The Saints and the Eucharist

What the saints and popes tell us about the gift of the Eucharist.

Pope Francis: "We don't go to Mass to give something to God, but to receive from him that which we truly need.”

Pope Francis – “We Christians need to take part in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his presence alive in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment and, in this way, be his credible witnesses.”

Pope Benedict XV – “The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer!”

St. Anselm: “A single Mass offered for oneself during life may be worth more than a thousand celebrated for the same intention after death.”

St. Augustine – “The angels surround and help the priest when he is celebrating Mass.”

St. Augustine – “He who devoutly hears holy Mass will receive a great vigor to enable him to resist mortal sin, and there shall be pardoned to him all venial sins, which he may have committed up to that hour.”

St. Gregory – “It is most true that he who attends holy Mass shall be freed from many evils and from many dangers, both seen and unseen.”

St. John Paul II: “The Eucharist is the full realization of the worship which humanity owes God, and it cannot be compared to any other religious experience.”

St. John Paul II: “Time given to Christ is never time lost, but is rather time gained, so that our relationships and indeed our whole life may become more profoundly human.”

St. John Paul II: “From the Eucharist comes strength to live the Christian life and zeal to share that life with others.”

St. John Paul II: “The Eucharist is the sacrament of unity with God.”

St. John Vianney: “If we really understood the Mass, we would die of joy.”

St. John Vianney - "There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us."

St. John Vianney: “When we receive Holy Communion, we experience something extraordinary – a joy, a fragrance, a well-being that thrills the whole body and causes it to exalt.”

St. Maximilian Kolbe: "If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: holy Communion."

St. Padre Pio: "It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass."

St. Padre Pio - "If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice, we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass

St. Padre Pio: “If men only appreciated the value of a holy Mass, they would need traffic officers at church doors every day to keep the crowds in order.”

St. Peter Julian Eymard: “The Mass is the holiest act of religion. You cannot do anything to glorify God more, nor profit your soul more, than by devoutly assisting at it, and assisting as often as possible.”  

St. Teresa of Avila: “If you took all of the good works done by all of the humans who have ever lived in all of history and stacked them all up and multiplied them by a million, they wouldn’t equal the merit, the virtue and the worth of one Mass. The Eucharistic sacrifice is Christ’s infinite merit, infinite value.

St. Teresa of Calcutta: “Our lives must be woven around the Eucharist.”

St. Therese of Lisieux: “Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you – for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart.”

St. Thomas Aquinas: “As baptism is the sacrament of our Lord’s Passion, without which there is no salvation, so also is the Eucharist.”

St. Thomas Aquinas: “The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross.”