tabernacle. “It is because I listen, and I hear Him better up here,” explained Peter Julian. An extraordinary passion for the Blessed Sacrament took root in his heart. However, he was not without his faults—stubborn, quick-tempered, nosey. But his loyal nature could not live a lie. A studious boy, he also had a liking for manual labor. Since walnut trees were plentiful in the region, Julian Eymard built an oil press, hoping that his son would become a walnut-oil maker.
The much-anticipated day of First Holy Communion arrived when Peter Julian was already 12 years old. “What graces the Lord gave me that day!” he would tearfully write, 30 years later. It was at that time he heard the call to the priesthood. The young man spoke to his father of his wish to enter the seminary, but his father did not understand the honor God was giving him in calling his son. No! His son would follow him in his business. The child was even taken out of school—he knew enough from school to produce and sell oil. His mother kept quiet, prayed, and remained hopeful.
In the Marian sanctuary of Our Lady of Laus, Peter Julian met Father Touche, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate who, seeing the beauty of the young man’s soul, advised him to direct his life towards the priesthood by studying Latin and receiving Communion more often. Filled with joy and hope, Peter Julian returned to the mill and studied Latin grammar in secret. Providence put him in contact with Father Desmoulins, who obtained Mr. Eymard’s permission to take Peter Julian with him to Grenoble to study there for free, in return for some duties. There, the child suddenly learned that his mother had died, and threw himself in tears at the feet of the statue of the Blessed Virgin. “Oh! From this day on, be my only Mother,” he exclaimed. “But more than anything else, this grace: that I might be a priest someday!” The day of the burial, his father, himself overcome, begged him to stay with him. He acquiesced. All hope seemed lost, when an Oblate Father of Mary, passing through, having heard him, said to him, “Would you come to our house in Marseilles?”—”Will my father be willing?”—”Yes, yes, he will.” The father gave a start, got flustered, objected, began to cry, then… agreed. In Marseilles, Peter Julian began to study with such determination that he fell seriously ill. He was taken back to his father’s house, where he got well, but his recovery took a long time.
On March 3, 1828, after having asked his son’s forgiveness for his opposition to his vocation, Mr. Eymard rendered his soul to God. Peter Julian then entered the major seminary in Grenoble. He was required to present his parish priest’s written recommendation, which the priest gave to him sealed. Suspecting something, Marie-Anne, unaware of the imprudence of her action, opened the envelope. The letter described the candidate as “mindless and incapable.” By common consent, they burned the unfair testimony. Confident in the grace of God, Peter Julian left for Grenoble, where, providentially, he met Bishop de Mazenod, the holy founder of the Oblates of Mary. Peter Julian told him everything. “So,” said the bishop, “I am the one who will present you to the superior of the seminary.” The young man could then follow his vocation, and was ordained a priest at the age of 23, on July 20, 1834. He was entrusted with the ministry of vicar, and then of parish priest, in the diocese, but secretly Peter Julian wanted to be a religious.
On August 20, 1839, with his bishop’s permission, despite his sister’s tears and his parishioners’ regrets, he entered the novitiate of the Marists, a congregation founded by Father Colin. He noted in his diary his favorite themes to meditate on: “Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and Heaven.” After his novitiate, he was successively named spiritual director of the high school in Belley (Ain), then Provincial of France and Director of the Third Order of Mary. In 1850, he became superior of the high school in La Seyne-sur-Mer, close to Toulon. In all his work, as a secular priest or as a Marist religious, Father Eymard always encouraged the souls under his care to practice adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The results were remarkable, for children and youth as well as for families. Society as a whole was regenerated by it.

Inestimable Value
God inspired Peter Julian with the idea of founding a congregation of men and women religious devoted to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the propagation of this devotion among the laity. It was at the feet of Our Lady of Fourviére that he conceived the plan for this foundation. This would be the great preoccupation of his life. Pope Pius IX, with whom he succeeded in obtaining an audience, affirmed to him, “Your work comes from God, I am sure of it. The Church needs it.” But what obstacles to overcome! If God had not pushed Father Eymard, he would never have dared embark on an adventure that, in human terms, had no chance of succeeding. His Marist Superior General, after having examined the plan at length, released him from his vows, in order to allow him complete freedom to establish his foundation. Then he changed his mind and went to the Archbishop of Paris. The auxiliary bishop, who was to receive Peter Julian on behalf of the archbishop, had his already prepared response: a categorical “no.”
But Divine Providence saved everything—Father Eymard, in the company of his first disciple, was waiting in the vestibule of the archbishop’s residence, when the Archbishop of Paris himself, Archbishop Sibour, saw them. “Who are you?”—”Two priests from out of town.”—”Can I help you?”—”Your Excellency, we are waiting for the Auxiliary Bishop.”—”But,” replied Archbishop Sibour, “anything the auxiliary bishop does here, the Archbishop can also do!” Father Eymard explained the purpose of his visit. “You are a Marist father?”—”Yes, your Excellency.”—”The auxiliary bishop told me about it.” Believing that he wished to found a contemplative congregation, the archbishop added, “It is purely contemplative… I am not in favor of such things… No! No!”—”But, your Excellency, it is not a purely contemplative congregation. We adore, no doubt, but we also want others to adore. We must attend to the First Communion of adults.” With these words, the Archbishop’s face lit up. “The First Communion of adults!” he exclaimed. “Ah! This is the work I am missing, the work I desire.” The cause was won—the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament received its first approval before it even existed.

A Hasty Gesture
However, the adventure was far from over. Father Eymard had nowhere to house his future community. He had no money, and the first novices, who were suffering from hunger, were withdrawing one after the other. Archbishop Sibour’s death deprived them of valuable protection. His successor, Archbishop Morlot, refused to hear the founder and burned his order’s constitution without reading it, convinced that it was a “secret society.” He later repented of his hasty gesture, heard Father Eymard, and confirmed Archbishop Sibour’s approval. Peter Julian, still in the street, entrusted his plan to Providence, which soon gave him the opportunity to buy two buildings in the rue Faubourg-Saint-Jacques.
The Eucharistic apostolate is carried out at the very foot of the altar. The adorer is also a stand-in—he intends to offer reparation for the offenses committed against the Blessed Sacrament. He adores and loves for the innumerable sinners who do not know, adore and love. But he who loves, seeks to make others love. The religious of the Blessed Sacrament thus work to convert sinners through a Eucharistic apostolate.
At this time, in the old neighborhoods of Paris, most adolescents who were old enough to earn a few pennies were almost entirely ignorant of the religion of their baptism. Many adults were in the same situation, just as in our day. Father Eymard organized catechism courses to prepare these souls to receive Holy Communion. One evening, he received two rag-pickers into the parlor, a man and a woman who had neither faith nor schooling, and who were living in sin. As the days went by, he taught them the catechism, heard their confessions, allowed them to receive their First Communion, and married them. That day, he invited them to dine in the parlor and served them himself, speaking good words to them, which these simple people heard with delight.
To receive Holy Communion, certain dispositions are required. Commenting on the verse of Saint Paul: “But let a man prove himself: so let him eat of that bread, and drink of the chalice” (1 Cor. 11:28), Saint John Chrysostom, with his stirring eloquence, exhorted the faithful: “I too raise my voice, I beseech, beg and implore that no one draw near to this sacred table with a sullied and corrupt conscience. Such an act, in fact, can never be called ‘communion,’ not even were we to touch the Lord’s Body a thousand times over, but ‘condemnation,’ ‘torment’ and ‘increase of punishment’.”

A Brilliant Pearl
On June 3, 1863, Father Eymard’s congregation was definitively approved by Pope Pius IX. Father Eymard continued to receive new vocations for his institute, thanks to his sermons, the fire and enthusiasm of which one can hardly imagine. He himself said that the preacher is a man “who prays loudly… but before that, he has to have prayed in a whisper.” From the pulpit, he transmitted to his listeners his convictions, his love, his holy fire. He was eloquence personified. His words played a great part in awakening in souls love for the Eucharist and developing the pre-eminent devotion, adoration.
Before preaching, Father Eymard would prepare himself before the exposed Blessed Sacrament. The Host was the true source of his preaching. “It is pleasant to spend time with Him,”
Father Eymard affirmed: “To the witness of the word of Jesus Christ, the Church adds that of her example, of her practical faith. These magnificent basilicas are the expression of her faith in the Most Blessed Sacrament. She did not want to build tombs but temples, a heaven on earth where her Savior, her God, finds a throne worthy of Himself. With a jealous attention, the Church has regulated worship of the Eucharist, up to the slightest details. She does not shift onto anyone else the care for honoring her Divine Spouse—it is because everything is of great importance, everything is divine when it concerns Jesus Christ present. She desires that everything most pure in nature, most precious in the world, be consecrated to the royal service of Jesus.” And he advised, “After entering (a church), remain at rest a moment. Silence is the greatest sign of respect, and respect is the first disposition to bring to prayer. Most of our dryness in prayer and our lack of devotion comes from our lack of respect for Our Lord when we walk in, or from our behaving disrespectfully.”

The Decisive Sacrifice
In 1864, setbacks and trials further united Father Eymard to the redeeming Cross, the sole means of salvation of souls. He drew his strength ever more from the Holy Eucharist, which was instituted “in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries.”
In union with Christ’s sacrifice, Father Eymard accepted his election for life as Superior General of the Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament, even though he was hoping to become a simple religious again. At the same time, he saw the demolition of his house in Paris, which had to make way for the opening of a new boulevard. What is more, on June 11, 1867, Father de Cuers, his oldest and truest friend, asked Rome to release him from his vows, in order that he might establish an institute of Eucharistic hermits. Father Eymard was appalled. Nevertheless, he learned through a revelation that this Father would return to his Congregation, but he would not see this return during his lifetime. In his sufferings, gentleness remained his favorite virtue. It was, however, not a virtue he had been born with. A brother in his Congregation offered this testimony: “He was a very energetic man, of an angelic gentleness with a restless nature.” Father Eymard himself would admit that he knew he was very impatient.

To His Heart
On the night of July 21, 1868, Father Eymard, exhausted, very thin, incapable of taking in any food at all, arrived at La Mure to rest, on his doctor’s orders. He celebrated the last Mass of his life in Grenoble, in the chapel devoted to perpetual adoration. Without a word, he got into bed with difficulty. His sister quickly came down to look for the doctor, who diagnosed a cerebral hemorrhage coupled with general exhaustion. Father made his confession through signs. On Saturday, August 1, he received Extreme Unction at one o’clock in the morning. At daybreak, a Father from his Congregation celebrated Mass in his room and gave him Holy Communion. He was presented with the image of Our Lady of La Salette, which he pressed to his heart. At the beginning of the afternoon, his last breath could scarcely be heard. His soul had entered Heaven, into the infinite Goodness of God, forever. He died at age 57 in the house in which he had been born.

Our Lady of The Most Blessed Sacrament
St. Peter Julian Eymard’s writings encourage us to adore Christ with Mary. Here is a sample of his words:
Mary devoted herself exclusively to the Eucharistic Glory of Jesus. She knew that it was the desire of the Eternal Father to make the Eucharist known, loved and served by all men; that need of Jesus’ Heart was to communicate to all men His gifts of grace and glory. She knew, too, that it was the mission of the Holy Ghost to extend and perfect in the hearts of men, the reign of Jesus Christ, and that the Church had been founded only to give Jesus to the world.
All Mary’s desire, then, was to make Him known in His Sacrament. Her intense love for Jesus felt the need of expanding in this way, of consecrating itself — as a kind of relief, as it were — because of her own inability to glorify Him as much as she desired.
Ever since Calvary, all men were her children. She loved them with a Mother’s tenderness and longed for their supreme good as for her own; therefore, she was consumed with the desire to make Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament known to all, to inflame all hearts with His love, to see them enchained to His loving service.
To obtain this favor, Mary passed her time at the foot of the Most Adorable Sacrament, in prayer and penance. There she treated the world’s salvation. In her boundless zeal, she embraced the needs of the faithful everywhere, for all time to come, who would inherit the Holy Eucharist and be Its adorers.
Her prayers converted countless souls, and as every conversion is the fruit of prayer, and since Mary’s prayer could meet no refusal, the Apostles had in this Mother of Mercy their most powerful helper. “Blessed is he for whom Mary prays!”
Devotion to Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament will grow with the worship of the Eucharist. What did the Blessed Virgin do in the Cenacle? She adored. She was the Mother and the Queen of adorers. She was, in a word, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
If we belong to the Son, we belong to the Mother; if we adore the Son, we ought to honor the Mother: therefore, we are obliged, in order to continue in the grace of our vocation and participate fully in it, to give very special honor to the Blessed Virgin under the title of Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Eucharistic adorers share Mary’s life and mission of prayer at the foot of the Most Blessed Sacrament. It is the most beautiful of all missions, and it holds no perils. It is the most holy, for in it all the virtues are practiced. It is, moreover, the most necessary to the Church, which has even more need of prayerful souls than of powerful preachers; of men of penance rather than men of eloquence. Today more than ever have we need of men who, by their self—immolation, disarm the anger of God inflamed by the ever increasing crimes of nations. We must have souls who by their importunity reopen the treasures of grace which the indifference of the multitude has closed. We must have true adorers; that is to say, men of fervor and of sacrifice. When there are many such souls around their Divine Chief, God will be glorified, Jesus will be loved, and society will once more become Christian, conquered for Jesus Christ by the apostolate of Eucharistic prayer.

Prayers
From the “Novena in Honor of Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament,” we find these two prayers, which comprise a useful summation of the theological foundations for Marian-Eucharistic titles in general, but also their application for Eucharistic spirituality:
O Virgin Immaculate, Mother of Jesus and our tender Mother, we invoke thee under the title of Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, because thou art the Mother of the Savior who lives in the Eucharist, and because it was from thee that He took the Flesh and Blood with which He there feeds us! We invoke thee under that title because, again, thou art the sovereign Dispensatrix of all graces and, consequently, of those contained in the august Eucharist, also, because thou didst first fulfill the duties of the Eucharistic life, teaching us by example how to assist properly at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, how to communicate worthily, and how to visit frequently and piously the Most Blessed Sacrament. Pray for us, O Virgin Immaculate, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
O Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the glory of Christians, the joy of the universal Church, and the hope of the world, pray for us. Kindle in all the faithful a lively devotion for the Most Holy Eucharist, so that they may all be made worthy to receive Holy Communion every day. Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, pray for us. Amen.

AVE MARIA!
Father Joseph Poisson

P.S. If you would like to be added to our subscription list, please reply to the general email below with your phone number, contact information, and what major city you are near as well.
(Ourladyofmtcarmelusa@gmail.com)

Consecration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to Immaculate Heart of Mary
http://ourladyofmountcarmelusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Consecration-to-Immaculate-Heart-by-Our-Lady-of-Mt.-Carmel-SSPX-Marian-Corps.pdf

Featured Sermon
Given By His Excellency Bishop Pfeiffer

Posted in Newsletters and tagged Father Joseph Poisson