"Risen Lamb Writings"
"Whispers of Light" (part 12)
Mary teaches an intercessor how to
receive from the heart and how to remain in contact with the mystery of God:
"We have need of Mary to gain access to the mystery of Jesus in its entirety" (Jesus
Living in Mary: Handbook of the Spirituality of St. Louis Marie de Montfort,
p. 552). Since our call as intercessors is to perpetuate the redemptive mission
of the Lamb of God, Mary's presence in our lives is essential. One of Mary's
tasks is to draw us into fellowship with Jesus, and then, to share in his
mission: "An essential characteristic of missionary spirituality is
intimate communion with Christ" (John Paul II, "Redemptoris
Missio", 88. encyclical letter, 1990). Through this
intimacy with Jesus, an intercessor's prayer is empowered. The Lamb continues
to go forth on mission in Spirit through us to those whom we are interceding
for.
Holiness is the hidden source both of
the missionary zeal of the intercessor and the fruitfulness of one's
intercession. Intercessory
prayer is a "vocation of love". Love is the "soul" of the holiness to which the
intercessor is called. Among other things, this love is exercised through
"heroic virtue" that comes forth the more that one
surrenders to the Love of the Holy Spirit working through Mary. The Holy Spirit
and Mary work together to form an intercessor in this indispensable intimacy
with Jesus.
Like all of the baptized, intercessors
are called to sanctity, to "shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to
the word of life" (Phil. 2:15B). This charism of communal intercession calls
for the work of saints. According to Montfort, "In every age of the Church
but more so even during the latter times", the main figures have been, are, and
will be the Holy Spirit, Mary and the saints" (Jesus Living in Mary,
p. 179). The Holy Spirit, working through "Holy" Mary, forms holy
intercessors.
Pope St. John Paul II has written:
"The saints have always been the
source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's
history" (John Paul II, "Christifideles Laici", apostolic exhortation; 16, 3).
Currently, we are living in such a moment in
history. Our times call for the raising up of true, sanctified prayer
warriors--holy, mature men and women formed in the crucible of Mary's heart by
the fire of the Holy Spirit, becoming one with the Lamb: "Behold, I come to do
your will, O God" (Heb. 10:7).
Mary
is the great secret for living fully in the Holy Spirit. She is "Daughter
of the Father", Mother of Jesus, and "Spouse of the Holy Spirit":
"Mary, because she shares in the
personal life of the Spirit in such a unique way, is called by Montfort [St.
Louis de Montfort]--as she is by his contemporaries--the spouse of the Holy
Spirit" (Jesus Living in Mary, p.705).
In his work,
"Prayer for Missionaries", Montfort writes:
"Holy Spirit, be ever mindful that it
is you who, with Mary as your faithful spouse, are to bring forth and
fashion the children of God...All the saints who have ever existed or will
exist until the end of time will be the outcome of your love working through
Mary" (PM, 15).
At the Annunciation, God set the
"template" of how Jesus will be en-fleshed in the
world. Forevermore, it will only be the activity of the Holy Spirit working
through Mary that will bring forth members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Monfort states
succinctly in True Devotion to Mary:
"If we
desire to have the Holy Spirit working in us, we must possess his
faithful and inseparable Spouse Mary, the divinely favored one..." (True
Devotion to Mary, 164).
(to be continued)
Questions:
1) Do
I struggle during the day to remain in contact with the mystery of God?
2) Do
I notice any growth in the purity of my desires, thoughts, words or actions?
Scriptures:
Any scripture from the text; Rom. 11:16; 1 Cr. 1:2; Eph. 1:4;
1 Pet. 3:15
