(c)Mary TV 2014
J.M.J
October 27, 2014
Dear Family of Mary!
"Dear
children! Pray in this time of grace and seek the intercession of all
the saints who are already in the light. From day to day may they be an
example and encouragement to you on the way of your conversion. Little
children, be aware that your life is short and passing. Therefore, yearn
for eternity and keep preparing your hearts in prayer. I am with you
and intercede before my Son for each of you, especially for those who
have consecrated themselves to me and to my Son. Thank you for having
responded to my call." (October 25, 2014)
We
are five days away from All Saints Day! This is the day we celebrate
all our predecessors who have entered into eternity and are beholding
the face of God! They are interceding for us and loving us from heaven,
and we are longing to join them there. What a day of joy!
Our
Lady's message is very meaningful in that regard. She calls us to not
waste this time of grace but to seek the intercession of all the saints.
I would like to propose that for the next 5 days we would focus on the
saints together, using them as an example and encouragement on the way
of conversion, and asking their intercession. In this way we will
receive a deeper yearning for eternal life.
I
prayed to St. Louis de Montfort for help in finding a structure for
this time of prayer, and I opened to n.115 of True Devotion to Mary. It
contains a list of interior practices to help us live our consecration
to Mary. And I realized that these practices could help us to prepare
for All Saints Day, because Mary is the most exalted of all saints and
she can help us the most to convert and prepare for eternity. I further
realized there are many saints who lived these practices and that they
could be good examples for us of these interior practices. So I will try
to move us through the list in the next 5 days!
St. Louis de Montfort wrote:
115. THERE
are several interior practices of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
Here are the principal of them stated compendiously.
§ 1.
To honour her as the worthy Mother of God, with the worship of
hyperdulia; that is to say, to esteem her and honour her above all the
other Saints, as the masterpiece of grace, and the first after Jesus
Christ, true God and true Man;
§ 2. To meditate her virtues, her privileges, and her actions;
§ 3. To contemplate her grandeurs;
§ 4. To make to her acts of love, of praise, of gratitude;
§ 5. To invoke her cordially;
§ 6. To offer ourselves to her, and unite ourselves with her;
§ 7. To do all our actions with the view of pleasing her;
§ 8.
To begin, to continue, and to finish all our actions by her, in her,
and with her, in order that we may do them by Jesus Christ, in Jesus
Christ, with Jesus Christ, and for Jesus Christ our Last End. We will
presently explain this last practice.
In
§ 1. St. Louis teaches us the right way to honor Our Lady. She is to be
venerated (dulia) with a greater veneration (hyperdulia) than all the
other saints because she is the Mother of God. But she is not to be
adored (latria) which is reserved only for God. Here is a good
definition of hyperdulia, (from Fr. John Hardon).
Hyperdulia
The
special veneration due to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is substantially
less than the cultus latria (adoration), which is due to God alone. But
it is higher than the cultus dulia (veneration), due to angels and other
saints. As the Church understands the veneration of Mary, it is to be
closely associated but subordinated to that of her Son. "The various
forms of piety towards the Mother of God, which the Church has approved
within the limits of sound and orthodox doctrine according to the
dispositions and understanding of the faithful, ensure that while the
mother is honored, the Son through whom all things have their being and
in whom it has pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell, is
rightly loved and glorified and His commandments are observed" (Second
Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, VII, 66). (Etym. Latin hyperdulia,
virtue of deep submission.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr.
John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with
permission. (found at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05188b.htm )
How
do we live out such honor for our Mother Mary? St Louis would say it is
through total consecration to Mary. His True Devotion is a treatise on
how to live our consecration to Mary in such a way that we honor her
properly and live with her as our most trusted guide to Jesus.
I
believe that Our Lady's presence in Medjugorje is the gift of the
Father in these days so that we can live our consecration to her to its
fullest. We honor Mary by giving ourselves to her completely, in trust
and love, so that she can lead us to Jesus.
Let us pray:
St. Louis De Montfort's Prayer to Mary
Hail
Mary, beloved Daughter of the Eternal Father! Hail Mary, admirable
Mother of the Son! Hail Mary, faithful spouse of the Holy Ghost! Hail
Mary, my dear Mother, my loving Mistress, my powerful sovereign! Hail my
joy, my glory, my heart and my soul! Thou art all mine by mercy, and I
am all thine by justice. But I am not yet sufficiently thine. I now give
myself wholly to thee without keeping anything back for myself or
others. If thou still seest in me anything which does not belong to
thee, I beseech thee to take it and to make thyself the absolute
Mistress of all that is mine. Destroy in me all that may be displeasing
to God, root it up and bring it to nought; place and cultivate in me
everything that is pleasing to thee.
May
the light of thy faith dispel the darkness of my mind; may thy profound
humility take the place of my pride; may thy sublime contemplation
check the distractions of my wandering imagination; may thy continuous
sight of God fill my memory with His presence; may the burning love of
thy heart inflame the lukewarmness of mine; may thy virtues take the
place of my sins; may thy merits be my only adornment in the sight of
God and make up for all that is wanting in me. Finally, dearly beloved
Mother, grant, if it be possible, that I may have no other spirit but
thine to know Jesus and His divine will; that I may have no other soul
but thine to praise and glorify the Lord; that I may have no other heart
but thine to love God with a love as pure and ardent as thine I do not
ask thee for visions, revelations, sensible devotion or spiritual
pleasures. It is thy privilege to see God clearly; it is thy privilege
to enjoy heavenly bliss; it is thy privilege to triumph gloriously in
Heaven at the right hand of thy Son and to hold absolute sway over
angels, men and demons; it is thy privilege to dispose of all the gifts
of God, just as thou willest.
Such
is, O heavenly Mary, the "best part," which the Lord has given thee and
which shall never be taken away from thee-and this thought fills my
heart with joy. As for my part here below, I wish for no other than that
which was thine: to believe sincerely without spiritual pleasures; to
suffer joyfully without human consolation; to die continually to myself
without respite; and to work zealously and unselfishly for thee until
death as the humblest of thy servants. The only grace I beg thee to
obtain for me is that every day and every moment of my life I may say:
Amen, so be it's all that thou didst do while on earth; Amen, so be it's
all that thou art now doing in Heaven; Amen, so be it-to all that thou
art doing in my soul, so that thou alone mayest fully glorify Jesus in
me for time and eternity. Amen.
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2014
PS. Fruit of Medjugorje!!! Tonight! 8:00 EDT
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