SPIRITUAL GROWTH WITHOUT A RELATIONSHIP TO MARY IS IMPOSSIBLE

Posted on November 28, 2024 by franksantucci

After a year as seminarian in St Sulpice in Paris, Eugene reflects in his journal on the place of Mary in his spirituality:

But devotion to the Blessed Virgin must excel all others; for the glorious Mother of God is called by the Church: our life and our hope. It is morally impossible for a soul to make any progress in the ways of perfection if it lacks this tender and sincere devotion to the most holy Mother of God.

General counsels for achieving perfection, notes taken in 1809, EO XIV n.39.

REFLECTION

“Mary’s gaze is not directed towards us alone. At the foot of the Cross, when Jesus entrusted to her the Apostle John, and with him all of us, in the words: ‘Woman, here is your son’, the gaze of Mary was fixed on Jesus. Mary says to us what she said at the wedding feast of Cana: ‘Do whatever he tells you’. Mary points to Jesus, she asks us to bear witness to Jesus, she constantly guides us to her Son Jesus, because in Him alone do we find salvation. He alone can change the water of our loneliness, difficulties and sin into the wine of encounter, joy and forgiveness. He alone.”    Pope Francis

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1 Response to SPIRITUAL GROWTH WITHOUT A RELATIONSHIP TO MARY IS IMPOSSIBLE

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate says:
    November 28, 2024 at 13:04

    “Mary points to Jesus”. If we are blind to the little things of life we will never be able to see the larger picture. Mary is not announced by sounds of trumpets, yet she is there, always in humility. “Let it be done unto me according to your will.” We think of her tenderness as she held Jesus for the last time while his tomb was prepared.

    Somehow I never doubted that she was given to us as our Mother – how could it be otherwise. Sort of like Peter’s response to Jesus after being asked if would leave Jesus and follow others.

    At a retreat, some years back we were asked to share our favorite scripture reading within our respective groups. While not knowing scripture all that well I responded with singing the Magnificat (John Michael Talbot’s Holy is His Name) from Luke’s 1:46-55)

    My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
    And my spirit exalts in God my savior
    For He has looked with mercy on my lowliness
    And my name will be forever exalted
    For the mighty God has done great things for me
    And His mercy will reach from age to age
    And holy, holy, holy is His name

    He has mercy in every generation
    He has revealed His power and His glory
    He has cast down the mighty in their arrogance
    And has lifted up the meek and the lonely
    He has come to help His servant Israel
    He remembered His promise to our fathers

    And holy, holy, holy is His name
    Holy, holy, holy is His name

    This morning we are invited to join Mary in the hymn of praise that points to the Lord.

    Reply

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