Mary

Mary, co-redemptrix

Lord Our God,
In Your eternal wisdom,
You fill out the passion of Christ,
Through the suffering that His members endure,
In the many trials of this life,
As You gave His Mother strength in her agony,
To stand by the cross of Your Son,
Grant that we too may bring loving comfort to others,
In their distress of mind and body,

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin,
Prepared a worthy dwelling for Your Son grant, we pray,
That, as You preserved her from every stain,
By the virtue of the death of Your Son, which You foresaw,
So, through her intercession,
We, too, may be cleansed and admitted to Your presence,

O God, whose, Son dying on the altar of the Cross,
Willed that the most Blessed Virgin Mary,
Whom He had chosen as His Mother,
Should be our Mother also,
Graciously grant, we pray,
That we, who fly to her protection,
May find comfort by invoking our Mother’s name,
Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You,
In the unity of the Holy Spirit.
One God for ever and ever,
Amen


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Transubstantiation into the Immaculate examples

TRANSUBSTANTIATION INTO THE IMMACULATE

We belong to her, to the Immaculate. We are hers without limits, most perfectly hers; we are, as it were, herself. Through our mediation she loves the good God. With our poor heart she loves her divine Son. We become the mediators through whom the Immaculate loves Jesus. And Jesus, considering us her property and, as it were, a part of his beloved Mother, loves her in us and through us. What a lovely mystery!  We have heard of persons who are obsessed, possessed by the devil, through whom the devil thought, spoke, and acted. We want to be possessed in this way, and even more, without limits, by her: may she herself think, speak, and act through us. We want to belong to such an extent to the Immaculate that not only nothing else remains in us that isn’t hers, but that we become, as it were, annihilated in her, changed into her, transubstantiated into her, that she alone remains, so that we may be as much hers as she is God’s. She belongs to God, having become his Mother. And we want to become the mother who would give the life of the Immaculate to every heart that exists and to those who will still come into existence.  –St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, Scritti di Massimiliano Kolbe, Roma

St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe uses the expression transubstantiation into the Immaculate to describe the desired effect of total consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The use of the same term that describes the complete substantial transformation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ to describe our complete substantial offering of ourselves to Mary is not accidental.

To quote the classical Aristotelian axiom: “What is first in intention is last in execution.” Christ was the first in the mind of God before the creation of the world. The thought of Christ was “followed” immediately in the mind of God by the thought of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was predestined by God’s eternal decree to be the Mother of Christ. 

The use of the term “transubstantiation” to describe the ultimate perfection of the union of love between divine and human will known as the Immaculate Conception recalls a parte rei the connection between the mystery of Mary on the one hand (and derivatively any type of Mariology, whether “Christo” or “Ecclesio” typical) and that of the Eucharist, whether in reference to the Head of the Church or in reference to the members of the Body of Christ perfectly incorporated into that Body….Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner expounds:

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Early morning struggle

Early morning Holy Hour proved difficult, fighting sleep throughout the time of prayer.  I recall a spiritual master declaring the prayers we are forced to struggle through are the most efficacious.  On the natural level, I recall John the Hermit exclaiming that if we are fighting sleep during our prayer time it is our body speaking to us, crying ‘I need more sleep’.  I am working at least six days a week, ten hours a day.  The toll was obvious this morning.  I am content with work, settling more and more comfortable into my position, at peace and liking my coworkers.  The time is not difficult at work, perfect in regards to my desire to accumulate cash.  Perched upon a mountaintop is the allurement of a life with the Carthusians, a life dedicated to prayer, the end of a life succumbing within rest in God, obedient and within the Church.  I have been overwhelmed throughout the week with thoughts of the Franciscan Brothers Minor during Adoration at St Paul Shrine, deeply considering a letter to Father David Mary regarding discernment.  Tomorrow, after the downtown luncheon with the Shrine gathering, I will spend the day with the Man of Prayer.  He is a man who intentionally managed his life around his prayer life, working a nondemanding job for lesser pay than his qualifications and skills could acquire, solely for the purpose of freeing his time for prayer, a greater devotion to the ways of God.  The effort intrigues, lingering as a possibility.  God is good and all giving.

Morning prayers from St Dominic Holy Hour on the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes:

Come, O lord Our God, from Your throne of glory in Your kingdom.  Come and sanctify us, You who sit above with the Father but who is invisibly present with us.  Come and help us give worthy thanks to You for all the gifts You have lavished upon us.  You who have given us these gifts allow us to be faithful witnesses to Your real presence in the Holy Eucharist and let us be united to Your Body and Blood so that we may have Christ dwelling in our hearts.  We pray this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, forever and ever.  Amen. 

On this feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, we remember that Mary is the model of human wholeness—a wholeness that is joyfully and utterly surrendered to God. And so she reflects her Son Jesus who reveals the merciful face of the Father, touching the world with healing and wholeness….We too can echo Mary’s cry ‘The Almighty has done great things for me!”

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Day 9: Novena to Mary Undoer of Knots

Most Holy Mary, our Advocate, Undoer of Knots,
I come today to thank you for undoing this knot in my life…
You know very well the suffering it has caused me.
Thank you for coming, Mother, with your long fingers of mercy to dry the tears in my eyes;
You receive me in your arms and make it possible for me to receive once again the divine grace.

Mary, Undoer of Knots, dearest Mother,
I thank you for undoing the knots in my life.
Wrap me in your mantle of love,
keep me under your protection,
Enlighten me with your peace!

Amen.

Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for me

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Day 5: Novena to Mary Undoer of Knots

Mother, Undoer of Knots, generous and compassionate,
I come to You today to once again entrust this knot in my life to you
And to ask the divine wisdom to undo,
under the light of the Holy Spirit,
This snarl of problems.

Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for me.
Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love,
Mother who never refuses to come to the aid of a child in need,
Mother whose hands never cease to serve your beloved children
Because they are moved by the divine love and immense mercy that exist in your heart,
Cast your compassionate eyes upon me and see the snarl of knots that exists in my life.
You know very well how desperate I am, my pain, and how I am bound by these knots.
Mary, Mother to whom God entrusted the undoing of the knots in the lives of his children,
I entrust into your hands the ribbon of my life.
No one, not even the evil one himself, can take it away from your precious care.
In your hands, there is no knot that cannot be undone.

Powerful Mother, by your grace and intercessory power with Your Son and My Liberator, Jesus,
Take into your hands today this knot.
I beg you to undo it for the glory of God, once for all.
You are my hope. O my Lady,
You are the only consolation God gives me,
The fortification of my feeble strength,
The enrichment of my destitution,
And, with Christ, the freedom from my chains.
Hear my plea.
Keep me, guide me, protect me, o safe refuge!
Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for me.
Amen

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