01/01/2025

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.

I could be jealous of Mary's immaculate conception but how can any one of us know the pains that it must have brought to her? She is the Church Triumphant in person but that triumph is also the result of the pains she shared with her son.  Her pains are not visible but the "sword  thrust" predicted by Simeon is part of the mystery of the atonement made for us on Calvary. 

The apostles and disciples who first knew Mary as the mother of their friend Jesus and with whom they met the  Resurrected Lord and experienced the Spiritual Conversion of  Pentecost do not have a lot to say about her but they knew  that her "Yes" to her role in God's plan was essential for the Spiritual Revolution that can bring all souls to Salvation.

Forgive me Lord for not appreciating the devotion of your mother and her place in the events of salvation that she witnessed and shared. It is not only joy that The Mother of Our God treasures in her heart. She must be the only human who comes close to feeling in her very being the pain and  affront to holiness that is the sin of the world; the sin that I have so often embraced during the course of my life.

May my soul and the souls of all mankind be open to receive the grace that Mary's "yes" on behalf of us all  continues to pour out over all the world. We too have to agree "Let it  be done to me according to thy word" as did she if we are to use our freedom in the way that you have revealed is the holiness for which you have created us to strive.