PREPARATION FOR CONSECRATION DAY 24

PREPARATION FOR CONSECRATION DAY 24

Prayers for the Preparatory Period (Days 1-33) to be said daily.

To see the prayers in their entirety click the links below...

From True Devotion To the Blessed Virgin Mary, No. 152-164

This devotion is a smooth, short, perfect and sure way of attaining union with our Lord, in which Christian perfection consists. (a) This devotion is a smooth way. It is the path which Jesus Christ opened up in coming to us and in which there is no obstruction to prevent us reaching him. It is quite true that we can attain to divine union by other roads, but these involve many more crosses and exceptional setbacks and many difficulties that we cannot easily overcome. (b) This devotion is a short way to discover Jesus, either because it is a road we do not wander from, or because, as we have just said, we walk along this road with greater ease and joy, and consequently with greater speed. We advance more in a brief period of submission to Mary and dependence on her than in whole years of self-will and self-reliance. (c) This devotion is a perfect way to reach our Lord and be united to him, for Mary is the most perfect and the most holy of all creatures, and Jesus, who came to us in a perfect manner, chose no other road for his great and wonderful journey. The Most High, the Incomprehensible One, the Inaccessible One, He who is, deigned to come down to us poor earthly creatures who are nothing at all. How was this done? The Most High God came down to us in a perfect way through the humble Virgin Mary, without losing anything of his divinity or holiness. It is likewise through Mary that we poor creatures must ascend to almighty God in a perfect manner without having anything to fear.(d) This devotion to our Lady is a sure way to go to Jesus and to acquire holiness through union with him. The devotion which I teach is not new. Indeed it could not be condemned without overthrowing the foundations of Christianity. It is obvious then that this devotion is not new. If it is not commonly practiced, the reason is that it is too sublime to be appreciated and undertaken by everyone. This devotion is a safe means of going to Jesus Christ, because it is Mary's role to lead us safely to her Son.

Meditation:

The Gospel of Saint John Ch. 2 vs. 1-10

And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? My hour is not yet come. His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye. Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus saith to them: Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus saith to them: Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they carried it. And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water; the chief steward calleth the bridegroom, and saith to him: Every man at first setteth forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the good wine until now.

Meditation:

Taken from

PROVIDENCE

Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.

Chapter 4 section 19

Why we should abandon ourselves to divine providence?

The answer of every Christian will be that the reason lies in the wisdom and goodness of Providence. This is very true; nevertheless, if we are to have a proper understanding of the subject, if we are to avoid the error of the Quietists in renouncing more or less the virtue of hope and the struggle necessary for salvation, if we are to avoid also the other extreme of disquiet, precipitation, and a feverish, fruitless agitation, it is expedient for us to lay down four principles already somewhat accessible to natural reason and clearly set forth in revelation as found in Scripture. These principles underlying the true doctrine of self-abandonment also bring out the motive inspiring it.

The first of these principles is that everything which comes to pass has been foreseen by God from all eternity, and has been willed or at least permitted by Him.

Nothing comes to pass either in the material or in the spiritual world, but God has foreseen it from all eternity; because with Him there ii no passing from ignorance to knowledge as with us, and He has nothing to learn from events as they occur. Not only has God foreseen everything that is happening now or will happen in the future, but whatever reality and goodness there is in these things He has willed; and whatever evil or moral disorder is in them, He has merely permitted. Holy Scripture is explicit on this point, and, as the councils have declared, no room is left for doubt in the matter.

The second principle is that nothing can be willed or permitted by God that does not contribute to the end He purposed in creating, which is the manifestation of His goodness and infinite perfections, and the glory of the God-man Jesus Christ, His only Son. As St. Paul says (I Cor. 2: 23), "All are yours. And you are Christ's. And Christ is God's."

In addition to these two principles, there is a third, which St. Paul states thus (Rom. 8:28) : "We know that to them that love God all things work together unto good: to such as, according to His purpose, are called to be saints" and persevere in His love. God sees to it that everything contributes to their spiritual welfare, not only the grace He bestows on them, not only those natural qualities He endows them with, but sickness too, and contradictions and reverses; as St. Augustine tells us, even their very sins, which God only permits in order to lead them on to a truer humility and thereby to a purer love. It was thus He permitted the threefold denial of St. Peter, to make the great Apostle more humble, more mistrustful of self, and by this very means become stronger and trust more in the divine mercy.

These first three principles may therefore be summed up in this way: Nothing comes to pass but God has foreseen it, willed it or at least permitted it. He wills nothing, permits nothing, unless for the manifestation of His goodness and infinite perfections, for the glory of His Son, and the welfare of those that love Him. In view of these three principles, it is evident that our trust in Providence cannot be too childlike, too steadfast. Indeed, we may go further and say that this trust in Providence should be blind as is our faith, the object of which is those mysteries that are non-evident and unseen (fides est de non visis) for we are certain beforehand that Providence is directing all things infallibly to a good purpose, and we are more convinced of the rectitude of His designs than we are of the best of our own intentions. Therefore, in abandoning ourselves to God, all we have to fear is that our submission will not be wholehearted enough. [54]

Reflection

Mary’s Pure Heart

By Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

Cont. from day 22 and 23

This explains why Mary was silent during the Passion of Jesus when He was being unjustly accused. She said nothing to Pilate who was somewhat inclined to set Him free, fully aware as she was of His innocence. She only appeared in public to be present at His great sacrifice which was to take place on Calvary. She accompanied Him to the place of execution. She was with Him from the first moment He was nailed on the Cross: There stood by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother [Jn. 19: 25]. She stood there until she saw Him expire and the sacrifice was consummated. All this she did in order to complete the offering she had made of Him to God in the Temple.

To appreciate what this sacrifice meant to Mary it would be necessary to understand the love she had for Jesus. Generally speaking, the love of mothers is so great that when their children are about to die and there is danger of losing them, they forget all their faults and shortcomings. They even forget the injuries they may have received from them, and suffer unimaginable heartache. But many times the love of these mothers is a divided love, a love that extends to other children, or at least to other creatures. Mary had only one child------the most admirable ever born. He was most lovable, for He had everything to make Him so. He was most obedient, most virtuous, most innocent, most holy. In a word, He was God. And Mary's love stopped right there. It did not extend to any other created being. She concentrated all her love on Her only Son. Nor was she afraid of going too far in loving Him. This Son was God and He deserved limitless love. This was the Son Who was at the same time the victim She was voluntarily sacrificing to death.

Let us then imagine how much it must have cost Mary, what strength of soul it must have taken, to perform this act which amounted to sacrificing the life of Her Son on the Cross. On the one hand, she was the most fortunate of all mothers because she was the Mother of God. On the other hand, She was at the same time the mother most to be pitied, the most sorrowful mother imaginable, because She was obliged to see Her Son destined for the Cross from the day He was born. What mother would accept a child knowing that she was destined to lose him later on by a disgraceful death, and knowing that she herself would be there and see him die? But Mary willingly accepted Her Son on these difficult terms. She not only accepted Him, but on this day offered Him to death with her own hands, sacrificing Him to Divine justice.

St. Bonaventure says that the Blessed Virgin would have gladly agreed to suffer the pains and death of Her Son personally. But in order to obey God, She made the great offering of the life of Her Son Jesus, conquering the tender love she had for Him, but with an excess of grief.

"Had it been possible, she would willingly have endured all the torments of Her Son. But God willed that His only-begotten Son should be offered up for the salvation of the human race."

By this sacrifice Mary brought herself more grief and was more generous than if she had offered to suffer in her own person all that Her Son was to endure. That is why we may say that she surpassed all the Martyrs in generosity; for the Martyrs offered their own lives to God, but the Blessed Virgin offered the life of Her Son Whom She loved and esteemed infinitely more than her own life.

The pain of this sorrowful sacrifice did not end here. This was actually only the beginning. For from that time on, during the whole life of Her Son, Mary had constantly before her eyes the bitter death and all the torments He was to endure.

The more charming, gracious, and loving Her Son became, the more her heart was filled with increasing anguish.

PREPARATION FOR CONSECRATION DAY 24

You need to be a member of Crusaders of the Immaculate Heart to add comments!