Through the wonders of modern technology, I’m writing this from the gymnasium of St. Joseph the Worker’s Parish in Nashua. I’m sitting here waiting for some presentations on Fatima to begin. If you’re in the area you really should stop by! Among the presenters will be Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR, a co-worker in the vineyard of Fr. Benedict Groeschel. It should prove to be a great and glorious day! To Jesus through Mary!

I never knew I was such an emotional wreck. This time the fault is all that of Diane at Te Deum Laudamus.
It certainly ties together the great feast of yesterday and the memorial of today in the only way possible. Mary always leads us to Christ, and Christ always leads us to the Father through His Cross. Te Deum Laudamus, indeed!

For anyone who has problems, shall we say, keeping their eyes where they belong (a problem exacerbated no small amount by current “fashion” trends) a word of advice given to me recently may just help.

We all know we’re supposed to see Christ in the people around us. Sometimes though, no matter how hard we try it’s just hard to put Christ’s face on that woman dressed in a getup originally designed for a street corner. We men, we’re human, and sometimes we fail in our highest aspirations – that’s when it’s good to have a backup plan.

With that, let me say simply this: in the face of every woman see the face of Mary. As bad and as screwed up as this world is, we all still have a commonly accepted rule that you don’t mess with another man’s mama. As crude a statement as that may be, the rule is simply effective. If Mary always points us to Christ, her status as the exemplar of chastity reminds us just what it is hiding waiting to be seen. If you can’t see Christ, look for Mary – she’ll lead you the rest of the way.

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin
(Never known to fail):

“O most Beautiful Flower of Mount Carmel, Fruitful Vine, Splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. O Star of the Sea, help me and show me here you are my Mother. O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech You from the bottom of my heart to secure me in my necessity (make request). There are none that can withstand Your power. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee (3 times). Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands (3 times).

Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days and then you must publish and it will be granted to you.

H/T to LaSalette Journey.

Just a week ago I was compelled by some as-yet unidentified force (although I get the feeling its name is “ruah” if you know my meaning) to look into making the consecration to Jesus through Mary as laid out in St. Louis de Montfort’s Total Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Now normally that’s not such a big surprise – people get that kind of spiritual kick in the fanny all the time, and ignore it just about as often.

As an aside, I’ve known for a long time my only chance to really get anywhere in the spiritual life was going to depend on me being willing to break down and talk to Mary. I don’t know why, but it’s always been very difficult for me – even as I can recommend the Rosary and other Marian devotions and even explain the theological bases of our devotion to Mary it’s just been the doggoned hardest nut to crack for me. I guess I’m just obtuse like that. I should say that the “I’ve known for a long time” thing, well, let’s just say it was made clear to me by someone other than myself and leave it at that. There are some things that don’t explain themselves well in the blogosphere.

Back to the topic at hand, I was doing a wonderful job at my usual procrastination at God’s prompting when I went to our Tuesday meeting this week (we’re now on Fr. Corapi’s Behold Your Mother in preparation for the Marian Month of May, coincidentally). Clear out of the blue one of the women pulls out this past Sunday’s bulletin, which I had uncharacteristically not read as yet, and starts talking about the fact that there will be a meeting to go over St. Louis de Montfort’s book and that at the end of the series we’d have the opportunity to make the consecration and … well, if the blood didn’t drain out of my face physically it certainly did feel like it. I suddenly had this feeling as if Jesus himself were staring me right in the face and saying, “well, now what’s your excuse going to be?”

To that question I simply have no answer. There is the hope right now that the meetings will be moved to cover our Tuesday meeting slot rather than the currently-planned mornings. But with that kind of, err, invitation whenever it winds up starting I don’t think I have much choice – I’ll have to make it work one way or another. The Good Lord knows I can be a stubborn one, but even I can read the six-foot letters this suggestion was written in.

So if you’re in the Manchester area and interested in joining us, feel free to drop me a line. I’ll be putting contact information in one of the sidebars shortly. Alternately, of course, feel free to drop it in the combox as well.