St. Peter Julian Eymard, 1811-1868, is known as the Apostle of the Eucharist. His zeal and love for our Eucharistic Lord led him to proclaim that “The Eucharist is everything; we need nothing more.” His one burning desire was to “bring everybody to love Our Lord, and to preach only Christ, and Christ in the Eucharist”. To this end, he founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Its rule of life states that its mission is "to respond to the hungers of the human family with the riches of God's love manifested in the Eucharist.""It is through love and love for the Blessed Sacrament that our Lord has attracted me," St. Peter Julian wrote a few years before his death. "This is my grace; he has given me a mission of love, of love for the Blessed Sacrament… I have the mission for your admirable and adorable sacrament all over the world."
St. Peter Julian understood well the absolute centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the Church, explaining that “The Eucharist is the life of the people. The Eucharist gives them a center of life. All can come together without the barriers of race or language in order to celebrate the feast days of the Church. It gives them a law of life, that of charity, of which it is the source; thus it forges between them a common bond, a Christian kinship.” Doesn't this sound like something right out of the documents of Vatican II?
More can be read about St. Peter Julian on the Web here, here, here and here. The Eymard Library contains excerpts from nine of his books on the Eucharist. These books are real gems! I purchased mine back in the 80s and often pick them up, especially the one entitled Holy Communion. Most places sell these books as a set for $65-$72, but it appears that they can be purchased individually here.
I am so grateful to St. Peter Julian Eymard for increasing my love and appreciation for the Eucharist. Some of my favorite passages from his books follow:
If we reflected on the love of Jesus Christ for us in the Blessed Sacrament, our whole life would be but one contninuous act of love and gratitude.
The absolute remedy, the ever new and ever effective remedy which sadness cannot withstand, is Communion. Our Lord has made Himself the Eucharist and enters into us to give direct combat to our sadness. And I state as a principle that no soul that truly desires and hungers to receive Jesus will remain sorrowful in Communion.Jesus is sufficient for me; I am faithful to Him; His love is my whole life.
All our works must converge toward Communion as toward their end and flow from it as from their source.
What a joy, that you can receive Holy Communion often! It's our life and support in this life.
Live on the divine Eucharist, like the Hebrews did on the Manna. Your soul can be entirely dedicated to the divine Eucharist and very holy in the midst of your work and contacts with the world.
Be the apostle of the divine Eucharist, like a flame which enlightens and warms, like the Angel of his heart who will go to proclaim him to those who don’t know him and will encourage those who love him and are suffering.
O Mary, teach us the life of adoration. Teach us to see, as you did, every mystery and every grace in the Eucharist, to relive the gospel story of Jesus. Amen.
