Our Lady

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Mary and Jesus the Journey Continues

Mary's life of prayer was matched by her deep and abiding love for God with complete trust and confidence. Mary never questioned God but instead pondered all things in her heart.

Through witnessing her humble obedience, Jesus learned that without trust there can be no love. Mary loved God with a depth that only her Son witnessed throughout his life.

Therefore when Jesus said, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" This is not a disavowal of Mary, but, is indeed a testament to Mary's deep Faith and love in God. For Jesus saw from his infancy the great love and filial confidence that Mary displayed in her intense love for The Triune Spirit.

Also, Jesus understood that His Mother was the perfect example of following God and living her Faith, with humble obedience. So the above statement clarifies Mary's deep and abiding Faith in God, and her relationship through prayer with the Heavenly Father.

Jesus then continues, "Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother".

Once again this reiterates Mary's August position for who else obeyed God without fault than his beloved Mother.

Remember Zechariah doubted the Angel and therefore temporarily lost his speech because of his doubt.

Mary did not doubt, and it was in her innocence and purity, God found the perfect receptacle to hold within her womb, His Beloved Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Mary would have contemplated every word that Jesus spoke without questioning His right to do so, for she knew to whom she was listening but the Apostles and friends of Jesus did not.

There were times where the people cried in the street, as Jesus passed by "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you". Jesus never once corrected them, for what they said was Holy Truth.

It is this example of humble love and an obedient spirit that would have provided the Apostles and followers of Jesus much hope. For even though their minds grasped that this was The Messiah, their hearts needed the reassuring presence of one who did not question who Jesus IS.

Though Mary was quiet, the intensity of her love for God would have been apparent to all who crossed their paths and so would her deep prayer life. In that in order to hear God one must listen first, ponder much, and ask for little towards self, and much towards others.

The women most especially would have followed Mary's example and alongside Mary they would have provided and supplied both Jesus and the Apostles with the necessities needed to continue their Mission.

But even though Mary would have kept much to herself, the shadow of what lay before her son would have intruded upon her thoughts, as she pondered this too in her heart of hearts.

Peace of Christ to you ALL

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Mary Her Life of Prayer

Mary Leads in Prayer

Mary from the beginning was a woman who inherently embraced prayer as a way of life, it was not a ritual for her, but was the cornerstone of her life, for she nourished prayer as she had nourished her Son.

This would have been a part of their lives from the beginning, and it would have been as a family that they would have prayed together, Mary, her husband Joseph, and the young Jesus.

And even though Mary would have turned even her work into a prayer, still she knew the importance of a spirit of solitude when praying to our Heavenly Father, for one needs to have these solitary moments in order to be replenished. So Mary from the beginning would have needed to spend time alone with God, as did Jesus during his Ministry, perhaps he learned this at his Mothers knee.

This would also have shown a great example to all those who followed Jesus, for the prayer life of Jesus and Mary went beyond keeping the Law and instead focused who was at the centre of their lives, which was their Father in Heaven. So, through the example of them both many would have seen that neither Jesus nor Mary allowed themselves to be enchained by the Law, but neither did they break it. Instead they fulfilled it by making God the centre of their lives and existence.

So even thought this most Holy of families always observed the Law, they were not enslaved by it but instead fostered relationship over and above rituals, for even though the rituals of their Faith had its place it was not a substitute for a relationship with God. They understood that God does not seek outside observances, but instead He sought to be the centre of their lives, and indeed He was. For Mary understood perfectly that God does not need rituals to be enforced, but He calls all into relationship with Him, and through Jesus we see the face of God.

Jesus through observing Mary and Joseph would have also understood that God is to be at the centre of one's life, hence His need from the beginning to be alone with His Father in Heaven. Even unto staying in the Temple where his wisdom amazed and astonished all who listened to him, from one so young.

So through Jesus public Ministry the Apostles and all of those who followed Jesus would have observed the centrality of both Jesus and Mary's prayer life, and a growing understanding would have illuminated their minds as to the importance of combining prayer into all their activities.

This would have been a revolutionary concept to the Apostles and Jesus friends, who though they observed the Law, had little concept of a relationship with their Father in Heaven. Some may have even felt excluded from God's Presence because of the confinements of these Law's, which instead of freeing their spirits, instead burdened it with rituals and rites over relationship!

I am sure Mary shared many of her experiences with these friends of her beloved son, and also through her example, many also would have wondered at the level and depth of her prayer life and her love for God.

This would have led to these very same friends of Jesus to also long to have what Mary had in abundance, a deep and prayerful love for the Father. And through the examples of both Jesus and Mary these Apostles and followers would also foster their prayer life in a longing to be close to their Father in Heaven.

And though Mary nourished her prayer life, even if at times she did not always understand the Will of God, yet she was obedient to Him. For Mary understood that one must always trust in God, in the midst of life and also in the midst of confusion, for Mary also pondered the words spoken by Simeon,"and a sword shall pierce your own soul too."