The Twenty-First Day of May

Mary’s Adoration of Thanksgiving.

I.

To her act of humble and simple faith, to her adoration of self-annihilation, Mary added thanksgiving. After remaining abyssed in the sentiment of the grandeur of the Divine Majesty, veiled under the Sacrament, she raised her head toward the Thabor of love, to contemplate its beauty, and taste its ineffable sweetness. Mary gave thanks to Jesus for His love in the gift of the Eucharist, that sovereign act of His infinite bounty. Her thanksgiving was perfect, because she understood the greatness of the gift.

O how happy was Mary when, before the Last Supper, Jesus revealed to her that the hour for the triumph of His love had come, that He was about to institute His adorable Sacrament, by which, perpetuating Himself and living among us, each of the Faithful could share her happiness and, like her, receive Him into his breast; behold Him in some manner; and, in His Sacramental state, enjoy all the graces, and experience the mysteries of His mortal life! "After this Gift, in which I exhaust My power, I have nothing more to give to man except heaven!"

At this glorious news, Mary prostrated at the feet of Jesus, adoring in the effusion of her gratitude His too great love for men, too great for her, His unworthy handmaid. She offered herself to serve Him in His adorable Sacrament. She had consented to see the hour of her reward delayed that she might remain an adorer on earth commissioned to guard, to serve the Eucharist, happy to die at the foot of the divine tabernacle.

II.

In her adoration in the Cenacle, Mary daily renewed her thanksgiving: "How good Thou art, O my Savior!" she exclaimed,—"how good Thou art, my Lord and my Son! How couldst Thou love man to such a degree as to give him more than he can acknowledge, to invent what his heart can never understand! For love of him Thou dost exhaust Thy power and the treasures of Thy Heart!"

Then Mary gave thanks to each of the powers of Jesus soul, to each of the Savior’s members, which had co-operated in the institution of the Eucharist, offer ing to them the flames of love that consumed her heart.

O with what satisfaction, with what happiness Jesus received this first homage of His Blessed Mother, the first rendered to His Sacrament! O how His Heart rejoiced at having left for Mary’s consolation His Sacramental Presence! For Mary alone, Jesus would have instituted the Eucharist. Let us not be astonished at this. Mary’s adoration and thanksgiving were of more value, in the eyes of Jesus, than the united homage of all the saints.

Mary’s thanksgiving was, besides, most agreeable to Jesus, because recognition of benefits received and gratitude for them please Him above all else. That is all that He looks for from us. To adore by thanksgiving, is to adore well. It is to recognize the first of His attributes, that, above all, which He came to manifest here below, namely, His goodness. Let us tarry long at His feet.

Let us thank through Mary. A child receives, but it is his mother who thanks for him. United with the thanksgiving of Mary, ours will be perfect, and very acceptable to the Heart of Jesus.

Practice: Pray incessantly to Mary for seminarians, the altar boys of the various parishes, and for all the Faithful that they may acquit themselves with piety and reverence of their holy functions.

Aspiration: Mary, perfect handmaid of our Eucharistic Jesus, we bless thee!