Thoughts of Mary – 12 May – To Jesus Through Mary

Thoughts of Mary – 12 May – “Mary’s Month”

To Jesus Through Mary
Moments with Saint Pope John XXIII (1881-1963)

The simple words of the first page of Matthew’s Gospel:  “Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ” (Mt 1:16) suffice for me, to establish the fundamental principle of all the great theological teaching which illustrates the connection between the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady.

Christian piety has rejoiced to learn from the Book of Acts, that Mary was present at the first gatherings of the faithful, when they broke read together as brothers and spent long hours in prayer.
And modern art has often portrayed the heavenly Mother in the act of receiving, from the hand of St John, the beloved apostle, the Communion of the Body and Blood of her Son.
But all this is superfluous and unnecessary for our convinced belief.

When we say, that in the Eucharist, we have the Son and in Mary, we have His Mother, have we not said all?
The great genius of Hippo, St Augustine, with his eagle-eyed power of vision, found the words which so brilliantly contain the Doctrine – Ave corpo vero, nato de Maria Virgine – Hail, true body, born of the Virgin Mary!

In this way – a delightful thing to say, a sublime thing to contemplate – the terms of this twofold mystery are merged into one, so that Mary appears to us radiant in the light of the Eucharistic mystery;  they are merged and yet they are the two extreme points, between which is evolved and developed, the whole Catholic Dogma of the Incarnation and of the continuing life of the Church.