Wk 2 - Day 7 - "acquiring an understanding of Mary"

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today is the last day of this week in which we are seeking to acquire an understanding of Mary, and how providential that this is the “First Saturday” of September, a day on which we are called to offer reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Let us pray fervently to the Holy Spirit to guide us and the whold Church to Jesus through Mary.

St. Louis de Montfort wrote:

1. …Lastly, you never think of Mary without Mary thinking of God for you. You never praise or honour Mary without Mary joining you in praising and honouring God. Mary is entirely relative to God. Indeed I would say that she was relative only to God, because she exists uniquely in reference to him.

She is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God. If you say “Mary” she says “God”. When St. Elizabeth praised Mary calling her blessed because she had believed, Mary, the faithful echo of God, responded with her canticle, “My soul glorifies the Lord.” What Mary did on that day, she does every day. When we praise her, when we love and honour her, when we present anything to her, then God is praised, honoured and loved and receives our gift through Mary and in Mary.

It seems to me Mary’s Humility pleases the Lord most, and of all the graces we ask humility seems the one we are in most need of, for it opposes our “self-love” and urges us to love God above ALL. Little St. Therese of Lisieux, humble Doctor of the Church, wrote of her devotion to Mary in her beautiful poem, “Why I Love Thee Mary”. If you have never read it, today may be a good day, to read or re-read it and grow in understanding Mary and her humility. (Link takes you to the book of her poetry, so scroll down to Table of Contents" to the title “Why I Love Thee, Mary” and click on that title to get to poem)

1. Each day of the second week they should endeavour in all their prayers and works to acquire an understanding of the Blessed Virgin and ask the Holy Spirit for this grace . They may read and meditate upon what we have already said about her. They should recite daily the Litany of the Holy Spirit and the Ave Maris Stella as during the first week. In addition they will say at least five decades of the Rosary for greater understanding of Mary.

 

[Greenfields]

Thank you Maria Christi
And thank you for the link to St Theresa’s “Little flowers of Jesus”

 

[MariaChristi]

Thanks for your reply. Always, so good to hear from you! Yes, Mary and Therese give us such wisdom from God, and not only for women but for the Universal Church. Would that more clergy would turn to Mary as their Mother, and also learn from humble little Therese whom one writer called “an exquisite miniature of Mary”.

I suspect few have ever read “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin” prayerfully or carefully enough to learn the Truth God shared with St. Louis de Montfort. Thanks be to God for St. John Paul II who heard the depths of that little book and it became, as JPII wrote in his own book, “Crossing the Threshold of Hope” a turning point in his young life. He took for his Papal Motto, “Totus Tuus” (ALL Yours) – words directly taken from De Montfort’s “True Devotion”.

Please let us continue to pray for one another, for the Church, and for all those in most need of God’s Mercy – especially today on this First Saturday of September, let us offer reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as Jesus asked.

Love and prayers,
Deborah Mary (aka MariaChristi)