| May 23, 2012 Dear Family of Mary! "Dear children! I am with you even if you are not conscious of it. I want to protect you from everything that Satan offers you and through which he wants to destroy you. As I bore Jesus in my womb, so also, dear children, do I wish to bear you into holiness. God wants to save you and sends you messages through men, nature, and so many things which can only help you to understand that you must change the direction of your life. Therefore, little children, understand also the greatness of the gift which God is giving you through me, so that I may protect you with my mantle and lead you to the joy of life. Thank you for having responded to my call." (March 25, 1990) Today we pray for the gift of Understanding. How often do we find ourselves reading Scripture, or attending Holy Mass, or just observing the events of life, and realize we really don't understand what is going on? We think and ponder and try to logic things through, but the real meaning escapes us! That is because we haven't prayed for understanding. Only God's Spirit can interpret for us the events of life. Our Lady tells us in this message that God sends us messages through men, nature and so many things, to help us understand. But we miss those messages. We need help. Our Lady is with us to help us understand what God is saying to us. She is with us, to teach us to pray, to open our hearts, so that the Holy Spirit can enlighten us with His Understanding. He comes to help us to change the direction of our lives. Because we have free will, we need to understand. Otherwise, we will not choose well. Understanding helps us choose the good. Our Lady is with us in these days to protect us and lead us. This is immensely important, incredibly amazing! If we understood how powerful her presence is, we would be filled with joy and hope. Oh, Holy Spirit, help us to understand! SIXTH DAY (Wednesday, 7th Week of Easter) If Thou take Thy grace away, nothing pure in man will stay, All his good is turn'd to ill. The Gift of Understanding Understanding, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, helps us to grasp the meaning of the truths of our holy religion. By faith we know them, but by Understanding we learn to appreciate and relish them. It enables us to penetrate the inner meaning of revealed truths and through them to be quickened to newness of life. Our faith ceases to be sterile and inactive, but inspires a mode of life that bears eloquent testimony to the faith that is in us; we begin to "walk worthy of God in all things pleasing, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Prayer Come, O Spirit of Understanding, and enlighten our minds, that we may know and believe all the mysteries of salvation; and may merit at last to see the eternal light in Thy Light; and in the light of glory to have a clear vision of Thee and the Father and the Son. Amen. Our Father and Hail Mary ONCE. Glory be to the Father SEVEN TIMES. ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT To be recited daily during the Novena On my knees I, before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses, offer myself, soul and body to You, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Your purity, the unerring keenness of Your justice, and the might of Your love. You are the Strength and Light of my soul. In You I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You, by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring His opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, "Speak Lord for Your servant is listening." Amen. PRAYER FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT To be recited daily during the Novena O Lord Jesus Christ Who, before ascending into heaven did promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work in the souls of Your Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul, the work of Your grace and Your love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal, the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the light of Your divine truth, the Spirit on Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining heaven, the Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation, the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the Saints, the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable, and the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark me, dear Lord with the sign of Your true disciples, and animate me in all things with Your Spirit. Amen. In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2012 Full novena prayers found at http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/pentecost/seven_tx.htm . |
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