“Our prayer, like Mary’s and the Apostles', must come from our hearts under the absolute dominion of the Holy Spirit. The love of God above all things, detachment from the world, and an abiding sense of the supernatural, or recollection – these are the prerequisites of prayer.”
For Reflection:
How does my time of prayer measure up according to the standard in the quote above? Which of the prerequisites listed above do I employ? Which do I need to cultivate. Write a prayer to Our Lady asking for her maternal intercession.
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“The true child of Mary must be prepared to make the sacrifice necessary to overcome the love of created things with the love of the Creator.”
For Reflection:
To what am I most attached? What virtues can I begin to practice to help me become more detached to them and filled more with the things of God? What devotions can I develop to help inculcate a deeper love for God?
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“When God demands of a soul a great sacrifice, he strengthens the soul, through the vivifying power of His grace, to overcome all obstacles. Such a soul dies perfectly to itself, and its only desire is to remain spiritually dead to its natural inclinations as long as God wishes.”
For Reflection:
What has been the greatest sacrifice God has entrusted to me? What were the potential hazards, the hurdles, and the obstacles it presented? How did I experience God’s grace in the midst of the trial? Am I willing to die to self and embrace the crosses God sees fit to offer me?
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“Oh, how precious are our souls to Jesus and Mary, our blood Brother and our mother. The best expression of our gratitude for such love is the irrevocable consecration of ourselves to them – in the gloom of uncertainty, in the anguish of doubt, in the heart-riving loneliness of interior desolation, when God seems to desert us, by complete abandonment to the divine will.”
For Reflection:
Do I have difficulty seeing myself as “precious?” Ask the Holy Spirit to heal the area of your heart where this wound is lodged. Turn your eyes to the hearts of Jesus and Mary and picture them brimming with love for you. Return to this image every time the evil one seeks to sow uncertainty, anguish, doubt, and desolation into your soul. Journal your insights and reflections.
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“Mary cannot forsake us, because she is our Mother. If we confide our salvation to her loving care and faithfully imitate her virtues, she will fold us to her Immaculate Heart both now and at the hour of our death.”
For Reflection:
Mystically ask Mary to take you to her Immaculate Heart. Rest there with her. Journal your impressions, insights, reflections on her maternal love for you.
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“What a truly marvelous privilege is ours! Mary being our mother, we share in her love of her divine Son. Let us stand in the spirit on the mount of crucifixion and listen to the dying Christ saying to each of us, ‘Behold thy mother.’”
For Reflection:
What joy it brings to know that Mary shares with us her own love of her divine Son! In those moments when my own heart is bereft of sensate love for God, I will rely on my Mother’s perfect love to express my emotion. In what other ways can I open myself more and more to the operations of my spiritual Mother’s soul?
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“Mary’s holiness kept pace with her labor. Through her faithful performance of her ordinary duties, she may be said to have attained, in the solitude of Nazareth, her greatest sanctity.”
For Reflection:
Do I view my daily duties as stepping stones to union with God? What strategies can I employ to do so with greater consistency and hope?
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“Once we surrender ourselves to the divine will, obedience must be our solace and support. We must disregard the doubts with which Satan inspires us, by acting against them in confidence that God will provide for us even though to do so might cost Him a miracle.”
For Reflection:
Have I experienced the solace and support that comes from obedience? How and when? Have I experienced God’s miraculous intervention in my life? How and when? What virtue does the quote call us to use to counter Satan’s temptations to doubt?
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“The way of the Cross is the only pathway to peace of mind here and to eternal peace hereafter…Only in the school of the cross can we learn the truest wisdom, the knowledge of Jesus Christ and Him crucified…”
For Reflection:
Reflect on the lessons you have learned in the school of the cross. What are they? How has the wisdom you have gleaned encouraged you when you have experienced other crosses?
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“In the trials most repugnant to our natural selves, when we are misunderstood, misrepresented, or calumniated, let us be silent and, like Jesus and Mary, make no attempt at justification… The soul that is dead to itself has mastered the fine art of living.”
For Reflection:
How hard is this virtue to practice! And how imperfectly I live it. Perhaps the key is to die to self in the small affronts I experience each day so that when greater persecutions come I will be spiritually prepared. What are my thoughts about this?
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