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 published: 2005-09-30

The Eucharist and Mary

The General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist begins on October 2nd

 

Hemos venido a adorarle: recuerdos inolvidables de la JMJ 2005

We have come to adore HIM: unforgettable moments of WYD 2005

Wir sind gekommen, um IHN anzubeten: Unvergessliche Momente des WJT 2005

Foto: Weltjugendtags-gGmbh © 2005

 

El 2 de octubre, comienza el sínodo sobre la eucaristía

October 2, the synod on the eucharist begins in Rome

Am 2. Oktober beginnt die Bischofssynode über die Eucharistie

 
 

Herencia de Juan Pablo II: La eucaristia y Maria, el Año de la Eucaristía y el Año del Rosario

Legacy of John Paul II: Eucharist and Mary, the Year of the Eucharist and the Year of the Rosary

Erbe Johannes Pauls II: Eucharistie und Maria, Eucharistischen Jahr und Rosenkranzjahr

 
 

Proecisión de Corpus Cristi en Schoenstatt

Corpus Christi procession in Schoenstatt

Fronleichnamsprozession in Schönstatt

Fotos: POS Fischer © 2005

 
 

Rosario Iluminado en Santa Maria, Brasil

Illuminated Rosary in Santa Maria, Brazil

Lichter-Rosenkranz in Santa Maria, Brasilien

Foto: Meister © 2005

 
 
ROME, Fr. Alberto Eronti. The General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops convoked by Pope John Paul II will take place in Rome from October 2nd to the 23rd. Through the great experience of grace of the Jubilee Year 2000 and the commotion caused in the world by the attack of September 11th in New York and with the consequences which ensued, the Polish Pope wanted to highlight to the Church two especially intense modes of the presence of God. It deals with the dual testament of Jesus to the Church and humanity: the Eucharist and Mary. Thus in the 2003-2004 year, he promoted the Year of the Holy Rosary, and for 2004-2005, the Year of the Eucharist. The solemn closing of the latter will coincide with the Synod.

What did John Paul II want with both events? He wanted the Church to return to its Mother through the "beloved prayer" of the Holy Rosary "which in her Marian appearance is the prayer of a Christ-centered heart and in the sobriety of its elements concentrates the entire message of the gospel into a compendium." What has been said becomes clear when in the Letter on the Eucharist he describes his pastoral intention: "I would like to rekindle this Eucharistic amazement" and in continuity with the Year of the Rosary, I want to indicate to the Church the "program" which will guide her at the dawn of the new millennium: "To contemplate the face of Christ and to contemplate it with Mary."

The presence of God in life

Christ and Mary! Why these two names, why these two faces? Because at the dawn of the long road of the third Christian millennium, the Church and the whole of humanity face serious difficulties motivated by a speedy changing of time. Difficulties which can be summarized with two expressions which hold a series of more connotations: the loss of the sense of sacredness and ethical and moral relativity.

Justly, the two expressions and their meanings have been used and explained by Pope Benedict XVI. Unbelief, religious indifference, and the tendency to marginalize God are creating such a style that man loses the sense for the "presence of God" in his life. This mode of living and the social and communitarian atmosphere it creates, disable man to live the essentials of faith received at baptism: the Covenant. The promises of"continuation", of "friendship", of "walking together" which were made by Jesus are blocked by man in the measure he loses the sense of the sacred and assumes a moral and ethical relativism to live his life.

This is where both Popes remind the Church and offer to the Church the two Treasures, the two "Testaments of the Lord" which are a vital response to the reality which is lived by the disciples in the world: the Eucharist and Mary. This is how the "promise" of Jesus becomes a reality for us: "I am with you always, until the end" (Mt. 28,20) and we also do the same as John, the beloved disciple: To receive Mary in the home of one’s heart (Jn. 19,27).

The Eucharist and Mary

The Eucharist and Mary. John Paul II calls the Virgin "Woman of the Eucharist" and adds that "Mary is a Eucharistic Woman with her entire life" (Ec.Eu.no.52). She is the one who recalling the "mandate" of Jesus: "Do this in memory of me" (Lk.22,19), tells us with all of her motherly love: "Do whatever He tells you" (Jn. 25). She was the first to believe in the mystery of the Body and Blood of Jesus. This faith became a personal commitment forever when she responded to the Angel: "May it be done to me according to thy word" (Lk. 1,38). This faith merited Elizabeth’s exclamation: "Blessed are you for believing what was spoken to you" (Lk. 1,45). She is the one who rekindles the amazement reminding us that we are called to take Christ in the tabernacle of our heart on the road of life. She is the one who reminds us that we are to proclaim Christ as she did: radiating His presence through our style of living. Radiating Him as she did: through her eyes and her voice, through her speech and her listening, through her loving and serving….. She is the one who lived from the beginning what John Paul II affirms and wrote: "the Eucharist contains all of the spiritual goodness of the Church, that is, Christ Himself" and that "looking at her we will know the transforming strength which the Eucharist contains."

With Mary to the altar

Referring to the bi-unity: Eucharist and Mary, Father Kentenich left us a teaching, which at the same time, radiates his own interior attitude on this unfathomable mystery. He said it this way: "With Mary to the altar! What does this mean? It means that we want to be afire like the Blessed Virgin – yes, to really be on fire! – for the words of God; and like her, to turn with our whole soul toward the altar of sacrifice and the Sacrificial Priest (Christ!). This should be in such a profound way, so intimate, that through it we learn to turn in a warm and fervent way toward the Father God in all of the circumstances of our lives" (7/3/65).

The Eucharist and Mary are presented to us as answers to the profanation of the sacred and relativism. The Eucharist because not only is it a sacred reality but is absolutely the most sacred….. My God! For some reason, the Church has referred to this gift as "mystery of faith" and as "the Blessed Sacrament." When one’s relationship to the Eucharist is real and personal, it forms us and shapes us. It gives us a sense for the sacred. God living in us! Our Father and Founder expresses it thus: "You, oh God, elevate our being, you establish Yourself in the soul like in a temple"…..God in the Heart Shrine! But, about the body and blood of Jesus, no one "knows" more than Mary. Her bosom was His cradle and she gave Him her blood so that God would live the "way of man" becoming history. She took care of Him with a mother’s love in His infancy and adolescence. She…..she was always next to Him! No one "knows" about Him as She does. No one "sees" Him as she does. No one loves Him as she does…..and no one shows Him to the Church as she does.

Are we going to accompany the Synod?

In the Synod Assembly, the Pope, the Bishops, the experts and participating observers should not be alone. The entire Church should accompany them in prayer! Without a doubt, it would be an appropriate contribution for the moment if we would all proprose to participate – during the days of the Synod – daily and intensely in the celebration of the Eucharist and Eucharistic adoration as well as with the daily praying of the Holy Rosary. Communion with Jesus, contemplating His face – with and as Mary – would help us to live in communion with all of the Synod Fathers and would help us to participate in the Synod. At the same time, that attitude of communion and interior participation would benefit us since it would allow Mary "to submerge us into the depth of Christ."

From the Schoenstatt Movement, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz will participate.

Translation: Carlos Cantú La Feria, Texas USA


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