[MaryVitamin] St. Joseph and Our Lady

Mary Vitamin for March 17^th

 

Topic: St. Joseph and Our Lady provide food for God

 

Quote:

A prayer of St. Alphonsus di Ligurori

"And I thank Thee, O divine Infant, who didst deign to stand in need of milk for Thy support in order to show me the love that Thou bearest me."

 

Meditation:

St. Alphonsus explains

"Let us consider also that Jesus took this milk in order to nourish the body which he wished to leave us as food in the Holy Communion. Therefore, my Blessed Redeemer, whilst Thou dost suck the breast of Mary, Thou art thinking of me; Thou art thinking of changing this milk into blood, to be shed afterwards at Thy death, as the price wherewith to ransom my soul, and as its food in the most Holy Sacrament, which is the salutary milk with which our Lord preserves our souls in the life of grace: 'Christ is your milk,' says St. Augustine."

 

Mr. Edward Healy Thompson explains St. Joseph' role in providing food for the Divine Infant:

"The milk with which the Virgin fed Him while a babe, she received, as the Church sings, from Heaven; it cost this sovereign maiden nothing but Joseph was subjected to great fatigues for many years in order to relieve the extreme poverty of his Foster-Son. To increase His strength he weakened his own; so that he might have said, like the holy Precursor,

 

'He must increase, but I must decrease.'

 

 Marvel of marvels! This great saint [St. Joseph] received into his arms a poor and necessitous God, who deigned to be dependent on him for His corporeal food. Joseph shared with his august spouse the glory of nourishing Him; she, of her own substance, and he of his substantial strength."

Edward Healy Thompson, M. A., The Life and Glories of Saint Joseph, (Tan Books: 1980), 309-10.

 

Resolution:

Today, when I pray the Our Father, I will pause over the words,

"Give us this day our daily bread."

I will recall that both Our Lady and St. Joseph provided for 'Him who provides for the necessities of all creatures.' (Thompson, 309)

 

(If I have the opportunity to provide meals for my children, elderly parents, or neighbors, I will remember that this is a heavenly gift to be able to share in God's office of providing for the "necessities of all creatures.")

 

Marian Vow:

    "No one consecrated to the Immaculate can ever consider himself dispensed from the active Marian apostolate, carried out personally, either alone, or in a group. The consecration to the Immaculate is a mission, and necessarily entails missionary activity in every time and place."

 

To avoid this duty and not implement it for any reason other than fulfillment of obligations of one's state of life and work, signifies an emptying or shriveling up of the consecration to the Immaculate reducing it to a fleeting shadow. From the very nature of the consecration it is clear, then, that each day all time free from obligations of one's profession ought to be strictly and lovingly placed at the exclusive service of the Immaculate, either in the M.I.M. Cenacle or outside it, and may not serve other initiatives and personal commitments, however good in themselves. One needs constantly to remember that unlimited consecration to the Immaculate, especially joined to the Marian Vow, is a very serious matter, a sacred commitment uniting one to the Immaculate, not with words, but with deeds, not with sentiments but with concrete virtues that constantly renew and with sacrifices. 'The consecration to the Immaculate - St. Maximilian teaches - does not consist in an act of dedication, however fervently recited, but consists in knowing how to suffer much for her.'",

Marian Seraphic Pathways, 7^th Condition of Membership, Directory

 

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

 

Thanks be to God for graces received.

 

Related site: Castle of the Immaculate & AirMaria

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Blessings+
Deacon John

Sent from: Winter Park FL United States.