Mar. 1 - tomorrow - First Friday and

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Tomorrow is the First Friday of March and it is also the first day of the Month of March which has traditionally been a month to honor St. Joseph, the husband of Mary, and the “Guardian of the Christ child and of the Church”. When Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary and showed His Heart to her, He said:

Behold this Heart which has so loved men, that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself in order to testify to its love. In return, I have received from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and their sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this sacrament of Love.

Mary and Joseph shared so intimately in the sorrow of Jesus, as they sought to protect Him, soon after His birth, from the wrath of Herod. Joseph, however, was not at the Cross as Mary was to be there in God’s Plan. Mary is uniquely Mother and Model for the Church. Her heart, like the Heart of her Son was pierced.

The Church is suffering with Christ today. Are we offering our sufferings in union with Jesus, are we offering Him our love in reparation for our sins and the sins of the world? I hope so.

Tomorrow, many in our parish will be present at the Funeral Mass of a dear member of our parish Family, a little woman born on St. Joseph’s Feast day, March 19, 1918. What a beautiful confluence of dates: to be born and then buried in the month of St. Joseph!

When Janet died on Feb. 22 and I heard the news that her Funeral Mass was to be celebrated on Mar. 1, my first thought was of First Friday in the Month of St. Joseph. How appropriate, I thought for this dear soul to enter into the presence of God and how Perfect God’s timing always is!

Janet’s Funeral Mass will be at noon for which many were grateful, since they can then participate at Mass and Holy Communion during their lunch hour. Janet was a widow, and leaves 1 son and 6 daughters and 12 grandchildren. Please pray for her family and friends. We will miss our dear friend, but trust she will continue to offer reparation to the Sacred Heart through Mary our Mother. She was an Auxiliary Member of the Legion of Mary and in a certain way, her sweet spirit reflected Mary our Mother.

Jesus, we trust in You. Mary, Mother and Model for the Church, pray for us. St. Joseph, Protector of the Child Jesus and of His Church, pray for us.

 

[Francis]

Tomorrow is the First Friday of March and it is also the first day of the Month of March which has traditionally been a month to honor St. Joseph, the husband of Mary, and the “Guardian of the Christ child and of the Church”. When Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary and showed His Heart to her, He said:

Thanks for the reminder ,i forgot it’s first Friday ,am very devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Hear of Mary our Mother from my childhood ,Praise you Jesus through Mary! Wisdom 8:1 She(Mary) reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she(Mary) orders all things well.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Francis,

Thanks for your reply and for your devotion to Jesus through Mary. It is beautiful in reading the book of Wisdom to see how the Church often hears “Mary” in the pronoun “she”, yet St.Louis De Montfort addresses Jesus as Wisdom. Pondering the unique union of Jesus with His Mother in the Incarnation, when The Son of God, The Word, became Flesh in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, I “see” by faith more and more the union of Mary also with the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of Wisdom is spoken of in the Prophet Isaiah where we find the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit. St. Maximilian Kolbe has written much on the beautiful and unique union of Mary with the Holy Spirit. Your quote reminded me of that book: Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit

I read it (more than once – as is my usual custom) and found it to be excellent. I’m sorry not more of his work has been translated from Polish.

Devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary are so important and yet how many have forgotten those powerful devotions of First Friday and First Saturday? How many think of “Reparation”? I wonder.