Blessed is she who believed

"In few but most excellent words, she [Mary] poured forth from her sacred lips honey and precious balm! For what could she pour out save what she was filled with? --she was full of Jesus" St. Francis de Sales (quoted by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, SJ, in The Gospel Way of Mary)

Mary - our guide and model

"'If the winds of temptation arise,' sings St. Bernard, 'if you run into the reefs of trials, look to the star, call upon Mary. In danger, sorrow, or perplexity, think of Mary, call upon Mary.' There are times when the hard road of the "nothing" frightens us, miserable as we are; and then, more than ever, we need her help, the help of our Mother. The Blessed Virgin Mary has, before us, trodden the straight and narrow path which leads to sanctity; before us carried the cross, before us she has known the ascents of the spirit through suffering. Sometimes, perhaps, we do not dare to look at Jesus the God-Man, who because of His divinity seems too far above us; but near Him is Mary, His Mother and our Mother, a privileged creature surely, yet a creature like ourselves, and therefore a model more accessible for our weakness."

"Mary comes to meet us during this month, to take us by the hand, to initiate us into the secret of her interior life, which must become the model and norm of our own."
---from Divine Intimacy, #169, p. 506

Pope Recommends Spiritual Direction to Everyone

Says It Is a Way to Live Baptism Responsibly

VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Anyone who wants to live their baptism responsibly should have a spiritual director, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope affirmed this today when he addressed members of the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum. The faculty was founded in 1935; the audience with the Holy Father was part of the institute's celebrations of its 75th anniversary.

Benedict XVI reflected on the Carmelite institute's emphasis on spiritual theology in the framework of anthropology. He said that in today's context, studying Christian spirituality from its anthropological foundations "is of great importance."

The Pontiff recognized that an education at the Teresianum not only prepares students to teach this discipline, but has an "even greater grace" in that it gears students to "the delicate task of spiritual direction."

"As she has never failed to do, again today the Church continues to recommend the practice of spiritual direction, not only to all those who wish to follow the Lord up close, but to every Christian who wishes to live responsibly his baptism, that is, the new life in Christ," the Pope stated. "Everyone, in fact, and in a particular way all those who have received the divine call to a closer following, needs to be supported personally by a sure guide in doctrine and expert in the things of God."

The Holy Father noted how a spiritual guide helps ward off subjectivist interpretations as well as providing the counseled with the guide's "own supply of knowledge and experiences in following Jesus."

He likened spiritual direction to the "personal relationship that the Lord had with his disciples, that special bond with which he led them, following him, to embrace the will of the Father (cf. Luke 22:42), that is, to embrace the cross."

The Bishop of Rome urged the Teresianum students to "make a treasure of all that you will have learned in these years of study, to support all those whom Divine Providence will entrust to you, helping them in the discernment of spirits and in the capacity to second the motions of the Holy Spirit, with the objective of leading them to the fullness of grace, 'until we all attain,' as St. Paul says, 'to the measure of the fullness of Christ.'"

Our Lady of Fatima

VATICAN CITY, MAY 11, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is encouraging all to "intensify" the practice of praying the rosary during May, the month the Church dedicates to the Mother of God.
At the end of today's general audience, the Pope urged the youth present "to value this traditional Marian prayer, which helps to understand better and to assimilate the central moments of the salvation realized by Christ."
To the sick, he exhorted them to "to turn with confidence to the Virgin Mary through this pious exercise, entrusting all your needs to her."
Finally, to the newlyweds, he invited them to "make the praying of the rosary in the family, a moment of spiritual growth under the gaze of the Virgin Mary."