October 1. Oh! how I envy the happy chalice
Where I adore the divine Blood ...
But at the Holy Sacrifice
I can take it in each morning.
To Jesus my soul is dearer
Than precious vessels of gold.
The Altar is a new Calvary
Where his Blood still flows for me …. St. Therese of Lisieux
October 2. Now consider whether the bread of angels be more excellent or the Flesh of Christ, which is indeed the body of life. That manna came from heaven, this is above the heavens; that was of heaven, this is of the Lord of the heavens; that was liable to corruption, if kept a second day, this is far from all corruption, for whosoever shall taste it wholly shall not be able to feel corruption. For them water flowed from the rock, for you Blood flowed from Christ; water satisfied them for a time, the Blood satiates you for eternity. St. Ambrose of Milan
October 3. It is through His Humanity that Christ infuses divine life into us at the Holy Table. It is in eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood, in uniting ourselves to His Humanity, that we draw at the very wellspring of everlasting life. Bl. Columba Marmion
October 4. "In this world I cannot see the Most High Son of God with my own eyes, except for His Most Holy Body and Blood.” St. Francis of Assisi
October 5. O merciful Jesus, how longingly You hurried to the Upper Room to consecrate the
Host that I am to receive in my life. Jesus, You desired to dwell in my heart. Your living Blood unites with mine. Who can understand this close union? St. Faustina Kowalska
October 6. I believe in the sacraments that the Church believes and holds in reverence, and especially that what has been consecrated on the altar is the true Flesh and the true Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we receive for the forgiveness of our sins and in the hope of eternal salvation. St. Bruno
October 7. I reflected on the greatness of the Blessed Virgin as Mother of the Son of God who desired to honor her to such a degree that we may say that she participated in some way in all the mysteries of His life and that she contributed to His humanity by her virginal blood and milk. Considering her in this light, I congratulated Mary on her excellent dignity which unites her to her Son in the perpetual sacrifice of the Cross, reenacted and offered on our altars. St. Louise de Marillac
October 8. If you, O human, say to yourself in your vacillating heart, “How did the oblation on the altar become the body and blood of God's Son?” I will answer you: Why, O human, do you ask this, and for what purpose do you inquire about it? Do I require you to know it? Why do you peer into My secrets about the body and blood of My Son? You should not seek out these things, but only keep them diligently and accept them in fear and veneration. Do not pause at this mystery any longer, for you must not tempt Me so rashly. What are these things to you? Only seek after Me by sure faith. For when I look into all your faith, I do not ask you to know what is the nature of the body and blood of My Son, or how this mystery is consecrated on the altar. St. Hildegard of Bingen
October 9. To me nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend Masses forever and not be tired. It is not a mere form of words, it is a great action, the greatest action that can be on earth. It is, not the invocation merely, but, if I dare use the word, the evocation of the Eternal. He becomes present on the altar in flesh and blood, before whom angels bow and evils tremble. St. John Henry Newman
October 10. It was the Pasch of Christ, his bloody death, which saved the world from its sins and fed it with food of everlasting life, god-life. On the eve of the earth’s pasch, the saviour made of this pasch a complete mystery; he anticipated his death in the mystical rite, and made food of his sacrificed body, gave his blood as the foundation of a covenant. Here an historic event was celebrated but one which had its end beyond time, in God, in the passage from this aion to the world to come. Odo Casel
October 11. The Blood of the new and eternal covenant especially deserves the worship of latria when it is elevated during the sacrifice of the Mass. But such worship achieves its normal fulfillment in sacramental communion with the same Blood, indissolubly united with Christ’s eucharistic Body. Pope St. John XXIII
October 12. The life-giving Word of God, uniting himself to his own Flesh, makes it life-giving as well. It was thus fitting that he should unite himself in a certain way to our bodies by his holy Flesh and by his precious Blood which we receive as a living benediction in the bread and wine. St. Thomas Aquinas
October 13. You yourselves offer what I offer, eat what I give, do what I do. Suffer for me, as I suffer for you. Give your body and your blood one for another, give your lives one for another, as I give you my body and my blood, and I give my life for you. Baldwin of Forde
October 14. From the [Eucharist] the Church draws and has all her strength, all her glory, her every supernatural endowment and adornment, every good thing that is here; wherefore she makes it the chiefest of all her cares to prepare the hearts of the faithful for an intimate union with Christ through the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, and to draw them thereto. Pope Leo XIII
October 15. The Son of God receives you! God the Incarnate Word invites you! It is Christ, the permanent fullness of the wisdom of the Heavenly Father has built a house that is a temple not
made by human hands and distributes his own body as bread and gives his own blood as wine. Christ urges us: Come! Eat my bread! Come! Drink the wine I have prepared! I have prepared myself to be your food and drink. Do you long for me? I am life itself become your flesh. I am the Word and Image of the Father, sharing my body and blood to save you. Taste and see that I, your Lord, am truly good! You have experienced this. Do this now in memory of me and my love for you. St. Theophilus of Alexandria
October 16. I desire that all my prayers, Communions, and good works may contribute to the conversion of poor sinners, and for that end, I offer to God my life with the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. St. Gerard Magellan
October 17. I desire the bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became afterwards of the seed of David and Abraham; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life. St. Ignatius of Antioch
October 18. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” St. Luke the Evangelist.
October 19. A severer and a fiercer fight is now threatening, for which the soldiers of Christ ought to prepare themselves with uncorrupted faith and robust courage, considering that they drink the cup of Christ’s blood daily, for the reason that they themselves also may be able to shed their blood for Christ. St. Cyprian of Carthage
October 20. Feed yourself on Jesus. Drink his Precious Blood. Quench your thirst from the chalice of Jesus. Yet, the more you drink, the more you will thirst. St. Paul of the Cross
October 21. What a great thing it is that the Blood of Jesus is even our drink in the Eucharist and how, finally, through the merits of the Blood of Jesus. Christ we shall arrive in Paradise. St. Gaspar del Bufalo
October 22. By consuming the Body and Blood of Christ, man bears within himself, already on this earth, the seed of eternal life, for the Eucharist is the sacrament of life in God. Pope St. John Paul II
October 23. As in the chalice we have grape wine at first, likewise your body contains man's
blood first. However, that wine is soon transformed into the most pure and holy Blood of Jesus Christ. Thereafter, this blood is ready to flow through your veins into your heart, and without losing your own individuality, you are transformed into the body and blood of God become Man at the most solemn moment of Communion when you join Jesus and Jesus joins you in your heart. St. Luigi Guanella
October 24. Lord, by the words of consecration the substance of the bread and wine is converted into the substance of your Body and Blood. All powerful Lord, say over me the word which will change me into You. St. Anthony Mary Claret
October 25. It is appropriate that we should receive the body of Christ in the form of bread, because, as there are many grains of wheat in the flour from which bread is made by mixing it with water and baking it with fire, so also we know that many members make up the one body of Christ which is brought to maturity by the fire of the Holy Spirit… Similarly, the wine of Christ’s blood, drawn from the many grapes of the vineyard that he had planted, is extracted in the wine-press of the cross. When men receive it with believing hearts, like capacious wineskins, it ferments within them by its own power. St. Gaudentius of Brescia
October 26. You have set a rich and abundant table for me, beyond anything imaginable, which I have only to approach in order to be fed. You not only welcome me, but You Yourself become my food and drink when You give Yourself wholly to me, wholly in Your divinity, wholly in Your humanity. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene
October 27. What feeds and nourishes us in the Eucharist is properly the divine energy of the Logos inhabiting Christ’s flesh. But if, in order to give us life, the Logos unites His body to us in so astounding a fashion, we must conclude that He unites His divinity to our souls in a way that resembles the union of His flesh and blood with our bodies. Our partaking of the God-man’s human flesh and blood is the real sacrament, that is, the sign and instrument signifying our reception of the flesh and blood of His divinity, if I may so express myself. Matthias Scheeben
October 28. Christ can die now no more; but His death is truly represented on the altar: it is the same Body, bearing on it its five precious Wounds; it is the same Blood, which redeemed us. If it were possible for Him to die again, the power of the mysterious words, which produce the presence of His Blood in the chalice, would be the sword of His immolation. Let, then, the Christian approach with confidence; on the holy altar, he will find his Saviour dying for him, and offering Himself as the great High Priest. Yes, He is there, with the same love He had for us on Calvary ; He is there making intercession for all people, but, in a special manner, for those who are present. Prosper Gueranger
October 29. We lift up our eyes to You, Lord, who are present among us in flesh and blood, body and soul, in divinity and humanity. We worship You, we bless You, we give You thanks. Present among us, You proclaim to us Your death: the night of the world, in which You were betrayed by us and by our sins; the transition of the world through death into the silent mystery of God. Karl Rahner
October 30. It seems to me that in a sense the true substance to be consecrated each day is the world’s development during that day - the bread symbolizing appropriately what creation succeeds in producing, the wine (blood) what creation causes to be lost in exhaustion and suffering in the course of its effort. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
October 31. For the Saint the surrender to God is a tremendous fling of the heart, comparable to a leap into the fire of eternal Love, to burn with its heat, to take the radiance of its light, to dance in the dancing of its flames. For us it is a more secret thing, but none the less miraculous for that. It means that we begin to be able to enjoy life, and gradually gain in strength of spirit until we can enjoy everything. It is as secret and as real a thing as the change of the bread and wine on the altar to the Body and Blood of Christ; no one sees any change, no one sees anything happening at all, but it does, and what happens is a work of God, a work of God which is incomparable and happens over and over again, all over the world, every day. Caryll Houselander