Our Blessed Mother Is Quick To Respond

Why are the prayers of Mary so highly regarded by God?  Let us remember that the prayers of the saints are the prayers of His servants.  But the prayers of Mary are the prayers of His Mother.  This is the reason for their efficacy and authority.  Since Jesus has an incredible love for His Mother, He responds to her every request...

To go deeper in our understanding of Mary's importance, we need only turn to the Gospel text…the wine failed at the marriage feast of Cana.  The bridal party was at risk of great embarrassment.  No one asked Mary to become involved, to seek her Son's assistance.  Here we see the heart of Mary quick to respond with sympathy for the family…she takes the task of intercession upon herself.  Acting on her own initiative, she asked Jesus for a miracle…

If this was her way of acting when no one had asked her for help, what will be her response to those who pray for her intercession? 

 

St. Alphonsus Liguori

The Rosary - Make It Part of Your Arsenal

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Of all the devotions to Mary, the rosary is the best.  In fact, as a means of holiness, apart from the Mass and the sacraments, there is nothing more powerful than the rosary…That is because the rosary keeps before me the great truths of the Catholic religion.

 Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S.

External and Interior Mortifications

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External mortification [of our sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch] is necessary in order  to mortify the disorderly appetites and senses of the body, and interior mortification of our passions [love, hatred, desire, aversion, joy, sadness, courage, fear, hope, despair and anger] is necessary in order to mortify the irregular affections of the soul.  Interior mortification is more excellent than exterior, both because it has a nobler object, the soul and its powers, and because the exterior ought to proceed from the interior. 

 Father Charles Hugo Doyle 

Pick Up The Cross He Sends You

The Everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His innermost heart. This cross He now sends you is considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with loving arms and weighed with His own hands, to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His Holy Name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last look at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God. 

Prayer of St. Francis de Sales