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“Petition is ineffectual when it is a barren entreaty that implores God…

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      Our Lord and Our Lady

They warned Our Lady for the Child

That was Our Blessed Lord,

And She took Him into the desert wild,

Over the camel’s ford. 

And a long song She sang to Him

And a short story told:

And She wrapped Him in a woolen cloak

To keep Him from the cold. 

But when Our Lord was grown a man

The rich they dragged Him down,

And they crucified Him in Golgotha,

Out and beyond the Town. 

They crucified Him on Calvary,

Upon an April day;

And because He had been her little Son

She followed Him all the way. 

Our Lady stood beside the Cross,

A little space apart,

And when She heard Our Lord cry out

A sword went through Her Heart. 

They laid Our Lord in a marble tomb,

Dead, in a winding sheet.

But Our Lady stands above the world

With the white Moon at Her feet.

                           -Hilaire Belloc 

For Reflection: 

Of the seven swords that pierced Our Lady’s heart, how many are represented in this poem? How do her swords relate to the pains of my heart?

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“Faithful Cross, above all other, one and only noble tree…

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“Though the waves and the sea and the anger of princes are roused against me,

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“I have never succeeded when I have spoken with the faintest suspicion of hardness.

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“For in this way especially does a friend differ from a flatterer:

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“The saints were so completely dead to themselves

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“To love God as He ought to be loved,

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                        Woman                                   

Dipped in the instincts of heaven,

Robed in the garments of earth,

Maiden and Mother and Queen,

Wearing each crown at thy birth: 

Threefold thy gift to the world,

Pluck’d from God’s ripening sky,

Tending the altar of life,

Kindred to angels on high.

            - Thomas O’Hagan                                    

 

For Reflection: 

“Tending the altar of life…”    In addition to bringing Jesus into the world, how else does Sacred Scripture show Mary as “mother?” I will do likewise in three ways today as a special birthday present to her. 

Mary, my Mother,

On this your birthday, bring me to the fullness

Of life through your Son, Jesus Christ,

My Lord.

Amen.

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“Mount Calvary is the academy of love.”

                   -St. Francis de Sales

 

 

For Reflection: 

Contemplating the scene of the crucifixion, what three persons do I see enrolled in this “academy of love” besides Jesus and how is their love expressed? Today, in what ways can I follow their example and in what way(s) am I willing to enroll in the “academy?”

 

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