The attack on marriage is really an attack on the human person, and his dignity, for the devil seeks to pervert our true purpose, to pervert God's holy design. For many of us, we cannot march in protests or write dozens of letters or call numerous times to urge legislators to vote for the Truth. But one thing we can all do is pray and fast. We have designated one day each week to fast for these intentions:

1. That marriage may be preserved, promoted, and understood as God's plan for creation.

2. For all marriages that they may reflect the love of the Trinity.

3. For broken marriages that Christ bring healing and conversion to the spouses' souls.

4. For those who are married, for the sanctification of their marriage and their spouse. For those who are single, for their future spouse and vocation.


Thursday, April 30, 2020

May 1 Fast

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JMJ
"It is tender, that is, full of confidence in her, like a child's confidence in his loving mother. This confidence makes the soul have recourse to her in all its bodily and mental necessities, with much simplicity, trust and tenderness. . . 
This devotion to Our Lady is holy: that is to say, it leads the soul to avoid sin and imitate the virtues of the Blessed Virgin, particularly her profound humility, her lively faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer, her universal mortification, her divine purity, her ardent charity, her heroic patience, her angelic sweetness and her divine wisdom. These are the ten principal virtues of the most holy Virgin." 
(True Devotion, St. Louis de Montfort)
Separation from a loved one either deepens or dulls desire.  The oft-quoted cliche that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" is not a steadfast rule; rather it is absence that reveals either sincere fidelity or hidden apathy.  When separation is unavoidable, one's true devotion is shown by how he fills the void during the indefinite wait for the return of the Beloved.  An interminable interval can invite anxiety and idleness, but unlike the foolish virgins in the parable, one must prepare himself for the return of the bridegroom since He will come at an unexpected hour.  Rather than fill the void with empty diversions, one can increase his prayer and fasting to sharpen his hunger to once again receive His Beloved.

 It is here that one can look to Our Lady's example as she waited with eager expectation for the coming of the Messiah.  Mary did not wait in sloth and indolence, but in fervent prayer and industry; for even had she known that she would be asked to be the Mother of the Messiah, she would have still performed the same mundane daily tasks with diligence and patience. As Our Lord sanctified work by laboring himself; so too, Our Lady ennobled the role of a handmaid by her ardent desire to serve, even those who were not graced as she was. 

 Let us turn to Our Lady during this, her month, asking her help to imitate her so that like Venerable Teresita Quevado, we may say to Mary: "Let all who look at me, see you."

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