20 June 2013 Our Lady of the Consolation also known as the ‘Nuestra Señora de la Correa’ ‘Our Lady of the Cord.’ Like the scapular, the cord or belt, is a symbol of Mary’s promise to save from perdition whoever seek her protection. (Fr Charles Belmonte, “Aba Ginoong Maria”, 1990, p141) Tradition has it that Our Lady appeared to St Monica holding a black cincture (‘correa’, Spanish) as a sign that her son, Augustine will be converted and become a great saint. (“A Marian Pilgrimage”, Sinag-Tala Publishers, Inc, Manila, p2) Wanting to be a saint “For what will profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?” (Mt 16:26) This question forces us to examine our life to which only God gives final meaning. “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Ps 41) The saints greatly desired to belong to God completely despite their defects. We must start by making the desire for holiness flourish in our soul, telling Our Lord: ‘I want to be a saint’; or at least “When I experience my softness and weakness, I ‘want’ to want to be a saint.” To banish doubt and make holiness truly meaningful, let us look at Christ-- “The Lord Jesus, divine teacher and model of all perfection, preached holiness of life (of which he is author and maker) to each and every one of his disciples without distinction: ‘You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’” (Mt 5:48) (Second Vatican Council, “Lumen Gentium”, 40) He has taken the initiative. Otherwise, desiring to be a saint would be improbable to us. Jesus commands: “... be perfect!” And so it is not surprising that the Church makes sure her children hear the following resounding words: “Therefore, all the faithful are invited and obliged to holiness and the perfection of their own state of life.” (“Lumen gentium”, 42) Souls who embark on the path of holiness must first really want to be saints “whatever may come, whatever may happen to them, however hard they may have to labour, whoever may complain of them, whether they reach their goal or die on the road”. (St Theresa, “The Way of Perfection”, 21, 2) “Allow your soul to be consumed by desires: desires for loving, for forgetting yourself, for sanctity, for heaven. ... Let your desires be operative, and put them into practice in your daily tasks.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Furrow”, 628) Therefore, we must examine our conscience to see if our desires of holiness are sincere and effective; if we take them as ‘obligatory’ for a faithful Christian. This examination could reveal the reason for so much weakness and apathy in interior struggle. “You tell me, yes, you want to. Very good: but do you want as a miser longs for gold, as a mother loves her child, as a worldling craves for honours, or as a wretched sensualist seeks his pleasure? No? Then, you don’t want to!” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 316) Let us develop these desires with the virtue of hope. Effectively desiring something goes with hope of attaining it. Our theological hope rests on God. Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:429-31 Constancy in struggle Each person must work out the details of his or her own examination of conscience. Some people, by temperament, have to be especially specific and keep careful track of progress. This may be due to their tendency to generalities. We can be helped in spiritual guidance if we open up and let ourselves be known. We should not be surprised if it takes time to attain the proposed objective in our struggle. If our target is well chosen, usually it will be a fairly deep-rooted defect which requires a patient struggle. Thus, beginning again and again without getting discouraged should mark our determination. In beginning again with God’s help we strengthen the foundations of our humility. Fortitude, constancy and humility keep the particular examination alive. Love, always resourceful, will refresh our daily struggle because through it we are seeking to love Our Lord. Love gives us an opportunity to make many acts of contrition for failures, and acts of thanksgiving for our successes. A daily struggle in a given particular examination is the best remedy for lukewarmness and softness. What a wonderful thing it would be if our Guardian Angel could testify that we struggled each day although we weren’t always victorious! In some instances the objective of the particular examination might appear negative, opposition to a particular evil, for example. The best approach is to practise the virtue contrary to the defect we are trying to uproot. In this case, practising humility by overcoming the tendency to be the centre of everything. One topic for particular examination that can leave a deep impression on our soul will be to attend Mass and to receive Holy Communion with greater love. Interior struggle becomes more effective and attractive. “The tendency of the soul towards good is greater than that towards the avoidance of evil.” (St Thomas, “Summa Theologiae”, I-II, q29, a3) We ask Our Lady, ‘Virgo fidelis’, Virgin most faithful, to help us to be faithful, trying to remove daily the very definite obstacles that separate us from her Son. Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:420-22 Interior Life “We have need of a rich interior life -- a sure sign of friendship with God and an essential condition for any kind of work with souls.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, 31 May 1943) All the values of this world just disappear if compared with the least of supernatural values. St Thomas Aquinas expressed this idea in a metaphysical way: ‘a single grace is a greater good than all the natural good of the entire universe’. The heart of of a man is like a cradle in which Jesus is born again. That is why, in all the hearts which have chosen to receive him, Jesus grows in age, in strength and in grace according to a person’s capacity to receive him. He shows himself in the life of men as a child, or as an adolescent in full development, or as a mature man. Christ’s desire is to be born and to grow in the heart and in the life of Christians. Thus, he wants to make each Christian, another Christ. We should all respond to this calling of grace, repeating the words of the Precursor [St John the Baptist]: “He must become more and more, I must become less and less.” (Jn 3:30) This fruit of interior life affects everything we do and makes us enjoy the consoling parable of the vine and branches: “He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5) Ref: Cf Salvatore Canals, “Jesus as friend”, 1981, pp21-2, 24 Our Lady -- ‘Help of Christians’, says the litany of Loreto with confidence. Have you tried to repeat that aspiration in time of difficulty? If you do it with faith, with the tenderness of a daughter or a son, you will discover the power of the intercession of your Holy Mother Mary, who will lead you to victory. (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Furrow”, 180) • Our Lady of Blachernae, in the harbor of Constantinople, where they possess the winding-sheet of Our Lady, given by the Empress St Pulcheria, who had received it from Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem. — Nicophorus, lib. xv, c. 14. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com) • Our Lady of Blaquernes (At Constantinople). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html) • Our Lady of Blaquernes. Constantinople. Basilica. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm) • Our Lady of Consolation. Luxembourg, 1624. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html); (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (http://mariedenazareth.com) • Our Lady of Consolation. Luxembourg. 1624. Shrine in West Grinstead, England. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)