Day 11 - Mar. 2 - "ruler of the world"

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

There is serious spiritual warfare going on in the world. Jesus won the victory on Calvary, yet the night before His death, he said:

…You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me. Get up, let us go. (John 14: 28-31)

Jesus spoke to His disciples the night before His death, and He speaks to us today. If we are truly His disciples. then we are called to follow Him and remain in Him over Whom the ruler of the world has no power. We also need to carry Christ into the world, as Mary did, so that the world may know: united with Christ, through her, we love the Father and do not love the world or the things of the world where satan rules. In the first book of the Bible, we hear God say:

…I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers…(Gen. 3:15)

Mary has been a part of God’s Plan from the beginning and she continues with her Son to love the Father and do His Will. Jesus gave her to us from His Cross to be our Mother and Model. In the final book of the Bible we see the battle against evil in the world in the vision of John the Apostle who wrote:

…Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus.

St. Louis de Montfort speaks of the end times in the very beginning of his treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin because he wants us to remember these words of Scripture and to act on them:

1. God has established only one enmity - but it is an irreconcilable one - which will last and even go on increasing to the end of time. That enmity is between Mary, his worthy Mother, and the devil, between the children and the servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and followers of Lucifer.

Thus the most fearful enemy that God has set up against the devil is Mary, his holy Mother. From the time of the earthly paradise, although she existed then only in his mind, he gave her such a hatred for his accursed enemy, such ingenuity in exposing the wickedness of the ancient serpent and such power to defeat, overthrow and crush this proud rebel, that Satan fears her not only more than angels and men but in a certain sense more than God himself. This does not mean that the anger, hatred and power of God are not infinitely greater than the Blessed Virgin’s, since her attributes are limited. It simply means that Satan, being so proud, suffers infinitely more in being vanquished and punished by a lowly and humble servant of God, for her humility humiliates him more than the power of God. Moreover, God has given Mary such great power over the evil spirits that, as they have often been forced unwillingly to admit through the lips of possessed persons, they fear one of her pleadings for a soul more than the prayers of all the saints, and one of her threats more than all their other torments.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful as you filled Mary with Grace!
Mary our Mother and Queen, intercede for us.
Jesus, we trust in You!

 

[1Lord1Faith]

So many Christians are missing out on the fruits of Marian devotion.

 

[Tablefor9]

Mother Most Holy, intercede for us…

 

[MariaChristi]

So many Christians are missing out on the fruits of Marian devotion.

Dear 1Lord1Faith,

Sad, but true: not only many non Catholic Christians, but baptized Catholics who have not been properly formed in their Faith are missing out on the fruits of Marian devotion. Pope St. John Paul II saw this happening as far back as 1982, saying:

…Where the Mother is, there too is the Son. When one moves away from the Mother, sooner or later he ends up keeping distant from the Son as well. It is no wonder that today, in various sectors of secularized society, we note a widespread crisis of faith in God, preceded by a drop in devotion to the Virgin Mother… (Oct. 30, 1982, Address delivered to the Legion of Mary)

As God sent His Son through Mary to us; may we return to Him through Mary, in Jesus by the power of His Holy Spirit. Thanks so much for your reply. Please let us pray for one another and for all those in need of His Mercy, through Mary.

 

[MariaChristi]

Mother Most Holy, intercede for us…

Always grateful for your prayerful response, dear Tablefor9!