St. Peter Julian Eymard firmly believed that the closer someone was to Mary, the closer they were drawn to Jesus in the Eucharist.
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On May 13, 1856, French priest St. Peter Julian Eymard founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, a religious order dedicated to spreading a deep and profound love of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
Eymard firmly believed that there existed an intimate connection between devotion to the Virgin Mary and the Blessed Sacrament, and frequently invoked Our Lady under the title of “Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.” After Eymard’s death May 13 became a feast dedicated to Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament and is still celebrated today by his congregation.
During his life, Eymard wrote a series of reflections that were compiled in a book titled, Month of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, consisting of daily meditations for the month of May.
In it, he explains how Mary was the first “adorer” of Jesus and is the “Model of Adorers.”
Jesus has left us His Divine Mother to be the Mother and Model of Adorers … It was Mary who first adored the Incarnate Word. He was in her womb, and no one on earth knew it. O how well was Our Lord served in Mary’s womb! Never has He found a ciborium, a vase of gold more precious, or more pure than Mary’s womb. Mary’s adoration rejoiced Him more than that of all the angels. “The Lord hath placed His tabernacle in the sun,” says the Psalmist. That sun is Mary’s heart … At Bethlehem, Mary was the first to adore her Divine Son lying in the crib. She adored Him with the perfect love of a Virgin Mother.
This example of Mary should inspire us to behold and adore our Eucharistic Lord, truly present in the consecrated host. The more we ponder the life of Mary, the more we can see how much time she must have spent looking at and adoring her Son, the savior of the world.
The next time you visit a Catholic Church and see the tabernacle that holds the Blessed Sacrament, think about the Virgin Mary and how she would have beheld her Son in a most pure and loving gaze. It is through this adoration that we can inflame within our hearts and deeper love of God.
Here is a short prayer composed by Eymard that asks Our Lady to intercede for us to become worthy “adorers” of her Son.
O Mary, teach us the life of adoration!
Teach us to find, as thou didst, all mysteries and all graces in the Eucharist,
to live the Gospel over again, and to read it in the Eucharistic Life of Jesus!
Remember, Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, that thou art the Mother of all
adorers of the Holy Eucharist.
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