Consuming Love: Discovering Christ the Bridegroom in Holy Communion

by Fr. Gregory Cleveland, OMV

The Eucharist is the “sacrament of love.” Jesus Christ is the true Bridegroom of our hearts, and it is he whom we receive in holy Communion. Even if you have received our Lord thousands of times in the Eucharist, Consuming Love invites you to experience afresh the intensity of the intimacy Christ offers us. This book opens new horizons in our understanding of the Eucharist and offers a language of love to express our relationship with Jesus as a divine romance. Through his Incarnation, death, and Resurrection, Jesus Christ wedded human nature to himself, making a marvelous marriage of God and man. Jesus continues to make a marriage with his Church through the gift of himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament. We respond with consent to this union of Christ with our hearts as we receive him in holy Communion, giving ourselves completely to him in return.

Paperback: $14.95 | Kindle: $9.99

TESTIMONIALS

“As an author myself, I love a good title and subtitle for a book. Consuming Love: these two words together have a double meaning, both equally profound, which Father Cleveland unfolds with brilliant insight throughout: the love revealed in the Eucharist is not only “all consuming,” but in receiving the Eucharist, we have the privilege of literally consuming this all-consuming love. Oh, the intimacy to which we are invited at every Mass! The revelation of the Eucharist as “the sacrament of the Bridegroom and of the Bride” (St. John Paul II) is transformative – not only of one’s experience of the Mass, but of one’s entire life. Be not afraid of the journey of Discovering Christ the Bridegroom in Holy Communion on which this treasure of a book will lead you!” – Christopher West, Th.D., President, Theology of the Body Institute, author of Eating the Sunrise: Meditations of the Liturgy & Our Hunger for Beauty

“Feast on the words of this deeply Eucharist book. Rooted deeply in Scripture and the Liturgy, these beautiful reflections remind us that we are Christ’s beloved bride. As individuals and as the Church, we participate in the wedding banquet at each Mass. In adoration, we gaze in love at our bridegroom Jesus and He gazes back at us. Fr. Gregory Cleveland’s book invites us to enter more fully into relationship with the Lord and surrender to His love in the Eucharist and the other Sacraments.  Fr. Cleveland teaches us how to participate more intensely in Mass, from the kiss at the altar to going forth as living tabernacles to joyfully sharing God’s love with others. Questions and prayer exercises at the end of each chapter make the book a wonderful companion for both personal meditation and group discussion.” – Lynda Rozell, author of Return to Me: Visits to the Tabernacle

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fr. Gregory Cleveland, OMV, was ordained a priest with the Oblates of the Virgin Mary in 1995. His first assignment was to St. Andrew’s Parish in Avenel, New Jersey, where he worked especially with the poor, disabled and imprisoned, completing an M.Div. in Theology and an M.A. in Spiritual Theology. He obtained certification in spiritual direction from the Center for Spiritual Development in New York City and returned to Boston to work seven years in seminary formation, as Rector and Novice Master. For seventeen years, Fr. Greg served as Executive Director of the Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality in Denver, Colorado, where he offered spiritual guidance and retreats, as well as spiritual director training.  He is currently a Retreat Master at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Retreat and Spirituality Center in Venice, Florida.  Fr. Greg is the author of Awakening Love: an Ignatian Retreat with the Song of Songs (Pauline Books and Media, Boston, 2017), and Beholding Beauty: Mary and the Song of Songs, (Pauline Books and Media, Boston, 2020), both finalists for the Excellence in Publishing Award by the Association of Catholic Publishers, as well as Beloved Lover, Priesthood in the Song of Songs (En Route Books and Media, St. Louis, 2023).

 

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