Eating the flesh of Jesus Christ and drinking His blood ensures that we are like Mary!
Every time I go up to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, I think about Mary being pregnant with the Creator of the Universe, Jesus Christ. Why? Because once I consume the Host and the Precious Blood, I, too, have the actual body and blood of Jesus inside of my body, although in a different way. Since the Eucharist IS the Real Presence of Jesus, I mirror Mary being the living tabernacle of the Lord. The following paragraphs indicate some of the ways we imitate Mary and also explain why she is pure and undefiled.
The Eucharist and the Forgiveness of Venial Sins
Consuming the Eucharist while in a state of grace forgives any venial sins that you may have committed. So, this means that, for a while, we too are sinless like Mary. Of course, she stayed that way and we always fall back into sin. If you are fortunate enough to go to daily Mass and don’t commit any mortal sins, then you can be like Mary every day, until the next time you sin. The Eucharist is the medicine of immortality, according to St. Ignatius, martyr. John 6 says that Jesus’ body and blood is the food that leads to eternal life; when we pray the Our Father, we are asking God to give us this living bread every day. So if you can go to daily Mass, please take advantage of this wonderful grace, which is analogous to Jesus cleansing the temple. In this case, He is cleaning up the temple of your body, not the one in Jerusalem.
Saying the Rosary and Meditation
Luke 2:19 and Luke 2:51 tell us that Mary pondered “all these things” in her heart. “All these things” means the spiritual wonders of Jesus and Mary teaming up to accomplish God’s redemption of mankind here on earth. When we pray the Rosary correctly, we say the Hail Marys (the point in the Bible where the Old Testament became the New Testament, that is, before Jesus and after Jesus), while pondering the 20 mysteries of the Bible concerning Jesus and Mary. In this pure imitation of Mary, we are asking her to give us God’s graces, to give us her virtues of purity, obedience, charity, willingness to suffer for Her Son’s sake, and so on. Just as Jesus completely changed her life, our lives will be changed by meditating on sacred scripture and pondering the Word of God like Mary did.
Going to Confession
When we go to the Sacrament of Confession and get absolution for our sins, we walk out of the confessional box pure and holy, at least until our next sin defiles our temple (our body). The priest, acting in the person of Christ, through the power granted him by Jesus Himself in John 20:21, absolves us of all of the sins that we have confessed sincerely. So just like Mary is sinless, so are we until we fall again. In the Old Testament, the lepers who were cleansed by Jesus had to present themselves to the priests to be declared clean. Confession in the Catholic Church mirrors this practice, as leprosy in the Old Testament is a type or foreshadowing of sin in the New Testament. In other words, God’s priests still declare you to be “clean.” That is why Naaman the Syrian was washed clean of leprosy by the waters of the Jordan River, which prefigured baptism washing away sin.
Spiritual Warfare
In Genesis 3:15, God tells Adam and Eve that a future woman will be at enmity with Satan. Enmity means lifelong opposition and that her seed would crush the devil’s head. This future woman could only be the very pure and undefiled Mary, as other women don’t have seeds; they have eggs. So this has to be a very special woman, one who has her own seed without the help of a man; i.e., the virgin birth. We see this enmity in full in Revelation 12, where “The Woman” is at war with the dragon. Revelation 12:17 says that we are her children IF we obey the commandments and bear testimony that Jesus is the Christ. This verse is in congruence with Jesus’ words from the cross, “Behold YOUR mother.” So if we are her children, then we surely must look like her spiritually, ESPECIALLY if we do battle with Satan’s temptations on a daily basis.
Non-Deserved Suffering
A question a lot of people ask is “If there is a God, then why do good people suffer?” The answer, of course, is for the greater good. Just as the undeserved suffering of Jesus ransomed mankind from the claws of Satan and hell, just so, Mary participated in His pain and suffered greatly in her heart and soul during the Passion of Jesus. Mary and Jesus loved each other more than any two people ever on earth (perfect people = perfect love). Therefore, when Jesus suffered physically, Mary also suffered spiritually and mentally, more than any other saint. By God’s design, her suffering helped to complete Jesus’ suffering. Colossians 1:24 says, “I rejoice in my suffering for you, filling up in my flesh what is lacking in regards to Christ.” In other words, we, the Body of Christ, are also called to suffer with the Head of the Church, Jesus, so that we participate in the redemption of mankind with Jesus. We are NOT just mere spectators watching Jesus from the sidelines. Rather, we are in the arena of battle with Him, as was Mary 2000 years ago. So when undeserved suffering most assuredly comes your way, offer your pain up to Jesus through Mary, and know that you are like Mary in her suffering.
Being A Mother
Everyone who has ever been a mother imitates Mary as well. Mothers carry the cells of their children inside of them, which is known as fetal microchimerism. This is why mothers always seem to know what their children are up to. In a mystical way, the supposed “sixth sense” of mothers regarding their children is actually a physical as well as spiritual phenomenon. On a personal note, when I was hurting the most in my life about 35 years ago, my Mother, 250 miles away, told my Dad that something was wrong with me. There is NO way she could have known this, but she did. One of the reasons the devil hates Mary so much is that she carried cells of Jesus around in her body, which makes her prayers VERY powerful with her Son. Luke 1:46 says that her soul magnifies the Lord, and the fact that she carried the body of Jesus for nine months is one of the reasons this magnification takes place. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says that if you are united to the Lord, you become one spirit with Him, and Mary, as His mother, surely fulfills this prophecy of Scripture.
The Stations of the Cross
According to tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary re-traced the steps of Jesus during his Passion in Jerusalem, thus inaugurating the Stations of the Cross. These 14 events, such as meeting Simon the Cyrenian, being nailed to the cross, and dying on the cross, have now become a very sacred devotion in the Church. All Catholic Churches have these stations posted in the church; some even have them outside. Many benefits are given to us for praying the stations, especially at the 3 o’clock hour. You imitate Mary and her sorrows every time you go through these.
The Seven Sorrows of Mary
Another great devotion of the Church is the Seven Sorrows of Mary. These sorrows are the Prophecy of Simeon, The Journey to Egypt, Losing Jesus for Three Days in the Temple, Meeting Jesus during the Carrying of the Cross, The Crucifixion, Taking Jesus Down from the Cross, and Placing Jesus in the Tomb. Every time you reflect on these seven mysteries in your mind or pray them on your rosary beads, you imitate and honor Mary and her sorrows. And the benefits are literally out of this world!
Why Be Like Mary and not Jesus?
A simple answer is to know Mary is to know Jesus, since there is not one iota of difference in their theology, their desire to save mankind, and their love for you. Jesus loves His mother more than anyone; and if you imitate her, then you are telling Jesus how much you love Him. And that is a good thing, because according to Luke 7:47, love can forgive sins. Paul even says in 1 Corinthians 13:13 that love is greater than faith and hope. Love is something sorely missing in this technological jungle we live in today, so imitate Mary as much as you can, and His love will flow to you in a way that you have never experienced before.
Why Mary is Pure and Undefiled
Jesus got his pure and undefiled flesh and blood from the pure and holy body of Mary, which proves the biblical adage that a good tree must bear good fruit. (Jesus is the fruit of Mary’s womb, per St. Elizabeth.) If Mary was sinful and under the dominion of Lucifer, then a bad tree would have borne good fruit, which is impossible. Whereas Jesus is sinless because of His very nature (He is God), Mary is sinless because of the fullness of God’s grace imparted to her at her conception (The Immaculate Conception). In the books of Ezekiel, chapter 44, and Leviticus, chapter 19, God tells us that His sanctuary MUST be pure and undefiled. The Blessed Virgin Mary was Jesus’ sanctuary for nine months, so it stands to biblical reason that Mary had to be pure and undefiled as well. This is why she was so stunned at Gabriel’s greeting to her, “Hail (a royal greeting), Full of Grace (in the Greek, “kecharitomene,” which means “you who have been filled with grace”). “Hail” is a greeting reserved for kings and queens, as in “Hail Caesar,” or “Hail, King of the Jews.” She was just a poor country girl and didn’t yet realize that she was to be the Queen Mother (“Gebirah” in Hebrew is “Great Lady” in English) of the King of Kings. In the Davidic Kingdom, the Queen was the mother, not the wife, of the King. So many people think that Mary was blessed because she bore Jesus in her womb, but, in fact, she bore Jesus in her womb because she was already blessed!
Summary
The fastest and shortest way to Jesus is through His Mother Mary. He came to us through her, so we should always approach Him that same way, through her. You can go to Jesus directly, of course,.But in the Bible, ordinary people went to the queen first, so that she could intercede for them to the king. This applied to Queen Bathsheeba, Queen Esther, and Mary at Cana. Even when Jesus said that it wasn’t His hour, he performed His first public miracle at the behest of His mother, the Queen Mother of heaven and earth.
In my life, going through Mary to Jesus has worked, which I guarantee will also work for you as well. Asking Mary for her prayers is like flying first class instead of driving to a far-off destination!
