The Ascension of the Lord
Dear Family of Mary!
"Dear children! Tonight I wish to tell you during the days of this novena to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on your families and on your parish. Pray, and you shall not regret it. God will give you gifts by which you will glorify Him till the end of your life on this earth. Thank you for having responded to my call." (June 2, 1984)
Today is the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. Imagine the joy in heaven when He came, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity! Imagine the wonder, that God could be incarnate, and take His seat at the right hand of the Father! This is what satan could not abide, the very thing he hated and rebelled against. Oh Jesus, we are so proud of You! So grateful to You! So amazed at You!
And imagine the apostles and disciples gazing up into the sky as Jesus rises. Imagine their grief, their feelings of loss, their emptiness. At that time, the presence of Our Lady must have been their only consolation. She remained with them. She was with them. She went back to the Upper Room with them, to pray and to wait for the Holy Spirit, as Jesus told them to do. Her presence was vital for the infant Church at that moment. She was their physical touch with their Lord.
We are no different than the apostles and disciples. Our Lady is with us in our need, just as she was with them. She is with us. And so we can pray and wait with her, just as they did. In this novena time before Pentecost, we can pray and wait with Mary. She will help us to prepare for His coming, the Holy Spirit, our Paraclete.
Together, let's pray the Novena to the Holy Spirit. It begins tomorrow, Friday, May 18, and will end on Saturday, May 27. I have found novena prayers on the EWTN website that we can use. And we will meditate on Our Lady's messages as well. Here is the foreword to the Novena published by EWTN:
The novena in honor of the Holy Spirit is the oldest of all novenas
since it was first made at the direction of Our Lord Himself when He
sent His apostles back to Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy
Spirit on the first Pentecost. It is still the only novena officially
prescribed by the Church. Addressed to the Third Person of the Blessed
Trinity, it is a powerful plea for the light and strength and love so
sorely needed by every Christian. (http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/pentecost/seven_tx.htm )
As Our Lady says in the message above, "Pray, and you shall not regret it. God will give you gifts by which you will glorify Him till the end of your life on this earth." The Holy Spirit is really important. He is not just a side note in the Christian life. He is the power of the Christian life. He is necessary. We cannot glorify God without Him. The Spirit moves us, fills us, trains us, teaches us, anoints us, empowers us, forms us, delights us, fills us with joy, makes us fruitful, just as He did Mary! We need Him. Our Lady knows that. And that is why she will pray with us as she did the apostles and disciples in the Upper Room. She will be very near as we pray. This is for her a delight!
So, as we await Pentecost, let us pray....
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
© Mary TV 2012
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