(c) Mary TV 2013
J.M.J
September 12, 2014
The Most Holy Name of Mary
Dear Family of Mary!
"Dear
children! Already for a long time I am giving you my motherly heart and
offering my Son to you. You are rejecting me. You are permitting sin to
overcome you more and more. You are permitting it to master you and to
take away your power of discernment. My poor children, look around you
and look at the signs of the times. Do you think that you can do without
God's blessing? Do not allow darkness to envelop you. From the depth of
your hearts cry out for my Son. His Name disperses even the greatest
darkness. I will be with you, just call on me: 'Here we are Mother, lead
us.' Thank you." (May 2, 2009)
On
this beautiful Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, I want to share an
excerpt from Fr. Don Calloway's testimony of conversion. He lived a very
sinful life as a young man but received the gift of conversion through
Our Lady of Medjugorje. He discovered Our Lady in a book about
Medjugorje, and decided he needed to change his life. And right after
this deep conversion, the devil came to take his soul before the
conversion could be completed. Here is what happened:
[After
hours of kneeling, crying and praying] I got up from kneeling. Then, at
a loss for what to do next, I made the decision to go to bed. What had
happened to me was so unbelievable that I just wanted to sleep. Then I
would get up the next day and tell Fr. Callahan what I had experienced.
When
I curled up on my couch - I didn't even have a bed in my room, only a
couch - I was so at peace. But all of a sudden something below me and
within me - this is very difficult to explain - knocked me out of my
body. I literally felt as if I had left my body. My physical form
remained on the couch, but my soul or spirit had left.
I
was paralyzed and in a state of shock. I couldn't move my hands or any
part of my body. I tried to scream for my mother, but I couldn't make a
sound.
For
a moment, I thought I might be going to hell - as if everything I had
just come to know was suddenly being taken away from me; I had been such
a bad person that I wasn't worthy of God's mercy. I was going to go to
this place of eternal separation from everything I had just come to know
as being true and beautiful and good. I had no idea what to do.
Then,
with every part of my being, I managed to interiorly scream. I
spiritually cried out, "Mary!" It was so strong and penetrating a cry,
it seemed to echo throughout to echo throughout the cosmos. It was like a
little boy screaming for his mother after he's fallen and been
seriously injured.
All
of a sudden, I was violently slammed back into my body with what seemed
like the force of the entire universe. It was so violent a thrust that I
expected my mom to come running into my room to check on me. Yet nobody
came because no one heard a sound.
After
I got over the shock of the impact, a feeling of peace overwhelmed me, a
peace that was tangible. Then I heard a voice, the most feminine voice I
have ever heard and ever will hear. It was within me, it was outside of
me, it was like liquid love being poured over me. It was pure maternal
love. It said, "Donnie, I'm so happy." That's all I heard but I knew who
it was. Nobody called me Donnie but my mother. Nobody. I knew this was
the voice of Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mary. I was so at peace that I
felt like a little boy snuggled close to his mother's breast. I was so
at peace, so loved, and so at rest that I went into a deep sleep. I
hadn't slept like that since I was a young boy. (Fr. Donald Calloway,
MIC. "No Turning Back". Marian Press. Stockbridge. p. 179-180)
The
Most Holy Name of Mary!! The most powerful Name Mary!! Fr. Calloway
knew instinctively to call on the name of Mary, the Mother of Jesus,
she who had brought him conversion. We too can call on her name, she
will come and help us in all our difficulties. She drives the devil away
simply by her presence. She can protect us.
To close, here is an excerpt from the Breviary for Sept. 12, Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary:
The Most Holy Name of Mary
O
thou, whosoever thou art, that knowest thyself to be here not so much
walking upon firm ground, as battered to and fro by the gales and storms
of this life's ocean, if thou wouldest not be overwhelmed by the
tempest, keep thine eyes fixed upon this star's clear shining. If the
hurricanes of temptation rise against thee, or thou art running upon the
rocks of trouble, look to the star, call on Mary. If the waves of
pride, or ambition, or slander, or envy toss thee, look to the star,
call on Mary. If the billows of anger or avarice, or the enticements of
the flesh beat against thy soul's bark, look to Mary. If the enormity of
thy sins trouble thee, if the foulness of thy conscience confound thee,
if the dread of judgement appall thee, if thou begin to slip into the
deep of despondency, into the pit of despair, think of Mary.
In
danger, in difficulty, or in doubt, think on Mary, call on Mary. Let
her not be away from thy mouth or from thine heart, and that thou mayest
not lack the succour of her prayers, turn not aside from the example of
her conversation. If thou follow her, thou wilt never go astray. If
thou pray to her, thou wilt never have need to despair. If thou keep her
in mind, thou wilt never fall. If she lead thee, thou wilt never be
weary. If she help thee, thou wilt reach home safe at the last - and so
thou wilt prove in thyself how meetly it is said: And the Virgin's name
was Mary. --Excerpts from the Breviary for the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary (Sept. 12)
Mother come, Mary come!!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2014
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