The Blessed Virgin
and The Holy Eucharist
by Fr. John A Hardon, S.J.
There is no secret about how the Blessed Virgin is related to
the Holy Eucharist. It is very simple: except for the Blessed
Virgin, we would not have the Holy Eucharist.
The key to this relationship is the humanity of Jesus Christ.
God as God, was present in the world from the dawn of creation.
The same almighty power by which God brought the world into being
is the same almighty power by which He sustains the world in
existence and provides for its constant activity.
But something historic happened at the Annunciation. The
moment Mary told the angel, "Be it done to me according to
Your word," God began to be present in the world as man. The
infant in Mary's womb was her God become Incarnate. It was the
Word made Flesh. It was the Lord of the Universe become a human
child.
It was from Mary that the Son of God took our human nature. It
was from Mary that the Second Person of the Trinity received His
humanity. It was through Mary that Jesus Christ, who is God from
all eternity, became man, lived visibly on earth in Palestine and
is now invisibly on earth in every church and chapel in the
Catholic world where the Holy Eucharist is offered, received and
reserved.
Mary's relationship to her Son has not changed
since the Annunciation. As His Mother, she remains the Mother of
Divine Grace, through whom He pours out His blessings on a sinful
world. As Pope John Paul II observed in Redemptoris Mater,
"Mary guides the faithful to the Eucharist."
From The Sponsor Magazine, March 1994
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