Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Mary and the Eucharist
Columbia Magazine, The Knights of Columbus ^ | November 2010 | Archbishop Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap

Posted on 11/17/2010 11:38:55 AM PST by Alex Murphy

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following address was given Aug. 8 at the second Knights of Columbus Eucharistic Congress, which was dedicated to Pope John Paul II's encyclical on the Eucharist, Ecclesia de Eucharistia. It is on "At the School of Mary, Woman of the Eucharist," the sixth chapter of the encyclical. Ecclesia de Eucharistia can be read in its entirety at the Vatican Web site: www.vatican.va.

In an episode of the old TV show "All in the Family," Archie Bunker, a great contemporary theologian, was having an argument with his son-in-law, Meathead. Archie made one of his anti-Semitic remarks and Meathead immediately reacted by saying, "Archie, remember that Jesus was Jewish." To which Archie retorted: "Yes, but only on his mother’s side."

Indeed, Jesus' humanity comes from Mary's humanity. One of the popes wrote the beautiful prayer, Ave Verum Corpus natum de Maria Virgine. "Hail true body (of Christ) born of the Virgin Mary." It was originally to be prayed at the elevation at Mass as people contemplated the host, recalling that the body of Christ we receive in Communion is the same body of Christ that Mary gave to us at Bethlehem.

Often at Christmastime I point out the eucharistic meaning of the occasion. Jesus is born at Bethlehem, which means, "House of Bread." And Jesus is laid in a manger that is the feed box where the flock comes to be fed.

Pope John Paul II has given us the magnificent encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia in which a whole chapter is dedicated to the profound relationship that Mary has with the mystery of the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is the mysterium fidei, the mystery of faith that "so greatly transcends our understanding as to call for a sheer abandonment to the word of God," he writes (54.1). At the Visitation, Elizabeth, moved by the Spirit, gives us the first beatitude in the Gospel directed at Mary: "Blessed are you because you believed" (Luke 1:45). Just as Abraham, our father in faith, stands at the opening of the Old Testament, Mary, great woman of faith, stands at the opening of the New Testament.

Saying Yes to Jesus

At the Annunciation, Mary's consent was one of the most important moments in the history of salvation and in the unfolding of the eucharistic mystery. We call that moment her fiat, the first word in a Latin phrase that means "Be it done unto me according to your word." When we say yes to God, we allow his grace to be fruitful, to break into our history. When we say no, his plan is thwarted, the world is deprived of grace and creation is impoverished. What would have happened had Mary said no to God’s invitation? Would we still be awaiting a Messiah?

Pope John Paul has a beautiful paragraph in which he relates Mary’s fiat to the Amen every believer says when receiving Communion. Mary was asked to believe that the one whom she conceived "through the Holy Spirit" was "the Son of God." In the eucharistic mystery we are asked to believe that the one whom she conceived is Son of God and son of Mary. We are asked to believe that Jesus is present in his full humanity and divinity under the signs of bread and wine.

John Paul says that Mary anticipated in the mystery of the Incarnation the Church’s eucharistic faith. He writes, "When, at the Visitation, she bore in her womb the Word made flesh, she became in some way a tabernacle in which the Son of God, still invisible to our human gaze, allowed himself to be adored by Elizabeth, radiating his light as it were through the eyes and voice of Mary" (55.3).

The pope gives us a "re-reading" of the Magnificat in a eucharistic key. The Eucharist like the Canticle of Mary is first and foremost praise and thanksgiving. When Mary exclaims: "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior," she already bears Jesus in her womb (like a living tabernacle). She praises God through Jesus, but she also praises him in Jesus and with Jesus. This is itself the true eucharistic attitude. At the same time, Mary recalls the wonders worked by God in salvation history in fulfillment of the promise once made to Abraham and our spiritual ancestors.

She proclaims the wonder that surpasses them all, the redemptive Incarnation. Lastly, the Magnificat reflects the eschatological tension of the Eucharist. Every time the Son of God comes to us in the “poverty” of the sacramental signs of bread and wine, the seeds of that new history wherein the "mighty are put down from their thrones and those of low degree are exalted," take root in the world. The Magnificat expresses Mary's spirituality, and there is nothing greater than this spirituality for helping us to experience the mystery of the Eucharist.

The Joyful Mysteries

Allow me to share with you some of my personal meditations on the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary. These are the mysteries I like to use when I am praying the rosary during a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament.

The Annunciation to me is the little Christmas, the moment when the Word becomes flesh, takes on a body and becomes Jesus Christ. I associate Mary's fiat with the words of consecration at Mass. As soon as Mary says "Be it done unto me according to thy word," Jesus becomes present. In like manner, when the priest takes the bread and says, "This is my body," Jesus becomes present at the altar.

For the mystery of the Visitation I always associate Mary with the Ark of the Covenant. In the Old Testament God is present to his people whenever the ark is with them. In the ark were the spiritual treasures of Israel, the tablets of the law, Aaron's staff and some of the manna that fed Israel in the desert. In the Book of Chronicles the Israelites take the ark to the house of Obededom, where it remained for three months (1 Chr 13:14). In Luke's Gospel Mary arrives like the Ark of the Covenant carrying Jesus, the new manna, and stayed with Elizabeth for three months (1:56).

As I alluded to earlier, the Third Mystery, the Nativity of Jesus, also has strong eucharistic symbolism beginning with the name Bethle-hem, "House of Bread."

In the Fourth Mystery, the Presentation, Mary and Joseph offer the Son to God the Father. Mary gives the body of Christ to the priestly figure of Simeon who receives Christ, as if in Communion, in his arms.

The Fifth Mystery is the finding of Jesus in the temple. We can always find the true presence of Christ in the tabernacles of our Catholic churches. He is waiting to be discovered and reunited to those who have sought him sorrowing.

'Do Whatever He Tells You'

Pope John Paul opens the chapter on Mary by saying, "In my Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, I pointed to the Blessed Virgin Mary as our teacher in contemplating Christ's face, and among the Mysteries of Light I included the institution of the Eucharist. Mary can guide us toward this most holy sacrament, because she herself has a profound relationship with the Eucharist” (53.1).

In repeating what Christ did at the Last Supper we also accept Mary’s invitation to obey Christ without hesitation: "Do whatever He tells you!" In the Acts of the Apostles we find Mary at the heart of the Christian community helping those disciples to persevere in prayer. The pope affirms that Mary must have been present at the eucharistic celebrations of the first generation of Christians, who were devoted to the Mass which they called : "the breaking of the Bread."

The pope elaborates on the Calvary experience of John, who accepts Mary as his Mother. Accepting Mary as our Mother is a commitment to be conformed to Christ, "putting ourselves at the school of his Mother and allowing her to accompany us" (57.2).

I will close by tying together three things we love as Catholics: the Blessed Mother, the pope and the Eucharist. These aspects of our Church distinguish us from other Christians.

The pope's many journeys have made him present to so many Catholics. Despite personal challenges he keeps exerting himself so that the ministry of Peter can continue in the Church uniting us in our following of Jesus and encouraging us to be faithful to the Gospel entrusted to us.

The Blessed Mother is beloved of our Catholic people. Since the Second Vatican Council the Church has stressed the fact that Mary is not only an intercessor and protectress, she is above all a model of faith and fidelity. In the center of her life is Jesus. She leads us to him and says, "Do whatever he tells you."

It is impossible to conceive of the Church without the Eucharist. The Church springs up around the Eucharist. We gather at the altar and are no longer strangers and rivals; we are brothers. It is to house our eucharistic altars and tabernacles that we build churches and chapels where we can come and be united to the Lord and to our brothers and sisters. The sacrament is the body and blood of the Lord that has come to us through Mary’s body and through her saying yes to God.

In this encyclical the great features of our Catholic faith intersect: Mary, the Eucharist and the Holy Father. Each is a treasure we cherish. Each is connected to the other and are signs of God's enduring love for his Church and for us who are proud to call ourselves Catholics.


TOPICS: Catholic; Ministry/Outreach; Theology; Worship
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-104 next last
To: Claud

“God certainly could do such a thing if He wanted to”

That is a the clincher, isn’t it? But the Scriptures do not speak of Christ being omnipresent. He is spoken of as being either here or there or somewhere but not in several places at once, i.e., he has a particular location at a particular time and so the Scriptures describe him. So he is one or the other but not divided amongst numerous places and meals.

As to “compelling” the notion that bread and wine are changed into flesh and blood but still look, feel, taste and otherwise retain all the physical qualities of bread and wine, well compelling it is not.

Even the description, “His Presence in the Host” assigns location in some confused way since the bread and wine is supposed to actually BE his flesh and blood not just a thing he resides in. Maybe that bread and wine can pass through walls and locked doors?

But according to Jesus own words the only thing it will pass through is the gut and end up in the sewer since it really is bread and wine.


81 posted on 11/19/2010 8:17:30 AM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: Claud
I don't need to read the church fathers on this. Their writing are not inspired and are prone to error. The only writings that are pure and undefiled are the scriptures-and this according to the Catholic Church.

There is ABSOLUTELY no scriptural evidence to even hint that people are to pray to Mary, let alone worship her. Why don't you worship Moses? Or Ruth? Or Esther? Or Abraham? Catholics may try to dream up reasons that they should pray to dead people and worship them, but in the end it is nothing more than idolatry. It is no different than worshiping Buddha or praying to Muhammad.

Anything that takes away glory from the Son is pure evil and blasphemous regardless of where it is coming from.

As far as "free will", there is only God's will and man's will. God's will is good and perfect. Man's will is bad and defiled. Man cannot do God's will unless God empowers him to do His will. This isn't rocket science but it sure seems to be hard for people to understand this.

82 posted on 11/19/2010 2:34:51 PM PST by HarleyD
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 79 | View Replies]

To: Claud
Claud, something very important is missing from your argument. The Roman Catholic Church believes and teaches that Mary was immaculately conceived.

"From the very beginning, and before time began, the eternal Father chose and prepared for his only-begotten Son a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom, in the blessed fullness of time, he would be born into this world. Above all creatures did God so love her that truly in her was the Father well pleased with singular delight." - Ineffabilis Deus.Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus.

ALSO

"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and priviledge granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful." - Ineffabilis Deus. Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus.

The Church teaches that she was created without a sin nature and was "ever absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and perfect". - Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus.

And she remained "free of every personal sin her whole life long." The German Bishop's Conference, The Church's Confession of Faith (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1987), p. 46m quoting J.A. Mohler.

But of course you already know this. Her "Immaculate Conception" was formed "before time began". So it is no longer a "lineage" thing to consider. Only Mary and Jesus share the same DNA, according to her 'preparation before time began'.

But this is only layer two of the peeling back. The next layer is her "participation with Christ in redemption."

83 posted on 11/19/2010 3:20:45 PM PST by smvoice (Defending the Indefensible: The Pride of a Pawn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 78 | View Replies]

To: count-your-change
He is spoken of as being either here or there or somewhere but not in several places at once, i.e., he has a particular location at a particular time and so the Scriptures describe him. So he is one or the other but not divided amongst numerous places and meals.

He is holding a piece of bread at the Last Supper and He says "This is my body". Is. Not represents, not symbolizes, but is.

Therefore you have Jesus still in his body, holding his body in his hands.

Plus, also let's not forget the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes in this context. Whatever the Eucharist is, it is a *miracle*, so trying to put into this nice little box of human spatial conception is not necessarily the best idea.

84 posted on 11/20/2010 6:21:26 AM PST by Claud
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

To: HarleyD

I am not citing the Fathers as any kind of infallible witness. I am citing them as historical evidence of *what the Church believed*...just like we would cite the Federalist Papers to illustrate what the Founding Fathers believed.

Look, at this point we’re just being drawn into typical Catholic/Protestant debate points. If you’re interested in the topic at hand of Mary’s presence in the Eucharist, then I’ll continue the discussion. Otherwise, bogging ourselves down into a debate swamp isn’t going to be terribly profitable for anyone.


85 posted on 11/20/2010 6:31:11 AM PST by Claud
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 82 | View Replies]

To: smvoice

You misunderstand the Immaculate Conception. Mary was free of original sin, yes, but she was conceived and born *in the natural way* to her parents Anna and Joachim. She was conceived as a result of sexual intercourse.

She is a creature, not a divine being.


86 posted on 11/20/2010 6:34:04 AM PST by Claud
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 83 | View Replies]

To: Claud
“He is holding a piece of bread at the Last Supper and He says “This is my body”. Is. Not represents, not symbolizes, but is.

Therefore you have Jesus still in his body, holding his body in his hands.”

Represents, figurative. Long before Jesus had said,

“I am the bread of life” (John 6:35,48). But he wasn't made of flour and water and baked in an oven.

“I am the true vine”. (John 15:1) Neither was he a plant despite seeming to say so to the rigidly, literalistic mind.

One wrong idea produces another, that the bread and wine retained all the characteristics of bread and wine until....well who knows.....did the wine have a funny taste or the bread become a bit chewy?

“Plus, also let's not forget the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes in this context.”

Let's not forget the fish remained fish and the bread remained bread, one didn't turn into the other or anything else.

“Whatever the Eucharist is, it is a *miracle*, so trying to put into this nice little box of human spatial conception is not necessarily the best idea.”

Since the Bible was written for humans their spatial conceptions are important for understanding it.

87 posted on 11/20/2010 7:09:53 AM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: Claud

Well, you’re correct we are off topic. The Eucharist was always viewed by the Catholic Church as actually transforming into the body of Christ. So how can it become the body of Mary?


88 posted on 11/20/2010 10:04:36 AM PST by HarleyD
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 85 | View Replies]

To: count-your-change; Claud
Represents, figurative. Long before Jesus had said,
“I am the bread of life” (John 6:35,48). But he wasn't made of flour and water and baked in an oven.
“I am the true vine”. (John 15:1) Neither was he a plant despite seeming to say so to the rigidly, literalistic mind.

Figurative expressions have meaning (notwithstanding some who apparently think "figurative" often means "meaningless"). Note the structure of the three different expressions: the first term is (in I.A. Richards' terminology) the "tenor" -- the "principal subject of the metaphor"; the second term is the "vehicle" -- the "borrowed idea, or what the tenor resembles."

For example, in "The sun is a red balloon," the tenor is the sun and the vehicle is the balloon (i.e., characteristics of redness and roundness are being attributed to the sun).

Christ is like "bread of life," because He is life-sustaining; He is like a vine because life-giving "sap" flows from and through Him; "bread" and "vine" say something about Christ, illuminate one aspect.

In the words of consecration, conversely, if it were figurative, "My body" would be the vehicle and say something about "This" -- the bread (which would be the tenor). Note He does not say "My teaching", but "My body." What exactly do you think "body" illuminates about "This [bread]"?

89 posted on 11/20/2010 10:39:38 AM PST by maryz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 87 | View Replies]

To: count-your-change

Nonsense, “represents.” Talk about doctrine made up of whole cloth. Scripture nowhere says the Eucharist merely “represents” His body...it says the exact opposite. This is purely the doctrine of men and not God.

Christ uses metaphors in some places,and he doesn’t in others? Looking at the whole context of John 6 (read the Greek), the institution narratives, and the Pauline epistles, it strains credulity to infer that he was being figurative.


90 posted on 11/20/2010 3:47:40 PM PST by Claud
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 87 | View Replies]

To: HarleyD
Well, you’re correct we are off topic. The Eucharist was always viewed by the Catholic Church as actually transforming into the body of Christ. So how can it become the body of Mary?

It can't. It's Christ's body. That's what I'm trying to get across here.

But since His body came from hers, you'd have to defy basic biology not to see a profound connection.

91 posted on 11/20/2010 3:50:21 PM PST by Claud
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: maryz; count-your-change

There’s an important distinction in the Greek too. I am the “true” vine uses Greek alethinos, which is true by analogy, figuratively true. Now contrast that to John 6 where Christ says “my flesh is true food, and my blood true drink.” That “true” is alethes, which is true as to substance, real genuine, authentic.


92 posted on 11/20/2010 3:54:06 PM PST by Claud
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 89 | View Replies]

To: Claud

Given that it was actually bread he held, bread left from the passover meal, “represents” is the only reasonable meaning to his words.


93 posted on 11/20/2010 4:42:50 PM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: Claud
“alhqwV
alethos
al-ay-thoce’
adverb from alhqhV - alethes 227; truly:—indeed, surely, of a surety, truly, of a (in) truth, verily, very.”
(Strong's)

John 6:55 uses the word “alethos”, above, and it meaning is noted above.

94 posted on 11/20/2010 9:56:30 PM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 92 | View Replies]

To: Claud
"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and priviledge granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful." - Ineffabilis Deus. Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus.

The Church teaches that she was created without a sin nature and was "ever absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and perfect". - Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus.

And she remained "free of every personal sin her whole life long." The German Bishop's Conference, The Church's Confession of Faith (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1987), p. 46m quoting J.A. Mohler.

Claude, the original sin I understand, but if you read the next two, they say she was ever absolutely free of ALL stain of sin, and she remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.

That is a big difference. THey are saying she was conceived free of sin and was sinless her entire life. Just like Jesus Christ.

How can this be, in your opinion?

ANother one that seems equally confusing is this:

"From the very beginning, and before time began, the eternal Father chose and prepared for his only-begotten Son a Mother in whom the Son of GOd would become incarnate and from whom, in the blessed fullness of time, he would be born into this world. Above all creatures did God so love her that truly in her was the Father well pleased." -Ineffabilis Deus. Pope Pius IX.

emphasis mine.

95 posted on 11/20/2010 10:13:14 PM PST by smvoice (Defending the Indefensible: The Pride of a Pawn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 86 | View Replies]

To: maryz

In John 6:47-58 Jesus compared himself to the manna that the Israelites feed on to sustain their physical lives and yet died by saying he was the bread that if one fed on would not die.

How to “feed” on that “bread”? Vs. 47 says by exercising faith in Jesus and his sacrifice. As Paul said, Christ entered into a “holy place with his own blood”, into heaven.

Just as the physical bread sustained a person’s life that “bread from heaven”, Christ, would give everlasting life. The bread represented his flesh.


96 posted on 11/20/2010 10:45:34 PM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 89 | View Replies]

To: count-your-change; Claud
You're not answering the question: How can it be said that the bread at the Last Supper is analagous (on your reading) to Christ's body? He's saying something about the bread which He has just blessed.

On our reading, the words of the Last Supper answer the conundrum of John 6, which the Jews found a "hard saying." On your reading, the words of the Last Supper are at best badly phrased.

Again, how does comparing (if you must) the bread to Christ's body ("which will be given up for you") say something about or illuminate the bread other than by taking Christ at His word?

97 posted on 11/21/2010 2:12:21 AM PST by maryz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 96 | View Replies]

To: maryz

Jesus takes a loaf of bread and says, “This is my body”.

The “this” is the loaf of bread. It is “my body” which is to be given, not the loaf of bread so nothing more is being said about the bread.
Therefore the bread represented his body, the wine his blood.

It wasn’t the bread that was to be given in their behalf but it was his body.

By eating the bread and drinking the wine they were in a representative way eating and drinking of his body.

“You’re not answering the question:”

You’re not paying attention.

There in John 6:50 Jesus says in reference to himself,

“This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die”.

He’s not offering a loaf of passover bread as he did at the last supper. The bread and wine represented his flesh and blood. The way in which his disciples would “eat” and “drink” of him was by exercising faith in him. (John 6:35)

It is that sense that the Israelites ate and drank from Jesus in the wilderness. (1 Cor. 10:4)

“On your reading, the words of the Last Supper are at best badly phrased.”

Not so any more than Jesus poorly phrased his comment about being “born” again, which is not to be taken literally but means one must undergo something comparative to being born.


98 posted on 11/21/2010 4:17:56 AM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 97 | View Replies]

To: count-your-change
Still avoiding the question.

The “this” is the loaf of bread. It is “my body” which is to be given, not the loaf of bread so nothing more is being said about the bread.

"Nothing more is being said about the bread" -- except of course that it "is My body."

It only works as figurative if "My body" somehow illuminates the bread at least in some aspect.

99 posted on 11/21/2010 6:05:57 AM PST by maryz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 98 | View Replies]

To: maryz
“It only works as figurative if “My body” somehow illuminates the bread at least in some aspect.”

Like the shadow “illuminates” the light?

But it does require one pay attention to what is being said through John and the rest of the Scriptures. Concluding that anyone was being asked to eat human flesh or drink blood was the error made by those ho left off following Christ due to taking his words in a narrow, literalistic sense.

100 posted on 11/21/2010 7:14:35 AM PST by count-your-change (You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 99 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-104 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson