First Day of May

Mary, Mother of Eucharistic Adorers.

I.

If our life were not under Mary’s protection, we might tremble for our perseverance and salvation. Our vocation, which in a special manner binds us to the service of the King of kings, makes it a duty incumbent upon us to appeal to Mary. Jesus is King in the Eucharist, and He wishes to have in His court only trained servants that have made their full course, and who, before presenting themselves to the King, have learned to serve. Jesus has left us His Divine Mother to be the Mother and Model of Adorers. According to the most common opinion, He left her twenty-four years on earth, that we might learn from her to adore Him personally. What a beautiful life were those twenty-four years, passed in adoration! When we reflect upon the love of Our Lord for His Mother, we are lost in wonder that He consented to separate from her. Was it that the Blessed Virgin was not yet perfect? Was it that she had not suffered enough, she who had endured on Calvary more than all other creatures? Ah, yes, she had, indeed, suffered! But the interests of the Eucharist called for her prayers. Jesus was not willing that the first hour of Eucharistic adoration should be confided to poor adorers, who knew not how to adore worthily. The Apostles, obliged to labor for the salvation of souls, could not give sufficient time to Eucharistic adoration. In spite of their love, which would have chained them to the tabernacle, their Apostolic mission called them elsewhere. As to the new Christians, like unto children still in the cradle, a mother was needed to educate them, a model whom they could copy, and it was His own Blessed Mother that Jesus Christ left them.

II.

The whole life of Mary tended to good. It may be summed up in one word, adoration, for adoration is the perfect service of God. It embraces all the duties of the creature toward the Creator.

It was Mary who first adored the Incarnate Word. He was in her womb, and no one on earth knew it. O how well was Our Lord served in Mary’s womb! Never has He found a ciborium, a vase of gold more precious, or more pure than Mary’s womb. Mary’s adoration rejoiced Him more than that of all the angels. "The Lord hath placed His tabernacle in the sun," says the Psalmist. That sun is Mary’s heart.

At Bethlehem, Mary was the first to adore her Divine Son lying in the crib. She adored Him with the perfect love of a Virgin Mother, a love of dilection, as says the Holy Spirit. After Mary came Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi. But it was Mary who started that tongue of flame that will cover the whole world. O what beautiful things, what divine things could Mary utter, since she was in a state of love which we can neither fathom nor measure!

Mary went on adoring Our Lord in His hidden life at Nazareth, afterward in His apostolic life, and, lastly, on Calvary, where her adoration became pure suffering. Remark the nature of Mary’s adoration. She adored Our Lord according to His various conditions, she adapted her homage to Jesus state. It was that which gave character to her adoration. She did not remain in unchanging adoration. At one time, she adored God annihilated in her womb, at another poor in Bethlehem, again laboring at Nazareth, evangelizing the country, and converting sinners. She adored Him in His sufferings on Calvary, suffering herself with Him. Her adoration was in touch with the sentiments of her Divine Son, which were clearly shown her. Her love brought her into perfect conformity of thought and life with Him.

III.

To you, adorers, we say: "Adore incessantly our Eucharistic Jesus, but vary your adoration as the Blessed Virgin did. Recall and revive all the mysteries of religion in the Eucharist, else you will fall into routine. If the spirit of your love is not nourished by some form, some new thought, you will be come stupid in prayer." We should, then, celebrate all the mysteries in the Eucharist.

It was thus that Mary acted in the Cenacle. When the anniversaries of the great mysteries, wrought under her own eyes, came round, can we think that she did not recall their circumstances, the words, the graces connected with them? When, for instance, Christmas came round, can we imagine that Mary did not recall to her Son, then hidden under the Eucharistic veil, the love that greeted Him at His birth, His first smile, her own adoration, also that of St. Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi? She desired thereby to rejoice the Heart of Jesus by recalling to Him her love. And so it was with all other mysteries.

Ah! how do we act with a friend? Do we always speak to him of the present? Certainly not. We recall past memories, we call them into life again. When we want to compliment a father and mother, we recall the love, the constant and untiring devotedness, they showed us in our infancy. In like manner, Mary, during her adoration in the Genacle, rehearsed to Jesus all that He had done for His Father s glory, recalling to Him His great sacrifices, thus entering into the Eucharistic grace of the mystery she was then contemplating. The Eucharist is the memorial of all the mysteries of religion. It renews their love and grace. It is as necessary for us as for Mary to correspond to this grace, by contemplating Our Lord in all His actions, by adoring Him in all His different states, and uniting with them.

The Blessed Virgin had so powerful an attraction for the Eucharist that she could not live away from It. She lived in It, she lived of It. She passed her days and nights at the Feet of her Divine Son. She did, indeed, gratify the filial devotedness of the Apostles and the Faithful who desired to see her and converse with her, but her love for her hidden God shone in her countenance, and communicated its ardor to all around her.

O Mary, teach us the life of adoration! Teach us to find, as thou didst, all mysteries and all graces in the Eucharist, to live the Gospel over again, and to read it in the Eucharistic Life of Jesus! Remember, Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, that thou art the Mother of all adorers of the Holy Eucharist.

Practice. To offer our adoration to our Eucharistic Jesus through the hands of Mary.

Aspiration. Thou art blessed among women, Mary, and blessed is our Eucharistic Jesus, the fruit of thy womb!