The Guardian Angel: Teresa Neumann and Mary

We can make things complex or simple with God help, so let Mary and the Holy Spirit give you a gift to share with others in your life. You may be the reason they spend eternity with the Lord. May Jesus give you all you need in spirit, mind, and body. To Jesus through Mary, GregoryMary

Teresa Neumann’s life changed radically after her miraculous recovery from paralysis and total blindness at the age of 25. About a year later, she received the stigmata and began fasting, which lasted 36 years until her death. Her only nourishment was the Holy Eucharist and for this reason the Nazi authorities, during World War II, withdrew her food rationing card and gave her a double rationing of soap to wash her towels and clothing, because every Friday she would be drenched in Blood while she was in ecstasy, experiencing the Passion of Christ. Hitler was very fearful of Teresa.

Teresa Neumann was born in Konnersreuth Germany, on April 8th, 1898 from an extremely poor Catholic family. Her greatest ambition was to become a missionary in Africa but that was not possible as she was a victim of an accident at the age of 20 when a horrible fire broke out in a nearby plant and Teresa went to help and in the process of passing buckets of water to stop the flames, she got a horrible lesion in her spinal cord that caused a paralysis in both her legs and complete blindness.

Teresa then passed her days in prayer, but one day her miraculous recovery occurred in the presence of Father Naber who wrote: “Teresa described a vision of a great light and an extraordinary, sweet voice that was asking her if she wished to be healed. Teresa gave the most surprising answer when she replied that to her it would not make any difference whether she would be healed, stay the way she was or even die, as long as it was the will of God. The mysterious voice told her that ‘that very day she would receive a small joy; the healing of her infirmities, but that she would still have a lot of suffering to endure in her future.’”

For a little while, Teresa lived in fairly good health, but in 1926 her most important mystical experiences started and lasted until the day she died. She received the stigmata, and she began a complete fasting, with the Eucharist as her only nourishment. Father Naber, who administered Communion to Teresa every day, wrote: “In her, God’s promised word is accomplished: ‘My Flesh is real food and my Blood is a true drink’”.

Teresa offered the Lord her physical suffering - due to the loss of blood caused by the stigmata - that started every Thursday during the day when Jesus’ Passion started, until Sunday, His Resurrection. This suffering was offered, through her intercession, for sinners that asked for help. Every time she would be called to a person’s death bed, she would be witness to that soul’s judgment, as it is usual to happen right after death. Ecclesiastical authorities performed many examinations in regard to Teresa’s continuous fasting. Carl Strater, S.J., directed by the Bishop of Ratisbonne, studied and examined the life of the stigmatized Teresa and confirmed: “The significance of Teresa Neumann’s fasting is to show the people of the world the value of the Holy Eucharist, to make the world understand that Christ is actually present in the bread of the Eucharist and that through the Holy Eucharist, physical life can actually be preserved.”

The Blessed Virgin and The Holy Eucharist by Fr. John A Hardon, S.J. There is no secret about how the Blessed Virgin is related to the Holy Eucharist. It is very simple: except for the Blessed Virgin, we would not have the Holy Eucharist. The key to this relationship is the humanity of Jesus Christ. God as God, was present in the world from the dawn of creation. The same almighty power by which God brought the world into being is the same almighty power by which He sustains the world in existence and provides for its constant activity. But something historic happened at the Annunciation. The moment Mary told the angel, "Be it done to me according to Your word," God began to be present in the world as man. The infant in Mary's womb was her God become Incarnate. It was the Word made Flesh. It was the Lord of the Universe become a human child. It was from Mary that the Son of God took our human nature. It was from Mary that the Second Person of the Trinity received His humanity. It was through Mary that Jesus Christ, who is God from all eternity, became man, lived visibly on earth in Palestine and is now invisibly on earth in every church and chapel in the Catholic world where the Holy Eucharist is offered, received and reserved. Mary's relationship to her Son has not changed since the Annunciation. As His Mother, she remains the Mother of Divine Grace, through whom He pours out His blessings on a sinful world. As Pope John Paul II observed in Redemptoris Mater, "Mary guides the faithful to the Eucharist."