D
DeniseR
Guest
I’m unsure if I am able to put into proper words what I intend to convey but I had an “ah-ha!” moment yesterday at Mass.
When I received Holy Communion and returned to my pew, I made a connection that I never made before. Perhaps it was due to the Gospel reading and homily about the Blessed Virgin Mary’s fiat – her positive response to the request from God to bear a son, our Savior.
By the grace of God, Mary was preserved from sin so that she could carry the Christ child in her womb. As a mother, I considered what a blessing it was to conceive, carry and bear mine and my husband’s children. To nourish and carry God’s son and bring him into the world was – to say the least – even more of a blessing.
When I returned from Communion with the Eucharist still in my mouth, I realized that we are saying yes to receiving Jesus into our bodies each and every time we receive Communion. It reconfrimed how important it is to receive Him without sin on our souls and be, as Mary was thoughout her life, a **temple worthy of housing Christ. **
Mary was conceived without sin, not by her own power or anything her parents did, but because God chose her from the beginning as the way to come into the world as a human being. He had to make the Ark of the New Covenant free from flaws – the perfect vehicle worthy of carrying the Word made Flesh. Mary cooperated with God’s grace and remained worthy because of that grace.
Likewise, by of the grace of God, we are able to confess our sins to God in the sacrament of Reconciliation and through his grace be restored to a temple worthy of receiving Christ. “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”
And each time we receive Christ into our bodies in the sacrament of the Eucharist (while in the state of grace) we are further transformed. By cooperating with God’s grace received in the Eucharist we are better able to remain worthy of the spiritual presence of Christ after there is no longer a physical presence remaining of the Eucharist.
Forgive me if anyone is way beyond this connection spiritually and this is old news but it was a revelation to me yesterday and I wanted to share. I always understood the two concepts (1. The Immaculate Conception and Mary’s fiat, and 2. Reconciliation and Eucharist) separately, but never before made the actual connection in this way.
When I received Holy Communion and returned to my pew, I made a connection that I never made before. Perhaps it was due to the Gospel reading and homily about the Blessed Virgin Mary’s fiat – her positive response to the request from God to bear a son, our Savior.
By the grace of God, Mary was preserved from sin so that she could carry the Christ child in her womb. As a mother, I considered what a blessing it was to conceive, carry and bear mine and my husband’s children. To nourish and carry God’s son and bring him into the world was – to say the least – even more of a blessing.
When I returned from Communion with the Eucharist still in my mouth, I realized that we are saying yes to receiving Jesus into our bodies each and every time we receive Communion. It reconfrimed how important it is to receive Him without sin on our souls and be, as Mary was thoughout her life, a **temple worthy of housing Christ. **
Mary was conceived without sin, not by her own power or anything her parents did, but because God chose her from the beginning as the way to come into the world as a human being. He had to make the Ark of the New Covenant free from flaws – the perfect vehicle worthy of carrying the Word made Flesh. Mary cooperated with God’s grace and remained worthy because of that grace.
Likewise, by of the grace of God, we are able to confess our sins to God in the sacrament of Reconciliation and through his grace be restored to a temple worthy of receiving Christ. “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”
And each time we receive Christ into our bodies in the sacrament of the Eucharist (while in the state of grace) we are further transformed. By cooperating with God’s grace received in the Eucharist we are better able to remain worthy of the spiritual presence of Christ after there is no longer a physical presence remaining of the Eucharist.
Forgive me if anyone is way beyond this connection spiritually and this is old news but it was a revelation to me yesterday and I wanted to share. I always understood the two concepts (1. The Immaculate Conception and Mary’s fiat, and 2. Reconciliation and Eucharist) separately, but never before made the actual connection in this way.
