The Rosary and Adoration with Our Lady

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Sat, 19 Jul 2014 16:00:55 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

Pope Francis: “This evening I am united to all of you in praying the Holy Rosary and in Eucharistic adoration under the gaze of the Virgin Mary. s gaze! How important this is! How many things can we say with a look!

Affection, encouragement, compassion, love, but also disapproval, envy, pride and even hatred. Often a look says more than words; it says what words do not or dare not say.

At whom is the Virgin Mary looking? She is looking at each and every one of us. And how does she look at us? She looks at us as a Mother, with tenderness, mercy and love. That was how she gazed at her Son Jesus at all the moments of his life – joyful, luminous, sorrowful, glorious – as we contemplate in the mysteries of the Holy Rosary, simply and lovingly.

When we are weary, downcast, beset with cares, let us look to Mary, let us feel her gaze, which speaks to our heart and says: “Courage, my child, I am here to help you!”. Our Lady knows us well, she is a Mother, she is familiar with our joys and difficulties, our hopes and disappointments. When we feel the burden of our failings and our sins, let us look to Mary, who speaks to our hearts, saying: “Arise, go to my Son Jesus; in him you will find acceptance, mercy and new strength for the journey”.

Mary’s gaze is not directed towards us alone. At the foot of the Cross, when Jesus entrusted to her the Apostle John, and with him all of us, in the words: “Woman, here is your son” (Jn 19:26), the gaze of Mary was fixed on Jesus. Mary says to us what she said at the wedding feast of Cana: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Mary points to Jesus, she asks us to bear witness to Jesus, she constantly guides us to her Son Jesus, because in him alone do we find salvation. He alone can change the water of our loneliness, difficulties and sin into the wine of encounter, joy and forgiveness. He alone.

“Blessed is she who believed!” Mary is blessed for her faith in God, for her faith, because her heart’s gaze was always fixed on God, the Son of God whom she bore in her womb and whom she contemplated upon the Cross. In the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Mary says to us: “Look at my son Jesus, keep your gaze fixed on him, listen to him, speak with him. He is gazing at you with love. Do not be afraid! He will teach you to follow him and to bear witness to him in all that you do, whether great and small, in your family life, at work, at times of celebration. He will teach you to go out of yourself and to look upon others with love, as he did. He loved you and loves you, not with words but with deeds”.

O Mary, let us feel your maternal gaze. Guide us to your Son. May we not be Christians “on display”, but Christians ready to “get our hands dirty” in building, with your Son Jesus, his Kingdom of love, joy and peace.”

Pope Francis October 14, 2013

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Christmas Joy and the Holy Eucharist

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 17:02:01 +0000

Ave Maria MeditationsThe holy Eucharist is the continuation of Christ incarnation on earth. The mystery of the Eucharist gives us the joy of having Christmas every day. When we come to the Blessed Sacrament we come to Bethlehem, a name which means “house of bread”. Jesus chose to be born in Bethlehem because He would work with us forever as the “living bread “come down from heaven.

When the shepherds and magi came to adore Him, they brought Him so much joy with their humble visit to Bethlehem that their visit has been praised and retold down through the centuries.

God has never stopped honoring them for honoring His Son at Bethlehem. So too, your humble visit today to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament brings Him so much joy that it will be retold for all eternity and bring the world closer to His promise of peace on earth.

We are as privileged and being called to adore Him today as were Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and magi then, because here Jesus continues His incarnation on earth.

The Eucharist is divine Love made visible in the sacred host! This is why the angels continue to sing to Him here as they did in Bethlehem: “glory to God in the highest and peace to men of goodwill.” Come let us adore Him for here Jesus continues to come to us “filled with enduring love” as the Word becomes Flesh in the holy Eucharist and makes His dwelling among us.

Fr. Martin Lucia

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The Rosary and Adoration with Our Lady

Christmas Joy and the Holy Eucharist