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The Mother from whom you need hide nothing

Saturday, 28 June 2014 12:27

For the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

I am your Mother,
the Mother given you by my Son Jesus, from the Cross,
in the solemn hour of His Sacrifice.
And you are my son, dear to my Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart,
precious to me, and ever under the mantle of my protection.
Let me live with you
as I lived with John,
the second son of my Heart
and the model for all my priest sons down through the ages.

Speak to me simply
and with complete trust in the compassion of my maternal Heart
and in the power given to my maternal intercession.
There is nothing
that you cannot bring to me,
nothing that you cannot present to me,
nothing that you cannot offer me,
even to your very sins.

Anything given to me by My sons, I press to my Heart;
all that is impure, every vestige of sin
is consumed in the flame of love
that burns in my Immaculate Heart,
in the fire of love that is the Holy Spirit in me,
the very Fire of the Divinity.

Give to me, then, all that you would offer to my Son and to His Father.
It will be purified as gold in the furnace
because I will press it to my Heart.
Nothing impure can endure the flame of love
that burns in my Heart.
Only love remains.

Give me your weaknesses,
your past sins, your daily faults,
and I will present to my Son only the love with which,
in spite of all your weaknesses,
you desire to love Him, and with Him, love the Father.

I am your Mother.
I am the Mother from whom you need hide nothing.
Even those things that you think are hidden
appear clearly to me in the pure light of the Godhead.

When I see a priest son of mine disfigured or polluted by sin,
I am moved, not to judge him but, to show him mercy
and to employ all the means at my disposal
for his full recovery from the vestiges of sin.
So many of those who struggle
against inveterate habits of sin and pernicious vices
would find themselves quickly set free from them
if they would only approach me with filial confidence
and allow me to do for them
what my maternal and merciful Heart moves me to do.

There are no limits to my intercessory power
because the Father has so ordained it.
One can never go wrong in turning to me.
No matter how complex the problem,
no matter how sordid the sin,
I am the Handmaid of the Divine Mercy,
the Refuge of Sinners,
and the Mother of all who struggle against the forces of darkness.

Come to me, then.
I can even say those comforting words
first spoken by my beloved Son:
“Come to me, and I will give you rest.”
It is not enough to have some practices in my honour
in the course of the day:
I desire more, and you are called to more.
You are called to reproduce
the life of Saint John with me in the Cenacle
and at Ephesus.

If only you knew the bonds of love for Jesus,
and of obedience to the Father,
and of joy in the Holy Spirit that united John’s soul to Mine.
We were the nucleus of a family of souls
that has grown wondrously through the ages:
the family of all those who, like John,
lived with me, learned from me, and allowed me
so to love them
that love for my Jesus blazed in their hearts
like a great fire,
the fire that my Son came to cast upon the earth.

From In Sinu Iesu, The Journal of a Priest

Regnum Christi

Blessed is She Who Believed
2014-06-28

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Luke 2:41-51

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father´s house?" But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.

Introductory Prayer: Dearest Mother Mary, Christ your Son learned to love from your loving example. Teach me to love in the same way. Instruct me in the way of your virtues. Help me to make use of every opportunity to grow in them. Never let me avoid the opportunities life gives me to love and form myself in virtue. I always want to love the way you love.

Petition: Mary, my Mother, help me be your faithful child. Bring me to your son.

1. Not Everything is Clear: Mary has a mother’s heart that wants to love the loves of her Son. For Mary the road was not always clear. There would be many trials and difficulties. Nevertheless, Mary is resolved to follow her Son. She wants to follow him, understanding the mission. She cares for him in every way – even spiritually. There were many surprises in store for her as Christ matured and prepared for his mission. She never expected this one, losing her son for three days, at such an early age. Her son desired to be in his Father’s house and prepare his work. He loved being there and was preparing for the day when he would go out and actively do the work he had been sent for. Mary too was preparing for that day and Christ helped her get ready.

2. She Stored All These Things Up in Her Heart: It was hard for Mary to understand the full meaning of this moment. Being a woman of prayer and contemplation she stored all these things up in her heart where she could recall them, reflect on them and compare them to other moments of her mission. What did all this mean? What did it point to? God’s plan would only reveal itself with time and Mary would be ready for it. It was not so much understanding that she needed but rather acceptance and fidelity to complete it. Mary had a contemplative heart that sought to unite itself and identify itself to the mission of her Son. She knew that she had a part to play in that mission and that she would need to prepare herself for it through prayer.

3. Take Mary’s Hand: We will never understand what our life is for unless we pray and contemplate like Mary did. It takes time, patience and a great deal of simplicity and trust. “Blessed is she that believed that the promises made to her would be fulfilled!” exclaims her cousin Elizabeth after the annunciation by the angel Gabriel. We are blessed when we can believe. It may take a long time to see the fulfillment of God’s designs in our lives too. We need to be like Mary and follow through by faithfully following the path that is marked out for us. It can be a path that is not clear. We don’t need to know all of what lies ahead – just where we need to walk. Mary wholeheartedly identified with her Son’s mission. She invites us to identify with it too. She will not fail to take you by the hand and lead you along that unclear, difficult and unknown path.

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus Christ, when you had already given us everything – your life, your love, your Eucharist – from the cross you gave us the gift of your Mother. I thank you for this great gift. I want to be her faithful child. I want to imitate all her virtues, especially her faithfulness to you up to and beyond the moment of the cross. Grant me the grace to accompany both you and your mother at the foot of the cross. I want to follow you closely and perfectly as Mary did. I want to belong only to you and do only your will.

Resolution: I will ask Mary to shape all Christian virtues in me by my daily prayer to her in the Rosary. I will also make a special visit to her at one of her statues or images this week.