| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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| Shepherds of Christ Daily Writing |
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October 29, 2015
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October 30th Holy Spirit Novena |
The Novena Rosary
Mysteries |
Pray for special intentions.
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Fr. Joe, Sonny & family, Blue Book 16.
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October 29, 2015
Today's Readings
Romans 8: 31-39
After saying this, what can we add? If God is for us, who can be against us? Since he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for the sake of all of us, then can we not expect that with him he will freely give us all his gifts? Who can bring any accusation against those that God has chosen? When God grants saving justice who can condemn? Are we not sure that it is Christ Jesus, who died — yes and more, who was raised from the dead and is at God's right hand — and who is adding his plea for us? Can anything cut us off from the love of Christ-can hardships or distress, or persecution, or lack of food and clothing, or threats or violence; as scripture says:
For your sake we are being massacred
all day long,
treated as sheep to be slaughtered?No; we come through all these things triumphantly victorious, by the power of him who loved us. For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power, nor the heights nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Psalm 109: 21-22, 26-27, 30-31
Yahweh, treat them as your name demands;
as your faithful love is generous, deliver me.
Poor and needy as I am,
my wounds go right to the heart;Help me, Yahweh my God,
save me as your faithful love demands.
Let them know that yours is the saving hand,
that this, Yahweh, is your work.With generous thanks to Yahweh on my lips,
I shall praise him before all the people,
for he stands at the side of the poor,
to save their lives from those who sit in judgement on them.
Luke 13: 31-35
Just at this time some Pharisees came up. 'Go away,' they said. 'Leave this place, because Herod means to kill you.' He replied, 'You may go and give that fox this message: Look! Today and tomorrow I drive out devils and heal, and on the third day I attain my end. But for today and tomorrow and the next day I must go on, since it would not be right for a prophet to die outside Jerusalem.
'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused! Look! Your house will be left to you. Yes, I promise you, you shall not see me till the time comes when you are saying:
Blessed is he
who is coming in the name of the Lord.'
R. Dear Jesus,Please help us in this election.Oh dear God please help us spread these prayer chapters now You gave us in the Shepherds of Christ praying for the priests, the Church and the world.
When we see how blessed we are in this country and I see Mary appear to me in Clearwater I beg You to please help us.
To be prayer warriors at this time.To realize the power of prayer for our little children now.
Oh God I pray. Please help us spread the devotion to the rosary NOW that Mary and Jesus gave us.
Please my God.I unite these prayers to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass all around the world - The Mass the sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally made present.
When we are weak we are strong in You.
God please help us.
We give ourselves in consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary and ask You to help us spread this consecration Mary asked for 98 years ago at Fatima.
Please God hear my humble prayer for helping the Church, the People of God to be a strong leaven in You in this world for building up the world.Oh my God I cry for our little ones.
Oh my God I cry for the future generation.I pray all these prayers through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother of Clearwater.
Please my God hear us, Please my God help us, Please outpour Your grace and send the Holy Spirit to enlighten the hearts of those You have called to be docile to God and obedient to God's will.
I am sorry for the sins when we have been so gifted and so blessed.
I am sorry for division of those who have worked against You like an ax in a fan stopping it over and over and over again.
I am sorry, Please hear our heart-felt fervent prayers.
All for the Glory and Honor of God.
R. The Beatitudes
Matthew 5: 3-12
How blessed are the poor in spirit:
the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Blessed are the gentle:
they shall have the earth as inheritance.
Blessed are those who mourn:
they shall be comforted.
Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst for uprightness:
they shall have their fill.
Blessed are the merciful:
they shall have mercy shown them.
Blessed are the pure in heart:
they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers:
they shall be recognised
as children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted
in the cause of uprightness:
the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you and
speak all kinds of calumny against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this
is how they persecuted the prophets before you.
R. The main virtues
are faith, hope, love, prudence,
fortitude or courage, justice, and temperance.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are
Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel,
Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety
and Fear of the Lord.
The fruits of the Holy Spirit are
charity, joy, peace, patience,
benignity (kindness), goodness,
long-suffering, mildness,
faith, modesty, continency,
and chastity
R. The virtues and gifts bring the
fruits to the
soul and
beatitudes.
You don't stand still in the
spiritual
life –
The virtues and gifts and
fruits lead
to everlasting life.
R. Christ paid for the price of the gifts
we receive
with His life,
death and
resurrection –
Jesus: I am the vine – you
are the
branches.
Genesis 1: 26-27
God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground.’
God created man in the image of himself,
in the image of God he created him,
male and female he created them.
R. We are on a journey to see more
and more the
truth –
R. We can help in the work of redemption
with our lives.
Excerpts from the Priestly Newsletter 1999 - Issue 4
Through the Eucharistic Sacrifice Christ the Lord desired to set before us in a very special way this remarkable union whereby we are united one with another and with our divine Head, a union that no word of praise can ever sufficiently express. For in this sacrifice the sacred ministers act not only as the representative of our Saviour, but as the representative of the whole Mystical Body and of each one of the faithful. Again, in this act of sacrifice, the faithful of Christ, united by the common bond of devotion and prayer, offer to the eternal Father through the hands of the priest, whose prayer alone has made it present on the altar, the Immaculate Lamb, the most acceptable victim of praise and propitiation for the Church’s universal need. Moreover, just as the divine Redeemer, while dying on the Cross, offered Himself to the eternal Father as Head of the whole human race, so now, ‘in this clean oblation’ He not only offers Himself as Head of the Church to His heavenly Father but in Himself His mystical members as well. He embraces them all, yes, even the weaker and more ailing members with the deepest love of His Heart. (Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis AAS. XXXV, 232-233)11
11. Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Letter, Mystici Corporis, AAS, XXXV, pp. 232-233.
R.
Jesus came to this earth –
Our Savior
Our Redeemer
Song:
A Song from Jesus
Acts 2: 1-4
When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves.
R. What return do I make to God
for dwelling
in my graced
baptized soul
–
God is love –
God is not hatred –
love and
hatred do not co-exist
When we go to God and cooperate
with His
grace our relationship
and unity
with God grows –
When a man turns from God in the
deadly sins,
in division
his
relationship with God is far-off –
This far-off relationship of choosing
anger and
pride and the
deadly sins
over God –
MAKES HIM
MORE ANGRY
because
God makes us
happy –
turning away
from God makes
us miserable –
We owe God love –
It is our
duty to love God
and love our
neighbor as ourselves –
God has given so much to us –
we are to be
grateful for His gifs –
Love → advances to action →
Love is going
out as Christ
showed us.
God will ask
us
"How did you
serve Me as
My Father called you?
How did you
love?
How did you
grow in My image
and likeness –
How did you
lead others by your
example to be Christ-like,
to be loving –
to be unified?"
Jesus speaks:
There was a
fan used for
the comfort of others. A
little boy came and kept
putting an ax in the fan
and stopping it from running.
In the end how will people
who put an ax in the fan when
they are called to service the fan
answer My question –
Why was your repeated actions
you clung to,
to stop My
Movement in
renewal
not stopped –
You clung to the ways of the
past for how
you handled
your angry
heart –
over and over
and over and
over and over
– the same
bad behavior
– putting an ax
in the fan –
Then I say why didn't you stop
when I called
and called
and called
and called –
like a
stubborn mule –
you fought
against Me
and you hurt
souls with
your
disobedience to Me –
A wise man is seeking to know
his faults to
be more and
more in My
image and
likeness.
Do you call your anger love?
1 Corinthians 3: 16
Do you not realise that you are a temple of God with the Spirit of God living in you?
Jesus: Love is a love - gift –
I give you –
You can throw
back in
My face the
grace I give –
The wise man knows
when I am
weak, I am strong
dependent on
God for the
help you need
–
Ephesians 1: 14
who is the pledge of our inheritance,
for the freedom of the people
whom God has taken for his own,
for the praise of his glory.
Lastly, we ought confidently and continually to beg of Him to illuminate us daily more and more with His light and inflame us with His charity: for, thus inspired with faith and love, we may press onward earnestly towards our eternal reward, since He "is the pledge of our inheritance" (Eph. i. 14). Pope Leo 13, Divinum Illud Munus 11
R. We are to imitate the wonderful
relationship Mary has with
God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I have seen Mary pray with us
when she appeared in Clearwater,
Mary strengthens our prayers –
Mary goes to God and intercedes
for us –
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All 5ths -
Our Lady of Clearwater Florida
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 November 5, 2003 |
 December 5, 2003 |
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R. Catholic Church
One, holy,
Catholic and
Apostolic
The Church means a congregation –
people of God
–
unity among
men –
assembling of
persons for
worship
Mystical body
of Christ
The Church was
divinely
instituted by Christ –
The Church is to give glory to God –
The Mass is the sacrifice of Calvary.
sacramentally
made present.
Christ is the founder –
Christ is the Head of the Church.
Matthew 16: 17-19
Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man! Because it was no human agency that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.'
Matthew 28: 18-20
Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.'
R. Love consists in this
John 10: 14-18
I am the good shepherd;
I know my own
and my own know me,
just as the Father knows me
and I know the Father;
and I lay down my life for my sheep.
And there are other sheep I have
that are not of this fold,
and I must lead these too.
They too will listen to my voice,
and there will be only one flock,
one shepherd.
The Father loves me,
because I lay down my life
in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me;
I lay it down of my own free will,
and as I have power to lay it down,
so I have power to take it up again;
and this is the command
I have received from my Father.
R. Love is in giving –
Love is in going out to the other –
God is all perfect –
God is all good –
We are not full –
We must seek more – to be made
more perfect
as our Heavenly
Father is
perfect –
Matthew 5: 48
...You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’
R. God has called us to put Him first –
His will
above our selfish –
self serving
will –
God has called us to love God first
and our
neighbor as ourselves –
God is constant –
God's love does not go in and out –
God's love is all pure –
God loved us first
John 3: 16
For this is how God loved the world:
he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
may not perish
but may have eternal life.
R. In the spiritual life – we put on Christ –
We want to reach full Christian
maturity –
Our actions are not motivated by
selfishness –
Our actions are to do the will of God –
Our actions are based on the will of God –
We pray for grace to live virtuously –
that is faith
– having the vision
of God.
All of our actions are motivated by
hope of our
eternal salvation
and hope for
our neighbor
to have
eternal salvation.
And love – to love more and more as
our Heavenly
Father deserves our
love – to
love God the Son by
serving Him
as our Savior and
to love
deeply the Holy Spirit.
God loved us into existence and it
is just for
us to love God and
give love to
Him that is His due.
A person who hates themselves with
selfish
actions – doing their
own will
opposing God's
will and
having a self –
absorbing
morbid greed of
hurting
others to raise themselves
up – does not
understand the beauty
of God's love
– given to us – freely –
God created us in His image and likeness
and the more
we understand about
God's love
for us, the light of
knowing such
a gift He gives
us – we are
moved by His
grace working
in the gifts
of the Holy
Spirit and virtue
to give love
to God,
and to love
others because
it is God's
desire for us.
Love is a gift, we give ourselves
with our free
will, to
God and to
others –
God gives us a free will – to chose to
cooperate
with His grace given
to us to love
–
The Holy Spirit fills our hearts with fire –
to know God
and to want to
give
ourselves in love to God
and to others
from the gift
of ourselves
that we yearn
to give –
Love is giving –
Love is not measured with sad
memories of
being afraid
that we will
not have
enough, or
put a scale
of
even-steven like buying
flour at the
store –
Love comes from a heart moved by
the grace of
God and the person
desires with
their free will
to give
themselves –
to go out of
themselves –
to gift
themselves, as God
desires them to, in love.
Song:
A Song from Jesus
Song:
God's Love
Song:
Give me Your Heart, oh Jesus
R. This Movement is to study the Christian
life and how
we are to live it –
Our object is to establish a comprehensive
view of what
is necessary for
maintenance
and development of
full
Christian living.
Fr. Carter and the Blue Books and
Fr. Joe's
books help us to
understand
more what we
must do to
help renew the Church
and the world
–
The Church is made up of the People of God –
The Church is the body of Christ –
It is in unity of the mystical body
of Christ and
Christ our head
that we can
help the Church
and the world
–
Unity – Unity – Unity –
The Church is one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic
We are to live united in love with
one another
and with Christ our head.
Jesus has given us these prayers to pray for
the priests,
the Church and the world.
We need to spread these prayers today,
Jesus said
yesterday –
to be people
of faith – to
join in unity
and He will outpour
His grace for
this election and
for our needs
in this country
and the
world.
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R. We need to be prayer warriors now
more than
ever in our lives –
not to fight
with the enemy –
but to fight
in prayer, to ask
God to fight
for us –
because when
we are weak and
God is
fighting for us –
We are strong
–
God is Almighty and All Powerful –
Dear God, help us spread these
prayer
chapters NOW – praying
for the
priests, the Church
and the world
–
The enemy is satan, who wants to
stop the work
we can do –
with
self-pity and arguing
and
selfishness –
God is calling us now to listen, to
be converted,
to live our
vocation – to
spread the
Prayer
Chapters and Fr. Joe's
homilies –
to do
adoration –
to pray in
Florida and China
during the
retreats, 5ths and 13ths
for this
election, for the Church
and for the
world –
To grow in greater holiness and be
converted as
Mary asked for
at Fatima
To consecrate our hearts to Jesus'
Heart and
Mary's Heart –
1) God first loved us
2) We are to
respond to God's love
3) Love of
God, love of self,
love of others
2 Peter 1: 3-7
The generosity of God
By his divine power, he has lavished on us all the things we need for life and for true devotion, through the knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these, the greatest and priceless promises have been lavished on us, that through them you should share the divine nature and escape the corruption rife in the world through disordered passion. With this in view, do your utmost to support your faith with goodness, goodness with understanding, understanding with self–control, self–control with perseverance, perseverance with devotion, devotion with kindness to the brothers, and kindness to the brothers with love.
R. In baptism we receive the virtues
of faith,
hope and love –
Our knowing and loving capacity
is elevated
in baptism –
1 Corinthians 10: 31
Whatever you eat, then, or drink, and whatever else you do, do it all for the glory of God.
R. The Christian life considered as the Christ-life.
1) Romans 6: 1-11
Romans 6: 1-11
Baptism
What should we say then? Should we remain in sin so that grace may be given the more fully? Out of the question! We have died to sin; how could we go on living in it? You cannot have forgotten that all of us, when we were baptised into Christ Jesus, were baptised into his death. So by our baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glorious power, we too should begin living a new life. If we have been joined to him by dying a death like his, so we shall be by a resurrection like his; realising that our former self was crucified with him, so that the self which belonged to sin should be destroyed and we should be freed from the slavery of sin. Someone who has died, of course, no longer has to answer for sin. But we believe that, if we died with Christ, then we shall live with him too. We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and will never die again. Death has no power over him any more. For by dying, he is dead to sin once and for all, and now the life that he lives is life with God. In the same way, you must see yourselves as being dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 4: 7-11
The hardships and hopes of the apostolate
But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God’s and not our own. We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us; always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body. Indeed, while we are still alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh.
2) The New life at Baptism gives
us a new
nature
3) The Christic - self
Galatians 2: 19-24
In fact, through the Law I am dead to the Law so that I can be alive to God. I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me. The life that I am now living, subject to the limitation of human nature, I am living in faith, faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not setting aside God’s grace as of no value; it is merely that if saving justice comes through the Law, Christ died needlessly.
John 15: 11-17
I have told you this
so that my own joy may be in you
and your joy be complete.
This is my commandment:
love one another,
as I have loved you.
No one can have greater love
than to lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends,
if you do what I command you.
I shall no longer call you servants,
because a servant does not know
the master’s business;
I call you friends,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.
You did not choose me,
no, I chose you;
and I commissioned you
to go out and to bear fruit,
fruit that will last;
so that the Father will give you
anything you ask him in my name.
My command to you
is to love one another.
R. The Christian life considered as life
in the Holy
Spirit
1 Corinthians 2: 6-16
But still, to those who have reached maturity, we do talk of a wisdom, not, it is true, a philosophy of this age or of the rulers of this age, who will not last long now. It is of the mysterious wisdom of God that we talk, the wisdom that was hidden, which God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began. None of the rulers of the age recognised it; for if they had recognised it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but it is as scripture says: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualise; all that God has prepared for those who love him; to us, though, God has given revelation through the Spirit, for the Spirit explores the depths of everything, even the depths of God. After all, is there anyone who knows the qualities of anyone except his own spirit, within him; and in the same way, nobody knows the qualities of God except the Spirit of God. Now, the Spirit we have received is not the spirit of the world but God’s own Spirit, so that we may understand the lavish gifts God has given us. And these are what we speak of, not in the terms learnt from human philosophy, but in terms learnt from the Spirit, fitting spiritual language to spiritual things. The natural person has no room for the gifts of God’s Spirit; to him they are folly; he cannot recognise them, because their value can be assessed only in the Spirit. The spiritual person, on the other hand, can assess the value of everything, and that person’s value cannot be assessed by anybody else. For: who has ever known the mind of the Lord? Who has ever been his adviser? But we are those who have the mind of Christ.
R. Mary's role in the Christian life
a) Mother of Christ
b) Our
spiritual Mother
c) Mother of
the Church
d) Church's
model
Mary is Mother of our Christ-life –
Mother at Our Side
Chapter 1 Mother of Christ
Chapter 2 Mother at Our Side
one
Mother Of Christ
Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus." . . .But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. . . ." Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." (Lk. 1:30-38).
"The Blessed Virgin was eternally predestined, in conjunction with the Incarnation of the Divine Word, to be the Mother of God. By decree of divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving mother of the divine Redeemer, an associate of unique nobility, and the Lord's humble handmaid. She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ. She presented Him to the Father in the temple, and was united with Him in suffering as He died on the cross. In an utterly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls." (Vatican II).1
The above words of Scripture and of the Second Vatican Council tell us of a most awesome truth—that Mary truly is the Mother of Jesus, that she truly is the Mother of God.
To speak of Mary, then, is to speak of Christ. Mary's entire life was centered on Christ. No human has ever followed Christ as closely as has Mary. Mary's spiritual life was perfectly centered in Jesus as she went with Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit.
As the words of Vatican II tell us, Mary cooperated with Jesus in His redemptive effort. Throughout much of the time she was physically present to Him. At those times when she was not at His side, she was united with Him through a profound spiritual union. She was totally dedicated to Him and to His cause. She was His first and perfect disciple. She loved Him with a devotion and an intensity beyond our full comprehension.All of Mary's other God-given gifts flow from her divine motherhood—from the fact that she is the Mother of Jesus. Her Immaculate Conception, her fullness of grace, her freedom from actual sin, her perpetual virginity, her bodily Assumption into Heaven—these and all her other gifts flow from her divine maternity.
One of these gifts not yet mentioned is her role as our spiritual mother. Yes, because Mary is the Mother of Christ, she is also our mother. This is a marvelous and most consoling reality upon which to further reflect.
two
Mother At Our Side
Standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple there whom He loved, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son." Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." (Jn. 19:25-27).
"In an utterly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace." (Vatican II).2
Mary is the Mother of Jesus. She is also our Mother. The above words of Scripture and of the Second Vatican Council attest to this.Jesus has given us Mary as our spiritual mother. As He hung upon the cross, Jesus told John to look upon Mary as his mother, this John who represents all of us. In His moment of deepest anguish and suffering, Jesus was thinking of us. As the indescribable physical pain racked His body from head to toe, as the unfathomable spiritual anguish penetrated to the depths of His Heart, Jesus was thinking of us. If we allow this scene to penetrate into our hearts, if we take the time to contemplate the depth of Jesus' and Mary's love for us as Their Hearts were pierced with grief, we are truly overwhelmed with the magnificent greatness and tenderness of the scene. Jesus was proclaiming Mary to be Mother of the Redemption. He was telling us that Mary is Mother to all peoples.
The fact that Mary is our mother, the fact that she has such a powerful role to play in our salvation in no way detracts from the mediatorship of Christ. Vatican II states:
"We have but one Mediator, as we know from the words of the Apostle: "For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all." (1 Tim. 2:5-6). The maternal duty of Mary toward men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. For all the saving influences of the Blessed Virgin on men originate, not from some inner necessity, but from the divine pleasure. They flow forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rest on His mediation, depend entirely on it, and draw all their power from it. In no way do they impede the immediate union of the faithful with Christ. Rather they foster this union."3
In saying that Mary is our spiritual mother, we are saying that Mary is the mother of our Christ-life. What is this life? Can we define it?
At Baptism the Persons of the Trinity communicate so intimately to us that, as a result, they leave their imprint or image upon us. This Trinitarian image is our life of sanctifying grace. This life of grace is a created participation in God's life, and since this gift of grace is mediated by Christ in His humanity, this Trinitarian image also has a Christic aspect. Christ as man has shown us how to live a God-like existence. He has shown us how to live the life of grace. This life of grace we possess allows us to enjoy the special presence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Truly, the divine Persons dwell within us.
Whether we refer to this life as the Christ-life, the life of grace, life in the Holy Spirit, or by other names, we are referring to one and the same reality. This reality, again, is the Christic, Trinitarian image given us through the Trinitarian communication.
St. Paul speaks of our life of grace in terms of our being baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus (Rom. 6:1-11). Again, Jesus mediates our life of grace. He has shown us how to live a Christ-like existence. Since Jesus' paschal mystery of death-resurrection sums up His own human existence, so it sums up our own. This is what St. Paul is telling us. Paul tells us that we live our life of Baptism, our life of grace, by continually dying and rising with Jesus—rising to a greater share in Christ's resurrection. Indeed, we live resurrection now and hereafter. Living death-resurrection involves all of our Christian activities. While not giving an all-inclusive list, we do include the following: the reading of Scripture, prayer, the performance of daily duties, the doing of penance, making sacrifices, our jobs, periods of rest and relaxation, sharing meals with loved ones, reception of the sacraments, and, especially, participation in the Eucharist which is both sacrifice and sacrament.This is our glorious existence made possible by God's great love for us and a major truth of this glorious existence is the fact that Jesus has given us Mary as our spiritual mother. Mary is the Mother of our Christ-life. In her loving, maternal role, she cooperates with the Holy Spirit in forming Christ in us. Pope John Paul II tells us:
"The Church knows and teaches that all the saving influences of the Blessed Virgin on mankind originate from the divine pleasure. . .This saving influence is sustained by the Holy Spirit, Who, just as He overshadowed the Virgin Mary when He began in her the divine motherhood, in a similar way constantly sustains her solicitude for the brothers and sisters of her Son.''4
Mary our mother is ever with us, guiding us, teaching us, caring for us, protecting us, loving us. With her maternal assistance we go to the Father through and with Christ in the Holy Spirit.
Mary nourishes our growth in Christ with a very tender and specialized love for each of us. She regards each of us as a precious, unique individual. John Paul II again speaks to us:
"Of the essence of motherhood is the fact that it concerns the person. Motherhood always establishes a unique and unrepeatable relationship between two people: between mother and child and between child and mother. Even when the same woman is the mother of many children, her personal relationship with each one of them is of the very essence of motherhood. For each child is generated in a unique and unrepeatable way, and this is true both for the mother and for the child."4
The Holy Father then applies these ideas to Mary and us:
"It can be said that motherhood in the order of grace preserves the analogy with what in the order of nature characterizes the union between mother and child. In the light of this fact it becomes easier to understand why in Christ's testament on Golgotha, His Mother's new motherhood is expressed in the singular, in reference to one man. Behold, your son."5
This is the awesome and consoling truth—you and I are very precious to Mary. She loves us much more than we can ever fathom. It is our great privilege and responsibility to love her in return. She asks for this love, she asks for our trust. As we give our love and trust to our mother, she wants us to come to her at all times and in all circumstances.
Are we sorrowful, anxious, troubled? Let us go to Mary our mother and ask her to console us. Let us ask her for the grace to handle our sorrow, our anxieties, our troubles properly—according to God's will. In this way our suffering will bring us closer to Christ as it simultaneously allows us to contribute to the ongoing Christianization of the world.
Are we joyful, happy, basking in the glow of a goal successfully accomplished? Let us go to Mary and ask her to help us handle our joy, our happiness, our success as God intends. Let us petition her not to allow our joy to make us forgetful of God, our God Who is the source of all true joy, success, and happiness.
Are we finding it particularly difficult to follow Christ in the here-and-now? In child-like trust we can approach our mother. Let us ask her for the grace to realize that the following of Christ is not always easy—that at times being a follower of Christ challenges our courage in a special way. We can also ask Mary to help us realize that even at such difficult times, Christ's grace makes our burden relatively light. Jesus has told us:
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. (Mt.11:28-30).
Are we finding it is particularly easy to follow Christ in the here-and-now? Let us go to Mary and ask her for the grace to remain humble. Let us beseech Mary to keep us from being inflated with pride, and ask her to help us realize that without Jesus we can do nothing.
Mary, then, asks for our complete trust. She wants us always to seek shelter under her maternal mantle. She invites us to come to her in all circumstances—whether it be in joy or sorrow, success or failure, laughter or tears. Mary wants us to share in her maternal wisdom so that we may understand how to use our various experiences to come closer to God in Christ. Sharing our lives with Mary in this fashion, and on a consistent basis, requires that we love her, that we trust her, that we surrender ourselves to her maternal love.
Help us, Mother Mary, to probe ever more deeply into the depths of your love for us. Help us to realize more and more that to be loved by you is to experience a sweetness, a warmth, a tenderness, a serenity, a security, which makes us cry out, "O Mother, how good and loving you are!"
Notes
The Documents of Vatican II (New York: The America Press, 1966), Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, No. 61.
Ibid., No. 62.
Ibid., No. 60.
Pope John Paul II, The Mother of the Redeemer (Redemptoris Mater) (Washington: United States Catholic Conference, 1987), No. 38.
Ibid., No. 45.
From Tell My People by Fr. Edward J. Carter, S.J.
Jesus: "My beloved friend, tell My people to pray daily to the Holy Spirit. They are to pray for an increase in His gifts. My people must realize that the Holy Spirit comes to transform them. The Spirit desires to transform you more and more according to My image. Those who are docile to His touch become increasingly shaped in My likeness. He performs this marvel within Mary's Immaculate Heart. The more one dwells in My Mother's Heart, the more active are the workings of the Spirit. The Spirit leads Mary to place you within My own Heart. In both Our Hearts, then, your transformation continues. The more you are formed after My own Heart, the more I lead you to the bosom of My Father. Tell My people all this. Tell them to pray daily for a greater appreciation of these wondrous gifts. I am Lord and Master. All who come to My Heart will be on fire to receive the gifts of the Spirit in ever greater measure! I love and bless My people!"
Reflection: The Holy Spirit is given to us to fashion us ever more according to the likeness of Jesus. And the more we are like Jesus, the more Jesus leads us to the Father. Do we, each day, pray to the Holy Spirit to be more open to His transforming influence? Do we strive each day to grow in union with Mary? The greater our union with our Mother, the spouse of the Holy Spirit, the greater is the transforming action of the Holy Spirit within us.
end of excerpt
John 19: 25-27
Jesus and his mother
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
Copyright
© 2014 Shepherds of Christ.