Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

You are the highest honor of our race. Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth; and blessed be the LORD God, the creator of heaven and earth. 

Mary is blessed among all women and beloved by God. She was kept from sin through the Immaculate Conception and has the highest honor of our race as the Mother of God. Her trust in and faithfulness to Her Heavenly Father are virtues we all should seek to imitate. We also should mirror her openness to God's Will in her life. Like her, we should constantly be saying, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." So, too, she was the perfect disciple of her Beloved Son, Jesus, following his teachings even before he spoke them aloud. The Word of God dwelt in her and though she didn't always understand its meaning, she always treasured each revelation in her heart. Last but not least, she was a constant co-worker with the Holy Spirit, open to His fruitfulness, guidance, and inspirations. This is what sets Mary apart. She made her will one with the Holy Trinity and let her God guide her every thought, word, and work. May we do our best to imitate her in this regard.

Do we honor Mary as we should? Do we seek her help and intercession in our times of need? What can we do to build a closer relationship with her?

O Lord, thank you for giving us such a blessed Heavenly Mother.

Amen.

Thirtieth Wednesday in Ordinary Time

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on earth.

God calls us to obey our parents and to honor our fathers and mothers. This is sometime difficult to do, especially since our parents are all imperfect. Just like us, they are sinners, too. They have their blind spots and their blemishes and sometimes it can be hard to love them. They aren't always the best influences, either. However, we should always strive to honor them in the sense of loving them unconditionally and doing our best to obey them when it doesn't lead us into sin. Our relationship with our parents mirrors the relationship between God and us. Sometimes we are difficult to love. Sometimes we are sinners. Sometimes we are blind and blemished. Sometime we are not the best influences on others. Still, God loves us and so we should love our parents, too, in spite of their imperfections. For if we love them, then we will be better able to obey our Heavenly Father and Mother so our lives might go well and we might live forever and ever with God in Heaven.

Do we obey and honor our earthly fathers and mothers? What about our Heavenly Father and Mother? How can we become better children of both?

O Lord, we seek to obey and honor you, our Heavenly Mother, Mary, and the parents you've given us in this life.

Amen.

Thirteenth Saturday of Ordinary Time

Rebekah had been listening while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau. So, when Esau went out into the country to hunt some game for his father, Rebekah [then] took the best clothes of her older son Esau that she had in the house, and gave them to her younger son Jacob to wear; and with the skins of the kids she covered up his hands and the hairless parts of his neck. Then she handed her son Jacob the appetizing dish and the bread she had prepared.

Mary does for us what Rebekah did for Jacob. She listens to God and knows what He wants and if we treat her with honor and love, then she will do everything she can to put us into position to receive God’s blessing. If we listen to her and do whatever she tells us, then God will find us pleasing. She tells us to dress in the virtues of faith, hope, and love because she knows our Heavenly Father favors them. She tells us to cover up our flaws and imperfections by putting on the sacrificial life of Christ because she knows that the only way to our heavenly reward is through becoming children of God. She prepares for us a feast of faithful acts and good works that she knows God will enjoy. Mary is our most perfect Mother, giving us every advantage... for who knows God better than His Daughter, His Mother, and His Holy Spouse?

Do we honor and love Mary as we should? Do we follow the example she sets for us? How can we make Mary a more important and influential model for our lives?

O Lord, thank you for our immaculate mother.

Amen.

Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

Just as Joseph took Mary into his home after the Incarnation of Christ, so too John takes Mary into his home as Jesus prepares to die upon the cross. However, Mary’s spiritual motherhood did not end with John. Mary is also our spiritual mother from the moment of our conception to the moment of our death and beyond. We should make every effort to respect Mary and seek out her help in all that we do because who knows Jesus better than his mother? Her life offers us a great model of what it means to know, love, and serve God and others in a holy and humble manner. So let us take Mary into our homes, praying the Hail Mary, the rosary, and filling our lives with other devotionals that help us to focus on God just as much as she did in her own most faithful life.

Have we accepted Mary’s spiritual motherhood? How do we honor her in our lives? Do we seek her intercession with God?

O Lord, we take Mary into our homes so that we might learn from her holy example and become good and faithful servants to you.

Amen.