Priest Rafael de Mosteyrín offers Exaudi readers this article on the feast of Corpus Christi and the importance of treating Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

The Feast of Corpus Christi is a feast of the Catholic Church intended to celebrate and give thanks for the institution of the Eucharist. It seeks to increase each of our faith in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. In many cities, a procession is held through the streets, in which the Body of Jesus is displayed in a Monstrance for our adoration.

-“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world”  (Jn 6:51-52).

In 1902, Don Manuel González received his first assignment after being ordained a priest. He had to leave Seville for a nearby town called Palomares del Río. He used a canoe to cross the Guadalquivir River, and then continued on a donkey. When he arrived, no one welcomed him. He went to the parish church, the Church of Our Lady of the Star. The sacristan presented him with a very discouraging panorama. Few people came there to pray. He entered the church and knelt before the tabernacle. Later, when he opened the tabernacle, he was upset. That abandoned tabernacle was completely filthy, full of dirt and insects. It was clear to see that it had not been opened for a long time, nor had the Sacred Hosts been renewed. This marked him for the rest of his life, and from then on he dedicated himself to spreading the Holy Eucharist. From then on, he devoted all his efforts to ensuring that Christ was always with him in the tabernacle. So that the importance it has for us could be shown – with cleanliness and displays of affection.

He later spoke of that experience: The impression of that very sad Tabernacle made such a mark on his soul that it would never be erased in his life. “I went straight to the Tabernacle… and what a Tabernacle, my God! What efforts my faith and my courage had to make there to keep me from running home! But I didn’t run away. There on my knees… my faith saw a Jesus so silent, so patient, so good, who looked at me… who told me so much and asked for more, a gaze in which all the sadness of the Gospel was reflected… The gaze of Jesus Christ in those Tabernacles is a gaze that pierces the soul and is never forgotten. It became for me a starting point to see, understand, and feel my priestly ministry differently… consecrated by God to fight against the abandonment of the Tabernacle.” In later years, he emphasized how decisive his discovery of the importance of treating Jesus well in the Eucharist was for his priestly life.

120 years later, Don Manuel González is Saint Manuel González. A Spanish priest known as “the one with the abandoned tabernacle.” An example for all the love for Jesus in the Eucharist. Every celebration of Corpus Christi gives us the opportunity to show how much we love the Lord and how we adore Him in the tabernacle, making sure to never leave Him alone.