The Mother Of God | Jesus Risen

Who is the Mother of Jesus? Why do Catholics pray to Her? How can Mary hear so many souls when there are millions praying to Her at the same time? Does She really have the power to answer prayer?

First of all, it is proper to point out that the Lord Jesus, in founding His Church, the one Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 4:4; Romans 12:5), established the foundation for the ministry of each member of the Body of Christ, so that each and every soul who believes in Jesus has a role to play in the history of salvation.

Secondly, we find in practice that indeed the Lord Jesus used His disciples and apostles, during His lifetime, to spread the Gospel and to perform miracles and, after Pentecost, to multiply and grow the number of believers. The apostles were “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49), performed many miracles, and established the Church throughout most of the known world. Moreover, the miracles obtained through the intercession of the saints, even after their passage from this world of time, and likewise the many miracles performed by Mary in so many apparitions around the world since Her Assumption into Heaven, are so well documented and so enormous in number and kind, that no one who has researched this subject can in their right mind doubt the evidence that is available for all to see.

Thirdly, if the Lord Jesus is able and willing to accomplish so many miracles through His disciples and saints, how much more grace and power is He willing to bestow upon His Mother Mary, who above all the saints is clothed with the most profound virtues, gifts, and graces? So much so, in fact, that even an angel from Heaven had to declare to Mary that She was “full of grace” (Luke 1:28)?

According to Sister Mary of Agreda (in The Mystical City of God), who was shown many mysteries and hidden sacraments that filled our Lady’s life on earth as also afterwards in Heaven (she was shown these things by our Lady herself, by the angels, and by the Lord Jesus), Mother Mary imitated and served and accompanied Her divine Son so perfectly in His life, death, and resurrection, that She came to share, not only in Christ’s virtues, but also in His power.

Christ gave Her during the course of His earthly existence, among many other gifts and powers, the ability to see and understand what was happening in His own soul in real time, even when Jesus was physically absent from His Mother. Mary thus accompanied Jesus at every step of the way. Due to Her profound humility, purity, and charity, Mary not only perceived everything that transpired in Christ’s immaculate soul, but She also imitated perfectly all His doings: His prayers, His acts of virtue, and His acts of knowledge and understanding.

It would take many pages to explain the breadth and depth of Mary’s graces, privileges, and the mysteries of God that She encompasses in Her Person (in fact, The Mystical City of God is about 2,700 pages long), but it is worth noting that, as a result of Her super abounding love and fidelity, God saw fit to reward Mary with His own glory and power, to crown Her Queen of Heaven, and to appoint Her as Mother to all His children.

If the Lord can clothe His apostles—who had so many faults and defects and often failed Him—if the Lord can clothe His apostles with “power from on high” so that they could heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons (see Luke 24:49 — “And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you [the Holy Spirit]. But remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”), how much more is He willing to do for the holy Mother who never once failed Him during His entire life and mission on earth?

Human nature was created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:27) As such, we have the potential, over and above the natural life we enjoy as human beings, to share in the supernatural life of God, that is, the divine Nature of God. (2 Peter 1:4) This is true for every person who believes in and follows the Lord Jesus. How much more for the holy Mother of God?

God’s power is attributed to Mother Mary, not only by way of Her intercessory influence with the Lord, but also by way of God entrusting all His Mysteries and His Power to Her personally. This is a very deep truth. It is not easily understood by mere mortals. It is not even suspected or imagined by the many. But, to use a (weak) analogy, it is like the difference between (1) a King giving His authority to a man for one day and (2) placing that man on the King’s Throne forever.

Christians who serve God in this life and draw near to God, without placing any obstacle to the work of God’s grace in their soul, eventually come to be clothed with God’s own attributes, and to participate in the divine Nature of God Himself, so that they become the sons and daughters of God (this is a stupendous mystery in itself—see John 1:12), according to St John the Beloved, St Peter, St Paul, St Augustine, St Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, St Thomas Aquinas, and many others. How much more the holy Mother who gave human flesh to the Son of God and served Him with the most perfect fidelity and the perfection of love all His days?

We will only come to know the real greatness of Mary’s power if and when we get to Heaven. But suffice it to say, in this short letter, that God entrusted to Mary a share in His own Omnipotence, according to Sister Mary of Agreda.

There is a passage in The Mystical City of God (Volume II, Book III, paragraph 18) that accounts for the preparation of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the Annunciation, where Sister Mary of Agreda writes that because Mother Mary was to unite the two extremes of man and God in the Incarnation:

“He made Her in corresponding measure a participant in the divine Omnipotence, and gave Her power over the influences of the heavens, of the planets and elements, commanding them all to obey Her.”

All tongues should fall silent before this profound and awesome Mystery!

“He who holds his tongue is wise.” (Proverbs 10:19)

LG Sleiman

There is much talk nowadays about finding yourself, knowing yourself, finding your true “self”? But what is self-knowledge?

“Know Yourself” was carved on the Temple portal at Delphi in ancient Greece, centuries before the birth of Christ.

Since that time, philosophers and thinkers and enthusiasts have been fascinated by this simple yet profound phrase [imperative], and have attempted to unravel all the depths of meaning that are hidden within it.

What does it mean to “know yourself”?

How would you go about finding self-knowledge?

What is the “self”, in the first place?

Is it the “soul”? Is it your “identity”?

Is it the knowledge of your own strengths, powers, and capacities?

Or is there more to it?

The search for self-knowledge is a search for the fulness of wisdom.

For it seems that self-knowledge, once discovered, would bestow all manner of wisdom and understanding, so that the soul would no longer falter, stumble, or digress from its glorious destiny.

The prize of self-knowledge promises to impart the fulness of wisdom to the soul and to set the soul firmly and irrevocably upon the path of peace, joy, and fulfillment.

But again, how does one find self-knowledge? The most straightforward and perfect way to find yourself is to first find the Lord—because your true identity is hidden in God.

When God created you, it was God’s “idea” of you that formed the blueprint for your own human nature, your gifts and attributes, and your destiny.

But what is the easiest way to find the Lord?

St Louis de Montfort taught that the easiest and most effective way to find Jesus is to give yourself totally and completely to our holy Mother Mary, to enter (through consecration) into the Immaculate Heart of Mary because no one knows and loves Jesus as much as His own Mother.

In fact, says Saint Louis, the Lord dwells in Mary as in His own Paradise.

When the whole universe could not contain the Lord, Mary was found to be His perfect home. Jesus is hidden in the holy Bosom of Mary more truly and perfectly than anywhere else in the universe—even more than in Heaven itself.

Therefore, the easiest way to find the Lord is in the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Now there are two indispensable ways which enable us to enter the Immaculate Heart of Mary: the positive way (what to do) and the negative way (what to avoid).

1. Positive way:

Consecrate yourself to Mary. Set aside some time every day to contemplate her life.

Look to Mary, contemplate her life, virtues and deeds, relinquish your own thoughts and ways in order to contemplate her life more perfectly, let go of your own habits and reasonings in order to see her more clearly, and thus enter more fully and completely into her holy Bosom, her Immaculate Heart, for there you will find her Divine Son more easily and perfectly than in any other way, and, in finding Jesus, you will also find your true self.

The gift of Mary and the gift of the Holy Spirit are the greatest gifts which the Lord has given us. And the Holy Spirit loves to abide where His Immaculate Spouse Mary is honoured, loved and imitated. Mary is the easiest and most secure and most perfect way to find the Lord, as St Louis de Montfort proclaimed.

2. Negative way:

Turn away from sin, let go of anger, hatred and resentment, else you have already strayed from your true self. If you return evil for evil, if you hate those who hate you then you have effectively distanced yourself from the holy Mother.

If you participate in another’s sin, if you return evil for evil then you have effectively strayed from your true self.

And if perchance you have strayed from your true self then you are no longer grounded in the knowledge of your truest needs, your deepest desires, your greatest good, and an authentic knowledge of your true identity.

Therefore, return to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for she loves to lead and guide all souls to her divine Son, Jesus Christ, with the unfailing power of her intercession, through the perfect virtue of her divine Love, and in her one and only Immaculate Heart wherein she adores and loves her Son and Lord unto the ages of ages.

LG Sleiman