If Mary thus inclined her Son to institute the Sacrament, and to make to us at the Last Supper this first gift of Himself, now that It is instituted, she has received the merciful dispensation of It. "Mary's liberality is not exhausted," says Père de Machault; "It extends to our own time, and shows itself daily in constant exercise. The Holy Mass and the Holy Communion, which are continually renewed are, as it were, the distribution of her riches, the daily gifts of our magnificent Queen, to which all the Faithful flock to take part."
The principal foundation of this power for Mary is the union of her will with that of her Son. "The will of Mary," says Père de Machault again, "always united to that of her Son, contributes, on her part, to all the gifts that He makes us of Himself at the holy altar. If it is true that, at every Mass, the Saviour is the principal minister, the Blessed Virgin shares in this function of the Sovereign Priest, for she consents to the oblation that her Son makes of Himself. Her quality of Mother continues, and she gives Him to us every day at the altar as she gave Him long ago at the Last Supper and on Calvary. There was in the sacrifice of the Cross but one will common to Jesus and Mary; at the Mass, that same sacrifice renewed, it is the same will that still offers it."
Let us study in detail the Gift of Mary and what graces Eucharistic piety chiefly hopes for from Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
1. At every Mass, Mary gives her Son to be immolated. She immolates Him herself, uniting her will to that of Jesus, the principal Sacrificer. The act of Consecration is the act of that will common to both. It is, then, from Mary we must implore all the graces attached to the Holy Sacrifice, with her we must unite to assist at it well. It is she whom we must invoke, that the Christian observance of Sunday may be re-established in society; with her we must weep over the absence of the Faithful from Mass, in which state so many indifferent Christians stagnate; and over the sacrilegious crimes committed in the oblation of the Divine Victim.
2. Can Mary have a more lively desire at heart than to see us worthily and frequently approaching the Holy Table? Ah! she knows what we there receive, she comprehends all that a fervent Communion operates in a well-disposed soul. Listen to the pressing invitation of this Mother of increated Wisdom, and which the Church bids us repeat on each of her feasts. She cries out from the hilltops, from the public roads and highways, near the gates of the city, in the most frequented places: "O men, it is to you that I raise my voice, to you that I utter this cry of my heart! Hearken to me! I love them that love me; and they that in the morning early watch for me, shall find me. With me are riches and glory, glorious riches and justice. The blessed Fruit of my womb is more precious than gold and precious stones, purer than choice silver. I have but one desire, to enrich them that love me, and fill up their treasures. O my children, blessed are they that keep near me, watching at my gate the moment of my going forth! He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord."
Again, she tells us: "All ye that love me, come to me. Eat and drink of my fruits, for my spirit that you will taste therein, and all my good and my inheritance that I will give you, will be to you sweeter than honey."
Among the Biblical figures of Mary, there are several which represent her inviting us to Holy Communion. Such is the table of the Temple upon which rested the loaves consecrated to the Lord. "Hail, Mary," says Saint Ephraim, "spiritual table of faith, who dost offer the true Bread to the famished world!" On these words Pinna remarks: "Why does this holy Doctor give to Mary the title of table instead of ark, since the Ark contained the miraculous manna? Ah! it is because the Ark hid what it held; whilst the table exposed to view the food that was laid on it, and seemed to invite the guests to partake of it." The same author says again: "It is because the Ark contained only manna, while the table holds not only bread, but all kinds of savory food and delicious drinks, also. Now, Mary, in offering Jesus to us in Holy Communion, gives us a Bread which has in Itself all flavors, and which satisfies every desire."
In another place, Mary is compared to the lamp which ought, according to the Law, to be placed very near the table of the sanctuary. "What means this prescription?" asks Conti. "Without doubt, to light up that holy table and the sacred loaves that it holds. It is thus that Mary attracts us by the light of her inspirations, in order to show us the Eucharistic Bread which will make our delight."
But a still more striking indication of Mary's power over the dispensing of this ineffable grace of Communion, is the word of Saint Peter: "As new-born babes, desire the rational milk without guile, that thereby you may grow unto salvation." Cornelius à Lapide says that many interpreters understand by this spiritual milk the Eucharist, which in the early Church was given immediately after Baptism, and even to infants. The Eucharist has, indeed, the color of milk. Like milk, It is sweet to the taste, and like It, again, It marvelously nourishes the soul. Saint Peter's expression, Concupiscite, "Desire ardently," shows us with what eagerness we ought to desire this spiritual milk. "Do you not see," says Saint Chrysostom, "with what haste little infants seize the mother's breast? Ah! with still greater eagerness let us run to the source of this Blessed Beverage! Let us, like new-born babes, suck in the grace of the Holy Spirit."
The Eucharist is, then, the milk of our soul. But how suggestive of Mary is this word milk! Who gives the milk to the babe but the mother? Mary, give us that substantial Milk of our soul! In thy immense goodness, thou didst allow Saint Bernard, one day, to draw near to thy bosom and, in a wonderful manner, to taste of the milk of thy breasts. Toward us thou art still more munificent! Thou dost give us in Communion a Divine Milk, God Himself changed into milk for our weakness, for our infancy, for, as Saint John Damascene declares: "The Virgin's milk is changed into the Flesh of the Saviour, and it is that milk, that milk, itself, without doubt, that we receive at the Holy Altar."
Saint Augustine, glancing from the Cross to the Altar, knew not by which God testified the more love for him, and he exclaimed: "Upon the Cross He opens to me His Heart; at the Altar, He presents to me the Breast, and feeds me with Divine Milk!"
Ask Mary, then, for this delicious Milk, and so realize the Prophet Isaias's word of love: "You shall be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you."
Let us turn to Mary for Communion. Christian mothers, place your children under her protection, that she may prepare them for the greatest day of their life. Show them this event, their First Communion, as the great aim, the great end of their childhood. Teach them to offer to Mary their prayers, their easy little duties of childhood, that she may form of them a bouquet for their First Communion. Make them join with you every day in begging Mary to give them her Divine Infant Jesus!
It is of Mary that we must implore the universal observance of Easter. Alas! who can express this dear Mother's sorrow when she sees her children persisting in dying of hunger far from the life-giving Banquet so lovingly offered them!
From Mary let us beg the supreme grace of receiving Holy Viaticum. Every day, when we say to Mary: "Pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death," let our desire be to obtain Viaticum for the terrible journey into eternity. Viaticum well received, means a good death. We shall fall asleep in the arms of Jesus, and awake upon His bosom in glory.
And all ye, pious souls, who have already the permission to communicate frequently, do you not sometimes feel a more lively hunger? You already have much, but you long for still more! Ah! it is that holy avidity excited in the soul by Him who has said: "He that eats Me, shall still hunger for Me" And you dare not ask, because you feel yourselves so unworthy of what you already possess!
Ah! turn to Mary. It is she who excites in you that eager hunger. She desires to satisfy it. She will incline the heart of your directors. They will of themselves offer you what you dare not ask. Mary has spoken a good word for you.
Finally, in all the circumstances of life, in sickness, on journeys, let us ask Mary for Communion. She will give It to us. Her desire to give us Jesus is more vehement than ours to receive Him. Her mission is to give Jesus.
3. It is to Mary that is confided the care of the Real Presence of her Son Jesus in our tabernacles. The saints tell us that parents retain in heaven constant care over what belongs to them on earth, and especially over their children, who are, as it were, a part of themselves. Who can doubt that Mary's thoughts are constantly turned toward all that concerns the Body of her Son? Her glances follow Him to every place in which He is present by virtue of the Consecration. Her mission of universal Mother of all Christians enables her to embrace all places in her watchful gaze, know all the individual actions of men. All are her clients, all are her children.
Again, it is Mary who gives to Jesus His name of Emmanuel, God with us, which is manifested in all its reality, in all its extent only by His permanent Presence in our tabernacles. The Saviour's other titles, such as, the Mighty, the Wonderful, come from His Divinity, from His Eternal Father. But Mary gives Him, by His human life, the power to be in truth the Emmanuel. In all our churches, at the side of the Emmanuel's little dwelling, there is the statute of the sweet Mother, as if still watching over, still guarding Him. What more touching? Alas! how often she is alone with Jesus, left in perfect solitude! Why do we not more frequently renew in her heart the joys of Bethlehem, when the Magi, the shepherds, the people came to adore their Infant-God, and to gaze with rapture upon His divine beauty, His heavenly charms? Mary, too, was consoled and rejoiced by those visits. She listened in admiration to the great things that were said of her child. If the thought of relieving the Saviour's solitude is not sufficient to excite us to visit Him daily and often, let the thought of the happiness that we may procure Mary, at least, attract us. We shall make two happy if we go often and devoutedly to adore the Emmanuel!
4. Guardian of the Emmanuel! Again, it is Mary who exposes Him for public adoration. It is to her prayers that we owe the Forty Hours and all those beautiful works of perpetual adoration, which have sprung up to rejoice the Church, and to sustain it in the rude struggles of our unhappy times. Mary herself says: "I made rise in the heavens light that never faileth."
Ah! that light that never fails we be hold shining in the heavens of the Church! Raise your eyes, look above the altar, on that magnificent throne erected in this splendidly adorned sanctuary, and behold the true Light, the Sun, the Orient! It is to Mary that we owe this grace of Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
More than a century ago, when the Forty Hours, the solemn Exposition of three days, were celebrated in the Church only at rare intervals, a pious Jesuit of that time attributed its institution to Mary. He saw the figure of this august solemnity and its institution by Mary in the celebrated dream of the cup-bearer of the Egyptian king (Genesis 40:12). Joseph revealed to him, as we know, that the three branches rising from the vine signified the three days of his captivity. "This vine," says Escobar, following Martin del Rio, "is Mary, who sent forth from the treasury of her heart three branches, as it were, laden with celestial fruit, namely, the three days of the Forty Hours, during which she offers to the adorers of Jesus a delicious festivity in Holy Communion, and in the adoration, the most abundant graces."
We are, moreover, far from regarding as a simple coincidence that at Paris, the perpetual adoration, day and night, arose about the time of the definition of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We owe it to her honor to say here that it was Mary who caused to rise in the Society of the Most Blessed Sacrament that Sun which never sets, Jesus perpetually exposed.
We read in the Life of Père Eymard, that Mary herself prepared him for the foundation of that religious Society, whose only end is to expose perpetually the Most Blessed Sacrament, and to render to It public and solemn adoration. It was on the Feast of the Purification, February 2nd, in the holy sanctuary of Fourvieres, that the Blessed Virgin revealed to her servant her desire that he should found a Religious Order exclusively devoted to the Eucharist. Three years passed in painful efforts to carry out her wish. But the Immaculate Conception was hardly proclaimed, when Père Eymard received from Pius IX the assurance that the project came from God, and that he should devote himself to it without delay.
The Perpetual Exposition, served by religious priests day and night, is the flower which expanded in the sun of the Immaculate Conception.
We confess with joy, O Mary, that it is to thee we owe our existence. Grant, O tender Mother, that this little Society may breathe in the service of its Divine King thy own sentiments. Multiply its sanctuaries. Let the adoration cease neither day nor night. Send to it adorers in spirit and in truth, priests of fire, men who, after being inflamed upon the prie-Dieu, may traverse the whole world, spreading the fire of love which Jesus came to cast upon the earth, and which consumes Him in the Blessed Sacrament!
5. But, alas! we must acknowledge it, the God of love receives many outrages in the Eucharist. He is treated with great contempt, or, to say the least, with thoughtlessness and indifference. He bitterly complained of it to Blessed Margaret Mary. He showed her His Heart, drenched with ingratitude, demanding of her consolation and reparation. Mary heard the complaint of her Son. She is the Mother of repairers, the Mother of those who compassionate, for her own love made her on Calvary one same victim with her Crucified Son. Later, after the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist had been taught in the Church, Mary saw the heretical Ebionites and Encratites rising up to deny It. False brethren profaned the Most Blessed Sacrament. She saw by supernatural light, for mothers instinctively foresee the misfortunes that threaten their children, all the outrages and ingratitude the Blessed Sacrament would receive down through the centuries. She spent the last years of her life in reparation at the foot of the altar. It was she, too, who inspired the thought of the work Maria Reparatrix, whose members devote themselves to repairing, in union with Mary, the impiety, the sacrileges, which attack the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Give us, O Mother of pure love, to feel as thou dost, to compassionate with thee Jesus outraged in the Eucharist! Then our reparation will console His Heart!
6. Mary is commissioned to see that the Church is never wanting in the Eucharistic Bread. She is that true Sara, charged by Abraham to prepare bread for the guests, and she eagerly obeys. Holy Scripture praises her maternal solicitude: "Like the valiant woman, she hath risen in the night, and given a prey to her household and victuals to her maidens." It is through her inspiration that Christians furnish the foundation that maintain the priests and the altars.
7. It is Mary who multiplies churches: Mulier sapiens aedificat domun (Proverbs 14), and in the Holy Scripture, we find her occupied in the holy house that she has built, preparing for us an inebriating banquet: Sapientia aedificavit sibi domum. In how many places, indeed, has Mary wrought prodigies, appearing in marvelous apparitions, most frequently to request the building of a church in certain places, where crowds of pilgrims, attracted by the extraordinary graces that she there lavishes, find the Holy Eucharist, and glorify It by the numerous Masses there said, the innumerable Communions there made, and the fervent prayers there offered to God. Such is Mary's aim. Ah, how well does this most prudent Mother know how to attain it! Who can say the glory that the Blessed Sacrament has received, and does receive, every day in the sanctuaries of Loretto, of Laus, of La Salette, of Lourdes, of Notre-Dame des Victoires, and of so many other celebrated pilgrimages?
8. It is Mary who keeps alive the courage of those souls that devote themselves to works of Eucharistic zeal. Who would not wish, in imitation of Mary preparing the linens for Jesus, weaving His linen tunic, and later in the Cenacle, embroidering His corporals and the ornaments of His ministers, to unite in so sacred a work as is that for His tabernacles, or in that other so peculiarly Eucharistic, the lamp of the sanctuary?
Does a lamp burn in your country church? Is it olive oil that is consumed in it, according to the prescriptions of the Church? Attend to it in union with Mary. Think you, in the Cenacle she left that care to another?
Labor with her to adorn the altars, for she, "the valiant woman, hath sought wool and flax, and hath wrought by the counsel of her hands."
9. It belongs to Mary to form good priests. She is called the Queen of the Priesthood, Regina Cleri, and not without reason. Although she never received the sacerdotal character, she possesses its spirit admirably, and she fulfills its functions. She offered her Son in the Temple, and she willingly immolated Him on Calvary. "Were the executioners wanting," says Saint Bonaventure, "Mary's love would have led her to Immolate her Son herself for our salvation." This leads to the understanding of Saint Epiphanius's saying: "The Virgin! I call her the priest and the altar."
It is of Mary that we must ask holy vocations. Let all be filled with her spirit, and the world will be saved. The Apostles did not receive the plenitude of the sacerdotal spirit until the day of Pentecost. But before dividing on the head of each one of them, the Holy Spirit rested entire above Mary, in order to show that they received Him from her superabundant plenitude.
10. It was Mary who preserved intact in the Church the dogma of the Eucharist. Since the aberrations of the first heretics against the Eucharist, of whom Saint Ignatius of Antioch complains in the first century, passing over the blasphemies of Berengarius and Luther, down to the radical negations of modern rationalism, it was Mary who vanquished the spirit of error: "Rejoice, O powerful Virgin, thou hast crushed all heresies!" No matter of what form they were, they all tended to deny the truth of the dogma of the Eucharist by attacking the Divinity and the Humanity of Jesus Christ. But Mary, "terrible as an army in battle array," intervened and triumphed over them.
11. Mary forms the grace, Mary gives the spirit to all the virtues most necessary to Eucharistic piety. She is the Mother of faith in the Eucharist: Ego mater agnitionis. Faith is living only when nourished with the Bread of life and understanding. Mothers, Christian wives, who groan over the incredulity of a husband, of a cherished child, try to lead them into the presence of the Eucharist. If their faith is doubting, wavering only, and not extinguished, endeavor to introduce them more frequently to the source of light. The Eucharist is the centre of religion, the epitome of faith. He who believes in the Eucharist, believes all other truths, for all are continued in It.
For such conversions, go to Mary. It is the privilege, the happiness, of mothers to show their children to others. Do you see that woman whose bearing is so queenly? She is carrying in her arms her treasure, of which she is justly proud, her new-born son, swathed in linen of snowy whiteness. Approach her. Ask her, and what request could be more legitimate? the favor of seeing her beautiful child. To gratify you, she carefully puts aside the delicate veils, and shows you her child. Mary, that is thy prerogative, that is thy duty, even in the heavens! Does not the Church teach us to sing: "And, Jesus, the blessed fruit of thy womb, after this exile, show unto us, loving, sweet Virgin Mary!" Behold for all eternity Mary, the radiant ostensorium of Jesus Nobis ostende! sweet Virgin, begin thy ministry in time, and show unto us, reveal unto us thy Son. Give us to believe in the love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Obtain for us the grace to know only Jesus, only our Eucharistic Jesus!
12. If the Eucharist is the epitome and the centre of faith, It is, also, the most lovable, the most assured foundation of Christian hope.
Hope is established on the word of God, yet still more on His goodness, His love, and the proofs that He has given us of it. Ah! who could fall into despair when he beholds the Eucharist? What! if Jesus gives Himself here below so lavishly, in spite of all the sacrifices that it costs Him, will He not grant us the grace of salvation? What is the grace of salvation excepting the fruit of the Eucharist: When I receive the Eucharist, I have in my possession the pledge of my eternal salvation. After all, heaven is only a created grace, but Jesus gives me in the Sacrament the Author of grace, Grace increated, the superabundant Bread of glory. Ah! who will give us to found our hope upon the Eucharist, to hope in the love of God there consumed with love? Mary will do it, for she is the Mother of holy hope.
13. Et Pulchrte dilectionis. The title which applies most sweetly to the Blessed Virgin of the Eucharist, is that which she takes in Holy Scripture, Mother of Beautiful Love. It is, then, of her that we must ask the love necessary to respond to the immense love of Our Lord in His Sacrament. Let us remark, the Eucharist being, above every other Sacrament, the love of Jesus Christ, love in Its origin, in Its institution, in Its end, we unite ourselves to It, we sanctify ourselves by It, only by impregnating ourselves, as it were, with love which is Its nature. We must serve by love Him who gives Himself with so much love. No virtue is in such sympathy with the Eucharist as love. It is in this Sacrament that Jesus is truly Beautiful Love, and His Mother alone can give Him to us in that character: Et pulchras dilectionis.
14. Another fundamental grace in the reception of the Eucharist is purity of conscience. We know, but we forget too easily, how necessary it is for Holy Communion. Here it is that Mary's help will be a most precious advantage to us.
The unfortunate guests of the Gospel, who excited the indignation of the father of the household, were cast into exterior darkness, not because they were wanting in virtue, nor because they had defects, since, on the contrary, the lame, the sick, the poor, had been introduced to the banquet, but because they had not covered their rags with the wedding-garment.
"O," says Pinna, "where shall we, in our extreme misery, purchase a wedding-garment? Mary has provided it. It is sufficient to be of her household, to be one of hers, to receive it." "All her domestics are clothed with double garments." "This valiant woman," says Saint Augustine, "never fails to clothe all her children, so that not one can complain."
15. Another figure of Mary's help in Holy Communion is the vision of Isaias, in which a seraph purifies his lips with a live coal, which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. "I am amazed," says Gonti, "that a seraph, who is Himself all fire, should make use of an instrument to seize a coal, instead of taking it in his hand. But the mystery of that action is unveiled when I remember that this coal is the figure of the Eucharist. Who would dare approach and receive this Sacrament without Mary's help, for she is the divine instrument by means of which alone we can worthily partake of it?"
It is, then, to Mary that we must confide the care of preparing our heart for Holy Communion, and from her blessed hands receive It. Her joy is, to introduce her Son into pure hearts, and to give Him to those that are inflamed, if it be with only a little love.
16. We have enumerated the principal graces which we ought to hope from Mary in our relations with the Eucharist. It is by that, above all, that her power over this Sacrament is applied. This is her title to the invocation, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament. To obtain those graces, is for Mary a kind of merciful obligation; consequently, we must ask them of her with unlimited confidence. Of Our Lady of the Seven Dolors, we beg the grace of suffering, the tears of repentance; from Our Lady of Victory, the grace to triumph over the enemies of our salvation; but Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament we invoke, to obtain all the graces of which we have need in the accomplishment of our Eucharistic duties.
We have not said all. The soul that faithfully meditates the magnificence of Mary, will discover many other treasures that enrich her. We have not spoken of the greatest of all the helps which Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament offers us, namely, that of her own example. Did Mary live in the Eucharistic time? Did she receive Jesus in His Sacrament? Did she adore Him in His tabernacle? Did she, as we do, assist at the Holy Mass? Yes, certainly, and it is this that we are going to prove in the following chapters. We must be convinced that, in all our Eucharistic duties, Mary is our model, and that we are doing what she herself did with such perfection. One word more, which will be like a corollary of what we have just said.
If the Eucharist and all our Eucharistic graces come from Mary, we must return to Our Lord, through her, all the fruits that they produce. "It is only justice," says Saint Bernard, "that grace return to the source whence it flows, by the channel that brings it to us." Let us offer all to Our Lord by the hands of Mary, all our adoration, visits, Masses, Communions. Let us do all in union with Mary. Père Eymard had so comprehended this need to serve Jesus in the Eucharist with Mary, that he was not satisfied with writing the sweet meditations of the foregoing pages, but he wished that the imitation of her adoring life should become, as it were, living in a religious Society. He instituted The Servants of the Most Blessed Sacrament, in order to make Mary live again at the foot of the Eucharistic Throne. Their mission, their grace, their end, and their perfection are, to serve the Most Blessed Sacrament through Maria Adoratrix, like her, and united to her. O noble thought of his grand soul! He makes us touch with the finger, as it were, the reality of that portion of Mary's life of which we are now going to treat, namely, her life of Adoration and Communion in the Cenacle. There she is truly our model and our Mother. There her life is summed up in this word, left by Père Eymard as a device to his children: "All for the love and the service of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament!"
- from Month of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, by Saint Pierre-Julien Eymard