{"id":12634,"date":"2013-12-18T00:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-12-18T06:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=12634"},"modified":"2019-02-26T02:57:09","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T08:57:09","slug":"welcome-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/welcome-mary\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome Mary","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
\nfor December 18th, 2013<\/p>\n

Liturgical texts here<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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WHEN <\/strong>Joseph learned that Mary was “found with child”, today’s Gospel says he set about to “divorce her quietly.”<\/p>\n

How many today quietly “divorce” themselves from the Mother of God! How many say, “I can go to straight to Jesus. Why do I need her?” Or they say, “The Rosary is too long and boring,” or, “Devotion to Mary was a pre-Vatican II thing that we no longer need to do…”, and so forth. I too pondered the question of Mary many years ago. With a sweat on my brow, I poured over the Scriptures asking “Why do we Catholics make such a big deal of Mary?”<\/p>\n

The answer, I began to see, is because Jesus<\/em> makes a big deal of Mary. I have written several times about the Blessed Mother’s role, not only in these times, but in all times of the Church’s growth, from its conception at the Cross, to its birth at Pentecost, to its growing into “full stature” in these and the times to come. I have added some of those writings below in Related Reading to challenge, encourage, and lay to rest some of the fears surrounding this “Woman.” (You can also click the MARY<\/a> link on the sidebar here<\/a><\/em> to read dozens of my writings related to her.)<\/p>\n

But all the reading and studying in the world on Mary cannot substitute for doing what Joseph did in today’s Gospel: “he took his wife into his home.<\/em>” Have you welcomed Mary into your heart? Yes, I know, this may sound funny\u2014even heretical, since we are used to the language of “inviting Jesus into your heart.” But Mary? Well, when you do as Joseph did, welcoming the Holy Virgin to cross the threshold of your life, your activities, your prayer, your crosses… you are at once welcoming the unborn Christ child<\/em> within her womb. To invite Mary into your heart and home is to welcome Jesus, because where she is, there He is.<\/p>\n

You can only discover this by doing it! Take it from someone who feared that he may be impeding the Holy Spirit by any kind of attention to Mary. But I want to say this to you in all seriousness. I really believe it is Our Lady who is helping me to write these words\u2014all of them, over 800 writings here. My mind is blank, truly a broken, clay vessel. And I say to her, “Mother, help me to write Jesus’ words, not my own.” And then the words come almost immediately. And what does she have me saying to you? Love Jesus! Love Him, worship Him, trust Him, give Him everything, hold nothing back! Isn’t that the summary of it all here, even implied in the more difficult writings that deal with the “signs of the times”?<\/p>\n

Do you really need to hear me say again, “She is your mother. She is all about Jesus.”? Then let me say it again: she is all about Jesus! <\/em>As it says in the first reading today, all about making Him “reign and govern wisely” in your heart. As Queen Mother, her concern is to make Jesus King in your life.<\/p>\n

And what happened when Joseph invited her and the Christ child into his home? They turned the place upside down! All of a sudden Joseph was setting out with them on long, treacherous journeys. He had to rely totally on Divine Providence rather than on his own ingenuity. He entered the realm of mysticism, of visions and dreams. He began to experience the storms of persecution that rise against the “woman clothed with the sun, about to give birth to a child.” He had to flee, trust, live in exile, and go searching and seeking for the Son when He seemed lost. Most of all, St. Joseph discovered that precisely by welcoming Mary into his home, he was given the gift of contemplating the face of Jesus.<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh yes, this will all happen in your life too if you welcome the Mother and Child into your heart. Mary is not the docile statuette we have made her out to be at times. She is a woman who crushes the head<\/em> of a serpent! She is out to make saints, because she knows that holy men and women alone can renew humanity. [1]<\/sup><\/a>“All are called to holiness, and holy people alone can renew humanity.” \u2014BLESSED JOHN PAUL II, World Youth Day Message for 2005, Vatican City, Aug. 27th, 2004, Zenit.org<\/span><\/span>