Meditations on the woman that I love Mary the Blessed Virgin Original Sin committed by Adam and Eve. Let us examine the scripture account and draw important conclusions. Spiritual Theology says, "Thus the serpent said to the woman, 'Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?' (Gen. 3:1) Yet He is not tempting the woman." This same tempter comes to us saying you don't have much of a good time on earth - all you do is work. Have you noticed the devil is making us feel self-pity. That you are really a fine person and nobody appreciates you. When you feel the urge for self-pity call on Mary with the Hail Mary to help you, as self-pity is pride. One of the worst things you can do is to have a conversation with Satan, as he is much smarter than you. So these tactics are the same today, as always. The serpent that tempted Adam and Eve is in control today in the world, in many churches and in most families. Why is there so much trouble today? Because we allow the devil to take over our lives. This is why we have troubled lives and have no peace. The devil has been studying us for years and recognizes our weakness. It can be sensual, drugs, alcohol, etc. Many like to gossip, slander or lie about people; this is also from the devil - he puts fear in you and anxiety in us. St. John Vianney goes so far as to say that the devil will tempt us on every action we perform. Does he tempt those who dress immodestly? When you dress indecent and want to look sexy the devil has deep control of you. When you dress this way, the devil uses you as a fish worm to drag souls to hell. Mary said at Fatima that more souls go to hell from sins of impurity than all the other sins put together. So when Satan starts talking to you it looks like a normal conversation. The devil tells you, you look pretty, let the world see your shape. The world is under the influence of the devil. The serpent takes many souls into hell. You see a lady at a beach with a bikini and every man at the beach is tempted to the sin of impurity. Don't you people see the devil is using you for an evil purpose? In Florida and many other places they go to Church with only their bathing suit on. A lady asked a priest to talk against immodesty and he said there is nothing he can do about it. They should not even be allowed to enter Church dressed immodestly. People think they are devoted to Mary, and they are not. That is one false devotion as St. Louis de Montfort would say. The devil has these people under his spell who dressed this way. Let us stop kidding ourselves. The country is gone with the sexy look and they train their children to dress this way. How displeasing to Jesus and Mary. They crucify Jesus again and again.
I come to you, O Mother of God, and implore you to obtain for me the pardon of my sins, and that I may be cleansed from those of my life. I beseech you to grant me the grace to unite myself in affection with your Son and with yourself; with your Son as my God and with you as the Mother of my God. Second week - Act of Sorrow, Holy Spirit prayer - one Our Father, three Hail Marys In temptations a soul should recognize the danger and refuse to converse with the tempter. When you feel discouragement in life, you may get ideas on how to dress indecent, as he makes you realize that everybody dresses this way these days. Actually you have had a conversation with the devil. They will tell you that you cannot be a wallflower and to get on with it. You are still having a conversation with the devil. This is the way he talked to Adam and Eve and the serpent is more around today than ever. He has the world under his power even in the sanctuary. The devil will use your imagination in other matters and then the temptation followed by his victory. To enter into the temptation with the devil you expose yourself to great danger. You must yield and die to sin, because indecent dressing is a serious matter. This is where Eve made a mistake by having the conversation with the devil. We must immediately call on Jesus and pray a Hail Mary and repeat it until the tempter is gone or even pray the Holy Rosary. Then you will win with Mary on your side. Follow these Spiritual Exercises of Mary and you will see the changes in you, as these exercises are inspired by her. Why do most people not recognize today about indecency? We are living in a world where the blind are leading the blind, so let us listen to Mary as this is also the true teaching of the Church.
Jesus loved His Mother and was very devoted to her. We must learn to imitate Jesus. Jesus has always loved and will always love His Mother, Mary. If He didn't He would be breaking His own Fourth Commandment (Honor your Father and Mother). St. Louis de Montfort says, "It is through Mary that Jesus came and through her He must reign until the second coming when He will come with Mary." Third week - Act of Sorrow, Holy Spirit prayer - one Our Father, three Hail Marys As we continue with Adam and Eve, we want to make you see how the devil has deceived those who enter the world blindly following a path to destruction. This was Eve's mistake; she answered the serpent. God said, "You should not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die." (Gen 3:2-3) She disobeyed God, but it is wasting time in recalling it's moral implication at all so says Spiritual Theology. She could have destroyed the temptation in the beginning if she didn't waste her time with the devil. "The soul has yielded ground to the enemy and now the enemy gathers his forces to make a direct attack," says Spiritual Theology. When a person gives in to the evil serpent, it is as if the devil has twisted himself around the heart of the sinner. The sinner opens the door of his heart to the serpent and the serpent comes and makes his home with you. It doesn't end here - he calls other evil demons to work on you. The devil calls the demon of pride, covetousness or avarice, love of worldly goods - the demons of lust have you fall into sins of impurity and immodesty. With the demon of anger your pride becomes so enraged and with gluttony you don't worry about eating or drinking alcohol and doing drugs. With the demon of envy, you want things that belong to another, especially you want his wife or husband and you take pleasure in all these things. The demon of sloth - is spiritual laziness - you neglect your work, your family, you spend your time on evil entertainment. The serpent has you chained and this becomes an evil habit you have. From Mary Magdalene Jesus cast out seven devils. We are living in the dark world which is under Satan. A person who falls into mortal sin will go from bad to worse. They have one chance to be saved and that is to have recourse to Mary by praying the Holy Rosary. These inspirations of Mary are to let you know what is going on around the world and in the Church. Many priests don't do their work. They should make sermons on praying and devotion to Mary, that is, to go to Jesus through her. This is the last hope we have for our salvation or we are dooming our generation. God is love - He is pleading to accept His mercy. He wants to wash our sins in His own precious blood. The invitation is here but we must be willing to accept His mercy. He will never force us to accept Him. We must go to Jesus through Mary with humility and a prayerful heart. Fourth week - Contemplative Ministry - Meditate on the enclosed holy card (to be recited daily)
The Little Flower (Doctor of the Church) In the previous issue we asked you to work at increasing your concern for the needs of others and detaching yourself from selfish desires. If you were able to accomplish this, you are on that road to sanctity, which St. Therese said is easy to attain. In this issue we will cover the first of the eight fundamental characteristics of her Little Way of Spiritual Childhood. The first characteristic of a child is Littleness or Humility. Therese described Littleness as follows:
St. Therese said, "The littler we are, the more we attract God." St. Therese took delight in being hidden, unknown and counted as nothing. She desired to be forgotten and to be reduced to nothing so that she would have no self desires except the glory of Jesus. She wanted to overcome any desire which would cause her to attract the notice of others or to seek any attention that would flatter human pride. Therese described humility as having four aspects:
Therese said our faults make us realize how weak we are and they keep us humble. Therese wanted others to know her imperfections. She said it is a real blessing for us when others see our imperfections. We can then practice true humility which consists not only in thinking and saying we are full of faults, but in rejoicing because others think and say the same thing about us. When others made hurtful remarks or misjudged her unfavorably, she accepted it in silence. She said, "Why should we defend ourselves when we are misunderstood or unjustly criticized. Let us say nothing. It is so sweet to let others judge us in any way they like. O blessed silence, which gives so much peace to the soul." St. Therese declared that littleness and humility are the only means to make rapid progress in sanctity and the only way by which saints are made. To humble ourselves, to suffer our imperfections with love and patience, this is true sanctity, the source of peace. Between now and the next issue, let us try our best to practice littleness and humility in our daily lives. In our next issue we will discuss the second characteristic of the Little Way of St. Therese, Spiritual Poverty. Thomas R. Oswald, M.I.
Do you not understand? Has His infirmity even entered your mind? Those who truly follow Jesus will be scorned and hated in this life and looked down as being nothing. They will be trodden underfoot. Many will avoid them on account of their being followers of Jesus. Do not be surprised of this. "And they do all these things on account of my name." (Jn. 15:21) When you mention sin to them they say they don't have any sin. Did you know that people who do not have sins cannot be saved if they die this way. Jesus says, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind." Some of the Pharisees who were with Him said to Him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, we see, your sin remains." (Jn. 9:39-41) Jesus says, "And when He comes (the Holy Spirit) He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemn sin, because they do not believe." (Jn. 16:8-9) Blessed Catherine Emmerich saw how this caused trembling and suffering in Jesus in the Garden of Olives. John says, "The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus. He answered, for which of these are you trying to stone me? The Jews answered, we are not stoning you for good works, but for blasphemy." (Jn. 10:31-33) So we will be persecuted when we speak the truth, not only in the world, but in our churches and family, all of which are being corrupted these days. Blessed Catherine Emmerich says, "While the adorable humanity of Christ was crushed to the earth beneath this awful weight of suffering, the angels appeared filled with compassion. During this moment there appeared to be a struggle between the mercy and justice of God and the love which was sacrificed itself." Have you understood? Do you understand? In this dark night we suffer because we feel abandoned by God. Take courage. Jesus suffered the abandonment of His Father, too. St. John of the Cross says, "On a dark night aroused in love with yearning - oh happy chance! I went out without being seen." In order for a soul to reach this perfection and to understand more about the Passion of Christ she must pass through this dark night of the senses and the dark night of the spirit. In this dark night they will be purified of the senses and be guided by faith alone. The senses are put to sleep as the soul is purified. In this night there is a spiritual combat. St. Teresa of Avila calls this a tug of war. The evil pulls one way to get you corrupted and the good pulls the soul toward God. This will last until we die. Satan is always there to pull you toward sin up to the last breath of your life. Jesus and Mary are there to inspire you to good. One must trust in Jesus and Mary.
The work of that love in dryness, in prayer, because the silence of God that cast the soul unto darkness brings on detachment and greater purification. I desire to be purified of everything.
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