Acts 7:51-8:1; John 6:30-35
Today we celebrate the memorial of one of the key saints who make us rediscover the place of the Blessed Virgin Mary in our life: Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort. This name should be familiar to almost all of us, especially those among us who undertook the retreat of the Consecration to Jesus through Mary in the Thirty Days to Morning Glory. He is the one we meet during the first week. In his teaching on the importance of the consecration to Jesus through Mary, Saint Louis insists on two aspects: the renewal of our baptismal vows and an intimate gift of ourselves to Mary.
The renewal of baptismal vows is a reminder that we have been called by God to join His team to transform the world. But our intimate gift to Mary is the occasion for us to learn and to ask for the grace of being able to surrender to God’s will and to say “Yes” like Mary. By doing so we discover that there is no better way to unite ourselves with Jesus than through Mary.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus confronts those who are looking for Him because of the interest they found in Him: He fed them. He wants to turn them to discover who He truly is, drawing them to the great speech of the Bread of Life that will follow. Yesterday, He invited us to work for things that last rather than focusing on what just passes. We are meant to focus on the essential, which is the kingdom of God and the eternal life that comes there from. Mary embraced the message from the angel which meant to satisfy the hunger and thirst of Israel for the coming of the Messiah. In the Eucharist, the very same Messiah is given to us permanently. The only thing that is needed from us is the spirit of surrender to the will of God in order to embrace Jesus in our lives and follow Him as disciples.
Let us pray that through the intercession of Saint Louis we may always consecrate ourselves to Jesus through Mary in order to be able to hold Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, in our hearts and to bear witness to his mercy as we undertake the journey of discipleship that reminds us our baptismal vows.
Fr. Emery