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Diane
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| Posted: Sept 20 2007 at 1:40pm | IP Logged
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Helen wrote:
| Diane, it is helpful to me if you periodically post something that strikes you from True Devotion. |
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Helen, since you asked  , here are some thoughts on my reading from True Devotion yesterday.
Am I on the right track? Maybe?
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Peace,
Diane
Mom to five fair lasses and one bonny prince
The Journey of a Mother's Heart
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Helen
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| Posted: Sept 21 2007 at 11:43am | IP Logged
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Diane wrote:
Helen wrote:
| Diane, it is helpful to me if you periodically post something that strikes you from True Devotion. |
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Helen, since you asked , here are some thoughts on my reading from True Devotion yesterday.
Am I on the right track? Maybe? |
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Absolutely!!!
Thanks Diane
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Ave Maria!
Mom to 5 girls and 3 boys
Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate
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Diane
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| Posted: Sept 21 2007 at 12:16pm | IP Logged
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Helen (and whoever else might have some thoughts to share),
Margaret and I could use a little spiritual wisdom.
Would you look at the readings for the fifth day of week one? (You'll have to scroll down a bit.)
Why the crafty steward parable? How does it relate? We're trying, but we just can't figure it out. 
And the passage from True Devotion,
In all things look to the end; and how thou wilt stand before that strict Judge (Heb. 10:31) to whom nothing is hid, who is not appeased with gifts, nor admitteth excuses, but will judge according to right. O wretched and foolish sinner, who sometimes art in terror at the countenance of an angry man, what answer wilt thou make to God who knoweth all thy wickedness (Job 9:2)!
truly terrified me. It made me want to go curl up in a ball in my closet and just give up completely. I know that is not the proper response. He is my hope and my salvation, right? I don't have to do this on my own, I just keep telling myself, hoping it will somehow sink in.
This timid and feeble mind thanks you for your insights!
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Peace,
Diane
Mom to five fair lasses and one bonny prince
The Journey of a Mother's Heart
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Helen
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| Posted: Sept 21 2007 at 1:11pm | IP Logged
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Diane wrote:
Would you look at the readings for the fifth day of week one? (You'll have to scroll down a bit.)
Why the crafty steward parable? How does it relate? We're trying, but we just can't figure it out. |
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At first glance, I would venture to say that the crafty steward parable is intended to convey the idea:
To be smart about your future.
Don't just live for today -- remember the Last Day and be especially wise and prudent about the Last Day. Just the way we are practical and wise with our everyday things (money etc), be as prudent and wise with your spiritual life.
If the reminders of the Last Day make cause you concern, it may be because you already have a finely tuned conscience. You may not need that warning.
Keep up the great work! Temptations strike to turn us away from the goal. Each person will experience the temptation best suited to turning him away from the goal. Can this have the opposite effect? Can it galvanize you into saying:
I won't fall for that trick!
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Ave Maria!
Mom to 5 girls and 3 boys
Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate
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Diane
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| Posted: Sept 21 2007 at 5:24pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, Helen. Your explanation does make sense. I guess I was looking for some deeper, more literal meaning in the selection of this particular passage.
I love your line: Just the way we are practical and wise with our everyday things (money etc), be as prudent and wise with your spiritual life.
I am most definitely being tempted mightily these days, which is a good sign, I know. But I'm succumbing to the temptations too often, which is not so good. I'm weary and know I need to be a bit more diligent in arming myself for the battle.
I think I need to identify my strongest temptations and come up with a concrete plan for defending myself before I face an attack. And our Mary wants to help me with this, doesn't she? Why is it so hard for me to remember to ask my Mother for help?
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Diane
Mom to five fair lasses and one bonny prince
The Journey of a Mother's Heart
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Margaret in MN
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Jumping into the discussion to ask a couple questions.
In today's reading it said that Mary's spirit "will enter into the place of yours, to rejoice in God, her salvation, provided only that you are faithful to the practices of this devotion.
First, what does it mean that Mary's spirit will enter into the place of mine? I find that to be worded strangely.
Second, and here come my scruples so look out, how do I know that I will be faithful to the practices of this devotion? I am such a side-tracked little gal! (Well-intentioned, yes, but extremely side-tracked)
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Margaret
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Helen
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Margaret in MN wrote:
In today's reading it said that Mary's spirit "will enter into the place of yours, to rejoice in God, her salvation, provided only that you are faithful to the practices of this devotion.
First, what does it mean that Mary's spirit will enter into the place of mine? I find that to be worded strangely. |
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I love this aspect of consecration to Mary. This is what St. Maximilian Kolbe picked up on and expounded upon.
Total Consecration to Mary invites Our Lady into our hearts in such a way that she is the one to animate us - as far as we're permitting. With continual dying to self, by speaking with her often, by renewing our consecration, Mary herself will lead us in our lives and bring us very, very close to her Son. This is the happy result of becoming her willing "slave." (St. Maximilian calls it "property and possession.")
Margaret in MN wrote:
Second, and here come my scruples so look out, how do I know that I will be faithful to the practices of this devotion? I am such a side-tracked little gal! (Well-intentioned, yes, but extremely side-tracked) |
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Yes, this is a valid concern. Place all your concerns in Our Lady's lap. Frequenty ask, with confidence, am I on the right track?
This has been my constant prayer of late - Am I doing the right thing? Am I following the Lord's Will? Should I be doing more?
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Ave Maria!
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Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Oct 25 2007 at 1:49pm | IP Logged
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Thanks to your blog, Helen, and a beautiful homily by a Marian priest, I am reading True Devotion. My plan is to start the consecration on Nov 5.
I am a little confused about the "totality" of it, though. So, please clarify.
My reading so far (I'm not finished) has me wondering about the ideas that *every* prayer is through Mary. Do we no longer ask for the intercessions of other saints. Many of the prayers he quotes are directed to Jesus, but I do get confused when in other places, it seems we are to "send" them all through Mary since she can put them just right.
I have a feeling I'm not quite getting it and am perhaps taking things too literally?
So, for instance, only priests are to offer a prayer (as in the mass) up for an intention other than to Mary. How do we then bring forth petitions. How is it our rosary should still have an intention?
I do feel a call to do this, but I can't seem to grasp it all.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Helen
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| My reading so far (I'm not finished) has me wondering about the ideas that *every* prayer is through Mary. |
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These are great questions Lindsay and I think you are *really* getting it. True Devotion to Mary means that you are making a change in your life. You are doing something more than offering a prayer or a novena one time. You are handing yourself over to Our Lady.
St. Louis remarks that this is a devotion rarely spoken about or employed. (Meaning that it is different in some ways to other devotions.) I find it takes practice – continual practice! I also find it helpful to remember when trying to turn our prayers over to Our Lady that this practice is of such a humble nature that it is well worth the effort. We practice humility in continually trying to turn to Our Lady first.
CrunchyMom wrote:
| Do we no longer ask for the intercessions of other saints. |
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I would be very interested in hearing what others have done in their spiritual life. I like to speak to Our Lady first and then offer a novena. It’s like checking in with my Mother first or asking her permission. (Again, very humble)
CrunchyMom wrote:
So, for instance, only priests are to offer a prayer (as in the mass) up for an intention other than to Mary. |
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Interestingly, St. Maximilian Kolbe offered almost every single Mass he ever said to the Immaculate. I learned this from reading For the Life of the World by Fr. Domanski. (This is a great book. It is basically a book about St. Maximilian’s Eucharistic life and especially his Mass log.)
CrunchyMom wrote:
How is it our rosary should still have an intention? |
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St. Louis recommends in the Secret of the Rosary that we should say the Rosary with an intention. (This was a recent Mary Vitamin.)
CrunchyMom wrote:
I do feel a call to do this, but I can't seem to grasp it all. |
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I think that is the most important part – the sense of calling. St. Augustine’s quote comes to mind: “Faith precedes understanding.” Things get clearer as time passes.
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Ave Maria!
Mom to 5 girls and 3 boys
Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate
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CrunchyMom
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Helen wrote:
| I think that is the most important part – the sense of calling. St. Augustine’s quote comes to mind: “Faith precedes understanding.” Things get clearer as time passes. |
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That is so true and such a liberating reminder. I suppose it is also more important than understanding (acknowledging things we may never understand). After all, our lady appeared to Bernadette who had very little understanding but loads of faith!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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4Real Forums : Hidden Treasure
Topic: Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary
