“I AM the living bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.” (Jn 6:51-52, DR)

“And entering into the house, they found the Child with Mary, his Mother, and falling down, they adored Him; and opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” (Mt 2:11, DR)

Bethlehem means “House of Bread.” In the mind of God, before the foundation of the world,[1] and prophesied in the Old Testament,[2] Jesus was destined to be incarnated, and to be Eucharist for us. The Immaculate Virgin Mary, having given birth without labour[3] to the Bread from Heaven, she herself laid Him in a manger,[4] that is, in a food-bin for lower beings. This Eucharistic Jesus, the fruit of her womb,[5] she would present to the wise men for adoration, to the priest in the Temple for consecration, and to the Father on the Cross for our salvation.

O what must have been and what must be her piety! Her adoration of such ineffable goodness, humility, and self-diffusion! Look upon Him with her eyes; love Him with her Immaculate Heart. With such a pure heart, you will see God.[6] Like the man born blind whose eyes were opened, fall down, O soul, and adore your almighty and benevolent God.[7] Contemplate him in the Heart of Jesus, in Mary’s Womb, in the manger; behold His ways: His obedience and charity, His meek and patient manners, His divine words and eloquent silence, His Passion and His death: In all behold the Eucharist.

Meditation by Stephen Snyder, originally published anonymously in The Chaplet of St. Francis in 2012. All Rights Reserved, 2019.

---

[1] Eph 1:4.

[2] Mi 5:2-3.

[3] Having been preserved by Christ from original sin, Mary was exempt from the pains of childbirth (one of the wages of sin; Cf. Gen 3:16.) A Virgin before, during, and post partum, she gave birth to our Lord miraculously.

[4] Lk 2:7.

[5] Lk 1:42.

[6] Mt 5:8.

[7] Jn 9.