+J.M.J.+

Monsignor Charles M. Mangan
Catholic Online

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.

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, rooted in grace, on our part 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.

(Originally published in the December 2005 issue of "Missio Immaculatae International", English edition. Used with permission.)

Contact

Mary's Field
http://www.catholic.org  , VA
Monsignor Charles M. Mangan - Official, 390 66616-1125

Email

fathermangan@catholic.org

Keywords

The Holy Spirit: The Blessed Virgin Mary