10/11 Feast of the Divine Maternity of Our Lady

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For a reflection on the Feast of the Divine Maternity of Our Lady
visit Feast of the Divine Maternity of Mary:

 

Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The celebration on  this day throughout the Western church of a feast in honour of the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, was enjoined by Pope Pius XI in the  encyclical “Lux veritatis“, published on December 25, 1931, in view of  the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus.

 

In the third lesson of the second nocturn of the office of the new feast mention is made of the arch in the basilica of St. Mary Major,  which Pope St. Sixtus III (432-440) decorated with mosaics shortly after the  council, and which has been restored in modern times by the care of Pius XI himself. This, we are taught, remains as a stricking monument of the  proclamation of our Lady’s incomparable honour as Mother of God. But in the  institution of the present festival, the pope, as his encyclical explains, had also other objects in view.

 

“One thing in particular”, he says, “and that indeed one of great importance, we specially desire that all should pray for, under the  auspices of our heavenly Queen. That is, that she, who is loved and venerated  with such ardent piety by the separated Christians of the East, would not suffer them to wander and be unhappily led further away from the unity of the Church,  and therefore from her Son, whose vicar on earth We are. May they return to the  common Father, whose judgement all the fathers of the synod of Ephesus most  dutifully received, and whom they all saluted with concordant acclamations as  the guardian of the faith; may they all return to Us, who have indeed a fatherly affection for them all, and who gladly make our own those most loving words  which Cyril used, when he earnestly exhorted Nestorius that ‘the peace of the  churches may be preserved, and that the bond of love and of concord among the  priests of God may remain indissoluble’.”

 

Encyclical, Lux veritatis, in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis,
vol. xxiii (1931)

 

The Divine Maternity of Our Lady (Trad)
(Click here for more information)

The Divine Maternity of Our Lady (Trad) was instituted in 1931 by Pope Pius XI in view of the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus. At the same time the Pope ordered at his own cost the restoration of the Marian mosaics in Saint Mary Major, much decayed through age. He issued an encyclical letter, “Lux Veritatis.” In this, among the objects of the new festival, is named one Truth that was particularly close to the heart of Pius XI, “…that Mary, Who is loved and revered so warmly by the separated Christians of the East, would not Suffer them to wander and be unhappily led further away from the unity of the Church, and therefore from her Son, Whose vicar on earth we are.”

 

From the book The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will
Our Lady to the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

Lesson of the Queen of Heaven

Day Five
Daughter (Luisa) most dear to Me, oh! how I yearn to confide My secrets to My daughter; secrets which will give Me much Glory, and that will Glorify that Divine Fiat which was the primary cause of My Immaculate Conception, of My Sanctity, Sovereignty and Maternity.  I owe everything to the Fiat—I know nothing else.  All of My sublime prerogatives for which the Holy Church so much honors Me, are nothing other than the effects of that Divine Will which dominated Me, reigned and lived in Me.
This is why I yearn so much that that which produced in Me so many privileges and admirable effects as to astonish Heaven and earth, be known.

Day Twenty
My dear daughter (Luisa), today I await you more than ever. My maternal Heart is swollen; I feel the need to pour out My ardent love with My daughter: I want to say to you that I am the Mother of Jesus. My joys are infinite; seas of happiness inundate Me. I can say: I am the Mother of Jesus; His creature, His handmaid, is Mother of Jesus—and I owe this only to the Fiat. It rendered Me full of grace, It prepared the worthy dwelling for My Creator. Therefore, always glory, honor and thanksgiving be to the Supreme Fiat.

Now listen to Me, daughter of My Heart (Luisa): as soon as the little Humanity of Jesus was formed in My womb by the power of the Divine Fiat, the Sun of the Eternal Word incarnated Himself in It. I had My Heaven, formed by the Fiat, all studded with most refulgent stars which glittered with joys, beatitudes, harmonies of Divine beauty; and the Sun of the Eternal Word, blazing with inaccessible light, came to take His place within this Heaven, hidden in His little Humanity. And since His little Humanity could not contain Him, the center of this Sun remained in It, but Its light overflowed outside, and investing Heaven and earth, It reached every heart. And with Its pounding of light, It knocked at each creature, and with voices of penetrating light, It said to them:
“My children, open to Me (Jesus); give Me a place in your heart. I have descended from Heaven to earth in order to form My Life in each one of you. My Mother is the center in which I reside, and all My children will be the circumference, in which I want to form so many of My Lives for as many as are My children.” And the light knocked and knocked again, without ever ceasing; and the little Humanity of Jesus moaned, cried, agonized, and within that light which reached into the hearts, He made flow His tears, His moans and His pangs of love and of sorrow.

Now, you must know that a new life began for your Mama. I was aware of everything that My Son was doing. I saw Him devoured by seas of flames of love; each one of His heartbeats, breaths and pains, were seas of love that He unleashed, enveloping all creatures to make them His own by force of love and of sorrow. In fact, you must know that as His little Humanity was conceived, He conceived all the pains He was to suffer, up to the last day of His life.  He enclosed all souls within Himself, because, as God, no one could escape Him.  His immensity enclosed all creatures, His all-seeingness made them all present to Him.  Therefore, My Jesus, My Son, felt the weight and the burden of all the sins of each creature.  And I, your Mama, followed Him in everything,
and felt within My maternal Heart the new generation of the pains of My Jesus, and the new generation of all the souls whom, as Mother, together with Jesus I was to generate to grace, to light, to the new life which My dear Son came to bring upon earth.

My daughter, you must know that from the moment I was conceived, I loved you as Mother, I felt you in My Heart, I burned with love for you, but I did not understand why. The Divine Fiat made Me do facts, but kept the secret hidden from Me. But as He incarnated Himself, He revealed the secret to Me, and I comprehended the fecundity of My Maternity—that I was to be not only Mother of Jesus, but Mother of all; and this Maternity was to be formed on the stake of sorrow and of love. My daughter, how much I have loved you, and I love you.

Now listen to Me, dear daughter—what extent one can reach when the Divine Will takes operating life in the creature, and the human will lets It work without impeding Its step. This Fiat, which by nature possesses the generative virtue, generates all goods in the creature; It renders her fecund, giving her maternity over all, over all goods, and over He who created her. Maternity says and means true love, heroic love, love that is content with dying to give life to the one it has generated. If this is not there, the word maternity is sterile, is empty, and is reduced to words, but does not exist with facts. Therefore, if you (Luisa), My daughter, want the generation of all goods, let the Fiat take operating life in you, which will give you the maternity, and you will love everyone with love of mother. And I, your Mama, will teach you how to fecundate in you this maternity, all Holy and Divine.

8/25 Constancy in good makes Divine Life grow in the soul.

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Book of Heaven
8/26/08 – Vol. 8


As I was in my usual state, I was all afflicted and almost dazed because of the usual privations. Then He came, just in passing, and told me: “My daughter (Luisa), that which I (God) want you to take to heart is constancy in good, both internal and external, because the repetition of the act of loving Me, of many interior acts and of constant good, makes Divine Life grow ever more in the soul – but with such energy, that she can be compared to a child who, growing in good air and with healthy foods, keeps growing well, in full health, until he reaches his proper stature, without needing either doctors or medicines. Even more, he is so robust and strong, that he relieves and helps others.

On the other hand, one who is not constant grows like a child who is not always fed with healthy foods and lives in putrid air. He grows sickly, and since his members do not have the strength to develop and grow due to lack of good nourishment, they develop with defects; and so a tumor forms in one place, an abscess in another. He walks with a limp, he speaks with difficulty; one can say that he is a poor cripple. Though one can see good members mixed in, those with defects are more; and even though he consults doctors and takes medicines, they do him little or no good, because his blood is infected by the putrid air, and his members are weak and defective from malnutrition. So, he will be a man, but he will not reach a proper stature, and will always need help, without being able to help others. Such is the inconstant soul. With inconstancy in good, it is as if the soul nourished herself with foods which are not good; and by applying herself to other things which are not God, it is as if she breathed putrid air. So, Divine Life grows with difficulty and poorly, because It lacks the strength and the vigor of constancy.”

5/30 Eve of the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will
Meditation 1

***

The Queen of Heaven in the Kingdom of the Divine Will.
In the Ardor of Her Love, feeling Herself the Mother of Jesus,
Mary sets out in search of Hearts to be Sanctified.
Visit to St. Elisabeth; Sanctification of John.

 

The soul to her Celestial Mother:

Celestial Mama, Your poor daughter has extreme need of You. Since You are my Mother and the Mother of Jesus, I feel the right to be near You, to place myself at Your side, and to follow Your Steps in order to model mine. O please! Holy Mama, give me Your hand, and take me with You, that I may learn to behave well in the different actions of my life.

 

Lesson of the Queen of Heaven:

Blessed daughter, how sweet is your company to Me. In seeing that you want to follow Me in order to imitate Me, I feel refreshment for the Flames of Love that devour Me. O! Yes, having you near Me, I will be able to teach you more easily how to Live of Divine Will. While you follow Me, listen to Me.

As soon as I became Mother of Jesus and your Mother, My Seas of Love Doubled, and unable to contain them all, I felt the need to pour them out, and to be the first Bearer of Jesus to creatures, even at the cost of Great Sacrifices. But, what am I saying—Sacrifices? When one really Loves, Sacrifices and Pains are refreshments; they are reliefs and outpourings of the Love that one possesses. O! My daughter, if you do not experience the Good of Sacrifice, if you do not feel how it brings the Most Intimate Joys, it is a sign that the Divine Love does not fill all your soul, and therefore that the Divine Will does not Reign as Queen in you. It alone gives such Strength to the soul as to render her Invincible and Capable of bearing any pain.

Place your hand upon your heart, and observe how many voids of love are in it. Reflect: that secret self-esteem, that becoming disturbed at every slightest adversity, those little attachments you feel to things and to people, that tiredness in good, that bother caused in you by what is not to your liking, are equivalent to as many voids of love in your heart; voids which, like little fevers, deprive you of the strength and of the desire to be filled with Divine Will. O! How you too will feel the Refreshing and Conquering Virtue in your sacrifices, if you fill these voids of yours with love.

My daughter, give Me your hand now, and follow Me, because I will continue to give you My Lessons.

So I departed from Nazareth, accompanied by Saint Joseph, facing a long journey, and crossing mountains to go visit Elisabeth in Judea, who, in her advanced age, had miraculously become a mother. I went to her, not to make her a simple visit, but because I Burned with the desire to bring her Jesus. The Fullness of Grace, of Love, of Light that I felt within Me, pushed Me to bring, to Multiply—to Increase a hundredfold the Life of My Son in creatures.

Yes, My daughter, the Love of Mother which I had for all men, and for you in particular, was so Great, that I felt the Extreme Need to give My Dear Jesus to all, so that all might Possess Him and Love Him. The Right of Mother, given to Me by the Fiat, Enriched Me with such Power as to Multiply Jesus as many times as there are creatures who want to receive Him. This was the Greatest Miracle I could perform: to have Jesus ready to give to whoever desired Him. How Happy I felt.

How I wish that you too, my daughter, in approaching people and in making visits, would always be the bearer of Jesus, capable of making Him known, and yearning to make Him Loved.

After several days of travel, finally I arrived in Judea, and solicitously I hastened to the house of Elisabeth. She came to meet Me in feast. At the greeting I gave her, Marvelous Phenomena occurred. My Little Jesus exulted in My Womb, and fixing on little John in the womb of his mother with the Rays of His Divinity, He Sanctified him, gave him the use of reason, and made known to him that He was the Son of God. And John leaped so vigorously with love and with joy that Elisabeth felt shaken. She too, touched by the Light of the Divinity of My Son, recognized that I had become the Mother of God; and in the emphasis of her love, trembling with gratitude, she exclaimed: “Whence comes to me so much honor, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?”

I did not deny the Highest Mystery; rather, I humbly confirmed it. Praising God with the song of the Magnificat—Sublime Canticle, through which the Church continuously honors Me—I announced that the Lord had done Great Things in Me, His Handmaid, and that because of this, all peoples would call Me Blessed.

My daughter, I felt Devoured with the Desire to pour out the Flames of Love that Consumed Me, and to reveal My Secret to Elisabeth, who also longed for the Messiah to come upon earth. A Secret is a need of the heart, which irresistibly is revealed to persons who are capable of understanding each other.

Who can ever tell you how much good My Visit brought to Elisabeth, to John, and to their whole household? Each one remained Sanctified, filled with Gladness, felt unusual Joys, and comprehended things unheard-of. And John, in particular, received all the Graces that were necessary for him, to prepare himself to be the Precursor of My Son.

Dearest daughter, the Divine Will does Great and unheard-of things wherever It Reigns. If I worked many Prodigies, it was because It had Its Royal Place in Me. If you let the Divine Will Reign in your soul, you too will become the bearer of Jesus to creatures—you too will feel the Irresistible Need to give Him to all.

 

The soul:

Holy Mama, how I thank You for Your Beautiful Lessons. I feel that they have such Power over me as to make me yearn continuously to Live in the Divine Will. But so that I may obtain this Grace— come, descend into my soul together with Jesus; renew for me the Visit you made to St. Elisabeth and the Prodigies You worked for her. Ah! Yes, my Mama, bring me Jesus—Sanctify me. With Jesus I will be able to do His Most Holy Will.

 

Little Sacrifice:

To honor Me, you will recite the Magnificat three times, in thanksgiving for the Visit I made to St. Elisabeth.

Magnificat

 

My soul proclaims the Greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for He has looked with favor on His lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and Holy is His Name.

He has mercy on those who fear Him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of His arm,

He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich He has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of His servant Israel

for He has remembered His Promise of mercy,

the promise He made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

 

Ejaculatory Prayer:

Holy Mama, Visit my soul, and prepare in it a Worthy Dwelling for the Divine Will.