Mother's Day
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Let us begin by reflecting on all that our mother’s have given us; life, care, protection, education…in a word – everything. Even if you have had a difficult relationship with your mother, or none at all, she still gave you the gift of immortal life, for once a person comes into existence at conception they can never ever go out of existence - for all eternity. She gave you, with the help of God and yes your father too, the gift of immortal life. Think of all we have received from our mothers…
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Mary our Spiritual Mother, so this too is her Mother’s Day. From the Cross Jesus offered the world a great gift. He offered His Mother to be our spiritual mother: “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother…Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son’. Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’”[1] God has only to speak a word and the entire universe came into existence. What God says becomes real. God said “Behold, your mother.” God made Mary our spiritual mother
John 19:27b is: “And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.” The original Greek text says, the beloved disciple took Mary not just into his physical home but into his interior life, into his soul. He took her into everything that belonged to him. He took her for his own mother and gave himself to be her son. In the act of consecration to Mary we receive from Christ, Mary as our Spiritual Mother and we give ourselves to her as her son or daughter.
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There is a superabundant power added to the Motherhood of Mary and that is the Holy Spirit. The mission of the Holy Spirit in the world is to conceive the life of Jesus in you, and then form Christ within you, and watch over, protect, educate and nurture the life of Christ in us. God formed Mary to be the perfect human expression of this maternal mission of the Spirit. Therefore, the Motherhood of Mary makes the maternal mission of the Holy Spirit present and powerful in your life. Mary, as your spiritual mother operates with the power of the Holy Spirit to watch over and care for every important matter in your life – if you let her in. We let her in as we said before by consecration to her and then we invite her into everything in our lives throughout the day. Turn to her often for her counsel, strength, patience, humility, purity and sense of humor. Invite her in to live her life in you to do for you what you cannot do on your own. In this way the Holy Spirit will live his gifts and virtues through you.
Listen to what Our Lady of Guadalupe says to each one of us
“Hear and let it penetrate into your heart, my dear little son (Mijito); let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you. Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need?
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Mary is not only our Spiritual Mother but also Our Queen in Battle Array. St Louis de Montfort references the Scriptures in Song of Song 6:10 and then writes: Mary must become as terrible as an army in battle array to the devil and his followers, especially in these latter times. For Satan, knowing that he has little time…to destroy souls, intensifies his efforts and his onslaughts every day. He will not hesitate to stir up savage persecutions and set treacherous snares for Mary’s faithful servants and children whom he finds more difficult to overthrow than others. It is chiefly in reference to these last wicked persecutions of the devil, daily increasing until the advent of the reign of anti-Christ, that we should understand that first and well known prophecy and curse of God uttered against the serpent in the garden of paradise…I will place enmities between you and the woman, between your race and her race; she will crush your head and you will lie in wait for her heel. Genesis 3:15
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The most fearful enemy that God has set up against the devil is Mary…God gave her such a hatred for his accursed enemy, such ingenuity in exposing the wickedness of the ancient serpent and such power to defeat, overthrow and crush this proud rebel, that Satan fears her not only more than angels and men but in a certain sense more than God himself. This does not mean that the anger, hatred and power of God are not infinitely greater than the Blessed Virgin’s…It simply means that Satan, being so proud suffers infinitely more in being vanquished and punished by a lowly and humble servant of God, for her humility humiliates him more than the power of God. Moreover, God has given Mary such great power over the evil spirits that, as they have often been forced unwillingly to admit through the lips of possessed persons, they fear her…more than all their other torments…. But Mary’s power over the evil spirits will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lie in wait for her heel, that is, for her humble servants and her poor children whom she will rouse to fight against him…in union with Mary, they will crush the head of Satan with their heel, that is their humility, and bring victory to Jesus Christ.”
[1] John 19:25-26.