MARY, TEACHER OF US ALL

                     

Greetings of peace and joy to you all in the Name of Jesus. 

Once a teacher was asked in an interview, " Why do you choose the profession of a teacher?" The teacher replied to the interviewer with a smile, " Generally, money is the main criteria of our happiness. A doctor gets more money with the increase of the patients. A lawyer gets money with the increase of the clients with cases. Whereas the happiness of a teacher does not depend on the money. But in the growth of the student in knowledge and wisdom which yields the future of the country." So, the role of a teacher is very important in our lives. Every teacher is a treasure of knowledge. This is why the students were living with their Gurus in the olden days. They respect the teacher just like god. This is why the Indian culture states, Aacharyadevobhava. 

MARY, TEACHER OF US ALL

Mother is the first teacher. She teaches the child how to walk, how to eat, how to call the relatives and most importantly she teaches how to walk in our life journey. She gives her life as an example to her children. So every mother takes the role of teacher too. Mary, Our Mother, takes the role of a teacher for all who take her as their mother. She shows her children the way of God. Her life itself is a great lesson for all of us. To the question who is a teacher, here are three reasons I give.

1. A TEACHER IS A STORE HOUSE OF KNOWLEDGE

Yes! Every teacher is a store house of knowledge. Once a person asked Arjuna in Mahabharata, " Arjuna, You are a great person. Such a mighty man. You have a good wife. You have so much wealth. And why do you give more respect than others to your teacher Dronacharya, who has no wealth, no kingdom, nothing?" Arjuna replied, " na rajyam, na danam, na kanakam; which means no kingdom, no beauty, no wealth, nothing is permanent. What is permanent is the knowledge. No one can steal, bury nor burn. The more you give is the more you receive". So as Mary is our teacher in our spiritual journey. Christ is the wisdom of God. Mary is the storehouse of the wisdom of God because she bore Christ, God's Wisdom, in her womb. Paul wrote, “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”                

There is a saint by name, St Alphonse Ratisban. He was a Jew. He criticized his brother because of believing the truths of the Church and became a Priest. From then on he started criticizing the catholic faith. Once he had gone to Rome. He visited a famous person there who was a catholic and started speaking heresies. The man patiently listened all that and told him " I feel you are such a courageous man. If so, wear this medal for three days and recite this prayer 'Remember us O.......... ' To prove that he was courageous and strong to his doctrines, he wore the medal. One day both them went to the chapel and sat. After some time the man left the place because of some work. The man was afraid of being there alone. Suddenly he had a vision of Mary at the sanctuary just as the image that is on the medal. Mary looked at him and said " Good" Then she instilled in him the truths of God. The doctrines of the Church. He became a genius in the catholic doctrine. He did not read any doctrines or any faith principles needed for Baptism. Mary, the teacher of us all, gave him knowledge and wisdom of God. This is why she is called House of wisdom. She gave her son to the world and God gave her as Mother to the Whole world.

2. EVERY TEACHER IS A ROLE MODEL 

When we love a person and his way of life, we take them as role models and try to imitate them. If I am not wrong many of us imitate our teachers in our school days or college days. Especially on Teacher’s day, children dress themselves as teachers and try to imitate their favorite teachers and I think the real teachers really love that day seeing children behaving like them. So as Mary is a great role model for us. She is a model for many virtues, the virtue of love, humility, patience, sacrifice etc. If our normal teachers feel happy to see their students imitating them on teachers' day, how much happy will our Blessed Mother feel when we imitate her with the virtues of love, humility, patience all through our life.

3. EACH STUDENT IS SO PRECIOUS TO THE TEACHER

For a teacher, every student is so precious ,very unique and very talented. Mary is such a good teacher. Every of her student is so precious to her. She makes us know the purpose of our lives, the divine plans of God in our lives. Another good quality of a teacher is to strengthen the weak students. Mary , our mother, always strengthens her students to follow God and encourages them to lead our lives according to the will of God. She shows us the path to walk and she will surely guide our steps in that path, because she has already walked in that path. 

Let us all take Mary as our teacher too, so that we may gain the knowledge of God, take her as a role model and be strengthened in her care and love. Amen.

Written by

Bro. Rajendra

                     

LET US CAST OURSELVES INTO HER ARMS

"Let us run to Mary, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her arms with a perfect confidence." - Saint Francis de Sales.

As I was thinking to write about our Blessed Mother, I saw a beautiful scene on the last Pentecost Sunday. I saw a kid of age 5, holding the little finger of his mother so tight and the mother was bringing him to the to the church for the Holy Mass. So as if we hold the little finger of our Blessed Mother, by reciting the rosary, she will lead us to the heavenly banquet awaiting for us in the heaven. Yes, by the recitation of the rosary we cast ourselves into the arms of our Blessed Mother. From her hands flow the graces of God into this world. Many are the graces and blessings we receive by having devotion in her and most importantly in her Motherhood. The first woman was named Eve because she was the mother of all the earth ( Gen 3:20). Whereas Mary, the new eve, is our spiritual mother given to us by her own son at the foot of the cross. Dear friends as the above quotation states by St. Francis de Sales, let us cast ourselves into her arms. By casting into her arms many are the graces we receive from her.

GRACES WE RECEIVE FROM MARY

Among many saints in the catholic church, one among them is St Stanislaus. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He learnt the truths of ever virginity of Mary and her chastity and was following her. He casted his whole life into the beautiful hands of Mary. As he was doing his studies, he was fallen sick and all thought that he would die because of the sickness. At that moment Mary appeared to him holding the Baby Jesus in her hands. She kept Jesus in the he hands of Stanislaus. He was filled with great joy. Then Mary told him that he would not die and the next move that he should make. She told him to join the congregation of the Jesuits and serve the Lord. He got recovered and joined in the Jesuits. In one of the homilies during his studies, the preacher told that we should live our lives in a good way as if today is the last day of our lives. He told to his companions that the homily was meant for him. He told them that he would soon die and would see the feast of the Assumption of Mary, sitting at the side of her son, directly in the heaven. Before five days of the feast he was sick and was suffering. Before the day of the Assumption he was suffering from a high fever and also received the anointing of the sick and received the Holy Communion. He was happy for the sickness he received. For, he was sure that he would be participating the feast in the heaven. He holded tight the image of the Blessed virgin Mary in his arms. And then appeared the Blessed Virgin Mary with the company of virgins. His heart was filled with joy. Mary told him, “ My Son! I have come to take you to participate in the feast of my Assumption in heaven” Stanislaus uttered, “Jesus! Mary” and died. 

From the above historical incident we can understand the graces we receive by casting ourselves into her loving hands. 

1. MARY KEEPS HER SON IN OUR ARMS.

Many are the saints who received the grace of holding Jesus physically in their hands. When we keep ourselves into the hands of our Mother she herself brings and keeps her son in our arms. How blessed are we when Mary keeps her son in our hands. She is ever ready to keep her son I our arms and Jesus is ever ready to keep Himself in our arms. But how far are we good in our actions to receive Jesus into our lives. How many are the evil works that we commit with our physical bodies every day. Even then God is so merciful that he humbles himself into the little host and come to us. Let us reconcile with the Lord because of our sins and purify our lives and be ready to receive him daily in the Eucharist.

2. SHE WILL GUIDE OUR STEPS

 In the starting lines I have mentiond a mother leading her child to the Holy Mass. Mary our mother will always lead us to Jesus. At the wedding of Cana it is clear that she will always encourage us to do what her son tells. She will guide the steps we need to take in our lives. She guided St Stanislaus to join the Jesuits. She guided St Albert in his studies etc. More than that she guided the footsteps of Jesus in his childhood. Let us cast ourselves into her arms and she will guide every of our step.

3. SHE HERSELF COME TO TAKE YOU PRECIOUS SOUL TO HEAVEN

This was the ultimate fruit that St Stanislaus received in his life time. He had a great devotion to Mary. He received a great blessing from her. Mary herself, with the company of virgins, came down from heaven to take his soul to the heaven. Let us look into our souls and see how filthy it is with the stains of sin. Let us purify our souls and make it ready for the last day and believe that she will surely come with the legion of angels to take our souls into the heaven.

So dear friends, let us cast our lives into the hands of our Blessed Mother and be led by her to her Son, Jesus. Amen. 

Written by 

Bro. Rajendra

MARY, MOST FAITHFUL

Greetings of peace and joy to you all in the name of Jesus.

What is Faith? The well known answer to this question comes from Hebrews 11:1.

 “ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” 

 The life of a faithful person is completely different from that of a normal person. Faith has brought many fruits in the lives of many people and made them legends. Faith has made them remember for centuries. Faith in God made Abraham to sacrifice his son and made him, Father of Faith (Gen 15: 15-18). This faith has made Moses to break the sea (Ex 14: 26-27). Faith in God made Joshua to break the walls of Jericho ( Josh 6: 20). Faith in God bought victory to the king ( 1 Sam 17: 48-49) and finally faith in Jesus bought healing to the woman suffering from hemorrhage(Lk 8: 48), life to Lazarus ( Jn 11:21), life to Jairus’ daughter ( Lk 8: 50) etc. Finally faith in Jesus made apostles proclaim the good news. So faith has got great importance. 

Mary, Most Faithful Woman.

Among many qualities of a faithful person, here I give three qualities of Mary that prove her as a most faithful woman. 

Once there was a man called, Blondin. He was crossing the Niagara by walking on a rope. The people, who were watching, clapped their hands and were encouraging Blondin. He successfully crossed one side of the rope. People all clapped and praised him. He then asked the audience, “ Do you all believe that I can go back to the other end by walking on the rope?” People said, “ Yes, you can.” Then Blondin asked again the audience, “Do you all believe that I can cross the river by walking on the rope, holding a man on my shoulders?” People all said, “Yes!” Then Blondin said, “ Then one of you can come to me and climb on my shoulders . So that I can take you to the other end, walking on the rope.” Then there was a great silence. No one believed in him.

1. Believe in God’s Mighty Action.

“Believe, so that you may understand.” A faithful person firmly believes in God’s mighty actions. There are many incidents how God brought victory to the people of Israel, how He saved them from the hand of Pharaoh, how He made them cross the red sea etc. This all we read but there is always a doubt in us. When Blondin called one of them to come to him no one believed in him. When the roots of our beliefs are questioned we too prone to doubt in our beliefs and values an even more we doubt God.   

Once there was boy who is very faithful and believes in God’s mighty deeds. On one Sunday while he was praising God with a loud voice, an atheist entered the church hearing the praises of the boy. The man asked the boy why he was praising God. The boy said, My God is so powerful that He parted the red sea into half. Then the man told him, “ Oh! That’s nothing. The red sea was not so deep and great like the seas we see now. It was like a very small pond. Anyone can do that. There is nothing great in your God.” The boy stopped praising God and the man left. After few seconds the boy started praising God even so bigger than before. The man came back and asked, “ Why are you praising again? I said there is nothing great in your God by just splitting the water into two.” The boy replied, “ Yes sir. You may be right. But in that small pond My God drowned the army of Pharaoh and not even one was alive.” 

We all hear the great deeds of God from our neighbors and friends but we never believe in them. Even this was seen in the time of Jesus. Some said that Jesus was casting out devil by the help of Beelzebul but really He was casting them out by the finger of God. 

This is why Mary is different from us. Mary firmly believed in God’s mighty actions. She believed in the power of God and His mighty deeds. When the angel of God announced the divine plan, she did not doubt but asked how the action would take place. She knew the mighty actions done in the life of Israelite women, like Sarah, Hannah etc. The angel herself gave the example of her cousin Elizabeth. We too hear God’s powerful deeds but we don’t believe them firmly.

2. Believe God’s Mighty Deeds will take place in our life.

When Blondin asked people, Can I cross the rope holding a man on my shoulders, they said Yes. But when he called anyone of them to come to him, none went. This is what happens at the second stage. We all believe the mighty actions of God in the history but lack faith in Him at our troubles and tribulations. Believe Him that he will do great things in your life and your life will become an inspiration. Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Mk 9:23. Though the path is difficult God will protect you from all dangers. She believed in God’s actions to be done in her life and it is why she was called blessed among women, “ Blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” ( Lk 1: 45). 

3. Lead a Life Pleasing to God

People who are faithful will lead a life pleasing to God. 

There are three important ways of leading a life pleasing to God.

a. Path of complete surrenderance

b. Path of Humility 

c. Path of Love

Mary led a life of complete surrenderance. She surrendered herself into the hands of God, so that he would use her in the salvation plan. Secondly though she was called , “Highly favored One of God”, she never regarded for praises and applauses. Instead she was humble enough to call herself as the servant of the Lord. “ I am the servant of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word. “ (Lk 1: 38). Thirdly she trod the path of Love all through her life. She expressed her love to Elizabeth by serving her, she expressed her love to the family at Cana by interceding for them. She showed her love to the world by sacrificing her son on the cross.

Dear friends, Mary is a most faithful woman because she believed in God’s mighty actions in the history, she believed in God’s mighty action and words come true in her life and she led a life pleasing to God. Hence she is called, Virgin, Most faithful. Let us all believe I God’s mighty deeds and also His mighty actions to take place in our lives like Mary. Amen.

Written by

Bro. Rajendra