Medjugorje 26th Thursday

The Virgin Mary was the first and greatest of all disciples. I can remember a few years ago reading that some mystic believed that Mary was able to pray before She was born because She had heightened use of Her faculties due to being free from original sin. While we don’t know if that is true or not, we do know unborn children can feel things, such as pain and their heart can even beat in a simultaneous fashion with their mothers as seen on sonograms. So they sense their mother’s joy and fears. We know for sure Mary presented Herself at the temple at the age of 3 desiring to do God’s will and making a vow of perpetual virginity.

Mary was the greatest and first disciple of Jesus because She always chose to do God’s will and never once sinned in Her life. Remember the woman who said to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb who bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” And Jesus responded, “No, rather, blessed who those who hear the word of God and keep it.” Mary heard the word of God and kept it because Her Son is the Eternal Word and spoke it and therefore Mary always kept the word of God by doing His will perfectly.

In the Gospel, Jesus sent out the 72 disciples to prepare His way. He said, “the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.” He went on to tell His Apostles before His ascension to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So it is through baptism, we all became disciples of Jesus and we are all sent. Mary became a disciple of the Lord at the moment of Her Immaculate Conception, just as we became a disciple the moment we are baptized and original sin is washed away.

So what is it that makes a good disciple? We turn to Mary to know. As I said one who does God’s will in their life. It is also God’s will to avoid sin, which Mary did perfectly. It is God’s will for us to grow in holiness. Mary was the holiest creature God created. Sh was holier than all the angels and saints combined.

A disciple of Jesus first sits and listens and adores Our Lord the teacher. Mary adored Jesus in Her womb. Mary was the first to adore the face of Jesus when He was born. Mary was the first to pray to Jesus and listen to Jesus and meditate on His every action which She did every day for the first 30 years of His life because She lived with Him.

Mary knew Sacred Scripture and pondered it with Her Heart. She pondered every word and action of Jesus. So for one to be a disciple of Jesus one must sit at His feet in Eucharistic Adoration. To adore His face with eyes of faith in the Eucharist. To spend a regular hour in Eucharistic Adoration every week and as Bishop Fulton Sheen told priests and seminarians to daily make a Holy Hour with Jesus.

A good disciple of Jesus will ponder and meditate daily Sacred Scripture reading the bible every day. For one who is ignorant of Scripture is ignorant of Christ. A good disciple of Jesus will pray Hail Marys with the lips and meditate on the mysteries of the life of Jesus while praying the Rosary often and so think about Jesus and ponder Him with Mary’s eyes and Heart.

But we can’t be perfect like Mary. We all fall short. The saints give us hope because they were sinners and had faults. The apostles were jealous of each other and wanted to be better than the others. Peter denied Jesus three times. St. Jerome had angry outbursts all his life. But did lots of penance. St. Augustine caroused with women and even fathered a child out of wedlock. St. Francis of Assisi was given into revelry before his conversion. St. Monica had a problem with drinking when she was young. But all of them allowed their weaknesses to help them grow in holiness and humility. The disciple will take up his cross daily striving for virtue.

Many of you come here with trouble hearts seeking consolation and the help of our Mother. With the mandates, with fear of covid and fear of government tyranny, and problems in our Church, we come to our Mother as a child runs to his mother when scared.

And what does Mary do? She picks us up as She would a crying child and suddenly the fear vanishes, because we trust the Mother will take care of everything. Mary took care of all the needs of Jesus. She nursed Him. She changed His diapers. She washed His clothes, She fed Him. She cleaned His house and taught Him to read and write and Jewish customs.

She became the Mother of us all at the foot of the Cross when John took Her into his home and where She endured the pain and agony of watching Her Son die such a horrible death. Mary is therefore with us in our daily life in our ordinary things we do. And She is especially with us in our suffering and will be with us now and the hour of our death.

After Jesus died, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, what is the tradition of the Church, but that the Apostles came to Mary often, to seek Her Motherly help. To feel tenderness in times of sorrow and distress. They came seeking Her advice and Her prayers and surely She helped form the early Church and encouraged them in the apostolic ministries.

What happened to the early disciples? Because they lived their life with Jesus and came to Mary, it prepared them for their own suffering, to bear witness to Him and His teachings. They knew that while they were going to die for love of Jesus and His Church the Mother would not abandon Her children. She would stand beneath their cross and would comfort them by Her presence. And then when it was time for them to enter enteral life, She would come---with Her Son, to take them to their judgment, and then to the place that has been prepared for them in the Father’s house.

Let us turn to our Mother seeking Her help. “O lovely lady, dressed in blue, teach me to pray, when I am distressed and sorrowful, hold me close to thy breast. Love me, kiss me, hold me tenderly. Pray for me, that I may stay close to Your Son in the Eucharist. O lovely lady, dressed in blue, teach me to be a disciple, to read about Him in Scripture, and ponder His life while praying Your Rosary, to confess our sins monthly. And O lovely lady, dressed in blue, keep me close to thy Most Pure Heart and when its time for my life to depart stand beneath my cross and through my eyes may be filled with tears, I will be consoled that you, O Lady will take me home to the place of my rest, with God the Father, Son and Spirit blessed, and this my lady is my fond request. Amen.”