MANY LACK GOOD FORMATION ON TRUE DEVOTION
THE SECRET TO INTIMACY WITH OUR LORD
A priest told me recently that he so desired to enter into the bridal chamber of deep intimacy with our Lord, but he felt so far from it and didn’t know how to get there.
…The door was wide open for me to share what I have come to know as the secret to entering ever-more deeply into this profound nuptial union with our Divine Bridegroom.
John Paul II tells us the revelation of the nuptial union between Jesus and Mary especially took place at the foot of the cross, because “when His heart was pierced, hers was also and thus you have the union of Hearts.”
Yes, the answer lies in following the example of one of the first priests, the beloved apostle John, by entering into the Heart of Mary. Because it is in and through the pure and Immaculate Heart of the Spotless Bride that we find Jesus and come to know and receive His love and love Him in return most deeply.
After I mentioned to the priest that Mary is the secret “gateway” to such intimacy, the priest responded, “To be honest, when I was younger I had been so ‘Mary’d out’ by my mother, that I had somewhat put her aside later on. Everything was Mary,” he said. “The Parish I went to was even called St. Mary’s and I felt like Mary was seen as God.”
He went on to tell me that now he honors Mary and believes in her, but isn’t very close to her because he focuses on Jesus. But, in the same breath he said, “something is missing in my spiritual life and preventing me from growing closer to Jesus.”
I responded that certainly the whole purpose of consecration to Mary was to FOCUS ON JESUS and that he must not have been introduced to the fullness of what TRUE devotion to Mary is meant to be.
Jesus said to Sr. Lucia of Fatima in 1925, “I want my Mother’s Immaculate Heart honored beside my Sacred Heart.” The reason being that He knows it is only through His Mother’s Heart that we will come to know and love Him most deeply and wholeheartedly.
Furthermore, Jesus didn’t say to have Mary’s heart honored beneath or lower than His. He said, “beside.” Because, it is through the Heart of Mary that we as Bride, the Church, are invited into profound, mutual, espousal union with Jesus as well.
Certainly I’ve heard often and again of people being confused and unclear about Mary’s role. “Isn’t she an obstacle to Jesus?” Some will say. “Why not just go straight to Jesus?”
And, the answer is, we can go straight to Jesus in our own limited way. And, I’m never out to force anyone into devotion to Mary. If one is Catholic, however, the Church is very clear about Mary’s significant role in our lives – “Devotion to Mary is intrinsic to true Christian worship” (CCC). And, many other things could be quoted.
But, as for me, I only hand out the invitation for people to unwrap this extraordinary gift that we’ve all been given by Jesus as He’s dying on the cross, “Behold your Mother!” (Jn19:29).
Truly, the only reason Jesus has given her to us and us to her is because He’s a JEALOUS GOD and He “thirst[s]” for deep union with us. (Jn 19) He thirsts to enter into the deep union with us that He experiences with this “Woman” who is the first of us as creatures – this “Woman” who at the cross experiences the intense “labor pains” along with her Son that bring about the birth of the Church.
Here Jesus is looking down from the cross and seeing this woman who is totally open and receptive to His presence and His love with every fiber of her being, and who is totally loving Him in return with every fiber of her being; and it’s as though He’s saying to us, “I want you to receive my love and love me in return just as she does…”
And, He might add as well, “I want you to know the love of a perfect Mother as I have; because you will need her in order to follow me by way of the cross.”
As the saints say, the whole purpose of devotion to Mary is to help us to live the fullness of our Baptismal vows, which is intimate union with the Most Holy Trinity.
Through such sharing with this priest who was longing for deeper union with our Lord, I noticed his mouth was open wide in awe, because he had never been introduced to this concept of what devotion to Mary was all about. Now this is a religious priest, about 60 years old, who has had years and years of study and formation.
To expound further, I shared with him…
I was in prayer one day, before the throne of God, praising and adoring the Most Holy Trinity. And then I noticed that there was an invisible tabernacle surrounding Their throne. I realized I couldn’t get any closer, nor could anyone else. Then I noticed there was a door with a key in it to open up the tabernacle and enter into the inner sanctuary of God’s presence. And, the key was “Totus Tuus” – “I am totally yours Mary” – consecrating one’s life to Mary and entering into her Immaculate Heart which is the “New Garden” into which we’re all invited wherein the “Tree of life” dwells (Genesis).
Within this inner sanctuary of Mary’s Immaculate Heart, we are gradually drawn into the deepest union possible with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit because Mary is in the deepest union possible with the Most Holy Trinity as the: Daughter of the Father, Mother/Bride of the Son and Spouse of the Holy Spirit.
When we consecrate our lives to Mary, she takes us by the hand and teaches us an ever-more constant stance of “FIAT” to God’s holy will. When we enter into her heart we enter into a part of paradise here on earth (the “New Garden”) where God’s Kingdom abounds. This is where we are able to be most open and receptive to the grace of the present moment, the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Because, God has put “enmity between” the serpent and the woman, between his offspring and hers (Gen 3:15).
When we consecrate our lives to Mary she takes us into her arms and carries us throughout life, forming us into “other Christs.”
God came to us through her and chooses that we come to Him through her as well.
She is spoken of in the Church as the “Mediatrix of all grace.” Not one grace comes to us but through her. She is the “Channel” or “Aqueduct” (as Pope Benedict mentioned recently). Christ is the Head, we are the body and Mary is as though the “neck”.
Mary has actually said in a reported message, “I am truly the Mediatrix of grace between you and my Son Jesus…My task is that of distributing it to all my children…However I can carry it out fully only in the case of those children who entrust themselves to me with perfect abandonment” (TTP#204).
Revelation 12 speaks clearly of the “Torrent of water” that the Red Dragon “vomits out of his mouth to try to wash the Woman (Mary) away.” But, why would Satan be so adamant about wanting to wash Mary away. Could her role be that important?…
The evil one is very smart…in fact smarter than any of us when we don’t have the mind of Christ. He knows that when we as Church allow Mary to take her rightful place as the first of us, the model of what we are called to become, we will become the “New Jerusalem,” the “Spotless Bride” as spoken of in Revelation, ready to meet our Divine Bridegroom Jesus Christ…
“The Spirit and the Bride say Come!”
“Come, Lord Jesus!”
Certainly much more could be shared about devotion to our Mother. This priest was in awe at what such devotion is really all about. And, he left excited and hope filled after I led him in a prayer of total consecration to our Mother…How many more priests and lay faithful are in the same boat. May those of us who know, not be shy in sharing what has been revealed to us.
Truly our Mother’s Heart is now the only refuge for us. Just as in Noah’s ark times, her Heart is the “Ark of the New Covenant” into which we’re all invited in order to remain safe (spiritually) and at peace in whatever is to come. And it is especially priests who are in need of entering into this refuge, so that they can in turn guide the flock.
By Lilla Marie Lottinger
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