Blessed Alexandrina da Costa: Loving Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament

"Keep Me company in the Blessed Sacrament. I remain in the tabernacle night and day, waiting to give my love and grace to all who would visit Me. But so few come. I am so abandoned, so lonely, so offended...Many men do not believe that I live in the tabernacle. They curse Me. Others believe, but do not love Me and do not visit Me; they live as if I were not there."

"Like Mary Magdalene, you have chosen the better part. You have chosen to love Me in the tabernacles where you can contemplate Me, not with the eyes of the body, but with those of the soul. I am truly present there as in Heaven--Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity...I do not stay in this world only for love of those who love Me, but for everyone..."

~ Jesus to Blessed Alexandrina da Costa; excerpt from here ~

Our Lord pleads for Eucharistic Reparation. An excerpt from the full-length documentary on Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004 and has been proposed by the universal church as a patron for the youth. Blessed Alexandrina's great love of Our Lord's Real Presence in the Eucharist is very relevant for today.

~ Related post on Blessed Alexandrina and the Power of Sacrifice for a Priest ~

~ Related post from Venite Adoremus Dominum ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests.  Amen.

Blessed Alexandrina da Costa: The Power of Sacrifice for a Priest

A story from the life of Alexandrina da Costa, beatified on 25 April 2004, reveals the transforming power and visible effects of the sacrifice made by a sick and forgotten girl.

In 1941, Alexandrina wrote to her spiritual director, Fr. Mariano Pinho, telling him that Jesus told her, “My daughter, a priest living in Lisbon is close to being lost forever; he offends me terribly. Call your spiritual director and ask his permission that I may have you suffer in a special way for this soul.”

Once Alexandrina had received permission from her spiritual director, she suffered greatly. She felt the severity of the priest’s errors, how he wanted to know nothing about God and was close to self-damnation. She even heard the priest’s full name. Poor Alexandrina experienced the hellish state of this priest’s soul and prayed urgently, “Not to hell, no! I offer myself as a sacrifice for him, as long as you want.”

Fr. Pinho inquired of the Cardinal of Lisbon whether one of the priests of his diocese was of particular concern. The Cardinal openly confirmed that he was, in fact, very worried about one of his priests, and when he mentioned the name of the priest, it was the same one that Jesus had spoken to Alexandrina.

Some months later, a friend of Fr. Pinho, Fr. David Novais, recounted to him an unusual incident. Fr. David had just held a retreat in Fatima where attended a modest gentleman whose exemplary behaviour made him pleasantly attractive to all the participants. On the last night of the retreat, this man suddenly had a heart attack. He asked to see a priest, to whom he confessed and received Holy Communion. Shortly thereafter he died, fully reconciled with God. It turned out that this man was actually a priest—the very priest for whom Alexandrina had suffered so greatly.

~ Excerpt from Eucharistic Adoration for the Sanctification of Priests and Spiritual Maternity ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Blessed Alexandrina da Costa

Blessed Alexandrina da Costa (1904-1955) had an extraordinary love for Jesus in the Eucharist. At age 14 she jumped from an upstairs window to protect herself from assault. Her spine was so severely injured that by the time she was 21 she was totally paralyzed and bedridden for the rest of her life. Since she was a prisoner in her bed, she felt a special closeness to Jesus, who was confined in the tabernacles. She remained with Him in spirit everywhere that He was present in the Blessed Sacrament. So great was her love for Jesus in the Eucharist that she asked to be buried with her face turned toward Jesus in the tabernacle of her church as an expression of her love for His Eucharistic Presence. To Blessed Alexandrina, Jesus said,

"Keep Me company in the Blessed Sacrament. I remain in the tabernacle night and day, waiting to give my love and grace to all who would visit Me. But so few come. I am so abandoned, so lonely, so offended...Many men do not believe that I live in the tabernacle. They curse Me. Others believe, but do not love Me and do not visit Me; they live as if I were not there."

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"Like Mary Magdalene, you have chosen the better part. You have chosen to love Me in the tabernacles where you can contemplate Me, not with the eyes of the body, but with those of the soul. I am truly present there as in Heaven--Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity...I do not stay in this world only for love of those who love Me, but for everyone..."

According to God's wishes, Blessed Alexandrina's life mission was to suffer for the salvation of souls and in reparation for sins. In addition to many other sufferings, she willingly suffered Our Lord's Passion (from Gethsemane to Calvary) every Friday from midday to 3pm--an intense agony of soul and body for 180 Fridays.

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On Good Friday in 1942, Blessed Alexandrina began an absolute fast from food that would last until her death in 1955, because as Jesus said,

"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."

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To the crowds of pilgrims that daily visited her room (sometimes 6000 in a day), she urged frequent Holy Communion, making reparation to Our Lord in the Eucharist, daily recitation of the rosary, consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary through the Brown Scapular, practicing the First Saturday devotion, and penance, penance, penance.

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Jesus asked Alexandrina to find souls who would love Him and keep Him company in the Eucharist, souls who would pray and do penance, souls who would offer themselves to be victim souls as she had. Jesus also told her,

"If anyone should invoke your name when you are in Heaven, they will never do so in vain. I appoint you as protectress of mankind. You will be powerful with the All-Powerful."

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Official website for Blessed Alexandrina


Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.