Mary Model for Pro-Life Activity
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But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, 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 to his own home.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the model of not only those who pray, but those who pray outside the abortion facilities, for this is the modern day calvary, where the innocent One is being slaughtered in the least of his brethren. If we want to be fruitful and faithful in bearing witness to the Lord Jesus, we will have to do it with the same spirit and heart as Mary Immaculate.
What were her dispositions, her attitude, her spirit and heart?
LOVE - Above all these put on love (Colossians 3:14)
The Canticle of Love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-13 reads:
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
The Virgin Mary’s life teaches that not only when we are praying outside of these facilities, but even when we interact with others at our jobs, homes, and in the public sector, with the press, in any kind of interaction we have to learn a new kind of patience, kindness, a way of shunning arrogant and rude behaviour, of being markedly not irritable or resentful, never rejoicing at the wrong where ever or whoever says it or does it and always rejoicing in the truth from where ever or from whomever says it. If we want to present a mature Christian perspective that is something to content with, we must become like Our Lady in the way she does not lapse into what is not love, so that we may understand things with the very understanding of Christ.
NON REACTIVE - to ponder and not react
Luke 1:29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.
Luke 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.
Luke 2:35 and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed."
Luke 2:51 and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
When we do not react to evil but instead ponder on what is happening, not trusting our own perception, reaction, judgment or response, we permit God to use the situation, to shift gears and be proactive in Jesus Christ.
The devil often tries to snare, tempt, jeer at, lure, seduce, or cajole us into being reactive. This is not the way of Our Lady and not the way of love and also not the way of 40 Days for Life. Allowing God to be the one to act means we suspend our own action and reaction and wait for God to respond to it.
This is done by pondering, reflecting, and above all praying, humbling ourselves before God and trusting that he has a plan with whatever is before us.
CHRIST CENTERED - Luke 1:46 And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord,
From the Stations of the Cross - Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, she beheld her tender child, all with bloody scourges rent
Mary is a magnifine glass to enlarge Christ, a telescope to see him when He seems far away, a microscope when He seems too small, an ultrasound to help see Jesus in the womb.
Why? Because she never stops gazing at Christ, being centered on Him, looking to him. She cannot be moved to be a reactive or unloving person because she looks at He who IS LOVE HIMSELF.
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