A statue of the Blessed Mother is seen in front of a tabernacle at St. Anne Parish in Warren in 2012.When I was discerning my vocation, I remember having an earth-shattering realization one day during prayer: God not only loved me but was in love with me, passionately, longingly in love with me. Through this, I discovered God’s love on a level deeper than an intellectual understanding that He loves everyone, including me; I encountered in a real way God’s deep and abiding love for me personally.
In the Bible, “knowledge” means more than just knowing facts about something; it implies an intimate union of persons. To say that we know that God loves us, therefore, should mean that we, personally, have met — and continue to be in a relationship with — the Risen Jesus and have been changed by our union with Him. Ultimately, it means that we have received His love for us personally and that, because of this, we will never be the same again.
As Catholics, the most concrete and most profound ways that we can encounter the love of Christ are the sacraments, which give us a chance to participate in the very life of God Himself. This is most especially true of the great gift of the Eucharist. When we receive Jesus truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament — Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity — into our very beings, we are more intimately united with our God than we can be with any other person.
When we spend time with Jesus in the Eucharist and adore Him in the Host, we are able to converse directly with God Himself. It is here that we are able to discover that He thirsts for us, that He has poured Himself out completely for us, that He is truly in love with us personally! It is in Him and in His love that we are able to find meaning and purpose for our lives.
May is the month of Mary; during this month, we remember in a special way she who is both the Mother of Christ and our Mother. After Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, how much consolation must Our Lady have received when she was with Her Son in the Eucharist? Surely she was ready to rush to every Mass because she knew that here she would encounter afresh the intimate love of God! May we, like Mary, respond to God with hearts open to receive the love of Him “who first loved us” (1 John 4:19) and who desires to draw us into union with Himself.
Sr. Mary Martha Becnel is a member of the Ann Arbor-based Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.
