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aussieannie
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| Posted: Feb 12 2007 at 5:57am | IP Logged
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I am so sorry, it has been an extra big day on the board today for me, and this seems to be a bombardment  but I have just found another quote from the Holy Father about Holy Slavery, in Pope John Paul II's Marian Legacy
Pope JPII Marian Legacy wrote:
The French saint taught that we should freely
choose to become slaves of Mary. The Polish
Pontiff was aware that in today’s society the
word slave has negative connotations, but this is
not so with slavery to Mary. He explained: “It is
well known that (St Louis) defines his devotion
(to Our Lady) as a form of ‘slavery’. The word
may upset our contemporaries. Personally, I do
not see any difficulty in it. I think we are confronted
here with the sort of paradox often to be
noted in the Gospels, the words “holy slavery”
signifying that we could not more fully exploit
our freedom, the greatest of God’s gifts to us.
For freedom is measured by the love of which
we are capable.”
How beautifully the Pope explains slavery to
Mary and ultimately to Jesus. He says it is a
paradox, which is something that at first glance
seems contradictory but is really well-founded.
The paradox is that by becoming Our Lady’s
slave, we are really exercising our freedom to the
highest level. Our Lady gave Her Fiat to God at
the Annunciation, when She said: “Behold the
handmaid of the Lord! Be it done unto me according
to thy word.” We give our Fiat to Our
Lady in consecration to Her, so that we may give
our total yes to God. |
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Lissa
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| Posted: Feb 12 2007 at 9:04am | IP Logged
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Annie, these are great quotes; thank you for sharing them. Very helpful.
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Lissa
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Nina Murphy
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This has been very helpful and really has me thinking about the connotations of "slave" versus "servant" in it's all-encompassing totality and surrender. Thank you.
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~~Nina
mother of 9 on earth,
and 2 yet-to-be-met
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BrendaPeter
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| Posted: Feb 12 2007 at 8:29pm | IP Logged
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aussieannie wrote:
The paradox is that by becoming Our Lady’s
slave, we are really exercising our freedom to the
highest level.
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How beautiful! Thx Annie!
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Blessings,
Brenda (mom to 6)
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Rumpleteazer
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| Posted: Feb 13 2007 at 11:48am | IP Logged
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I've been following this conversation with such interest! I'm a rather poetic person, so I've always loved metaphors and they've always inspired me in my spiritual journey. Reading over the quotes and pondering on "slave" vs. "servant," free will, etc., I had a couple of, rather simple I must admit, thoughts.
A slave has just as much free will as a servant. He would probably have stronger reasons to remain obedient, but if he chose to rebel he certainly could.
A servant works with the expectation of being paid for his work, but the slave does it for other motives... out of fear, or, in the case of a slave of Mary, out of love. I find this such a beautiful thing... it's something that the saints strove for. A perfection of love, doing things for Christ out of love, not for rewards in Heaven, similiar to perfect contrition, in which the soul repents of sin out of love of God, not out of fear of Hell.
What I personally find the most beautiful about the "slave" metaphor is what it seems to signify in the following... a servant merely works for his master, but a slave really belongs.
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Helen
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Rumpleteazer wrote:
| What I personally find the most beautiful about the "slave" metaphor is what it seems to signify in the following... a servant merely works for his master, but a slave really belongs. |
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This is wonderful Clare.
You just let me know when you want to start writing Mary Vitamins. 
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Mom to 5 girls and 3 boys
Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate
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JennGM
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Rumpleteazer wrote:
| What I personally find the most beautiful about the "slave" metaphor is what it seems to signify in the following... a servant merely works for his master, but a slave really belongs. |
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Extremely wonderful point, Clare. That triggered another thought. While I know there was slave abuse, there is documented proof that the owners cared for their slaves. Love wasn't always the motivation, but money. To get the most out of the slaves they needed to keep them healthy.
And I'll throw in another thought...some of my mother's family in past generations owned slaves. My grandmother used to point out that their was some love and trust in their relationships, otherwise would you have slaves helping raise their most important assets, their children?
When the War freed the slaves, my ancestors let their slaves free, but they returned and asked to stay with my family, and of course, the answer was yes. As slaves they had felt loved and cared and considered themselves as part of the family.
I'm sure not everything was rosy, and it never was right to own a person, but this personal history always gave me a different angle on slavery.
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aussieannie
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Rumpleteaszer wrote:
| What I personally find the most beautiful about the "slave" metaphor is what it seems to signify in the following... a servant merely works for his master, but a slave really belongs. |
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Very good point, Clare - I am starting to feel that slave is a far more endearing term than servant could ever be!
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BrendaPeter
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Now I guess I can come "out of the closet" - maybe I'm not the only one who when she first heard about the "Slaves of Mary" practically swooned at the title!
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Brenda (mom to 6)
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aussieannie
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BrendaPeter wrote:
Now I guess I can come "out of the closet" - maybe I'm not the only one who when she first heard about the "Slaves of Mary" practically swooned at the title!
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Brenda, I wonder if in a way, we ever fully get use to it or understand it in this life? In our weaknesses we often want to hold back a little of ourselves - it is the disarming intimacy of true love, that in our earthly woundedness, is hard to be completely open to.
I remember a priest giving us a talk about Pope John Paul's Theology of the Body. He said that before the fall, our souls were fully integrated with our s&xuality. After the fall, we struggle continually and daily to bring it back to the original and perfect union, this struggle is the result of our sinful state.
I am sure it is the same with giving our souls completely to God. (holy slavery) Our fallen human nature makes it hard in fully integrating ourselves to what we were originally made for. I think this is why allowing Mary to 'animate' our souls is so perfect. She has perfect integration in everything ~ she is the only creature who gives us the example and guide for imitating it.
I think too, the reason why earthly slavery seems so abhorrant is because it is the giving of *everything* of one human soul to another frail human's care and mastery. Our souls weren't made for that.
I think we are frightened by the the word 'slavery' because we have heard it connected mainly to the earthly understanding of it and not ever fully realised it has an important, spiritual meaning. It is very hard to get past our first feelings (neutral or abhorrent) when we hear the word but I am thinking for the first time in my life, the importance of trying to, the rewards are waiting for us to uncover, so as to speak.
Slavery finds it's true home IN the spiritual sphere, for it is our desire to give ourselves completely over to God in the Beatific Vision of Heaven, for which we have been created for. We will never escape that in-built desire, even in the depths of hell, which is the primary cause of the soul's pain and despair. Our spiritual struggles in this life are due to our souls not being in complete union with this desire.
It is interesting what Jenn mentioned about her ancestors and I have read about situations like it. Those who treated their slaves with care and love (a glimmer of the Heavenly love) found that their slaves in those instances were only too happy to give their lives and services to them, in many cases.
So obviously our souls were made for a holy slavery for God, Mary’s role in this, St Louis explains well, “ we become, the loving slaves of our Blessed Lady in order to become more perfect slaves of Jesus.”
True Devotion wrote:
| 75. Following therefore the teaching of the saints and of many great men we can call ourselves, and become, the loving slaves of our Blessed Lady in order to become more perfect slaves of Jesus. Mary is the means our Lord chose to come to us and she is also the means we should choose to go to him, for she is not like other creatures who tend rather to lead us away from God than towards him, if we are over-attached to them. Mary's strongest inclination is to unite us to Jesus, her Son, and her Son's strongest wish is that we come to him through his Blessed Mother. |
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I wonder if I can ever be brief and succinct in my writing?...I am so sorry.
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BrendaPeter
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Dear Annie,
Please don't apologize! You are so incredibly eloquent & I must apologize for my own lack of eloquence. When I wrote "swoon", I meant it in a more of a "romantic" (for lack of a better word) way. Something about the title "Slaves of Mary" just struck me as being so incredibly beautiful.
I also appreciate what Jenn wrote about slavery. I remember reading "Gone with the Wind" years & years ago & being struck by how some of the slaves were really like members of the family.
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Brenda (mom to 6)
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aussieannie
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BrendaPeter wrote:
| When I wrote "swoon", I meant it in a more of a "romantic" (for lack of a better word) way. Something about the title "Slaves of Mary" just struck me as being so incredibly beautiful. |
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When I re-read the posts above you, your swoon as you wrote it makes perfect sense! (it's just me, I should have read the way I am now - then. ) - it is absolutely beautiful the way you have used it Brenda!  (For me, when swoon is used in romantic terms it creates imagery of purity and delicacy. )
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aussieannie
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Ooooh! Here is a litte gem, I stumbled across. (the gem within the gem is in blue)
Quote:
| Chosen soul, this devotion consists in a total surrender of one's whole self in order to become the absolute possession, and the perfect instrument of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We must abandon ourselves to dependence upon Mary as Christ himself did within her womb. For us, it must be a total abandonment of ones own self, and all that one possesses, both materially and spiritually. One must will to become the total possession and property of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Finally, this will require us to adopt her own spirit as the spiritual chapel of our own soul. |
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Helen wrote:
| For me it was incredibly easy to do whatever she said. I am glad to be her servant, slave, instrument, property, even dirt if she will shackle me to the Lord. And this is what she does. Some how, she invariably keeps my heart on what it needs to be on as long as I continue in my devotion to her. |
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A lovely connection of Helen's mention of possession, property and instrument intimately back to mother/child relationship in the hidden beauty of the womb. 
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MicheleQ
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aussieannie wrote:
| We must abandon ourselves to dependence upon Mary as Christ himself did within her womb. |
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Annie this truly is a gem! It spoke to my heart this morning. Christ, who is God, entrusted Himself so completely and helplessly to Mary as to be born of her womb. He allowed her to teach Him how to walk, how to talk etc. So in being subject to Mary and allowing her to lead us we also imitate Christ. There is no reason to fear being completely "enslaved" to the one whom God Himself chose to be His Mother.
Truly beautiful. Thank you.
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aussieannie
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| Posted: Feb 17 2007 at 5:22am | IP Logged
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I have been doing a big clean up in the house and I sorted all my religious booklets and holy cards and I found a few booklets about True Devotion.
One is called, "Surrender to Mary" by an Oblate of Mary Immaculate and it is a great little booklet answering many common questions.
"Slave of Mary" came up and this is a part of what they say:
Surrender to Mary wrote:
| It is pointed out in the treatise there is such a thing as being a slave of love. In any case the word is used by the saint as a means of expressing, beyond all doubt, that our surrender is absolute, total. By the use of the words "Mother" and "child" he indicates that love is the motive of our surrender. Our love knows no limit. |
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4Real Forums : Hidden Treasure
Topic: Slave of Mary
