Feast of the Immaculate Heart - Mary's Presence

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MariaChristi

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

http://www.mcpriests.com/03spirituality/images/ourlady1.jpg

Tomorrow is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Church in her wisdom has placed this Feast immediately after today’s Feast of the Sacred Heart. WHY? In my humble opinion because we need to hear the Heart of Jesus telling us again: “Behold your Mother”.
"… let us ask Our Lady - for She understood His Thirst best of all …(Bl. Teresa of Calcutta )
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The role of Our Lady in Mother Teresa’s work cannot be overstated – for Our Lady’s presence and intervention in every aspect of Mother Teresa’s life and charism was at the heart of her sanctity and apostolic fruitfulness. Our Lady was Mother Teresa’s pathway, her companion, and her constant support in hearing Jesus’ cry of thirst on the Cross, as well as in answering Him. For this reason she resolved to spend her life, in spirit, together with Our Lady at the foot of the Cross… life would be a life lived ‘juxta crucem cum Maria.’
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The key to understanding this unique spiritual (yet practical and functional ) relationship to the Mother of God lies in Mother Teresa’s conviction of sharing in the mystery and grace of Our Lady’s “Immaculate Heart .” For Mother Teresa, Our Lady’s Heart, that is to say, the mystery of Her interiority, represented mankind’s maximum response to God’s infinite desire to love and be loved. And so, by living united to her, and asking Our Lady to “ lend us Her Heart ,” the mystery of Her Immaculate Heart would provide Mother Teresa and her followers their own greatest support in satiating the thirst of Jesus.
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Here is a beautiful description of Bl. Mother Teresa’s vision of herself and Mary at the foot of the cross:
“Stay very close to Our Lady. If you do this, you can do great things for God and the good of people.” (Teresa of Calcutta )
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  She would be guided, purified, supported, and enriched by Our Lady's own Heart, in a kind of spiritual symbiosis forged by the call of September 10th. The heart of Our Lady would become for her and her followers a kind of spiritual locus, a milieu, or atmosphere in which they would live, pray, and serve.
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  The fruit of this intimate union with Our Lady's Heart in her interior life would allow Mother Teresa to become, in her external work for the poor, a kind of "extension" of Our Lady at the hidden Calvaries of today's world. This was hinted at in the triple vision, granted her in 1947, that foretold her future mission to the poor and its supernatural purpose.
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  In this vision she saw a great crowd of poor gathered around the Cross of Jesus, yet oblivious to His presence in the midst of them, with Our Lady facing Him at a little distance from the Cross. Mother Teresa saw herself depicted as a little child directly in front of Our Lady. Our Lady's left hand was on Mother Teresa's shoulder, and Her right hand was holding out Mother's right arm, reaching towards Jesus on the Cross. The Cross was bathed in a mysterious light from above, but the great crowd of poor were covered in darkness.
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  It is important to note that Mother Teresa saw herself in this foundational vision not only standing at the Cross, but also, as it were, "enveloped" by Our Lady .
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An artist’s depiction:
http://www.mcpriests.com/03spirituality/images/christ_mother.jpg

For the full article : HERE
By God’s Grace, today and tomorrow, on these Feasts of Jesus’ and Mary’s Pierced Hearts, may we offer our little hearts of prayer and little deeds done for others with great love. By God’s Grace may we live “juxta crucem cum Maria” (“near the cross with Mary”)
 
Thank you sister. This is the first I’ve heard of Mother’s vision. She certainly has a true love of the Cross.
This is how God redeemed the world, by dying on Calvary out of love for us.
Many of us have a reluctance to embrace the Cross in the following of Christ.
We should not merely endure the Cross or merely resign to the trials, the sufferings, the pain in life, but to love the Cross.
Not because we love pain, but like the Christ whom we claim to love, we embrace what we call the Cross and thus repay the God whom we claim to love with the most precious possession in our lives, our wills.
 
Googler said:
Thank you sister. This is the first I’ve heard of Mother’s vision. She certainly has a true love of the Cross.
This is how God redeemed the world, by dying on Calvary out of love for us.
Many of us have a reluctance to embrace the Cross in the following of Christ.
We should not merely endure the Cross or merely resign to the trials, the sufferings, the pain in life, but to love the Cross.
Not because we love pain, but like the Christ whom we claim to love, we embrace what we call the Cross and thus repay the God whom we claim to love with the most precious possession in our lives, our wills.
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Dear Brother,

Thanks for your reply. The Missionary of Charity Priest who wrote the article I posted in this thread maintains from his experience of knowing and working with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, that she was able to endure much suffering because of her dependence on Mary. How perfectly true that is to our Catholic teaching! All grace comes to us through Mary. We cannot persevere without prayer to Jesus through Mary. St. Therese of Lisieux said it so well : “Everything is Grace”.

The vision God gave Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is so necessary for all of us to appreciate. Mother saw herself as a child! It takes humility and purity of heart to “see God” on the cross and it takes Mary’s help to do as she did in Mother’s vision: lifting her right arm toward Jesus. We need grace to move toward the suffering Christ, to embrace Him in our suffering and in the suffering of others. We need to become as little children to see Jesus in His “distressing disguise”, before we can enter with Him into paradise.

Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us that we may see ourselves with Mary, as you saw yourself: depending on her, enfolded in her presence, near the cross of Jesus.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Help us to learn from Jesus as you did, to be meek and humble of heart.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, we trust in You!
 
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