Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Mary TV Daily Reflection 8/20/2013


      
  As a mother...   
(c)Mary TV 2013


J.M.J.
August 20, 2013
St. Bernard

Dear Family of Mary!

Today during our "Daily Rosary" something came to me that I had never thought of before. I have been thinking about Our Lady's messages. There are so many messages now. There seems to be no way to categorize them, or organize them. They cover so many topics and so many years! Each message has been a gift to us. They have meaning in time, as they help us in our lives at the time they are given. But they also are so helpful to look back at and ponder anew.

Well, I have been writing these reflections for a lot of years, trying to help keep the messages before us all, to help us remember Our Lady's words and receive the graces from them. But it all feels so disorganized. Our Lady is not like the systematic theologians who set up a method for understanding God and then let the method hold it all together.

No, Our Lady is not a systematic theologian. So what is she doing in these messages, I wondered. Well today it hit me that Our Lady is our Mother. And her method is the method of a mother. And so one of the things she is doing in her messages is motherly formation. And how do mothers form their children? They accompany them through their days and years, with their motherly presence, and with all kinds of motherly "thoughts". Mothers teach with little sound bites of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, direction, and practical direction. Mothers teach on a daily, even hourly, basis whatever the child needs to be taught at that moment to grow up into a wonderful adult!

My mother was like that. She was very present to us children. She had many things to say to us children, and many of those things have stuck with me my entire life. One that I remember is: "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all." Simple advice. Frustrating advice to a mouthy teenager who wants to criticize her elders. But in the end, those words come back to me when I am upset in a situation, when I want to say something unkind. They work like mental "brakes" and make me think twice before I speak. Motherly teaching.

I think in some way Our Lady is doing the very same thing with us in her messages. She is with us every day. She is with us whenever we turn to her. And in her messages she is giving us little bits of wisdom, of light, of direction like a mother should. These words stick with us, and after a while, we can begin to pull those bits of wisdom out of our memories at the right time and be guided by them.

Here is an example from the early days. It is a beautiful account of how Our Lady related to the visionaries:

Friday, February 19, 1982 - We asked if we could pray the Hail Mary. She said yes. And while we prayed, she looked at us with a smile, but without praying with us. Truly, her beauty is indescribable. Since I have seen Our Lady, I have been filled with joy. Whatever her words may be, what she has told me, I have always done it. I have obeyed. She makes attentive remarks, as a mother: "Listen attentively at holy Mass. Be well mannered. Do not chatter during holy Mass."


Isn't that beautiful motherly advice?   

Our Lady makes "attentive remarks"!! As a mother, she tells us just what we need to know to move forward in our life with God. How many mothers tell their children to listen at Mass? How often do they teach their children manners! And chattering! A mother's "shush" works every time. But I think that Our Lady's messages are exactly these kinds of attentive remarks, aimed to help us and correct us, moving us ever closer to her Son.

Here is a message given about 20 years later:

March 18, 2002 - "Dear Children! As a mother, I implore you, open your heart and offer it to me, and fear nothing. I will be with you and will teach you how to put Jesus in the first place. I will teach you to love Him and to belong to Him completely. Comprehend, dear children that without my Son there is no salvation. You should become aware that He is your beginning and your end. Only with this awareness can you be happy and merit eternal life. As your mother, I desire this for you. Thank you for having responded to my call."

Our Mother tells us several memorable things in this message:

Open your heart and offer it to me...  
Fear nothing....
I will be with you....
I...will teach you how to put Jesus in the first place...
I will teach you to love Him and to belong to Him completely...
Without my Son there is no salvation...
He is your beginning and your end...
Only with [Jesus] can you be happy and merit eternal life...

Each of these little spiritual sound bites have been repeated many times in Our Lady's messages. But this is the way of mothers. They repeat, because they know we forget. They know we need to hear these important things over and over. They will aid us in our moments of temptation and trial. They will help us to think rightly, and to choose well. They are a mother's gift of the future to her children.

This is the work Our Lady is doing in us through her messages. She is giving us our future. Like the visionaries may we obey her in everything! Whatever she tells us, may we do it!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2013



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