9 Day Reflections in Preparation for the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 30- September 08,2010)
Day 4. Theme:”Mary temple of the Holy Spirit”
“The Spirit established by Mary at the foot of the Cross”
The spirit was with Mary in the ordeal she underwent during the passion of her beloved so, especially when she met him bruised and bloodied carrying his cross and when she stood at the foot of the cross.
Through the grace of the spirit, she stood there firm in faith, strong in hope and burning with love. She played many roles in the mystery of salvation and fulfilled in her person in the prophecies of old. She was the handmaid of the Redeemer, the Mother sharing his suffering, united with the sacrifice of his son, the high priest, and helping to fill up in her flesh “What is lacking in the suffering of Christ, for the sake of his body the church” (Col. 1:24).
She was the new Eve, fulfilling the prophecy of the saving role of the woman. As the first woman, Eve, shared in bringing death so the second woman, Mary, shared in restoring new life. She was the “Mother of Zion” acclaimed by all peoples in their cry: “All find home with you” (Psalm 87:7:), for she welcomed with a mother’s love all who had been scattered but were now gathered into unity by the death of Christ (Jn. 11:52).
She was the image of the church, which as it look upon the virgin draws inspiration from her courage and keeps us constant faith with Christ her bridegroom. It was the holy spirit also who aided Mary’s co-suffering in the drama of salvation and enabled her to put her own life on the line when her incarnation was brought low. He helped her endure the greatest of pains in bringing to new and divine life the family of the church, though she had brought forth her son without the pains of childbirth under his power. At the same time, the holy spirit enabled those whom Jesus from the cross, entrusted Mary to be numbered among her adopted children.
We are accustomed to say “we go to Jesus through Mary”. In this maxim, there is implicit conclusion that remain unvoiced in the holy spirit. The sanctifier cannot be absent wherever there is a question of sanctification (becoming Christlike and reaching Christ). Just as Mary was a temple of the Holy Spirit all her life, so we are called to be the same. The indwelling of the spirit through grace is a great Christian teaching. The spirit comes to us as he came to Mary with the theological Virtues; Faith, hope and charity: the four cardinal virtues; prudence , justice, fortitude and temperance; the seven gifts; wisdom, understanding, counsel fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear and the twelve fruits: Charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, fidelity, modesty, continence and Chastity. Each of them is a way for us to become Christlike. Conscious of the spirit, we should be totally open to his grace.
In this task, we are aided by Mary our mother, who is our model as temple of the Holy spirit . Certainly she was careful never to silence the spirit (1 Thessalonian 5:19) to use St. Paul’s phrase. We should do likewise
Novena Prayer Day 4
Hail admirable child Mary, Mystical rose, closed garden, open only to the heavenly spouse. O lily of the paradise , make me love the humble and hidden life; let the heavenly spouse finds the gate of my heart always open to the loving calls of his grace and inspiration. Amen
Hail Mary…
No comments:
Post a Comment