Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Mary TV Daily Reflection 3/11/2014


 
   

Our Father....       
   
 (c)Mary TV 2014

     
J.M.J
March 11, 2014

Dear Family of Mary!

Dear Children, I am coming to you as a mother and I desire that in me, as in a mother, you may find your abode, consolation and rest. Therefore, my children, apostles of my love, pray. Pray with humble devotion, obedience and complete trust in the Heavenly Father. Trust as I have trusted when it was said to me that I will bring the blessing of the promise. May out of your hearts, from your lips, always come forth: 'May Your will be done!' Therefore, trust and pray so that I can intercede for you before the Lord, for Him to give you the heavenly blessing and fill you with the Holy Spirit. Then you will be able to help all those who do not know the Lord - you, apostles of my love, will help them to call Him 'Father' with complete trust. Pray for your shepherds and place your trust in their blessed hands. Thank you. (March 2, 2014)

In the Gospel for today, Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray. In the process, He gives them a window into His own relationship with the Father. This relationship is one of "humble devotion, obedience and complete trust..." Here is an excerpt from the reading:

Matthew 6: 9-13

"This is how you are to pray:
Our Father who art in heaven, 
hallowed be thy name, 
thy Kingdom come, 
thy will be done, 
on earth as it is in heaven. 
Give us this day our daily bread; 
and forgive us our trespasses, 
as we forgive those who trespass against us; 
and lead us not into temptation, 
but deliver us from evil."


Our Lady's message has many parallels to this Gospel Prayer. We can feel the same faith, the same love for the Father in the Mother as in Son! For instance:

OL:  "Therefore, my children, apostles of my love, pray. Pray with humble devotion...."
Jesus: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,"

Humility shines through the Our Father. The very first words, "Our Father" are humble words. Jesus tells us not to focus on our own private relationship with the Father, but instead to dwell in the reality that we are one huge human family, and together we need to give glory and praise to Our Father. Equally humble is the acknowledgement that the Father is in heaven and we are still separated from Him by time and space. We are on earth, and only He can bridge the gap.

OL: "Pray with...obedience...."
Jesus: "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

The Kingdom of the Father can only come when we submit to it in obedience, when we choose to accept the Father's will. Obedience is the act of trusting the Father with everything. Obedience opens the way for Him to come to us with His blessing and peace. Our Lady was obedient, as shown to us in the Annunciation, and Jesus was obedient as shown most powerfully in the Garden of Gethsemane. Their obedience brought about our salvation. See how powerful obedience to the Father is!

OL: "Pray with...complete trust..."
Jesus: "Give us this day our daily bread;"

We are human, we have bodies, we need daily sustenance. This prayer for daily bread admits that we need bread and that we trust the Father to give us that bread, just as He gave the Israelites manna in the desert, just as He gives us His Son in the Eucharist every day. The daily bread we need comes to us through our trust in God.

OL: "May out of your hearts, from your lips, always come forth: 'May Your will be done!"
Jesus: "...thy will be done,"

With these words we catch a glimpse into the way Our Lady lived her entire life...she constantly desired the will of the Father. She prayed constantly for the grace to do the Father's will, and she entrusted everything to Him. She is our example. She gives us the courage to say what Jesus teaches us to say...Thy will be done.

OL: "Therefore, trust and pray so that I can intercede for you before the Lord, for Him to give you the heavenly blessing and fill you with the Holy Spirit."
Jesus: "and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"

The blessing we need from the Father, which is the Holy Spirit, is essential for us if we are to forgive others, avoid temptations, and be delivered from evil. We are not able on our own steam to do these things, they are graces given to us if we ask. But we desperately need to forgive, to avoid temptation and to be delivered of evil. We need God's blessing!

Our Lady is calling us to live as she lived, in a deep, trusting and obedient relationship with God the Father. Jesus is calling us to do the same. What a wonderful invitation we are being given. If we can open our hearts to this way, this relationship, we will become a help to others, for they will see our peace, our joy and our trust in God, and they will want it. They will want it!!!

We are being invited into an intimate, familial relationship with God the Father, through the salvation of Jesus, and the intercession and example of Mary. We are being given such a deep grace, we can't even fathom it!! But we can respond to it! May we live this message, live this Gospel prayer, with all our hearts!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2014

 

 


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