One More Mary Break at Work

As Mary's month draws to a close this weekend, let's finish our "Mary breaks" at work with these final thoughts from Father Edward Leen. Here he completes his thoughts about how Mary is the Mother of Hope, and how Hope will sustain us in our journey to grow closer to God, specifically in our daily work.

Do yourself a favor and spend a few minutes not just to read - slowly - but to think about, to meditate on Father Leen's thoughts. He's one of our greatest spiritual writers. But he challenges us with the depth and breadth of his thoughts. He's appealing to those of us who are serious Catholics, who really want to grow in our faith, to grow closer to God during our time on earth. (The key point here is that we have to want it.) And understanding that we spend a good chunk of our days attending to our work, whether outside or inside the home, he understands the importance of turning those minutes and hours of work into a prayer, a means to achieve holiness.

Mary is the Mother of Hope. Why? Mary always aspired towards God, always and in all her activities. Her hope was constant, sustained without a break. Mary was aspiring after and attaining to Him in all the minute preoccupations of a woman’s domestic life. For she did all things in view of her God – Jesus. She worked, she swept, she cooked, she tidied up for God. She ‘aspired’ after Him, in and through all these trivial details and occupations of an everyday existence. Are there many of us who aspire so after God? We can answer that question by putting to ourselves another. What are the things that preoccupy us? We cannot desire anything very strongly and at the same time be preoccupied with other desires. If, at any given moment, we examine our desires we may find a multitude, which are more or less strongly pulling us in various directions. Our desires are the tendencies of our life; their multiplicity is a sign that we are not moved solely by the hope of straining towards God. Mary thought nothing of importance in her life except the entering into fresh and fuller possession of God at every moment of her existence. We, too, should have that strong hope; at least we should desire it, aim at it.

Why do we fail? Why are we so often disappointed? We lack hope. We think we cannot reach God. We think that, today, because prayer is difficult, God is out of our reach. Perhaps we are even content with living merely on our own plane, content to occupy ourselves with the ordinary affairs of life, not using them hopefully as a means to press towards God. There should be a constant effort to realize that God is ours; that God must be ours. God has put this virtue of Hope into us for this purpose. The motive of Hope is always God, God ready to succor us in this enterprise which is the pursuit of God. When we are acting in the virtue of Hope we have not to pray God to help us. God will, in virtue of our Hope, put Himself at our disposal; He will give us all that we require to attain Him. Therefore, if we are not persuaded that by His help, we can reach Him, have intimacy with God, possession of God, love of God, as Mary had, let us turn to Mary, Mother of Fair Love, of Fear, of Knowledge and of Holy Hope, and ask her to obtain for us the grace to live and act in the virtue of Hope, and thus tend constantly towards Him Who is its object.

Did you catch Father's all-important question: "What are the things that preoccupy us?" Chances are these are many. And as Father points out, "their multiplicity is a sign that we are not moved solely byt the hope of straining towards God."

Determine to develop this virtue of Hope. Father Leen has shown us how it's the key to developing intimacy with God in this life. Ask for Our Lady's intercession, that we may obtain "the grace to live and act in the virtue of hope."