Holy Week with our Sorrowful Mother

Dear MIs,

May our Blessed Mother lead us all, as we live and work and pray this Holy Week.

May You Immaculata, prepare our hearts to receive the gift of Your Son, the Son of the Father, in His Most Holy Body and Blood, in the upper room, as He offers Himself in atonement for the our sins and the sins of the whole world.

Help us to pray for the successors of the Apostles who received the most profound gift of the priesthood of Christ.

Immaculata, watch over your beloved sons who continue the priestly work of your Son. Strengthen them . Save those who betray your Son and their noble vocation. Mother. save those fallen sons who scourge the Church with their infidelity and immorality. Those who surrender their priesthood for the silver pieces of popularity, comfort and pleasure!

Immaculata lead us to the silent darkness of the garden that we may comfort our Lord in His agony. May we comfort Him with our love, devotion and fidelity. May we not sleep and neglect our duties toward Him and neighbour.

Immaculata lead us to" behold the the Man" in His trial and scourging.Oh, Immaculata may we comfort those who suffer today, those who are scourged by others cruelty, hatred and neglect! May we be sorry for those times we have crowned Christ, with the thorns of our lies, our failings and weaknesses that we have indulged. For we have sourged Our Saviour with our cruellty towards others. Oh Immaculata, pray that we may feel true sorrow.

I see in Your eyes, Oh Mother ,only compassion and encouragement. Teach us to follow your Son! Sorrowful Mother, lead us along the the way of sorrows to follow the Lamb of God as He carries our failures and sins upon His Shoulders. Oh Mother, He is carrying the Cross because of my sins, He is suffering because of me. Yet You only lead me on with your loving embrace and say " Behold I am the handmaiden of the Lord be it done unto me according to His Will".

Immaculata lead us to the Cross to stand with You and John. Hold us, Mary, that we may not be frightened by the voices that scoff at Christ and mock him. Those who deny Christ and His teachings through His Church! Mother may we share in your courage. You are the Woman of Genesis and Revelation. Now the serpent's head is crushed by your Son, whom You brought into the world. May we not run away from the Cross, in our lives and in the the Church.

Oh Mother with You and John, we hear our Lord's words .."Father forgive them..............Behold your Mother............It is finished." Mary you remind us "Do whatever He tells you".

Immaculata teach us to live these words, with trust in the victory of your Sons' Precious Blood. Help us each day to defeat the enemy, with trust in Jesus. Teach us to be open to the Holy Spirit who inflames your Immaculate Heart, oh Mary, Mother let us kneel with you, and allow the Water and Blood, flowing from the Sacred Heart of Your Son, to wash over our souls and strengthen us in the sacraments.

Mother, as the world runs away from your Son, may we remain and believe with the centurion

" Truly He is the Son of God". Immaculata ,we are with You, as your Son is laid in the tomb.You are in grief and silence. Let us treasure silence particularly in Our Churches. May the world come to adore the King of Kings as He awaits in our Churches in the Blessed Sacrament. May Our Churches be the Father's Houses of prayer.

Oh Mother, pray with us , help us to pray when we experience the Holy Saturdays of our lives. Help us always to live in the Hope of your Son. You trust in Him, you know that He will keep His promise"I am the Resurrection and the Life". Mother, how many times when I go through sufferings, I lose hope. I forget that Jesus will be victorious in my life if I surrender to Him. Mother, you surrendered to the Father's Will. Teach me O Immaculata, to surrender, to trust and be patient.......... patience and trust..............patience and trust.....................patience and trust................ surrender!

Rejoice Oh Mary!! Alleluia!!!! Up from the grave He arose, the Lord of Lords , the King of Kings! You embrace Your Risen Son. Oh Immaculata ,may the joy of that reunion fill me with hope and allow my heart always to be a sanctuary of Your Risen Son. Our Risen Lord who has conquered Satan and death.

The Risen Lord beckons me to eternal glory . He comes to me in the Blessed Eucharist and says

" Be not afraid." May my eyes be opened to You Lord, and recognise You, in union with Your Mother who never doubted, never denied or betrayed you but followed, stood, knelt and surrendered.

Immaculata, pray for me, Mother Of Sorrows, Mother of Joy, pray for me, now and at the hour of death. Amen

Br Louis Mary OFM Conv

The Holy Father ~ On Everyone's Call to Be a Saint

ZENIT - On Everyone's Call to Be a Saint

Holiness Consists in "Making Our Own His Attitudes, His Thoughts, His Conduct"

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the general audiences of the last two years, we have been accompanied by the figures of many men and women saints: We have gotten to know them up close and to understand that the whole history of the Church is marked by these men and women, who with their faith, their charity, and their lives were the beacons of many generations, as they are also for us. The saints manifest in many ways the powerful and transforming presence of the Risen One; they let Christ possess their lives completely, being able to affirm as St. Paul, "yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). Following their example, taking recourse to their intercession, entering into communion with them, "joins us to Christ, from Whom as from its Fountain and Head issues every grace and the very life of the people of God" (Lumen Gentium 50). At the end of this series of catecheses, I would like to offer an idea of what holiness is.

What does it mean to be saints? Who is called to be a saint? Often it is thought that holiness is a goal reserved for a few chosen ones. St. Paul, however, speaks of God's great plan and affirms: "[God] chose us in him [Christ], before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us" (Ephesians 1:4). And he speaks of all of us. At the center of the divine design is Christ, in whom God shows his Face: the Mystery hidden in the centuries has been revealed in the fullness of the Word made flesh. And Paul says afterward: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Colossians 1:19). In Christ the living God has made himself close, visible, audible, tangible so that all can obtain his fullness of grace and truth (cf. John 1:14-16).

Because of this, the whole of Christian existence knows only one supreme law, the one St. Paul expresses in a formula that appears in all his writings: in Christ Jesus. Holiness, the fullness of Christian life does not consist of realizing extraordinary enterprises, but in union with Christ, in living his mysteries, in making our own his attitudes, his thoughts, his conduct. The measure of holiness is given by the height of holiness that Christ attains in us, of how much, with the strength of the Holy Spirit, we mold all our life to his. It is our conforming ourselves to Jesus, as St. Paul affirms: "For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29). And St. Augustine exclaimed: "My life will be alive full of You" (Confessions, 10, 28). In the Constitution on the Church, the Second Vatican Council spoke with clarity of the universal call to holiness, affirming that no one is excluded: "The classes and duties of life are many, but holiness is one -- that sanctity which is cultivated by all who are moved by the Spirit of God, and who ... follow the poor Christ, the humble and cross-bearing Christ in order to be worthy of being sharers in His glory" (No. 41).

However, the question remains: How can we journey on the path of holiness, how can we respond to this call? Can I do so with my own strength? The answer is clear: A holy life is not primarily the fruit of our own effort, of our actions, because it is God, the thrice Holy (cf. Isaiah 6:3), who makes us saints, and the action of the Holy Spirit who encourages us from within; it is the life itself of the Risen Christ, which has been communicated to us and which transforms us. To say it again according to Vatican Council II: "The followers of Christ are called by God, not because of their works, but according to His own purpose and grace. They are justified in the Lord Jesus, because in the baptism of faith they truly become sons of God and sharers in the divine nature. In this way they are really made holy. Then too, by God's gift, they must hold on to and complete in their lives this holiness they have received" (ibid., 40).

Hence, holiness has its main root in baptismal grace, in being introduced into the paschal mystery of Christ, with which his Spirit is communicated to us, his life as the Risen One. St. Paul points out the transformation wrought in man by baptismal grace and even coins a new terminology, forged with the preposition "with": "We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). However, God always respects our liberty and asks that we accept this gift and that we live the demands it entails. He asks that we allow ourselves to be transformed by the action of the Holy Spirit, conforming our will to the will of God.

How can we make our way of thinking and our actions become thinking and acting with Christ and of Christ? What is the soul of holiness? Again Vatican II specifies: It tells us that holiness is none other than charity fully lived. "We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him" (1 John 4:16). Now God has amply diffused his love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (cf. Romans 5:5); because of this, the first and most necessary gift is charity, with which we love God above all things and our neighbor out of love for him. For charity to grow as a good seed in the soul and fructify us, every faithful one must listen willingly to the Word of God, and with the help of his grace, realize the works of his will, participate frequently in the sacraments, above all in the Eucharist and in the holy liturgy, constantly approach prayer, abnegation of oneself, in the active service to brothers and the exercise of all virtue. Charity, in fact, is the bond of perfection and fulfillment of the law (cf. Colossians 3:14; Romans 13:10); it directs all the means of sanctification, gives them their form and leads them to their end.

Perhaps also this language of Vatican II is a bit solemn for us; perhaps we should say things in a still simpler way. What is the most essential? Essential is that no Sunday be left without an encounter with the Risen Christ in the Eucharist -- this is not a burden but light for the whole week. Never to begin or end a day without at least a brief contact with God. And, in the journey of our life, to follow "road signs" that God has communicated to us in the Decalogue read with Christ, which is simply the definition of charity in specific situations. I think this is the true simplicity and grandeur of the life of holiness: the encounter with the Risen One on Sunday; contact with God at the beginning and end of the day; in decisions, to follow the "road signs" that God has communicated to us, which are simply forms of charity. From whence charity for God and for our neighbor is made the distinctive sign of the true disciple of Christ. (Lumen Gentium , 42). This is true simplicity, grandeur and profundity of the Christian life, of being saints.

This is why St. Augustine, commenting on the fourth chapter of the First Letter of St. John can affirm an astonishing thing: "Dilige et fac quod vis" (Love and do what you will). And he continued: "If you are silent, be silent out of love; if you speak, speak out of love; if you correct, correct out of love; if you forgive, forgive out of love, may the root of love be in you, because from this root nothing can come that is not good" (7, 8: PL 35). He who lets himself be led by love, who lives charity fully is led by God, because God is love. This is what this great saying means: "Dilige et fac quod vis" (Love and do as you will).

Perhaps we might ask ourselves: Can we, with our limitations, our weakness, reach so high? During the liturgical year, the Church invites us to recall a line-up of saints, who have lived charity fully, have been able to love and to follow Christ in their daily lives. In all the periods of the history of the Church, in every latitude of the geography of the world, the saints belong to all the ages and to all states of life; they are the concrete faces of all peoples, languages and nations. And they are very different among themselves. In reality, I must say that also, according to my personal faith, many saints, not all, are true stars in the firmament of history. And I would like to add that for me not only the great saints that I love and know well are "road signs," but also the simple saints, that is, the good persons that I see in my life, who will never be canonized. They are ordinary people, to say it somehow, without a visible heroism, but in their everyday goodness I see the truth of the faith. This goodness, which they have matured in the faith of the Church, is for me a sure defense of Christianity and the sign of where the truth is.

In the communion with saints, canonized or not canonized, which the Church lives thanks to Christ in all her members, we enjoy their presence and company and cultivate the firm hope of being able to imitate their way and share one day the same blessed life, eternal life.

Dear friends, how great and beautiful and also simple, is the Christian vocation seen from this light! We are all called to holiness: It is the very measure of the Christian life. Once again St. Paul expresses it with great intensity when he writes: "But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. ... And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ" (Ephesians 4:7,11-13).

I would like to invite you to open yourselves to the action of the Holy Spirit, who transforms our life, to be, we also, pieces of the great mosaic of holiness that God is creating in history, so that the Face of Christ will shine in the fullness of its brilliance. Let us not be afraid to look on high, to the height of God; let us not be afraid that God will ask too much of us, but let us be guided in all our daily actions by his Word, even if we feel that we are poor, inadequate, sinners: He will be the one to transform us according to his love. Thank you.

Every Person has the Making of a Saint

THE SAINTS ARE PEOPLE WHO LOVE GOD

So we see that the saints are people who came from different ways in life and had different attitudes regarding the gifts of nature. There was one thing they all had in common and that is the fact that they always subordinated their natural gifts to grace, which had so often lifted them from the laziness that had enslaved them for so many years and that even raised them from the slavery of sin.

Therefore, they all lived a superior and supernatural life, independently from the fact that grace had required them to walk along a path in conformity or contrary to their natural inclinations. Their only purpose was God and His holy love, whereas all the rest, their natural and spiritual considerations, whether pleasant or unpleasant, became means to reach their new goal.

In that way, nothing could hurt them; on the contrary, from each thing they drew countless spiritual profits. In fact, “all things work together for the good of those who love God, those who have been called according to His decree” (Rom. 8:28) (K1010).

In the Old Testament, the concept of holiness is intimately associated with the idea of God. Thus, for example, we read in the Book of Leviticus (20:26): “To me, therefore, you shall be sacred; for I, the Lord, am sacred, I, who have set you apart from the other nations to be my own”; and in the Second Book of Kings (4:9): “I know that he is a holy man of God, a saint.” But here holiness does not mean perfection.

Only Jesus, by coming into this world, has shown humankind, through His example and His word, the way toward true holiness.

The distinctive sign is the fulfillment of the divine will, contained above all in the commandments of God and of the Church and in the duties of one’s own status or calling in life.

The way is to be constantly vigilant of oneself, in order to know one’s own faults and uproot them, to graft in ourselves the virtues, cultivating and developing them to their highest degree. And also to lead a life of prayer, through which we obtain the divine supernatural graces necessary for our spiritual progress.

In every saint, prayer occupies the forefront. In prayer, the most important steps are: vocal prayer, meditation, and contemplation.

In contemplation, sometimes God carries the soul away, drawing it very close to Himself. When this happens, the soul is dazzled by a heavenly light and inflamed with love, and it enters a stage of ecstasy, which has nothing in common with any natural spell. However, this is neither a requirement nor something necessary to reach holiness….

Therefore, the widespread idea that saints were people dissimilar to us, is false.

Even they had to endure temptations, even they fell and got up again, even they were oppressed by sadness, weakened and paralyzed with discouragement.

Yet, mindful of the words of our Saviour: “for apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5), and of those of Saint Paul: “In him who is the source of my strength I have strength for everything” (Ph. 4:13), they did not rely on themselves, but putting all their trust in God, after every fall they humbled themselves, honestly repenting and purifying their soul in the sacrament of penance, and then continued immediately to work with even great zeal. In this way, every fall was useful to them as a small step towards an even greater perfection, and their burden became always lighter (K1001).

[Taken from Stronger than Hatred: A Collection of Spiritual Writings of St. Maximilian Kolbe OFM Conv.]

Prayers to Our Lady During Suffering or IIlness

Dear Mother of all who are sick

and unhappy, you love me and

you are sad to see me suffer.

You would clasp me to yourself

as you would have clasped your

Son, but it is my suffering just

as his was his own to bear.

Your love does ease my pain,

my frustration, and it brings

me closer to you.

I rest a little child in your love.

One day we shall be even

closer together, truly together

in Heaven.

Bless me, Mary!

†

Dear Mother, I know you realise

what I’m suffering for you shared

in the far deeper agony of your Son.

You suffered surely as no woman

has suffered because you loved so

much, yet you accepted it because

you knew the blessings it would bring.

You never lost your faith.

You were brave; help me to be brave.

by Geoffrey Adamson SJ [As published in the MI Crusader, Aust, 2007; taken from The Crusader: the Magazine of the Crusade of Mary Immaculate UK, May 2006]

Behold Your Mother

Lent is the season of the Church year, during which we particularly turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows- Our Sorrowful Mother. We contemplate Our Lady, as she witnessed and experienced the Passion and Death of Christ her Son. It was in this great act of Our Lord's redemption of the world that Jesus from the Cross, gave to us the gift of His Mother to be Mother of the Church, the Mother of each baptised member of His Mystical Body, the Church on earth. "Behold Your Mother".

Our Saviour invites all of us to truly take Mary home in our hearts as St John the beloved disciple. We do this by daily asking Our Lady as Our Mother to love Jesus with Her love, to be obedient to the Will of the Father with her obedience and to cooperate with Holy Spirit following her example of her surrender to the Lord. Each day in the business of our lives we can turn Our Lady's intercession for us, so that we live with Christ, through Christ and in Christ. We are always in need of becoming more patient, forgiving, truthful, considerate and prayerful and to be an example and encouragement to others as Our Lady was to the Apostles and to the early Church.

The Virgin Mary stood with John, Mary Magdalene and the other women from Galilee. Our Lady stands with us to support us and to feel her Motherly comfort that we will not give way to fear or despair, but to keep our eyes fixed on the Merciful Face of Christ. So many people today in our world have fled from Christ. They look elsewhere for redemption, but cannot find it. For it is sinless Blood that flows down the wood of the Cross. The Crucified Son of God dying for their sins, calls them, as he loves them to hear his words of forgiveness, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.” Let us ask Our Lady to intercede for those who have abandoned Christ, perhaps members of our families, friends or associates to come to the Lamb of God, to receive his forgiveness and grace in the sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Confession, to which we make recourse in a special way during this season of Lent.

Let us ask Our Sorrowful Mother at the foot of the Cross to pray for us that we might not fail her Son but be faithful to Him, especially in our difficulties and sorrows. May the Mother of God given to us as Mother by Our Lord, pray for us, that we and our loved ones may truly know the joy and consolation of Christ's Resurrection, the same joy she truly felt when she met Her Risen Son and Lord on Easter Sunday "For He is truly Risen." May that Joy be in our hearts now and forever.

Fr. Benedict M. La Volpe OFM Conv

M.I. Prayer Intention for April

DAILY CONSECRATION

Immaculate Virgin Mary, my Mother, I consecrate myself to you this day, and forever, so that you may dispose of me as you wish for the salvation of souls. I ask you only, my Queen and Mother of the Church, that I may co-operate faithfully with your mission in the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth. I offer to you, Immaculate Heart of Mary, all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day:

That the Resurrection of your Son will remind us to trust in His Divine Mercy.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, and for all who do not have recourse to you, especially for the enemies of Holy Church and those recommended to you.