Day 29 Total Consecration Preparation 2013

[Dawn Marie]

DAY 29

Purpose: Obtain Knowledge of Jesus Christ

During this period we shall apply ourselves to the study of Jesus Christ. What is to be studied in Christ? First the God-Man, His grace and glory; then His rights to sovereign dominion over us; since, after having renounced Satan and the world, we have taken Jesus Christ for our Lord. What next shall be the object of our study? His exterior actions and also His interior life; namely, the virtues and acts of His Sacred Heart; His association with Mary in the mysteries of the Annunciation and Incarnation, during His infancy and hidden life, at the feast of Cana and on Calvary.

Letter to the “Friends of the Cross”

From Saint Louis De Montfort

 

2. Friends of the Cross, you are like crusaders united to fight against the world; not like Religious who retreat from the world lest they be overcome, but like brave and valiant warriors on the battle- field, who refuse to retreat or even yield an inch. Be brave and fight courageously.

 

You must be joined together in a close union of mind and heart, which is stronger and far more formidable to the world and to hell than are the armed forces of a great nation to its enemies. Evil spirits are united to destroy you; you must be united to crush them. The avaricious are united to make money and amass gold and silver; you must combine your efforts to acquire the eternal treasures hidden in the Cross. Pleasure-seekers unite to enjoy themselves; you must be united to suffer.

 

A. Greatness of Your Title

 

3. You call yourselves "Friends of the Cross." What a glorious title! I must confess that I am charmed and captivated by it. It is brighter than the sun, higher than the heavens, more magnificent and resplendent than all the titles given to kings and emperors. It is the glorious title of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. It is the genuine title of a Christian.

 

4. But, if I am captivated by its splendor, I am no less frightened by its responsibility, for it is a title that embraces difficult and inescapable obligations, summed up in the words of the Holy Spirit, "A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people set apart."

 

A Friend of the Cross is one chosen by God, from among thousands who live only according to their reason and senses, to be wholly divine, raised above mere reason and completely opposed to material things, living in the light of pure faith, and inspired by a deep love of the Cross.

 

A Friend of the Cross is an all-powerful king, a champion who triumphs over the devil, the world and the flesh in their three-fold concupiscence. He crushes the pride of Satan by his love of humiliations; he overcomes the greed of the world by his love of poverty; he retrains the sensuality of the flesh by his love of suffering.

 

A Friend of the Cross is one who is holy and set apart from the things that are visible, for his heart is raised above all that is transient and perishable, and his homeland is in heaven; he travels through this world like a visitor and a pilgrim, and, far from setting his heart on it, he looks on it with indifference and tramples it underfoot with contempt.

 

A Friend of the Cross is a glorious trophy gained by the crucified Christ on Calvary, in union with his holy Mother. He is a Benoni or Benjamin, a child of sorrow and of the right hand, conceived in the suffering heart of Jesus, born from his pierced side, and baptized in his blood. True to his origin, his life embraces the cross, and death to the world, the flesh, and sin, so as to live here below a life hidden with Christ in God.

 

In short, a perfect Friend of the Cross is a true Christ-bearer, or rather another Christ, so that he can truly say, "I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me."

Today's Reading

Imitation of Christ: Book 1, Chapter 1
Of the Imitation of Christ, and Contempt of all the Vanities of the World

He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness (John 8:12), saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ, by which we are admonished, how we ought to imitate His life and manners, if we would truly be enlightened, and delivered from all blindness of heart. Let therefore our chiefest endeavour be, to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ.

The doctrine of Christ exceedeth all the doctrine of holy men.; and he that hath the Spirit will find therein the hidden manna (Apocalypse. 2:17). But it falleth out that many who often hear the Gospel of Christ, feel little desire after it, because they have not the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9). But Whosoever will fully and with relish understand the words of Christ, must endeavor to conform his life wholly to the life of Christ.

2. What doth it avail thee to discourse profoundly of the Trinity, if thou be void of humility, and art thereby displeasing to the Trinity? Surely profound words do not make a man holy and just; but a virtuous life maketh him dear to God. I had rather feel contrition, than know the definition thereof. If thou didst know the whole Bible by heart, and the sayings of all the philosophers, what would all that profit thee without the love of God (1 Cor. 13:2), and without His grace?

Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity (Eccles. 1:2), except to love God, and to serve Him only. This is the highest wisdom, by contempt of the world to press forward towards heavenly kingdoms.

Meditation:

Taken from The Glories of Mary

 

CHAPTER 7
THINE EYES OF MERCY TOWARD US

Mary Is All Eyes to Pity and Help Us

St. Andrew Avellino used to style the Blessed Virgin our "Heavenly Agent," who carries messages of mercy and obtains grace for everyone, just and sinner alike. The Lord has eyes for the just (Ps. 34: 16). But our Lady has eyes for sinners as well as the just. The eyes of Mary are a mother's eyes, and a mother not only watches her children to keep them from falling, but helps them up if they do fall.

O Mary, you are so full of mercy, so eager to help the unhappy, that you seem to have no other desire, no other anxiety. And since there are none so truly unhappy as sinners, you are continually praying to your Son for them.

Maybe, says St. Peter Damian, now that she is raised aloft as Queen of Heaven, she pays no attention to poor creatures. But it would not be like her great compassionate heart, he adds, ever to forget such misery as ours.

The old proverb, Honors change one's manners, does not apply to Mary. With people in the world it is a very different matter. When they secure some high position they grow proud and forget their old friends who happen to be poor. But Mary rejoices in her elevation, because it gives her a better chance to help the helpless.

St. Bonaventure applies to Mary the words addressed to Ruth: May the Lord bless you, my daughter! You have been even more loyal now than before (Ru. 3:10.). He says: "If Mary's compassion for the miserable was great when she was on earth, now it is much greater. By her countless graces for us she proves how much more merciful she has become, being now better acquainted with our miseries."

It was revealed to St. Gestured that our Lady cannot resist, when one devoutly calls on her with the words, Turn then, most gracious Advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us. She is forced to listen.

We read in the life of Sister Catherine of St. Augustine that in the city where she lived there was a woman of the name of Mary who had led a sinful life from her youth. Refusing to mend her ways and at length growing old in sin, she was driven out of the city and had nowhere to live but in a secluded cave. There she lingered on, neglected by all and half consumed by disease. At length, she died without the Sacraments and was buried in a field like a beast. Sister Catherine always prayed with great fervor for the souls of those who had departed from this world. She heard about the unhappy end of this poor creature, but she never thought of praying for her, since she considered her (as did everyone else) irrevocably lost. One day, four years afterwards, a soul appeared to her from Purgatory and exclaimed: "How miserable for me, Sister Catherine! You commend all the departed to God; for me alone you have no pity." " And who are you?" asked the servant of God. "I am that poor Mary who died in the cave," she replied. "But how is it you were not lost?" said Catherine. "I was saved through the mercy of the Blessed Virgin. For when I saw myself at the point of death, loaded with sins and rejected by all, I turned to the Mother of God and said to her: 'O Lady, you are the refuge of all the abandoned; behold me here and now abandoned by all. You are my only hope; you alone can help me; have pity on me!' "

"The Blessed Virgin obtained for me the grace of contrition. I died and so I was saved. But more than this --- she my Queen granted me another grace, that my Purgatory should be shortened by enduring in intensity what could have been prolonged for many years. " And now I need only a few Masses to free me entirely. I beg to have them said, and for my part I promise to pray to God and Mary for you." Sister Catherine had the Masses offered at once, and after a few days that soul appeared to her again, resplendent with glory , and said: "I thank you, Catherine. I am going now to Paradise, to sing the mercies of my God and to pray for you."

Ah, wonderful Lady, your measureless mercy fills the whole earth! This loving Mother longs to do good to all human beings; she is offended not merely by those who actually insult and outrage her, but by all who neglect to ask her for favors or graces. O Lady, in showering us with unmerited blessings, you have taught us to go on looking for further blessings!

As our Lord is full of mercy, so is our Lady. As the Son knows no way to refuse mercy to those who ask Him, so it is with Mary.

The Abbot Guerric makes Jesus speak to his Mother in these words: " Mother, in you I will set up the seat of My government. Through you I will pronounce judgments, hear prayers, and grant graces. You gave Me My human nature; I will give you My Divine nature" --- that is, omnipotence, with which she can help to save anyone she pleases.

One day, when St. Gertrude was praying to our Lady with the words, Turn, then, thine eyes of mercy toward us, she saw our Lady pointing to the eyes of the Child in her arms and saying: "These are the most compassionate eyes that I can turn toward anyone who calls upon me."

Once a certain sinner was weeping before a picture of our Lady, imploring her to obtain God's pardon for him, when he saw our Lady turn toward the Infant in her arms and say: "Son, shall these tears be wasted?" He understood then that Jesus was already pardoning him.

How is it possible then for anyone who prays to this good Mother to be lost? Her Son has given His divine promise that He will show as much mercy as she requests to anyone who prays to her. He revealed this to St. Gertrude, letting her overhear Him make the promise to His Mother: "I am omnipotent, O beloved Mother, and I give My pardon, just as it pleases you, to all sinners who devoutly ask your compassion." "Fill yourself with your Son's glory," says the Abbot Guerric, "and out of pure pity for us --- not for any merit of our own --- give your children whatever is left over."

If the sight of our sins threatens to discourage us, we should turn to the Mother of Mercy with these words of William of Paris: "O Lady, do not bring up my sins against me; I will set thy mercy over against them. And surely at the judgment my sins will never win out against thy mercy, for thy mercy will be far more effective in securing my pardon than my sins can be in bringing about my damnation."

Prayers

Litany of the Holy Ghost

Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

 

[bernadette szczepkowski]

Turn then, Thine eyes of mercy towards us.

[Dawn Marie]

If the sight of our sins threatens to discourage us, we should turn to the Mother of Mercy with these words of William of Paris: "O Lady, do not bring up my sins against me; I will set thy mercy over against them. And surely at the judgment my sins will never win out against thy mercy, for thy mercy will be far more effective in securing my pardon than my sins can be in bringing about my damnation."

[Cathleen]

+Amen

[Alan]

But Mary rejoices in her elevation, because it gives her a better chance to help the helpless.