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School of Mary – Day #10: The Grace of God

apostolate — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:01:24 +0000

Day #10: The Grace of God

MARY: The mercy of God never abandons you, little creature; it has a way of overcoming your wretchedness and encompasses you with grace.

Grace is a supernatural gift of God with which he penetrates hearts, renews them, elevates them, transforms them into himself. What water is to the arid earth grace is for your heart. The Holy Spirit, who is the substantial love of the Father and the Son, consumes your misery with his gifts if only you cast it into those divine flames and thus he transforms you into a new being.

Grace is the support of human freedom because it is its guide, its help, its lifting up … Your soul is well established when it is under the influence of this divine grace.

Do you feel drowsy in your spirit? Lift your eyes up to God, call upon the Holy Spirit and beg him to awaken you to life and to divine love.

Do you feel depressed and disheartened? Call upon this infinite love in order to be lifted up; thus you will become accustomed to live in a spirit of continual offering and you will touch with your hand what is impossible to you, but very possible to the grace of God!

You see me so rich and great. You are astounded at this, yet all of this greatness was the work of the grace of God; you say this to me yourself in your greeting: Hail Mary, full of grace.

The grace of God is not frugal or stingy because it is the expansion of love.

You must, therefore, distrust yourself and trust much in the grace of God … Come to me, little flower of Jesus; I will rearrange your little leaves, I will revive you, I will immerse you in the mercy of Jesus. God has made me the channel of that grace which must enrich and enliven you.

ASPIRATION: Mary, Mother of grace, have pity on me.

LITTLE WORK: Recite five Hail Marys to beg from the Heart of Mary a treasure of graces.

About the Meditations

The daily School of Mary meditations come from the book, A Month with Mary, written by a holy Italian priest Father Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970). Originally written as spiritual thoughts to his spiritual daughter, the work is comprised of thirty-one meditations for the month of May.

Father Dolindo wrote A Month with Mary on pocket-sized pages joined into small fascicles of 8 to 12 pages. He sent them to Laura de Rosis every two to three days and later transcribed them with some modifications in volume III of his autobiography: The Story of My Life in the Plan of the Great Mercy of God, pp. 1140ff (cf. Epistolario 1:212n, 218n). This work is from 1912: one of those years which passed in the life of Father Dolindo with the cadence of a ‘Way of the Cross’. But he, serene as ever, loved Christ the more, loved Our Lady the more and reflected on this love in these few pages to which he wished to give the significant title: A Profound Reform of Heart in the School of Mary. These meditations are written in the style of the Imitation of Christ. (90pp. laminated gloss, saddle stitch)

To obtain a copy of A Month with Mary or other books published by the Academy of the Immaculate, visit our on-line bookstore at http://www.marymediatrix.com/bookstore/academy

Ave Maria!

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Cause of Our Joy! The Nativity of Mary

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:00:30 +0000

Ave Maria Mediations

September 8th: Nativity of Mary,

the CAUSE OF OUR JOY

Causa nostrae laetitiae, ora pro nobis

CAUSE OF OUR JOY

(1) MARY, we greet you as the Cause of our Joy because you brought forth the Redeemer and thereby shared in the work of our redemption. Your Son Jesus is the only cause of our joy, for He alone redeemed us from sin and hell, reconciled us with God and opened for us a pathway to heaven. If our first mother Eve had not consented to the temptation of Satan, sin with all its evil consequences would not have entered into the world. Eve was the cause of sin and perdition.

Having given your consent to become the Mother of God, you also became the cause of our joy, for you cooperated in the work of our redemption. Your great sanctity consists in a perfect conformity of your thoughts and will with the thoughts and will of God. You shared with God that wonderful com?passion in the sacrifice of His Son, and you gave and offered for us the Son of God, who was also your Son, with the same love and willingness as God did. Though you loved Jesus with all your heart, it was even your wish that He should suffer and die for us, because you knew that our redemption was only possible through His Passion and death.

You sacrificed your Son, whom you loved more dearly than heaven and earth ana your own life. And I value my salvation so little that I will make no sacrifice for it! In order to save my soul, help me to overcome every evil habit and inordinate desire and to shun every dangerous occasion of sin.

(2) MARY, through you God distributfS to us all the graces we need for our salvation. God made you His treasurer. He filled you with all graces that through you as through a channel men might obtain every blessing. God has deposited in you the fulness of all his blessings, to teach us that all hope, all grace, and salvation come to us through your hands. For this reason the Church applies to you the words of the Book of Wisdom: “In me is all hope of life and virtue;” “in me is all grace of life and of truth;” “he who finds me, finds life and draws salvation from the Lord.”

Cause of Our Joy, how much God desires us to know you! How I should always have recourse to you and place my confidence in your help! May I always appeal to you when I desire to obtain a grace, that it may the more surely be granted to me and be a source of true joy to my soul. When I appeal to the Saints, or your Son, I know that the grace I receive from Him will be given to me through your hands.

(3) MARY, you take the deepest interest in our wel?fare and obtain for us pardon and salvation. You are like the rainbow which God caused to appear in the sky as a messenger of peace to men after the deluge and which rejoiced their hearts. As God on behold?ing the rainbow was reminded of His covenant, so through your intercession He forgives sinners their offences against Him and makes peace with them.

The Church applies to you the words of the Canticle: “Thou art fair as the moon.” As the moon is between heaven and earth, so you stand between God and man, that you may pacify heaven, enlighten sinners, and lead them back to God. God Himself has given you the power of helping the miserable.

Cause of Our Joy, may my greatest happiness be to possess the love and grace of God; my greatest glory to be a disciple of Jesus and a child of yours. I rejoice in this happiness and exult in this glory. Let not human pride and worldly desires keep me from perfect devotion to you and your Son.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, Father of mercies and God of all consolation, grant in Your loving kindness that we who joyfully venerate on earth Mary, Your most pure Mother, as our comforter, may deserve to enjoy with her the unending happiness of heaven. Who live and reign forever. Amen.

Fr. Lawrence Lovasik

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Signs of Credibility – Mar 15 – Homily – Fr Josemaria

apostolate — Thu, 15 Mar 2018 11:00:20 +0000

Fr Josemaria gives the homily at Bloomington, IN on Mar 15 on how Jesus gives us signs that help us to believe in Him, that it is not a blind leap but the grace of faith works with our reason.

Ave Maria!

Mass: Thursday 4th Week of Lent – Wkdy
Readings:
1st: exo 32:7-14
Resp: psa 106:19-20, 21-22, 23
Gsp: joh 5:31-47

More on the Readings: http://dev.airmaria.com/r?m=1761

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Mary, Humility & the Spiritual Life – Feb 10 – Homily – Fr Ignatius

apostolate — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 15:01:55 +0000

Fr Ignatius gives the homily at Bloomington, IN on Feb 10 on how the Virgin Mary exemplifies the virtue of humility, which is the deep foundation of the spiritual life, capstoned with the towering virtue of charity.

Ave Maria!

Mass: 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Shortened) – Sunday
Readings:
1st: isa 6:1-8
Resp: psa 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8
2nd: 1co 15:3-8, 11
Gsp: luk 5:1-11

More on the Readings: http://dev.airmaria.com/r?m=850

Also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/90378558559/videos/245415726340378
and YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6LqHThSglI

Audio on AirMaria: http://dev.airmaria.com/?post=70250

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By the Grace of God – Jun 09 – Homily – Fr Ignatius

apostolate — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 11:00:19 +0000

Fr Ignatius gives the homily at Bloomington, IN on Jun 09, 2021, on how God gives the graces that we need to live up to the great works that He wants us to do and to the extent that we pray for and cooperate with these graces.

Ave Maria!

Mass: Wednesday 10th Week of Ordinary Time – Wkdy
Readings: – http://usccb.org/bible/readings/060921.cfm
1st: 2co 3:4-11
Resp: psa 99:5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Gsp: mat 5:17-19

More on the Readings: http://dev.airmaria.com/r?m=1415

Also on Facebook: https://fb.watch/60xFHoCwo_/
and YouTube: https://youtu.be/TTruHGCLITA

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FS #65: Man in Franciscan Spirituality, Part 11 – Feb 19 – Homily – Fr Terrance

apostolate — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 12:03:14 +0000

Fr Terrance gives the homily at Bloomington, IN, on Feb 19, 2024, where he focuses once again on the Franciscan view of the nature of a person, but this time on how grace is a free and unearned gift from God that elevates human nature towards eternal life. This continues his series and the subsection, “Man in Franciscan Spirituality,” humanity’s role in God’s plan.

Father talks about how in Franciscan teaching, God’s grace is like a free gift that we can’t earn with money or actions. He explains that even though we naturally long for something beyond our world, only God can fulfill this longing by giving us grace. This grace is special because it’s given freely by God, making us capable of being closer to Him and living a life that leads to heaven. Franciscan thinkers like John Duns Scotus and St. Bonaventure have said that grace is all about God’s generosity, not what we do to deserve it. Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection are the ultimate examples of this gift, offering us a way to become part of God’s family. Father ends by suggesting we look to Mary for help in staying close to God’s grace every day.

00:00 – Introduction to the Gratuitousness of Grace in Franciscan Spirituality
00:40 – Human Nature’s Disposition Towards Receiving God’s Grace
02:44 – The Role of Divine Intervention in Bestowing Grace
03:48 – Emphasizing the Unmerited Nature of Grace
04:47 – Distinguishing Grace from Natural Endowments
06:04 – The Incarnation as the Ultimate Expression of Gratuitous Grace
07:11 – Christ’s Merit as the Basis for Our Adoption as Children of God
07:27 – Achieving Union with God Through Grace and the Mystical Body of Christ

This is a continuation of his series of homilies on Franciscan Spirituality – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNN151zTIO4&list=PLejh_e0-LN4xgMllKrzSasL2Hljd5BHom
and the subsection “Man in Franciscan Spirituality.”

The material for this series comes primarily from Ciccarelli, Marciano M., “I capisaldi della spiritualità francescana” in Italian, which translates as “The Cornerstones of Franciscan Spirituality.” No English translations of this book exist at the time of this recording.

Ave Maria!

Mass: Monday 1st Week of Lent – Wkdy
Readings: – http://usccb.org/bible/readings/021924.cfm
1st: lev 19:1-2, 11-18
Resp: psa 19:8-10, 15
Gsp: mat 25:31-46

More on the Readings: http://dev.airmaria.com/r?m=1740

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and YouTube: https://youtu.be/vAqhJt_CMh0

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