OUR LADY OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

This title was given to our Blessed Mother in May 1868 by Saint Peter Julian Eymard to honor her in her relationship to the Holy Eucharist and to place her before us as a model in our duties and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Our Lady gives witness to being Christian. In her conduct toward the Blessed Sacrament, we learn what ours should be!

She believed in the reality of Christ’s presence in the Holy Eucharist. In other words, the virtue of faith was as necessary for her as it is for us. Great was her faith in her son, the Son of God, our Savior, and in all his teachings and deeds. This faith of hers found its particular exercise in regard to the Blessed Sacrament, the mystery of faith, the denial of which implies the destruction of the whole structure of our belief.

A second point in which Mary conformed to the general body of the faithful was her Sunday attendance at the Eucharist. And still another point in which the Blessed Virgin is our model is in her reception of Holy Communion during her life, and at the moment of her death. By her faith in and her love for our Lord in the Eucharist, Mary is an example for Christians and thereby brings us to fervent devotion to him.

Truly, we can call Mary, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, and follow her faith and love for Jesus in the Eucharist. Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament is the chosen and official patroness of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Her feast day is celebrated on May 13, the date on which the new Congregation received Archdiocesan approbation in Paris in 1856.

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PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

Blessed are you, Mary, exalted Daughter of Sion! You are highly favored and full of grace, for the Spirit of God descended upon you. We magnify the Lord and rejoice with you for the gift of the Word made flesh, our bread of life and cup of joy. Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, our model of prayer in the Cenacle, pray for us that we may become what we receive, the body of Christ your son. Amen.

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In all of Our Lady’s true apparitions, she desires there to be built a church where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass can be offered and where her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, can be adored and worshipped. Just one example of this occurred at Fatima, Portugal on May 13, 1917. It was the Feast of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament?..

Prayers from Fatima

Pardon Prayer
My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I implore Your pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You. Amen.

Angel’s Prayer
Most Holy Trinity – Father, Son, Holy Spirit – I adore You profoundly and offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the earth, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference by which He Himself is offended. And by the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and those of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners. Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer
Most Holy Trinity, I adore you! My God, my God, I love you in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

AT THE SCHOOL OF MARY,
“WOMAN OF THE EUCHARIST”

In addition to her sharing in the Eucharistic banquet [of the first generation of Christians], an indirect picture of Mary’s relationship with the Eucharist can be had, beginning with her interior disposition. Mary is a “woman of the Eucharist” in her whole life. The church, which looks to Mary as a model, is also called to imitate her in her relationship to this most holy mystery.

Pope John Paul II, On the Eucharist in Its Relationship to the Church

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Her motherhood is particularly noted and experienced by the Christian people at the Sacred Banquet, the liturgical celebration of the mystery of the Redemption-at which Christ, his true body born of the Virgin Mary,, becomes present.

The piety of the Christian people has always very rightly sensed a profound link between devotion to the Blessed Virgin and worship of the Eucharist: this is a fact that can be seen in the liturgy of both the West and the East, in the traditions of the Religious Families, in the modern movements of spirituality, including those for youth, and in the pastoral practice of the Marian Shrines. Mary guides the faithful to the Eucharist.

(Pope John Paul II : Redemptoris Mater)

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DEDICATED TO THE WOMAN I LOVE:

The Woman whom even God dreamed of

Before the world was made;

The Woman of whom I was born

At a cost of pain and labor at a Cross;

The Woman who, though no priest,

Could yet on Calvary’s Hill breathe,

“This is my Body; This is my Blood”?

For none save her gave Him human life.

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The Woman who guides my pen,

Which falters so with words

In telling of the Word.

The Woman who, in a world of Reds,

Shows forth the blue of hope.

Accept these dried grapes of thoughts

From this poor author, who has no wine;

And with Cana’s magic and thy Son’s Power

Work a miracle and save a soul?

Forgetting not my own.

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Archbishop Fulton Sheen

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Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament

a meditation from St. Peter Julian Eymard, Founder of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers

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THE MONTH OF OUR LADY OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT

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The Month of Mary is the month of bless?ings and of grace, for, as St Bernard, in company with all the Saints, assures us, all grace comes to us through Mary. The month of Mary is a continuous festival in honor of the Mother of God, which prepares us well for the beautiful month of the Blessed Sacrament which follows it.

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Because our vocation calls us to give special honor to the Holy Eucharist, we must not for that reason give any the less devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Far from it, he would be guilty of blasphemy who would say, “The Most Blessed Sacrament suffices for me; I have no need of Mary.” Where, then shall we find Jesus on earth if not in Mary’s arms ? Was it not she who gave us the Eucharist? It was her consent to the Incarnation of the Word in her womb that inaugurated the great mystery of repa?ration to God and union with us which Jesus accomplished during His mortal life, and that He continues in the Eucharist.

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Without Mary, we shall never find Jesus, for she possesses Him in her heart. There He takes His delight, and those who wish to know His inmost virtues, to experience the privilege of His intimate love, must seek these in Mary. They who love that good Mother find Jesus in her pure heart. We must never separate Jesus from Mary; we can go to Him only through her.

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I maintain, moreover, that the more we love the Eucharist, the more we must love Mary. We love all that our friend loves; now, was ever a creature better loved by God, a mother more tenderly cherished by her Son, than was Mary by Jesus? Oh yes, our Lord would be much pained if we, the servants of the Eucharist, did not greatly honor Mary, because she is His Mother, Our Lord owes everything to her in the order of His Incarnation, His human nature. It is by the flesh that she gave Him that He has so glorified His Father, that He has saved us, and that He continues to nourish and save the world by the Blessed Sacrament.

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Let us, then, honor the Blessed Virgin by a daily sacrifice. Let us go to our Lord through her; shelter ourselves behind her, take refuge beneath her protecting mantle; clothe ourselves in her virtues. Let us be, in short, but Mary’s shadow. Let us offer all her actions, all her merits, all her virtues to our Lord. We have only to have recourse to Mary and to say to Jesus: “I offer Thee the riches that my good Mother has acquired for me” and our Lord will be very much pleased with us.

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Sacramentum Caritatis, Part One, #28

From Pope Benedict XVI?s apostolic exhortatation Sacramentum Caritatis, Part One:

The Eucharist and the Virgin Mary

33. From the relationship between the Eucharist and the individual sacraments, and from the eschatological significance of the sacred mysteries, the overall shape of the Christian life emerges, a life called at all times to be an act of spiritual worship, a self-offering pleasing to God. Although we are all still journeying towards the complete fulfilment of our hope, this does not mean that we cannot already gratefully acknowledge that God?s gifts to us have found their perfect fulfilment in the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Mother. Mary?s Assumption body and soul into heaven is for us a sign of sure hope, for it shows us, on our pilgrimage through time, the eschatological goal of which the sacrament of the Eucharist enables us even now to have a foretaste.

In Mary most holy, we also see perfectly fulfilled the ?sacramental? way that God comes down to meet his creatures and involves them in his saving work. From the Annunciation to Pentecost, Mary of Nazareth appears as someone whose freedom is completely open to God?s will. Her immaculate conception is revealed precisely in her unconditional docility to God?s word. Obedient faith in response to God?s work shapes her life at every moment. A virgin attentive to God?s word, she lives in complete harmony with his will; she treasures in her heart the words that come to her from God and, piecing them together like a mosaic, she learns to understand them more deeply (cf. Lk 2:19, 51); Mary is the great Believer who places herself confidently in God?s hands, abandoning herself to his will. (102)

This mystery deepens as she becomes completely involved in the redemptive mission of Jesus. In the words of the Second Vatican Council, ?the blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son until she stood at the Cross, in keeping with the divine plan (cf. Jn 19:25), suffering deeply with her only-begotten Son, associating herself with his sacrifice in her mother?s heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of the victim who was born of her.

Finally, she was given by the same Christ Jesus, dying on the Cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: ?Woman, behold your Son.?? (103) From the Annunciation to the Cross, Mary is the one who received the Word, made flesh within her and then silenced in death. It is she, lastly, who took into her arms the lifeless body of the one who truly loved his own ?to the end? (Jn 13:1).

Consequently, every time we approach the Body and Blood of Christ in the eucharistic liturgy, we also turn to her who, by her complete fidelity, received Christ?s sacrifice for the whole Church. The Synod Fathers rightly declared that ?Mary inaugurates the Church?s participation in the sacrifice of the Redeemer.? (104) She is the Immaculata, who receives God?s gift unconditionally and is thus associated with his work of salvation. Mary of Nazareth, icon of the nascent Church, is the model for each of us, called to receive the gift that Jesus makes of himself in the Eucharist.

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Thoughts on Infinite Mercy and St. Mary Magdalene

PRESENCE OF GOD: Teach me, 0 Lord, the secrets of Your mercy that I may fully profit by them.

MEDITATION 1. God’s love for us assumes a very special claim, one that is adapted to our nature as frail, weak creatures: the character of mercy. Mercy is love bending over to relieve it, to redeem it, to raise it up to itself. It almost seems that God, in loving us, is attracted by our weakness, not because it is lovable, but because, being infinite goodness, His compassion stoops to compensate for it by His mercy.

He wants to heal our imperfection by His infinite perfection, our impurity by His purity, our ignorance by His Wisdom, our selfishness by His goodness, our weakness by His strength: God, the supreme, eternal good, wants to be the remedy for all our ills, “for He knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust” (Ps. 102:14).

Since our greatest evil-rather, the only real evil-is sin, infinite mercy would be the remedy. Assuredly, God hates sin, but, although He is forced to withdraw His friendship that is, His grace, from the soul of the sinner because of the offense, His mercy still finds a way of continuing to love. If He can no longer love him as a friend, He loves him as a creature, as the work of His hands; He loves him for the that is still in him and which gives hope of his conversion. God’s mercy is so immense that no misery, however great can exhaust it; not even the most infamous sin, providing it be repented of, can halt it. This sad power is reserved to one thing only; the proud will of man by which he disdainfully shuts himself up in his wickedness, not wishing to admit how great is his need of God’s infinite mercy. In such a case, in spite of the immensity of divine mercy, the solemn words of the Gospel are fulfilled : “God hath scattered the proud the conceit of their heart, He hath put down the mighty from their seats … the rich He hath sent empty away” (Lk.1: 51-53).

2. There is no limit to God’s mercy. He never rejects us because of our sins, He never grows weary of our infidelities, never refuses to forgive us. He is always ready to forgive our offenses and to repay our ingratitude with graces. He never reproaches us for our offenses, even when we fall again immediately after being forgiven. He is never angered by our repeated failures or weakness in the practice of virtue, but always stretches out His hand to us, wanting to help us. When men condemn us, God shows mercy to us; He absolves us and sends us away justified, as Jesus did with the woman taken in adultery. “Go, and now sin no more”(Jn.8:11). By His words and example, Jesus has shown us the inexhaustible depths of God’s mercy. Let us think of the prodigal son, the lost sheep, Magdalene, and the good thief. But He has also said to us: “Be ye therefore merciful, as Your Father also is merciful” (Lk.6:36).

How far does our mercy go? How much compassion do we have for the faults of others? The measure of our mercy toward our neighbor will be the measure of God’s mercy toward us, for Jesus said, “With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Mt. 7:2) God does not require us to be sinless but that He may shower upon us the fullness of His mercy, but He does require us to be merciful to our neighbor, and moreover, to be humble.

In fact to be sinners is not enough to attract divine mercy; we must also humbly acknowledge our sins and turn to God with complete confidence. “What pleases God,” said St. Therese of Lisieux, ” is to see me love my littleness and poverty; it is the blind hope I have in His mercy. This is my sole treasure.” This is the treasure which supplies for all our miseries, weaknesses, relapses and infidelities, because by means of this humility and confidence we shall obtain the divine Mercy. And with this at our disposal, how can our wretchedness discourage us?

Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene (Divine Intimacy)

PRAYER TO SAINT MARY MAGDALENE

Saint Mary Magdalene, woman of many sins, who by conversion became the beloved of Jesus, thank you for your witness that Jesus forgives through the miracle of love. You, who already possess eternal happiness in His glorious presence, please intercede for me, so that some day I may share in the same everlasting joy. Amen.

Isaiah 1:18

Says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

Luke 7:47

“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much.

But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

We find the very same message echoing like a refrain throughout the

Diary of St. Faustina:

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Jesus said to her: I am Love and Mercy itself (1074).

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My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls, and espe­cially for poor sinners ;

it is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from my Heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy (367).

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Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet (699).

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My mercy is greater than your sins, and those of the entire world (1485).

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I let my Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come then with trust to draw graces from this fountain (1485).

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Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than they ask. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion (1146).

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I never reject a contrite heart (1485).

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Sooner would heaven and earth turn into noth­ingness than would My mercy not embrace a trusting soul (1777).

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Proclaim to the whole world My unfath­omable mercy (1142).

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Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God.

All the works of My hand are crowned with mercy (301).

Jesus loved .. Mary. (Jn.11:5)

SAINT MARY MAGDALEN was the privileged friend of Jesus. She served Him with her wealth and accompanied Him everywhere. She honored His humanity magnificently with her gifts. She loved to pray at His feet in the silence of contempla­tion. For all these reasons she is the patroness and model of a life spent in the adoration and service of Jesus in the Sacrament of His love. Let us study Saint Mary Magdalen; her life is full of the very best lessons.

JESUS loved Martha, her sister Mary, and Lazarus; but especially Mary. Certainly He loved the three of them, but He loved Magdalen with preferential love. Although our Lord loves us all, He nevertheless has His favorite friends, and He allows us also have special friends in God. Friends are a natural and even supernatural need. All the saints had bosom friends, and they themselves were the most affectionate and devoted of friends.

Before her conversion Magdalen was a public sinner. She possessed all the qualities of mind and body and all the gifts of fortune that can lead one to the worst excesses. And she fell into them. The Gospel lowers her to the rank of a public sinner. She was so degraded that Simon the Pharisee felt disgraced when she entered his home. And he even doubted the prophetic power of Jesus because the Master allowed her to remain at His feet.

But after having been forgiven, this poor sinful woman was to take her place among the greatest saints. See her at work. Human respect is, more than anything else, what holds back great sinners and prevents them from being converted. “I will not be able to persevere,” they say. “I dare not start what I cannot finish.” And disheartened, they go no further.

But Magdalen learned that Jesus was in Simon’s house. She did not hesitate, but went straight to Jesus and made her confession in public. She dared enter a house from which she would heave been shamefully expelled had she been recognized at the door. While at the feet of Jesus, she said not a word; her love spoke audibly enough. Artists have painted her with disheveled hair and disorderly dress; that is all imagination; it would not have been worthy either of Jesus or of her contrition.

She went straight to Jesus without mistaking anyone else for Him. But where had she known Him? Ah! An ailing heart knows well where to find the One that will comfort and cure it!  Mary dared not look upon Jesus. She said nothing: true contrition acts that way. Look at the Prodigal Son and at the Publican. The sinner who looks God full in the face after having offended Him insults Him. But Mary wept: she “washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head.” Her place is at the feet of Jesus. These feet trod the earth, and she knew she was but the dust of a corpse. The world is extremely fond of beautiful hair; she used hers as a rag.

She remained prostrate on the ground, awaiting her sentence. She heard the remarks made by the envious Apostles and Jews who honored only triumphant and crowned virtue. They did not like Magdalen who was teaching everyone of them a lesson; for everyone of them had sinned, but not one had the courage to ask pardon publicly. Simon himself, bloated with pride and hypocrisy, grew indignant. But Jesus avenged Magdalen. What beautiful words of re­habilitation: “More has been forgiven her because she has loved more …. Thy faith hath made thee safe,” said the Savior to her. “Go in peace.” He did not add: “Sin no more.” Jesus had said this to the adulteress, who was more humiliated for having been caught in the act than repentant for having offended God. But Magdalen had no need of that advice; her love assured Jesus’ of her firm purpose of amendment. What a beautiful and touching absolution! Magdalen must have had a very perfect contrition! When you go to confes­sion, unite yourself to Magdalen and let your con­trition, like hers, proceed more from love than from fear.

Magdalen withdrew after having received this baptism of love. By her humility she became more perfect than the Apostles. Ah! Despise sinners now if you dare! One moment is enough to turn them into great saints. How many among the greatest has not Jesus Christ drawn from the mire of sin: Saint Paul, Saint Augustine, and many others! Magdalen opens the way for them; she ascended to the very Heart of God because she started very low and knew how to humble herself. Who then has a right to despair?

MAGDALEN’S love became active after her conversion. That is an important lesson. Many converted sinners do nothing else beyond being converted. They want to remain in the peace of a good conscience through fidelity to the Commandments. They dare not follow Jesus, and they end by relapsing into sin. Man cannot live on tears and regrets. You have destroyed the ob­jects to which your heart was so attached and of which you lived; you must substitute something else and live of the life of God.

You want to re­main at the feet of Jesus? He rises to go; follow Him and walk with Him. And so Magdalen be­gan to follow Jesus; she was never to leave Him. We find her again at His feet, listening to His words and pondering them in her heart. That was the grace of her life. She had no language other than meditation, prayer, and love. She followed Jesus and practiced the virtues proper to His vary­ing conditions of life. A conversion that does not go beyond sentiment is not lasting.

Mary shared the different states of Jesus. During His journeys she procured for Him what He required for His own subsistence and that of His Apostles. Jesus was frequently to come to the home of His hosts in Bethany; by way of exchange’ He gave them a food of grace and love. On each occasion Mary sat at His feet and remained there in prayer. Martha became envious of her once, as do all those who think there is only one good state of life, one good way of living. Every state of life is good. The one you have is good; persevere in it, but do not despise the others. When Martha waited on Jesus, she was doing something good; but she was wrong in being envious of her sister. You know how Jesus answered her and defended Magdalen. It is better to listen to His voice than to wait on Him. It still happens that people en­gaged in active callings complain of contemplative souls: “You are useless! Come along and work for the salvation of your brethren in charitable’ undertakings.” But Jesus defends them. Must not one also practice charity towards Jesus Christ, Who is so poor and abandoned in His sacrament? Magdalen heard that dialogue and her sister’s complaints; but she did not answer them. She was at the Savior’s feet, and she remained there.

Another characteristic trait of Magdalen’s active love is suffering; she suffered with Jesus Christ. No doubt she knew beforehand of her Master’s death; friends have no secrets for each other. And if Jesus revealed His Passion to His Apostles who were so rude, why would He have concealed it from Magdalen?

See Magdalen in her suffering love. She went where men were afraid to go; she ascended Cal­vary; she forsook her dearly loved family; she fol­lowed the suffering Lord to the very end. And we find her with Mary at the foot of the Cross. The Gospel mentions her by name, and she cer­tainly deserves it. What was she doing there? She loved and sympathized. A friend wants to share the condition of his friend. Love fuses two lives, two existences into one Magdalen did not stand; she remembered she had been a sinner, and she remained on her knees. Mary alone stood, im­molating her dearly beloved Son, her Isaac.

Magdalen stayed there until after the death of Jesus. She returned on the morning of the first day of the week. She knew very well that Jesus was buried; but she wanted still to suffer and to weep. The Gospel praises the zeal of the other women and the magnificence of their gifts; it speaks only of the tears of Magdalen. She is the Christian heroine. More than all the saints Mag­dalen shows us the immensity of divine mercy.

St. Peter Julian Eymard

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