As I took on writing about our Blessed Mother, I immediately started to have doubts about my ability to write today’s study. How in the world was I going to write about the Blessed Mother? What can I write about Her that has not already been said?
So let me start by saying, I am writing this with extreme humility because anything I say will never compare to the beauty and grace of our Mother.
Mary, the Mother of God, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, and the Gate of Heaven is our Mother as well and in every waking moment we should flee to Her open arms.
Luke 11:27-28 – It happened that as he was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voiceand said, ‘Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you!’ But he replied, ‘More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’
As I sat in mass this morning and listened to the Gospel, I was struck by the insensitivity of what Jesus said! How could He disregard His own mother like that? I am sure there are others out there who were feeling the same way when they heard that Gospel. Thankfully, the priest who was performing mass explained the reading in his homily. He said that Mary did something that was even greater than bearing Jesus and feeding Him. She heard the word of God and she kept it with her constant yes to our Lord.
Continually in scripture we hear of Mary listening to the word of God. There are countlessmoments where she is listening or experiencing something and keeping it in her heart. We should imitate Mary in this practice. Mary heard the word of God and kept it. She did everything that was asked of her and because of this, she took part in the salvation of all of our souls. When we listen to the word of God, we have the opportunity to be closer to Jesus by grace than Mary was to Jesus by blood.
Obviously, Mary is closer than us to Jesus through grace, but think about it, we have the opportunity to be closer to Jesus through grace than Mary could have been through being His own mother!
This mass also happened to be a very special day for me because it was the day of my re-consecration to Jesus through Mary. I again, was giving myself to Jesus through Mary and couldn’t be happier. Every time I re-consecrate myself I discover something new about my relationship with Mary and with our Lord. This time, one line spoke to me and remained with me for the entirety of my consecration. On the twenty-first day I read, “If we would go up to God, and be united with Him, we must use the same means He used to come down to us to be made Man and to impart His graces to us.”
This made so much sense to me! Why wouldn’t we use the same means as God did? Through our relationship with Mary we can come closer to God and as women we need to look to Mary as our model of perfect grace and humility. Through Mary we will be closer in relationship to our Lord than we could ever do on our own.
Reflect and Discuss: How can you strengthen your relationship with Jesus through Mary? Reflect on one aspect of your life that you can give to our Blessed Mother completely. Allow Her to come into your heart and pour Her grace and humility into those areas.
Act: Seriously consider consecrating your life to Jesus through Mary. Two great resources to do this are the Preparation for Total Consecration according to Saint Louis Marie de Montfort and 33 Days to
Morning Glory. Both of these resources will guide you through the consecration to Jesus through Mary.
You can sign up for our next online Consecration Class Here