"I Believe in Love" Day 24 Part Two ---Jesus, Mary and the Saints

[Dawn Marie]

Excerpts from the book “I believe in love”.

By Father Jean C.J. d’Elbee

 

 

DAY 24

FINAL MEDITATION

(NOVENA TO ST. THERESE BEGINS TOMORROW-optional)

JESUS, MARY AND THE SAINTS

 

MARY’S THIRD JEWEL IS IN HER HEROISM OF THE CROSS. JESUS TOLD ST. MARGARET MARY, “FROM THE FIRST MOMENT OF MY INCARNATION, THE CROSS WAS PLANTED IN MY HEART.”  WE MIGHT WELL THINK THAT AT THE SAME MOMENT IT WAS ALSO PLANTED IN THE HEART OF MARY.  SHE KNEW THE SCRIPTURES TO WELL NOT TO KNOW THAT HER SON WOULD BE “THE MAN OF SORROWS” OF ISAIAH, THAT SHE WOULD SEE HIM ONE DAY WITH “NO BEAUTY IN HIM, NOR COMELINESS…DESPISED AND THE MOST ABJECT OF MEN…WOUNDED FOR OUR INIQUITIES, BRUISED FOR OUR SINS.”   SHE VERY SOON RECEIVED CONFIRMATION FROM SIMEON’S ANNOUNCEMENT: “YOUR OWN SOUL A SWORD SHALL PIERCE.”

THE ABNEGATION OF MARY APPEARED AGAIN IN TWO SEPARATIONS FROM JESUS.  IT IS SO HARD TO LEAVE THOSE WE LOVE!  SHE HAD ALREADY KNOWN A SORROWFUL SEPARATION AT THE DEATH OF ST. JOSEPH.  THE GOSPEL DOES NOT SPEAK OF IT BUT WE CAN WELL IMAGINE THE FIRST DEPARTURE OF JESUS FROM NAZARETH.  SHE HAD THE CERTAINTY OF HIS COMING DEATH.  FINISHED WERE THE LONG CONVERSATIONS SHE HAD WITH HER SON, THE UNSPEAKABLE SWEETNESS OF THE EXCHANGES BETWEEN TWO HEARTS SO MARVELOUSLY EXQUISITE, SENSITIVE, DELICATE, RADIANT WITH TENDERNESS, AS WERE THE HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARY.  ALL THAT WAS ENDED FOR THIS EARTHLY LIFE.

THEN THERE WAS CALVARY, WHEN SHE WITNESSED WITH HER EYES, WITH HER BROKEN HEART, THE FULL REALITY.  SHE SAW THE SOLDIERS STRIP HIM OF HIS CLOTHES, TEAR TO SHREDS THE ADORABLE FLESH SHE HAD GIVEN HIM, POUND NAILS INTO THE HANDS SHE HAD SO OFTEN HELD IN HER OWN AND KISSED WITH ADORATION.  WHAT AN EXCHANGE IT WAS WHEN JESUS GAVE HER TO ST. JOHN!  “SHE RECEIVED,” SAYS ST. BERNARD, “THE SERVANT FOR THE LORD, THE DISCIPLE FOR THE MASTER, THE SON OF ZEBEDEE IN EXCHANGE FOR THE SON OF GOD!”  HE ADDS, “THE THRUST OF THE SWORD DID NOT REACH THE SOUL OF JESUS, FOR HE WAS DEAD, BUT IT REACHED THE VERY DEPTHS OF THE SOUL OF MARY.”   BUT MARY SAID WITHOUT HESITATION, IN HER SPIRIT, IN HER WILL, IN HER HEART, “FIAT”.  SHE KNEW ALL THESE CROSSES WERE, IN THE DIVINE PLAN, NECESSARY FOR THE SALVATION OF MEN AND THE GREATEST PROOF OF LOVE WHICH JESUS COULD GIVE HER.

MARY’S FOURTH JEWEL IS HER THIRST FOR SOULS.  MARY IS THE QUEEN OF THE APOSTLES.  SHE IS AN APOSTLE IN A DIFFERENT WAY, BECAUSE EACH SOUL TO BE SAVED IS A CHILD OF HERS. 

IN HER FIAT AT NAZARETH THERE IS SOMETHING OF THE IMPULSE OF A MOTHER WHO WANTS TO PREVENT HER CHILD FROM FALLING INTO THE FLAMES, FOR SHE REALIZED MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE WHAT SIN IS, WHAT HELL IS. 

ST. THOMAS OF VILLA NOVA SAYS THAT TWO LOVES EXISTED IN MARY: THE LOVE OF JESUS AND THE LOVE OF MEN.  HER HEART AS THE MOTHER OF MEN PREVAILED.  SHE LOVED MEN SO MUCH THAT SHE DELIVERED UP HER ONLY SON FOR THEM.  BUT THE TWO LOVES IN THE HEART OF MARY WERE NOT IN CONFLICT, FOR IT WAS FROM HER LOVE FOR JESUS THAT SHE DREW THIS LOVE FOR MEN, WHICH WAS STRONGER THAN DEATH.   IN MARY AS IN JESUS EVERYTHING CONVERGED TOWARD A SINGLE GOAL: THE SALVATION OF POOR SINNERS.  THUS MARY IS MEDIATRIX BY HER COOPERATION IN THE UNIQUE MEDIATION OF THE REDEEMER.

 

THE FIFTH JEWEL OF MARY IS HER PURE LOVE.  THIS IS THE DIAMOND WHICH FLASHES ITS SPLENDOR ON ALL OTHERS.  IT IS MORE THAN A JEWEL OF HER HEART…IT IS HER HEART ITSELF.   THE LOVE OF MARY EXPLAINS EVERYTHING: THE FIAT OF NAZARETH, WHICH MADE HER THE MOTHER OF GOD; THE FIAT OF CALVARY WHICH MADE HER OUR MOTHER.  MARY WAS ALL LOVE BECAUSE SHE WAS COMPLETELY PURE. 

 

FINALLY, ALWAYS GO TO JESUS THROUGH MARY.  WE MUST GO TO JESUS THROUGH MARY BECAUSE IT IS HIS PLAN OF LOVE.  IN THE SAME WAY THAT HE HIMSELF CAME THROUGH MARY, HE WANTS US TO GO TO HIM THROUGH MARY.  IT IS THE SUREST WAY, THE MOST DIRECT WAY, AND THE SWEETEST WAY, TOO.  WHY?  BECAUSE WE FIND JESUS IN THE ARMS OF MARY.

AS WELL, LOVE TO RECITE THE ROSARY, MEDITATING ON ITS MYSTERIES.  LITTLE THERESE SAID THAT EACH HAIL MARY GOES UP TOWARD HEAVEN LIKE INCENSE WHOSE SMOKING SPIRALS ARE ALL ALIKE, ALTHOUGH IT IS ALWAYS NEW INCENSE WHICH BURNS.   LOVE ALWAYS SAYS THE SAME THING, YET NEVER REPEATS ITSELF. 

THIS IS WHAT THE SAINTS HAVE DONE AND ALWAYS WILL DO.  WHY WERE THEY HEROIC?  BECAUSE LOOKING AT JESUS, KNOWING HIM, SEEING HIM IN ALL HIS BEAUTY, NOTHING SEEMED TO THEM TOO PAINFUL, TOO HARD, OR TOO DIFFICULT IN ORDER TO POSSESS HIM.  THEY WERE IRRISITABLY ATTRACTED TO HIM!

YOU CANNOT GO WRONG BY FOLLOWING OUR HOLY MOTHER MARY AND THE SAINTS, AND NEVER FORGET; YOU MUST BELIEVE IN LOVE!

[Flavia Talladen Schott]

LOVE ALWAYS SAYS THE SAME THING, YET NEVER REPEATS ITSELF. 

Amen.

[bernadette szczepkowski]

Pray for us Little Flower+

[AnnaMaria]

Amen+++

[AURA CID L F FERREIRA DE BRITTO]

SHE LOVED MEN SO MUCH THAT SHE DELIVERED UP HER ONLY SON FOR THEM.

WE CANNOT GO WRONG BY FOLLOWING OUR HOLY MOTHER MARY AND THE SAINTS.

†Amen†

[MARIA ESTHER DE VALLE]

I believe in love

Amen

[Michael]

Amen.

[Alley]

I am Thine, and all that I have is Thine. to Jesus, through Mary, my Most Holy

and Immaculate Mother!

With love!  

[Cathleen]

+Amen+

[Kate Jackson]

THESE CROSSES WERE, IN THE DIVINE PLAN,

[Michael]

Amen.