Ave Maria Meditations
Consider how fortunate many people would feel if someone were to give them an entire kingdom. Couldn’t we compare such a gift with a single worthy reception of Communion? Yet not for long, for if someone could give us the entire world with all of its wealth and kingdoms, this would still be nothing in relation to a single, worthy reception of Communion. Think now about how infinitely fortunate we are to be able to go often to the table of the Lord. Surely in every Host there is the same Christ who contains the same high value. It can dawn on us how the reception of Communion will enrich us.
We must be ready therefore to give God everything: property and goods, body and soul. We must even be entirely prepared to die. If we are able to approach the table of the Lord with such a willingness and surrender to God, then God will allow His wealth of grace to be imparted to us in the richest measure. So true peace and happiness will enter into our hearts. After every reception of Communion, we should say the following prayer: “My Lord and my God, I accept death whenever, wherever, and however it may encounter me according to Your most holy decree. I accept it willingly with all of its anxieties, pains, and sufferings, and I receive it out of Your fatherly hands.”
Blessed Franz Jaggerstatter: he did accept death rather than be a part of the Nazi Regime in 1943
