Day 7: God Alone - With, In and through Mary - 33 Days to Total Consecration

 "I am all yours, and all that I have is yours, O most loving Jesus, through Mary, your most holy Mother" 

(True Devotion, 233).

DAY 7 of 33: Contemplating the Hail Mary. 

Action: Pray the entire Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary today contemplating God becoming man.

The video teaching of this week is the a visual meditation and reading of one of my most favorite meditations on the hidden life of the Holy Family, it is taken from a reflection written by Caryll Houselander entitled Wood of the Cradle, Wood of the Cross. You can find the meditation in print here.

This final day of the 1st Week of our 33 Journey to Consecration, we will ponder on the hidden life of the Holy Family. 

"The Gospels offer very sparse information about the years the Holy Family spent in Nazareth. St Matthew tells of the decision taken by Joseph, after the return from Egypt, to make Nazareth the Holy Family's permanent home (cf. Mt 2:22-23), but then gives no further information except that Joseph was a carpenter (Mt 13:55). For his part, St Luke twice mentions the Holy Family's return to Nazareth (cf. Lk 2:39, 51) and gives two brief references to the years of Jesus' childhood, before and after the episode of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem: "The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him" (Lk 2:40), and "Jesus increased in wisdom, age and grace before God and men" (Lk 2:52). 

Mary pondered these events in her heart."

(John Paul II)

“If we look carefully into this life that was apparently so unremarkable, we shall find that it was greater and more adventurous, more full of exciting events, than we are accustomed to assume in our hasty perusal of the Gospel.”

Pope Paul VI

When we look at the life of the Holy Family, we can reflect on its mysteries and incorporate them into our lives, but recognizing:
Mary is our model.  
She has gone before us as the first Christian disciple, but every action of love given to Mary (which she received in its fullness of grace) is also meant for us and given to us as well (to the extent of our capacity -- based on our humility, desire, faith and love). 
For, we, too, are called to be filled with grace and living tabernacles of God’s presence -- 
bearing Christ within our bodies so to give birth to Him to the world.  
We are called to ponder and treasure His Words, 
to live in intimacy and love with Him each day, 
to nurture His life within our families, 
to bear witness to His miracles and to the Truth of His Words, 
to stand with Him unto the Cross bearing our sufferings, 
to be one with the Apostles and pray for the Holy Spirit’s outpouring upon the Church, 
to be united with him at death, 
and taken up body and soul into glory on the last day. 

Without Mary, we would not have Jesus.  
She is an indispensable part of God's plan. 
God could have given Jesus to us a different way, but He didn't.  
He willed for Jesus to come to us through her.  
Thus, each time we say a "Hail Mary" we are simply echoing the words of the Archangel Gabriel and of Elizabeth who was filled with the Holy Spirit. Each time we say it, we are recalling the greatest event of all history, the moment that God became man in the Incarnation, through the "yes" of a virgin.  Each time we pray the Hail Mary we are invited to remember Mary's continual "yes" to God, to His Son and to the Holy Spirit -- even unto the Cross. Each time we pray this prayer from heaven, we, too, are called to consider that our "yes" to the Holy Spirit's power in our lives can bear Christ into the world.

Each day, we have multiple opportunities to either say “yes” or “no” to God. 

If we say "yes" repeatedly to God's calls, our heart truly does expand; and thus, God is able to use us, for we are open to his inspirations and we are able to do more and more with, in and through Him. 

Likewise, each time we say “no” our heart becomes a little harder, which makes it harder to hear God's voice; until eventually, if we keep saying “no” our heart becomes so hard that it is increasingly difficult to say “yes” and go beyond ourselves – and thus, we hinder the amazing experience of allowing God "to live and move and have His Being in us!"

Yet, God, in His Most Gracious Mercy, gives us an infinite number of times to begin again, for our human frailty often fails us! 

So, it is not about perfectly responding, but never giving up in responding. 

If we continue to strive, He continually pours out His Grace and Life to help us!

During this time of such great darkness and deceit, when Satan is inviting violence and despair, I know God is calling ALL WHO WILL LISTEN TO HIM, to live the answers He has sent to us!!!! 

Can you imagine how transformed our world would be if a countless multitude of little souls answer His Call to pray much and offer sacrifices to save others?? For He is able to:

"do infinitely more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us" Ephesians 3: 20.

We are able to listen and respond to God and live this transformed life the more we pray the rosary: 

The Rosary mystically transports us to Mary's side as she is busy watching over the human growth of Christ in the home of Nazareth. This enables her to train us and to mold us with the same care, until Christ is “fully formed” in us (cf. Gal 4:19,15 Rosarium Virginis Mariae)

  
With all this in mind, then, let us pray for the grace to be committed to pray the rosary and make it an integral part of our lives, praying:
O Jesus, the Rosary is a prayer to draw closer to You by meditating on Your Life and Your Holy Word. May we seek to enter into the mysteries of this beautiful prayer, asking Our Blessed Mother to help us love Jesus as she does. We ask this in Your Most Holy Name. Amen.  
 

For a further meditation on St. Joseph and some of the most beautiful and profound mysteries regarding and revealed about him, see here:
https://enteringintothemystery.blogspot.com/2018/10/10-of-most-beautiful-and-profound.html

Action:
1. Read through the accompanying pictures and the extraordinary wisdom of St. Louis below if possible.
2. Continue to choose to enter more deeply into the daily prayer program (below) at least in this way: 
Ponder and pray the Hail Mary today and the accompanying Scripture texts as you meditate and pray one decade of the Rosary - the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary - while praying for the grace to listen, to hear and respond to God as Mary does.
Praying also for the grace to surrender whatever is keeping me from responding fully  - in and through and with Mary’s love and help.

Daily Prayer Program for these 33 Days:

It is important to make a commitment to strive to pray more deeply, more intensely and with more of your heart during these days of preparation. Here are some guidelines and suggestions for how to live these days. Pray about how you can grow in each of these areas listed below and while living out this prayer program it is especially important to 

Trust in the Truth and Supernatural Reality of God’s Presence within each of them

1. Sacraments

    •            LIVE Grace and Renew our Baptism - renounce sin and Satan

    •            Mass and the Eucharist the Center of our lives

    •            Confession frequently

2. Scripture - Pray and Internalize it daily

    •           To Jelena: “I’m going to reveal a spiritual secret to you: if you want to be stronger than evil, make yourself a plan of personal prayer. Take a certain time in the morning, read a text from Holy Scripture, anchor the Divine word in your heart, and strive to live it during the day, particularly during the moment of trials. In this way, you will be stronger than evil.” (Our Lady of Medjugorje, April 19, 1984)

    •           Rosary – With and in Mary, contemplating Scripture and the mysteries of God

3. Fill mind with wisdom of Mary and the Saints

    •            God is sending Mary to earth for she is the Crusher of Satan. Listen to her words.

    •            St. John Paul II – example of life given over – Totus Tuus

    •            St. Maximilian Kolbe – Militia Immaculata every soul consecrated to Mary will save the world

    •            St. Louis de Montfort – Mary will form the greatest saints who ever lived – easiest shortest most sure way to sanctity

    •            St. Mother Teresa and many more 

PART 2: Readings and Prayers for St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary

12 Days of Preparation renouncing the spirit of the world

1. Learn about Mary's place in God's plan (words of St. Louis from True Devotion of Mary)
2. Pray over Scripture
3. Pray with the Heart
4. Examine our conscience  

PART 3: A taste of Fr. Gaitley's 33 Days to Morning Glory if you have time:

 “Come, Holy Spirit, living in Mary. Help me to praise you for such a quick, easy, and secure path to holiness."

CLICK HERE for podcast of Day 7 for Podcast

© Janet Moore 2019. All Rights Reserved.

Imagine! The Place Where the "Word Became Flesh"!

Happy Feast of the Annunciation!!!
I first wrote this on the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, which commemorates the date when the Holy House first landed in Italy on December 10th, 1294.  
Yes, you read that right. 
The house LANDED in Italy.  
Yes, it flew through the air and then, yes, it landed in Italy - in a town called Loreto.
It is quite a story, but there is lots of historical evidence that points to it being true. 
I've given several retreats on it, because it is one of my favorite pilgrimage sites I've ever visited. 
It is truly amazing. 
I've researched it so thoroughly that I have far too much information to share in this short article. 
But, if you believe God can work miracles, you can believe this is to be true. 
For a far greater miracle than a simple house flying through the sky is what happened inside of it. 
It is a story we've heard so often that we fail to realize how incredible and amazing it is. 
The God, Who created the whole universe, Who created you and me and everything seen and unseen... 
The God, who holds us in being... became flesh inside a young teenage girl, Whom He created, when she said yes. 
This house has such an amazing story because of what took place inside it's walls. 
God became man!
It is the Home of the Annunciation!!!
Imagine!
Think of how St. John Paul II traveled the globe far and wide - going to just about every holy place known to man, but when he entered into this holy for the first time, he realized:
"Here is the holiest place on earth!"
Imagine!

Imagine!
Here the “Word became Flesh”!!!
Imagine!
... standing, kneeling, praying in the same spot where the Angel Gabriel came to ask Mary if she would be the mother of God.
Imagine!
... being in the place where the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and overshadowed her -- and the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, God from God from all eternity, deigned to be conceived in the womb of this precious, innocent, faithful, warrior of a girl --
And HE BECAME MAN!
 

I was privileged to make a pilgrimage to the Holy House of Loreto -- a site that can claim to be the home of the Annunciation, Mary's birthplace and the home of the Holy Family in Nazareth - the home they lived in from the time they returned from Egypt!
Imagine!
... being in the home where the Holy Family ate, where they worked, where they slept, where they played and laughed...
... being in the place where Jesus grew up and became a man and the place where St. Joseph died....
... being in a place of countless miracles -- a place where even numerous Popes and saints came to pray and were cured.
The Holy House draws millions who seek God and the Holy Family and Our Lady's intercession.
 

Even it's presence on the coast-land town of Loreto in Italy is a miracle.
Evidence supports the tradition that the home was carried by angels from Nazareth at the time of one of the fiercest radical Muslim invasions!
It happened during a period when the Muslim invaders were determined to kill all Christians and destroy all the Christian holy places they held dear. 

We know this in part because Mary told us so. 

The Blessed Mother appeared first to a priest, and then, later, to a monk explaining the miraculous flight, but she also said that her home had become a Church from the earliest days of Christianity - specifying that St. Peter would often offer the Mass there after Jesus' resurrection, which is why you see the altar in their home.
She said her home had been saved again and again for centuries by the crusaders, but at one point it would have been destroyed except for the supernatural help of the angels.
The home has only 3 sides - as the fourth side was a grotto - a cave in the hillside.
This is why the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth is also honored as the place of the Annunciation -- as the Basilica stands over the cave that could not be destroyed.
 

There is so much much to share, but for now, I can summarize by saying: This is one of my favorite places on earth!
It was truly an amazing place to be, to pray at -- 

and it moved me so deeply that I have offered whole retreats around it in order to strive to share its mysteries.
May just hearing about its existence, its wonders and its holiness be a great source of grace for all who read about it!

And together may we ask: 

Our Lady of Loreto, pray for us!
O, Holy Family, pray for us and for all our families!

O dear unborn Jesus, conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, have mercy on us!

O, Holy Angels protect us! 

To find out more:

Part I Video of the Holy House by Bob and Penny Lord

Part II Video of the Holy House by Bob and Penny Lord

© Janet Moore. 2020. All Rights Reserved.