Sunday, October 13, 2013

Luke 11:27-28: Venerating The Blessed Mother's Faith

"Throughout her life and until her last ordeal when Jesus her son died on the cross, Mary's faith never wavered. She never ceased to believe in the fulfillment of God's word. And so the Church venerates in Mary the purest realization of faith" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 149).

Always remember the beauty of Our Blessed Mother' s faith and discipleship.  For she is, as the angel Gabriel states, ". . . full of grace." The virgin Mary's model of discipleship is found in her fiat to God's word at the annunciation, her neighborly love and devotion to St. Elizabeth at the visitation, her giving flesh to the Incarnation of Our Lord, her submission to the purity laws of the Temple, her intercession at the wedding feast of Cana, her motherly loving and guidance in raising Jesus, and her faithful obedience and sorrow during the Jesus' Passion and at foot of the Cross. Our Lady, according to St. Josemaria Escriva in Christ is Passing By, ". . . lived [her faith] sincerely, unstintingly fulfilling its every consequence, but never amid fanfare, rather in the hidden and silent sacrifice each day." We, too, are called to "hear the word of God and keep it" in our daily lives, living the faith and discipleship modeled by The Virgin Mary, our mother in heaven. 


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Luke 10:38-42 -- Contemplative Prayer and Service to Others

"Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each of you to discover it [...]. There is no other way. Either we learn to find our Lord in ordinary, everyday life, or else we shall never find Him. That is why I can tell you that our age needs to give back to matter and to the most trivial occurrences and situations their noble and original meaning. It needs to restore them to the service of the Kingdom of God, to spiritualize them, turning them into a means and an occasion for a continuous meeting with Jesus Christ" (St. J. Escriva, "Conversations," 114).
* qtd. in The Navarre Bible New Testament

Let us take what both Martha and Mary did for Jesus and combine them into something beautiful that glorifies God. Make everything we do as service to others a prayer for the love of Christ. Gospel-focused action and contemplation for the love of God go hand-in-hand.