Day 26 Total Consecration Preparation 2013

[Dawn Marie]

DAY 26

Today's Reading

True Devotion To the Blessed Virgin Mary: Nos. 12–38

"If you wish to understand the Mother," says a saint, "then understand the Son. She is a worthy Mother of God." Hic taceat omnis lingua : Here let every tongue be silent. My heart has dictated with special joy all that I have written to show that Mary has been unknown up till now, and that that is one of the reasons why Jesus Christ is not known as he should be. If then, as is certain, the knowledge and the kingdom of Jesus Christ must come into the world, it can only be as a necessary consequence of the knowledge and reign of Mary. She who first gave him to the world will establish his kingdom in the world.

With the whole Church I acknowledge that Mary, being a mere creature fashioned by the hands of God is, compared to his infinite majesty, less than an atom, or rather is simply nothing, since he alone can say, "I am he who is". Consequently, this great Lord, who is ever independent and self-sufficient, never had and does not now have any absolute need of the Blessed Virgin for the accomplishment of his will and the manifestation of his glory. To do all things he has only to will them. However, I declare that, considering things as they are, because God has decided to begin and accomplish his greatest works through the Blessed Virgin ever since he created her, we can safely believe that he will not change his plan in the time to come, for he is God and therefore does not change in his thoughts or his way of acting.

Mary is the Queen of heaven and earth by grace as Jesus is king by nature and by conquest. But as the kingdom of Jesus Christ exists primarily in the heart or interior of man, according to the words of the Gospel, "The kingdom of God is within you", so the kingdom of the Blessed Virgin is principally in the interior of man, that is, in his soul. It is principally in souls that she is glorified with her Son more than in any visible creature. So we may call her, as the saints do, Queen of our hearts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meditation:

Taken from The Glories of Mary

 

CHAPTER 6

TURN, THEN, MOST GRACIOUS ADVOCATE

 

Mary Is an Advocate with Power to Save All

SO great is the authority that mothers possess over their sons, that even if they are monarchs, and have absolute dominion over every person in their kingdom, yet never can mothers become the subjects of their sons. It is true that Jesus now in Heaven sits at the right of the Father, enjoying that distinction even as Man because of the hypostatic union with the Person of the Divine Word. He has supreme dominion over all and also over Mary; nevertheless, it can always be said that for a time at least, when He was living in this world, He was pleased to humble himself and be subject to Mary. Says St. Ambrose, Jesus Christ having deigned to make Mary His Mother, inasmuch as He was her Son, He was truly obliged to obey her. And for this reason, says Richard of St. Laurence, "Of other Saints we say that they are with God; but of Mary alone can it be said that she was so far favored as to be not only herself submissive to the will of God, but even that God was subject to her will.  Therefore we say that, even though Mary can no longer command her Son, since they are not on earth any more, still her prayers are always the prayers of a Mother and are therefore most powerful in obtaining whatever she asks.  At the command of Mary all obey, even God.

She is omnipotent, for the queen, according to all laws, enjoys the same privileges as the king; and since the son's power also belongs to the mother, this Mother is made omnipotent by an omnipotent Son.  Therefore, to use the words of St. Antonine, God has put the whole Church not only under the patronage, but even under the power and authority, of Mary.

Since, then, the Mother must have the same power as the Son, Mary became omnipotent because Jesus is omnipotent. Of course, the Son is omnipotent by nature, where Mary is omnipotent only by grace. This is proved by the fact that the Son never refuses the Mother anything she seeks, as St. Bridget learned in a revelation.

One day this Saint heard Jesus saying to Mary: " Ask Me for anything; your request can never be in vain." And this is the beautiful reason He gave: "Because you never refused Me anything on earth, I will refuse you nothing in Heaven." From the time that Mary came into the world, her one thought, along with seeking the glory of God, was to help the helpless. And even then, while here on earth, she enjoyed the privilege of being heard in all her requests.

Consider what happened at Cana. When the wine failed, the Blessed Virgin was touched with pity for the trouble and embarrassment of the bridal couple, and she asked her Son to help them with a miracle. She simply said to her Son: "They have no wine."  But Jesus answered: "Woman, how does this concern of yours involve Me? My hour has not yet come. " In other words, "It is not time yet for Me to work miracles; that will be when I begin to preach and will need miracles to confirm My doctrines." Yet, to content His Mother, He changed the water into the best of wines. How could it be that, against His own predetermined plans, He worked this miracle?  Actually, there was no violation of His own decrees; for although, generally speaking, the time for miracles had not yet come, still from all eternity He had established another decree to the effect that, when His Mother asked for anything, she was not to be refused.

St. Thomas comments on the expression, "My hour has not yet come." He says: Here Christ wished to indicate that, if anyone else had asked for the miracle, He would not have granted it; but since it was His Mother who asked, He performed it. Valerius Maximus tells how, when Coriolanus was besieging Rome, all the pleas of friends and citizens together were powerless to make him stop; but when his mother Veturia appeared on the
scene and begged him, he lifted the siege at once.

But Mary's prayers to Jesus are far more powerful than Venturia's, because Jesus' loving gratitude to His dear Mother is far greater than that of Coriolanus. One time St. Dominic commanded the devil to speak through the mouth of someone who was possessed, and these were the devil's words: "A single sigh from Mary is worth more in God's eyes than the prayers of all the Saints combined." The prayers of our Lady, being the prayers of a Mother, have in them something of a command; so it is impossible for her not to be heard.

Hence the famous dictum: What God can do by commanding, you can do by praying, O Blessed Virgin!  Is it not what we would expect of God's great goodness, to uphold His Mother's honor as He does, when after all He came not to break the Law but to keep it --- One law being that we should honor our parents?

We are all under obligation to God for whatever we have, because everything is but a gift from Him; but by taking flesh from Mary and becoming Man, God was pleased to put Himself under obligation to her.

 

 

 

Prayers

Litany of the Holy Ghost

Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary

[bernadette szczepkowski]

"Because you never refused Me anything on earth, I will not refuse you anything in Heaven."

[Alan]

She who first gave him to the world will establish his kingdom in the world.