What is consoling Christ? It’s a form of adoration prayer where join with Jesus in deep grief over unrepentant sinners and those who don’t love Him.
The Lord comforts the faithful when we abandon ourselves to His will. The following is a contemplation on what it means to quietly console Christ in the Holy Eucharist and willingly enter into His passion with Him in total abandonment and trust.
"Our Father, Who art in heaven Hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen."
'Here I Am' - Consoling Christ
Today’s readings prompted a stirring in my heart and it moved me to ‘write down’ what my grieving heart was feeling in this meditation: “Here I am, I come to do Your will, Lord.” I want to talk about what it means for a soul to spend time consoling Christ.
I pray that what I am about to say will be pleasing to You, Lord Jesus Christ. May You stop me from saying anything against Your Holy Will. Please, God, give me the grace to write. Bless me, Father, and send me the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth and life.
I want to begin by saying that I in no way find myself worthy to write on such a subject. But my heart is pricked in a nagging way to talk about consoling Christ. I have to put this in writing in my most loving, obedient way in spite of my inadequacies. Please, Lord, guide my thoughts and my words, and the movement of my heart so that only what You will makes its way to the page. May Your most Holy and affable will be done. May these words stir the hearts of those who stumble upon them in only the way that You, in Your Divine Mercy, desire.
Consoling Christ in a Life of Prayer
I want to begin by explaining my daily routines. They revolve around prayer, but not in a structured and methodical way. I pray throughout the day as I’m prompted. I have specific routines that I’ve grown into and added over the years. I’ve heard others talk about this as ‘living in the spirit’ but that seems too fancy for me. There are times I do things in obedience to the Holy Spirit and I am completely unaware of His presence until later it is discovered that by my obedience the Lord’s will was done to aid another soul.
The devotions and prayers I pray set the rhythm of my day in a way that brings me peace and instructs my life. It has become my medicine over the last year in particular. We are all called to console Christ. If you have stumbled across this page perhaps you were led here as a prompt from the Lord.
My deep longing to spend time consoling Christ and do His will grew over a period of personal suffering that only the Lord and I share. He consoled me. Through my long period of suffering silence He led me to understand that love is born from suffering. That saints are those who enjoin their suffering with the Lord and use it to intercede for lost souls.
This day began like all the others. I woke to meditate on the daily readings, which focused on obedience to the will of God through hearing His voice and acting upon it. Both Samuel and David put their trust in the Lord. Samuel was gifted the grace of hearing the Lord’s voice, such a rare and beautiful gift. He answered the call in obedience and his obedience caused others to come to know he was a true prophet of God and not an imposture.
Samuel Answered the Call
The daily reading for this day comes from the Book of Samuel, chapter 3.
The boy, Samuel, was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli; it was rare for the Lord to speak in those days; visions were uncommon. One day it happened that Eli was lying down in his room. His eyes were beginning to grow dim; he could no longer see. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying in the sanctuary of the Lord where the ark of God was, when the Lord called, "Samuel! Samuel!" He answered, "Here I am." Then he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, since you called me." Eli said, "I did not call. Go back and lie down." So he went and lay down. Once again the Lord called, "Samuel! Samuel!" Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, since you called me." He replied, "I did not call you, my son; go back and lie down." Samuel had as yet no knowledge of the Lord and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. Once again the Lord called, the third time. He got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, since you called me." Eli then understood that it was the Lord who was calling the boy, and he said to Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if someone calls say, 'Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The Lord then came and stood by, calling as He had done before, "Samuel! Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." Samuel grew up and the Lord was with him and let no word of his fall to the ground. All Israel from Dan to Beersheba came to know that Samuel was accredited as a prophet of the Lord.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do Your will
The daily Psalm for this day comes from chapter 39.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will. I waited, I waited for the Lord and he stooped down to me; he heard my cry. Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord and has not gone over to the rebels who follow false gods. You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings, but an open ear. You do not ask for holocaust and victim. Instead, here am I. In the scroll of the book it stands written that I should do your will. My God, I delight in your law in the depth of my heart. Your justice I have proclaimed in the great assembly. My lips I have not sealed; you know it, O Lord.
I followed my morning readings with a rosary, and during this time loved ones became prominent in my heart. I lifted them up to the Lord.
Consoling Christ in the Holy Eucharist
As the day progressed I continued to get a nagging pull from the Lord to visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament. I had many tasks I was required to fulfill but when they were completed, I went.
I came in to a bustling group of adorers, including a family that had brought a small child no more than 2. The child was loud and inquisitive and spoke repeatedly while pointing to Jesus in the Host. Immediately my heart felt the love that Christ must have for this small child. “Suffer the little children to come unto me…”. The mother was kneeling and even walking on her knees. I was struck with a shame at the sight of her humility as I sat in my pew. I immediately knelt. I began consoling Christ.
The family soon left, and one by one each adorer. I stayed long. He called me into His presence and I was not aware of the reason yet. He was about to invite me into His cenacle. I was about to begin consoling Christ and my heart was opening to grace.
Recent Dark Memory Surfaces
My mind began to go to a recent dark memory, one that put my soul in jeopardy.
I looked at Him in awe as I recollected. He knows my innermost being, and my recent need for His grace, which He so generously gave through a priest in a far away place. This priest knew me not but had preached a homily only to me.
I gazed at Jesus with love. I felt His presence in this moment of recalling the miracle. Jesus does these things when we kneel before Him and adore Him in the Holy Eucharist. He’s most beautiful. Jesus you are most deserving of our love. You alone are all we need. It profits me nothing to cling to anything else in this life but what Your Divine Will grants. Thank you Jesus for coming to me in my hour of need through the words of a priest who knew me not and never anticipated my arrival. You knew I was coming. You were preparing him for my arrival, because You love me with a deep and everlasting love, me a wretched creature with little of value to offer you back.
How Jesus Consoled Me
Sometimes we are shaken to our core by events unforeseen. This is what happened to me the morning that I met that fine foreign priest, a most holy servant of God tucked away in a small parish in a small town. His words and his Masses had gifted me a grace from God that so overwhelmed my senses that I have found myself weeping in gratitude multiple times.
I learned something on that trip. Not every soul who says, “Lord, Lord” is in relationship with Him. And many who say they are enlightened and gifted with discernment are blinded by sin and pride and truly in their soul, secretly lost and desolate.
That morning in that Mass, on the Feast of the Epiphany, the father spoke a homily about loved ones who attack us for our faith in Christ and wound us with their words. He spoke at length about what one must do in such situations. He explained the spiritual battles raging in unseen fashion all around the soul of the one who abuses the lover of Christ. He told, from the perspective of the Lord, what must be done.
Jesus desires prayer and sacrifice. He desires us to retreat into His loving arms and pray in earnest for the lost soul. He commands we forgive. He gives us the grace to do it if we will it. He has a most grieved heart over the souls that betray Him. And His love for these unrepentant sinners causes a most painful wound in His Sacred Heart. I wept in that Mass.
Consoling Christ for Those Who Don’t Love Him
I understood that not all souls who claim to know Christ truly love Him. And many who think they are saved are in fact quite lost. I abstained from Holy Eucharist because the wounds of the attack were so fresh and raw. I was unable to put the Body and Blood of Our Lord to my lips knowing my heart was not in a place of worship. As I listened to the father speak I was aware most certainly that it was Jesus Christ himself speaking to me and me alone. How could this father whom I had never laid eyes on in my life, how could he speak such truth and so intimately, the events of my morning?
After the Mass I sought the father out. He ministered to me. Offered to hear my confession. I declined because the wound was so deep, I believed I was incapable of forgiving. The father asked me if he could bless me and pray my intentions as I sobbed uncontrollably. I was explaining to him that I was in awe by how He spoke what felt like a direct message from Jesus to my soul. He told me what Jesus desired me to do to heal the part of my soul left wounded for decades.
Consoling Christ Through the Power of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirt was overpowering in that moment. I do not recall all of what I said, but I do remember asking for the grace to forgive, because I was incapable. As the father prayed over me I felt the Holy Spirit move in my heart and through my body. The shock of what had happened just a couple hours prior had disappeared and a strange fulfilling peace replaced it. I thanked him profusely. I was overwhelmed by the grace I received from his blessing and I asked for masses to be said over the one who had deeply hurt me.
Father promised to pray 10 Masses and after the first three an amazing miracle happened to me. I forgot the evil words spoken against me. I know it was by the grace of God because without this gracious gift of mercy I could not forgive. Jesus knew that. He is so wonderful. Why don’t people know what a beautiful wonderful savior He is? Why don’t people abandon themselves to His holy will? He is the great physician. He is the only way for a soul toward perfection. He is all powerful and all-loving, and all merciful.
I soon returned to the Lord in confession and in the Holy Eucharist.
The Love of Jesus in Adoration of the Holy Eucharist
I pulled myself away from my thoughts and gazed at Jesus in the Monstrance. On this day He called me to return to adoration with a pure heart. I was here consoling Christ with my whole heart. I had an urge to pray for the souls in my life that are lost to sin and vice with a renewed hope that the Lord would offer them the same grace that was given to me.
As I sat in adoration my heart turned toward a very special person whom I knew was away from the Lord. I asked the Lord to speak to my heart regarding this soul. He revealed to me a verse, Hebrews 6:6, and showed my heart a passage from In Sinu Jesu:
“love Me for those who do not love Me … adore Me, in reparation for those who have set up false gods… hope in Me alone, in reparation for those who trust in their own strength… praise Me for those who never praise Me… thank Me for those who never thank Me… Live now in this world as one completely dead to it. Remain untouched by its interests and unspotted by its corruption” (page 185).
Called to a Life Consoling Christ
In that moment I was given a grace to understand my calling. I am to console Christ quietly in adoration for souls with praise, gratitude, humility, and faith. I must offer prayers of reparation in His presence. I am to promote the habits of prayer and of belief in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. I am to speak the truth of the Holy Spirit to souls as requested by God, such as with a sword, as was prophesized over me, and to console Him and grieve with Him when His word falls on the ears of an unrepentant sinner.
I understood what it meant to have a life consoling Christ. I must partner with the Lord, and with the saints, especially also with the Mother of God, in my prayers of reparation and penance and my pleadings for mercy. And I must wait for the sinner to come by the grace and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, not my words.
The Lord says we must not rely on our own strength.
Jesus, I surrender it all to you. Give me the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when reparation is needed and I will console Your Sacred Heart with a deep and abiding love. My heart is full of gratitude and I desire to please you above all things.
My life consoling Christ is an abundant life.
“All we do, our prayers, our work, our suffering, is for Jesus.” – Mother Teresa
One Response
This sharing is very powerful and I praise God for leading me to it at this moment. I am right now, spending my “holy hour” praying for our parish associate pastor, and after reading these precious words, I fell blessed to turn away from praying just for him, but for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – for allowing me a glimpse of His power in this moment. My words are rambling I know, but my heart is softened in a way that my praise and worship at time moment has changed to see only Christ and how His love changes me. My hour right now is about praising my God and asking that His love and protection to surround and cover all of us – especially my priest for which I began this holy hour.
I thank God for bringing this sharing I just read into my life. I pray that through God’s strength, I will continue to let go and focus on His word to serve him and all His creation.
Thank you Lord for this day, this hour, this moment in my life. Praise be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen