Dec. 26 - the "day after..."

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today on this Feast of St. Stephen, Martyr, how aware I am of the Church’s wisdom in the Liturgy. The Holy Spirit leads us to consider immediately after celebrating the Birth of Jesus, the death of the deacon Stephen killed for professing his faith in Christ as God’s Son. What a powerful “call” that can be for us – ALL of us!

Especially for those of us who have consecrated ourselves, and renewed our Baptismal Promises in our “Act of Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary”. We were baptized into His Death that we might LIVE in Him. Yes as St. Louis de Montfort in his prayer of Consecration admits:

…Ungrateful and faithless as I have been, I have not kept the promises which I made so solemnly to Thee in my Baptism; I have not fulfilled my obligations; I do not deserve to be called Thy child, nor yet Thy slave; and as there is nothing in me which does not merit Thine anger and Thy repulse, I dare not come by myself before Thy most holy and august Majesty. It is on this account that I have recourse to the intercession of Thy most holy Mother, whom Thou hast given me for a mediatrix with Thee. It is through her that I hope to obtain of Thee contrition, the pardon of my sins, and the acquisition and preservation of wisdom…

Also reading St. John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter “On the Most Holy Rosary” I was blessed in hearing:

…The first of the “signs” worked by Jesus – the changing of water into wine at the marriage in Cana – clearly presents Mary in the guise of a teacher, as she urges the servants to do what Jesus commands (cf. Jn 2:5). We can imagine that she would have done likewise for the disciples after Jesus’ Ascension, when she joined them in awaiting the Holy Spirit and supported them in their first mission. Contemplating the scenes of the Rosary in union with Mary is a means of learning from her to “read” Christ, to discover his secrets and to understand his message.

This school of Mary is all the more effective if we consider that she teaches by obtaining for us in abundance the gifts of the Holy Spirit, even as she offers us the incomparable example of her own “pilgrimage of faith”.(17) As we contemplate each mystery of her Son’s life, she invites us to do as she did at the Annunciation: to ask humbly the questions which open us to the light, in order to end with the obedience of faith: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38)…

So today is the “day after” Christmas and our Consecration AND a new beginning for living not for ourselves but for Jesus through Mary!