Encounter with Mary in the Three Part Colloquy [62]
I get all wrapped up
in the veils
of my Mother's presence.
I hear the swooshing
of her garments
As she passes me by.
I feel the hems
of her garments
brushing over my feet.
She also is near
and comes to help me,
puts her hand
on my breastbone,
and speaks gently to my heart.
I am her child
And she is my mother.
Thanks be to God
for this indescribable gift.
Amen
"I went out by night...and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down..."
Nehemiah 2:13a
May 23, 2016, excerpt from my spiritual journal
'What is the Wall of Mary like in your life?' 'The Wall of Mary.'
These words kept coming to me this past week.
I felt led to read Nehemiah's story of his scrutiny of the walls of Jerusalem, by examination of them by night. The Book of Nehemiah is about the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, but it is also a story about the walls that need to be in place, or rebuilt, around our hearts.
I am in the midst of a family crisis.
I prayed the Rosary all night. I prayed all the mysteries of the Rosary:
Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, Luminous. The true Rosary, before culture got so busy.
'You have rebuilt your Wall of Mary.'
'You have rebuilt the Wall of Mary in your life.'
I heard these words...then...
'Just as a mother holds as treasures in her heart,
the memories of her child's life,
so too my Mother holds in her life,
the Mysteries of my life.
When you hold the treasure of the Mysteries of my life
in your life,
you have rebuilt The Wall of Mary
in your life.
The Wall of Mary consists of the Mysteries
of my life and hers.
These are the Mysteries of my life.
When you contemplate my life,
you see your life in mine.'
'This is the Wall of Mary that must be built into the life of every believer.'
[147] First Colloquy. One colloquy to Our Lady, that she may get me grace from her Son and Lord that I may be received under his standard; and first in the highest spiritual poverty, and - if his Divine Majesty would be served and would want to choose and receive me - not less in actual poverty; second, in suffering contumely and injuries, to imitate Him more in them, if only I can suffer them without the sin of any person, or displeasure of his Divine Majesty; and with that a Hail Mary.
The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Second Week; The Fourth Day: Meditation on Two Standards.
