SPIRITUALITY 101
SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 112
Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

(As there are dozens of stories about the Blessed Virgin, I will share two of them in today's reflection)

A young boy who attended a parochial school was talking to a neighbor about what he had learned about the Blessed Virgin Mary. The neighbor emphatically stated, "There is no difference between the Virgin and my mother!" The boy pondered the comment for a moment and then said, "even if that were so, there is certainly a world of difference in their children."

A young girl who was in College wrote to her mother, requesting a mirror for her dressing table. The mother replied, "Dear daughter, instead of sending the mirror you asked for , I will send three. In the first you will see yourself just as you are, in the second as you will be and in the third as you should be."
Within a few days, the daughter anxiously received a box from her mother. She locked herself in her room and hurriedly opened the box. There were three packages in the box. In the first package she saw herself in the mirror as she was. In the second box, she saw a picture of a skull, what she would be one day. The third package contained a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The daughter thought, "This is what I should be and what I will be with God's grace."

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3rd stage
DEVOTIONALS- MEDITATION-SACRAMENTALS-THE ROSARY-39
HAIL MARY-5

"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.

"Holy Mary, Mother of God"
Such a statement in our prayer is stunning. The very thought that someone could be honored such as Mary, in order to allow God to become man, and to be invoked with the expression "Mother of God" stretches our imagination. Scripture is clear in the expression of Elizabeth, "And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Lk 1:43). Matthew refers to her thusly, "Mary, of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah" (Matt. 1:16b). The depth of the meaning, however, doesn't stop with Mary's relationship to Jesus the Messiah. It also extends to Mary's relationship with the Church. When we pray this prayer, we reflect on both these relationships.

Mary is mother of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God, the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, begotten by God the Father as His Word, the perfection of Truth for which the world searches. There are three stages of expression of our love for other's. With increasing degrees of intimacy, these three stages are seeing, speaking and touching. A look of love serves as an invitation to another to accept our love for them. A word of affection attracts the intellect and will toward the one who extends their love to another. Finally a physical touch brings a degree of communication far beyond that acquired through seeing and speaking. Touching communicates a vulnerability and a goodness that speaks the truth of love. As mother of the Son of God, she gave birth to the Word in flesh so that God could be seen, as a first stage of the expression of man's love to God. Because He was in the flesh, He could be spoken to, as to any other man and He would hear as a man. It then was possible for man to speak to God, as the second stage of man's expression of love for God. Because God became material in the Incarnation through Mary, he could be touched, the third and final stage of man's expression of love. Because of the enfleshing of Christ in Jesus, Mary made it possible for us to express love to God through seeing, through speech and through touching.

Mary's relationship with Christ extends also to the Church. The resurrected, risen, glorified Jesus, Who sits at the right hand of the Father in His kingdom is the head of the Church (Eph. 4:15). As Mary is mother of the head, she is also mother of the Body of the Church. She is the new Eve, who gives birth of members of the Body of her Son through the waters of the Baptismal font. In this regard, she relates to us, who are members of the Church as our spiritual mother. It is in this light that she has been venerated through the ages as the saint of all saints.

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM
ARTICLE NO. 1089
"Christ, indeed, always associates the Church with himself in this great work in which God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is his beloved Bride who calls to her Lord and through him offers worship to the eternal Father."(Sacrosanctum concilium No. 7)

ARTICLE NO. 1090
"In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle. With all the warriors of the heavenly army we sing a hymn of glory to the Lord; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, until he, our life, shall appear and we too will appear with him in glory." (Sacrosanctum concilium No. 8)

EARTHLY LITURGY
Deacon Jim Breazile, o.c.d.s.

Earthly liturgy of the Word
Celebrated with Risen Lord
In company with Angelic horde
In which the Father is adored
And praise for the defending sword
Of Christ who died on our accord
And gives us heaven as a reward
Through which paradise is restored

The Church on earth is worshiping Bride
Exhibiting great exultation and pride
When prayer brings human sanctification
And gives to God perfect glorification
When beloved Bride offers liturgical devotion
With great excitement and emotion
This earthly work is heaven's foretaste
Wherein heavenly liturgy is embraced

There Christ as minister is presiding
At right hand of the Father He is residing
His glorified body in Holy municipality
Is now true tabernacle of Christ's reality
He is at once both temple and shrine
His final appearance we eagerly divine
As we honor the memory of saintly story
And with warriors in heaven sing hymns of glory

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