"Who Are You, Immaculate Conception?"

Lourdes Magazine ^ | December 2004 | Fr André Cabes

[Pyro7480]

Who Are You, Immaculate Conception?

Mary, mother of God

Fr. [now Saint Maximilian] Kolbe asked this question during a meditation on February 17 1941, the same day he was arrested, just before he left for the concentration camp at Auschwitz, where he would die on August 15. Immaculate Conception : these very words crossed the lips of the Immaculate herself. So they must show just how important they were in describing who she is. Fr Kolbe remembered Mary’s declaration to Bernadette on March 25 1858. Fr Peyramale, the parish priest of Lourdes, had been astonished by the name Our Lady gave to Bernadette: This couldn’t have been her own idea. In fact...one must pay attention to the date chosen by the little Lady of the Grotto to reveal her identity. March 25 points us to another conception other than her own: on this date the Son of God was also conceived in her virginal womb through the action of the Holy Spirit. Mary identified herself with the mission of bringing the Son of God into the world: she is nothing other than the Mother of God for the world. So she did not come to Lourdes just to confirm the doctrine of her Immaculate Conception, defined by the Pope four years previously; she came instead to give it meaning. Mary came to tell me: My child, look at me like God looks at me: through me, you will see a heart that is complete, perfect, open to childbirth, to the gift of Jesus, to the gift of the Saviour of the world. I am nothing on my own, other than a heart made for giving. Mother of God!

Mary, open to the Spirit

If God had really wanted to give himself to the world, if he had really wanted to have an encounter with us to release us from nothingness and death, it is because he had found a gap in our defence mechanism, he had found a door left open in this universe that he is forbidden from entering by force, because he is love. The only thing our Almighty God can’t do is to force a heart to love. So that he could give himself completely, as he dreamt he would, he had to prepare a heart capable of giving itself completely, like him. He decided to find and prepare the immaculate heart of Mary.

Mary on the earth is the pure reflection of what will come to pass in God throughout eternity. The Father begets, the Son is begotten. The Spirit is the love by which the Father begets and the Son is begotten, it is a circle of love: The Spirit is the uncreated, eternal Conception, the prototype of every life conceived in the universe. The Spirit is the most holy Conception, both infinitely holy and immaculate. All life from God, every heavenly happiness, means giving, receiving and sharing life. Through most holy Mary, God wanted to make known and share this one true happiness with the world.

Mary, our mother

Mary is not a screen between God and us. Mary reveals God as he really is, showing us the only way he wants to be known and loved, by the channel through which he gave himself: a mother’s heart. Through her, every grace is available. Through her, God’s gifts are open to us. To know God without her would be like making God in man’s image. Through her, we are loved by the Holy Spirit and also the Son, wrote Fr Kolbe on February 5 1941. She immerses us in the mystery of God. She makes us share the blessing bestowed upon her, because God also wants us to be “holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence.” (Ephesians 1, 4) She makes us share in the mission that has been entrusted to her: to give Jesus, the God who saves, to the world. “Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3, 35) In Mary’s womb, the Spirit can freely make us a heart in its image: may she love God with our heart, that we may belong only to him: this is our ideal! (Fr Kolbe, June 24 1936)

[Convert from ECUSA]

Great picture, thanks for posting it! :))

[Knitting A Conundrum]

rayer to Mary Immaculate

O Blessed Mother,
O Mary, Immaculate Heart
that watches over this troubled world
with such infinite patience,
with such steadfast love,
with such kindness and care,

O Mary,
we don't deserve such a mother as you,
but thank you for being willing to share
the love of your son
with each and every one of us.

Thank you for treating us
as your own little children -
how often have you searched and waited for us
like you did when the child Jesus
stayed behind at the Temple.

When we hurt,
thank you for covering us with your mantle,
giving us someone to hug,
a lap to cry on.

Thank you for all the times you have dried our eyes.

And thank your Son
for the great mercy of sharing you with us.

O I pray, dearest Mary, sweet mother,
that every day I can grow a little bit more like you.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I fly unto your patronage, my mother,
Ora pro nobis,
You who never leave anyone unaided,
but lay all our sighs, mourning and tears
at the feet of your Son,
Ora pro nobis.
You who try to keep us under your mantle
like your little children
wrapped safe against the wind and the rain,
Ora pro nobis.
Thank you for caring when we wander far away
and you come searching to call us home,
Ora pro nobis.
Thank you for teaching us
to cherish your Son
and show us his ways,
Ora pro nobis.
Thank you for being willing to be mother of us all,
O Mother of the Word Incarnate.

[Convert from ECUSA]

Thank you! :)))