Listening to Mary our Mother and Teacher
“Dear children! You do not know how to love, nor do you listen with love to the words I am giving you. Be assured, my beloved ones, that I am your Mother, and that I have come on earth to teach you how to listen with love, how to pray with love, and not out of compulsion because of the cross you are carrying. Through the cross God is glorified in every person. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
1st day: Matthew 6:22-23. (Thursday)
The eye, the lamp of the body. Cf. Luke 11:34-35.
Matthew 6:22-23.
22 The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Cf. Luke 11:34-35.
34 Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.
2nd day: Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:24-31. (Friday)
(Knox translation, as in the handbook, p. 71). Mary, the Mother of beautiful love.
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 24:24-31. (No number 24)
23 All this is the book of the covenant of the Most High God, the law which Moses commanded us as an inheritance for the congregations of Jacob. 25 It fills men with wisdom, like the Pishon, and like the Tigris at the time of the first fruits. 26 It makes them full of understanding, like the Euphrates, and like the Jordan at harvest time. 27 It makes instruction shine forth like light, like the Gihon at the time of vintage. 28 Just as the first man did not know her perfectly, the last one has not fathomed her; 29 for her thought is more abundant than the sea, and her counsel deeper than the great abyss. 30 I went forth like a canal from a river and like a water channel into a garden. 31 I said, “I will water my orchard and drench my garden plot;” and lo, my canal became a river, and my river became a sea.
3rd day: Proverbs 8:32-36. (Saturday)
Listening to the words of Wisdom. Our Lady, the “Seat of Wisdom.”
Cf. Psalm 34:11; Proverbs 6:20-22.
Proverbs 8:32-36.
32 And now, my sons, listen to me: happy are those who keep my ways. 33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. 34 Happy is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. 35 For he who finds me finds life and obtains favour from the LORD; 36 but he who misses me injures himself; all who hate me love death."
Cf. Psalm 34:11.
11 Come, O sons, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Cf. Proverbs 6:20-22.
20 My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. 21 Bind them upon your heart always; tie them about your neck. 22 When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.
4th day: Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 14:20-27. (Sunday)
Listening to Our Lady is listening to God’s wisdom. Listening with the heart.
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 14:20-27.
20 Blessed is the man who meditates on wisdom and who reasons intelligently. 21 He who reflects in his mind on her ways will also ponder her secrets. 22 Pursue wisdom like a hunter, and lie in wait on her paths. 23 He who peers through her windows will also listen at her doors; 24 he who encamps near her house will also fasten his tent peg to her walls; 25 he will pitch his tent near her, and will lodge in an excellent lodging place; 26 he will place his children under her shelter, and will camp under her boughs 27 he will be sheltered by her from the heat, and will dwell in the midst of her glory.
5th day: Romans 10:8-10. (Monday)
Believing with one’s heart is the way to justification.
Romans 10:8-10.
8 But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach); 9 because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved.
6th day: Ephesians 4:2-6. (Tuesday)
Unity through peace that binds us together. Cf. Colossians 3:12-15.
Ephesians 4:2-6.
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Cf. Colossians 3:12-15.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, 13 forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.
7th day: Acts 2:46-47. (Wednesday)
The believing community one in heart. Cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10.
Acts 2:46-47.
46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10.
9 But concerning love of the brethren you have no need to have any one write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do love all the brethren throughout Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, to do so more and more.
This week pray the Holy Rosary in union with Our Blessed Lady in a special way, i.e., meditating on the life of Jesus keeping in mind Our Lady’s joy and sorrows.