Dec.6 - Day 9 - in our Advent journey

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are coming closer to Christmas and to the Total Consecration of ourselves to Jesus through Mary. Our 12 days of seeking to “empty ourselves of the spirit of the world which is opposed to the Spirit of Christ” ends in 4 days.

If we are truly to “empty ourselves of the spirit of the world which is opposed to the Spirit of Christ”, as St. Louis de Montfort urges us, we need to LISTEN to The Word Made Flesh in order to become meek and humble before God as servants and not seek to please and serve the spirit of the world. We need to LISTEN as our humble Mother Mary pondered His Word in her heart!

St. Louis de Montfort wrote in “True Devotion”

1. God the Holy Spirit wishes to fashion his chosen ones in and through Mary. He tells her, “My well-beloved, my spouse, let all your virtues take root in my chosen ones that they may grow from strength to strength and from grace to grace. When you were living on earth, practising the most sublime virtues, I was so pleased with you that I still desire to find you on earth without your ceasing to be in heaven. Reproduce yourself then in my chosen ones, so that I may have the joy of seeing in them the roots of your invincible faith, profound humility, total mortification, sublime prayer, ardent charity, your firm hope and all your virtues. You are always my spouse, as faithful, pure, and fruitful as ever. May your faith give me believers; your purity, virgins; your fruitfulness, elect and living temples.”
2. When Mary has taken root in a soul she produces in it wonders of grace which only she can produce; for she alone is the fruitful virgin who never had and never will have her equal in purity and fruitfulness. Together with the Holy Spirit Mary produced the greatest thing that ever was or ever will be: a God-man. She will consequently produce the marvels which will be seen in the latter times. The formation and the education of the great saints who will come at the end of the world are reserved to her, for only this singular and wondrous virgin can produce in union with the Holy Spirit singular and wondrous things.
3. When the Holy Spirit, her spouse, finds Mary in a soul, he hastens there and enters fully into it. He gives himself generously to that soul according to the place it has given to his spouse. One of the main reasons why the Holy Spirit does not work striking wonders in souls is that he fails to find in them a sufficiently close union with his faithful and inseparable spouse. I say “inseparable spouse”, for from the moment the substantial love of the Father and the Son espoused Mary to form Jesus, the head of the elect, and Jesus in the elect, he has never disowned her, for she has always been faithful and fruitful.

Come, Holy Spirit!

 

[hazcompat]

Imitation of Christ : Book 1, Chapter 13 (continued)​

Fire tries iron, and temptation a just man. We often know not what we are able to do, but temptations discover what we are. Still, we must watch, especially in the beginning of temptation; for then the enemy is more easily overcome, if he be not suffered to enter the door of the mind, but is withstood upon the threshold the very moment he knocks. Whence a certain one has said “Resist beginnings; all too late the cure.” When ills have gathered strength, by long delay, first there comes from the mind a simple thought; then a strong imagination, afterwards delight, and the evil motion and consent and so, little by little the fiend does gain entrance, when he is not resisted in the beginning. The longer anyone has been slothful in resisting, so much the weaker he becomes, daily in himself, and the enemy, so much the stronger in him. Some suffer grievous temptations in the beginning of their conversion, others in the end and others are troubled nearly their whole life. Some are very lightly tempted, according to the wisdom and the equity of the ordinance of God who weighs man’s condition and merits, and pre-ordaineth all things for the salvation of His elect. We must not, therefore, despair when we are tempted, but the more fervently pray to God to help us in every tribulation: Who, of a truth, according to the sayings of St. Paul, will make such issue with the temptation, that we are able to sustain it.

Let us then humble our souls under the hand of God in every temptation and tribulation, for the humble in spirit, He will save and exalt. In temptation and tribulations, it is proved what progress man has made; and there also is great merit, and virtue is made more manifest.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear hazcompat,

Thanks again for another excerpt from “The Imitation of Christ” continuing the author’s thoughts on “Resisting Temptation”. The following words stood out to me:

…We must not, therefore, despair when we are tempted, but the more fervently pray to God to help us in every tribulation: Who, of a truth, according to the sayings of St. Paul, will make such issue with the temptation, that we are able to sustain it.

Let us then humble our souls under the hand of God in every temptation and tribulation, for the humble in spirit, He will save and exalt. In temptation and tribulations, it is proved what progress man has made; and there also is great merit, and virtue is made more manifest.

Prayer is so very important! It is our “Relationship with God”! Our Mother Mary as Mother and Model for the Church teaches us this, as do all the Saints. They learned the Truth – Who is Jesus – by Listening to Him, the Incarnate Word and Son of God in prayer. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray Jesus told them:

When you pray, say: “Our Father”. Jesus and Mary lived the Words He taught. They did the Will of Our Father. We need to pray fervently as the author of the Imitation of Christ tells us if we want to resist – truly resist-- and not give up in the face of temptation, or despair, but humbly seek God’s grace to overcome evil.

 

[MariaChristi]

When the Holy Spirit, her spouse, finds Mary in a soul, he hastens there and enters fully into it. He gives himself generously to that soul according to the place it has given to his spouse. One of the main reasons why the Holy Spirit does not work striking wonders in souls is that he fails to find in them a sufficiently close union with his faithful and inseparable spouse. I say “inseparable spouse”, for from the moment the substantial love of the Father and the Son espoused Mary to form Jesus, the head of the elect, and Jesus in the elect, he has never disowned her, for she has always been faithful and fruitful.

Dear hazcompat,

Thanks for your “heart” which reflects your love for Jesus and Mary and your understanding especially of the need for Catholics to move closer to Jesus through Mary. Today’s world is becoming more and more confused by the spirit of those who are seeking to eliminate God from our lives.

Pope St. John Paul II said in his address to the Legion of Mary. in Oct. 1982 that we were facing a crisis of faith, preceded by a drop in devotion to Mary, Mother of God. and we see how that terrible lack of devotion has only grown over time.

More than a “mere lack” of devotion today we see outright defacing of her statues and other blasphemies, while some inside and outside the Church ignore God and His Love for us in giving Mary to us from His Cross. Too many have not heard nor obeyed Jesus words to John and thus to us all:

Behold your Mother

Let us continue to behold Mary in Scripture and obey Jesus’ Words to us. Let us Listen to Him and the Wisdom He has shared with St. Louis de Montfort and other saints who wrote and lived God’s truth that others in His Church my know and love Mary, and thus know and love Jesus more!