Dec 5 Thu - Mary’s prayerful attitude

 

Dec 5 Thu
Mary’s prayerful attitude

Twice in the Gospel we are told that Mary kept all these memories in her heart, and meditated upon them, and also that she treasured all these things in her heart.

This is Mary’s attitude; we too must internalize and meditate on everything God sends us.

This is prayer: a meaning dialog with God about Him, about your life, on how you can help the others, about events… Thus, you will be looking at things with God’s eyes.

Nazareth is the school where we begin to learn more about the life of Jesus. Often in our mental prayer we should imagine ourselves as one person working alongside Jesus, Mary and Joseph, or accompanying her at the foot of the Cross... Ask our Mother to teach you to talk to Jesus.

Prayer strengthens us against temptation. The Lord addresses the same words to us as he did to the disciples in Gethsemane: “Why do you sleep? Rise up and pray, that you may not enter into temptation."

To develop the spirit of prayer we must include some regular Norms of piety in our Plan of life. Thus, the incense of our prayer will rise up constantly to God Our Father. St. Josemaría reminds us: “Today I tell you the same thing in different words. We will attain holiness, through faith, through frequently receiving the sacraments, and through our hope and love. All this spiritual dimension of our lives has a series of specific external expressions and interior practices which were already present in the lives of the early Christians. These are the Norms of our plan of life."

“In the spiritual life, nothing new has been discovered, nor will it ever be. The means have been, are, and always will be the same: the sacraments, prayer, mortification, a life of piety, fleeing from temptations and from occasions of sin, opening our hearts wide, and letting God's grace enter deeply, cutting in and burning, cleansing and purifying."

Prayer leads us to live in the presence of God throughout the day. “Prayer then becomes continuous, like the beating of our heart, like our pulse. Without this presence of God, there is no contemplative life. And without contemplative life, our working for Christ is worth very little, for ‘vain is the builder's toil if the house is not of the Lord's building’.”

Resolutions:

- Every day, devote ten minutes to mental prayer.

- Deal with the Holy Family of Nazareth; learn to talk to Jesus as Mary and Joseph did.

Time and again we ask Our Lady, who is already in heaven, body and soul, to petition Jesus for us. Today, offer her the Sunflower, which orienting itself, and looking at the Sun, represents our prayer, facing God, being contemplative in the middle of the World.

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Dec 4 Wed - Jesus gives us his Mother to be our own mother.

 

Dec 4 Wed
Jesus gives us his Mother to be our own mother.

When Our Lady consents to become the Mother of the Savior, she becomes the Mother of all men. By giving birth to Jesus, the Head of the Church, she spiritually engenders each of us as members in the Mystical Body of Christ.

Next to the Lord, when he is nailed to the Cross, stands Mary, John the beloved disciple, and some holy women. Then the Lord says to her: 'Woman, behold thy Son’. Then He says to the disciple, ‘Behold thy mother’.

This is a second Nativity. Mary gave birth, without pain, to her only-begotten Son in the stable of Bethlehem. Now though, she gives birth to her second son, John, amidst the suffering of the Cross. Now she suffers the pangs of birth for the millions of other spiritual children who will call her ‘Mother’ over the centuries. Now we understand why the Evangelist calls Christ Mary’s first-born son’. It is not because she has other sons of the flesh, but because she is to engender many children through the love of her heart.

How is my own personal relationship with her? Do I approach her trustingly as St John would? Do I often remember that she is at my side? Do I seek her intercession frequently?

Being a mother entails care and vigilance for the children. Thus, our Blessed Mother offers her spiritual protection to all without exception. She intercedes, and obtains the opportune graces of which all of us are in need. Just as Jesus is the Good Shepherd who calls his sheep by name. Mary distinguishes us personally from all others, and knows us by our name. Her maternal concern extends to our overall well-being, both of body and soul, but mostly to the supernatural life of her children.

She leads us to sanctity and to a more perfect identification with her Son. Thus, Our Lady collaborates in the mission of the Holy Spirit, who bestows on us supernatural life and grants us the grace to persevere in it.

“And from that hour, the disciple took her into his home". We see in these words of the Gospel an invitation for all Christians to bring Mary into their lives. We can visualize the young Apostle’s tremendous respect in all his everyday dealings with her. How full of confidence the conversations between the two must have been. We can appeal to her as her sons and daughters and ask her to ‘show us you are our mother.’

The most pleasing homage we can render to our Mother is to implore her maternal protection often. She knows of our vacillations, our concerns and our needs.

The incense of our prayer must rise up constantly to God Our Father. Time and again we ask Our Lady, who is already in heaven, body and soul, to petition Jesus for us.

Resolutions:

- To cast glances at the image of Our Mother in our room or place of work, frequently.

- To pray the Rosary, the Angelus. Three Hail Mary before going to rest.

- To utter many aspirations during the day, internally, without being noticed.

Today, we offer her forget-me-not flowers, which remind us of her continuous protection.

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Dec 3 Tue - The intercession of Mary.

 

Dec 3 Tue
The intercession of Mary.

At the wedding in Cana, Mary realized, before anyone else did, that they had run out of wine. She helps us discover and correspond to the will of God in the hundred and one little incidents of each day.

Mary was constantly aware of her divine filiation.

As the Mother of God, she was also keenly aware of her maternal role in the service of all humanity.

Both realities are permeated by her exquisitely refined piety. She will continue to love and help us since we are her children, and a mother is always closest to her child who is most in need.

When Mary looked or smiled at Jesus, or just thought about him, she was looking, smiling, speaking to God. This is truly what it means to pray. Our Lady carried out all her actions with the express desire of pleasing her Son.

Our own daily meditation should lead us to identify ourselves fully with Jesus, and approach even the relatively unimportant details of each day with supernatural perspective. At Cana, she shows how we can petition Our Lord, through her, with delicate tact. She was his mother, and a Son loves his Mother.

She had seen him sleeping in her aims, but nevertheless she did not venture here to tell him what He should do. She merely pointed out the problem to him, convinced that whatever solution He offered, no matter what He decided to do, would be the best possible. She left the matter entirely to him, leaving him completely free to do his own Will without any feeling of obligation.

Why? She knew that whatever He chose to do, it would be the most perfect thing that could be done, and the problem would be solved in the best possible way. She did not tie his hands, so to speak, or force him to take one line of action. She trusted in his wisdom, in his wider and deeper vision of things, a vision that “saw” aspects and circumstances perhaps unknown to her.

She did not even ask whether He would think it fitting to intervene or not: She merely pointed out the problem and left it in his hands. The fact is that faith ‘puts God under an obligation’ more than the most skillful and forceful arguments. Mary teaches us to remain at the foot of the cross in silent prayer during difficult moments of our life. The last we hear of Mary in the Gospel is when she is praying with the Apostles for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Resolutions:

- To have frequent recourse to Our Lady with aspirations.

- The Memorare Prayer.

- The Holy Rosary.

Today, bring her an iris, that is always upwards, open and directed to God and firm, which represents your faith.

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Dec 2 Mon - Looking at everything with God's eyes

Dec 2 Mon
Looking at everything with God's eyes

The Virgin Mary greeted Elizabeth and John the Baptist jumped for joy in his mother's womb.  
Elizabeth was astounded when she discovered the great mystery that had taken place in Mary and she exclaimed: "Blessed art thou among women!" The Holy Spirit flooded her with light, for only in this way could she see what was hidden; no one else either learned of it or was able to guess its meaning because it could be understood only by supernatural means.

Almost immediately we see the first result: Elizabeth was filled with admiration and gratitude for the honor which had been accorded her, for the woman who visited her was not simply Mary, but "the Mother of my Lord," a fact manifested to her when she felt how John was sanctified in her womb.

When the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth with this grace, she praised Mary's faith: “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

St Augustine resisted his conversion: “Later on!” he would answer. Until one day God sought him, “pushed” him and he surrendered to Him.
But Mary, the humblest of creatures, was full of grace. She did not understand completely: the mystery remained a mystery; but she believed in God and in His power. She believed without hesitation what God communicated to her through Gabriel; she did not ask for visible signs, poor proofs that we so often beg for. She surrendered to God.
This is faith: to answer the Lord with promptness and generosity.

Life is like a game of treasure hunt. One finding gives us a clue to the next site, and to the next…at the end we find the treasure.
Our treasure is Christ. The road to it is the fulfillment of God’s Will.

The clues may be a sickness, suffering, a friend, a sudden light in prayer. Our Lady took seriously the clues, and mediated on them in her heart.

Our resolutions:
- To examine in our prayer, from God’s perspective, whatever happens around us, this is supernatural outlook.
- To greet the Lord in the tabernacle, and “live” the Mass intensely.
- To say aspirations, like “Lord, increase my faith!”

The flower we offer today, a Lady-Slipper ‘Our Lady's Slipper’, is a symbol of Mary's Visitation trip to Elizabeth, thus, of her faith.

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