On this Saturday, a day to spend some extra time with our Dear Mother, this favorite prayer card came to mind.  I first saw it last year when the blog site had it as their card of the day on--my birthday!  It seems even back then Mother Mary was giving me little clues to her love for me and how she wanted to bring me closer to her dear Son, Jesus.  In honor of the upcoming Feast of the Annunciation and because I feel lead to I have started re-reading St Louis De Monfort's "True Devotion to Mary" and praying the preparation again.

It is an excellent book to help bring you closer to our Mother Mary, I personally find the original book beautifully written although some prefer a more modern translation over the original.  Through the total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary your life and heart are forever changed as layers of old self are peeled away leaving a heart yearning and opening to receive the love our Lord Jesus and his blessed Mother have to give you.  Not until after my Consecration did my heart and mind realize how close and truly present Jesus' Mother is within each of us if we would just call on her.  No matter how hard things may get for me right now, it only goes to a point then as if she knows the limit in Mary swoops to scoop me up into her arms and hug me close.

That happened again this afternoon, what is it about Saturdays lately?  By imaginary fingernails my arms shaking and being silently screaming, "For you I'll hang on for I deserve this and offer it all as sacrifice to you dear God.  But dear Mary I need help because I don't think I can take this much longer."  Trust me, it was not a pleasant few days inside Lindaland's being.  Then as I prayed some "Hail Mary's" my never fail prayer of desperation a gentle calm overtook me and the body relaxed, the mind rested on a sturdy warm ledge and loving sleep took over me.  The nap was only an hour but the rest and renewal is golden sunlight within this heart.  On waking my first thoughts were, thank you Mary, thank you Jesus.  They are always with us, even when silent. (And yes I prob'ly will repeat that billions of times over my lifetime to whomever will listen!)

So we are over the midway point for the great season of Lent... and through no conscious effort or action of my own this is shaping up to be-lol, a humdinger of a doozy!  What was that word from Epiphany??  LOL!  All I can say is thank you God for the gift of Mary and thank you dear Jesus for your giving her to us all during your final moments on the cross.  She is my Queen, my Mother, my guide to Jesus, and my friend when  all seems lost and alone.

The one thought/meditation that has crossed thru many times over the last several months since Nov 1 is I am about the same age Mary was when she suffered her Son's Passion.  Then I see the pure joy of Mother and child in the picture above, and understand a bit, a wee little bit...