{"id":54941,"date":"2026-06-06T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hijasdejesus.org\/the-body-of-christ-gods-greatest-gift-to-st-candida\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T21:00:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T19:00:46","slug":"the-body-of-christ-gods-greatest-gift-to-st-candida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hijasdejesus.org\/en\/the-body-of-christ-gods-greatest-gift-to-st-candida\/","title":{"rendered":"The Body of Christ, God’s greatest gift to St. Candida"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are hungers in our lives that nothing and no one can satisfy, even if we live as if it were so: money, consumerism, fame, power… none of these breads can fully satisfy the hunger of the human heart. Juana Josefa Cipitria y Barriola, Mother Candida, discovered this as a child: only Jesus the Eucharist was capable of satisfying that hunger. On the day of Corpus Christi<\/a>, her letters invite us to ask ourselves what hungers we have today and to whom – or to what – we turn to satisfy them. <\/p>\n\n

A love that began as a child<\/h2>\n\n

From her earliest years, Jeanne Josepha felt a special attraction to the Eucharist. Her first encounter with Jesus in the consecrated bread did not extinguish that desire, but rather inflamed it forever. This is how “Doble Vertiente”, by M. Anunciaci\u00f3n Febrero Lorenzo, FI, reports it: <\/p>\n\n

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Jesus full of grace and truth, good Jesus, Jesus of whom the Gospels say that to collect all the graces he gave to the blind, the paralyzed, the sad and the sinners, he would have needed books and books; this Jesus loved Juanitacho from always. And she loved him with all her soul from the moment she met him. But as soon as she learned that he was in the Eucharist and that he remained in the hearts of those who received communion, she had a crazy desire to receive communion. His first communion was his great illusion. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juana Josefa has fulfilled her wish. Her soul has been filled with God. Communion is an abundant and juicy delicacy and her first communion has left her so hungry for communion that although Don Luciano is excessively prudent and although during those years daily communion is not allowed even to the most pious people, he allows her to receive communion every day since she was twelve years old. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That first communion left him so hungry for communion that all the communions of his long life will not be able to satisfy it, and on the day of his last communion, when he is asked if he wants to receive the Lord as viaticum, he will answer: “Not once, but a thousand times, if I could”.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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The Eucharist at the heart of the Congregation<\/h2>\n\n

As an adult, Mother Candida’s love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is reflected in more than fifteen letters that have been preserved. They show not only her personal devotion, but also her determination to transmit this love to the students of the schools and to the sisters of the Congregation. <\/p>\n\n

To celebrate this Corpus Christi 2026, we dwell on the first and the last of these letters that express love for Jesus in the Sacrament, as a path that runs through his whole life in the Eucharistic faith.<\/p>\n\n

Eucharistic faith in vulnerability<\/h2>\n\n

Letter No. 43 – To Sr. Antonia Robles – Segovia, June 1893<\/h3>\n\n

This letter is autographed and was written when Mother Candida was very ill. From this fragility, the desire to receive communion does not diminish, but becomes more intense. For her, taking communion was not an automatic gesture or a devout fulfillment: it was to let Jesus enter into her story, into her weak body, into her feverish night. It was to say to him, “Lord, enter into my wounds, enter into my weariness, enter also into my contradictions.” <\/p>\n\n

His testimony can speak directly to those who today are going through situations of sickness, fatigue or difficulty. And also to those who, in hard times, feel that faith is the only thing that remains standing. <\/p>\n\n

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My beloved daughter Antonia Robles: (…) I have prayed for you, although you cannot receive communion on St. Anthony’s Day. As I was telling you, M. Angela, I have had a fever, and my chest is a pity because of the patches I had to put on. May God be blessed. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday of last week we went to Bernardos (…) I was bad and I came back worse; God be blessed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started this letter yesterday, but I could not finish it. The doctor came and told me I had a fever and to go to bed, I spent the night regularly and after Mass I got up and went down to Communion. I received in my breast, with all my heart and soul, the bread of the angels, the very holiness and strength, the most holy Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, our hope and all our love. Let us love Him, let us adore Him, let Him be forever our treasure, and forever be our heart with Jesus sacramentalized. So be it. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would be happy if I could be there on the third Sunday, for the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Do everything (although I know you do it) with great devotion and greatness; on the feast of the loving Heart of Jesus, pray for me, for the whole Congregation, so that the holy Rule may be approved soon. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can’t do it anymore. She knows that her poor mother loves her very saintly, that she blesses her, with my regards to the Sisters and to those gentlemen, hde. sva. in Cto, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– C\u00e1ndida Mar\u00eda de Jes\u00fas<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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For personal reflection<\/h3>\n\n