Mary and the Eucharist by Fr. Steve Mondiek

This weekend, we celebrate the great Solemnity of Corpus Christi. And do doubt there will be many Eucharistic processions across the globe and maybe there is a vital connection between the Eucharist and our Blessed Mother. We know from Sacred Scripture that Mary was given over to the Beloved Disciple, St. John, at the foot of the Cross. In that exchange, Christ gave St. John a Mother, and to each one of us. Mary took care of St. John, and St. John took care of Mary.

Think for a moment on what Holy Mass and Holy Communion, received from the hands of St. John, must have meant for Our Blessed Lady. Mary was not given to the holy women with her at Calvary, but to St. John. Maybe it is because St. John was a priest and he could give Mary the treasure of the Holy Eucharist.

Why St. John? Well, he is the one who remained at the foot of the Cross. He is the apostle seemingly favored and he is, as St. Augustine remarks, the model of the contemplative life, of the interior and hidden life which had always been that of Mary and which would be hers till death. Mary’s vocation will be as Mother of the Church and her vocation will be to contemplate and to love Our Savior in His sacramental presence, and to obtain by her unceasing prayer the spread of the faith and the salvation of souls. She will be thus in a very real sense the heart of the infant Church, for none other will enter as she into the depths and the strength of the love of Jesus.

When St. John celebrated Holy Mass in Mary’s presence, she would be able to contemplate deeply into the mysteries of the Mass since her dignity is great. After all, Mary has given us both the Priest and the Victim of the sacrifice of the Cross and she has offered herself with Him.

We could imagine that Holy Mass was for her the memorial and the continuation of the sacrifice of the Cross. A sword of sorrow had pierced her heart on Calvary, the strength and tenderness of her love for Jesus making her suffer a true martyrdom. She suffered so much that the memory of Calvary could never grow dim, and each Holy Mass was a fresh renewal of all she lived through there. Mary found the same Victim on the altar when Saint John said Mass. She found the same Jesus, really present; not present in image only, but in the substance of His Body with His Soul and Divinity.

Jesus’ blood is shed sacramentally on the altar. How expressive is that figure of His death for her who cannot forget, for her who bears always in the depths of her soul the image of her Son, outraged and wounded, for her who hears yet the insults and the blasphemies offered Him. St. John’s Mass, with Mary present at it, was the most striking memorial of the Cross as it is perpetuated in its substance on our altars.

The saints have sometimes seen Jesus in the priest’s place at the moment of consecration. Mary knew the full truth better than any of the saints. Better than any of them she knew that the soul of every Mass was the oblation that lived in her Son’s Heart. Mary united herself along with Jesus during Mass as she did at the foot of the Cross in a spirit of adoring reparation, in petition and thanksgiving.

At the foot of the Cross and at every Mass, Mary offered up the anguish she suffered at those denials of the divinity of Jesus. She offered thanks for the institution of the Blessed Eucharist and for all the benefits of which It is the source. In all that Mary is our model, teaching us how to become adorers in spirit and in truth.

Think of how we hunger for the Eucharist, spiritually? Mary’s hunger for the Eucharist was incomparably greater and more intense. Every soul is drawn towards God, for He is the Creator for whom we have been made. But the consequences of sin—original and actual—make God appear unattractive in our eyes and weaken our inborn desire for union with Him. Mary’s soul, however, knew nothing of the consequences of sins and nothing ever stopped her unquenchable desire for her Son. Mary always had a great hunger for the Eucharist and she can teach us how to have the same. She can show us how to give ourselves completely and to be united to Christ.

Do you have a thirst for Christ in the Eucharist? Take our Blessed Mother along with you to Mass and adoration and enter into a union of eternity. May our love grow daily for Christ until we reach our heavenly inheritance. God bless you!