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The Incomprehensible Heart Of Mary
May the Incomprehensible Heart of Mary give us Her own spirit, Mary is SILENT! There is a sorrow, a grief that is too deep for words. During the Passion, we find no recorded words of Our Blessed Mother; Her very SILENCE speaks eloquently. In Silence is Strength … O Mary, Mother of Sorrows, impart to us Your spirit of silence that, in times of trial, we too may find our solace in Jesus, our Divine Spouse. Mary is STRONG! Mary is the “Valiant Woman” of Scripture, the culmination of every type of strong women in the Old Testament: Judith, Esther, the mother of the Maccabees… Mary stands silently at the foot of the Cross because that is what God asks of Her. She does not swoon, nor wail, nor draw any attention to Herself. How can She bear what is beyond all human strength to bear? Her strength is not Her own… She leans on the Heart of God, “SANCTUS FORTIS!” O Mary, my Valiant Mother, share with us the strength and the fortitude of Your Immaculate Heart so that, like You, we may find our only strength in Thy Divine Son. Mary is SERENE! Mary is serene and peaceful as the Morning Star… “serene as the moon”, which always reflects the glory and brilliance of the sun despite the changing conditions all around. Deep is the anguish, the “sea of sorrows” into which She is plunged, yet in the depth of Her Soul all is PEACE. There is no turmoil because there is no sin; there is no conflict between Her will and the Will of God. It is a conflict of wills which is the very cause of turmoil in our lives. Suffering need not mean turmoil. For a Christian, pain and peace are compatible. O Mary, my most Sorrowful Mother, share with me the serenity of Your soul. Teach me that, even in the midst of trial and suffering, I can abide in peace, for where peace is there is God. Mary is SENSITIVE! After the Soul of Jesus, there is no soul as exquisitely sensitive as the Soul of Mary. She is sensitive not in a selfish way, but sensitive to pain and suffering because of the incredible capacity of Her Love. The greater the capacity a soul has for love, the greater too is its capacity to suffer. For Mary, it did not matter what She felt or how deeply She had to suffer. Her gaze was ever fixed on Jesus. For Herself, there was no thought, no pity, no consideration. She suffered because He suffered. Jesus is to Her a Treasure far greater than Herself. O Mary, my Sweet Mother, Thy tender Heart is pierced over and over by countless swords of sorrow! Teach me to be self-forgetting like You, and sensitive to the great sufferings of others. When I am in pain, help me to keep my eyes on my dear Savior Crucified. Mary is STEADFAST! Although each moment is an eternity to Mary, our Sweet Mother, queenly in Her sorrow, steadfastly keeps her silent vigil beneath the Cross. It is impossible for us to comprehend Mary’s capacity for suffering. Her Sorrow is a boundless ocean, bitter and unending. She stands there constant from the beginning to the end. Her will does not waver and change from moment to moment. My Queen and my Mother, standing steadfast beneath the Cross, obtain for me from Jesus, the constancy of soul that was Yours! Mary is SAINTLY! Mary’s Immaculate Heart is the august Sanctuary, containing within its depths all of the joys and sorrows of the Life of Jesus. Instinctively, we kneel before Her and reverence Her holiness. But what is holiness? It is the complete union of the soul with the Will of God. Mary’s union with God’s Will, whether it brought joy or sorrow, sweetness or bitterness, was in every instance complete and unreserved. This perfect uniformity with the Divine Will is the source of Mary’s sanctity. O Mary, the Sanctuary of Holiness, take me into the depths of Thy Immaculate Heart that I may learn in that school the secrets of sanctity. Mary is SELF-IMMOLATING! How “priestly” is the presence of Mary at the foot of the Cross offering Her Son and Her God to the Eternal Father! She sacrifices all of Her maternal rights and privileges to Divine Justice. As we gaze at Her, there on Calvary, we see that She is beyond even self-immolation. Far more than Saint Paul, Mary can say: “I live now not I, but Christ liveth in me…” Her total offering of self, made at the Annunciation, is the firm foundation upon which Good Friday is built. O Mother of Sorrows, we poor sinners, unite with You and offer Your Son and God on Calvary. Obtain for us, from Jesus Crucified, Eternal Life! Standing on Calvary, Mary has no more “SELF” to immolate ~ She has something far greater and more precious: Her own Son and Her God! The sacrifice made by Our Lady of Her Divine Son on Calvary is a sacrifice beyond the comprehension of the human mind. We can only kneel in reverence beside Her, uniting ourselves with Her supreme offering. Dear Jesus, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere! Flood my soul with Thy Spirit and Light! Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may be only a radiance of Thine! Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with, may feel Thy Presence in my soul! Let them look up and see no longer me, BUT ONLY JESUS! |
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It’s Never Too Late! Who do things happen as they do? Why does one suffer and the other one prosper? What does the future hold? Life, at best, is full of uncertainty. No two persons are identical, neither are any two lives ever the same. This is God’s design and only He has the answer. However, there is one thing that all men have in common, in every age unto the end of time and that is DEATH! We all must die. The time and manner may be different, but we shall all die. The state of our immortal soul at that moment will determine our entire Eternity. Rather than frightening us, this should offer us peace and consolation. In spite of what our past has been, while there is still life in us, God’s merciful Love reaches out and is ours for the asking. “ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE!” If we but turn to Him with trust and a contrite and humble heart, He will forgive our sins and call us to be with Him forever in Heaven. Did Christ not forgive the thief on the right, who was crucified alongside Him in His last hour? “THIS DAY, THOU SHALT BE WITH ME IN PARADISE!” And, consider the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-6). The vineyard owner went to town in the morning and hired the idle workers to labor in his vineyard for an honest wage. Then, he went back again at noon and hired more idle workers, and when evening came, still more were brought to work in his vineyard. When nightfall came, the vineyard owner called in all the laborers, and out of the goodness and generosity of his tender heart, he gave them all a full day’s wage. Those who had worked longer hours began to grumble that they had been unjustly paid. The good master responded in this way: “Are you complaining because I have been generous to those who spent less hours In the field? Take the wage you agreed upon and go thy way.” God is the vineyard owner; we are the workers, and Heaven is the wage. Every one of us, at some point in our lives, has been called to labor in the vineyard of the Master. It matters not what hour we have been called, or even that we might have been called earlier, but we declined to accept. We MUST answer that call in order to receive eternal salvation. PERHAPS, THIS VERY DAY WILL BE OUR CALL! God created each and every one of us out of love, and He desires that we be united with Him for all Eternity in the perfect happiness of His real and loving presence in Heaven – the Beatific Vision. Not because we are good, dear friends, but because HE IS GOOD! We need only to respond to Him. Those who are in heaven today are not there on account of their own merits and good works but, rather, they are there on account of their love and cooperation with God’s Holy Will. All of Heaven’s residents have cast their trust upon Our Blessed Lord, and relied solely upon His infinite merits and goodness. There is no perfect happiness upon earth. Life’s vital purpose and mission is to know, love and serve God during our earthly life, in order that our desire for perfect happiness may be realized by the possession of God in Heaven. If we possess the love and friendship of God upon earth and His promise of eternal salvation, then nothing on earth which we may attain is of greater importance, and nothing we may lose is really so tragic. Like good sentinels, we must be ready for death at all times. Rich or poor, sick or healthy … NOT ONE OF US IS GUARANTEED TOMORROW! Jesus Christ came to earth not only to redeem us by suffering and death, but primarily to establish His Church. It is His desire that all belong to this supernatural institution – the treasury and channel through which all the merits of His Life and Passion are imparted to us. As there is but one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, there is but one True Church. There stood at the foot of the Cross, Mary His Mother. As His last Will and Testament, His final and most precious Gift, God gave us His very own Mother. “Woman, behold thy son … Son, behold thy Mother!” AII that He has and that He earned upon earth, God wishes to give us through the Humble, Sorrowful, and Immaculate Heart of Mary. She will always be there to take care of us, guide us, protect and defend us in this great warfare of life. OH, HOW PLEASING IT MUST BE TO JESUS WHEN WE LOVE AND HONOR HIS MOTHER! Mary never refused anything to Jesus while He was upon earth, and throughout all Eternity; Jesus will never refuse Mary anything she may ask of Him in Heaven. Go to Jesus in the company of Mary, His Most Holy Mother, to receive all the graces you need for your salvation – everything you need for your eternal happiness. The Good Thief stole Heaven in his last hour, SO CAN YOU!!! I AM ALL THINE, O IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, SAVE ME! Immaculate Heart of Mary visit, today, we beseech thee, those souls who are in the cold sweat of death, and at enmity with God. Bathe them in the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. Breathe into them the very Life of God. Obtain for them the grace to make perfect Acts of Faith, Hope and Divine Charity, that they may be snatched from the very abyss of Hell to glorify God for all Eternity, and to … ADD TO THE LUSTER OF THY TRIMUPH! Sweet Heart of Mary, be my Salvation! |
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