2 INTRODUCTION Father Andrew Hofer, O.P. In the last encyclical of his pontificate, Saint John Paul II focused the Church’s attention on the Most Holy Eucharist. In doing so, he knew the Church would have no better model for Eucharistic faith than the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this extraordinarily beautiful teaching, he chooses, for example, to meditate on the Visitation, quoting Saint Elizabeth’s words, Blessed is she who believed (Lk 1:45). Saint John Paul II offers this contemplation on the Mother of God: “When, at the Visitation, she bore in her womb the Word made flesh, she became in some way a ‘tabernacle’—the first tabernacle in history—in which the Son of God, still invisible to our human gaze, allowed himself to be adored by Elizabeth, radiating his light as it were through the eyes and voice of Mary.” He then asks: “And is not the enraptured gaze of Mary as she contemplated the face of the newborn Christ and cradled him in her arms that unparalleled model of love which should inspire us every time we receive Eucharistic communion?” It is true! Mary shows us the most amazing way to adore the Lord Jesus and to receive him. With her consent and in her womb, the Word was made flesh. The eternal Son of God became her Son for our salvation. Unlike no other human being, she shows us the way to follow him through all the joys, lights, and sorrows of this earth to the unending glory of reigning with him in heaven. Following the great John Paul II, this little booklet that you have provides the opportunity for you to see more clearly that all the mysteries of the Rosary are profoundly Eucharistic. Every single mystery of the Rosary can lead us more deeply to believing, celebrating, and living the Eucharistic Mystery. Saint Louis de Montfort affirms: “The Holy Rosary, recited together with meditation on the sacred mysteries, is a sacrifice of
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