SPIRITUALITY 101
SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 110
Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

One evening the deacon was asked by a retreat coordinator to offer a meditative reflection for the benefit of the retreat team. All knelt before the Tabernacle in adoration to the Lord, and the deacon led a meditation on the comfort and peace that the Blessed Virgin Mary must have been to Jesus as a little child. The theme of the meditation dealt with the willingness of Mary, our spiritual mother to bring us comfort in times of stress. Meditatively each person allowed her to wrap her mantle around their shoulders and to feel her loving presence. After the meditation, the deacon awaited the coordinators indication that the meditation was over. Instead, in a moment he noted that the coordinator stood beside him. He rose and the coordinator said, "Deacon, I think the Lord has something more for you to say."

Not knowing what the Lord had to say, but trusting that He wanted it said, the deacon turned to the team and told them the story of the wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1-11). The Blessed Mother said, "They have no wine." Jesus responds, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not come." Mary did not answer him, but turned to the servers and said, "Do whatever He tells you."

It is clear that Jesus heard a message not delivered to the servers, but directed to Him. "Son, you cannot continue to put off this decision, your hour has come. It is time to begin your "hour." The coordinator was shaken by the reflection. He had been delaying his decision to apply to the diaconate. Just as Jesus obeyed Mary at Cana, the coordinator obeyed Mary in the meditation. The next week he applied for the diaconate to begin his "hour" as table servant for the Lord.
Each day we would benefit by thinking about the decisions we are putting off that would bring us closer to the will of the Lord.

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3rd stage
DEVOTIONALS- MEDITATION-SACRAMENTALS-THE ROSARY-37
HAIL MARY-3

"Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with you
Blessed are thou among women
and Blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death."
Amen.
"The Lord is with you."

It is clear from this third expression of the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary that the Lord would award the purity of her soul and the strength of her will. In His omniscience He knew that throughout her life she would preserve the gift of grace she had received at her Immaculate Conception. He thus sends this message through the Angel Gabriel to assure her that her faith would be fulfilled. Mary, in anticipation of the merits of her divine Son, conceived outside the stream of Adam's sin, was created in a state of original integrity. In the state of integrity her every thought, word and action was in accord with her will, and her will was in accord with that of the Lord. God knew Mary to be a perfect disciple throughout her life. Her persistence and determination to follow the will of the Lord merits her high praise. It is as St. Antoninus stated, "More nobly is he redeemed who is prevented from falling, than he who is raised after the fall, because in this way is avoided the injury or strain that the soul always contracts by a fall."

In the "Hail Mary" prayer Mary is presented as an example of the perfected Christian. Her body was perfectly subject to her soul, and her soul was entirely obedient to the Lord. We may have difficulty convincing ourselves that we could live the life of perfection lived by Jesus, because He was not only fully human, He was also fully divine. With this concern we may excuse ourselves from following His way. We cannot, however, excuse ourselves from attention to Mary. The only difference between Mary and other Christians is that she never, throughout her life, rejected the grace of God. She allowed her humanity to be perfected by her obedience to the will of God. In this manner she serves as a model of the Church.

In the beginning, our original parents, Adam and Eve, were also created with the gift of integrity. Because they allowed their intellect to overcome their will, this gift was lost to mankind. Satan did not, as we generally envision, attack Eve's senses with a delicious fruit. He attacked her intellect. His lie to Eve was the promise that she would "know," as God knows. After that first sin, in which the intellect dominated the will, Adam and Eve were no longer capable of doing what they willed. No longer did their will govern their intellect, memory and body, but their intellect, memory and their body dictated to their will. This is the state of the fallen man. Paul refers to this loss in his letter to the Romans 1:21, " For although they knew God, they did not accord Him glory as God and give Him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened." And in Romans 7:15, "what I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate."

Unlike Adam and Eve, however, because of the strength of her will, Mary would preserve this state of original integrity. Although she often pondered the actions of her Son, she never allowed her intellect to tempt her will, as did Eve in the garden. Because of her integrity, God remained with her from the time of her conception throughout her life on earth. At the end of her life, God "assumed her into heaven," where she now intercedes, as "Mother of the Church," for all souls.

When we pray the Hail Mary prayer and speak the words, "the Lord is with you," it is our prayer that we, in imitation of our spiritual mother may have our will strengthened by her intercession. With a strong will and perfect obedience to give ourselves over to the will of God, we too will have the Lord with us.

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM
ARTICLE NO. 1086

"Accordingly, just as Christ was sent by the Father so also he sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. This he did so that they might preach the Gospel to every creature and proclaim that the Son of God by his death and resurrection had freed us from the power of Satan and from death and brought us into the Kingdom of his Father. But he also willed that the work of salvation which they preached should be set in train through the sacrifice and sacraments, around which the entire liturgical life revolves." (Sacrosanctum concilium No. 6)

THE WORD
Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

The Father sent His Word
So that the Apostles heard
And were Holy Spirit filled
With enduring faith instilled
To Preach Christ to all creatures
The most enduring of God's teachers

Relief from Satan they proclaimed
Scepters of death had been tamed
Satan's threat had been pinioned
Bringing forth the Father's dominion

Basilica was instrument of reparation
Through Sacrament and immolation
Servant liturgical vivacity
Enabling virtuous tenacity

Ó2002 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS