Mary – Walk in Trust

Duty of the Moment

At every moment you must be just as I would have you be; at every moment you must do just what I would have you do.
Blue Book #1

I like to use Lectio Divina when doing spiritual reading of any kind. It helps me to pick out what is for me at this moment, and with the Holy Spirit’s guidance through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I’m enlightened and guided gently and step by step. The message then is not a general message to the world out there, but becomes a very intimate request for me specifically at this moment. Then together with other readings, encounters with others, random life occurrences, and prayer… it all starts to come together.

I’m currently doing the Catechism in a year with Fr. Mike, and encountered the word pedagogy… perhaps not for the first time… but it made enough of an impact now for me to get inquisitive. It means a teaching plan. God has a divine pedagogy in guiding us, and materials such as the Blue Book can be part of it.

Another book that has come to my attention as I was preparing to restart this journey was Catherine Doherty’s ‘Grace in Every Season’. The spirit of the Madonna House, seems very much in line with the messages of the Blue Book. She emphasizes the ‘duty of the moment’ … which is something very near and dear to my heart, so I’m going to be reading it also. It’s set up in daily bits, and perfect for this type of study and reflection.

The kitchen routine of preparing food in its ordinariness is feeding the hungry in the reality of everyday life.
I hope and pray that you, now and in the coming tomorrows, will remember the holiness of little things done well over and over again for the love of God. Every task, routine or not, is of redeeming, supernatural value because we are united with Christ. We must be recollected and stay aware of this truth.
Grace in Every Season

So what does Our Blessed Mother ask of us… well, first and foremost she tells us to do whatever Jesus tells us… and in the kernel of that command is our obligation to the duty of the moment.

In todays Second Reading we hear “He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”

I too seek to “go about” my own life doing good… because God is with me, and I have a lot of heavenly helps at my disposal.

Peace

2304 Respect for and development of human life require peace.

Peace is not merely the absence of war, and it is not limited to maintaining a balance of powers between adversaries.

Peace cannot be attained on earth without safeguarding the goods of persons, free communication among men, respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, and the assiduous practice of fraternity.

Peace is “the tranquillity of order.”97 Peace is the work of justice and the effect of charity.98

—Catechism of the Catholic Church

Last time, we focused on the ‘church’, which is the body of Christ on earth. Today we are going to focus on Mary…mother of the Church (the body of Christ). If she is His mother, it comes to reason that she is our mother as well. The fact that she was fully human doesn’t detract from this (we are not worshiping her, we are uniting with her, to worship Him), but helps to build our totality of faith. Jesus was the Son of God AND the Son of Mary. He chose it this way for a very specific reason, to elevate His church (the merely human, to the realm of the divine). While we are here we walk two worlds, the physical and the spiritual. In the Theology of the Body, St. John Paul II did great job at explaining this.

Mary is known as the Queen of Peace. Yes…she is indeed queen of heaven and earth. The Mother of the King is always known as the Queen Mother. God the Father chose her among all women, to bring His Son to us at the incarnation, and continues to do so throughout time. Please watch the following video.

On Saturday November 21’st the feast of the Presentation of Mary, I will be doing my consecration again. It is exactly nine days from today, there is so much chaos in the world right now. I feel called to start a novena to Our Lady Undoer of knots. Please join me if you feel so inclined.

Perseverance

Day 9

Today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary, very meaningful as we focus on Perseverance. I often like to speak about God’s beautiful and intelligent plan for creation. Well, Mary was a big part of that plan. Not only did she give birth to the Savior, but she’s now united with Him as we hope to be one day and can assist us on our wellness journey and help us to persevere.

There’s a story that I read about some time after the Lord gave me the insights on the circular staircase, it really confirmed things for me. It’s attributed to Saint Francis’ spiritual director…Fra Leo. He had a dream of two ladders, a red one of legalism and the white one of grace. At the top of the red one stood this solemn Jesus that appeared demanding and harsh. As hard as the friars tried to climb this ladder, they would only make it up a few steps and they would back slide and have to continuously restart. Then St. Francis told them to come to the white ladder instead. At the top of the white ladder stood Mary, who is full of grace herself and a loving, encouraging Mother to each of us who are in Christ. And they were able to persevere and make it to the top. Remember, Jesus IS the way! He doesn’t stand from afar calling us…He is there with us for every step and brings in all the help we may need.

I took this photo when I visited Portugal back in 2013. This white circular staircase is located at the parish church of the shepherd Children of Fatima.

You can read about my circular staircase HERE.

This week’s Marian Consecration video is on the Rosary. Coincidence? I don’t think so! 😀

Introduction	Stepping into it, series intro.	video
	Week 1 intro	*Core intro
Thanksgiving	Day 1	*Attentiveness to God’s blessings
Commitment	Day 2	*To be all in for whatever the Lord wants of us on this journey.
Love	Day 3	*To love God with our whole heart, mind and soul…and others as ourselves. It’s at the core of who we are, not simply what we do.
Trust	Day 4	*Childlike confidence that He leads us step by step.
Kindness	Day 5	Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. Focus on the Kingdom
Tenacity	Day 6	* Setting up a specific prayer time
	Week 1 recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE MIND What is health and wellness The Mind’s purpose is to envision God and Heaven (to see the unseen).
Endurance	Day 7	Our feelings and emotions Consecrating them to the Lord for His purposes
Forgiveness	Day 8	Effect of unforgiveness ph balance
Perseverance	Day 9	Mary’s help for the journey The Rosary The white ladder consecration video 2 (the rosary)
Acceptance	Day 10
Patience	Day 11
Humility	Day 12
	Week 2 Recap	LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE HEART AND MIND