J.M.J.
Our Blessed Mother Mary is the Immaculate Mediatrix
who is the Chosen Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Our Lady is so intimately linked
to the Holy Spirit—the Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity—through her
profound love and obedience that we can attest without a trace of exaggeration
that she is the Spouse of the Paraclete.
A fitting realization for all days, but especially
Pentecost Sunday.
Surrendering with alacrity to the abundant and
alluring grace of the Holy Spirit, Mary has pledged herself to Him in the
spirit of fidelity, thereby becoming His Chaste Spouse. She has rejected everything
that is contrary to the Holy Spirit. She has only one Eternal Spouse: the
Beloved Counselor.
And this spousal relationship between the Holy Spirit
and Holy Mary is so firm and abiding that it is irrevocable; it cannot be
broken or even lessened. The sincere consent given by both parties may not be retracted—so
forceful, informed and conscious it was.
Mary is united to the Holy Spirit in an unspeakable
closeness. Our Blessed Mother freely yielded her will to His. As a result,
although she retained her God-given freedom, in a real sense her will has been
“caught up” into the Will of the Holy Spirit. Mary’s conformity to the Consoler
is so complete that His desires, sentiments and plan of action have become
hers.
As always, we look to Mary for much needed
inspiration. She, in imitation of her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, so entirely
submitted herself to the Holy Spirit that we have in her the veritable model
and pattern for our lives.
Christian perfection is, simply put, to conform one’s
will to God’s Will. No one can enter Heaven who exalts his will over that of
the Creator. Those who wish to go to Paradise must bow to the Lord, accepting
and fulfilling what He wants for them.
Our wills are to be united to the Holy Spirit’s Will
as is Mary’s. True, we have not been conceived without Original Sin. The
haughty transgression of our first parents, Adam and Eve, meant that when we
were conceived in our mothers’ wombs, we were estranged from God. That was
never the case with Mary.
Yet, we have been redeemed in Christ Jesus. Thanks to
His agonizing Death on Calvary and His glorious Resurrection, He has set us
apart, making us His new creatures. He has clothed us in the white garment of
Baptism so that we can be His authentic disciples who cling to Him and His
saving words.
And the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the first
Pentecost Sunday ushered Mary and the Apostles into a new creation, which we,
too, enjoy as loyal members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Now we have been
marked by the seal of the Holy Spirit and can act accordingly.
Although Original Sin once held sway over us, Actual
Sin need not. By daily using our free wills as Mary used hers in becoming the
Spouse of the Holy Spirit, we reject Satan, all his empty works and all his
empty promises. And we become connected to the Paraclete in fresh and lasting
ways.
We glorify the Eternal Father by our oneness with the
Holy Spirit. Our Blessed Mother has already shown us the way to union with
Christ: submission to the Lord in everything! Such a gesture on our part,
rooted in grace, signals our commitment to live as sons and daughters of God
the Father, brothers and sisters of Jesus the Son of God, temples and—in
analogous fashion—spouses of the Holy Spirit, and sons and daughters of the
Ever-Virgin Mary, who has paved the road for our rightful surrender to the
Lord.
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