Today is the retreat and I seem to be more enclosed within myself. Sometimes I think when I am most enclosed it is the reason of contemplation and if I truly feel that I need to go to confession. Confession is something I treasure as much or as equally as I love receiving the Eucharist.
I do not go as often, which I need to work on (St. Catherine of Siena Chapter of the Dominican Laity recommends once a month and my spiritual director suggested it as well to me). One of the greatest joys is when you are told to “go in peace, for you have been absolved of your sins”. There is a light feeling where the weight of sin has been.
The focus on today’s retreat is based upon the defense of Mary. Our Chaplain for the Laity chapter, Fr. Thomas, OP split the talk about the defense of Mary into two. How would we defend Mary, the Mother of God from those who claim that she was just chosen for giving birth to Jesus Christ and nothing more, that she was not sinless, well Fr. Thomas’ talks focused how we can defend Our Lady through Scripture.
Defending the Catholic faith is something very much a part of the Dominican spirituality, for it was Saint Dominic who fought against heresies with his example, words, and knowledge. It would be very odd for his sons and daughters (those in the order, like me I am a daughter of Saint Dominic) to not study and defend.
The first talk of the retreat was “A Trajectory Approach: To Reading the New Testaments and the Catholic teaching about Mary, the Mother of God”, which was a little pamphlet with texts from the New Testament in chronological order of when they were written. One thing that I really took to heart was after he was pointing out a verse in the Gospel of Luke and he said this:
God-like action (hope, faith, and charity)
Removal of Sin principal
Adoption
Truly merited
Indwelling
Amicus (Become friends of God)
That spells out “Gratia” which is “Grace” and Mary had all that for when the “angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:26-28)
She had all that Fr. Thomas listed above. But something else with those verses was “Hail full of grace” is a past tense, which means it has been fulfilled. Also Fr. Thomas noted that Mary had a name change from Mary to “Full of Grace”, and it is not a job (as many of our protestant brothers and sisters consider Mary’s role), but an office. But, also her blessedness was possible because she believed, “she was more blessed in faith than the role of mother” (St. Augustine). For it was not only as a mother, but her faith that she was there in the beginning and the end, but she was in between, for she never left His side.
One of the last things that I had a profound awe was when Fr. Thomas explained something from the Gospel of John when Jesus hands His mother to the beloved, but nameless disciple. Every time we seen that beloved, but nameless disciple it is meant to place our name, for we are His beloved disciples, the Children of God. I found that important that means that Mary is truly Our Mother, because He handed her to us. What a great honor to have her as our Mother.
Between talks was a time of silence, which I took that time to go to Confession and then write and just think about the Lord and Mary. I thought about how when I first really took the step towards the Lord, I knew that Mary was “Mom” and I have always called her as such and when I am scared or fear that the Lord hates me, Mary is that Mom who whispers who tells you not to give up on Him, for He doesn’t hate you.
The Second talk about dealing with Typology of Mary by comparing the Old Testaments and the New Testaments with regards of certain things, for example look up Genesis 3:20 and then look up John 19:25+. “One brought death by listening to the angel, while one brought life by listening to the angel” as Fr. Thomas said, but also included that Mary is considered (and I truly believe) the second Eve and the ark of the convent.
But, not only did he (Fr. Thomas) speak about Typology, but he also did another memorization thing for us about Mary:
Mother of God
Assumed in Heaven
Redeemed in Anticipation
Yeshua (Jesus) her only Son
These are the four doctrines of Mary, just thought that was really cool.
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