Did you know that Mary and the apostles received the Eucharist from Jesus on Holy Thursday? Read this gorgeous excerpt, compiled from the visions of the greatest Church mystics, to experience this moving scene.
Jesus Asks His Mother’s Consent to Die on the Cross
At dawn on Holy Thursday, Jesus called Mary to Him and said to her:
“My Mother, the hour decreed by My Father for the salvation of the human race has now arrived, and we must subject our wills to His. As My true Mother, give Me your permission to enter upon My suffering and death. Just as you consented of your own free will to My Incarnation, so I now desire that you also consent to My death on the Cross. This sacrifice is the return which I ask of you for having made you My Mother.”
These words pierced Mary’s loving heart with the sharpest pain which she had hitherto felt. Looking at her divine Son, she remembered how He had obeyed her for so many years, and she recalled all the blessings which He had given her throughout their thirty-three years together. And she realized that now she had to lose Him and give Him up to a cruel death at the hands of His enemies.
Prostrating herself before Him and kissing His feet, she replied:
“My Lord, I offer myself and resign myself, in order that in me, just as in Thee, the Will of the Eternal Father may be fulfilled. The greatest sacrifice that I can make is that I cannot die with Thee. O my Son and Lord, give Thy afflicted Mother strength and courage. Admit her as Thy companion so that she may share Thy Passion and Cross and so that the Eternal Father may receive the sacrifice of Thy Mother in union with Thine.”
Mary Begs Jesus to Receive the Eucharist
Then, knowing that the Saviour intended to institute the Most Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood before He died, Mary humbly begged Him to allow her to receive Him in the Holy Eucharist, for which she had longed and had been preparing herself for many years.
The Lord then promised her that He would secretly give Himself to her in Holy Communion when He instituted It, and He instructed her to follow Him to Jerusalem that evening with the holy women and to prepare them for the shock of His death. He also told her exactly when and where He would first appear to her after His Resurrection.
Like a devoted Son, Jesus now thanked her for all her love, while He embraced her with His right arm and pressed her to His breast. Finally, as unutterable sorrow filled His Sacred Heart and her Immaculate Heart, Jesus lovingly gave His Mother His blessing and left her. At His command her many guardian angels attended Mary in visible form and strove to console her in her overwhelming grief.
Mary Strengthens the Holy Women
That afternoon the Blessed Virgin and the holy women went to Jerusalem together, and she instructed them so inspiringly that during the Passion some of them showed more courage and faithfulness to their Master than many of the Apostles. Mary Magdalen had resolved with all the fervor of her passionate nature to accompany and assist her Lord’s holy Mother, no matter what happened, and she faithfully fulfilled her resolution.
Upon arriving at the hall in which the Last Supper was to take place, Mary prostrated herself on the floor and adored her divine Son, and He told her to occupy an adjoining room with the holy women. Going into that room, they reclined around a low table. Magdalen was opposite the Blessed Virgin.
Jesus Treats His Apostles With Abounding Love
During the meal, while Jesus was encouraging and consoling His Apostles, even Mary seemed more cheerful. When John, the Beloved Disciple, was reclining on the bosom of Jesus, the Lord revealed to him many mysteries concerning His Mother, and it was then that He privately commissioned John to take charge of her after the Passion.
In visions Mary saw with what sincere love the Master humbly washed the feet of His Apostles and especially of His betrayer, Judas. Yet when occasionally one of the women came to her and attracted her attention by a little pull at her veil, the Blessed Virgin turned to her in a touchingly simple and kind way. Frequently she urged them all to persevere in faith and prayer.
The Institution of the Blessed Sacrament
Then, knowing that the moment of her First Holy Communion was near, the Mother of God became absorbed in meditation as she contemplated the sacred drama of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist, in close spiritual union with her Son’s prayers and actions.
At the climax of this beautiful and moving ceremony, immediately after the Consecration, while Mary was reverently adoring her divine Son in the Blessed Sacrament, in the presence of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, Our Lord took a particle of the Consecrated Bread and gave it to the invisible Archangel Gabriel, who brought it to Mary, without anyone else being aware of what was happening. When she saw Gabriel approach, she humbly received her Eucharistic Lord with reverence and fear and joy, giving thanks to God with all her heart.
Jesus Comforts His Mother
Later, when Jesus was about to leave the Cenacle with the Apostles, Mary rose and went to meet Him at the door. Magdalen and another woman begged Jesus not to go to the Mount of Olives, for it was reported that He would be arrested there. The Master comforted them with a few words. Then He came face to face with His Sorrowful Mother, who threw herself at His feet and worshipped Him. Looking down at her with divine majesty and also with the overflowing love of a son, the Lord said to her:
“My Mother, I shall be with you in tribulation. Let us accomplish the Will of the Eternal Father and the salvation of men!”
Then, as Mary made a silent offering of her grieving heart to God, He gave her His blessing, and stepping quickly past her, He set out for Gethsemani.
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This article is taken from a chapter in The Life of Mary As Seen by the Mystics by Raphael Brown which is available from TAN Books.
