domingo, 24 de fevereiro de 2013

Our Lady and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Our Lady and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

The role of Our Blessed Lady has not changed, nor has that of Christ. At every Holy Mass Mary places in the hands of the Priest of the New Law the same Incarnate Word. Christ is still the Victim as He was on Calvary, and His Mother still stands silently by. Because at Mass she is so silent and unseen, it may well be that she is too often forgotten or ignored. Priests should renew their consecration to Christ, the Light of the World, and to Mary, the Mother of Christ and the Mediatrix of All Graces, at every Mass that they offer. Above all, this should be done on the Feast of the Presentation (Feb. 2nd).
What peace, joy and blessings will not Mary obtain for her sons, God's anointed ones, as they hold the Lamb of God, her Divine Son, in their hands, if they but ask her! Is not the Heart of Jesus infinitely rich and merciful, and do not all graces come to us through Mary's mediation? Mary is the Dispensatrix of God's infinite love. What great power have the Priests of the New Law to procure for mankind unmeasured and unlimited graces, down to the end of time! How we should pray for Priests that they may realize and utilize their powers through Mary's mediation for the salvation of souls! Above all, this should be done at Holy Mass.
At Cana, the Blessed Virgin Mary showed her power of intercession with the Heart of Jesus, as well as her maternal solicitude for the needs of all men. But now, after Calvary and the words of her dying Son "Woman, behold thy Son!", designating St. John the Beloved and all of the redeemed-who can measure her power and her motherly solicitude? "Behold thy Mother!" See her humility and self-effacement at the Presentation, on Calvary, and at each Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. She is not officious nor jealous of the role of God's anointed ones. Rather she stands silently by at all times, and humbly pleads for us as our Mother and Mediatrix of All Graces.
Interior souls have always realized that "the beauty of the King's daughter is within"; that her Immaculate Heart is to be honored and loved. Thus Ven. Marie Petyt of St. Teresa, T. O. Carm. wrote: "On Wednesday and Thursday (Sept. 19-20, 1668) it pleased the goodness of God to make us understand more clearly the grandeur, the eminent dignity, the power and authority of our lovable Mother, and at the same time to see the incomprehensible and ineffable love which God bears Her. From this abyss of love remaining in His heart, God has drawn forth such a superabundance of graces, privileges, and prerogatives that it would scarcely be possible for Him, if one may so speak, to grant more to any creature than He has granted to Mary, or to make any creature more beautiful, exalted and noble than He has made Mary. And in this sense, the power, wisdom, and goodness of God could not produce any more pure, more lovely, more eminent creature than Mary, His Mother and ours.
"This is why the Archangel Gabriel spoke rightly in greeting Mary thus: 'Hail, full of grace!' She is, in truth, so filled with grace that the superabundance of it overflows upon us in this vale of tears. Her fullness waters the ground of our souls with an abundance of grace which inspires us, aids us, strengthens us, and enables us to persevere. This grace makes the soil of our soul fertile, makes it able to produce virtuous and meritorious works, both necessary and useful for the salvation of our souls."