Devotion for today: the wound of ingratitude

As we come to the Third Sorrowful Mystery, we reflect on ingratitude to the Lord toward His gift of the Eucharist.

The Third Sorrowful Mystery: The Crowning of Thorns

“There was in Him no stately bearing to make us look at Him, nor appearance that would attract us to Him…spurned, and we held Him in no esteem.” (Is 53:2)

We meditate on the crown of thorns not only around the head of Jesus, but also around His Sacred Heart, for it is there that He suffers more now than He did during His entire Passion. The thorns around His Heart symbolize the pain He endures due to the ingratitude of the world toward His love in the Eucharist: “Behold this Heart which has loved so much, and yet which is so little loved in return.”

“Behold this man!”

Behold all the locked and empty churches where He dwells! Again in the Holy Eucharist, as before Pilate and in His Passion, Jesus, the sacrificial lamb, is not held in esteem, because there is in Him no majestic or stately bearing that would make men want to look at Him: “Nor appearance that would attract men to Him, one of those from whom men hide their faces.” Yet when we look upon the Blessed Sacrament we behold in faith the very beauty of Paradise, the most exciting reality in our life, for contained in the Holy Eucharist is Jesus’ personal love for you, which is all the love of heaven and earth combined.

The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is infinitely appreciative of the love you have for Him in the Blessed Sacrament. This is why every holy hour you make changes the thorns in His Heart into many flowers of indescribable consolation. With Mary we offer to Him any suffering in our own life caused by the feeling of not being appreciated, in order that all humanity may come to truly appreciate Jesus in this most Blessed Sacrament.

Blessed Sacrament Prayer:

Jesus, awakened to Your great love for us, we offer You the perfect gratitude of Mary in reparation for the indifference and ingratitude of the world toward your love in the Holy Eucharist.

This selection is taken from Come to Me in the Blessed Sacrament, Fr. Vincent Martin Lucia, Apostolate for Perpetual Adoration, P.O. Box 46502, Mt. Clemens, Michigan 48046.