Day 33 - ( Last day in Preparation)

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we come to the end of our 33 day journey to the Feast of the Incarnation/Annunciation which we celebrate tomorrow. Today is the last day of our preparation and St. Louis gives further help in how to pray our Total Consecration, which I’ll post tomorrow, God Willing.

The important thing to remember today, it seems to me, is that we are more at the “beginning” than the “end” in our spiritual journey. Each day is a new beginning, and in the spiritual life we either go forward or backward; there is no standing still. Just as I mentioned at other stages of the journey we can’t rid ourselves completely of the world in 12 days, nor know ourselves in one week, nor obtain full knowledge of Mary or Jesus in one week. By God’s Grace, we are intended to grow into the perfect holiness to which we are all called. This takes a lifetime.

It is significant to me that St. Louis planned this preparation for 33 days, since Jesus is believed to have lived 33 days on this earth. We are called to follow Jesus as Mary did. She is His most perfect disciple; she is our Mother and Model, given to us by Jesus. On this final day of preparation as we are seeking knowledge of Jesus, let us listen prayerfully to the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel:

…“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

As we celebrate the first coming of Jesus, through Mary’s “Yes” in tomorrow’s Feast, let us by God’s Grace say our own “yes” with her. As we enter into Holy Week, and especially on Good Friday, let us look on Jesus, lifted on the Cross and trust Him to continue teaching us as His disciples to know Him, love Him and serve Him more through Mary.

See HERE

 

[hazcompat]

HAIL, White Lily, of the ever-peaceful and glorious Trinity!
Hail, Vermilion Rose, the delight of Heaven, of whom the King of Heaven was born and by whose milk He was nourished! Do thou feed our souls with the effusions of thy Divine influences.

Prayer of St. Gertrude the Great

eace

 

[MariaChristi]

HAIL, White Lily, of the ever-peaceful and glorious Trinity!
Hail, Vermilion Rose, the delight of Heaven, of whom the King of Heaven was born and by whose milk He was nourished! Do thou feed our souls with the effusions of thy Divine influences.

Prayer of St. Gertrude the Great

eace

Thanks again, dear hazcompat,

The prayer of St. Gertrude is beautiful-- as are prayers of all our saints to honor our Mother Mary and glorify the Trinity Who gave her such an exalted role in our salvation. In his book on True Devotion, St. Louis De Montfort writes of the wonderful effects of devotion to Mary:

1. If you live this devotion sincerely, you will give more glory to Jesus in a month than in many years of a more demanding devotion. Here are my reasons for saying this:

1. Since you do everything through the Blessed Virgin as required by this devotion, you naturally lay aside your own intentions no matter how good they appear to you. You abandon yourself to our Lady’s intentions even though you do not know what they are. Thus you share in the high quality of her intentions, which are so pure that she gave more glory to God by the smallest of her actions, say, twirling her distaff, or making a stitch, than did St. Laurence suffering his cruel martyrdom on the grid-iron, and even more than all the saints together in all their most heroic deeds! Mary amassed such a multitude of merits and graces during her sojourn on earth that it would be easier to count the stars in heaven, the drops of water in the ocean or the sands of the sea-shore than count her merits and graces. She thus gave more glory to God than all the angels and saints have given or will ever give him. Mary, wonder of God, when souls abandon themselves to you, you cannot but work wonders in them!
​

1. 1. In this devotion we set no store on our own thoughts and actions but are content to rely on Mary’s dispositions when approaching and even speaking to Jesus. We then act with far greater humility than others who imperceptibly rely on their own dispositions and are self- satisfied about them; and consequently we give greater glory to God, for perfect glory is given to him only by the lowly and humble of heart.

1. 1. Our Blessed Lady, in her immense love for us, is eager to receive into her virginal hands the gift of our actions, imparting to them a marvelous beauty and splendour, and presenting them herself to Jesus most willingly. More glory is given to our Lord in this way than when we make our offering with our own guilty hands.

1. 1. Lastly, you never think of Mary without Mary thinking of God for you. You never praise or honour Mary without Mary joining you in praising and honouring God. Mary is entirely relative to God. Indeed I would say that she was relative only to God, because she exists uniquely in reference to him.

She is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God. If you say “Mary” she says “God”. When St. Elizabeth praised Mary calling her blessed because she had believed, Mary, the faithful echo of God, responded with her canticle, “My soul glorifies the Lord.” What Mary did on that day, she does every day. When we praise her, when we love and honour her, when we present anything to her, then God is praised,