The Immaculate Heart Of Mary And Us
Look past the folly of modern times. Take heart, and know that the Lord of the universe is bringing about the transformation of societies. The evil works of many misguided and deluded people cannot prevent the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The concept of the heart in biblical terms signifies the center of human life, where reason, will, and emotions converge. The Immaculate Heart of Mary symbolizes a heart that has achieved perfect unity with God's grace, allowing her to fully embrace God's will. Mary's response to the angel Gabriel, as "full of grace," underscores her unique role in salvation history and her capacity to bring forth Christ into the world (The Message of Fatima; Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy: Holy Mass and Opening of the Holy Door, 8 December 2015).
Multiplying avenues for God's grace
Giving our wills, our lives, over to God provides God a means through which He will effect change. He does not need our participation to accomplish His will, but He chooses to work through us. He seeks our cooperation. He does not force Himself upon us. When we invite God to grant us the grace to think and act in accord with His almighty will, He will provide us with opportunities to hear and impart truth, goodness and beauty, to a world starved of authenticity. The intention of giving our lives to God is a gift of God. When we cooperate with God, God Himself takes on the struggles and joys we experience in this grand milieux in which we are placed by our parents, our friends, by strangers, by our choices, by our fears and by our hopes.
The moment we stop running from reality is a moment we allow God to catch us. If we allow Him, He will embrace us with a love beyond our comprehension. Yet, it is a fully knowable love. God's love shines through truth, goodness and beauty. Jesus gave His life freely so that we might live and love into eternity. He fully embraced the human condition - being fully man and fully God - in order to unite us to Himself. He, being eternal, destroyed sin and death by His immersion into the life and death of man, by dying and rising again. Jesus is the God-Man. He is alive.
God sought the cooperation of Mary, who was preserved from sin by a singular act of grace. She became the spouse of the Holy Ghost. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, as we are reminded by the Prologue to the Gospel of Saint John. Holy Mother Church reminds us that from the Cross Jesus gave Mary to us as our Mother (St John 19:26-27).
To surrender one's life to anyone or anything less than God, pretending that thing or person is God, can be fatal. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, saith the Lord (Exodus 20:3-5).
The ideologies possessing so many young people these days have passed through intercessors who, unbeknownst to them, serve demons, the fallen spirits who loathe human beings. These spirits hate what is most lovable about us. That is, God's loves for us. God made us in His image. Our likeness to God, lost through the primordial fall of man, is restored in Christ. Jesus provides us sustenance by giving Himself in every Mass, by becoming vulnerable again and again, in Holy Communion, so that we might receive the Holy Eucharist, His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, to sustain us, to help us grow in holiness.
St John 8:58 | Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.
God made Himself entirely vulnerable by entering into the human condition as an infant in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He, Who identified Himself as one with the Father, made Himself vulnerable by giving Himself up to crucifixion by His own people, the Jewish leaders and Roman authorities of the day. He makes Himself vulnerable every Mass so that we may receive Him and be transformed and become like Him.
Embrace being vulnerable to the nefarious actions of misguided people, as our Lord Jesus did. Many are possessed by rabid ideologies. They might threaten to rob you of your livelihood and might threaten your well being. Let them try. Pray for them.
What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? (Romans 8:31)?
Ask God for wisdom and strength. Engage the adversaries of God with unceasing charity. Show them mercy. Ask God for the ability to call them to their better selves. Ask God to soften their hearts. Put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20). Stay close to Jesus in His word - Holy Scripture. Pray the Office. Pray the Rosary. Seek the intercession of Saint Michael.
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