Day 343: Praying Through Mary (2673-2682)
It’s Day 343!!
IN COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD
Paragraph 2673 says, “In prayer the Holy Spirit unites us to the person of the only Son, in his glorified humanity, through which and in which our filial prayer unites us in the Church with the Mother of Jesus.”
Mary gave her constant affirmation, her surrender to the Lord, her submission to the Lord
As she lives and moves in faith, hope, and love, in relation to our God
She is also THE model and she shows us the way of prayer
BUT…
She is also given to us as our Mother by Jesus
From the Cross, Jesus gave her to every beloved disciple, to be their mother
As Christians, we get to be united in prayer with other disciples as well as the whole Church
We also get to be united in prayer with our Lady Mary, the Mother of God, who is a very unique and very distinct member of the Church
The skeleton of our teaching today is the HAIL MARY
Let’s pray!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Mary, please bring us to your Son, Jesus. Help us to do everything He has asked us to do. Mary, spouse of the Holy Spirit, please intercede with God the Father and with your Son, Jesus. That He will send the Holy Spirit deep into our hearts, now and always. We make this prayer in the mighty name of the only Beloved Son of God, Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen”
So there we have it!!
We recognize the role of Mary in our lives and in the life of the disciple
We also recognize the role of Mary in our prayer
As Catholics, we pray the HAIL MARY all the time, or AVE MARIA in Latin
Over half of the HAIL MARY prayer is SCRIPTURAL
BUT…
Even the last half, “...Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of death. Amen” is an acknowledgment of where Mary was
Mary was with Jesus, her Son, our Lord, her Lord, from the very moment of His conception in her womb, all the way to the moment of when He gave up His spirit
Mary was present to EVERY MOMENT of our God’s life on earth
So those small moments of conception, moments of quiet in Nazareth, moments of joy in their home, moments of power, moments of healing, moments of great success, and also the greatest moment of desperation, the greatest moment of grief, the greatest moment of loss, the greatest moment of injustice of the Passion of Jesus Christ and His death…
MARY WAS THERE FOR ALL OF THOSE MOMENTS!!
Jesus’ life encompasses the highs and lows and many middles of life
Our whole life gets to be encompassed by our Lord Jesus
BUT…
MARY WAS WITH OUR LORD!!
MARY WAS WITH JESUS!!
Our Savior, Jesus Christ, can transform and redeem every one of those moments
BUT…
His Mom is with us in all those moments as well
Jesus is the One Mediator between God and man
Jesus is God
No one else is God
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is God
MARY IS NOT GOD!!
There is an abandonment of the rest of the family
There is an abandonment of the saints in abandoning our mom
The Lord is not loved any more when we love His mom less
Fr. Mike doesn’t think that we recognize Jesus is even more God if we don’t recognize what our Lord God has done in the life of this human being, Mary
Fr. Mike doesn’t know that our prayer is more robust if we ignore the Mom that was given to us
Our prayer is not more powerful if we ignore the Mom who was given to us from the Cross
Our prayer is not richer if we ignore this prayer from Scripture called the HAIL MARY that the Church has given to us
Our prayer is not richer if we ignore the Rosary that the Church and history has given to us
Go back and read Paragraphs 2676-2677 about the HAIL MARY because I am not going to write them down here, they are super duper long!!! 😉
To love Mary doesn’t mean our heart belongs any less to Jesus
To ask for Our Lady’s prayers does not reduce our trust in Jesus
We are uniting our trust to her trust
We are uniting our fiat to her fiat
We are making her prayer, which is a perfect prayer, our prayer
Paragraph 2679 says, “Mary is the perfect Orans (pray-er), a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to save all men. Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus’ mother into our homes, for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope.”
So we get to have confidence
Not just confidence, but gratitude
We can thank the Lord and praise God for giving us this Mom
This Mom in this life and in the next life
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT…