With Immaculate Mary,
we adore the Lord Jesus
received in Holy Communion
as bodily present Spouse.
Prayer of the parish community
on the first Saturday of the month
after the Holy Mass.
(3)

Dr. Wojciech Kosek

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Meditations led by three people:

B – woman; P, W – men.

This translation was published here on 12 Dec 2023.

To see the original Polish text ← click, please!

(Duration of meditations and songs: about 19 min.)

W      Immaculate Mary! Fulfilling your request to Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia  [1] at Fatima to consecrate the First Saturdays of the month to Your Immaculate Heart, today we, laypeople with priests, the community of Parish………………………………………………, wish to devote ourselves to the next prayer vigil. We desire to make reparation for the insults committed against you, O Mary. We desire to lovingly profess our deep reverence for You as the Immaculately Conceived, the Virgin Mother of Jesus – God Incarnate. (0:58)

B      We know that one of the four practices of this devotion is the reception of Holy Communion. Just now, Jesus, Your Son, came to each of us under the shroud of the Most Holy Host. However, we do not want to fulfill this practice in a minimalist way: we want to receive Jesus as we might have never done before – we want to rejoice in the opportunity to be with Him longer than we usually do. (0:44)

P      We wish to follow You in this, o Mary. In the mystery of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, we see You gazing with rapture at the Child whom You bore forty days before in the grotto of Bethlehem. He, the incomprehensible God, really was then bodily – like every human being – with You and Joseph, Simeon and Anna. Now He is just as bodily also with us: He, Jesus, coming in secret under the whiteness of the Immaculate Host; He, the same Jesus Christ, God, who two thousand years ago as a true man entered our world in secret in Your, o Mary, Immaculate Womb. (1:04)

P      Song: Fall to Your Knees – 1st stanza (0:26)

W      Dearest Lord Jesus! You have been looking for us, and here we are… We are – the priests and faithful of the Parish ………………………………………. We have heard Your voice, Your invitation to today’s vigil, an invitation to the meeting of the friends of God and Mary. We are here to love You, O God, who, as the Son of Immaculate Mary, is physically here with us just as we are physically here. We believe that this is how You are here, although we cannot experience this with our eyes, hearing, or any of our senses. However, the certainty of faith alone is enough for us: You are here as present as any of us humans. We believe and adore this mystery of Your loving presence. (1:09)

B      Jesus, how good it is to be with You, present in various ways in the world! I believe that when I help a sick person, I am also spiritually with You as the One co-suffering in our fellow man. I believe that when I read the Scriptures, You spiritually are with me and helping me to understand and put them into practice. I believe that when I pray in the community at home, You are also there spiritually with us and cause us to be in communion with one another. I believe that when a priest celebrates the Holy Mass, You, o Jesus, are especially closely united with him: he lends his humanity to You so that You can celebrate the Holy Mass through him. (1:05)

P      Dearest Jesus! From the Church, I receive this astonishing truth of faith with gratitude that among the various ways of Your presence in the world, there is one unique way, incomparably more perfect than all the others: You are present uniquely in the Most Holy Host. You are present here in a different way than in a neighbor in need, in a different way than in the reading of Scripture, in a different way than in prayer in community, in a different way than in the celebrant… Here, in the Sacred Host, in Your marvelous mystery of the Eucharistic presence, You are not only spiritually but bodily present though imperceptible to my eyes or ears. You are just as I am here now, just as each of us is here… You are here in Your human body! (1:18)

P      Song: Jesus, Veiled in the Sacred Host – 1st stanza (0:27)

W      You are here in the flesh, therefore, just as You were two thousand years ago in Nazareth, Bethlehem, Egypt, Jerusalem… You are here as God who truly became man a moment after the Immaculate Mary with faith uttered the word full of love, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” You are here as You were with people from the moment of Your Incarnation following Annunciation until the moment when the cloud received You out of the Apostles’ sight at Ascension. You are here as You were among men for some thirty-three years of Your mortal life. Moreover, though neither my eyes can see Your figure, nor my ears can hear Your voice, nor can I in any other way by my senses get to know that You are indeed in the same way as I am, that is, in the flesh, yet I know and confess with great emotion that You, God Incarnate, are here in the flesh. (1:32)

B      How fortunate it is, o Jesus, that now I can be with You not only in a spiritual way but in the way that friends are with each other: present in the same place, physically present close to each other… I lovingly gaze at the Most Holy Host, and I know that our gazes meet here: You are looking at me, I am looking at You… I am at Your feet, listening to Your voice… I am at Your feet, consciously losing – supposedly – time… giving time for loving You… You know, I use this earthly time, Your gift to me, I use it like Mary, sister of Lazarus and Martha, about whose meeting with You St. Luke wrote: (1:12)

P      Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations, and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42). (1:04)

B      O Jesus! It resounds in my heart the praise that Mary sitting at Your feet received from You. I juxtapose Your reaction in defense of her with the event described a little later by St. Luke as follows: (0:20)

P      Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” (Luke 12:13-14). (0:24)

P      Song: I Bow to You – 1st stanza (0:26)

W      Mary has chosen the good part… O Jesus, why didn’t You stand up for the busy Martha, who wanted to receive You in the best possible way with a perfectly prepared meal? Why do you praise Mary, who left her sister in the kitchen and contented herself to sit at Your feet? Is it fair to do so? Moreover, is it fair that You, on the one hand, did not want to settle the brothers’ dispute over the division of the inheritance and, on the other hand, wanted to take a stance on Martha’s claims against Mary? How should we understand the difference between Your attitudes in both situations? Could it be that the defense of Mary, who was listening to Your words, was more important than the defense of the wronged heir? (1:12)

B      Mary has chosen the good part… Mary recognizes that the culinary arts are not worth pursuing right now. Mary is deeply convinced that You care more about listening to You than satisfying Your hunger with exquisite dishes. Mary recognized the time of Your visitation; she recognized that now when You have come to their house, it is worth serving the simplest meal, bread and wine, and having abandoned everything else, sit down at Your feet and listen to the words of Your teaching, look in Your loving eyes, be close to You, so close that one could respond to Your love with the love of presence. (1:03)

P      Mary knows that the time when You, Divine Teacher, are especially for her does not happen often enough for her to devote it to other activities now. Mary knows that we, her sisters and brothers, often take too much care of our daily affairs, and thus we lack time for You, o Jesus, for sitting at Your feet when You bodily are with us. (0:39)

W      Mary has chosen the good part… O Jesus, with Your response to the voice of complaint of this brother and sister, You confirm that we are often overly concerned with everyday matters, we grieve over the loss of material things, but we do not grieve over the passing of the unique time of Your visitation. Mary, who had time to sit at Your feet when You physically, “in the flesh,” entered her home, has chosen the good part… Will I, then, following her example, see today in a new way the time of this extraordinary visitation when You enter “in the flesh,” in Holy Communion, at the threshold of my heart? (1:05)

P      Song: The Hidden Jesus – 1st stanza (0:52)

B      Will not I lack the time and strength to sit at Your feet, look into Your loving eyes, lay my head on Your Heart, and love You with my presence…? Will I want to decide to arrange the earthly days of my life so that only exceptionally will I run immediately after the Holy Banquet to really urgent tasks? Will not I lack the strength to love You, o my God and my Bridegroom, as You long to be loved? (0:49)

P      I believe, o Lord, that our love reaches its summit in Eucharistic union. I believe, o Jesus, that the time beginning with the reception of Holy Communion is one of the whiles especially desired by You. I believe that this time cannot be replaced by any other moment of my looking to Heaven or walking on earth or my loving You in prayer or service to our beloved sisters and brothers. I believe that You have a special right to my time of love when You come to me in the Sacred Host. (0:56)

W      I believe, o Jesus, that it should be with our love as with love between spouses. Namely, I notice that in a family, spouses devote their time and whole lives with joy and great commitment to their children. Nevertheless, they consider it a special privilege to devote time to be with each other exclusively as husband and wife in their sacramental union. In the same way, I, while repeatedly giving time to serve your Kingdom, have the right to devote time to our exclusive mutual love, and You, o Jesus, likewise have the right to expect from me that unique time when You are present sacramentally, bodily with me and in me. (1:01)