Greetings my brothers and sisters,
In the month of August we have the honor of celebrating the first person to participate in the
Resurrection of the Lord Jesus…none other than his mother the Blessed Virgin Mary. When her earthly
life came to an end, Mary was assumed into heaven, body and soul. She did not suffer bodily decay.
There are some who believe that she did not actually die, but just passed from this life to the heavenly
life through her participation in the Resurrection of her son Jesus. The decree on the Assumption states:
…the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her
Munificentissimus Deus, 44
earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.
The wording was carefully chosen so as not to insist that Mary had died, just that her course of earthly
life had been completed. This was seen as necessary since Mary was conceived without sin and lived her
earthly life without sin and since death is the consequence of sin, then she would not have suffered this
consequence. Personally, I think, like her son, she chose to accept death in order to be like Him in all
things…but that is not really what is of interest at this time.
Instead, I would like to dwell on the connection between the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and
the Eucharist. Yes, there is a connection and a very important one to make.
The Eucharist, as we know, is the true Body and Blood of Jesus. He sacrificed his life on the cross and so
won for us forgiveness of sin and the possibility of eternal life. That life, of course, is lived in heaven and,
eventually, will include our own participation in the resurrection of Jesus in which, like Mary, we will
dwell body and soul in heavenly glory. That will be possible only if we remain in Jesus and are purified of
all sin and the consequences of our sins. We read in John, chapter 6:
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
John 6:56
We must consume the Eucharist if we are to remain in Jesus. In the same chapter, Jesus puts it even more succinctly:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”
John 6:53-54
To participate in the resurrection, we must receive the Eucharist.
What is more, when we receive the Eucharist, we are receiving a foretaste of the “heavenly banquet” in
which we will participate for all eternity. One of the devotional prayers we use as Oblates in our daily
visit to the Blessed Sacrament is from St. Thomas Aquinas:
“O Holy Banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the soul is filled with grace and there is given to us a pledge of future glory”.
The Eucharist is already a participation in the glory of heaven! What a wondrous gift! The
transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is a pledge of the
transformation we will undergo at the resurrection of the dead, when all things will be brought into the
life of Christ: the bread and the wine at this moment, and all who have faithfully and devoutly received
that precious gift throughout their life at the end of time. We as Church are the body of Christ now and
will become fully and eternally the Body of Christ at the resurrection.
Mary was the first to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus. She was, in fact, the one through whom God
the Son took on his body and blood! It is very fitting, then, that she is the first to participate in the
heavenly glory that was won for us by Jesus’ sacrifice of his Body and Blood, which sacrifice we call to
mind and is made present on the altar during the celebration of Holy Mass, the Eucharist.
Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, pray for us that we might remain in your Son, receiving his holy Body and
Blood, so we might discover and live out our call, until we are taken into heaven as you were. Amen.
Fr. Brian, OSJ
