Its maybe no accident you mention this on the day he is to be canonised, Mj. I would love to see Goa. I'd say maybe Francis Xavier was a saint amongst saints. John Paul as well.
Our Lady promised me that she would, teach me to p[ray and the way she chose to do so was through the rosary and Ithink the Rosary is the great doorway to understanding Mary. The constant gentle repetition of prayer is like a breathing of the Holy Spirit in and out and and out, leading us to Heaven-on-Earth Eternal Prayer, never ending prayer, for that is what heaven is ,the Eternal Feast of Never Ending Prayer, the Great Prayer. One of the Church Fathers wrote that, 'God became man, that man might become God'; that through the action of the Holy Spirit we should rise, through one degree of GLory into the next into the image of Christ. Mary in a sense comes to us that she might leave us. She comes so that she might go that her Son might live in us through us with us. This is the true Motherhood of Mary she gives birth again to Christ in us. Then having raised her son like all good mothers she lets her children lead their own lives. This is the mistake that people who see objections to Devotion to Mary as an obstacle to following Christ; it is not, Mary comes to lead us to Jesus, to make us Jesus. She underlines Christs role, she never undermines it. We imitate Mary most in prayer for it is in prayer we give brith to Christ in oour hearts. We nourish Him and in a real way become Mothers and Fathers to Him. Mary is the Queen of Contemplative prayer the gentle breathing and imbibing of the Holy Spirit. She has given herself to totally to God that she is the Breath of the Hoy Spirit. The one thing about Mary which really surprised me is that she likes me. Which might sound like a funny thing to say; it would seem more correct to say, 'She loves us'. But we use the word, 'Love' so casually these days; we say , I love my house, I love that food, I loved those holidays, I love my cat ..or whatever. So that the word, 'Love' has often become debased. So when we hear that God loves us or that Our Lady loves us we tend to think of it in the category of, yes she loves us like a garden, a good movie a pet dog, remotely or at a distance. For with so many uncounted billions for her to be a mother too how could she really know us? How could she have so much love. But with God all things are possible and with MAry the impossible has become possible. I found this out because although I discovered she knew me intimately every little thing about me including the huge amount of bad things; still she LIKED me ..and you know I found this overwhelming. We talk of likig or disliking so easily. But Marys liking is the liking of a mother it goes hand in hand with her love, for she knew us in our mothers womb, she knows EVERYTHING about us and likes us. She is a mother a real mother. She knows us through and through and cherishs each and every one of us. She likes us.
You know Padraig, sometimes i think it is hard for people to think of having another "mom" other than their own, or same as their own. That is what Mary is and that is the relationship we should try to have with her. You put it beautifully when you described how she not only loves you, she "likes" you! I think some have experienced how it feels when your parents, though they love you, don't "like" you. Sometimes it is just for a moment in time, sometimes it is for a long period of time, and this is hard on a child when they think their parent doesn't like them. Back to my original thought...I think maybe it is hard for some to have more than one mom...what do you think? I am adopted, and i now actually know my birth-mom. But all my life I still knew she was out there somewhere, and I loved her too. I am comfortable having two very real moms...well, now three with Mary. But many people ask me how I can deal with that. How can I have two moms in my heart like that? People have a hard time sharing their love sometimes...maybe it is kind of like the three persons in one God dilemma. How can each be all, and yet be three? How can a person love three completely, yet separately and differently, yet the same? I can't explain it either, but I do it...birth-mom, adopted mom, Mary-mom, three I love all fully, yet differently, yet the same...whew!!! Does that make any sense, that some people just have trouble with this? Am I rambling now?
