Pope: Like Mary, we are all called to say yes to God

The Blessed Virgin agreed to 'give' Jesus flesh so he could 'descend' from heaven and she in turn was 'taken' to the place from which he descended.

CASTEL GANDOLFO (AsiaNews) - What happened to Mary is "valid" for each and every man and woman. We are all called to give our yes to God to become "members" of the body of which Jesus is the head and through the Eucharist, conquer death. The day after the feast of the Assumption, Benedict XVI dedicates his Angelus reflections once more to Our Lady.

To four thousand people in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo and those gathered in the square outside, the Pope, inspired by today's Gospel, said that "one can not but be affected by this correspondence, which revolves around the symbol of the 'heavens': Mary was' 'ascended' to the place from which her son 'descended'.

Of course, this language, which is biblical, expresses in a figurative way something one can only draw close to through certainly far from easy concepts. But let's stop a moment to reflect! Jesus is presented as the 'living bread', that is the food that contains the very life of God and that is able to communicate it to those who eat of Him. He says: 'If anyone eats this bread he will live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world '(Jn 6:51).

Well, from whom did the Son of God take his "flesh", his real and earthly humanity? He took it from the Virgin Mary. God took from Her human form to enter into our mortal condition. In turn, at the end of Her earthly existence, the body of the Virgin Mary was assumed into heaven by God and allowed enter the heavenly condition.

It is a kind of exchange, in which God always has the full initiative, but in a sense, in which he also needs Mary, to prepare the matter of his sacrifice: the body and blood, to be offered on the Cross as an instrument of eternal life and in the sacrament of the Eucharist as spiritual food and drink".

"What happened in Mary - continued Benedict XVI - is also valid for every man and woman. God asks each one of us to welcome Him, to make available to Him our hearts, our bodies, our entire existence, so that He can dwell in the world. He calls us to unite ourselves to Him in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, to form the Church together, the Bread broken for the life of the world. And if we say yes, like Mary, by the very measure of our 'yes', that mysterious exchange also happens to and in us: we are assumed in the divinity of He who assumed our humanity. The Eucharist is the means, the instrument of this reciprocal transform, which has God as the ends and as a main actor: he is the Head and we the members, He the Vine, we the branches.

"Who eats of this Bread and lives in communion with Jesus allowing himself to be transformed by Him and in Him is saved from eternal death: he will of course die like everyone else, participating in the mystery of the passion and cross of Christ, but he is no longer a slave of death, and he will rise on the last day to enjoy the eternal feast with Mary and All the Saints. "

"This mystery of eternal life" - he concluded - "begins here in the mystery of faith, hope and love, which is celebrated in the liturgy, especially the Eucharist, and is expressed through fraternal communion and in service to our neighbour. Let us pray to the Blessed Virgin, to help us to nourishes ourselves in faith, with the Bread of eternal life to experience already on earth the joy of heaven".