SPECIAL HONOUR PAID TO MARY

SPECIAL HONOUR PAID TO MARY

“Holier than the Cherubim and Seraphim she enjoys unquestionably greater glory than all the others saints, for she is full of grace.”

“I don’t like Protestants because they don’t honour Mother Mary like Catholics.” These were the words of Catholic youngsters. So may I ask you few questions. We know we don’t worship Mary. Mary is Mother of God but not God. If it is so then is she equal to saints? If not what is the special honour we pay to Mary?

So here I am to speak about this special honour paid to Mary.

Adoration is an act of religion in which the human mind and will acknowledge God’s infinite sovereignty and supreme dominion over His creation. It is expressed externally by an attitude of reverence and by words of praise. This highest type of worship is reserved for God alone and is called ‘Latria’ by theologians.

The honour paid to Mary and the saints is an infinitely lower plane. When it refers to the saint, it is called dulia and when it refers to Mary it is called hyper dulia. Mary deserves this veneration because of Her unique position as Mother of God. It is less than that given to God but is surpasses the honour according to the saints and angels.

Now, how can we say that is far from idolatry? There are two reasons.

1.      It is an honour rendered to a creature who has carried out unique role in the History of salvation and has through grace attained the heights of sanctity and glory, but remains creature nonetheless; she remains for Christian tradition, the “Handmaid/servant of the Lord.”

2.      The veneration of Mary is neither a substitute for nor something independent form, nor an alternative to the worship owed to the Trinity. It is willed by God and has God as its end. The second Vatican Council summed this point up very nicely.

“This cult, which always existed in the Church, although it is altogether singular, differs essentially form the cult of adoration which is offered to the incarnate word, as well as to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and it is most favorable to it. As She is proclaimed and venerated, Mary calls the faithful to Her Son and His sacrifice and to the Love of the Father.” (Luke 66: 65)

 As we specially honour Mary in this month let this point be clear in our mind. Let us give the honour to Mary by imitating her especially in these days.                                                                   

HOLINESS OF MARY AND OF THE CHURCH

“Virginity of the flesh and the virginity of the heart is virginity of faith”

Respected Fathers and Brothers, today I would like to speak on the Topic “Holiness of Mary and of the Church.”

Dear Friends, as we know, the Virginity of the Church helps one to understand Mary’s Virginity, so Mary’s holiness assists one to grasp the holiness of the Church.

The sanctity of both is caused by the same grace of God. The main difference lies in the receptivity of Mary and of the church is that no refusal or reluctance ever marked Mary’s acceptance of God’s advances, but the church is a collective  men and women who never hold their souls completely open to God’s Generosity. All men and women are called to holiness in the church. The church is holy because it has received from God the means of holiness, faith and the sacraments, which produce holiness in the members. However, although the church is entirely holy, its members are subject to defects and sins that hamper the diffusion of its holiness.

Dear friends, if we compare Mary’s holiness and holiness of the Church, the Church brings out Mary’s superiority.

She was redeemed by being preserved and Her Immaculate conception involved Her freedom from concupiscence (lust). But the church is formed of members who all, with exception of Mary, contract original sin

Consequently, although we are purified from all guilt by baptism; we are burdened with the weight of concupiscence (lust), which slows down the growth of grace.

Friends, the Blessed Virgin Mary’s progress in sanctity was constant and rapid. Her whole life, and Her actions were unfailingly directed towards God.

She mounted form holiness to holiness, always full of grace because each grace increased Her capacity for further grace and fulfilled her soul.

The Church also grows in grace, aspiring to the full stature of Christ. But the Church is made up of both saints and sinners. The sinners must unceasingly repent and be converted anew: its progress is hindered by the members sluggish response to grace.

Sanctity flowers into glory and resurrection, the final –triumph. On earth, the church plods along, in the order of holiness, with all its setbacks.

But Mary is now in glory, prior to the Church, She was taken up to heaven, body and soul.

Yet Her Assumption, coming as the climax of the fullness of grace, pre-figures and anticipates the assumption of the Church.

Therefore, St. Augustine says, “Virginity of the flesh and the Virginity of the heart is Virginity of faith.” St. Bernard says, “Mary is the neck through which every grace descends from the head to the members of the body.”

St. Louis de Mont fort says, “Call Mary and Echo will answer Jesus.”

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen says, “Keep Mary in your mind and Jesus will grow in your heart.”

Don Bosco says, “Have faith in Mary and you will see what miracles are.”

Dear Friends, let us imitate Our Blessed Mother, let us try to grow in grace after the example of our Blessed Mother.

“Following Mary you never go astray, asking Her you never despair, thinking of her you never go wrong.” - St. Bernard

Immaculate Concception

It was Mary's closeness to Christ that made her receive God's "fullness of grace" to be sinless.Without the grace of God's, it would have been impossible for Mary to be sinless, and she too would be like the rest of humanity. However, because of her decision to say, "yes" in giving birth to the only Son of God, she was given a special privilege of spotless. Catholics believe that God wanted a perfectly pure woman to carry His Son, the God of the universe, for nothing else short of perfection would do.

  

Mary’s Heart, A Garden of God

 When we think of a garden, we imagine it to be enclosed with trees, flowers, streams and lawn. Mary’s Garden is a garden, filled with flowers, plants and trees designed to be a place of beauty. It allows one to experience God's creation, and invites prayer and contemplation. The Garden of Mary is very well depicted in the words of St. Bernard –

“Thou art an enclosed garden O mother of God, wherein we cull all kinds of flowers. Among them we gaze with particular admiration on thy violets, lilies and roses, which fill the Home of God with their sweet fragrance. Thou art O Mary, violets of humility, a lily of chastity and a rose of charity.”

The heart of Mary is spotless, pure and radiant. She is the unspotted mirror of God’s majesty and the image of His goodness. She is fair as the moon, bright as the sun. She is an enclosed Garden; a sealed up fountain.

In the heart of the Mary there existed anger, aversion, courage, desire, fear, joy, love and sadness. But the spirit of Christ reigned so perfectly in her heart that she never experienced any motivation contrary to the will of God. She never employed them except under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and for the glory of His Divine Majesty.

She never loved anything beside God. She never desired anything except to please Him; she feared nothing but to displease Him. Even her emotions existed and vibrated only for Him who possessed, animated and directed them. Mary’s heart was truly enshrined by peace and tranquility, accompanied by ceaseless praise and adoration of God who had established his throne in his paradise.

In the heart of Mary we learn to be loyal, and obedient to the will of God at all times just as Jesus learnt to be obedient to his Father’s will. In the heart of Mary God was never disappointed. There he has always been worthily praised; for the heart of Mary is the garden of the Beloved, sealed garden and a Garden of delight.

The joy of Mary’s heart was ineffable, and ineffable her sorrows too. Mary’s sorrow emptied and deepened the spiritual vessel of her heart.  Today the heart of Mary rejoices in heaven, vibrating in union with the Heart of Jesus in his triumphs. The Gospel recounts for us Mary’s Canticle of praise, ‘Magnificat’. Her heart overflowed with joy, love and gratitude at the astounding miracle that had been worked within her.

It is right and just that we should cherish a most tender devotion to this most loving, benign, perfect, compassionate, devoted and loving heart, keenly alive to all that concerns the glory of God and the honour of her Divine Son.

In the first garden, God pronounced sentence upon the serpent: “the woman shall crush thy head and then shall lie in wait for her heel (Gen 3:15). In the Garden of Mary’s heart this promise was fulfilled. Her immaculate conception smashed Original Sin; Her sanctity routed the power of evil. Man having rebelled against God in the first paradise, was driven from the garden and banished forever with all his posterity, and at the gate was placed an angel with a flaming sword in his hand that prevented the children of Adam from re-entering that garden of Eden. From this we learn that to enter and share the second paradise, we must cease to be sons of Adam and become children of Jesus Christ.  

This will happen only when our old self dies. Death seems fearful; the sword of the Cherubim and Michael is terrifying; yet it is the sword of love and this sword even slays the blessed in order to heal their souls and make them live the life of God. “Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of his saints (Ps 115:15).” Meaning the death that is not a death but beginning of eternal life.  If you banish sin, self-love from the garden of your heart, opening wide the door of grace and to the king of virtues, He will enter in and find repose in that place (Pro15: 15) (Rev: 3: 20). If you drive away the grace, mortification and letting sin grow in your heart then the demon will come and make his home. But if you try to imitate Mary, by tending your heart with wisdom, love, grace, and patience, God will not refuse you the full measure of his gifts that you may cultivate your garden fruitfully and make it like Mary’s paradise of delight for your Lord and Saviour.

Studying and reflecting on the heart of Mary, calls us to imitate her purity and all other virtues and detachment from the things of ephemeral worth, so as to increase in sanctity and in the Christian virtues: Love, joy, peace, patience, generosity, forgiveness, and temperance.

Let the heart of Mary which is the garden of God inspire each one of us to be like Him. 

Guardian Angel

O most Faithful companion, appointed by God to be my guide and protector, and who art ever at my side, what thanks can I offer thee for thy faithfulness and love, and for all the benefits which thou hast conferred upon me? Thou watchest over me in sleep; thou consolest me when I am sad; thou liftest me up when I fall; thou avertest the dangers that threaten me; thou preparest me for the future; thou withdrawest me from evil and excitest me to good; thou exhortest me to penance when I yield to temptation; and reconcilest me to my offended God. Long since should I have been cast into hell, unless by thy prayers thou hadst averted from me the anger of God. Leave me not, then, I entreat thee; but still comfort me in adversity, restrain me in prosperity, defend me in danger, assist me in temptations, lest at any time I fall a victim to them. Offer to God my prayers and groanings, and all my religious exercises, and obtain for me the great gift of final perseverance, and the grace to die in the friendship of my Creator, and so to enter into life everlasting.  Amen. 

BAD WORDS !!!

Don Bosco never spared a moment to stop curses and swearing which went on in front him. He showed a brave heart to stop as soon as possible. He never spared a moment when morality was at stake, he took steps to stop.

While I write this short reflection I am at dilemma as to where should I begin. But let me start with an ugly word that is what spontaneously comes into my mind when I think of writing on topic ‘ugly words’. These kinds of words give pleasure to the one who uses; also it adds spice to the item. These words come without any effort. When you do not know what to say utter a slang; then pause take a breath and if words do not come again say bad words that promptly comes to you mind. Someone has always a bad word ready to shower on at every moment of the day – morning till evening. It is visible while having an argument, watching a Television, watching a match, or sometimes just to interrupt the conversation.

Today as you pass through the market place, public places and offices you will probably notice very saucy raw jocks cracked, curses hurled at, swearing, and slangs are a very common phenomena of the day. These bad words are like thorns and thistles that chock away the growth of good seed of politeness, etiquette.

I now invite you to take a walk to the city or country side. Undoubtedly you will witness usages of bad words in a outpouring way from the heart. Just imagine when you happen to caught by traffic where everyone is trying to overtake the other and reach fast the destination and due to hurry burry you happen to touch the vehicle or bicycle of others. You are at the receiving end of bad words. You really pay for it not with money but by patiently listening to the mouthful of jarring bad words. You breathe a polluted air of slang from many.

Ugly word form children’s mouth makes you feel sick because they do not know and are unexpected form their mouth in proportion with their age. Bad words when uttered by an adult do not make a wrinkle less nor does it make an adult to the under age. Can we blame the media which exposes everything to us?

Bad words are like trash they waste your energy when uttered. These make you unsympathetic and despise your self. Whereas good manner makes you cordial and well bred. Just as cough irritates the conversation so does vulgarity. Bad words have adverse effect they invest, assail, dizzy you, and throw you on the floor. They take away your honorability, personal intimacy. In my opinion such words should have not entered the dictionaries, encyclopedia.

The calendar is filled with events of different kinds: feast days, commemoration of days dedicated to special purpose or great cause – the day dedicated to the protection of Earthy, Water, environment, World Food day, Mothers day, workers day, friendship day, Valentines Day, HIV, AIDS days, Cancer Day, Tuberculosis, Tobacco day and many others. Besides these there are several feast days – Christmas, Id, Diwali, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Pongal, Onam, Karam, and many others. And so a day could be dedicated solely for ‘clean words’. So that we may have a purity of words which when spoken makes you feel elated and joy.

Don Bosco never spared a moment to stop curses and swearing which went on in front him. He showed a brave heart to stop as soon as possible. He never spared a moment when morality was at stake, he took steps to stop.  Let St. John Bosco inspire you to work for a world free from bad words, not with blows but with loving and kindness as suggested by Mother Mary.

PRAYER TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

O most holy heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, 

I adore you, I love you, and with lively sorrow for my sins 

I offer you this poor heart of mine. 

Make me humble, patient, pure and 

wholly obedient to your will. Grant, Good Jesus, 

that I may live in you and for you.

 Protect me in the midst of danger. 

Comfort me in my afflictions. Give me health of body, 

assistance in my temporal needs, 

your blessingon all that I do, and the grace of a holy death. Amen.