July 22, 2020 Reflection – The Presence of God
In the Presence of God (c) Mary TV July 22, 2020 St. Mary Magdalene Dear Family of Mary! Today is the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene! She is a wonderful saint. When she encountered Jesus, she became one of the women who followed Him, and took care of his needs out of their own means. She was present with our Lady at the foot of the Cross. And she was the first to see Jesus after the Resurrection, the one Jesus sent to announce the good news to the Apostles. St. Mary Magdalene represents one who is totally devoted to Jesus. And she is the patron saint of contemplatives. In this message from August 2019, Our Lady seemed to call us to contemplation and a deep relationship with her Son. I think this message is very beautiful. As you read it, let the words speak to you of the Love of Jesus for you personally: August 02, 2019″Dear children, great is the love of my Son. If you were to come to know the greatness of His love, you would never cease to adore and thank Him. He is always alive with you in the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is His Heart. The Eucharist is the heart of faith. He has never left you. Even when you tried to go away from Him, He has not left you. That is why my motherly heart is happy when I watch how you – filled with love – return to Him, when I see that you are coming to Him by the way of reconciliation, love, and hope. My motherly heart knows that when you set out on the way of faith, you are shoots – buds. But along with prayer and fasting you will be fruits, my flowers, apostles of my love; you will be carriers of light and will illuminate all those around you with love and wisdom. My children, as a mother I am imploring you: pray, think, and contemplate. Everything beautiful, painful and joyful that happens to you – all of this makes you grow spiritually, so that my Son may grow in you. My children, surrender yourselves to Him, believe Him, trust in His love, let Him lead you. Let the Eucharist be the place where you will feed your souls, and afterwards, will spread love and truth – will bear witness to my Son. Thank you.” “Pray, think and contemplate…” Three beautiful steps to get closer to Jesus! I want to share some words of wisdom from Mother Immaculata, O.C.D. She speaks from the beautiful tradition of the Carmelite order about prayer and communion with God. Here is a beautiful paragraph about the prayer of recollection: IV. Recollection and the Practice of the Presence of God The cultivation of this habit of frequently returning to the remembrance of God or some mystery of the Incarnation, has traditionally been called the practice of the presence of God, although, strictly speaking, we cannot really practice the presence of God since God’s presence is something given to us. God is always present at all times and in all places. If He gives a person a constant awareness of His presence it is a pure gift of grace, so that when we use this term: “practice of the presence of God’ we are speaking of what we can do to train ourselves to remember that He is with us in many different ways. It refers to the use of our own God-given powers in a special exercise that will develop a habit of seeing Him everywhere and in every action, of looking to Him for guidance, of being aware of Him here or there, even when our minds are occupied, much the same as a wife is constantly aware of her husband in the room even while she is busy with her work. She is not always thinking directly about him, but she speaks to him from time to time, or by a touch or glance or smile maintains the warmth of their contact and communion. Every one of our thoughts cannot always be directly on God. It is a matter of turning our minds lovingly to Him whenever we can do so, so that gradually we form a habit. A willingness and alertness to put out distractions is necessary. Gradually we come to abide in His love all the time and are able to be with Him without anxious strain to force our minds to think of Him constantly. Peace is always necessary to form this habit. All our efforts must be peaceful and gentle. We must not neglect to ask Him for the ability and grace to think of Him often and to stay with Him always. We must pray to be able to pray. (Sister Immaculata, O.C.D. “Communion with God, the Pathways of Prayer. p 28-29) Mother Immaculata’s words remind me of Our Lady’s words in this message: “If you were to come to know the greatness of His love, you would never cease to adore and thank Him…” The more time we spend in prayer, thinking of Jesus, and contemplating His love, the more we will grow in communion with Him, and we will live more and more in His presence. I also find the idea of our being gentle with ourselves in this process very consoling and encouraging. We must know that Jesus wants us to approach Him throughout the day, and so we are encouraged to turn to Him peacefully and gently. This is the method of love. May we find our way to the peace and joy of communion with Jesus, as Mother Immaculata and Our Lady both teach us… In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan © Mary TV 2020 PS. Constant Contact required that I begin to use a new template for the Reflections. I am still fine-tuning it, but I hope it will work for you on all your devices. Thanks for your patience!