This
weekend, two feasts occur here in the United States: the Feast of the
Visitation (Saturday) and the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Sunday in
most places). They are related.
Specifically, I would like to briefly meditate on the relation between the two
feasts, as they have to do with the flesh of our Lord, his Body and his Blood.
First,
we have the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary unto St. Elizabeth. It is in
this moment when we first hear of Mary as the “Mother of God.” Surprised? We
read in the Gospel reading for the feast, Luke 1:39-56, that St. Elizabeth was
filled with the Holy Spirit and declared, “How does this happen to me, that the
Mother of my Lord should come to me? (1:43 NAB)” The word Lord in this verse is
the same word in the Old Testament that was translated and used for God (YHWH)
– Κύριος.
We
see then, by the Holy Spirit, St. Elizabeth recognizing Mary as the Mother of
God, in the flesh. She has become the Christ-bearer to the world. “The Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us. (Jn. 1:14)” Jesus is fully God, and fully man.
The two natures are permanently inseparable. God eternally united himself to
humankind by being born of a woman. (Gal. 4:4)
Fast
forward to the end of Christ’s time on earth, after his resurrection. He was
resurrected in the flesh, glorified. He ate, he drank, he cooked, and he also
walked through locked doors and appeared in different places a little faster
than normal. Then, he ascended to Heaven. This is where the Feast of the
Ascension comes in.
Jesus,
like mentioned in other posts, did not go up to be ethereally united to his
Father. He didn’t all of a sudden cease to be human. He didn’t shed his body
from his soul. Instead, he remained human, and went up to be with the Father.
There is no end to his humanity. There he sits, at the right hand of the Father,
interceding for us on our behalf, guiding and nourishing his Church.
Come
back down to earth now. Christ’s Real Presence is in the Eucharist. Every day,
the Mass is celebrated here on earth. Bread and wine become the Body and Blood
of the Lord. There He is! Look! On the altar! The Lord! God made man.
Some
Christians deny the Eucharist. In doing so, they ultimately deny the
Incarnation. If God became man, what is to stop him from being in bread and
wine? I sometimes hear the argument that God cannot be contained in a host of
bread, a mere wafer, in a box (the tabernacle). Is this not the same thing that
the people of Israel did during Jesus’ time? When he was on earth saying things
like, “Before Abraham was, I am,” and declaring himself the Son of God, even
God himself, they did not believe him. “Impossible! Blasphemy! Idolatry!” they
cried. Then they crucified him.
Today, and also for the past two
thousand years, we have the same situation: Jesus is blasphemed as not being
fully present in the Eucharist. “Impossible! Blasphemy! Idolatry!” they cry.
And, yet, they do not realize that Christ, the Lord, does the same thing now,
each day, that he did when he became man at his Incarnation: he humbles
himself. “I am the Bread of Life,” he says. “This is my body, which is given up
for you. This is my blood of the new covenant.”
St. Ignatius, a direct disciple of
the Apostle St. John, wrote in his letter to the Smyrnaeans:
Take note of those who hold
heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see
how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God… They abstain from the
Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is
the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, Flesh which suffered for our sins and
which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of
God are perishing in their disputes.
His ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our
thoughts. God has chosen things of this world to confound the wise. The
Incarnation and the Eucharist are the perfect ways of God.
The
Mother of our Lord, then, is just as much the Mother of the Eucharist. “Flesh
of my flesh, bone of my bones.” Mary gave flesh to the Son of God and,
therefore, to the Eucharist. In accepting the gift of her Son, the Christ, she gave him to the world, and especially to the Church. And, as we know from the Ascension, Christ’s
humanity did not end when he went to the Father. His humanity continues in
heaven, and just as much, it continues on earth in the Real Presence of the
Eucharist.
In Communion, we receive the Son of
God and the Son of Mary at once. And in giving us his Body and Blood, we become
partakers in his flesh and blood, which was given for us, as well as his divine
nature. We are united with Christ, as brothers and sisters in the Spirit. We
are united with Christ as children of the Father, and we are united with Christ
in the order of grace as the children of Mary. When we partake in the
Eucharist, then, let us give thanks (εὐχαριστία) to God for our Mother, who is blessed among women. For as long as Jesus' humanity does not end, nor will her Motherhood end for us.
Mater Eucharistiae, ora pro nobis.
St. Ignatius, pray for us.
Amen. +
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