Dear Friends in Jesus Christ…, The second reading is a challenge for us. St. Paul exclaims his great love of Christ and proves that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ. “What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I want to share with you the story of a young girl who loved Jesus most and lived her life as a witness that nothing could separate her from Jesus and his love. Alexandrina was born in April 1904. A dreadful thing happened to her in 1918, which left her life shattered ever afterward. When she and her sister Deolinda and another girl were in the house alone, three men knocked at the door, one of whom had previously tried to molest Alexandrina. They broke into the house. Alexandrina wanting to preserve her chastity, jumped from an upstairs window. The men fled, but Alexandrina’s spine was irreparably injured. Six years later, she had to remain in bed for the rest of her life. The slightest movement caused her intense pain. She began to grow closer and closer to the Lord and realized that she was suffering, especially for the salvation of souls. She received Holy Communion every day, and her thoughts frequently turned to Jesus in the tabernacle. She went into her first ecstasy in 1931 when she heard Jesus say to her, “Love, suffer and make reparation.” She saw her vocation to be that of a victim soul, to make reparation for all of us. Under the orders of her spiritual director, she began to dictate her life’s story to her sister, but many times the devil threatened her not to write anymore. In 1936 Our Lord asked her to spread the message of Fatima and to urge the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart, and she offered herself as a victim soul for this. From October 1938, Alexandrina began to suffer the passion of Jesus every Friday. She suffered the passion of Jesus 180 times during her life. Until 1942, she suffered in silence without fame, but after a report appeared in a newspaper from then on, she was besieged by pilgrims asking for prayer. On Good Friday, 1942, she began an absolute fast, which lasted for more than thirteen years until her death. The only nourishment which her pain-filled body received was Jesus in Holy Communion every morning. News of her fast spread and the crowds became even bigger. Some people had doubts and suspicions about her fast, so they accused her, her sister, and her mother of fraud. Therefore, she agreed to medical observation. The doctor asked her, “Why do you not eat?” She replied, “I do not eat because I cannot. I feel full. I do not need it. However, I have a longing for food.” It was decided that she should be admitted to a nearby hospital for a thirty-day observation of her fast. While she was in the hospital, some tried to persuade her to take food. The doctor in charge of the examination was nasty to her, and at the end of the thirty days said the nurses watching her must have been deceived and decided she was to remain there for a further ten days. They even showed her tasty food to entice her to eat. When the test was finally over, the doctor said he would visit her at home, not as a doctor-spy, but as a friend who esteems her. Part of the medical report reads as follows: “Her abstinence from solids and liquids was absolute during all that time. We also testify that she retained her weight, and her temperature, breathing, blood pressure, pulse, and blood were normal while her mental faculties were constant and lucid. She had not, during these forty days, any natural necessities. The laws of physiology and biochemistry cannot account for the survival of this sick woman…”While medical science could not explain, the explanation was simple. Jesus said to Alexandrina, “You are living by the Eucharist alone because I want to prove to the world the power of the Eucharist and the power of my life in souls.” She died on October 13th, 1955, having received nourishment only from Holy Communion for more than thirteen years. To the world, it is irrational and stupid to think that bread changes to become the body of Jesus. It is equally illogical and foolish to believe that a human can survive for thirteen years, only being nourished by Holy Communion. But one is not more irrational than the other. Alexandrina is a sign given to the world by Jesus to remind us of his presence in the Eucharist. Let us earnestly do everything to increase our love of Christ. The more time we spend with Jesus, the deeper our love for him. God Bless You, Fr. Thomas