This makes me think.... about Mary and the Church...

What was once granted in the flesh to Mary is now granted spiritually to the Church; she conceives the Word in her unfaltering faith, bears him in a spirit freed from all corruption, and contains him in a soul overshadowed by the power of the Most High.... 

Just as the maternal function of Mary is to give the God-Man to the world, so the maternal function of the Church, which culminates, as we have seen, in the celebration of the Eucharist, is to give us Christ, "the Head, Sacrifice, and Food of the members of his mystical body":

[Quoting now, Carl Feckes:] As Mary bore the earthly Christ, so the Church bears the eucharistic Christ. As the whole life of Mary is centered upon the bringing up and protecting of Christ, so again the deep life and solicitude of the Church are centered on the Eucharist.  As Mary gives the earthly Christ to the world... and from this gift are born he children of God, so also the eucharistic flesh and blood produced by the Church should form the living children of God. As Mary offered up Christ together with him at the foot of the Cross the whole Church, at each Mass, offers the sacrifice with him. As Mary received at the foot of the Cross the whole treasury of grace in order to administer it spiritually, so the Church received it and in a certain sense receives it anew at each Mass for is ministerial administration and distribution. As Mary is in heaven, at her Son's side, a true suppliant, so also the Church makes effective prayer for her children... 

---Henri de Lubac, The Splendor of the Church.

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Note to readers: Might I ask for your prayers today?  I am having long-needed minor surgery today to correct a torn tendon in my ankle. Please pray for my surgical team and a successful recovery for me over the coming 12 weeks recuperation.  Thank you!


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