The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2016 J.M.J. November 21, 2016 The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Dear Family of Mary! Today we remember the Sacred Tradition of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple. Mary’s parents, Ann and Joachim, had prayed to God for a child, and promised to offer that child to His service. And so when Mary was about 3 years old, they brought her to the Temple to server and pray. It is said that Mary attained perfect reason at a very early age, and so she could make this same offering herself. How brave Mary must have been! Our Lady sometimes gives us glimpses into her life in her messages. She tells us things about herself as a way to teach us how we should be. Here is one such messages: March 18, 2016 “Dear children, with a motherly heart filled with love for you, my children, I desire to teach you complete trust in God the Father. I desire for you to learn by an internal gaze and internal listening to follow God’s will. I desire for you to learn to boundlessly trust in His mercy and His love, as I always trusted. Therefore, my children, cleanse your hearts. Free yourselves from everything that binds you to only what is earthly and permit what is of God to form your life by your prayer and sacrifice so that God’s Kingdom may be in your heart; that you may begin to live proceeding from God the Father; that you may always strive to walk with my Son. But for all of this, my children, you must be poor in spirit and filled with love and mercy. You must have pure and simple hearts and always be ready to serve. My children, listen to me, I speak for your salvation. Thank you.” Each line of this messages seems to come from what Our Lady learned as she served in the Temple as a child. She must have been taught “complete trust in God the Father”as she lived those early years away from her parents. She must have learned how to follow God’s will by “an internal gaze and internal listening!” Without her parents to turn to, Our Lady must have gone deep into prayer. She tells us, “I desire for you to learn to boundlessly trust in His mercy and His love, as I always trusted.” She wants us to follow her example of trust in God. Her life in service in the Temple must have required a high degree of trust in the Lord. She continues with such good advice: “Cleanse your hearts…” “Free yourselves from everything that binds you to only what is earthly…” “Permit what is of God to form your life by your prayer and sacrifice…” We can imagine that life in the Temple was not easy, and helped Mary to grow in mature self-donation to God. “…that you may begin to live proceeding from God the Father…” “…That you may always strive to walk with my son…” “…But for all of this, my children, you must be poor in spirit and filled with love and mercy. You must have pure and simple hearts and always be ready to serve….” Our Lady lived this way from her very early life, and she knows what she is talking about. If we imagine her living in the temple, serving and praying day in and day out, these words take on a depth of meaning for us. She was prepared to be the Mother of Jesus through her sacrificial life in the Temple, her poverty of spirit was deep, enabling her to endure the hardships and loneliness her life there entailed. Our Lady never expects anything of us that she has not already lived!! Little Mary, teach us by your Presentation in the Temple, to follow your example. Help us to trust in the Father completely, boundlessly, as you did. Help us to cleanse our hearts, freeing them from what is earthly, so that we can be formed by the Lord through prayer and sacrifice. Help us to learn to live our lives proceeding from the Father and walking with your Son. Pray that we can be poor in spirit as you are. That we will have pure and simple hearts that are always ready to serve. We want to become pure and simple like You, Mother. Please don’t give up on us, but pour out the graces that God gives you upon us. We honor you, O Blessed Virgin Mary. Make our hearts like your heart! Amen. In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2016