Our Lady
should indeed be revered every month as a Queen of great goodness and power in
her intercession for us, for she loves all the children of God who are born
with the image & likeness of her own son. Her powerful love is often
forgotten or not understood in the blindness & foolishness of the world.
It must be
especially painful for Mary (and Jesus) when she is ignored by devout
Christians. At the foot of the cross, St. John can represent all of us when
Jesus says to him, “Behold your mother”. This seems to be more of a command
than a suggestion, especially since Jesus said it as He was being tortured to
death (see John 19:27). Also, if
He chose to say it at this time, it must be a part of the redemptive process
and not merely a domestic
arrangement. I sometimes wonder what non-Catholic Christians think of Luke 1:48
“For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed,” Do they ever ask
themselves, “How does my generation ‘called
her blessed’ and how do we do this at our
church? Do we even ‘call her’ at all?”
God chooses
to work through people and He went through Mary in the most intimate way
imaginable for she is not only a daughter of God like any woman, but also a
Mother and a spouse. We may often think of Mary as the Mother of God, but
perhaps not as often as the spouse of the Holy Spirit (CCC #507). We can say
the job of the Holy Spirit is to make us Holy because He is the Sanctifier. We
can also say that two become one in spousal union; therefore we should be able
to say that the Holy Spirit is pleased to work and act through His spouse for
the sanctification of the human race. Every
person is invited to be transformed through Mary, by the power of the Holy
Spirit, into Christ’s own image. Of course, God did not have to be so united
with Mary, it was His free choice and He takes delight in it.
God going
through Mary might be easier to internalize if we imagine light passing through
glass. If we are in a room with a window, the sunlight passes through the glass
to light up the room whether we know the glass is there or not; whether we like
the glass or not. The glass is in no way the source of the light, but the light
goes through the glass regardless. The glass can also help to keep bad things
out of the room like insects, wild animals and cold air. Incidentally, if God
were to make a piece of glass for the light of the world to shine through,
would He choose some dirty, cracked or chipped glass that would block and
distort His magnificent light, or would
He create an immaculate piece glass? Think about it.
And think about
this; Mary in terms of three things: passion,
baptism and gift. The Holy Spirit wants to work wonders in our day and raise-up
great saints with great passion. Why
does this happen so rarely? Perhaps it is because He rarely finds a soul
willing to be more perfectly transformed in Christ through His spouse Mary.
At baptism we are made into “other Christs”
by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was pleased to first form
Christ through Mary and He continues to form “other Christs” through her.
Remember that baptism is a beginning not the end, and the goal of any devotion
to Mary is our ongoing post-baptismal transformation and consecration in
Christ.
Consecration
to Jesus through Mary is
a gift that gives back infinitely more
via magnification. Mary’s
soul magnifies the Lord (see Luke 1:46). Think of a magnifying glass placed in
the sun. The rays of the sun that go through the glass are concentrated and the
heat & light is greatly magnified. Mary acts as the magnifier of God’s
Grace and magnifiers tend to work both ways. If we give Mary our meager efforts,
she will purify and magnify them for us while at the same time protecting us
from evil and temptation. St. Louis de Montefort says that going through Mary
is the quickest, easiest and surest way to Jesus. If we were to fully realize
what a great gift this is, we’d never stop praising God for it.
The proceeding was inspired by a book
called “33 Days to Morning Glory” by Fr. Michael E. Gaitley and the teachings of St. Maximilian Kolbe
and St. Louis de Montefort.
What a good reflection and reminder. "My soul magnifies The Lord " . For some reason those words seem very striking this morning like I haven't realized the plain meaning and instruction for a while. Thank you
ReplyDeleteYou’re welcome. Remember too that today is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I posted this today because I’m going away on vacation for a while. I only realized this morning what feast day it was. What a pleasant surprise!
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