Saturday After Corpus Christi

Mary And The Eucharist

Preparation. - "She is like the merchant's ship; she bringeth her bread from afar" (Prov. 31. 14). these words of the Holy Ghost are applicable to Mary, for, first, it is to her, next to Jesus, that we owe the Eucharistic Bread; and  secondly, our holy mysteries remind us of this consoling truth. Let us then resolve to entreat the most blessed Virgin, when we are to communicate, to help us to prepare to receive the Bread of life, which she procured us in the Incarnation. "Like the merchant's ship bringing her bread from afar."

I. We Owe The Eucharist To Our Saviour's Mother.

The Holy Ghost compares Mary to a ship, because she brings to earth all the goods of heaven; to a merchant's ship, because of her solicitude in procuring our happiness. She has especially given us the Bread of life, which the sacred text calls "her bread," because it is formed from her substance, since, as St. Augustine declares, "the flesh of Jesus is the flesh of Mary."

She has brought it to us from afar, having caused Jesus to come down from the highest heaven: "Bringing her bread from afar." The divine Word was in glory the food of the Blessed Spirits; a food too strong for our weakness. By consenting to the Incarnation of the uncreated Word, the Virgin Mother placed Him within our reach, by giving Him the body and blood with which He feeds us under the Eucharistic species. Thus is accomplished the saying of the psalmist: "Man ate the bread of angels" (Ps. 77. 25), and that of the prophet: "Thou shalt be nursed with the breasts of kings" (Is. 60. 16).

In fact, is it not the Mother of the King of the universe, who becomes our nurse in holy Communion? We receive therein under the sacred species the Son she gave us in the grotto of Bethlehem. How grateful were not St. Antony of Padua and St. Stanislaus Kostka when they received from the Virgin Mother the holy Child Jesus in to their arms! How great should not our gratitude also be towards Mary, when we receive this same Saviour not merely into our arms, but into our heart in the form of food! O tender love of the Mother of our souls, how can we sufficiently thank thee! "What tongue," exclaims St. Peter Damian, "can worthily praise thee, what heart can sufficiently love thee, who givest to our weakness a food so substantial and so divine!"

Is it not, then, meet that henceforth, when we receive the Son, we should think of His Mother, and that at every holy Communion we should resolve to increase in the love of both? Let us then unite both in our thoughts, affections and devotions, and especially imitate their virtues in our relations with God and our neighbor.

O Jesus, my Saviour, through Thy loving Mother's intercession, impart to me the strength to retrace in my conduct the examples of self-denial, patience and the interior and hidden life, which Thou didst not cease giving me during Thy mortal life, and of which the Eucharist unceasingly recalls to me the edifying remembrance, and even daily renews the consoling reality.

II. Our Holy Mysteries Remind Us Of Mary.

The holy sacrifice of the Mass daily recalls to us the mysteries of our Saviour's life and death, in which Mary was associated. In fact, the Incarnation of the Word is revealed to our piety every time the priest consecrates at the altar. His word, like Mary's, is, in some manner, creative, changing the substances of the bread and wine into the body and blood of the Man-God. O touching prodigy, for Jesus then takes birth, so to speak, in our churches; the altar is as the crib on which He lies, the sacred linens figure His swaddling clothes, and the faithful adoring Him represent the shepherds and the Magi paying Him their homages at Bethlehem.

At Mass the priest offers Jesus to the eternal Father, as Mary did in the Temple, and particularly on Calvary, were she had so great a share in our Redemption. The sacrifice of our altars is essentially the same as that of the cross, differing therefrom only in form. Wherefore it recalls to us what took place on Golgatha, where the voice of the only -begotten Son of God proclaimed Mary as our Mother. O delightful remembrance which enraptures all Christian hearts! Jesus, the sacred Wheat, was ground in torments that He might become our Bread of life, and this under the eyes and with the consent of His Mother. His bleeding body, taken down from the cross, was placed in Mary's arms, and she could then offer it to men, as the pure Victim, with which they should nourish themselves to regain their immortality. These ineffable mysteries are brought back to mind both at Mass and holy Communion.

Let us be careful not to lose sight of them. In the first place, when we assist at the holy Sacrifice, let us share in the feelings of the Mother of sorrows at the foot of the cross; feelings of horror for sin, which caused the death of a God; of gratitude, confidence an love towards Jesus crucified, who renews His immolation on our altars. Secondly, let us receive Him in holy Communion with the dispositions of Mary on Calvary, pressing the body of Jesus to her maternal heart. Let us, after her example, be filled with the desire to devote ourselves for our Saviour, as He devoted Himself for us.

O holy Virgin, thou knowest that after thy divine Son's death, His body was laid in a new tomb hewn out of a rock, and was embalmed with sweet spices and wrapped in a linen shroud. Do not allow my heart, into which He is so often laid in holy Communion, to be defiled by light faults and worldly attachments; but make it pure, and all renewed and strengthened in God's service. Embalm it with piety, purity and devotion, that it may prove a pleasant dwelling for Jesus who so lovingly deigns to visit it.