…by leading me to her Son. And I can’t count how many times praying her Rosary has given me peace, when nothing else would take away the anxiety and emotional distress. She is definitely the “Star of the Sea” for lost souls trying to find their way through the darkness of life.
Conversion is an ongoing thing. Mary wants us to be converted; that word comes from the Latin meaning “to turn.” To turn to whom? Mary is calling everyone to turn to Jesus, be with Jesus, walk with Jesus, pray trusting in Jesus. She is calling us to faith stronger than death. What is such faith? Faith goes way beyond assent to the truth that God has revealed. It is holding on to Jesus. It is being with Jesus. It is accepting the love of Jesus and trying to respond to it however I can. That’s faith. That’s the faith to which Mary calls us. –Father Robert Faricy
I’ve been struggling through some personal dark times… feelings of exhaustion and inadequacy, that I don’t really have anything left to give… disappointment and loneliness, that the faith of many is growing cold or lukewarm, and that the Gospel message is constantly being choked by the world, the flesh, and the devil. But when I look to the Immaculate Mother, I have hope again. Her purity refreshes my soul. She offers her pierced heart as an example of authentic love. She will always serve God, and the consequence is opposition from the evil one. No one has suffered in union with God’s love as she has…
She, oh! She, My pure Mother, bore Me not only for the nine months during which every woman bears the fruit of man, but for all Her life. Our hearts were united by spiritual fibres and they always beat together, and no motherly tear ever fell without leaving a trace of its salt on My heart, and there has never been any internal moaning of Mine that did not resound in Her, awakening Her grief.
You feel sorry for the mother of a son destined to death by an incurable disease, for the mother of a man condemned to death by the rigour of human justice. But think of My Mother Who, from the moment She conceived Me, trembled considering that I was the Condemned One, think of this Mother Who, when She gave Me Her first kiss on the delicate rosy flesh of Her new-born baby, felt the future wounds of Her Child, think of this Mother Who would have given Her life ten, a hundred, a thousand times to prevent Me from becoming a Man and arriving at the moment of the Sacrifice, think of this Mother Who was aware of and had to desire that dreadful hour to accept the will of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord, out of kindness towards Mankind. No, there has been no agony that lasted longer and ended in a greater grief than My Mother’s. –Jesus, in private revelation given to Maria Valtorta
I owe so much to this great Mother… but I’m still like a baby, unable to walk on my own, needing to take comfort in her arms. I pray that she leads me to grow in virtue, to become a saint. I believe she suffers when any of her children suffer… so let us not complain, and let us not bear resentments for our hurts, which only serve to add to her suffering for us. Following the example of her fiat, we console the Sacred Heart of Jesus with every sacrifice, with every act of charity, accepted willingly for love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
