Just a little food for thought tonight: when you receive the Eucharist, Jesus makes His ENTIRE self vulnerable to you. After I received communion the other day I received the image of Jesus kneeling in front of me with his arms out, palms up, and head bowed.
This may seem nearly sacreligious, (and believe me it did to me,) but I realized that he just wanted me to be with him. He wanted me to include him in my thoughts, to talk to him and feel his nearness every moment. And it's true that every time I let go of the battles in my mind and talk to him, he really does take away every fear. So what is separating me from him in my daily life? Only my own mindlessness.
As I looked at him, awestruck at his vulnerability and the amazing gift of his consequence, I realized that he was also inviting me to kneel next to him. He doesn't want to just kneel at our feet; he also gifts us with the task of laying aside our own pride and kneeling at the feet of others. There are some people whom my pride dictates that I would NEVER want to kneel at the feet of (and some of those are people I actually love; I just would never want to appear weak or vulnerable to them.) I want to be the 'big sister in charge' to my little siblings; I don't want to kneel in front of them. I want to appear right when I engage someone in a debate; I don't want to kneel in front of them. I want people to do what I say when I need something for wedding planning; I don't want to kneel in front of them.
But I felt stronger and more able to begin as I felt Jesus doing exactly the same thing. It was very powerful kneeling next to him and knowing that he will ALWAYS be there when I am weak, vulnerable, humble, or unnoticed. Anyone who any of those things has Jesus right by their side.