Mary & the Eucharist

7/27/2019 Mary & the Eucharist

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Table of ContentsTableofContents....................................... .............................1Introduction.............................................................................2TheAnnunciation...................................................................6DivineAdoption......................................................................9PerfectModeloftheChurch............................................11Mary,ModelofAdoration................................... ..............13Marys humility.................................... ..................................15EssentialSpirituality..................................... .....................18PrayingTogether................................................................ .26MarysBeauty....................................................................... .28


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IntroductionMary and the Eucharist is the object of ourmeditations and reflections in this little book.What can we say about Mary and the Eucharist?We can say that never has there been anyone

who has loved Jesus so much in the BlessedSacrament as Mary because there was neveranyone who has loved Jesus more than Maryand that was by Gods gift: he has looked withfavor on his lowly servant. Now Mary wants usto love Jesus as she did, so we are alwayswelcomed by her as her children, so that she canimbue us with that same spirit of love anddevotion as she had towards the Son of God. Letus pray that the Holy Spirit will guide ourmeditations and contemplations of Marys role

in leading us to Jesus in the Eucharist.Holy Spirit, you know all things and you watch overthe children of God in this life, so that we can loveyou eternally in the next. Help us to come to anunderstanding of love and devotion of Marys love forthe Eucharist, so that we can imitate her holiness andrejoice in your gifts. We ask this of you because youare love.


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I want to study the relationship between Mary

and the Eucharist in order to understand the

significance Mary had in the early Church.There

was no other person of more importance than Mary

in the early Church after the Ascension of the Lord

into heaven. The Church continued to grow one in

mind and heart, and in the breaking of the bread.

We know that the early Church came together to

celebrate the Eucharist. What was the early climate

of Christianity like? We do know that thee was

heavy persecution in the early Church. Surely

Marys presence was seen as a means of being

united with Jesus who had already ascended to

Heaven. Furthermore, in the early Church Mary

was the bright Morning Star which shone on

earth for those who were seeking the true light of

faith. There was no stronger light that Mary could


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have drawn other to than the Eucharist. Mary knew

intuitively the words Jesus spoke at the institution

of the Eucharist: this is my body. Do this in

memory of me. When we turn our attention to the

first days after the Crucifixion, we see Mary already

given the place of being a true Mother to the

children of the Church; Christ had entrusted John

to Mary and Mary to John. This was a significant

revelation of Jesus before his death. Could it mean

that Jesus was signifying the role that Mary would

play throughout the ages towards the children of the

Church? Another reason I want to carry out this

research is to find out how Mary can teach me to

become a better adorer of the Eucharist. What are

some of the actions of Mary that helped the early

Church to grow into the kind of people that God

intended for them? How can I still live these in my


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life today? In this sense, we can learn much about

Marys charity, purity of heart and faith. Without

Jesus on earth, how was Mary consoled by the

presence of the Eucharist, knowing that the

Eucharist was the living presence of God? In all

of these questions we want to come to a better

understanding of Mary in her relationship to the

Eucharist with the hope that we can imitate her

devotion and her life.


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The Annunciat ionThere is no better place to begin than the

Annunciation. In the Annunciation we see Mary

called to be the Mother of the Lord. First of all we

can see from the Gospel writer that God was

searching for a home for his Son who was to redeem

us. He found no better home that in Mary. He chose

no other place than Nazareth; he chose no other

foster-father than the Just Man, Joseph:

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent fromGod to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virginbetrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house ofDavid, and the Virgins name was Mary. (Lk. 1:26)

The wisdom writers of the Old Testament say

that God has a time for everything under the sun:

There is an appointed time for everything,And a time for every affair under the

Heavens. (Eccl.. 3:1)


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In the same way, there was the perfect time for

Mary, a time to reveal to her that she was the

Mother of the Lord.MARY TEACHES US HOW TO

RECEIVE THE SON OF GOD INTO OUR LIVES.

Mary can teach us because she is eternally close to

the Holy Spirit who overshadowed her at the

Annunciation. The virtues that God so loved about

Mary, were those He freely chose to place in her

heart before the foundation of the world so that

she could be holy and without blemish before him.

(Eph. 1:4) Thru Mary, the world is taken up into

the life of the Blessed Trinity. In short, Mary

reveals to us the truth of God:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No onecomes to the Father except thru me. (Jn. 14:6)

When we come to Mary, she reveals to us the

Father, since when we come to Jesus we also see

the Father:


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Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. (Jn.14:9)


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Divine AdoptionMary reveals to us the status of our divine

adoption:

In love he destined us for adoption to himself

through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of hiswill, for the praise of the glory of his grace that hegranted us in the beloved. (Eph. 1:5-6)

In God there is no time as we see it, there is

just eternity, yet all time is in him in another way,

since there would be no time without his creative

power. In other words, after all of the patriarchs

and prophets had been revealed to Israel, Mary

came to the people of Israel and by her humble

virtues she brought to birth the Son of God. It was

from Marys giving birth to Jesus that all of the

other miraculous deeds would flow from Jesus

Christ.


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In other words, when we come to Mary she

shows us our status as adopted children of God,

since it was from her that the adoption took place.

In Mary we find our home in God. Not only does

God find a home in Mary, but all those who come to

Mary, will be led home thru her. Mary has no other

desire than to have other say along with her:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; myspirit rejoices in God my savior. (Lk. 1:46-47)


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Perfect Model of the ChurchThe Fathers of the Church call Mary is its

type and outstanding model in faith and

charity.(Lumen Gentium, 53) In other words, God

made Mary the model of Christian faith; therefore,

we honor Mary because of Gods loving choice of

her and the work of his own creation.

We can see now how intimately close Mary is

to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus and how she longs

to have us become more like him. Just as she

rejoices eternally for the gifts God bestowed upon

her for all of mankind, so she desires to draw each

of us to Jesus in the Eucharist who gives us eternal

life:

I am the living bread come down from heaven;

whoever eats this bread will live forever; and thebread that I will give is my flesh for the life of theworld. (Jn. 6:51)


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St. Paul spoke of this moment when the Word

became flesh in these words:

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent hisSon, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransomthose under the law, so that we might receive

adoption. As proof that you are children, God sent thespirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, Abba,Father! So you are no longer a slave but a child, andif a child then also an heir, through God. (Gal. 4:4-6)

We can say that in the fullness of time, Mary gave

birth the Savior and brought forth from mankind an

eternal thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is gratitude for

gifts received. Jesus would tell his disciples:

No one has greater love than this, to lay down oneslife for ones friends. (Jn. 15:13)

It is thru Mary that the fullness of revelation, Jesus

Christ, was revealed to mankind:

In times past, God spoke in partial and various waysto our ancestors through the prophets; in these lastdays, he spoke to us through a son, whom he madeheir of all things and through whom he created theuniverse (Heb. 1:1-2)

Mary gave birth to him thru whom the Father

brought into being all things.


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Mary, Model of AdorationWhen we turn our attention to Mary and the

Eucharist we first come to the awareness that she

among all creatures was closest to the Son of God.

This closeness was designed by God from all eternity.

Adoration is the effect of knowing the infinite Good

God and giving our entire being to Him both in

spiritual and in bodily adoration. We adore him with

our minds because he is the infinite truth; we adore

him with our hearts because he is the infinite truth;

lastly, we adore him with our bodies, because he is

worthy of every action of our lives with the greatest

homage. We read of this homage of God in several

places in the Book of Revelation:

The twenty-four elders fall down before the one whosits on the throne and worship him, who lives forever

and ever. They throw down their crowns before thethrone, exclaiming: Worthy are you, Lord our God, toreceive glory and honor and power, for you created allthings; because of your will them came to be and werecreated. (Rev.4:9-11)


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When the three wise men from the East came to find

the newborn King of the Jews they wanted to do him

homage:

Where is the newborn king of the Jews We saw his

star at its rising and have come to do him homage.(Matt. 2:1)

Among all creatures, Mary is the one who can

lead us to true adoration, since she is the one to whom

God has revealed himself as redeemer and savior:

The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power ofthe Most High will overshadow you. Therefore thechild to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.(Lk. 1:35)

God appointed Mary , Queen of adoration, since she

was the first person to adore the Son of God in her

womb. She adored with her whole souls assent in

faith:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;My spirit rejoices in God my savior. (Lk. 1:46-47)

Mary consecrated her whole being to God in responseto the grace given to her:

Hail favored one! The Lord is with you. (Lk. 1:28)


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Marys Humility

We are drawn to Marys humility because that

humility drew down God to earth. As hard as it

is for us to comprehend, it is a reality worthy of

our deepest devotion.The Saints say that

humility is truth; that is, knowing our place

before God, others and ourselves. Mary

expresses this humility in the Canticle she

spoke to Elizabeth. Mary spoke of the lowliness

of herself as a handmaid of God. A handmaid is

simply a female servant. In other words, Mary

realized that she was a servant of God. Mary

comes into our lives in order to teach us the true

humility of the savior. She lived with Jesus

daily for all those years at Nazareth and

understands God ways are different from our

own fallen ways; she will enlighten us what will

be pleasing to God. Those who worship the

Father must worship in spirit and in truth;Mary, was established in the Spirit from the

first moment of her conception, so she can lead

us to a Spirit filled life


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Mother of Surrender To abandon oneselfentirely is to surrender. In our time before the Lord

we often are called to renew our entire surrender to

the will of the Lord in our lives. Mary gives us aperfect example of selfless surrender. From the first

moment of her conception to the moment when she

was taken up to heaven she gave this surrender to

God. Mary had the intuition that God always wills the

perfect thing for each of us; for God to be anything

less than perfect would not be in keeping with his

nature; therefore, God always acts perfectly in our

lives. Our union with that will is our peace. We can

speak of peace in two ways. The first way of speaking

of peace is a feeling of harmony; the second way of

speaking of peace is giving our will in union with

another without thought of our self. We give

ourselves to the other because we want that other

person to be happy. That is love. Jesus surrendered

himself to God in this way when he said, not my

will, but your will be done. This was Jesus most

intense love for the Father and for mankind.


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Mary showed this surrender at the wedding of

Cana when she told the waiters :do whatever he tells

you. (Jn. 2:5) She in effect will always to do

whatever the Lord tells us, since the Father has put all

authority into his hands. Sometimes we may not be

able to see beyond this present day and this situation,

yet in faith, by willingly obeying the Lord, we will

gain his virtue and be blessed because of our

willingness to believe rather than understand. There is

nothing wrong with understanding, but sometimes

God asks us to simply believe he will turn everything

to our good rather than trying to understand how he

will carry out his will. Gods will is always infinitelyabove our own will and understanding. He may allow

us to see partially what he is doing because of our

weak faith. He will faith more than anything, since he

told his followers: all things are possible to him who

has faith. (Mk. 9:23)


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Essential Spiri tual i tyWhen we speak of essential spirituality what are we

referring to? We mean the substance of our

spirituality. The Church places essential truths before

us as food for our souls and as guiding stars to our

final fulfillment. These truths have the most essential

importance for the health of our faith. The Church

uses a special term for them: De Fide. There is no

greater mode of assent to our faith than to De Fide

statements. Actually, De Fide statements are so

important that we cannot say we are followers of

Christ and members of his Church without holding

them with the greatest fidelity.


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Mary is Mother of God (De Fide)That Mary is truly the Mother of Christ Jesus is a De

Fide statement. The humanity of Christ and the

Motherhood of Mary are intrinsically linked as One.How does this refer to the Eucharist? As was said

earlier, Mary made possible, thru giving birth to the

Word Made Flesh, the works of Christ Jesus. The

Sacraments of the Church are such works of Christ.

Mary made these possible, because God made her

possible from all eternity to be the Mother of Christ.

We honor Mary, but we adore God. To Mary is given

the highest honor possible to a creature but to Jesus

Christ we owe eternal adoration for redeeming and

sanctifying humanity. He restored the lost privileges

of our humanity because of original sin. Mary played

a significant part in this restoration by giving to

Christ his true body thru her fiat at the Annunciation.

These are infallible truths we assent to without having

the ability to fully comprehend them in this life. God

does provide to us insights into their truths.


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Foretold in Sacred ScriptureThe prophet Isaiah foretold the role a woman

would play in the birth of the Savior of Israel:

The virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, andshall name him Immanuel. (Isa. 7:14)

The Church has always interpreted these words as

referring to the birth of the Messiah thru the Virgin

Mary. The early Fathers of the Church, notably St.

Ignatius of Antioch spoke of these words in relation

to Jesus Birth and Marys Motherhood:

Let my spirit be counted as nothingfor the sake of thecross, which is a stumbling-blockto those that do notbelieve, but to us salvation and life eternal. Where isthe wise man? where the disputer?Where is theboasting of those who are styled prudent? For our God,Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointmentof God,conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David,but by the Holy Ghost. He was born and baptized, thatby His passion He might purify the water.


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The cross of Christ is indeed a stumbling-block to thosethat do not believe, but to the believing it is salvationand life eternal. Where is the wise man? where thedisputer?Where is the boasting of those who arecalled mighty? For the Son of God, who was begottenbefore time began,and established all things accordingto the will of the Father, He was conceived in the wombof Mary, according to the appointment of God, of theseed of David, and by the Holy Ghost. For says [the

Scripture], Behold, a virgin shall be with child, andshall bring forth a son, and He shall be calledImmanuel. [ANF01, Ephesisns, Ch. 18]

St. Ignatius of Antioch boasts in our Lord Jesus

Christ and his Mother, since it was from her that the

world received God in the flesh thru a humble Virgin.

He shows here that though the Word had established

all things in creation, yet he humbled himself to be

born of his own creation, defying any boast of

greatness.


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Communal LifeCommunal life in the Church were not much

different than they are today. Here is a summary

given by the author of the Acts of the Apostles:

They devoted themselves to the teaching of theapostles and to the communal life, to the breaking ofthe bread and to the prayers. (Acts 2:42)


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We can see in this passage a brief overview of the

major activities in the early Church. First, there was a

deep devotion. This devotion was expressed in

carrying out he teachings of the apostles; in other

words, the apostles were held in great esteem. Mary

would have been one of those people who gave this

devotion to the apostles, knowing that they were

chosen by Jesus himself to give witness to the world

of his teachings. Nest, the author recalls the

communal life. Unlike those who were trying to

destroy the early Church by their persecutions, the

early Christians came together to support one another

in their care for one another. When we think of theEucharistic celebration we surely think of building

community in a profound sense. When we celebrate

the Eucharist we relive that night when Jesus died to

save us from sin and to bind us together in an eternal

charity in the Church. In this sense, Mary would have

been a great sign of hope for all those who were

preparing for the eternal celebration of the heavenly

Church. The Book of Revelation gives witness to this

triumphant rejoicing in the early Church:


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And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, thefirstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins byhis blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests forhis God and Father, to him be glory and power foreverand ever. Amen. (Rev. 1:5-6)

The community of the believers was a foreshadowing

of the Kingdom that Jesus had made his own thru his

life, death, and resurrection. Mary, was a witness of

this Kingdom. She truly gave witness to this reigning

of the Son of God thru his Eucharistic presence. Mary

would have been the person who fulfilled Jesus words

to do this in memory of me. This is why the author

of the Acts of the Apostles says :

They devoted themselvesto the breaking of thebread and to the prayers. (Acts. 2:42)


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In other words, the early Churchs devotion was

thorough and applied to all aspects of their life; it

applied to their life of instruction, fellowship, prayer

and worship. This life was an eternal life, begun on

earth and lived eternally. It was a life that was

nourished by the Eucharist and shared with the world;

it was a life that was inspired by the sacred teachings

of the apostles, who received the sacred teachings

from Christ and the Holy Spirit, and gave bod witness

to a world that had fallen from grace or who had

fallen victim to false teachings. It was in community

that each could strengthen one another and fulfill the

various ministries that had been distributed by the

Holy Spirit.


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Praying TogetherWe do find another image of Mary on the day

of Pentecost that give us another insight into the roleshe played in the early Church. Not only were thereprayers which were recited daily in the temple or inthe feast of agape, but there was communal prayer ofanother kind:

When they entered the city they went to the upper

room where they were staying with, Peter and John andJames and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomewand Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon theZealot, and Judas son of James. All these devotedthemselves with one accord to prayer, together withsome women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and hisbrothers. (Acts 1:13-14)


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This is the first time we see the apostles

together as a group after the Lords Ascension to

heaven. These are the men that Jesus chose to build

his Church and to teach others the way. What are they

doing? They are known as men and women of prayer.

In other words, the Church has always been a divine

institution that depends upon its life thru prayer. What

is the greatest prayer of the Church? It is the

Eucharistic prayer. The author says very clearly here

that all these devoted themselves with one accord to

prayer.. We can see clearly here that Mary was

always at the center of the unity of the Church. Prayer

reveals its fruits in unity and community among its

members. St. Paul lists the fruits of the Spirit:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-

control. (Gal.5:22-23)


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These are the fruits of the Spirit so evident in Mary,

for she was filled with the Holy Spirit. She was the

Most Holy among Christ disciples. Her presence in

the early Church resonated the fruits of the Holy

Spirit and strengthened the unity of the Church. I

believe that at the Eucharistic sacrifice these gifts of

grace were most evident to those who were striving to

remain faithful to their Christian vocation. Mary

being full of grace, these fruits of the Spirit would

have been very evident in her worship during the

Eucharistic celebrations I the early Church; after all,

it was her Resurrected Son that she was celebrating.

Marys Beauty


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We would like to briefly touch on the topic of

Marys beauty and how it influences out

relationship with Christ. Again, when I speak of

beauty I am referring to the inner purity and glory

given to the Mother of God. As we spoke of earlier

there are essential truths calledDeFide statements

which all Catholics are to assent to. One of those

statements is that Mary, is truly the Mother of God.

When we assent to the truth behind this we are

entering into the world of Gods Mysterious plan of

salvation. In this sense, Marys beauty is a sharing

in the eternal beauty of God. St. Thomas Aquinas

says that there are three essential parts to beauty:

integrity, harmony, refulgence. Integrity is what a

thing is; it is true to its form; harmony, is that all the

parts of a thing, fit perfectly to make that thing

work and that there is no part of that thing which

works against the whole; lastly, refulgence, is the

light that shines because of the things integral parts.

In this sense when we speak of Marys beauty weare referring to her Immaculate Conception. Her

Immaculate Conception made her free from all sin

from the first moment of her conception. This was


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so that she could be the Mother of the Incarnate

Word. Marys integrity is in union with the glory of

God; she comes into being as the handmaid of the

Lord. When we speak of Mary we are immediately

drawn into the Mystery of God, the Mystery of the

Incarnation, the splendor of Creation, the

Redemption of Mankind and the Immaculate

Conception. In short, Mary is a ray of the divine

beauty of God, shining thru his creature. Since

Mary is so associated with the glory of God and we

as creatures, as created out of nothing by God, can

identify more with Mary, because of the abundance

of grace bestowed on her, we can easily praise God

for his wonderful gifts to creation thru Mary. Thru

Mary, we are given a spotless mirror to see into the

divine attributes of God: love, mercy, eternity,

power, omniscience. Ps. 45 speaks nobly of this

beauty of Mary:

Listen, my daughter, and understand;Pay careful heed.

Forget your people and your fathers house,That the king might desire your beauty. (Ps.45:11-12)


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This psalm tells of a royal wedding, but when

it applied to Mary we can understand one thing.

The beauty of the Queen is desired by the beauty of

the King. Mary, being the greatest Queen of the

Church is surely desired by the King of heaven and

earth. Could anyone comprehend the beauty of

Mary as God who created her. He who created her

to be the Mother of God himself made flesh, but

also the Mother of all of the adopted children of

God. In another sense, all of the beauty of the

communion of Saints is in Mary who is full of

grace, and who while being the Mother of God,

contains the beauty of all the Saints. Cannot we also

say Mary contains the incomprehensible beauty of

God?


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Bibliography

Catholic Biblical Association of America,

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, and Bishops

Committee. The New American Bible. New York:

Benziger, 1970.

Roberts, Alexander, James Donaldson, and A.

Cleveland Coxe.Ante-Nicene Fathers: The

Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325.

Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004.


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INDEX

A

Annunciation ,8,10,27apostles,30,31,33,36

Bbeauty,39,41,42

Blessed Sacrament,3

Blessed Trinity,10Book of Revelation,17,31

C

children of God,4,13,42

Church,5,14,25,27,28,30,31,33,35,36,37,42community of the believers,32

Creation,40creatures,17,18,40

D

De Fide,25,26,27

E

Eucharist,3,4,5,14,17,27,31,33

Eucharistic Heart,14Eucharistic prayer,36

F

faith,6,14,19,24,25

Father,10,11,15,16,21,24,29,32Fathers of the Church,28

H

holy,10,18


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Holy Spirit,3,4,10,33,37

humility,21

I

Immaculate Conception,40

incomprehensible,42instruction,33

Israel,12,28

J

Jesus,3,5,11,12,14,15,21,23,27,28,29,31,32,35,36

Joseph,8

K

King of the Jews,18

L

love,3,4,12,15,23,37,40

M

Mary,3,4,5,8,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,23,24,26,27,28,29,31,32,35,36,37,38,39,42

MarysBeauty,38

Mother of Christ,27

N

Nazareth,8,21

O

Old Testament,9

P

Pentecost,35


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prayer,33,35,36

Q

Queen of adoration,19

S

Savior,15,28SON OF GOD,10

St. Paul,15,36

St. Thomas Aquinas,39

T

teachings,31,33

U

unity,36,37

Vvirtues,10,12

W

worship,18,21,33,37

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Mary & the Eucharist

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