Today, Our Lady of the Pillar. “To Jesus, we always go, and to him, we always return through Mary," as St. Josemaría advised us: “We can't abandon the many Marian devotions that are proofs of our love for our Lady. Otherwise, how are we men, who need to show our love with specific words and gestures, going to express our affection, our gratitude, our veneration for the Lady who, by her fiat—be it done unto me according to your word—made us brothers of God and heirs of his glory?"
“If devotion to Mary weakens in the soul of a Christian, he immediately begins to stray off the right road and could easily end up losing the love of God. The Holy Trinity chose to have the Word come down to earth to redeem us from sin, and to restore us to our supernatural condition as children of God. And also, so that we could see our God clothed in flesh like ours and contemplate the palpable and tangible reality that we have been called to become partakers of the divine nature. And this "divinization," which comes to us through grace, is a direct consequence of the Word having taken human nature upon himself in the most pure womb of holy Mary."
“Our Lady, therefore, can never disappear from the Christian's daily horizon. It is not a matter of indifference to stop frequenting those shrines her children have built for her out of love; it is not a matter of indifference to pass by her image without an affectionate greeting; it is not a matter of indifference to let time go by without singing that loving serenade to her, the holy Rosary, a song of faith, the nuptial song of the soul that has found Jesus through Mary."
“Now we can understand the true meaning of Pillar. It is not, nor has it ever been, the cause of any sterile sentimentalism. Rather, it is the firm base for a custom of true and solid Christian conduct. There, God's sons and daughters are educated in the faith."
“The story of Pillar takes us back to the days of the apostles, to the very beginning of evangelization, the proclamation of the Good News. We find ourselves in the same situation today. Two thousand years count for nothing in the face of our Lord's eternal grandeur. James, Paul, John, Andrew, and the other apostles are walking alongside us. Peter resides in Rome, with the unceasing responsibility to confirm us all in obedience to the faith. If we close our eyes and let our imagination act, we can relive the scene that St Luke relates, as if in a recent letter: All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.”
“Our Lady of the Pillar speaks to us of strength in our faith, our hope, and our love. With Mary, in the Cenacle, we receive the Holy Spirit that filled the house where they were sitting. The Paraclete will not abandon his Church. Our Lady will multiply the number of Christians on earth who are convinced that it is worthwhile to give their lives for the Love of God."
Video available in You Tube: https://youtu.be/6CZwCvcT4bA
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