Jesus prompted me to write this book in
honor of His Mother. His desire is to bring about a change in the hearts of His
people, so that our hearts may resemble His MotherŐs heart more.
Our LadyŐs heart consists of a universal
love, one that pertains to every living creature. It is a love that reaches
beyond all human understanding or comprehension. It is a divine love, one that
is filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Mary loves all her children equally. She
wants all of us to be brought home to the glory of her Son, so that we may
dwell with the Father for all eternity. MaryŐs love is never ending. Like
Jesus, she knows best what our souls need to honor and worship the Father. She
was chosen by the Father to be the mother of His incarnate Son, and she is
called the second ŇEveÓ, because she is the spiritual mother of all the living.
Our LadyŐs love is pure, clean, and
unfailing. She is the perfect Mother. Therefore, she knows best how to handle
each of our needs and how to assist us in times of trial and temptation. In the
book, The Reign of Jesus through Mary, St. Louis de Montfort tells us;
ŇAs in the order of nature, a child must have a physical father
and a mother, so likewise in the order of grace, a true child of the Church
must have God for his Father and Mary for his Mother.Ó
We know that Mary was full of grace from
the very moment she was conceived in her motherŐs womb. Therefore, Mary was
immaculate from the first moment of her conception. This is what the Church
teaches, and this evidence can be found in Genesis 3:15. God said:
I will put enmity between you and the
woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
He will strike at your head,
while you strike at his heel.
Mary is the woman that is referred to in Genesis. She is
the woman who will crush SatanŐs head. Who are the offspring in this scripture
verse? The word, offspring, refers to Jesus and His followers, us.
To put enmity between two people means to
put repelling power between them. Therefore, Mary never had or ever will have
any contact with Satan. Her soul, unlike ours, was never tainted by original
sin. How pure and clean then must her soul be? How much more perfect, then,
must her love be for each of us?
Pope Piux IX defined the dogma of MaryŐs
immaculate conception on December 8, 1954. His dogma states that by a unique
gift of grace and privilege of Almighty God, that the Most Holy Virgin Mary was
free from sin from the first moment of her conception, preserving her from all
stain of original sin. She is truly the Virgin Mary, most pure.
If you want to know perfection in GodŐs
eyes then, you have only to look at Mary. She is perfect in GodŐs sight.
Without sin, she never failed to be obedient. She is the model of holiness and
grace. When you grow closer to Mary, you grow closer to Jesus, because Jesus
dwells in Mary and Mary in Him.
Mary wants Jesus to dwell in each of our
hearts also. That is why she gave Him to us as our Lord and Savior. She formed
Him, not only in her womb, but also in his ministry as High Priest for our
salvation. She raised Him to resemble the FatherŐs will in all things, by
teaching Him how to imitate the Father and give glory to God forever.
While
praying one day to Jesus, I received the following meditation.
JESUS SPEAKS
My
Mother bore the example of the world on her shoulders. She knew how it was to
be lonely and cold. She knew how it was to be homeless and without dignity in
the world. Her dignity was in her soul.
She cradled Me, both in her arms and in her heart.
She knew what it was
like to be scoffed at and made fun of, but she never let this stop her from
being obedient or loving towards her enemies..
Mary bore patiently the sufferings of the world,
out of love for her Son and humanity. She knew the Father was calling her Son
to great things, but she did not know how it would all take place. Yet, she
trusted God the Father, in spite of not fully comprehending what God had in
mind.
Whenever
I am seeking to know the will of God the Father, I run to Mary. I ask her to
give me courage and strength to live out my baptismal promises and to do what
God is calling me to do. Each of us has a set purpose and plan in life that God
has chosen for us and is calling us to fulfill, but it takes grace from above
to know and accomplish that plan. That is why we need the help of Mary.
St.
Louis de Montfort explains that since Mary formed Jesus Christ as the head of
the elect, it is also her office to form the members of that head, that is to
say, all true Christians. So, whoever wishes to be a member of Jesus Christ,
who is full of grace and truth, must also be spiritually formed through Mary,
by means of the grace of Jesus Christ, which she possesses in its fullness.
Therefore, Mary has received this special office over our souls in order to
nourish them and give them growth in God.
St.
Augustine tells us that all the elect are hidden in MaryŐs womb until she
brings them forth into eternal life. In the same manner, as a child draws its
strength from the motherŐs womb physically, so we too draw our spiritual
strength while on earth from Mary.
Therefore,
Mary has been entrusted with all the graces that are required for each of us to
be formed in GodŐs image, in order that we may fulfill the will of God in our
lives. That is why she is called the Mediatrix of all graces. She knows best,
in union with Christ, how to distribute GodŐs graces to help us accomplish His
love and desires for us.
What
is the definition of grace? In January, 1995, while praying to Our Lady, I
heard these words in my heart:
ŇReceive
these graces from my Beloved Son, in whom thou have been greatly blessed.Ó
After pondering Our LadyŐs words for some time,
I realized that I did not fully understand the definition of grace. A few months
later, while praying in church, I asked Jesus what grace was, and in prayer I
heard the following definition.
ŇGrace is my divine love, manifested through Me, given to you by
the Holy Spirit, to purify your soul, to make you pleasing in the eyes of my
Father.Ó
Grace then is a gift of the Trinity, but it is
distributed through the hands of Our Lady, because of GodŐs love for her and
us.
The Catholic Catechism also describes grace in
Article 2003 as:
2003- Grace is first and foremost the gift of the
Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that
the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate
in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church.
It further explains MaryŐs role as our Mother in
the order of grace:
968- Her role in relation to the Church and to all
humanity goes still further. ŇIn a wholly singular way she cooperated by her
obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the SaviorŐs work of restoring
supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order
of grace.Ó(LG61)
Mary has been given the honor of distributing
all graces to us. That is why she is the Mediatrix of all graces. St.
Bernardine of Sienna teaches us that Mary gives to whom she wills, the way she
wills, when she wills, and as much as she wills, the graces of the Eternal
Father, the virtues of Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
Mary knows that JesusŐ love and graces purify us
and make us pleasing in His FatherŐs eyes. Therefore, because Mary is the
spouse of the Holy Spirit, it is only fitting that she cooperates in the
distribution of all graces. Her love and GodŐs love are one and the same for
humanity, because her will and GodŐs will are one and the same. Anything that
you ask of Mary, in union with the will of the Trinity, will be granted to you.
What a great privilege to have Mary as our maternal intercessor for all ages!
The Catholic Catechism has this to say about the
distribution of graces through Mary:
969 - "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace
continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the
Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until
the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay
aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us
the gifts of eternal salvation. . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked
in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and
Mediatrix.Ó (LG
62).