My precious ones in Jesus, Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. After the morning mass, I was in the chapel alone doing my personal prayer.
I�m a bit over attached to Mother Mary as she is for me till now, the only woman with whom I�ve been extremely close, (apart from my biological mother and two sisters.) hahaha I always marvel at the beauty and prudence of this great woman. Mother Mary has taught me so many things in my life. At times when I�m down and out, and no one understands I reach out to her and cry in her lap. My relationship with mummy has tremendously helped me in my closer walk with Jesus. At home I sometimes say, �I�ve got two mothers� (This is especially when I�m at loggerheads with my biological mother:). I try to make mummy feel bad at those times by telling her... even if you are not there.... I got mother mary:). Once, a few years back after a small fracas with mummy, I doled out this rhetoric and stormed out of the house... I went and sat in the church to cool my heels and head. After a couple of hours I went back home and mummy asked me��did your other mother give u food?� I retorted, �she gave me food of which u know nothing about?� mummy further asked �what did she tell you?� i shot back � she told me to go home and ask you for lunch!� My biological mom, is truly an amazing woman of God, she is infact the one who first planted the seed of faith in my heart. May God bless her soul always for that. We catholics are truly a blest lot, what a grace to have Mother Mary as a model for us towards holiness. One of the things Mama Mary has taught me is the value of Suffering in silence.... I by nature am very impetuous and I�m known to shoot off my mouth when I feel I�m exploited or hurt or things don't go in my favor. But of late I can see a slow but perceptible change in me. I�m gradually learning how to accumulate graces for my life and for others thru silence. I often wonder. This woman had every reason to grumble, to bitch, to whine and gripe. But never once is it mentioned that she cribbed to God about anything. On the other hand it is written, �she cherished these things in her heart and pondered over them� This is a mystery I�m learning to accept these days. When things don�t go my way, when I�m mis understood, when the going gets tough, when there�s no apparent sign of Gods direction in my life.....if only I can �cherish those things in my heart and ponder over them� Living in the world being single, being young with my heart prone to evil. Its almost impossible for me to live a life of holiness and chastity. It has been my experience that, to live a holy and chaste life, A lot depends on how we treat mama Mary. I�ve wrestled with many sins of the flesh. And often times in despair and hopelessness I cry out to God for help. At those moments I�ve experienced the ever protecting hand of mother Mary on my life. She�s kept me safe thus far, I know she�ll continue doing it for her �little Josun�. Mother Mary taught me a small prayer that I pray when faced with temptations, it goes like this �Lord Jesus, if not for your grace, I will betray you and I will crucify you� I pray this often whenever I realize myself falling into sin. Well, coming back to my personal prayer this morning in the chapel. There was no one else in the chapel except an old priest sitting at the far corner. I decided to have a personal chit chat with mother Mary as it was her day today. I started off with my good morning Mummy, we talked about the weather, about the struggles I was facing etc.. I told mother mary how much I admired her for her virtue of silence and her bravery to say Yes to the will of God etc� she just smiled:). I sensed her telling me to open the bible Genisis Chapter 3. This was the first reading of today. I read the whole chapter concerning the fall of man, and I was meditating on it. Mother Mary has got a sense of humor also. She gave me an inspiration this morning that made me laugh out loud, thereby disturbing the old priest sitting in the corner. I went up to the priest and shared my insight with him. He�s a cool buddy of mine. He too started laughing:) This is really hilarious, just try visualizing it. Adam and eve eat the fruit and realize they are naked.... With that act of disobedience the whole of Gods master plan for humanity is frustrated, and the whole world has been lost to the power of Sin.... And these two wise cracks are busy sewing fig leaves to cover themselves....., and God is busy looking around for them in the garden..... absolutely funny isn�t it :):) After a brief stint of laughter that old priest said something like this. �what would it have been had God created Mother Mary out of Adams rib?.....� Well, I don�t know. And I�m not that interested either. What I�m more interested in is that Mama Mary, thru her obedience to the will of God, brought Jesus, My Lord and saviour into the world. She bore all that pain, all that agony in silence.... only becoz she knew she was bringing into the world its Redeemer. Wah! Wah! Matha Mariam! Kamaal Kardiya Aapne! God bless from within the protective mantle of my mom, Make it a gr8 day, Josun Jose/New Delhi/India Ps:- if anyones hurting, sad, dejected, low, down and out. I�ve news for u. U�ve got a pair of strong shoulders on which to cry on. Or a strong lap on which to lay your fatigued head on and pour out your hearts pain. Mama Mary is there for u. ----------------------------------------- This Advent Season our sponsors are selling goods and services you don't want to miss! Support our sponsors with your purchase by clicking here. http://www.catholic.org/clife/advent/specials.php This email was sent using FREE Catholic Online Webmail. 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