Ave Maria Meditations

Answer Quickly, O Virgin!

Mary’s Consent

When Our Lady stood up, a queenly child, and uttered her fiat to the Angel of God, her words began to make Christ’s voice. Those first words of consent had already spoken Christ’s last words of consent; her “1 commit myself to you, do whatever you like with me” were already spoken by Christ in her; they were one and the same with his: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”.

At that moment, when Our Lady received the love of the Holy Spirit as the wedded love of her soul, she also received her dead Son in her arms. The trust which accepted the utter sweetness of the Infant Jesus between her own hands, looking at her with her own eyes, accepted the stiff, unresponsive corpse that her hands embalmed. This was her Son, but more, even more, God’s Son. She trusted God, she understood on earth that which many mothers will only understand in heaven; she was able to see her boy killed, lying there bruised from head to foot, wounded and dead, and to believe the Father’s cry: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

God asks for extreme courage in love; the Bride of the Spirit must respond with strength like his own strength. Our Lady did this. How much easier it would have been for her, had she been asked in that moment in time to withdraw from the common life, to tear up her heart by its roots and, renouncing all “earthly joys,” bring forth Christ in cloistered security. How much easier for her if she had had at least a guarantee for the safety of the precious burden, Christ, in her. But she was consenting not only to bear her own child, Christ, but to bear Christ into the world in all men, in all lives, in all times; not only in secluded lives, protected lives, the lives of holy people, but into the lives of those haunted by worry, by poverty, by debts, by fears and temptations, subject to chance, to accident, to persecution, to the fortunes of war. She was consenting not only to give birth to Christ, not only to give life to him, but to give him death.

Caryll Houselander

THE VIRGIN OF THE INCARNATION

PRESENCE OF GOD – I draw near you, 0 Virgin Mary, with a lively desire to enter into the secret depths of your interior life, so that you may be my light and my model.

MEDITATION

“It seems to me that Our Lady’s .attitude during the months that intervened between the Annunciation and the Nativity is the model for interior souls, for those whom God has chosen to live within, in the depths of the unfathomable abyss” (Elizabeth of the Trinity)

If Mary’s whole life was one of recollection and concen­tration on God, it must have been especially such at the time when, overshadowed by the power of the Most High, the Word became incarnate within her. The Angel Gabriel found Mary in solitude and recollec­tion. The Angel being come in, says the Gospel; the expression “come in,” leads us to believe that Mary was “within” her house. The Angel reveals to her in God’s name what will take place in her. “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Lk 1:35).

From that moment God made Himself present in Mary in a very special way, present not only by essence, knowledge, and power, as He is in all creatures; present not only by grace as He is in the souls of the just; but, far more, the Word of God was in Mary by ” corporal presence, ” as St. Albert the Great says. Although retaining her humility, Mary was perfectly conscious of the “great things” that were taking place within her; her sublime canticle, the Magnificat, is proof of this. Nevertheless, she kept the great mystery hidden in her soul, hidden even from Joseph, and lived recollected in the intimacy of her spirit, adoring and meditating: she “kept all these words, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19).

God never gave Himself to any creature more fully than He did to Mary, but no one ever understood better than Mary the grandeur of the divine “Gift”; nor has there ever been a more loving, more faithful guardian and adorer of it. “If you but knew the gift of God!”

There is one created being who knew this gift of God, one who never lost a particle of it … the faithful Virgin, who kept all things in her heart. The Father, inclining toward this creature so beauteous, so unaware of her beauty, decreed that she should be the Mother in time of Him who is His Son in eternity. Then the Spirit of Love, who presides at all the workings of God, came upon this Virgin and she uttered her Fiat! ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done unto me according to Thy word.’ The greatest of mysteries was accomplished, and through the descent of the Word into her, Mary was forever seized upon and held by God.

In what peace, what recollection, Mary went to and lent herself to everything! How the most commonplace things were divinized by her-for she remained ever in adoration of the Gift of God yet that did not hinder her from spending herself externally when there was question of practicing charity. The Gospel tells us that Mary … went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda … and saluted Elizabeth. Never did the unspeakable vision which she contemplated within herself diminish her exterior charity.

COLLOQUY:

O Mary, I love to contemplate you as you adore in profound recollection the great mystery which is taking place within you. You are the first temple of the Blessed Trinity, the first adorer of the Incarnate Word, the first tabernacle of His sacred humanity.

“O Mary, temple of the Trinity! Mary, you bore the divine fire; Mother of Mercy, from you has blossomed forth the fruit of life, Jesus! O Mother, you are that new plant from which we have the fragrant flower, the Word, the only-begotten Son of God, because in you, fertile land, was sown this Word. O Mary, fiery chariot, you bore a hidden fire which was concealed beneath the ashes of your humanity.

If I look at you, O Mary, I see that the hand of the Holy Spirit has inscribed the Trinity in you, by forming within you the Incarnate Word, the only Son of God. a Mary, I see this Word given to you, within you” (St. Catherine of Siena).

Fr.Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene  OCD

St. Louis de Montfort’s Prayer to Mary

Hail Mary, beloved Daughter of the Eternal Father. Hail Mary, admirable Mother of the Son. Hail Mary, faithful Spouse of the Holy Ghost. Hail Mary, my Mother, my loving Mistress, my powerful sovereign. Hail, my joy, my glory, my heart and my soul. Thou art all mine by mercy, and I am thine by justice. But I am not yet sufficiently thine. I now give myself wholly to thee without keeping anything back for myself or others. If thou seest anything in me which does not belong to thee, I beseech thee to take it and make thyself the absolute Mistress of all that is mine.

Destroy in me all that may displease God; root it up and bring it to nought. Place and cultivate in me everything that is pleasing to thee. May the light of thy faith dispel the darkness of my mind. May thy profound humility take the place of my pride; may thy sublime contemplation check the distractions of my wandering imagination.

May the continuous sight of God fill my memory with His Presence; may the burning love of thy heart inflame the lukewarmness of mine.

May thy virtues take the place of my sins; may thy merits be my only adornment in the sight of God and make up for all that is wanting in me. Finally, dearly beloved Mother, grant, if it be possible, that I may have no other spirit but thine to know Jesus, and His Divine Will; that I may have no other soul but thinke to praise and glorify God; that I may have no other heart but thine to love God with a love as pure and ardent as thine.

I do not ask thee for visions, revelations, sensible devotions, or spiritual pleasures. It is thy privilege to see God clearly, it is thy privilege to enjoy heavenly bliss; it is thy privilege to triumph gloriously in heaven at the right hand of thy Son and to hold absolute sway over angels, men, and demons. It is thy privilege to dispose of all the gifts of God, just as thou willest. Such, O heavenly Mary, the ‘best part’, which the Lord has given thee, and which shall never be taken away from thee–and this thought fills my heart with joy.

As for my part here below, I wish for no other than that which was thine, to believe sincerely without spiritual pleasures, to suffer joyfully without human consolation, to die continually to myself without respite, and to work zealously and unselfishly for thee until death, as the humblest of thy servants. The only grace I beg thee, for me, is that every moment of the day, and every moment of my life, I may say, “Amen, so be it, to all that thou art doing in heaven. Amen, so be it, to all thou didst do while on earth. Amen, so be it, to all thou art doing in my soul,” so that thou alone mayest fully glorify Jesus in me for time and eternity. Amen.

The Annunciation: The Whole World Awaits Mary’s Response

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion; the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us.

The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be, and behold, we die. In your brief response we are to be remade in order to be recalled to life.

Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, O loving Virgin, in their exile from Paradise. Abraham begs it, David begs it. All the other holy patriarchs, your ancestors, ask it of you, as they dwell in the country of the shadow of death. This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet. It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.

Answer quickly, O Virgin! Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.

Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise, and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident. This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear to be presumptuous. Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary. Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter. If he should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh, the One whom your soul loves. Arise, hasten, open: arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says, be it done to me according to your word.

Totus Tuus

Totus tuus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt, O Virgo, super omnia benedicta.

Translates as: I am all yours, and all that is mine is yours, O Virgin, blessed above all.

The post The Annunciation: Heaven and Earth Await Mary’s Response first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria Meditations

The post The Reed of God first appeared on AirMaria.com.

OUR LADY OF THE DAWN

She was clear and fresh as a springtime morn.

And calm as a great unmoving sea,

The purest flower that the earth has born

Was never so pure and so fair as she.

God loved her, God nestled on her breast.

The God of heaven and earth her Son,

Who found, alone in her purity, rest,

And came to earth as her little one.

(C. Houselander, age 14)

The post Our Lady of the Dawn first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The infant Christ is the whole Christ. Christ was not more God, more Christ, more man, on the Cross than He was in His Mother’s womb. His first tear, His first smile, His first breath, His first pulsation in the womb of His Mother, could have redeemed the world. In fact, Christ chose the life of growth and work and suffering, and the death on the Cross which we know; but by His own choice all this was to depend on a human being giving herself to Him in His infancy, giving her own humanity to the actual making of that Infant’s humanity and giving Him her life in which to rest.

If every person in whom Christ lives at all, in whom He is an Infant – which means anyone whose soul is alive at all- surrendered themselves to Him, resting in Him so that He might rest in them, in each one of them the world’s redemption would begin as it began in Mary, the Mother of God. Christ is formed in us, and we are formed into Christ, when we rest in Him and He rests in us.

During Advent Christ rested In Mary – still, silent, helpless, utterly dependent. The Creator trusted Himself to His creature. He trusted to her the expression of His love, the expression of God’s love for the world and of His love of His Father, just as the work of His love would be trusted to us, in His life in us.

He was dumb; her voice was His voice.

He was still; her footsteps were His journeys.

He was blind; her eyes were His seeing.

His hands were folded; her hands did the work of His hands.

His life was her life; His heartbeat was the beating of her heart.

This was a foreshadowing of what the Incarnation would mean for us; for in us, too, Christ rests as He rested in Mary. From the moment when the Christ-life is conceived in us, our life  is intended for one thing, the expression of His love, His love for God and for the world.

Our words are to be the words that He wants to speak;

we must go to wherever He wants to go,

we must see and look at whatever He wants to see and look at;

the work that our hands do must be the work that His hands want to do,

our life must be the living of His life,

our loves the loving of His heart.

But there is the other aspect of Christ’s Advent. While He remained hidden in Mary, His rest was a tremendous activity; He was making her into Himself, making Himself from her. From her eyes He was making the eyes that would weep over Jerusalem, that would shine upon the wild flowers, that would close in death and open on the morning of Resurrection.

From her hands He was making the hands that would heal and raise the dead and be nailed to the Cross. From her heart He was making the heart whose love would redeem the world.

The same thing occurs when, allowing the Infant Christ to rest in us, we wait patiently on His own timing of His growth in us, and give Him just what He asks, the extremely simple things that are ourselves – our hands and feet, our eyes and ears, our words, our thoughts, our love. Not only does He grow in us, but we are formed into Him.

(From Caryll Houselander: Wood of the Cradle; Wood of the Cross)

The post An Advent Meditation first appeared on AirMaria.com.

God’s plan for the infant Christ was not our Lady’s plan for Him. What good and lovely things she had to give up in order that His will should be done in her, not hers in Him, in order that what she gave to Him should be herself.

She had made the home in Nazareth ready for Him. In her mind for the nine longing months of Advent it had been His home. Joseph had made the wooden cradle and had arranged sufficient work for the lovely months ahead. Mary had woven the blankets for the cradle and clothes for the Child. The lamp that was to bum in the darkness to light the Light of the World was set in its place.  Everything in the plan was good and must surely be pleasing to God.

Yet God altered everything! They were not to go back to Nazareth until the Child had outgrown His cradle and His first clothes. They were not to enjoy the privacy of four walls of their own; they were not to be restricted to the society of the few neighbors in the hamlet; they were not to have the security of Joseph’s steady trade. From the stable in Bethlehem they were to fly into the desert and into Egypt, there to live as foreigners and exiles among a people who were strange to them and to whom they were strange.

This happens so often, too, to those who foster the infant Christ in their souls. We like to plan the life that we shall offer to God in just the way that seems good and aesthetically right to us, to achieve holiness between four walls, with every modem convenience, undisturbed sessions of solitude, work, and prayer, and a selected number of friends on whom to exercise our charity and with whom to live, reasonably, easily, at peace.

It is difficult to imagine that a plan like this – so full of sweet order, prudence, and common sense, so harmless­ – could not be pleasing to God.  Yet God changes everything.

He sends us to where He wants to be, among those whom He wishes to be among, to do that which He wishes to do in our lives. He brings to the Bethlehem of our lives those people to whom He wishes to show the infant Christ in us, those who are to give us something for Him, just as He brought whom He would to Bethlehem: animals, angels, shepherds, and kings – unlikely people, which proves that, although there are distinctions between different kinds of men in the world, when they come into Christ’s presence there is to be no distinction, no selection. The rich and the poor, the ignorant and the learned, the laborer and the king must kneel together before the infant Christ.

With all the ingenuity and all the sincerity in the world we cannot arrange our lives as God can to ensure that we give the infant Jesus His necessity in us, not our goods or our thoughts of Him, but ourselves. Our humanity is to clothe Him, our love is to be the four walls that shelter Him, our life is to sustain Him. Our prayer must be our Lady’s prayer: “Be it done to me according to Thy word!”

He took her at her word, and they fled into the desert. She herself was His food, His warmth, His shade, His home, His cradle, and His rest.

Caryll Houselander (Wood of the Cradle, Wood of the Cross)

The post Even for the Holy Family: The Best Laid Plans are Set Aside first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The infant Christ is the whole Christ. Christ was not more God, more Christ, more man, on the Cross than He was in His Mother’s womb. His first tear, His first smile, His first breath, His first pulsation in the womb of His Mother, could have redeemed the world. In fact, Christ chose the life of growth and work and suffering, and the death on the Cross which we know; but by His own choice all this was to depend on a human being giving herself to Him in His infancy, giving her own humanity to the actual making of that Infant’s humanity and giving Him her life in which to rest.

If every person in whom Christ lives at all, in whom He is an Infant – which means anyone whose soul is alive at all- surrendered themselves to Him, resting in Him so that He might rest in them, in each one of them the world’s redemption would begin as it began in Mary, the Mother of God. Christ is formed in us, and we are formed into Christ, when we rest in Him and He rests in us.            

During Advent Christ rested In Mary – still, silent, helpless, utterly dependent. The Creator trusted Himself to His creature. He trusted to her the expression of His love, the expression of God’s love for the world and of His love of His Father, just as the work of His love would be trusted to us, in His life in us.

He was dumb; her voice was His voice.

He was still; her footsteps were His journeys.

He was blind; her eyes were His seeing.

His hands were folded; her hands did the work of His hands.

His life was her life; His heartbeat was the beating of her heart.

This was a foreshadowing of what the Incarnation would mean for us; for in us, too, Christ rests as He rested in Mary. From the moment when the Christ-life is conceived in us, our life  is intended for one thing, the expression of His love, His love for God and for the world.

Our words are to be the words that He wants to speak;

we must go to wherever He wants to go,

we must see and look at whatever He wants to see and look at;

the work that our hands do must be the work that His hands want to do,

our life must be the living of His life,

our loves the loving of His heart.

But there is the other aspect of Christ’s Advent. While He remained hidden in Mary, His rest was a tremendous activity; He was making her into Himself, making Himself from her. From her eyes He was making the eyes that would weep over Jerusalem, that would shine upon the wild flowers, that would close in death and open on the morning of Resurrection.

From her hands He was making the hands that would heal and raise the dead and be nailed to the Cross. From her heart He was making the heart whose love would redeem the world.

The same thing occurs when, allowing the Infant Christ to rest in us, we wait patiently on His own timing of His growth in us, and give Him just what He asks, the extremely simple things that are ourselves – our hands and feet, our eyes and ears, our words, our thoughts, our love. Not only does He grow in us, but we are formed into Him.

(From Caryll Houselander: Wood of the Cradle; Wood of the Cross)

The post An Advent Meditation first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The easiest way to keep your peace of heart is to accept everything as coming directly from the hands of the God who loves you. lf you do this, any pain or persecution, anything which is difficult to accept will be transformed into a source of joy, happiness, and peace…

Silence and recollection are two very effective ways of bringing ourselves before the Lord and entering into the sanctuary of his love: ‘When peaceful silence lay over all, and night had run the half of her swift course, down from the heavens leapt your all-powerful Word.”

When a person comes to terms with his feelings, when he lives in God and walks by the light of faith, he has attained that stillness of the night which God is waiting for.  It is then that the Word of God comes to birth in him in a way which is entirely of the spirit entirely of God. Remain within your deepest self, in the interior kingdom of your spirit.

God is never outdone in generosity. lf your self-offering is sincere, and is made, no matter how you tremble in making it, he will then give you the grace you need. It is well, after making your self-offering, to pray very much to our Lady, and you know she has been through all this, and she is a great example of how to act with those you love.

+ Caryll Houselander

The post Rest in God first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The infant Christ is the whole Christ. Christ was not more God, more Christ, more man on the Cross than He was in His Mother’s womb. His first tear, His first smile, His first breath, His first pulsation in the womb of His Mother, could have redeemed the world. In fact, Christ chose the life of growth and work and suffering, and the death on the Cross which we know; but by His own choice all this was to depend on a human being giving herself to Him in His infancy, giving her own humanity to the actual making of that Infant’s humanity and giving Him her life in which to rest.

If every person in whom Christ lives at all, in whom He is an Infant – which means anyone whose soul is alive at all- surrendered themselves to Him, resting in Him so that He might rest in them, in each one of them the world’s redemption would begin as it began in Mary, the Mother of God. Christ is formed in us, and we are formed into Christ, when we rest in Him and He rests in us.            

During Advent Christ rested In Mary – still, silent, helpless, utterly dependent. The Creator trusted Himself to His creature. He trusted to her the expression of His love, the expression of God’s love for the world and of His love of His Father, just as the work of His love would be trusted to us, in His life in us.

He was dumb; her voice was His voice.

He was still; her footsteps were His journeys.

He was blind; her eyes were His seeing.

His hands were folded; her hands did the work of His hands.

His life was her life; His heartbeat was the beating of her heart.

This was a foreshadowing of what the Incarnation would mean for us; for in us, too, Christ rests as He rested in Mary. From the moment when the Christ-life is conceived in us, our life  is intended for one thing, the expression of His love, His love for God and for the world.

Our words are to be the words that He wants to speak;

we must go to wherever He wants to go,

we must see and look at whatever He wants to see and look at;

the work that our hands do must be the work that His hands want to do,

our life must be the living of His life,

our loves the loving of His heart.

But there is the other aspect of Christ’s Advent. While He remained hidden in Mary, His rest was a tremendous activity; He was making her into Himself, making Himself from her. From her eyes He was making the eyes that would weep over Jerusalem, that would shine upon the wild flowers, that would close in death and open on the morning of Resurrection.

From her hands He was making the hands that would heal and raise the dead and be nailed to the Cross. From her heart He was making the heart whose love would redeem the world.

The same thing occurs when, allowing the Infant Christ to rest in us, we wait patiently on His own timing of His growth in us, and give Him just what He asks, the extremely simple things that are ourselves – our hands and feet, our eyes and ears, our words, our thoughts, our love. Not only does He grow in us, but we are formed into Him.

(From Caryll Houselander: Wood of the Cradle; Wood of the Cross)

The post An Advent Meditation first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Neither Advent nor the tomb is Christ’s final rest in the world. He rests in the midst of the world now, in the Host. He is as silent, as secret and hidden, in the Host as He was in Advent or in the tomb. He trusts Himself to His creatures in the Host as He trusted Himself to our Lady in Advent; only then He gave Himself into the keeping of the one human creature who was sinless and in whom He could have His will, and now He gives Himself into the keeping of sinners.

In the Host He is immobile, dependent. He rests in the priest’s hands, on the paten, in the tabernacle. He remains with us, resting in all the cities and all the lonely and unexpected places of the world. Wherever human creatures are, He rests in their midst.

Christ could show His power and glory; He could show that the Host is God; He could break down the pride of those who have no fear of God. He does not. While injus­tice and arrogance prevail, He remains silent and helpless, and seems to do nothing at all. It has always been Christ’s way to come first in secret, to come in a hidden way, to be secret even in those in whom He abides, whose life He is, to be known first by His love, gradually becoming known by the quickening of His life

On Calvary Christ is set between two thieves; in Bethlehem He is set between two animals.

On Calvary He is poor, with the poverty of destitution; in Bethlehem He is poor, with the poverty of destitution. He is deprived of his home in Nazareth; the cradle made ready for Him is empty:

On Calvary He was naked, stripped of His garments and of all that He had; in Bethlehem He was naked and stripped of all that He had.

On Calvary He was stretched and straightened and fastened down to the Cross; in Bethlehem He was stretched out and straightened and fastened in swaddling bands.

On Calvary He was lifted up, helpless, and held up for men to look upon; in Bethlehem He was lifted up, helpless, to be gazed upon.

On Calvary He was laid upon a wooden cross; in Bethlehem He was laid in a wooden manger.

By the Cross stood Mary His Mother; by the crib knelt Mary His Mother.

He was crucified outside of the city wall; He was born outside of His own village and crowded out of Bethlehem:

At His birth He was called “King of the Jews”; at His death He was called “King of the Jews.” The claim to be king threatened His life in Bethlehem; the claim to be king cost Him His life in Jerusalem. Three times this mysterious title is heavy with doom: at His birth, His trial, and His death.

At His birth: “There came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to adore Him?” At His trial: “And Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked Him, saying: ‘Art thou the King of the Jews?”

At Bethlehem myrrh was brought to Him; and myrrh was brought to anoint His body for burial. Each time, it was brought by a rich man who came by night: first by the wise king and then by Nicodemus:

Another king brought incense: frankincense that was poured into a censer of gold and lit with a flame, filling the stable with an aromatic smell to mingle with the smell of hay and the ox’s breath of clover. Myrrh and frankincense were poured out for Him in Bethlehem; and spikenard and ointment were poured over His body in Bethania, for His burial.

There, in the stable at Bethlehem, began the lovely waste that is the extravagance of love, that is and will always be scandal to the loveless. Already, as the useless crown of gold that the infant’s head could not support shone at His feet, as clouds of incense hung in the rafters of the stable, and as the air grew fragrant with the smell of myrrh, the box of precious oint­ment was broken to anoint the Beloved for His burial.

At Bethlehem He was wrapped in swaddling bands and laid in a manger; on Calvary He was wrapped in swaddling bands and laid in a tomb.

Both the manger and the tomb were borrowed. Both had been made for their owners. They were not made for Christ. All that had been prepared for Him God had set aside. God chose what men should give to His Son.

In Bethlehem the Mother of Christ gave Christ’s human body to us. She had given her own flesh and blood to Him to be His flesh and blood. Now she gave herself to us in Him, by giving Him to us. She gave His body to cold, to thirst, to light and darkness, to sleep.

In Bethlehem began the thirst of Calvary, the terrible thirst caused by loss of blood, the thirst that withers the tongue and the hands and feet and the whole body.

In Bethlehem came the infant blindness; and blindness came again on Calvary, filling Christ’s eyes with the darkness of dying.

In Bethlehem Christ slept His first sleep in His Mother’s arms; on Calvary, Christ slept His last sleep in His Mother’s arms.

Christ came out of the darkness of the womb. He was the Light of the World. He came to give the world life. The life of the whole world burnt in the tiny flame of an infant’s life; it began the age-long fight with death in the least and frailest that human nature can be; in the helplessness, the littleness, the blindness of an infant, life prevailed. The Light of the World shone in darkness. At Bethlehem love and death met in the body of Christ, and love prevailed.

from Wood of the Cradle, Wood of the Cross by Caryll Houselander

The post The Real Presence: From Advent to the Host first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The marriage at Cana is a showing of the joy that Christ brought into the world.  Here at His Mother’s request, our Lord worked his first public miracle.  It is a delight to think that this first miracle was in no way connected with unhappiness.  It was not healing sickness, forgiving sins, or raising the dead; it was simply giving joy, more joy, to people who were already rejoicing…

It is true that a change of heart is the only thing that can begin to bring happiness back into the world. It is true too that it is not in our own power or strength to change our own hearts, and what is needed is a miracle.

First of all what must this change really be like? It must be an absolute change, a change like that which happens to a piece of grey cloth dipped into a crimson dye, and dyed all through. The symbol of the wine at Cana is apt: wine restores vigor to an exhausted man, warms him all through, brings color back to his face, gives him courage, softens his heart, takes away his sense of insufficiency, and sets him free.

The joy of God is a wine that changes the drab, cold, colorless substance of human nature into the rich, crimson, warm vitality of supernatural life. It changes discouragement to hope, doubt to faith, it lights up the mind and in its light men see that the problems of the world today, which seemed insurmountable, are straws in the power of God, and in his name even a creature as little and weak as man can overcome them.

How can such a change of heart happen? Only by a miracle, it is true, and who can work such a miracle but Christ? When a man comes to this world with Christ in his heart, he too can work this miracle in Christ’s name…Love when it is joyful radiates, a few reflect its light,  and the secret glory waxes into the world like morning into the sky.

+ Caryll Houselander

Our Lady: Causa Nostrae Laetitiae (Cause of Our Joy), pray for us!

The post Joy in God first appeared on AirMaria.com.