Mary and the Eucharist in the Light of the Writings of St. Louis de Montfort: Part II

Mary and the Eucharist . . .

 

The nearest thing to a full treatise on the Eucharist written by St. Louis de Montfort can be found in a series of poems, or spiritual hymns, which he composed for each day of the week. I can only try to give you an idea of their contents from their respective titles. The one to be sung on Sundays, for example, is entitled: “The Humiliations of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament;” for Mondays: “The Fullness of His Treasures;” for Tuesdays: “The Lessons He Teaches us;” for Wednesdays: “The Expectations of His Divine Heart;” for Thursdays: “His Lavish Generosities;” for Fridays: “The Forgetfulness and Neglect of which He is the Victim;” and for Saturdays: “The Most Intimate Relationship Between Jesus and Mary in the Eucharist.”

This last poem is made up of 13 stanzas. I have translated two of these stanzas for your edification. The first stanza should read something like this:

• Jesus cannot leave Mary, so strong is the love that binds them together;
• That is why, shortly before He died,
• He instituted the Eucharist, so that, after His Ascension,
• He would be her consolation here below.

And stanza 11, reads thus:

• It is from you, O Virgin Mary,
• that this body and this blood comes
• and which elevates us to
• such a high rank that the Angels themselves envy us.
• May you be blessed everywhere
• for having given us this precious gift.

Another poem, or spiritual hymn, entitled: “Desire for Holy Communion,” expresses the longing of his soul for frequent Communion.

• I long for you, O, Bread of Life,
• this very day— without waiting for tomorrow.
• I want to eat of it—I’m dying to eat of it.
• I’m extremely hungry—give me some bread.

. . . in the Light of the Writings of St. Louis de Montfort

In his book, “The Love of Eternal Wisdom,” the book which gives us the true perspective on all of Montfort’s writings, our Saint points to the relationship between Jesus in the Eucharist and Mary as stemming from her divine Motherhood, which originated with the Incarnation of the Son of God in her womb. I quote: “Mary is His most worthy Mother because she conceived Him and brought Him forth as the fruit of her womb; ‘Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.’

“Hence it is true to say that Jesus is the fruit and the product of Mary wherever He is found – in heaven, on earth, in our tabernacles, in our hearts – and that Mary alone is the tree of life, and Jesus alone is the fruit of that tree. Therefore, he who wishes to have in his heart that admirable fruit, must first have the tree that produces it. Whoever wishes to have Jesus must have Mary” (No. 204).

Montfort’s View . . .

Notice that Fr. de Montfort always views the Eucharist as an extension of the Incarnation of the Son of God in the womb of the
Virgin Mary. With the whole Church, down through the centuries, our Saint saw God’s plan for our Redemption as one in which Mary shared, not only in all the mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of her divine Son, but one in which she continues to share (in her own subordinate way, of course) in the life of His Mystical Body, the Church, of which Christ is the head and we are the members. In other words, St. Louis de Montfort understood Redemption not just as a past event, but as-an on-going process which will end only when the last of the elect shall have entered the Kingdom of Heaven, at the end of time. And he saw Mary exercising her Spiritual Maternity “without interruption until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect,” to quote Vatican II (No. 62).

. . . of the Eucharist

 

In his popular book, “The Admirable Secret of the Most Holy Rosary,” St. Louis de Montfort reminds us that the recitation of the Rosary with meditation upon its mysteries is truly a sacrifice of praise to God which he compares – all things being equal, of course – to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Here is how he puts it:
“The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass gives boundless honor to the Most Blessed Trinity because it represents the passion of Jesus Christ and because through the Mass we offer God the merits of Our Lord’s obedience, of His sufferings and of the Precious Blood. The whole of the heavenly court,” he goes on to say, “also receives an accidental joy from the Mass. Several Doctors of the Church – together with St. Thomas Aquinas – tell us that, for the same reason, all the Blessed in heaven rejoice in the Communion of the faithful because the Blessed Sacrament is a memorial of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, and that by means of it men share in its fruits and work out their salvation.

The Rosary is a Sacrifice of Praise to God

“Now the Holy Rosary,” he says, “recited together with meditation on the Mysteries is a sacrifice of praise to God to thank Him for the great grace of our redemption. It is also a holy reminder of the sufferings, death and glory of Jesus Christ. It is therefore true,” he concludes, “that the Rosary gives glory, gives an accidental joy to Our Lord, to Our Lady and to all the Blessed, because they cannot desire anything greater or more contributive to our eternal happiness than to see us engaged in a practice which is so glorious for Our Lord and so salutary for ourselves” (23rd Rose).

And this brings us to a final aspect in Montfort’s writings concerning Mary and the Eucharist and that is his method of receiving Holy Communion in union with Mary. Interestingly enough, this method which our Saint inserted at the very end of his Treatise on True Devotion to Mary, is the only practical application he makes for his readers of how to live his Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary, sometimes called the Holy Slavery of Love. And here the theologian and contemplative becomes the Spiritual Director, the Spiritual Master.

Montfort’s Method of Receiving the Eucharist

With his accustomed clarity and practicality, he perceives three distinct moments in a worthy reception of Holy Communion. First, there is the moment before Holy Communion, better known, perhaps, as the preparation period before Holy Communion. Second, there is the moment of Communion itself, when we receive the Body and Blood of Christ in us.
And thirdly, there is the time after Communion, or period of Thanksgiving. In all of these moments, Montfort wants us to live our Consecration to the full.

Here is what you do and how you do it, he says. First, before Communion. 1) humble yourself profoundly before God; 2) renounce your own self and interior dispositions, however good your self-love may make them appear to be; 3) renew your consecration, if only by the words: “I am all Thine, my Queen, my Mother, and all that I have is Thine;” and finally, implore that good Mother to lend you her heart, that you may receive her Son there with the same dispositions as her own.

During Communion, Address Yourself to the Three Divine Persons Individually

At the moment of Holy Communion, you will address yourself to the Three Divine Persons expressing your unworthiness to receive Christ in Holy Communion. You will ask the Father not to look upon your ingratitude and sinfulness, but to look upon Mary, his handmaid, because she will speak for you, thus enhancing your confidence and hope with His Majesty. You will speak to the Son, again expressing your sinfulness and unworthiness to receive Him, but that you pray Him to have pity on you because you are about to bring Him into the house of His coming to lodge with her.

Furthermore, you will say to the Holy Spirit that you are unworthy to receive the masterpiece of His Love, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You can even pray Him to come Himself in Mary, His inseparable Spouse, telling Him that her bosom is as pure and her heart as burning as ever; and that without His descent into your soul, neither Jesus nor Mary will be formed, nor worthily lodged.

Finally, after Communion, you will introduce Jesus into the Heart of Mary, who will receive Him lovingly, adore Him profoundly, etc.; or else, you will keep yourself profoundly humbled in your heart, in the presence of Jesus residing in Mary; or else you will sit like a slave at the gate of the King’s palace, where He is speaking with the Queen, etc.; or else, you will yourself ask of Jesus, in union with Mary, the coming of His Kingdom on earth, through His holy mother; or you will ask for Divine Wisdom, or for divine love, or for the pardon of your sins, or for some other grace, but always by Mary and in Mary.

The More You Allow Mary to Act Within Your Communion, . . .

Fr. de Montfort concludes by saying: “Always remember that the more you allow Mary to act in your Communion, the more Jesus will be glorified; and you will allow Mary to act for Jesus and Jesus to act in Mary, in the measure that you humble yourself and listen to them in peace and in silence, without troubling yourself about seeing, tasting or feeling; for the just man lives throughout by faith, and particularly in Holy Communion, which is an action of faith” (T.C. 266-273 * see note below).

Permit me once again to translate for you two other stanzas (8 and 10), of that “Saturday hymn,” from which I have already quoted. One refers to the close relationship between Jesus and Mary, the other to Mary as our model in the reception of Holy Communion. They should read something like this:

8th Stanza

• In this great mystery, love seems to make of these two hearts but one;
• They have everything in common between them,
• because the Son is completely wrapped in His Mother
• And in the Mother all we can see
• is her dear Son, her only love, Jesus.

. . . The More Jesus is Glorified

10th Stanza

• O Christian soul, the faithful Virgin
• offers us in her Communions holy dispositions;
• Let us imitate this perfect model
• In order to fulfill in a most perfect manner
• all our duties towards the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Conclusion: Mary’s Role . . .

It should be obvious from all I have said in this brief and very incomplete study, that St. Louis de Montfort understood Mary’s role in the Eucharist to be a very important one. He saw her at the foot of the Cross, not as a mere bystander but as one actively sharing, in her own subordinate way, of course, in the sufferings of Christ, by consenting to his death on the Cross for the salvation of mankind. He always saw Christ not only as the Son of God but also as the Son of Mary. In a word, he saw Mary associated with Christ, in her own subordinate, creature way, in all His Mysteries – His life, death and resurrection; and now in His Mystical Body of which He is the Head and we the members.

Little wonder, then, that his theological sense made him realize Mary’s presence – a moral presence, of course and not a physical presence – at every Mass, at every Communion, in every tabernacle, in every human person who eats the Body and drinks the Blood of her Son! Where, better than in the Eucharist, can she exercise her maternal role of feeding God’s children with the Bread of Angels, her own flesh and blood, “the fruit of her womb,” Jesus! No wonder he could think of no better model to propose to us in our reception of Holy Communion than Mary, the perfect Communicant!

. . . in the Eucharist

And, finally, in trying to help us live out our Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, he tells us that the more we let Mary act in our Communions, “the more Jesus will be glorified.” The reason is obvious: Jesus in the Eucharist is the Son of God, the Son of Mary; and Mary is the Mother of Jesus.

For one so dedicated to the Mother of God, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, what greater legacy could Montfort have left us than to point out to us the intimate, the inseparable union between Jesus and Mary in the great Sacrament of the Eucharist?

Permit me to quote one more stanza from Montfort’s Poem for Saturdays, entitled: “The Most Intimate Relationship Between Jesus and Mary in the Eucharist.” Again, the translation from the French is my own.

• Having experienced such delights
• in her virginal womb for nine months,
• over and over again He now wishes
• to repose there in silence;
• and on her heart, as upon an altar, to offer Himself to the Eternal Father.

 

*****

*In his booklet, “The Secret of Mary,” Montfort describes Christ’s joy at being received in Mary. “If we receive Him in Holy Communion, ” he writes, “we will place Him in Mary, so that He may take His delight in her . . . “. (no. 47).