Transcript of Abbot Clement’s talk on Monday, 17 June 2002

        One of the strong points the retreat master made when he quoted for us Mark’s gospel after the walking on the waters that the response was that they didn’t understand the incident of the bread, on the contrary, their hearts were hardened. And of course he’s referring to the fact that this disposition blocked them from really understanding that Jesus was in their midst as "I am." And it’s also interesting that if you look at the church in the last century, the turn of the century, the Lord has raised up two people that stressed the Paschal mystery rather strongly. The first is St. Faustina Kowalska with the Divine Mercy. And there the Lord had her paint a picture with the rays coming out of Jesus’ heart, he’s dressed in the priestly garment with a cincture, his had is raised in blessing and his other hand is over his heart and these rays are flowing out and they are the red representing the blood that is our life and the pale or the white light representing our righteousness, that is Jesus won salvation for us and in his blood we have his life. And of course where do we meet the risen Lord is precisely in the Eucharist. And if you know anything about the corresponding proclamation of Divine Mercy even in the life of Faustina, tremendous amount of graces have come through her to the places that she was and the people she encountered and then of course the history of it in terms of the people that began to embrace the devotion and so on.

    But the other one is from Conchita de Armida the woman, the mystic from Mexico whose now a venerable and the Lord revealed to her apostolic cross. It is the resurrected heart of Jesus, palpitating, alive, and surrounded with light. And He carries the wounds in his heart just like he carries the wounds in His hands in the resurrection. And the implication or the meaning the significance of this vision is also that when we come to the resurrected Jesus we receive graces of mercy, divine union, transformation and communication of the treasures of the victory of the resurrection. So the Lord has been working out the redemption not simply by bringing Jesus through the passion, death and resurrection but the continuation of that mystery is especially found in the Eucharist. And remember that from the beginning it was obviously not an easy thing to embrace as it is today. There are a lot of Christians who don’t believe what the Catholic church teaches, there are Catholics who don’t believe what the Catholic church teaches about the power and presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. And so we ask ourselves do we really appreciate who we have with us in the tabernacle, the same Jesus that walked across the waters, "I am." And how do we come to the Eucharist to receive the treasures that Jesus won for us?