Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Mary TV: December 11, 2012 Reflection

        Our Lady of Medj painting             
Our Lady says, "This time is my time!"

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J.M.J.      

December 11, 2012

St. Damasus I

 

Dear Family of Mary!

 

"Dear children! In this time of grace, I call all of you to renew prayer. Open yourselves to Holy Confession so that each of you may accept my call with the whole heart. I am with you and I protect you from the ruin of sin, but you must open yourselves to the way of conversion and holiness, that your heart may burn out of love for God. Give Him time and He will give Himself to you and thus, in the will of God you will discover the love and the joy of living. Thank you for having responded to my call." (November 25, 2012)

 

I recently read an excerpt from a book by Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe which I thought spoke very much to the heart of this message from Our Lady. It was quoted in the Magnificat for December 8, 2012. I want to quote it for you now. See what you think. I believe it speaks about Our Lady's role in helping us to convert and take the way of holiness.

 

In the mystery of the Immaculate Conception, Mary is clearly the prototype of the birth of our divine life. Our Christian grace draws us directly and efficaciously toward this mystery, which is not foreign to us; it is an essential part of our divine life. But the birth of our divine life has already begun. Every movement of love makes us live by everlasting life. All our charitable impulses will be fully efficacious only to the extent that their starting point is intimately united to this mystery of Mary. All our efforts and resolutions to grow in divine love, if made outside the Immaculate Heart of Mary, are always tainted with pride, vanity, or selfishness...Because of the consequences of original sin, these resolutions still imply a certain compromise with evil, a compromise that is perhaps unacknowledged, very subtle and very hidden, yet real. Hence the break with sin is not complete; we still have some mud on us! The initial impulse is thus somewhat contaminated, and often for this very reason, it will not last. It will come to nothing. On the surface everything appeared splendid, very pure and beautiful, but there was a very hidden "crack," something binding us to ourselves and to our pride. The bird was still tethered by a string! After a first flight full of generosity, it fell down again. If our resolutions to grow in love (all our different Christian resolutions ultimately come down to this one resolution to grow in love) are made voluntarily with Mary, by relying on her Immaculate Heart and by entrusting them to her, they will then have an absolutely divine purity; they will be truly efficacious. Mary, in her mystery of the Immaculate Conception, is thus the proper place for every authentic starting point in the growth of love. (Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, O.P. "The Mysteries of Mary: Growing in Faith, Hope and Love with the Mother of God." as quoted in the December 2012 Magnificat, p 116)

 

Fr. Philippe sounds very much like St. Louis de Montfort. All our actions, prayers, thoughts and words are only as good as they are consecrated and given over to Mary. If we try to act independently of her sweet influence, we are going to find that our actions are tainted with our "self-will" and with our impurities. St. Louis wrote:

 

Our best actions are ordinarily stained and corrupted by our corrupt nature. When we put clean, clear water into a vessel which has a foul and evil smell, or wine into a cask the inside of which has been tainted by another wine which has been in it, the clear water and the good wine are spoilt, and readily take on the bad odor. In like manner, when God puts into the vessel of our soul, spoilt by original and actual sin, His graces and heavenly dews, or the delicious wine of His love, His gifts are ordinarily spoilt and corrupted by the bad leaven and the evil which sin has left within us...(n. 78, True Devotion to Mary).

 

St. Louis advocated Total Consecration to Mary as the antidote to this contamination. Only in, with, and through Mary can we grow to a state of holiness that will please God and help our fellow men. We simply can't make ourselves holy by our own efforts. Only Jesus and Mary can accomplish this in us, if we surrender to them, trust them, and live for them.

 

But what a joy this option is! Living under the protections and guidance of Mary, and through her, Jesus, we find true happiness. Imagine what life would be like if our actions finally hit their mark and made others happier and more loved! Imagine if our choices for the good would bring about the Kingdom of God! That is the fruit of living every moment with Mary.

 

This is what we are being offered in these days. Our Lady is with us to save us from the ruin of sin. She is with us to purify our every action so that we will glorify God. The Father has sent her to be with us. Jesus has planned this time with her. The Holy Spirit is working through her to transform us! And we find ourselves in this time. This is Our Lady's time! We are filled with joy!

 

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

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