Fr Terrance gives the homily at Bloomington, IN on Mar 09 on how Jesus has called all of us sinners to conversion, in fact, three conversion each involving some consolation and crisis which constitute a Metanoia, a full conversion of the heart.

1 Conversion of Beginner – Usually due to some crisis a soul changes from a life of sin to one of grace, from world to God, becomes a spiritual beginner, with start of a fear of God and God gives consolation and draws the soul closer to Him.

Then, to bring souls closer to Him, God eventually brings a new crisis called Night of the senses.  He takes the consolation from the soul, prolonged and great periods of aridity in the senses both spiritual and worldly. Cannot contemplate God mentally, but can only do simple regard of God. This leads to

2 Conversion of Proficient – See the goodness of God in what he does and that He is in charge, Gift of understanding. Wins over the soul’s intelligence, simplifying and increasing love of God, increasing of virtues and perfection, with higher contemplation and apostolic activity. But includes for our further a crisis of “night of the spirit” to love God and others for God’s sake.

3  Conversion of Perfection

General outline from Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange. The Three Conversions of the Spiritual Life, also called the Three Ways of the Spiritual Life, 5th Chapter. https://www.ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/3WAYS.TXT

Ave Maria!

Mass: Saturday after Ash Wednesday – Wkdy
Readings: 
1st: isa 58:9-14
Resp: psa 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 0
Gsp: luk 5:27-32

More on the Readings: http://dev.airmaria.com/r?m=1652

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Ave Maria Meditations

Can it be said of Mary, since her Assumption especially, and her crowning in heaven, that she shares in God’s universal Kingship in the sense that she is Queen of all creatures in subordination to Christ?

Jesus Christ is King of the universe, even as man, in virtue of His Divine Personality. But Mary as Mother of God made man belongs to the hypostatic order and shares in the dignity of her Son, for His Person is the term of her divine motherhood. Hence she shares connaturally, as mother of God, and His universal Kingship. Our Blessed Lord owes it to Himself to recognize His Mother’s title in gratitude.

A second argument is that Jesus is King of the universe by His fullness of grace and by the victory which He won over satan and sin by His humility and His obedience unto death… But Mary was associated with His victory over satan, sin and death by her union with Him and His humiliations and sufferings. She is therefore really associated with Him in his Kingship. Mary is therefore associated with His Kingship in a true, even if in a subordinate manner.

Her queenship extends to the demons too who are obliged to recognize her power, for she can make their temptations cease, and save souls from their snares, and can repulse their attacks. “The demons suffer more”, says St. Grignon de Montfort, “from being conquered by the humility of Mary then by the omnipotence of God.”

Mary has a radical right to universe of queenship by the fact of her divine motherhood, but the divine plan was that she should merit also by her union with her suffering Son, and that she should not exercise it fully before being crowned queen of all creation in heaven. Her royalty is spiritual and supernatural rather than temporal and natural, though it extends in a secondary way to temporal affairs considered in their relation to salvation and sanctification. We have seen how Mary exercises her queenship on earth. She exercises it in heaven also. Thus  Mary’s queenship is truly universal.

+Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.

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Ave Maria Meditations

The reason why Mary was given a fullness of grace from the first instant was that she might be able to conceive the Man-God in holiness. By uttering her fiat with the utmost generosity on the day of the Annunciation in spite of the sufferings which she knew had been foretold of the Messiah, it was given her, too, that she might bring forth her Child while remaining a virgin and that she might surround Him with the most motherly and most holy devotion.

It was given her, finally, that she might unite herself to Him in closest conformity of will, as only a most holy mother can, during His hidden life, His apostolic life, and His suffering life and that she might utter her second fiat most heroically at the foot of the cross, with Him, by Him, and in Him.

The divine maternity postulates intimate friendship with God. Since a mother is bound both by a law of nature and an express precept to love her son, and he to love her, Mary and Jesus love each other mutually; and since the maternity in question here is supernatural, the love must be of the same order. But this means that it is a sanctifying love, since by the fact that God loves a soul, He makes it lovable and sanctifies it.

There is thus the most complete conformity between the will of Mary and her Son’s oblation which was, as it were, the soul of the sacrifice of the Cross.

Finally, she was predestined from all eternity to the highest degree of glory after Jesus, The reason is that she was predestined first of all to be His most worthy Mother, and to retain that title during eternity after having enjoyed it in time.

+Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange

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The reason why Mary was given a fullness of grace from the first instant was that she might be able to conceive the Man-God in holiness. By uttering her fiat with the utmost generosity on the day of the Annunciation in spite of the sufferings which she knew had been foretold of the Messiah, it was given her, too, that she might bring forth her Child while remaining a virgin and that she might surround Him with the most motherly and most holy devotion. 

It was given her, finally, that she might unite herself to Him in closest conformity of will, as only a most holy mother can, during His hidden life, His apostolic life, and His suffering life and that she might utter her second fiat most heroically at the foot of the cross, with Him, by Him, and in Him.

The divine maternity postulates intimate friendship with God. Since a mother is bound both by a law of nature and an express precept to love her son, and he to love her, Mary and Jesus love each other mutually; and since the maternity in question here is supernatural, the love must be of the same order. But this means that it is a sanctifying love, since by the fact that God loves a soul, He makes it lovable and sanctifies it.

There is thus the most complete conformity between the will of Mary and her Son’s oblation which was, as it were, the soul of the sacrifice of the Cross. Finally, she was predestined from all eternity to the highest degree of glory after Jesus, The reason is that she was predestined first of all to be His most worthy Mother, and to retain that title during eternity after having enjoyed it in time.

+Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange

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The Lord is coming; I place myself in His presence and go to meet Him with all the energy of my will. This coming was expected for long ages; it was foretold by the prophets, and desired by all the just who were not granted to see its dawn. The Church commemorates and renews this expectation with each recurring Advent, expressing this longing to the Savior who is to come…

The spirit of the Advent liturgy, commemorating the age long expectation of the Redeemer, will prepare us to celebrate the mystery of the Word made flesh by arousing in each one of us an intimate, personal expectation of the renewed coming of Christ to our soul. This coming is accomplished by grace; to the degree in which grace develops in us, it becomes more copious, more penetrating, until it transforms the soul. Advent is a season of waiting in a fervent longing for the Redeemer…

I want to keep Advent in my soul, that is, a continual longing and waiting for this great mystery where are You, O Word, become flesh to show me the abyss of Your redeeming, sanctifying mercy.

+Fr. Garrigou Lagrange.

The post Entering into Advent first appeared on AirMaria.com.

God the Father communicated to His Son the divine nature. Mary gave Him a human nature, subject to pain and death, in which to redeem us. But Mary’s Son is the only begotten Son of the Father and in that consists the whole grandeur of her maternity…

The reason why Mary was given a fullness of grace from the first incident was that she might be an able to conceive the Man-God in holiness, by uttering her fiat with the utmost generosity on the day of the Annunciation in spite of the sufferings which she knew had been foretold of the Messiah; it was given her, too, that she might bring forth her child while remaining a virgin, that she might surround Him with the most motherly and most holy devotion. It was given her, finally, that she might unite herself to Him in the closest conformity, as only a most holy mother can, during His hidden life, His apostolic life, and His suffering life… that she might utter her second Fiat most heroically at the foot of the cross, with Him, by Him, and in Him…

There is this the most complete conformity between the will of Mary and her Son’s oblation which was, as it were, the soul of the Sacrifice of the Cross.

+Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O. P.

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The opinion that Saint Joseph is the greatest of the Saints after Our Lady is one which is becoming daily more commonly held in the Church. We do not hesitate to look on the humble carpenter as higher in grace and eternal glory than the patriarchs and the greatest of the prophets- than St. John the Baptist, the apostles, the martyrs and the great doctors of the Church. He who is least in the depth of his humility is, because of the interconnection of the virtues, the greatest in the height of his charity: he is the lesser among you all, he is the greater.

Pope Leo XIII in an encyclical wrote, “the dignity of the Mother of God is so elevated that there can be no higher created one. But since Saint Joseph was united to the Blessed Virgin by the (marriage) bond, there is no doubt that he approached near than any other to that super eminent dignity of hers by which the Mother of God surpasses all created natures. (Marital) union is the greatest of all; by its very nature. It is accompanied by a reciprocal communication of the goods of the spouses. If then God gave Saint Joseph to Mary to be her spouse, He certainly did not give him merely as a companion in life, a witness of her virginity, a guardian of her honor, but He made him also participate by the (marriage) bond in the eminent dignity, which was hers.

+Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange from The Mother of the Savior and our Interior Life

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