The most Precious Gift.

 JESUS DESERVES OUR THANKS

 Jn. 6:51-58.

 Satan is most active in Church the moment we have received Holy Communion.  Have you noticed that as soon as you go back to your place after Holy Communion your mind is full of distractions? When you do get down to the serious business of making a fervent thanksgiving your mind is carried away with a 101 thoughts about what you have to do that day. 

 This is where we have to take very strict control of ourselves.  We must take the necessary precaution of keeping our eyes shut to cut out all visual distractions.  That is a very important practical point that has to be observed if we are to make a fervent thanksgiving.  Now the stage is set for a loving conversation with Jesus who longs for you to open up your heart and tell Him how much you love Him. 

 Look upon every Holy Communion as a foretaste of heaven.  What is heaven?  Heaven is nothing else than the possession of God, and that is precisely what you have every time you come to Holy Communion.  Make your heaven begin here on earth.  The times we spend with Jesus after Holy Communion is so short and so make this thanksgiving continue during the day.  Also look upon every thanksgiving as the last one you are going to make on earth, and you will try to make it your best one.

 May I suggest a form of thanksgiving?  As soon as you have received Jesus in Holy Communion say, "Heavenly Father, thank you for giving me your Son.  I love You, Jesus.  Jesus once told a saint that those were the words He loves hearing and so few say them to Me.  Jesus, thank You for all You have done for me, for becoming a man, for the example of Your life and all You have taught us, but particularly at this moment for giving me Yourself in the Holy Eucharist.  Holy Spirit, be my best Friend.  Help me to love the Father, the Son and You with all my heart.

 Mary, my Mother, Jesus was happiest on this earth when He was in your company.  Help me to love and entertain Jesus as you did." Whenever you mention Our Lady's name we have to couple it with that of her husband, Joseph.  He loved Jesus very much and we can ask him to help us.  You can ask the help of your patron saints to help you make fervent Holy Communions as they must have done.  Ask your Guardian Angel to stand guard at the entrance of your mind and keep Satan away from flooding your mind with distractions.

 The greatest compliment we can pay to Jesus is to say the 'Our Father,' the very prayer He put on our lips.  Then recite the 'Glory be to the Father,' because wherever Jesus is there is the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Finally, we can recite the second half of the 'Hail Mary,' remembering the two moments of time we single out, 'now and at the hour of our death.'  We want Mary to be with us right now and at the greatest moment of our life - the moment of our death.  We want her to take our hand and place it in the hand of our Heavenly Father.

 Now we can use the five digits of our left hand to remind us to pray for all we should pray for.

 The thumb is the digit nearest to us.  This reminds us to pray for those nearest and dearest to us, Mum, Dad, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and all grandparents going right back to Adam.  I mention them because we are what we are today because of what they gave us.  Aren't you going to look forward to meeting your great, great, great grandfather and grandmother and say, "I prayed for you?  Thank you for all you gave me?"  The thumb can also remind us to pray for all our friends.  We can whisper their names to Jesus.

 Now we come to the index finger.  This reminds us to pray for those who so often in love have pointed this finger at us as they have directed us on our journey to heaven—priests and nuns, who have influenced our lives, teachers and all those who have helped us through example and their writings.

 The next finger happens to be the highest finger on our hand and this reminds us to pray for those highest in Church and State.  The Holy Father, the Pope - what responsibility he has to face!  Cardinals, bishops, priests and deacons and for an increase in vocations.  Then mention the Royal Family, the Prime Minister and the leaders of the other parties and the rulers of all the other countries.  On this finger I also like to pray for all those people in the entertainment and sporting world who have added happiness in my life.

 Then we come to the ring finger.  This is why I have chosen the left hand.  We can pray for all married couples, especially if our prayers today can avert the breakup of at least one marriage.  This finger too happens to the weakest finger on our hand, and so it can remind us to pray for the helpless - the Holy Souls in purgatory; prisoners all over the world and the starving; doctors and nurses and all those who work for the sick and handicapped.

 Finally, we come to our little finger.  This reminds us not to forget to pray for ourselves.  We can ask God for three things:

1.  An abundance of His Holy Spirit, especially with His gift of wisdom, because God has said, "I will never refuse my Spirit to the one who asks for It."

2. The gift of prayer and perseverance in prayer.  That is another way of saying I always want to be in love with you.

3. The grace of final perseverance, pleading with Jesus to make sure that you get to heaven.

 Briefly we can pray for our enemies; the hardest sinner in the world; the peace that Jesus bequeathed our world and the unity for which He prayed, and the conversion of the Jews, once God's chosen people.

 Now we can thank Jesus for His four gifts, for creating us, for our parents, His first and best gift to us, our Catholic faith and finally our Guardian Angel.

 This five digit form of thanksgiving can help you to cut out distractions.  You will find that there is just no time to get distracted.  With practice it doesn’t take a long time. 

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