613. November 30, Novena of the Immaculate Conception (I)

Meditations no. 540 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

During the novena to the Immaculate Conception we want to draw closer to our Lady.

Today we begin the novena to the Immaculate Conception. Each of us lives this custom of the Work in accord with his or her own personal circumstances. But all of us should strive to put greater diligence into prayer, into the fulfilment of our professional duties and into small voluntary mortifications, doing everything with filial love for the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God and of the Church, and our Mother. In addition, we also strive to grow in love for our Lady by showing her special signs of affection during these days and spreading devotion to her among our friends. Each day of the novena should be marked by a greater apostolic zeal. We want to awaken in many hearts a filial love for holy Mary, which perhaps has been weak or dormant for many years.

Nowadays many people are eagerly seeking someone famous to admire and exalt, who incarnates an ideal for them. They are searching, said Pope Paul VI, for a standard and a model… a man or woman who exemplifies a way of life. This confirms that the Church’s pedagogy, which presents mankind with such a noble ideal, is not out of date or deficient. It responds fully to the hidden and ever-pressing aspirations of the human heart.

If we were to ask the young, “Don’t you hunger for beauty, nobility, moral dignity, heroism, goodness and a just and fully human definition of man?” Their answer would be, “We certainly do! Those are exactly the ideals we are looking for. But where are they to be found?” The Church invites everyone to look at Mary, the woman who personifies the original and authentic idea of what each person is, namely, the image of God.

This is our goal in the novena that begins today: to direct the eyes of those around us to holy Mary’s beautiful countenance. We want them to discover her motherly affection and to learn to love her wholeheartedly. Undoubtedly the imitation of Christ is the road to follow if we are to be saints and reflect the absolute perfection of our heavenly Father. … But while the Catholic Church has always proclaimed this holy truth, it has also insisted that the imitation of the Virgin Mary in no way hinders one from faithfully following Christ, but rather makes this easier and more lovable.

During the novena we will beseech our Lady for those friends of ours who have the prerequisites to receive a vocation to the Work. We will intensify our prayer and mortification, and try to have greater daring in winning new apostles. For from past experience, we well know that during the novena holy Mary is more especially ready to obtain from her Son Jesus all the grace that our friends need to give themselves to God in Opus Dei.

Mary is our Mother. We go to her confidently.

Mary is the Mother of God and the Mother of each of us. This is the foundation of our unshakeable trust. For our Lady always heeds our prayers.

Our Lord wanted it to be this way. So that future generations might know it, the Holy Spirit inspired St John to write, “Now there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus, therefore, saw his mother and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he said to his mother,”Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home (Jn 19: 25-27).

John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, brought Mary into his home and into his life. Spiritual writers have seen these words of the Gospel as an invitation to all Christians to bring Mary into their lives. Mary certainly wants us to invoke her as our mother, asking her to “show that you are our mother” (Hymn, Ave Maris Stella).

In the intimacy of our prayer, we have often meditated on the favours we have received from Mary’s hands. We can surely call to mind now so many tangible signs of her motherly care. Therefore it is only just that we extend our wholehearted thanks to her and renew our resolve to follow her Son Jesus as faithfully as possible.

The Gospel passages about our Lady show her as the mother of Jesus, following her Son step by step, playing a part in his redemptive mission, rejoicing and suffering along with him, loving those whom Jesus loved and looking after those around her with maternal care.

Just think, for example, of the marriage at Cana. Our Lady was a guest at one of those noisy country weddings attended by crowds of people from many different villages. Yet she was the only person to notice that the wine was running out (cfr Jn 2: 3). Don’t these scenes from Christ’s life seem familiar to us? The greatness of God lives at the level of ordinary things. It is natural for a woman, a housewife, to notice something was lacking, to look after the little things which make life pleasant. And that is how Mary acted. Notice also that it is John who tells the story of Cana. He is the only evangelist who has recorded this expression of our mother’s concern for us. St John wants us to remember that Mary was present at the beginning of the public life of our Lord. He alone has appreciated the importance of that fact. Jesus knew to whom he was entrusting his mother-to a disciple who had learned to understand and love her as his own mother.

We can ask ourselves whether we, like St John, also deserve to take care of our Lady. Do we love her with our whole heart? Do we correspond to her motherly care and show her throughout the day small signs of affection, so pleasing to every mother?

Each day we try to offer some small gift to our Lady as a sign of our filial devotion.

Our Father tells us, Invoke the Blessed Virgin. Don’t cease asking her to be always our Mother-monstra te esse Matrem!-and to give us, along with her Son’s grace, clear, sound doctrine for our minds and love and purity for our hearts, so that we can reach God ourselves and lead many souls to him.

Mary’s spiritual motherhood is a teaching of our faith that fills our hearts with joy and security. She shared in the redemptive sacrifice of her Son so intimately that she deserved to be proclaimed by him as mother not only of the disciple St John but, we are allowed to assert, also of all mankind, which is in some way represented by him. Now, from heaven, the holy Virgin Mary continues to fulfill her motherly function of cooperating in the birth and development of divine life in each of the souls of the redeemed. This is a very consoling truth which, by the free consent of the all-knowing God, forms an integral part of the mystery of man’s salvation. Therefore Christians should consider it as a truth of faith.

We are approaching one of the great feasts of our Mother. It is only natural that we want to offer her some small gift each day as we prepare for this feast. It may be the effort that we make to fulfill our duties better, a mortification, some small display of Marian piety, a very definite apostolic target, or something else of the sort. To be sure, they will only be small things, but they will make our Mother smile. She is always watching over us and looking after us, who are her beloved children. In recalling an incident from his own life, our Father tells us, Every year, during the month of May, the rector of an old seminary used to go to the rooms, knocking on the doors one by one, after the seminarians had already retired for the evening. When they opened the door, the rector would give them a rose to offer to our Lady. But whenever a seminarian had failed to be a good son of our heavenly mother, either by breaking one of the rules or neglecting his study, the rector would knock on his door and say, “Today, you cannot offer our Lady a rose.”

Each day of this novena we too want to offer our Lady a rose by the deeds we perform in her service. At the moment of the evening examination of conscience we hope to be able to say, ‘Here you have my gift for today, Mother.’ And then from her heavenly throne she will smile upon us, for in those efforts of ours she will see the reality of our dedication.