26 June 2013 Solemnity: St Josemaria Escrivá -- Founder of ‘Opus Dei’ “a way of sanctification in daily work and in the fulfillment of the ordinary duties of a Christian”. (Cf Prayer Card) By meditating on the example of his life, and re-reading his writings, we come to realize ever more fully the great marvels that God carries out in souls completely faithful to his plans. .. (Letter from the Prelate [June 2013]) The Virgin’s Heart of the ‘Fiat’ The biblical Alliance is never absolute, an accord between two of the same degree. The distance between Jesus and Mary is infinite. On one side there is God, the Eternal, the totally Other; on the other side, a weak human, fragile, mortal. Only love is essential in the Alliance: infinite, merciful and free gift of God, humble, welcoming, grateful of Man. Alliance is never a private matter. It has a common value. It concerns the whole people. The interlocutor of God, even when he is a single man, cannot act individually, but in the name of all the people. In the Alliance of Incarnation, the human being ‘making the contract’ is Mary of Nazareth, the Daughter of Zion, personification of the faithful Israel to the Law of the Lord. In the Virgin’s Heart are concentrated Israel’s hopes and expectations. In her words and deeds is expressed the purest spirituality of the chosen people. The theological tradition of the Church proposed that the ‘representative task’ of Mary of Nazareth is not limited to Israel, but is extending, according to the affirmation of St Thomas Aquinas, to the whole humanity. The ‘Fiat’ which sprung out from the Virgin’s Heart is the expression of the faithful service of what Israel, the servant, does to Yahweh the Lord. The nuptial assent of the Bride and free word that a daughter of Adam pronounces in the name of the whole human race. Love, mercy and alliance characterize Mary’s Heart. The Heart that pronounces the salvific ‘Fiat’ is, first of all, an Immaculate Heart, which refers undoubtedly to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The Heart that will pronounce the salvific ‘Fiat’ and welcome the Saviour did not know the mystery of original sin, but rather since the first heartbeat, it was full of grace. In Mary, the ‘corporeal virginity’ and the ‘virginity of the heart’ are perfectly integrated and harmonized. In her the ‘virginity of the heart’ precedes and determines the ‘virginity of the flesh’ -- an effect of an action coming from the Holy Spirit in Mary. The Heart of the Son and the Heart of the Virgin are united in the splendor of virginity, ie, in the pure and complete faithfulness to the Truth: Christ as the Truth itself and Mary as she who was flooded with the light of Truth. Ref: I Calabuig in “Alliance of the Two Hearts”, pp123-6 Most Sweet Heart of Mary The most holy Virgin, Our Mother, will teach us how to live trustfully and with confidence in God’s omnipotence, if we have recourse to her frequently each day. In the most Sweet Heart of Mary, whose feast we celebrate in June, we never fail to find peace, consolation and joy. (Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 3:627) The Consecration of Christ and Mary In the area of Revelation, we know that seldom does man give something to God. The encounter between God and man finds its full realization in Christ, incarnated by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, crucified and risen: the blood of the new alliance shed in sacrifice for the remission of sins, consecrates the people of all time and space. Thus consecration and sacrifice are two inseparable poles of the same Paschal event of Christ. The prayer pronounced by Jesus before His death, has been rightly called ‘Priestly Prayer’ ... or a ‘prayer of consecration’, filled with the offer of His own life to the world. In Greek, to consecrate means 1) to deify or to sanctify, and 2) to sacrifice, immolate. In the accomplishment of this consecratory sacrifice of Christ through the offering of His Body and Blood, He collaborated with the Virgin Mary: from her He took a body to sacrifice for us, the blood through which we are consecrated. Ref: C Maggioni in Alliance of the TWO HEARTS , pp181-2 Confirmation Creates Witnesses to Christ The Sacrament [of Confirmation] ... confirms and seals what was already mysteriously effected in you in Baptism, when you became adoptive children of God by full right. You were beneficially brought within the range of his love’s action: not only the love which he has for every creature as the Creator, but above all, the range of that most special love which he showed for man in Jesus Christ, as Redeemer. With this chrism, you acquire a particular relationship directly with the Lord Jesus. You are officially consecrated to him as witnesses to the Church and the world. He has need of you, and he wants to employ you by lending him your countenances, your hearts, your whole persons, so that his behavior towards others will be as you behave yourselves. If you are good, responsive, dedicated to the well-being of others, loyal servants of the Gospel, then Jesus will be giving that good impression; but if you should be weak and unspirited, then you will be casting a shadow over his real identity, and you will not be honoring him. So, you are called to a very lofty task, which turns you into true, complete Christians. Confirmation actually brings you to the Christian’s adulthood. That is, it trusts you and acknowledges a sense of responsibility in you. The child is not yet master of himself, of his acts, of his life. But the adult has the courage of his own choices; knows how to bear the consequences. He is capable of paying in person, because he has gained such an inner maturity that he can decide on his own, employ his existence as he thinks best, and above all give love, instead of only receiving it. Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, p219 The Lasting Mark of Confirmation Confirmation is received only once in a lifetime; but nonetheless, must leave ‘a lasting trace’. Precisely because it indelibly marks the soul, it can never be reduced to a distant memory of worn-out, evanescent religious practices. Thus, we must ask ourselves how the sacramental, vital encounter with the Holy Spirit, which we have received from the hands of the Apostles through the chrism, can and ought to ‘endure and be more profoundly rooted’ in the life of each of us. This is splendidly demonstrated by the sequence sung at Pentecost, ‘Veni, Sancte Spiritus’: “Come, Holy Spirit.” It reminds us that we must invoke that marvelous gift with faith and insistence. It also teaches us how and when we ought to ask for it. O, come, Holy Spirit, send us the radiance of your light ... Perfect consoler, give us your sweet relief, repose in fatigue and comfort in tears. Give us your strength, because without it nothing is in us, nothing is without fault! ... Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, pp225-6 • Our Lady of Malabar / Meliapour / Meliapore. India. 1542. The Apostle Thomas was said to have preached in India, and founded the Church of the Syrian Malabar Christians. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm) • Our Lady of Meliapore in the East Indies where St Francis Xavier often retired to pray. — See his Life. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com) • Our Lady of Meliapore, East Indies (1542). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html); (www.starharbor.com/santiago/m feasts.html); (http://mariedenazareth.com)