Category: Mary

A golden moment

Sr. Dorcee, beloved6 Comments

There are so many artistic depictions of the Annunciation, but one of my all-time favorites is one that a good friend of mine gave me a few years ago.  You can see it below.  Not too long afterward I came across a poem by Luci Shaw that seemed to have been written for it.  I share that with you as well.  Thank you, Mary, for your earth-changing yes. . .

Annunciation (golden) 001Virgin

As if until that moment
nothing real
had happened since Creation

As if outside the world were empty
so that she and he were all
there was–he mover, she moved upon

As if her submission were the most
dynamic of all works; as if
no one had ever said Yes like that

As if that day the sun had no place
in all the universe to pour its gold
but her small room

(Luci Shaw)

Let it be done unto me

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

One of the best prayers my spiritual director ever taught me to say was Mary’s “Let it be done unto me according to your word.”  A very simple prayer, but absolutely life-changing.  The part that he particularly focussed on with me was the “Let it be done” part.  All I had to do was give God permission to do what He wanted to do, to let Him do it in me.  There are many, many times when I simply do not understand what He is about in my life.  (Now is one of them.)  I like to understand what God is about in my life.  The reality, however, is that I seldom have a real clue. With this prayer, I don’t need to understand.  I simply need to surrender to what He is about.   As long as He knows, that’s really all that is necessary.  He will guide me, even in hidden ways.

With the Feast of the Annunciation approaching, it’s a good time to remember the example Mary set for us in her response to what, certainly, was not something she fully understood.

“Let it penetrate your heart”

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

On this great gift of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I can’t help but post Mary’s beautiful words to Juan Diego, words that she speaks to each one of us:

“Listen, and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little son; do not be troubled or weighted down with grief. Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?”

 
“Let it penetrate your heart.”

The meaning of Mary’s “fiat”

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

I have been a faithful reader of Restoration, the monthly newsletter of Madonna House in Combermere, ON, for years.  I always read it from cover to cover.  One of my favorite columnists is Fr. Pat McNulty.  He’s one of the “salt of the earth.”  I thought I would share with you one of his Advent columns from past years.  His topic was the meaning of the word fiat, spoken by Mary in response to the angel at her Annunciation.  You can read it here.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

“Shining, whole, and Godward-turned”

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I have many reasons to be thankful for this feast, that of the Immaculate Conception.  The first is that Christ was able to find someone who would give Him “an eager welcome”, who in no way would reject Him because of a sinful nature, who was pure love because He first loved us [her], because she received His love without hindrance.  And secondly, we can have great hope because in her we can see the promise God has for each of us.  Someday, through all the purifications and trials of this life, through our faltering yeses to Him, we shall become like her: “shining, whole, and Godward-turned.”  Someday, He will see His image clearly in us as well.   And someday we will never refuse His love for us.  O, sweet Mother, intercede for us.  We do thank Him for you.

December Eighth

 Beloved, Mother of us all,
Today we remember
That, of all earth’s millions,
You, Mary, in the womb,
Were shining, whole,
And Godward-turned.
You only, O Morning Star,
Lighted the clouds of sin and waiting.
You only, Immaculate Ark,
Glided above the depths of the primal curse;
For you were to bear safely over those waters
Emmanuel, your little Son, from whose baby hand
Streams the rainbow up which we climb to God.
You only, little white moon, are the crystal
Reflection of our Sun.
But for your whiteness, O Gate of Heaven,
We had never entered, nor seen our God.
But for your loveliness, O Mystic Rose,
We had never breathed the Rose of Sharon.
White Tower of David, Ivory Tower,
Princess whose beauty lured Love’s kiss when life began,
Mother, who died a thousand deaths for us,
We thank Him for you.
To-day, when He smiles to see His image in you, clear,
Remember us.

~Sr. St. Francis S.S.J. 
 (Robert, Cyril. Mary Immaculate: God’s Mother and Mine. New York: Marist Press, 1946.)

“Mary-darkness, faith’s walled place”

Sr. Dorcee, beloved2 Comments

This Sunday’s poem is one by Jessica Powers, written in 1948:

Advent

I live my Advent in the womb of Mary.
And on one night when a great star swings free
from its high mooring and walks down the sky
to be the dot above the Christus i,
I shall be born of her by blessed grace.
I wait in Mary-darkness, faith’s walled place,
with hope’s expectance of nativity.

I knew for long she carried me and fed me,
guarded and loved me, though I could not see.
But only now, with inward jubilee,
I come upon earth’s most amazing knowledge:
someone is hidden in this dark with me.

               ~Jessica Powers, The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, p. 81.

A pure transparent pool

Sr. Dorcee, beloved3 Comments

I’ve been thinking about how I would answer my own query at the end of yesterday’s post, and one thing that immediately came to mind that brings beauty into my own life is a little photo album of art prints and such that I have collected.  For many of them I have an accompanying quote on the facing page.  Often I use it as an accompaniment in prayer, a source of meditation.  One example of this can be found here.  And here is another example:

I find this image of Mary quite beautiful.  Its title is Mary, the Mother and Consolation of the Grieving.   The following is the poem I have placed opposite it:

THE POOL OF GOD

There was nothing in the Virgin’s soul
that belonged to the Virgin–
no word, no thought, no image, no intent.
She was a pure, transparent pool reflecting
God, only God.
She held His burnished day; she held His night
of planet-glow or shade inscrutable.
God was her sky and she who mirrored Him
became His firmament.

When I so much as turn my thoughts toward her
my spirit is enisled in her repose.
And when I gaze into her selfless depths
an anguish in me grows
to hold such blueness and to hold such fire.
I pray to hollow out my earth and be
filled with these waters of transparency.
I think that one could die of this desire,
seeing oneself dry earth or stubborn sod.
Oh, to become a pure soul like the Virgin,
water that lost the semblances of water
and was a sky like God.
~Jessica Powers

In moments of weariness

Sr. Dorcee, beloved1 Comment

I find it comforting to know that Mary is always there as a mother for us to turn to:

della Robbia VisitationAnd in moments of weariness, raise your eyes to Mary, the Virgin who, forgetting herself, set out ‘with haste’ for the hills to reach her elderly cousin Elizabeth who was in need of help and assistance.  Let her be the inspiration of your daily dedication to duty; let her suggest to you the right words and opportune gestures at the bedside of the sick; let her comfort you in misunderstandings and failures, helping you always keep a smile on your face and a hope in your heart.  (John Paul II, Rome 1979)

Which reminds me of another wonderful quote, this time from Bernard:

O you, whoever you are, who feel that in the tidal wave of this world you are nearer to being tossed about among the squalls and gales than treading on dry land, if you do not want to founder in the tempest, do not avert your eyes from the brightness of this star. When the wind of temptation blows up within you, when you strike upon the rock of temptation, gaze up at this star, call out to Mary. Whether you are being tossed about by the waves of pride or ambition or slander or jealousy, gaze up at this star, call out to Mary. When rage or greed or fleshly desires are battering the skiff of your soul, gaze up at Mary. When the immensity of your sins weighs you down and you are bewildered by the loathsomeness of your conscience, when the terrifying thought of judgment appalls you and you begin to founder in the gulf of sadness and despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in hardships, in every doubt, think of Mary, call out to Mary. Keep her in your mouth, keep her in your heart. Follow the example of her life and you will obtain the favor of her prayer. Following her, you will never go astray. Asking her help, you will never despair. Keeping her in your thoughts, you will never wander away. With your hand in hers, you will never stumble. With her protecting you, you will not be afraid. With her leading you, you will never tire. Her kindness will see you through to the end.

“A clean and shining beauty of soul”

Mary has “a clean and shining beauty of soul.”

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I can’t write about beauty without, of course, saying something about Mary, the Mother of God, who as John Saward says: “In face and grace, Mary is like Jesus.”

umilen3St. Cyril of Alexandria calls our Lady kallitokos as well as theotokos, “bearer of Him who is true beauty” as well as “bearer of Him who is true God.”

Grace, as the poet [Hopkins] says, is “God’s better beauty,” the splendor of the soul . . . “O pure Theotokos”, sings the Byzantine Church on the feast of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple, “thou hast a clean and shining beauty of soul, and art filled from Heaven with the grace of God” (the Festal Menaion).  Grace conforms the soul into the likeness of Christ.  So it is with Mary.

       (John Saward, The Holiness of Beauty and the Beauty of Holiness, p. 122)