In the Eucharist, we actually receive the Risen Jesus—an encounter that transforms and miraculously changes us into him. We experience the Love that is his very Person. “For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him” (John 6:55–56). This is a revolutionary promise from the revealed words of Jesus himself!

Remember that you can never be separated from the Being who gave you life. You were created by the Love that gives life to all things. Human love is a way to touch this greater Love. That is its purpose.

– from the book The Divine Spark

Mary as a good mother teaches us to be, like her, capable of making definitive decisions; definitive choices, at this moment in a time controlled by, so to speak, a philosophy of the provisional. It is very difficult to make a lifetime commitment. And she helps us to make those definitive decisions in the full freedom with which she said “yes” to the plan God had for her life (cf. Luke 1:38). Let us ask Mary to help us fix our eyes intently on Jesus, to follow him always, even if this is demanding.

If we have to wait for long for anything, we feel stress rising within—a sure sign that impatience is getting the upper hand. And when we are impatient, we can lose our temper, act rashly, harm ourselves or others, or make a mess of that which we wanted to turn out well.

– from the book: Don’t Panic: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough

Do you have a “dwelling place” of the Blessed Mother where you can pray and reflect? St. John Paul II said that a dwelling place for Mother Mary can be “a special corner in the home or little wayside shrines adorned with an image of the Mother of God, to chapels and churches built in her honor.” Wherever it is, place yourself near Mary’s Immaculate Heart while you are in prayer. Confide to her all of your interests and desires. Ask her to grant her graces to you and bring you closer to her Son Jesus.

In the words of Pope Francis, “The Lord in the Eucharist makes us follow his path, that of service, of sharing, of giving—and what little we have, what little we are, if shared, becomes wealth, because the power of God, which is that of love, descends into our poverty to transform it. Let us ask ourselves…do I let myself be transformed by him? Do I let the Lord who gives himself to me, guide me to come out more and more from my little fence, to get out and be not afraid to give, to share, to love him and others?”