The Congress is recruiting volunteers for a wide range of roles and if you would like to get involved please visit the IEC2012 website  www.iec2012.ie/volunteer  and fill out an online application or request an application form from the Congress office. For more information please contact the IEC2012 offices on (01) 2349900 or volunteeradmin@iec2012.ie

The Congress is also actively seeking offers of host accommodation in homes in the Dublin area for pilgrims. If you can offer free accommodation in Dublin to one or more pilgrims during the 50th International Eucharistic Congress please contact the IEC2012 offices on (01) 2349900 or volunteeradmin@iec2012.ie

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So then after having carefully hallowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake of it; giving heed lest thou lose any portion thereof; for whatever thou losest, is evidently a loss to thee as it were from one of thine own members.

For tell me, if any one gave thee grains of gold, wouldest thou not hold them with all carefulness, being on thy guard against losing any of them, and suffering loss? Wilt thou not then much more carefully keep watch, that not a crumb fall from thee of what is more precious than gold and precious stones?” – St. Cyril of Jerusalem on Receiving Holy Communion.

“Consider therefore the Bread and the Wine not as bare elements, for they are, according to the Lord’s declaration, the Body and Blood of Christ; for even though sense suggests this to you, yet let faith establish you. Judge not the matter from the taste, but from faith be fully assured without misgiving, that the Body and Blood of Christ have been vouchsafed to you.” – (No6 from lecture 22) St. Cyril of Jerusalem

“The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love; It signifies Love, It produces love.  The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.” – St. Thomas Aqunias

“The Bread of angels has become the Bread of mankind;
This heavenly Bread puts an end to all images;
O wonderful reality!
The poor, the slave, and the humble can eat the Lord.”
–St. Thomas Aquinas, Panis Angelicus

“Material food first changes into the one who eats it, and then, as a consequence, restores to him lost strength and increases his vitality. Spiritual food, on the other hand, changes the person who eats it into itself. Thus the effect proper to this Sacrament is the conversion of a man into Christ, so that he may no longer live, but Christ lives in him; consequently, it has the double effect of restoring the spiritual strength he had lost by his sins and defects, and of increasing the strength of his virtues.”
– St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Book IV of the Sentences, d.12, q.2, a.11

“In dryness be satisfied just to be with Him; Mary will love and adore. “It is good for us to be here,” even if attention wanders. Like a child with his Mother: our very presence tells Jesus that we love Him, even if we are too stupid and too earthly-minded to appreciate and behave properly in His presence.”
– Edel Quinn

“We want to be united with Him, to give ourselves to Him utterly. Our faith tells us. He is in the Eucharist; let us seek Him there. If we knew we could find Him anywhere on earth we would do our utmost to go there.” – Edel Quinn

“Mary loves Jesus in me, caresses and compassionates Him for all His wounds. But, above all, she speaks her gratitude for the Eucharist, and gives thanks to the Eternal Father for that Gift. Without the Eucharist, what a desolation life would be!”
– Edel Quinn

“The greatest love story of all time is contained in a tiny white Host.”
– Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

“The holy hour in our modern rat race is necessary for authentic prayer. Our world is one of speed in which intensity of movement is a substitute for lack of purpose; where noise is invoked to drown out the whisperings of conscience; where talk, talk, talk gives the impression that we are doing something when really we are not; where activity kills self-knowledge won by contemplation…

There seems to be so little in common between our involvement with the news of the world and the Stranger in whose Presence we find ourselves. The hour means giving up a golf game or a cocktail party, or a nap…”
–Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

“Neither theological knowledge nor social action alone is enough to keep us in love with Christ unless both are proceeded by a personal encounter with Him. Theological insights are gained not only from between two covers of a book, but from two bent knees before an altar. The Holy Hour becomes like an oxygen tank to revive the breath of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the foul and fetid atmosphere of the world.”
– Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

“The only cure for sagging or fainting faith is communion.” – J.R.R. Tolkein

“The only cure for sagging of fainting faith is Communion. Though always itself, perfect and complete and inviolate, the Blessed Sacrament does not operate completely and once for all in any of us. Like the act of Faith it must be continuous and grow by exercise. Frequency is of the highest effect. Seven times a week is more nourishing than seven times at intervals.” – J.R.R. Tolkein

“When Mass ended I remained with Jesus to render Him thanks. My thirst and hunger do not diminish after I have received Him in the Blessed Sacrament, but rather, increase steadily. Oh, how sweet was the conversation I held with Paradise this morning.

“The Heart of Jesus and my own, if you will pardon my expression, fused. They were no longer two hearts beating but only one. My heart disappeared as if it were a drop in the ocean.”

– St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio)

“A thousand years of enjoying human glory is not worth even an hour spent sweetly communing with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”

– St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio)

It was the Great Presence, which makes a Catholic Church different from every other place in the world; which makes it, as no other place can be — holy.”
– John Henry Newman

“I place myself in the presence of Him, in whose Incarnate Presence I am before, I place myself there.

I adore Thee, O my Saviour, present here as God and man, in soul and body, in true flesh and blood.

I acknowledge and confess that I kneel before that Sacred Humanity, which was conceived in Mary’s womb, and lay in Mary’s bosom; which grew up to man’s estate, and by the Sea of Galilee called the Twelve, wrought miracles, and spoke words of wisdom and peace; which in due season hung on the cross, lay in the tomb, rose from the dead, and now reigns in heaven.

I praise, bless, and give myself wholly to Him, who is the true Bread of my soul, and my everlasting joy,”
– Venerable John Henry Newman

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In the Eucharist, the Son of God comes to meet us and desires to become one with us; eucharistic adoration is simply the natural consequence of the eucharistic celebration, which is itself the Church’s supreme act of adoration. 
– Benedict XVI

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Dear young people, the happiness you are seeking, the happiness you have a right to enjoy has a name and a face: it is Jesus of Nazareth, hidden in the Eucharist.  Only he gives the fullness of life to humanity!  With Mary, say your own “yes” to God, for he wishes to give himself to you. 
– Benedict XVI

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“Without adoration, there is no transformation of the world.”
– Pope Benedict XVI