The feast day of St. Mary Magdalene is upon us. Mary Magdalene is named in all four Gospels of the bible and is known to be the woman referred to at other times when not named. In comparison, the only other woman named so frequently is our Holy Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary. What does the Holy Spirit want us to learn from the Magdala?
This saintly royal gave of herself tirelessly to bring God’s love to others. Friend of the poor, the prostitutes, the clergy and the saints of her time, her prayer for conversion of lost souls is timely for us today.
Jesus took on all of humanity’s offenses against God past, present and future, and atoned for us by His horrendous crucifixion. By His resurrection and ascension, He was enthroned as King over all of creation and brought our humanity, wounds and all, into the Trinitarian mystery. And now He wants to personally perfect each of us individually so as to join in union with God, which has always been our destiny.
The Feast of the Precious blood of Jesus was established for all of Christendom to be the first Sunday in July by Pope Pius IX. However, its origin is in the scriptures and devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus goes back to the beginning of our Catholic heritage. The Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus is one of the most common devotions today. It is fruitful to meditate upon each sentence and consider what this means in terms of the personal love each person of the Trinity has for you.
It can be difficult to enter into Jesus’ Passion and death. It’s one thing to know He suffered so much for us. It is another thing to realize He suffered so much because of us. Then to take in that He didn’t need to; He wanted to. It’s simultaneously sobering and consoling. Consoling because, while we aren’t capable of understanding the magnanimity of His unconditional love, our eyes are opened just a little to it.
Praying the stations of the cross privately is one approach that will deepen our relationship with God by entering into His passion. By praying the Passion as St. Ignatius has taught us, we can make Stations of the Cross deeply personal.
‘Lorica’ is personal body armor. God is the Catholic’s armor. St. Patrick wrote the Lorica for his protection against the Druids. For this reason, it is commonly prayed for spiritual warfare. The Lorica’s power is that it is a profession of Faith: the Trinitarian God, Christ the Son, the Holy Spirit through the Communion of Saints, God’s transcendence throughout creation, His omnipresence and omnipotence. If you are looking for ‘conversation starters’ in your mental prayer, consider making this a meditation.
This month provides opportunity for a deepening understanding of our living heritage in the communion of saints. If time is spent in mental prayer building relationship with God, He will draw us to the saint He already has planned to mentor us. With it also being the month we honor our Veterans, God has given us a saintly husband-and-wife duo from which to learn: Blessed Karl of Austria/Hungary and his wife Blessed Zita of Bourbon-Parma. Karl was killed young; Zita raised their 8 children alone in exile.
What lesson do we learn from them? Compromise was not an option for them, and it should not be for us either.
On October 7, 1571 the Holy League under direction of The Blessed Virgin Mary won the battle to save Lepanto and all of Christendom. Their weapon: the Rosary.
This is our Lepanto moment. The Holy League wasn’t an army. It was a coalition of forces brought together by Pope Pius V. Today, in prayer, we now are that coalition of forces fueled by the Holy Spirit and directed by Our Blessed Mother. We are facing a battle far greater than Lepanto. Do we believe?
September 29 is the feast of the Archangels Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Rafael. Then October 2 is the feast of our Guardian Angels. We are always surrounded by the angels, yet often feel that we are abandoned with no help in sight. Take heart with the example of St. Frances of Rome (1384-1440)! Although she wanted to be a nun as a young girl, she married at age 12 and lived out her vocation through her relationship with God with prayer. She watched 2 of her 3 children die and had to live with the prophetic knowledge of her daughter’s impending death. Just as we are called to do, she remained obedient to the magisterium in spite of great tribulation in the church and world. Without her faith, she might have become a bitter woman lashing out about the Pope and in continual need of shopping therapy. Instead, she joyfully set up a hospital in her home and purposefully sought out the most sickly people of Rome.