source: http://www.marianweb.net/archives/pdfs/imh/Fall_2015.pdf?
Marian Helper Magazine
By Fr. Joseph MIC
Marian Helper • Fall 2015 • marian.org
I
’m deeply concerned.
I’m troubled about what’s
going on in our country and in the world.
I’m
saddened by the daily reports of Christians being
terrorized by ISIS in the Middle East, the growing
persecution of Christians here at home, the unprecedented
attacks on marriage and the family, and the
dramatic increase in pornography addicts.
I’m disturbed by the rise of racism, the political pitting
of rich against the poor, our exploding national
debt, and degradation of the environment.
I’m frustrated
that there are fewer and fewer Christians in
America, that the culture war is all but lost, and that
the culture of death seems here to stay.
Considering all this and more, things seem to be going
from bad to worse to horrendous. So, yes, I’m concerned,
really concerned. And I’ve been hearing from
you, our Marian Helpers, that you’re concerned, too.
Well, you should be.
Be concerned, but …
Yes, be concerned, but also be not afraid. After all,
there’s hope, real hope. God has not abandoned us.
In fact, I believe that the Lord has given us a secret
weapon, a weapon that will make us into an army
that is sure to win.
But we still need to build that army. We need strong,
dedicated, faith-filled recruits. We need people like
you who are willing to take up the secret weapon and
fight. So, let me put it this way: I want YOU to fight in
this army! Will you help me?
All right, but before you answer, before I tell you
about the secret weapon and our strategy, let me first
explain why I’m so hopeful.
Now is the time of mercy
Actually, Pope Francis lays out the key to our hope
better than I can. Read what he said to the priests of
the diocese of Rome last year: "[H]ear the voice of the Spirit speaking to the whole
Church of our time, which is the time of mercy. I
am sure of this. ... In the Church, everything is the
time of mercy."
So it’s mercy. Mercy is the key to our hope. And
the good news is that now is the time of mercy! Pope
Francis is certain of it. But what does it mean?
As one of the priests in my community is always
putting it, the key to understanding this time of mercy
is Romans 5:20: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded
all the more.” In other words, in a time of great evil,
God gives even greater grace.
Therefore, because
things are so bad right now, God is offering even
greater mercy. He’s giving us amazing grace.
And you know what? This grace and mercy will soon
be even more amazing. I say that because we’re not
only living in “the time of mercy” right now, but soon
(Dec. 8) we’ll be entering the extraordinary Jubilee Year
of Mercy. So we’ll be getting a double portion
of amazing mercy! But we need to prepare for it. We
need to enter into that year of mercy properly. We need
to get ready. But how?
Our Mother of Mercy
According to Pope Francis, it’s Mary who will prepare
us for the Year of Mercy. For instance, in the document
that establishes this extraordinary time of grace for the
Church, he asked that “the sweetness of [Mary’s] countenance”
might “watch over us in this Holy Year, so that
all of us may rediscover the joy of God’s tenderness.”
Also, it’s interesting that Pope Francis decided that
the Jubilee Year of Mercy should begin on Dec. 8, the
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. This is the
day when we remember and celebrate Mary’s greatest
experience of God’s mercy: her being preserved, from
the first moment of her conception, from all stain of
original sin. This was an act of mercy she did nothing
to deserve. Rather, it came as a totally free gift at the
very moment when she came to be.
Because Mary knows the free gift of God’s mercy
more than any other creature, she wants us to know
it, too. And she does that best by the secret weapon
I’m about to share.
The Secret Weapon
Mary can best bring us into God’s mercy when
we
consecrate ourselves totally to Jesus through her.
That’s the secret weapon that will help us tap into the
great graces of the upcoming year of mercy.
Why? Well, according to Pope John Paul II, the
whole purpose of consecrating or entrusting ourselves
to Mary is so that she can bring us to the pierced side
of Jesus, which is the Fountain of Mercy. In other
words, Mary’s whole role is to help us experience the
mercy of God.
And she does it best when we consecrate ourselves to
her. This is why St. Louis de Montfort said that a total
consecration to Jesus through Mary is the “quickest,
easiest, surest, and most perfect” path to becoming a
saint.
Begin on November 5
Now, maybe you’ve already consecrated yourself to
Mary. Well, now is the perfect time to renew it, and I
recommend that you use the most popular consecration
book available today: 33 Days to Morning Glory
(Marian Press) by Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC. And don’t
just renew it yourself; invite others to join you. (Learn
more at AllHeartsAfire.org.)
And for those of you who have never made the consecration,
now is the best time ever! This really is a oncein-a-lifetime
opportunity to make the consecration in
preparation for the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.
(By the way, this is only the fourth “extraordinary
Jubilee” in the whole history of the Church!) So, we’re
inviting all of our Marian Helpers to consecrate themselves
on Dec. 8. To do that, we’ll begin our 33 days of
preparation on Nov. 5.
Please join us! Join Mary’s army.
Imagine if all of our Marian Helpers joined us Marians
in consecrating ourselves to Jesus through Mary on the
great feast of the Immaculate Conception to begin the
Year of Mercy! I know she will then use us as a powerful
army for her Son to bless the whole world in this great
time of mercy. God knows the world needs it, and I know
that by consecrating ourselves to Mary, we can and will
change the world. We will be victorious, and we will
begin our march on Nov. 5, and I want you to join us.
Here’s what to do
- For evangelization purposes, we’re offering a
special on the consecration book 33 Days to
Morning Glory. (Price: Your donation, plus $5.25 shipping.
Offered until Nov. 5. Visit ShopMercy.org/33 or
call 800-462-7426. One per household. U.S. only.)
- Do the consecration alone or as a group.(Visit
AllHeartsAfire.org for more info). Parish Groups Contact Julie Musselman for bulk discounts: jkmuss@gmail.com
- Begin the consecration on Nov. 5 so that you can
complete the consecration 33 days later, on Dec.
8 — the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and
the start of the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy!
Why Consecrate to Jesus Through Mary?
(excerpted from 33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC)
To properly understand the essence of total consecration
to Jesus through Mary, we need to reflect
on an important point: Jesus wants to include all
of us in his work of salvation. In other words, he doesn’t
just redeem us and then expect us to kick back and relax.
On the contrary, he puts us to work. He wants all of us
to labor in his Father’s vineyard in one way or another.
Jesus relies on others to spread his Gospel, and he commissions
his disciples to preach it to all (see Mt 28:19-20).
He basically says to them and to us, “Let’s get to work!” Of
course, that God wants to include us in his work of salvation
is a great gift and glorious privilege. Truly, there’s no
more important work to be done.
While everyone is called to lend a hand in the great
work of salvation, not everyone has the same role. For
example, St. Paul says, “There are varieties of service
and ... there are varieties of working” (1 Cor 12:5-6).
He goes on to say that God has appointed to the work of
salvation “first apostles, second prophets, third teachers,
then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators”
(v. 28). Whoever we are, God has appointed us
to a special task in his great work.
Among the various roles God has given to his children,
there’s one that’s radically more important than all the
others: the task he gave to Mary.
We all know that God
uniquely blessed Mary by choosing her to conceive, bear,
and nurture Jesus Christ, our Savior. But do we also realize
that her blessed work didn’t end once Jesus left home and
began his public ministry? After the three years of Mary’s
hidden life during Jesus’ public ministry, Jesus brought her
back into the picture of his work of salvation at its most
crucial time: the “hour” of his Passion. At that hour, we
might say he fully revealed Mary’s special task — the same
task she had begun some 33 years before and that she still
continues. Jesus fully revealed Mary’s special task shortly
before his death. It happened when he looked down from
the Cross and said to Mary as she stood with the Apostle
John, “Woman, behold, your son” and to John, “Behold,
your mother” (Jn 19:26-27).
At that moment, Jesus gave
us one of his greatest gifts: his mother as our mother. Of
course, Mary isn’t our natural mother. She’s our spiritual
mother. In other words, just as it was once her task some
2,000 years ago to give birth to Christ, to feed and nurture
him, and to help him grow and develop into a man, so
also, from the time she first said yes to being the mother of
Jesus until the end of time, Mary’s task is to give spiritual
birth to Christians, to feed and nurture them with grace,
and to help them grow to full stature in Christ. In short,
Mary’s job is to help us grow in holiness.
It’s her mission to
form us into saints.
----------------------------------------------
For all the retreat materials for 33 Days
CLICK HERE
I can help you get your group or parish started,
Parishes, just contact me for BULK PRICING!
Julie Musselman
727-709-8649
jkmuss@gmail.com
