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Preparation for Pentecost with Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:00:34 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

Then they returned to Jerusalem…all these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary, the Mother of Jesus… (Acts 1:12,14)

From “True Devotion to the Holy Spirit”

by Archbishop Luis Martinesez :

Christian life is the reproduction of Jesus in souls… Now, how will this mystical reproduction be brought about in souls? In the same way in which Jesus was brought into the world…In His miraculous birth, Jesus was the fruit of Heaven and earth. The Holy Spirit conveyed the divine fruitfulness of the Father to Mary, and this virginal soil brought forth in an ineffable manner our most loving Savior, the divine Seed, as the prophets called Him.

This is what we are taught regarding Jesus, with the conciseness and the precision of an article of Faith: “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit … of the Virgin Mary.” That is the way Jesus is always conceived. That is the way He is reproduced in souls. He is always the fruit of Heaven and earth. Two artisans—the Holy Spirit and the most holy Virgin Mary—must concur in the work that is at once God’s masterpiece and humanity’s supreme product. Both the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary are necessary to souls, for they are the only ones who can reproduce Christ.

Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary sanctify us in different ways. The first is the Sanctifier by essence, because He is God, who is infinite sanctity, and because He is the personal Love that completes, so to speak, the sanctity of God, consummating His life and His unity and it belongs to Him to communicate to souls the mystery of that sanctity.

The Virgin Mary, for her part, is the cooperator, the indispensable instrument in and by God’s design. From Mary’s maternal relation to the human body of Christ is derived her relation to His Mystical Body, which is being formed through all the centuries until the end of time, when it will be lifted up to the heavens, beautiful, splendid, complete, and glorious.

These two then, the Holy Spirit and Mary, are the indispensable sanctifiers of souls… For the Holy Spirit pours charity into our heart, makes a habitation of our soul, and directs our spiritual life by means of His gifts. The Virgin Mary has the efficacious influence of Mediatrix in the most profound and delicate operations of grace in our souls.

And, finally, the action of the Holy Spirit and the cooperation of the most holy Virgin Mary are constant; without them, not one single character of Jesus would be traced on our souls, no grace would increase, no bond of union with God would be strengthened in the rich flowering of the spiritual life. Such is the place that the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary have in the order of sanctification. Therefore, Christian piety should put these two artisans of Christ in their true place, making devotion to them something necessary, profound, and constant.

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On the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 16:12:57 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

The Servant of God, Luis Martinez, comments on these gifts: “Let us not think that these gifts of the spirit are proper only to souls that have reached certain heights on the road to perfection; let us not believe that only the Saints possess the gifts of the Holy Spirit. All of us possess them!

It is sufficient to have the grace of God in our souls in order to receive them. On the day of our baptism, we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit together with the virtues and graces. And as long as we possess the grace, we possess also the gifts. They are not something passing: they are permanent; we carry them constantly in our soul. Grace cannot exist without the gifts, and grace and the gifts cannot exist if the Holy Spirit, the divine Director of our spiritual life, is not also present.

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Be Gentle with Yourself

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 16:54:15 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

Gentleness is indispensable for us if we already become holy; and this we frequently forget. Undoubtedly many souls do not sanctify themselves because of a lack of power; but many also, indeed very many, failed to do so because of a want of gentleness.

The human soul is precious and delicate. It came forth from the divine lips as a most gentle breath. It is cleansed and rendered beautiful with the divine Blood of Jesus; and it is destined to be united with God himself to participate in the life in an ineffable mystery of the most Blessed Trinity.

Such an exquisite jewel must be handled with consummate delicacy. That is how God treated, and that is how we should treated. What an atmosphere of purity of mind, of peace, and a delicacy to surround a soul for it to achieve it sanctification!…I think that the greater part of the spiritual ills of souls who seek perfection comes from a lack of gentleness…

Unknowing and proud, they have not discovered the secret of mildness, the daughter of love, which is patient and benign. If they possessed this secret, they would understand that one arrives at perfection by paths that are strewn with imperfections, which must be born with humility; that when a soul falls, it does not arise with agitation, but gently places itself in the merciful hands of God by means of humility and trust in him; that God does not ask for the perfection of our conduct, but for the perfection of our heart, as the wonderfully mild St. Francis DeSales so admirably teaches us.

Servant of God Luis Martinez

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Thoughts on the Spiritual Life

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 16:53:38 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

When I am filled with spiritual consolations, I should live the spiritual life; when spiritual consolations forsake me, I should continue living the spiritual life. When I have light, I shall live the interior life in light; if I am in darkness, I should live the interior life in darkness. When God draws near to me, I shall live the spiritual life, perceiving that God is very near to my soul; when God withdraws from me, I shall live the spiritual life without anything or anyone impeding it. Therefore, the best rule for the spiritual life is this: to receive, moment by moment, whatever God sends us and to persevere at all cost with our soul united to God.

Saint Paul said: for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present nor things to come, nor might nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let us learn how to guard our treasure equally well at midnight and at high noon, whether the tempest is unleashed, or the sun shines brilliantly in a cloudless sky.

+Servant of God, Archbishop Luis Martinez

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