Where is Mary... in the Spiritual Exercises? ...in the life of Ignatius?

The Science of Mary

by Penelope Olive, August 13 2023

Excerpts from the spiritual journals of Penelope Olive

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.

Encounter with Mary in the Three Part Colloquy [62]

The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola

PART 1

Our Lady of the Wall

"I went out by night...and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down..."

Nehemiah 2:13a

May 23, 2016, journal entry on my birthday

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 at 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 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.

PART 2

Mary As Intercessor

July 15, 2022, journal entry, during morning prayer

Matthew 12:1-8
"I tell you, something greater than the temple is here."
"For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

Lord Jesus, you are my Lord, my rest, my Sabbath.
You are my Lord, my Sabbath.

In all of this, trust me my child. I will never forsake or abandon you. You too are my rest. For the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. The children of the Kingdom do not yet understand this. Here I am in the Heavenlies, and my Mother is my Comfort, in her humanity. I have need of Mankind for it is for you that I came. Fully human, fully divine, I am complete for I have the Father and the Holy Spirit with me, in me, above me, behind me, below me. Yet, I have need of humankind. This is what this means, and continues to mean. In me, mankind is complete. You too in me, have a place to rest, for I am in you and you are in me. Yet I have need of all humankind.
The Son of Man has no where to lay his head.
In my humanity, I have need of all of humankind. For it is for this reason I came, to redeem man and to bring him into communion with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Come my child, share in the joy that heaven has for you, I in you and you in me. You will be my rest, a place to lay my head and to reign, and I will be your rest, a place to lay your head and to reign also in my heart, for my heart too has need of you. Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you. Whatever you ask in my name, and according to my will, it will be done for you, for you are mine and I am yours. We are one.
Amen.

Thank you, Lord, for this sweet understanding of your love and need of me, lowly creature that I am. I console you as you console me.

This gives me a new understanding of the words about the joy in heaven when one sinner converts. Thank you, Lord.

How great is your love, this even brings new understanding to my heart.
And that we add to what is lacking in the Cross.
All of humanity needs to be at the Cross, worthy or unworthy as we all are, to console your humanity for what you suffered for us on the Cross.

Thank you, Lord God, Jesus my Love and my Heart.
Help me not to add to your sorrow, but to be there with you.
Amen.
Jesus, in his Divinity is complete with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for there is Completeness in the Trinity of God.

Jesus in his humanity is in need of all of humanity, as the Mother of God shows us in her presence in heaven, interceding continually for us. Jesus in his humanity in the Heavenly places is in need of humanity, a place to lay his head, in my heart, and in the heart of all of humanity. As Mary comes into the throne room of heaven in her full humanity, she is a consolation and a delight for Jesus. She has danced as Wisdom before him for all of humanity. Let my heart be emptied of all material things that Jesus the King of Glory may enter in, and find a place to rest his head.

Thank you, Lord. So hard to put in writing what you are bringing to my heart.

As I have need of you, so too you have need of me.

The Son of Man has no place to rest his head.

Amen.

 

PART 3

Mary In Eucharist

July 17, 2022, journal entry

Remember when receiving the Eucharist
As you partake of the Body and Blood
of Christ
You too become Mary's child
From whom Jesus drew
his humanity when
enfolded in her body and blood
in the womb;
You too now partaking
of her body and blood
in the Full Presence of Christ
his Body and Blood now too
in full divinity and
in full humanity
Through the Fiat of your own Mother Mary.
Amen.

On the morning this came to me, I woke with two songs in my heart, sung often during my evening Rosary Prayer Group, one English, the other French...
Couronnée d'Étoiles (Crowned with Stars), and, Be With Us Mary
...and these songs stayed with me as I prepared for my day.
I came to my prayer time and sang...
And then these words started coming to my heart from the Lord, and I wrote them down.
Thank you, Lord.

REFERENCES

Mary in the Spiritual Exercises:

[313] RULES FOR PERCEIVING AND KNOWING IN SOME MANNER THE DIFFERENT MOVEMENTS WHICH ARE CAUSED IN THE SOUL,

the good, to receive them, and the bad to reject them.

[327] Fourteenth Rule.  The fourteenth: likewise, he behaves as a chief bent on conquering and robbing what he desires: for, as a captain and chief of the army, pitching his camp, and looking at the forces or defenses of a stronghold, attacks it on the weakest side, in like manner the enemy of human nature, roaming about, looks in turn at all our virtues, theological, cardinal, and moral; and where he finds us weakest and most in need for our eternal salvation, there he attacks us and aims at taking us.

[63] First Colloquy. The first colloquy to Our Lady, that she may get me grace from her Son and Lord...and with that a Hail Mary.

[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 with that a Hail Mary.

[218] THE FIRST CONTEMPLATION    

How Christ our Lord appeared to Our Lady.

[299] OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD; OF HIS FIRST APPARITION.

    First Point. First: He appeared to the Virgin Mary. This, although it is not said in Scripture, is included in saying that He appeared to so many others, because Scripture supposes that we have understanding, as is written: "Are you also without understanding?"

[248] Note. ...whoever wants to imitate Our Lady in the uses of the senses, let him in the preparatory prayer recommend himself to her, that she may get him grace from her Son and Lord for it; and after considering each sense, say a Hail Mary.

[342]  GUIDELINES FOR THINKING WITH THE CHURCH TODAY:

[355] Third Rule. The third: to praise....long prayers, in the church and out of it...

The Autobiography of Ignatius of Loyola, Joseph N. Tylenda, s.j.

A Pilgrim's Journey

Chapter 2, Monteserrat: A Knight'sVigil

Image:

The Wall of Mary