Longing to see His Face

[MariaChristi]

This picture helps me to appreciate Advent and the longing in Mary for Jesus. We cannot possibly imagine what her Pure and Immaculate Soul experienced, but by God’s Grace we can learn from her to wait with love for Him Who is to come.

We can ask the Holy Spirit to increase in us the gifts of Faith, Hope and above all Charity, as we wait, not only for His coming at Christmas, but more importantly as we wait for His Final Coming at the end of our own lives, or at the end of the world – whichever comes first. Those are two events of which we cannot know the day or the hour but those two times of His Coming are certain.

May our longing in love be as Mary’s - humble and willing to do whatever He tells us. By His Grace, may we say, “Yes” with our whole hearts, and souls, minds and strength. May His Word sink deep into us:

Jesus said to his disciples: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.” Matthew 7:21.24-27.

Mother of the Word, Mother of us, help us to “Magnify the Lord” with you, that we may “rejoice in God our Savior,” with you, always!

 

[WilT]

Thank you for the beautiful pic of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It does seem to make these times more enjoyable.

 

[Neofight]

It is a beautiful picture…thank you for posting it.

But, let’s not lose sight of the fact that Advent is not just about the anticipation of the birth of Christ, but is also about the anticipation about his Second Coming.

Sometimes, what is lost in the story of salvation is that the birth, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord would all be meaningless if there was no hope or promise of his return in glory to judge us so that we could live with him in eternity.

Peace and all good!

 

[WilT]

May His Kingdom come!..but will we be ready? Happy Christmas to all.

 

[DeniseNY]

That’s beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

 

[Tigg]

This picture is so beautiful, I copied it and will send it out on electronic Christmas cards.

But WilT’s question is a good one! Are we ready to see His face? His physical coming again may not be that far off. As the ancient Jews prayed for the coming of their Messiah, so too, I pray (every day) that we will be purified now so as to be worthy of His Kingdom when it comes.

 

[WilT]

This picture is so beautiful, I copied it and will send it out on electronic Christmas cards.

But WilT’s question is a good one! Are we ready to see His face? His physical coming again may not be that far off. As the ancient Jews prayed for the coming of their Messiah, so too, I pray (every day) that we will be purified now so as to be worthy of His Kingdom when it comes.

to that.

 

[Dorothy]

Maria,

Thank you for sharing that beautiful picture!

 

[MariaChristi]

Thank you for the beautiful pic of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It does seem to make these times more enjoyable.

Dear WilT,

Thanks for your reply. When I ponder Mary’s Joy I think of the Holy Spirit who overshadowed her and His gifts of love, joy, peace …all the beauty of God indwelling her. We too can grow as she did, by Grace, in our union with God begun in Baptism. May this Advent be a time of longing and of growth in holiness as it was for Mary as she waited for Jesus’ Birth.

 

[MariaChristi]

It is a beautiful picture…thank you for posting it.

But, let’s not lose sight of the fact that Advent is not just about the anticipation of the birth of Christ, but is also about the anticipation about his Second Coming.

Sometimes, what is lost in the story of salvation is that the birth, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord would all be meaningless if there was no hope or promise of his return in glory to judge us so that we could live with him in eternity.

Peace and all good!

Dear Neofight,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I agree, it is a beautiful picture, and I also agree – anyone can lose sight of Advent’s also pointing to the Final Coming of Christ. We need to appreciate the whole of the liturgical year as a re-living of Christ’s life: His birth, hidden life, public life, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, sending of the Holy Spirit and our own carrying forth of His Mission as members of His Body until He comes again in glory.

Mary is Mother and Model of the Church and the Star of the New Evangelization. May we draw closer to her as we live this advent season, learning from her to grow in our union with God. May we learn from her to live His Life and share Him with others.

Come Holy Spirit, kindle in us the Fire of Your Love.
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us, that we remain faithful in our waiting and longing.

 

[Crown_of_Stars]

That’s the most beautiful Birth portrayal picture of Her I have ever seen! I saved the picture as soon as I saw it. I have never seen it before. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[MariaChristi]

May His Kingdom come!..but will we be ready? Happy Christmas to all.

Dear WilT,

Excellent question – will we be ready when His Kingdom comes? We pray those words in the Our Father, as Jesus taught His disciples to pray, but do we “hear” deeply enough those words and do we mean what we say?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a beautiful section in Part IV (the section of the CCC devoted to prayer) on the petitions of the Our Father. It begins with paragraph 2777 and concludes with paragraph 2865 – the last paragraph of the entire Catechism. Let me quote two paragraphs:

CCC 2818 - In the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come” refers primarily to the final coming of the reign of God through Christ’s return. But, far from distracting the Church from her mission in this present world, this desire commits her to it all the more strongly. Since Pentecost, the coming of that Reign is the work of the Spirit of the Lord who “complete(s) his work on earth and brings us the fullness of grace.”

** CCC 2819 - ** “The kingdom of God (is) righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The end-time in which we live is the age of the outpouring of the Spirit. Ever since Pentecost, a decisive battle has been joined between “the flesh” and the Spirit.

Only a pure soul can boldly say: “Thy kingdom come.” One who has heard Paul say, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies,” and has purified himself in action, thought and word will say to God: "Thy kingdom come! (Underlining is mine)

It seems to me, that if we truly want to be ready when He comes (either at our own death or at the end of the world) we need to strive for that purity of heart which we see in our Mother Mary. Nothing is impossible with God. Jesus told us “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened” (Mt 7: 7-11)

May the end of this present Advent find us ready to receive Him and find us more ardent in our love for Him and others than when we began this Advent season, last Sunday.

May He find us ready, may He find us faithful, by HIs Grace and the intercession of Mary, whenever He comes!

Come, Holy Spirit, kindle in us the Fire of Your Love.
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.

 

[MariaChristi]

That’s beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

Dear Denise,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, the picture was so beautiful to me, I wanted to share it – I wanted to share it with as many as I could.

I found the picture on a blog and also on Pinterest but I’m not sure who the artist might be. Ultimately it was the Holy Spirit who inspired the artist to ponder and express the tender union of Mary our Mother and Jesus her Son. Ultimately it is the same Spirit who inspired me to post the picture and each one to view it and be blessed by it.

May we continue to ponder this tender and unique union of Jesus and Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit that we may glorify Our Father, with those Two Pierced Hearts. By God’s Grace may we grow in faith, hope and above all charity, this Advent.

 

[MariaChristi]

This picture is so beautiful, I copied it and will send it out on electronic Christmas cards.

But WilT’s question is a good one! Are we ready to see His face? His physical coming again may not be that far off. As the ancient Jews prayed for the coming of their Messiah, so too, I pray (every day) that we will be purified now so as to be worthy of His Kingdom when it comes.

Dear Tigg,

Thanks for your reply. Yes I agree the picture is beautiful and I also agree WilT’s question was an excellent one. You may be interested in my reply to his question on this thread, especially the two paragraphs I quoted form the Catechism of the Catholic Church on that petition of the Our Father: “Thy Kingdom come”. All of us need to ask ourselves the question: Will I be ready when He comes?

Jesus Himself posed this question in the Gospel of St. Luke 18: 7-8, (at the end of the parable about the persistent widow):

……7now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? 8"I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

Yes, Tigg, we all need to pray and not give up asking–even as the widow did not give up in asking from an unjust judge. God knows how much we need our hearts to be purified. Let us continue to pray without ceasing as He has told us to watch and to pray that whenever He comes He may find us ready and faithful.

 

[MariaChristi]

Maria,

Thank you for sharing that beautiful picture!

Dear Dorothy,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, it is my joy to share Mary always, and that particular picture is one I had never seen before – I was so blessed by it, found it so very sweet, I wanted to share it.

May it continue to bless all who find it helpful – stirring in their own hearts a greater longing to see the Son of Mary and to learn from Him, as Mary did, to be Meek and Humble of Heart! Blessed Advent to you and to all!

 

[MariaChristi]

That’s the most beautiful Birth portrayal picture of Her I have ever seen! I saved the picture as soon as I saw it. I have never seen it before. Thank you for sharing it.

Dear Crown of Stars,

Thanks for your reply. I had never seen the picture before either, and was so blessed by it, I wanted to share it with as many as I could.

The picture helps me in many ways to appreciate more deeply the wonder of the Incarnation. The Humility of God Who made Himself so small as to be enclosed in Mary’s womb is simply unfathomable! The sweet humility of Mary who only desired to do whatever God asked of her is something that we can better understand, by His Grace. He has blessed us with the gifts of Faith, Hope and Charity. We were not immaculately conceived as Mary was, but we were cleansed of sin at Baptism and set on our course toward holiness. Jesus told us, from His Cross, “Behold your Mother” for He knew we would need her help to grow in holiness.

May we earnestly strive to be faithful to the graces God gives us this Advent to become more like Mary, the perfect disciple. As John the Beloved took her into his life at the Cross so may we take her into our lives every day. By God’s Grace, may we long with her, and one day “see” with her, His Face!