Ave Maria Meditations
It is possible for a priest to penetrate His Heart (The Sacred Heart of Jesus) even more deeply if he also enters the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. From the moment of her Immaculate Conception, her response to God, who gave her existence in this pure state, was the total gift of herself to the Creator for whatever He should ask of her. At the moment of the Incarnation, this gift became priestly.
She knew the doleful mission of the Messiah from having read of the Prophet Isaiah. She understood that in becoming the Mother of the Man of Sorrows, she would become the Mother of Sorrow. Her response was simply, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word (Lk 1: 38). From then on, her life was one of indescribable suffering because of her union with the Christ-Priest. Apart from Jesus, she might enjoy a serene existence, but she would have no existence apart from Jesus.
The sufferings occasioned by her maternity included the refusal of the citizens of Bethlehem to receive her at the time of Jesus’ birth, the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the disappearance of Jesus. Then there was the news she received that the Pharisees and the priests threatened Him by their lies and their determination to be rid of Him. Most of all, there was the sight of the tortures inflicted on the Body of her Son and the indescribable agony in Jesus’ soul, an agony she felt within her own soul. Jesus was the cause of them all.
She suffered to the extent that she loved because these sufferings were caused by· her love. The depth of her love was more than we can imagine, and so is the intensity of her martyrdom. She embraced all these sufferings with her whole heart, and in no way would she seek to lessen them because she suffered for Jesus, with Jesus, and for the same intentions of Jesus-for the glory of the Father and the salvation of all men and women, her children.
O Christ, You loved me and You offered Yourself for me! O Mary, you loved me and offered yourself for me! Help me to love you and to offer myself for you and with you, for the Father and for souls!
O thou Mother, fount of love! Touch my spirit from above. Make my heart with thine accord. Make me feel as thou hast felt; Make my soul to glow and melt with love of Christ our Lord
+ Fr. Emile Neubert, SM
(Mary and the Priestly Ministry)
