Greetings in Jesus and Mary.... "I have chosen you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain". Being Mary's own means asking Her to teach us to live like Her on earth so that someday we can be with Her in Heaven! We are to ask for Her help in imitating Her virtues each day....striving to fulfill the Will of God as She did. Let us make an offering at the beginning of the day of all our words and works, begging our angel to steep them in the Precious Blood of Jesus. If we make a great start to our day with prayer, begging our angel to help us to draw closer to Jesus through Mary, how precious will our life become to God. We can renew this offering frequently during the day. By living the Fatima message, we are to offer the prayers of reparation taught by the angel very frequently.....making them a habit to appease the just anger of God for the many sins committed each day by so many in the world. We do not know the day or the hour when we will be held accountable for our every word and action. We will never know the value of our good words and actions until Jesus leads us through the Courts of Heaven to the throne of the Eternal Father, to place the crown of glory upon our head. Do we think of this day? Do we yearn for this day away from this exile which in reality is so very short compared to eternity. It should be our daily motivation to one day be in Paradise; as we are helping to save souls for Heaven with our prayers. Let us look forward to that rewarding day and not be so consumed with the troubles of the world and the Church. We may often feel weary of this sad time of struggle, we may be caught up in the darkness going on around us, we may be crying over souls that seem lost. We cry so many tears in this valley of tears; but Mary is at our side to guide us to Her Son and present our petitions. May we live in confidence that She will present our prayers and help those in great need! She has been appointed our Mother by the good Eternal Father and given to us by His Son Jesus at the foot of the cross! Let us run to Her. Let us take Her hand DAILY! Let us live in imitation of Her and do as St Louis De Montfort has asked us....to do all in and for Her! We have the Blessed Mother, our angel appointed to help us, as well as all the saints ....... routing us on to victory! Let us live in hope of a better world and pray for the grace to be faithful and persevere in our work toward holiness in order to belong truly to Our Blessed Mother and to please God and save many souls from being eternally lost. We must love Our Lady's work, and daily ask Her to make us understand its spirit so that we do not grow weary. We must thank Her for having called us to Her own special work of Reparation and tell Her we would rather die than mar, by our imperfections, the work to which She has called us to do through Her message at Fatima. Let us begin with Mary, live with Mary, pray with Mary, offer all to God through Mary and one day She will come to take us Home on our last day of exile here! Let us persevere in holiness by making many Spiritual Communions if we can not go to Mass. May we never neglect the prayers taught at Fatima. May we try to keep the presence of God with us constantly so that we will not sin in word or deed. May we be faithful to Our Little Office of the BVM because it gives honor to the Queen we serve and it makes up for all those who neglect the Divine Office or the Little Office. May we make little sacrifices as best we can each day to mortify ourselves in order to draw closer to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. And finally, may all of this lead us to a life of hope in the eternal life with all the angels and saints in the presence of the Most Blessed Trinity and our good and holy Blessed Mother........OUR FINAL DESTINY!! May we pray for each other that NONE of us be overwhelmed at the troubled waters we are sailing in; but keep focused with GREAT FAITH in the Heart of Christ to be our guide to Heaven......Mary, Star of the Stormy Sea, pray for us!!
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Greetings in Jesus and Mary... Like Fr. Frederick Faber, Mother Mary Potter is one of my favorite English authors of the Catholic Faith. She started an Order of Sisters in the late 1800's called, "The Little Company of Mary" in order to tend to the dying. Fr. Faber was her spiritual director. They both had a great devotion to the Blessed Mother and did the St. Louis de Montfort Consecration. (I will post below a link to the prayer and I am sorry I did not do that yesterday for you but you could find it elsewhere on this website). Mother Mary Potter writes from "The Queen's Highway", written for her sisters; "We should welcome all events and adverse circumstances as opportunities of showing to God that our wills are united to His. We hope to have the desire on this earth that His Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. This was Mary's perfection as she stated: "Be it done to me according to Thy Word." This she said ALL throughout her life. We first hear of it at the Annunciation. She said yes to God's Will and continued to throughout her life on earth and now in Heaven." How beautiful was the moment when Jesus came to earth and found his home in Mary's Immaculate Heart and in her virginal womb. It is a great meditation to think of how Mary was not only to perform the duty of Mother of God and Mother of us all but ALSO to offer to God continuous and perpetual adoration of the Real Presence of Jesus. She had to be created perfect in order that her perfect, constant love was always given to Jesus without a moments rest. How many times are we NOT conscious of the fact that Jesus is truly present NOW in the tabernacles around the world. NOT SO for Mary, She kept His Presence before her mind perpetually. This should be our own disposition....to practice the Presence of God continually in order that He be given thanksgiving and homage ALWAYS; especially for those who do not and for all the crimes committed against Him! Mother Mary Potter continues.... "The Spouse of Jesus has ever to sing and make melody in her heart. She is to chant God's praises for ever! She is to sing of the glories of God. She is to speak telling words of love, to bring peace on earth to men of good will. Each Community fills the Garden of Jesus with beautiful beds of flowers, and every individual flower blossoms and sends fragrances of love and adoration to Jesus in imitation of Mary." We can all attain to this perfection of being a fragrant flower of Adoration for Jesus in imitation of Mary because.... with God...nothing is impossible. He wants more than anything else for us to live in imitation of our Holy Mother Mary in Her love for Jesus and to imitate Her many virtues. We must, like Her, correspond to the graces that God wishes to send to us. May we always confess when we know that we have squandered His grace so that we may be mindful and diligent to live more magnanimously for His Heart and Kingdom. We must strengthen ourselves with the Bread from Heaven and pray continually like Mary so that we can be called Her children...truly living in imitation of Her for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. This is the true essence of living the "Consecration to Jesus through Mary"! May we ask for this grace daily so that we put kindling to the fire which will be set on our hearts today upon making this consecration! Our Lady of the Annunciation, pray for us! Good Jesus, supply your graces into our souls as we make our Consecration to You through Mary today! The following prayer was recommended by St. Louis de Montfort for those who make the Consecration...you might want to consider adding this as you can. God bless!
Greetings in Jesus and Mary.... Today is the Feast of Divine Mercy which falls at the end of the Easter Octave. Through the glory of Easter, we celebrate and enter into the paschal mystery, proclaiming the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the below link is the relationship of this feast with the request of the feast of Corpus Christi at the end of the Sacred Heart Octave. Both are asked for by Our Lord Jesus Christ for greater love of His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. With the horrible statistics of so many Catholics NOT believing in the Real Presence; we need both of these feast days to instill love and understanding of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The message of Divine Mercy is found in the mystery of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is nothing less than Jesus’ complete and Personal gift of Himself to us – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity – under the appearances of bread and wine in the consecrated Host. Jesus hides His immense glory, beauty and dignity in the Blessed Sacrament because He wants us to come to Him in faith that we may love Him for Himself. “O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I Trust in You.” (St. Faustina diary, 187) Jesus explained that each person coming before Him in the Blessed Sacrament represented all humanity and that every man, woman and child on the face of the earth experiences a new effect of His goodness, grace, love and mercy for EACH Holy Hour made in His Divine Presence! In the words of Jesus to St. Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament: “I desire that Adoration take place for the intention of imploring Mercy for the whole world.”(St. Faustina diary, 1070) How can we come to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and implore His mercy with hearts empty of self and full of love and honor for God? We can find our help in our Blessed Mother as guide. She has given Jesus constant Adoration from the moment He was conceived in Her womb whose feast of the Annunciation we celebrate tomorrow. She is our model and our constant companion in Adoration. When we adore Her Son, She is there praying with us. When we go before Jesus on the altar, we always find Him with Mary His Mother. The Heart of Mary is the door through which leads us directly to Jesus. She is the gate through which we enter His Sacred Heart which pours forth the graces of Divine Mercy. St. Faustina in her diary talks about the help that Mary gave her in her love for Jesus in the Eucharist, “The Mother of God is instructing me in the interior life of the soul with Jesus, especially in Holy Communion. It is only in eternity that we shall know the great mystery effected in us by Holy Communion. O most precious moments of my life.” (St. Faustina diary 840) It is through our faithful reception of Our Lord in Holy Communion that we can obtain the graces that Jesus has for us to imitate Him in this world. “When the priest exposed the Blessed Sacrament and the choir began to sing, the rays from the image pierced the Sacred Host and spread out all over the world. Then I heard these words: “These rays of mercy will pass through you, just as they have passed through this Host, and they will go out through all the world.” (St. Faustina diary 441) Greetings in Jesus and Mary... This video below is perfect for our preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary...April 8th (the date given to us since March 25th was in Holy Week). This video says it all so I will let you go to the video put out today by Sensus Fidelium which is only 28 minutes long. God is good to give us these great consolations that God is in charge and that there are many graces and helps put in our hands for these days. Today is First Friday, tomorrow is First Saturday, Sunday is Divine Mercy and Monday is the moved feast of The Annunciation. May we pray and repent for the sins of the world.....which are many! GOD DESERVES OUR LOVE AND THANKSGIVING...LET US GIVE IT TO HIM....AND FOR ALL THOSE WHO DENY HIM THEIR LOVE!! May the Reign of the Immaculate Heart of Mary come so that Jesus may reign on the hearts of all men! Our Lady of Fatima and the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us!!! Greetings in Jesus and Mary.... Blessed Easter Tuesday to all of you!! I should be writing about something more edifying for our souls today but it seems the hype of this solar eclipse intensifies with each passing day. I was shopping yesterday and the music was interrupted with an ad from the store about buying solar eclipse glasses. SERIOUSLY! Since when? Since when did we travel to see a solar eclipse, shut down schools on the day of an eclipse, stop trucks in Texas on the day of the eclipse, call for the National Guard, declare State of Emergencies in various states, tell citizens to stock up on goods and fill up your tanks?????? WHAT IS GOING ON????? Well, I did a bit of research and found these videos that are more credible than all the hype of a rapture (which Catholics do not believe by the way). We are NO DOUBT inundated with demons on this planet. You hear people say, "I think, they are right! Hell IS empty! ALL THE DEMONS HAVE MIGRATED TO EARTH!" We are in a Spiritual War like we have never seen in all of human history. (AND it will get worse). This is a time to make my pitch to MAKE THE ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT CONSECRATION.....TO JESUS THROUGH MARY......NOW!! We need Her NOW more than EVER!!! She is the one appointed to crush Satan's head. We better get prepared for battle!! Well, below are the videos I found. You may want to listen to each a couple of times. They are not long but there is so much in each and they both make complete sense on WHY the hype. It looks like a modern day Tower of Babel is trying to be created. Now there may be consequences to the actions told in these videos BUT I am not closing the door that our government ALSO may use this opportunity to give us blackouts and grid down scenarios in various parts of our country. And when/if they happen, we will not know if it is because of CERN or NASA...or our own government. I pray that the day will be uneventful...that it will truly be just a wake up call for all to repent and turn back to God before THE horrible chastisement. The first video below is regarding THIS SOLAR ECLIPSE, April 8, 2024. The second video is an old video regarding THE SOLAR ECLIPSE, August, 2017. We need to pray and make reparation for these crimes against God and His humanity. That is what we can do. The reparation prayers taught at Fatima were for our day. May we seek Our Lady's help in this crazy time and may we pray for the Reign of Her Immaculate Heart so that Jesus may be seated on the thrones of ALL OF OUR HEARTS! Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us!! For those who need to see what CERN and NASA are doing....here are THEIR websites Information on CERN
Greetings in Jesus and Mary..... Blessed Easter to everyone!! Below are instructions given to Mother Mary Agreda from Our Blessed Mother, taken from "The City of God". I write on this topic because so many Catholics either choose to celebrate Christmas and Easter only or have given up all together. On this glorious day of Easter, there will be many sacrilegious Communions and much need for reparation this day. If we are to unite ourselves to Our Blessed Mother, we are to unite our thoughts and prayers to Her as well. Below are words from Our Blessed Mother on how She laments the ingratitude of so many souls at the price Her Divine Son paid for their eternal salvation during this Holy Triduum. Many souls have chosen to turn away from God in their lives here on earth and choose the tinsel of the world instead. This is so tragic because God truly has given us everything we need to acquire Heaven and so many are throwing it away. Even though this is Easter, a day to celebrate the victory of Jesus; we can console the Hearts of Jesus and Mary with our prayers of reparation for all those who refuse their love. Here are the words of Our sweet Blessed Mother..... "My daughter, through the whole course of My life is evident how gratefully I kept in mind the works of the Redemption, the passion and death of My divine Son, especially after I had actually seen Him sacrificed on the Cross for the salvation of men. But in this chapter particularly have I wished to draw thy attention to the care and the continual exercises, by which I renewed in Me not only the remembrance, but the sufferings of the Passion. I desire that the knowledge of this cause men to feel reproach and confusion at their monstrous forgetfulness of the incomprehensible benefit of the Redemption. 0 what a shameful, what a horrible and dangerous ingratitude of men is this! Forgetfulness is a clear proof of contempt, for one does not forget so easily, what one holds dear. What reason or excuse then can there be, that men forget the eternal blessings they have received? That they should despise the love, with which the eternal Father has delivered over to death His only begotten Son? The charity and patience with which His and My Son accepted it for them (John 3, 16.) The insensible earth responds to the efforts of those that cultivate it; wild beasts become tame and domesticated in return for benefits. Men among themselves are beholden to their benefactors; and when such thankful feelings are not forthcoming, they resent it, condemn it, and call it a great offense. What is the reason then, that only toward their God and Redeemer they should be ungrateful and forget what He suffered in order to rescue them from eternal damnation? And in view of this very evil return, they complain of not receiving His assistance as they desire. In order that they may understand what fearful guilt they load upon themselves by their ingratitude, I will remind thee, my daughter, that Lucifer and his demons, seeing so many souls oblivious of the sufferings of Christ, draw the following conclusions and say of such souls: “This soul does not remember or hold in esteem the benefit of God’s Redemption and we are certain of gaining it over to our side; for the soul that is so foolish as not to remember such a blessing, will certainly not detect our wiles. Let us proceed to tempt and destroy it, since it is deprived of its strongest defense.” Having in their large experience found their reasoning on this point to be almost infallible, they zealously seek to blot out the memory of the passion and death of Christ and to excite a contempt for the preaching or discoursing about it among men; and they have succeeded to a great extent, causing dreadful damage to souls. On the other hand they are wary and fearful of tempting those who have accustomed themselves to the meditation and the remembrance of the sufferings of Christ; for from this source they feel issuing against them a force and influence, which often prevents them from approaching those who thus piously cherish the memory of the Passion. I desire thee then, my dearest, not to detach from thy bosom and heart this bouquet of myrrh (Cant. 1, 12) and to imitate Me closely in the contemplation and the exercises of the Passion. For thus must thou keep alive the memory of the sufferings of My divine Son and satisfy for the injuries and blasphemies inflicted upon His divine Person by his enemies who crucified Him. Seek thou, as long as thou shalt be upon earth, to compensate for the ingratitude and forgetfulness of mortals. And in order to do it as I desire, never let thy remembrance of Christ crucified, afflicted and blasphemed be extinguished. Persevere in thy exercises, never omitting them except in obedience or in a just cause; for if thou imitate Me in this I shall make thee a participant in the effects I Myself felt. In order to dispose thyself day by day for holy Communion thou shouldst apply whatever thou performest in these exercises; imitate also the other works and practices, which thou hast come to know of me. If I, the Mother of Him whom I was to receive, deemed Myself unworthy of Communion and by so many means sought the purity necessary for such a Sacrament, consider what thou must do, so poor and subject to so many miseries and imperfections! Purify the temple of thy interior, scrutinizing it by the divine light and adorning it with great virtues, since it is the eternal God, whom thou art to receive; One, of whom nobody but Himself is worthy. Invoke the intercession of the angels and saints to obtain grace from the Lord. Above all I exhort thee to call upon Me and ask Me to help thee; for thou must know, that I am the special Advocate and Protectress of those, who desire to arrive at great purity for receiving holy Communion. Whenever they invoke Me for this purpose, I present Myself before the throne of the Most High, and, as one well knowing the disposition required for harboring God Himself, I ask His favor and grace for those who are about to receive Him in the holy Sacrament. I have not lost in heaven the solicitude and zeal, which I exhibited upon earth. Having asked Me, proceed to ask also the intercession of the angels, for they also are very anxious to see souls approach the holy Eucharist with great devotion and purity. Risen Lord Jesus, have mercy on us! Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, pray for us! Greetings in Jesus and Mary. We have now entered into the Easter Triduum which is sundown on Holy Thursday to sundown on Easter Sunday and is considered the most solemn part of the liturgical year. This three-day period is referred to as the Easter Triduum, also known as the Sacred Triduum, or Paschal Triduum. The word "triduum" comes from the Latin word triduum, which comes from tris (“three”) + dies (“day”). Basically, the Sacred Triduum is one great festival recounting the last three days of Jesus' life on earth, the events of his Passion and Resurrection, when the Lamb of God laid down his life in atonement for our sins. Let us enter a little into the thoughts of Our Blessed Mother during these days -- taken from City of God by Mother Mary Agreda who received messages from Our Lady Herself on Her entire life. This four volume set is highly recommended and was referenced by many Popes over the years. A little meditation for Holy Thursday..... "It is the will of the Lord and my own that with this sword thou fight the battles of the Almighty in the same of the holy Church against the invisible enemies.. ..None are found to consider and weigh the fearful damage, nor to approach the easy remedy of receiving the Holy Eucharist with a contrite and humble heart; nor does any one ask for my intercession. Though all the children of the Church largely incur this fault, yet more to be blamed are the unworthy and wicked priests; for by the irreverence with which they treat the Blessed Sacrament the other Catholics have been drawn to undervalue it. If the people see that their priests approach the divine mysteries with holy fear and trembling, they learn to treat and receive their God in like manner. Those that so honor Him shall shine in Heaven like the sun among the stars; for the glory of my Divine Son's humanity will redound in a special measure in those who have behaved well toward Him in the Blessed Sacrament and have received Him with all reverence; whereas this will not happen to those who have not frequented this holy table with devotion. Moreover the devout will bear on their breast, where they have so often harbored the Holy Eucharist, most beautiful and resplendent inscriptions, showing that they were most worthy tabernacles of the Holy Sacrament...They will also enjoy the special favor of being able to penetrate deeper into the mystery of the presence of the Lord in the sacrament and to understand all the rest of the wonders hidden therein. This will be such a privilege that it alone would suffice for their eternal happiness, even if there were no other enjoyment in Heaven." A little meditation for Good Friday.... "Therefore, my daughter, embrace the Cross and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this mortal life. By contemplating and feeling within thyself the sacred Passion thou wilt attain the summit of perfection and attain the love of a spouse. Bless and magnify my most holy Son for the love with which He delivered Himself up for the salvation of mankind. Little do mortals heed this mystery; but I, as an Eyewitness, assure thee, next to ascending to the right hand of His Eternal Father, nothing was so highly estimated and so earnestly desired by Him, as to offer Himself for suffering death and to deliver Himself up entirely to His enemies. I wish also that thou lament with great sorrow the fact that Judas, in his malice and treachery has many more followers than Christ. Many are the infidels, many the bad Catholics, many the hypocrites, who under the name of a Christian, sell and deliver Him and wish to crucify Him anew. Bewail all these evils, which thou understandest and knowest, in order that thou mayest imitate and follow me in this manner. " A little meditation for Holy Saturday..... "My daughter, the lance-thrust which my blessed Son received in His side, was cruel and very painful only to Me; but its effects and mysteries are most sweet to those souls who know how to taste its sweetness. It was a great affliction to Me; but whoever meets with this mysterious favor will find it a great relief and consolation in his sorrows. In order that thou mayest understand this and participate in it, thou must know, that My Son and Lord, on account of His most ardent love for men, in addition to the wounds of the feet and hands, wished to open the wound of His Heart, the Seat of Love, in order that through this port the souls might enter and there receive refuge and relief. This is the retreat which I wish thee to seek during the time of thy banishment, and which thou must consider as thy habitation upon earth. There thou wilt find the conditions and laws of love for imitating me and learn how for injuries thou must return blessings to all who commit them against thee and thine, just as thou hast seen me do, when I was grieved by the wounding of the side of My dead Son. I assure thee, my dearest, that thou canst not do anything more adapted to the obtaining of the efficacious graces from the Almighty. The prayer, which thou offerest in a forgiving spirit, is powerful not only for thy own good, but for the good of the one that offends thee; for the kind heart of My Son is easily moved, when He sees that creatures imitate Him in pardoning offenders and in praying for them; for they thereby participate in His most ardent charity manifested on the Cross. Write this doctrine in thy heart and in imitation of Me practice this virtue, of which I thought so highly. Through this wound look upon the Heart of Christ thy Spouse and upon Me, sweetly and ardently loving in it thy enemies and all creatures." All taken from the "City of God" by Mother Mary Agreda (The Easter Meditation will be posted on that day from this book...Blessed Triduum to all of you...May we keep each other in prayer.) Greetings in Jesus and Mary... Today is March 25th but the Church has moved the Feast of the Annunciation to April 8th which is after the Octave of Easter. This gives us more time to study which we all can use. Maybe some of the days that we have missed can be reviewed in a deeper way. We can also go through the True Devotion to Mary book and get to understand it better. There are videos on YouTube that explain the book True Devotion to Mary as well as the Consecration. Below is taken from Sensum Fidelium channel on YouTube to help us in understanding the Consecration better. I pray all of you have a very holy Week and Triduum this week. We always have to approach each day as if it could be our last....we never know. God bless all of you and may Our Lady shower many graces upon you from the Most Sacred Heart of our Saviour! Extra video below that is relevant for today because history is about to repeat itself. This is about the area of France where St. Louis de Montfort lived. May we ask Our Blessed Mother for the gift of being magnanimous in virtue when it happens to us ( a reason to make this Consecration). Greetings in Jesus and Mary....
Monday starts the week for the Knowledge of Jesus just before making our Consecration to Jesus through Mary next Saturday. You may do this on your own before an image of Our Lady or you may have a witness of a priest if this is your first time. I will provide a document for you to print with the words of the Consecration on it for you to print - later this week. Below is the guideline and talk for this week. May we keep each other in prayer. May Our Lady pray for us to come closer to Jesus - the One Who loves us! 27TH Day - Christ Our Last End – True Devotion to Mary 28th Day - The Gift of Jesus in the Eucharist/Passion- St. Matthew 29th Day - Imitating Jesus/Indifference to World – Imitation of Christ 30th Day - Royal Road of the Cross – St. Matthew & Imitation of Christ 31st Day - Love of God in the Blessed Sacrament – Imitation/True Dev. 32nd Day - Loving Jesus Above All Things – Imitation/True Devotion 33rd Day - Necessity of Communion – Imitation/True Devotion Jesus Christ Our Last End – True Devotion Nos. 61, 62 Jesus Christ our Savior, true God and true Man, ought to be the last end of all our devotions, else they are false and delusive. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all things. We labor not, as the Apostle says, except to render every man perfect in Jesus Christ; because it is in Him alone that the whole plentitude of the Divinity dwells together with all the other plenitudes of graces, virtues and perfections. It is in Him alone that we have been blessed with all spiritual benediction; and He is our only Master, Who has to teach us; our only Lord on Whom we ought to depend; our only Head to Whom we must be united; our only Shepherd Who can feed us; our only Way Who can lead us; our only Truth Whom we must believe; our only Life Who can animate us and our only All in all things Who can satisfy us. There has been no other name given under heaven, except the name of Jesus, by which we can be saved. God has laid no other foundation of our salvation, our perfection or our glory than Jesus Christ. Every building which is not built on that firm rock is founded upon the moving sand, and sooner or later infallibly will fall. By Jesus Christ, with Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, we can do all things; we can render all honor and glory to the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit; we can become perfect ourselves, and be to our neighbors a good odor of eternal life. If, then, we establish solid devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only to establish more perfectly devotion to Jesus Christ, and to provide an easy and secure means for finding Jesus Christ. Devotion to our Lady is necessary for us, as I have already shown, and will show still further hereafter, as a means of finding Jesus Christ perfectly, of loving Him tenderly, of serving Him faithfully. The above text from “True Devotion to Mary” sums up the entire Consecration but we will proceed further in learning how we can obtain a close friendship and knowledge of Jesus. We learn from St John in 8:12 that Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Jesus instructs us that to be truly enlightened and freed of all blindness, we must follow Him. We can get frustrated at ourselves and those around us for not seeing the Truth. If we really analyze the situation, we can see that we are not walking with the Light of Christ – we have strayed from the path of Truth. When we encounter darkness and blindness in the world, we are called upon to pray for ourselves and those who are wandering to search for this Light of the World – Jesus Christ. We might ask ourselves – How can I be fervent? How can I remain faithful to the Light of the World? In our studies this week we will touch on the importance of devotion to the Incarnation of Jesus, the gift of Himself in the Eucharist and the necessity of the cross. These are all essential in understanding Jesus. THE INCARNATION We learn in the True Devotion Nos. 243-254 on the 31st day that we are called to have a special devotion to the Incarnation of the Word. First, to honor the mystery of dependence which God the Son was pleased to have on Mary, for His Father’s glory and our salvation. Secondly, to thank God for the infinite graces He has given Mary and particularly for having chosen Her to be His most holy Mother. St. Louis states that these are the two principal ends of the slavery of Jesus and Mary. The Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ is a profound mystery. One that St. Louis de Montfort says we should meditate on often and have a deep appreciate for. Why? God humbled Himself to become Man in order to be our Redeemer. God Himself chose to be dependent and obedient to Mary as Her Child. St. Louis says that when we think of Mary, we cannot consider Mary without considering the Incarnation. St. Alphonsus says, “In the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, Mary could not have humbled Herself more than She did humble Herself: God on the other hand, could not have exalted Her more than He did exalt Her”. She became the Mother of God. The three Persons of the Holy Trinity freely chose to have need of Mary for the Incarnation, each of them in their own way took her into consideration. The love that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit bore Mary and the riches with which they lavishly endowed her are justified by the role they entrusted to Her. Her role did not consist merely in giving His individual humanity to the Word; She was meant to extend this role to the accomplishment of the whole Christ – Head and members. The Incarnation is the beginning of the act of giving birth to the new humanity in Jesus Christ. St. Louis de Montfort says in the “True Devotion to Mary” that this birthing will only come to an end “at the end of time”. Meaning: “It was through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus Christ came into the world, and it is also through Her that He must reign in the world.” St. Louis continues to says, “God-made-man found freedom in imprisoning Himself in Her womb…He glorified His independence and His majesty in depending upon this loveable Virgin in His Conception, His Birth, His Presentation in the Temple, and in the thirty years of His hidden life. Even at His Death, She had to be present so that He might be united with Her in one Sacrifice.” St. Louis goes further by saying, “Since grace enhances our human nature and glory adds a still greater perfection to grace, it is certain that Our Lord remains in Heaven just as much the Son of Mary as He was on earth. Consequently, He has retained the submissiveness and obedience of the most perfect of all children toward the best of all mothers”. He points out that this dependence is in no way an abasement or imperfection of Jesus. He says, Mary is infinitely inferior to Her Son, who is God, and that She does not command Him like mothers do on earth. It is different in glory from what it was on earth. Her will is perfectly united to the Will of God – She never acts or desires anything against God’s Will but by Her tender love is interceding for us. What does this mean for us? Why did He do this? This “dependence” is not optional for us, if we are to live in imitation of Jesus. By becoming man, God actually involves us in a filial dependence on Mary, as far as our spiritual life is concerned. It is our responsibility to acknowledge and live it at our own level, as Jesus Himself accepted and lived it at His own. Since this is Mary’s whole reason for being – to be the Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ; we can understand why God so generously lavished Her with profound graces. They were meant in turn to be given to us. The Incarnation is a mystery of love. The association of Mary with the Holy Spirit in the Incarnation entails Her permanent cooperation with Him until the mystery (the entire mission of Christ) is accomplished. St. Louis sees the Incarnation as the seat of Divine Mercy because in it we find Jesus “through Mary”. Mary is really the way of mercy by which Jesus came to us and by which we should go to Him. Let us conclude with how this gave amazing glory to the Father. St. Louis says in the “True Devotion to Mary”, “Jesus gave more glory to God than He would have given had He offered all the sacrifices of the Old Law. In Mary He gave His Father infinite glory, such as His Father had never received from man.” Jesus’ dependence on Mary, consequent of the Incarnation, enabled Him to “Give more glory to God His Father by submitting to His Mother for thirty years than He would have given Him had He converted the whole world by working the greatest miracles.” Could this be the reason Mary is so despised today? Satan is unleashed and has deceived even the elect in rejecting their Mother through their pride. The secret to sanctity is humility – The humility of Jesus and Mary. Let us be humble in imitation of Jesus and accept and embrace and depend on Mary-Our Queen and Mother. Let us repeat the words of Our Mother, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy Word.” THE EUCHARIST The mystery of the Incarnation can help us with our love and understanding of the great gift of Jesus to us in the Blessed Sacrament. When we come to ask Our Lady for her profound humility in accepting the gift of Jesus Himself, we can come to experience ourselves the beauty of the soul of Our Lady as we receive Him in Holy Communion. We should always ask for the gift of humility from Our Lady before receiving Her Son at EACH Communion. This would follow the instruction of St. Louis de Montfort in living by Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary. If we prayed to receive Our Lady in our soul before each Communion, how happy Jesus would be to come to that soul where His Holy Mother dwells. To prepare ourselves for a worthy reception of Jesus in Holy Communion we not only call upon Mary but we ask ourselves the following questions: “Who is it that is coming?” “To whom does He come, and why is He coming?” We can answer, “It is my Creator, who has given me everything that I possess, in whom I live, and move and am. It is God all Powerful, all Wise, all Knowing, all Holy, all Beautiful!” Jesus Christ is coming, the Eternal Son of the Father, who moved by love unspeakable, came down from Heaven into the pure womb of the Virgin, was born into this world and lived as man among sinners! The Good Shepherd is coming to seek His lost sheep; My Redeemer is coming who died on the cross for sinners. To whom is He coming? To a miserable sinner who has not fulfilled the end of his creation, to a steward who has wasted his master’s goods, to a servant who has disobeyed his Lord, to a subject who has rebelled against his Prince, to a redeemed captive who has been unthankful to his Deliverer, to a soldier who has deserted his Commander, to a prodigal child who has turned his back upon his Father, to a spouse who has been unfaithful to her Bridegroom. HOW GREAT IS THE DISTANCE BETWEEN HIM WHO IS RECEIVED AND THE SINNER WHO RECEIVES! Who can think of this and not feel himself completely unworthy of such a grace! Does this not stir into a repentant soul the desire to receive on one’s knees and (on one’s tongue). The saints with their lives teach us that to possess Love is to love Him; it is to allow oneself to be penetrated by His fire – by the Holy Spirit like our Lady. On our own, we cannot love. This love comes from the Holy Spirit, and where ever the Holy Spirit is – there is His Spouse, Mary. Mary with the Holy Spirit has been the one who has nourished us with the Body and Blood of Her Son in Holy Communion. The Dispenser of Graces has entered into our soul with the Holy Spirit to give us the graces Jesus wants us to have. Love comes from God and is given back to Him. This is why we must humble ourselves at all times knowing that any charity, any love, any grace coming from our souls originated by the Holy Spirit with the cooperative work of Mary. This is exactly what Our Lady was saying during the Magnificat. The Carmelite mystics call this passive love not because the soul does not move but because the soul does not move itself. The Holy Spirit moves it and it works under His Divine impulse. Therefore, it can truly be said that the Holy Spirit loves in the soul and that the soul loves with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is rightly called fire – Divine Fire. The Holy Spirit possesses the soul and that soul burns by a divine fire. Charity or love is the intimate fire that burns the soul, but the Holy Spirit, present in the soul is both the cause of that fire and its glorious end. At first the soul does not burn totally because it needs to be purified in order that the Divine Fire may perfectly penetrate and possess it. Little by little the divine penetration is effected and the soul gradually burns more thoroughly, more profoundly. The divine penetration becomes so perfect, the spiritual combustion so complete that the soul is “deified” – changed into fire – into Love. St. John of the Cross explains this with the burning of a log in a fire. The fire is difficult to get started on the log but once it takes hold of it – it is consumed and becomes ablaze – so much so that the wood is transformed. St. Paul states in 1Cor. 6:17 “he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.” It is the Holy Spirit that gave Christ to the world at the moment of His conception. Likewise, in the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit gives us Jesus through Mary. Every time we Communicate, our souls and hearts become the temple of the Most Holy Trinity with the Father, through Jesus, in the Holy Spirit. Christian holiness must be realized according to the relationship we have with the Eucharist, it must be Eucharistic holiness. We are united in Christ. The offering of ourselves and the Church would be nothing without Christ; it would be neither holy nor acceptable to God as we are only sinful creatures. The offering of the Body of Christ must be accompanied by the offering of one’s own body. On the altar, the priest acts in the place of Christ, the High Priest, but also in the place of Christ the High Victim. Each member of the Church is simultaneously both priest and victim while acknowledging the essential difference between the ministerial priesthood and the universal priesthood of all baptized persons. So when we unite ourselves to Jesus and offer ourselves up with Him through Mary to the Father, we are united in such a way that we too are Eucharistic. Our life’s little actions, words, and deeds become crumbs of the Eucharistic Jesus that feed the world. It is because of the Eucharist that love enters the world. We are in the world for the most sublime of reasons – to be living sacrifices in imitation of Jesus. The secret of happiness lies in a total offering of one’s self just like Mary – “Let it be done unto me according to Thy Word”. We can achieve this same offering through this Consecration. She will allow us to withhold NOTHING back so that by Her to Jesus we may receive the Holy Spirit – THE SPIRIT OF LOVE. The Holy Spirit impels the soul very strongly to offer oneself without ceasing like the log that is transformed into fire. The Eucharistic soul does not desire anything but love for the Father and seeing that HE IS NOT LOVED, that soul soon undergoes the martyrdom of martyrdoms – the sorrow of Jesus in the Host that cries “I thirst”. That soul now hungers for souls to satiate the thirst of Jesus. That soul feels the pain of Christ’s rejection in the world and becomes a victim of love of the Heavenly Father and shares in the Cross of Jesus Christ. Greetings in Jesus and Mary.... We have just finished Laetare Sunday and are coming close to Passion Sunday before Palm Sunday and then Easter. Let us make this a very fruitful Lent! I hope you looked up the audio book "The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ" by Anne Catherine Emmerich. It is just amazing what Jesus and Mary went through for us. We can see the correlation of those times with now. We are in our own Passion. We are surrounded by dangers and temptations almost unparalleled in the history of the world. The Church which is the Spouse of Jesus, is following the life of her Lord. The Church appears to be reaching the time when she will be mystically crucified with her Lord. The powers of darkness are evidently allowed a strange power of temptation: "it is their hour". Even many of Our Lord's own have fallen away...meaning that you and I must do reparation like it has never been done before. Let us not leave the foot of the cross with Mary...let us be like St. John and be in her company....no matter how painful. "Satan will deceive, if possible, even the elect." Jesus instructed us to "watch and pray". We see that the Church is visibly afflicted, that the powers of hell are leagued more strongly than ever against her. We cannot but see it. It is visible to our eyes, but the interior conflict, the attacks of Satan against the individual soul are not so visible, though they are far fiercer and more disastrous than the open attacks made by the minions of Satan against the Church. Forewarned is forearmed! If we have intelligence of a threatened danger, we will make preparations to defend ourselves against it. God will give us the grace. He has not abandoned us....it is us that have abandoned Him. He has given us the help of Our Lady and Good St. Joseph (whose Novena we are in now). May we pray very fervently to them in these times of great apostasy and confusion. Below are a couple of videos to help us see what dangers are lurking and keep preparing for your Total Consecration and pray and make reparation. Unite yourself and your loved ones to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Blessed Lent to all....Keep up your Consecration Prayer, Novena that Cardinal Burke has asked for (previous post) and offer a Novena to Good St. Joseph who is Patron of the Universal Church! We are in good hands....do not live in fear but in faith, hope and love! Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us! |
AuthorBernadette Porter is a Traditional Catholic, a wife of 42 years with 6 adult home-schooled children and 6 grandchildren. A sincere devotion to Mary, the Mother of God leads me to want to share "The Church's best kept secret" - Mary! Archives
April 2024
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