Mary, our guide to the Light, the Bread of Eternal Life

Ancient mariners had few tools to guide their safe passage over the seas. One of the most reliable was to track a ship’s course according to the movement of the moon. Interestingly, the moon generates light at night from a source that is not its own. It reflects the light of the sun that is hidden from view. It also shines brightest when the sky is darkest, giving hope to the hearts of many navigators who crossed the oceans in earlier and more dangerous times. 

The Fathers of the Church, reflecting upon the unique role that Mary, the ever-virgin mother of God, has played in the history of salvation, often compared Our Lady to the moon and commended her to the spiritual journey that all Christians navigate in life. For Mary’s life was not her own: it reflected the light of her Son. She has appeared in history in times of turmoil, strife, confusion, and division, both within the Church and within individual hearts, gently reminding us that at the darkest hours there is a path to the Light. She remains for us a guide who teaches us a basic rule by the last words she spoke in Sacred Scripture: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn. 2:5). 

In this time when we navigate the turmoil, divisions, and confusion of modern life, let us turn to Mary, the mother of God, and ask for her guidance and intercession. She will lead us to her Son, whom she carried in her womb as the first tabernacle. She will guide us to receive and adore the Blessed Sacrament, the sacred body, blood, soul, and divinity of her Son. 

We must never tire to remind ourselves that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the sacramental re-presentation through grace of the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s passion, death, and Resurrection. Christ’s unique and unrepeatable sacrifice on the cross at Calvary is made present for us in an unbloody manner so that we might receive its spiritual benefits. The Mass is a sacred sacrifice that invites our sacrificial response in faith. It is a sacred meal that nourishes our body that is called, along with our soul and spirit, to enter everlasting life. It is a divine memorial that recalls our belief that Christ’s death and Resurrection transcends all time and space. By receiving Christ in the Eucharist, our minds are enlightened, our hearts are strengthened, and we are renewed in spirit to go out into the world as missionary disciples of the Lord. 

Our Lady is called “Mother of the Eucharist” because she is the mother of the Savior and Redeemer. She alone among women has the privilege to bear into the world its Creator and Redeemer. Interestingly, St. Augustine reminded his congregation that all Christians honor Mary not solely because she physically brought the Savior into the world. Rather, the Church venerates her because she was the perfect disciple of her Son. She continued to spiritually bear her Son in her mind, heart, and soul, at every moment of her life, long after He was born into the world. She is the tabernacle of the eucharistic Lord, who became for her and for us the Bread of Life. Are we ready to follow her example and become living tabernacles of the same Lord?

Much has changed over the centuries that now provides safe navigation over the seas. However, the moon remains, shining over the sea, reminding us that there is a safe way home. Let us ask Our Lady, Mother of the Eucharist, she who is the Evening Star, to lead us safely to her Son, the Bread of Eternal Life.