I look at this title and think, Easy to Say, Hard To Do. Yet this morning during chores, many things were running through my mind as I thought about Mary, as I thought about our souls, and as I thought about others around me. I will come back to this later. As far as the readings today, I would like to share some exact quotes from the book “St. Maximilian didn’t want to just ask for graces from the Immaculata. He wanted to ‘be’ the graces. He wanted to be the will of the immaculate. He figured Well, if people can give themselves over to Satan to be possesses by and him and instruments of evil, why can’t people give themselves over to God to be possessed by him and be his instruments of love.” This makes sense to me, and yet he took it a step further. “St. Maximilian further reasoned that, more than anyone the immaculate is “possessed” by the Holy Spirit so why not ask to be possessed by her so as to be perfectly united to God’s will. What St. Maximilian is showing us is a path that is easy and fast to Jesus through Mary. His goal was to build a Militia Immaculata as fast and easy as he could, so that these souls brought to Jesus through Mary, may be present in the world showing Jesus to others. A quote from St. Maximilian “If we really love God, if we truly long for his kingdom, then we should find the quickest and easiest way to sainthood, and thereby return to Him.” Now, Maybe to some reading this the quote makes no sense, but to a person that was searching for answers and was having trouble finding answers to questions such as purpose, why did things happen, etc- a quick easier path sounds very appealing. This great Saint is telling us that Mary who is fully human, who more than anyone is “possessed” by the Holy Spirit is there, and whose union with Jesus is Heavenly, is there to help us all to become Saints, and its this path that is easier and faster.
Now for chores this morning- Today as I was thinking about Mary, about Jesus, and about God, I looked up and I saw the the sun began to start peaking through. Then I looked out at the farm and saw the complete mess that it is in right now. I could have swore I had some rock on this farm yet, not sure where it is right now. Well, at this point Mary started doing her thing, which is pointing us to her Son, Jesus. It was like she was saying, Wade your soul was a mess at one point just like your farm. (And it still gets messed up at times) All you could focus on was what was wrong, and all the negatives. Like your farm, you focused on the 2 feet of mud, the ruts, the lack of things that make life easier, instead of those kids there helping you chore and a wife inside taking care of kids and cooking lunch. You refused to allow people like Ed Meyer bring you rock, even though Rodney Burdiek says he likes to sneak a few chargers in there on you
She seemed to say, Wade you were going to make sure that you did it all on your own, but you found out that you can’t, you found out that your tractor was buried in 3 feet of mud, simply because you would’t let someone help.
As I read this book for a second time, it seems much clearer that Mary was there in that little Church in Onaga, as I decided to start to pray the Rosary more Faithfully, and do so in front of Jesus in the Eucharist. Things didn’t change overnight yet those countless hours spent praying the Rosary, asking Mary to show me the way, asking the Holy Spirit to come, and Asking Jesus to Forgive me, lead me and continues to lead me God’s Will. Although the Sun appeared today, it is going to be muddy for quite some time, yet the mud didn’t seem as bad today after that and with each day of sun, there will be less mud. Just as we grow closer to Jesus, “The Son of Man” the challenges will be there but they will be easier, and with each day with him there will be less Mud. May we all go order some rock from Ed Meyer, and take a path to Jesus with the least amount of Mud, so that we all can show Him to others. Mary our most Gracious Loving Mother, show unto me Jesus!!!