(The identifiable merging of Prayers with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are witnessed by the Blessing and Adoration of Our Lord through and with His Mother Mary as she seeks Knowledge of her Son, Jesus Christ. Applying sound reason, these five meditations testify to Mary’s co-redemptive participation as Theotokos, Our Lady of Grace, Queen of Angels, Heaven and Earth, and Peace, always eagerly leading us to the Son of God by contemplation of this clear, steady and sure way to gain God’s Grace through faithful prayer. Predestined as the Mother of Christ’s Church, she is the inspiration for praying this expanded Holy [Family] Rosary as well.)
Luke 2:48. “And seeing him they wondered. And his mother said to him: `Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.’”
Regarding Our Lord…
Psalm 1:1-3. “Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whosoever he shall do shall prosper.” [Book I of the Psaltery.]
Through Our Lady as Queen of David’s lineage…
Psalm 16:1-5. The prayer of David. Hear, O Lord, my justice: attend to my supplication. Give ear unto my prayer, which proceedeth not from deceitful lips. Let my judgment come forth from thy countenance: let thy eyes behold the things that are equitable. Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, thou hast tried me by fire: and iniquity hath not been found in me. That my mouth may not speak the works of men: for the sake of the words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways. Perfect thou my goings in thy paths: that my footsteps be not moved.
“Blessing expresses the basic movement of Christian prayer: it is an encounter between God and man. In blessing, God’s gift and man’s acceptance of it are united in dialogue with each other. The prayer of blessing is man’s response to God’s gifts: because God blesses, the human heart can in return bless the One who is the source of every blessing.
Two fundamental forms express this movement: our prayer ascends in the Holy Spirit through Christ to the Father – we bless him for having blessed us; (Cf. Eph 1:3-14; 2 Cor 1:3-7; 1 Pet 1:3-9.) it implores the grace of the Holy Spirit that descends through Christ from the Father – he blesses us (Cf. 2 Cor 13:14; Rom 15:5-6, 13; Eph 6:23-24.)” (CCC, 2626-27).
… Our Mother in the order of grace
“By her complete adherence to the Father’s will, to his Son’s redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church’s model of faith and charity. Thus she is a “preeminent and … wholly unique member of the Church”; indeed, she is the “exemplary realization” (typus) (LG 53; 63.) of the Church” (CCC, 967).
“Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. ‘In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace’ (LG 61.)” (CCC, 968).
“This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.… Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix (LG 62.)” (CCC, 969).
“Mary’s function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin’s salutary influence on men … flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it (LG 60.).” “No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source (LG 62.)” (CCC, 970).
Our Father, 10 Hail Marys (contemplating the mystery), Glory Be and Fatima Prayer.
Excerpt from The Holy Family Rosary:
The first recorded Word of God spoken to the “woman” in Holy Scripture is found in Genesis 3:13 when “…the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this?”
It is of particular interest that the first recorded words of Mary to the Son of God is “Why has Thou done so to us?”
In this first publicly recorded exchange between Jesus and Mary we are drawn to ponder Mary’s wonder of God before asking her Son why he has done so to them in the same manner that God had asked the first woman, Eve, for her explanation of not following His Will. Both are equally troubling events.
First of God the Father to the woman, and then of Mary to God the Son. This is a sublimely reverent insight into the unique perceptive of Mary’s hidden knowledge of God that she apparently knew and by example we are to seek and find in Holy Scripture as well. This is also a very familiar experience for us when we ask similar questions to find an answer to “Why?”
Now, in context of this following the joy of finding Jesus in the Temple, we immediately notice this exchange heightens the importance of Mary as our perfect example of what our spiritual rebirth and/or conversion is like after regaining what was missing, lost in knowledge, in belief of, or sight of God (as Christ within). She echos Our Lord God’s imposing question to the first woman of why she (Eve) had done this (disobedience in sin) and demonstrates the knowledge of her innocence as the New Eve by reversing the inquiry of God by her asking Him why He had done so to them (Joseph and Mary). She pleads to the Lord for an answer that regards her (their) plight and reaffirms her (their) innocence. She speaks in complete confidence of her (their) obedience to God’s Holy Will and is merely asking for an answer in truth to understand His purpose for this testing occurrence.
By her example this becomes a perfect example in reason to do the same, yet the difference is found in her perfect restraint when asking with such adoring humility, with such blessing and adoration of Him revealed after being hidden for three days within her grief. Is this not also too, a haunting precursor to His death’s timed missing when buried within the bowels of the earth?
What is uncovered here is an important extended view of after finding God in the Temple for our own good reason to “rejoice and be glad!”[1] What gracious contemplation of Mary’s hidden mysteries when God’s Son is so marvelously found within Mary’s school of prayer! O Happy Chance!
The fifth Psalm begins: “Verba mea auribul. [which is] A prayer to God against the iniquities of men. Unto the end, for her that obtaineth the inheritance. (That is, for the church of Christ) Give ear, O Lord, to my words, understand my cry. Hearken to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God. For to thee will I pray: O Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my voice.”[2]
This meditation also sets a more comprehensive understanding of the tree of the cross, “When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.”[3]
What Jesus spoke to His Mother and instructed John before His impending death causes us to recognize her role as our Mother and Mother of His Church. Certainly, in believing her Assumption into heaven has not lessened her role as Mother in participation with her Son – who is God’s Holy Word – we find solace knowing that her perpetual concern for Christ’s Church has never diminished, nor ever will.
Now ponder these words again in the perspective of Mary as our Blessed Mother and asking us as her children on behalf of God the Father and Holy Ghost as her Spouse, “Son, why hast thou done so to us?” while thinking we are hiding from God’s view (if that were possible) in sin. We gain a very wonderful example by this meditation of her concern for our souls as supported by her additional words to behold both her and our Father’s sorrow for whom as Mediatrix of all Grace she speaks. This becomes a marvelous example of the efficacy of prayer given as insight of Truth’s two-edged sword for all who desire to learn in hallowed belief.
The psalmist foretold this joy of finding Christ in the Temple in saying: “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together. For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord. Because their seats have sat in judgment, seats upon the house of David. Pray ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: and abundance for them that love thee. Let peace be in thy strength: and abundance in thy towers. For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbours, I spoke peace of thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for thee.”[4] This is, as was, and shall always remain the same.
We learn by yet another double-edged sword of truth how Mary’s role in salvation history continues to do the same for us by asking her to speak on our behalf to God’s Son. What we learn in this meditation’s review is the significance of Mary’s first conversation with Jesus as Lord to guide us through life. As was sown, so shall we reap. Thank You, Lord; we believe! Dearest Mother, Our Lady of Prompt Succor and Perpetual Help, please lessen and remove our unbelief!
Amen. Amen indeed!
[1] Ps’s. 34:27; 39:17; 69:5.
[2] Ps. 5:1-4.
[3] Jn. 19:26-27.
[4] Ps. 121:1-9.
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