Draw Close to Our Mother's Side to Learn and Live: Consecration Retreat Day 22
Welcome to our 33 day Marian Consecration Retreat as we prayerfully anticipate the commencement of the Year of Mercy. Join us as we share the book 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration by Fr. Michael E. Gaitley, MIC.
Today’s Reflection:
The teen rode his bike into the intersection, one hand on handlebars, the other on cell phone. Right into oncoming traffic he pedaled, head bowed over his latest text messages. The crossing guard yelped, stepped sideways and called, “Hey, you can’t text and ride!” But by then, the youth was halfway down the block.
That teen appeared another day, head again bent over his device, and stepped into the intersection without checking for traffic.
“Wait!” the guard insisted. At the other side of the crossing, she asked him to tuck the phone away and take a moment to look around. The sky was a deepening blue toward dusk, the leaves donning crimson and gold for fall.
“It’s lovely today,” said the guard. “Why not keep your head up and look around? It’s also dangerous not to look where you’re going.”
The boy barely blinked, stepped on down the block, and again fished out his phone.
What “devices” keep us from beauties, loving cautions and special whispers from Heaven each day? Our Marian consecration should help us put our devices away – our “devices” are anything that keeps our heads drooping and our eyes closed to life. The Blessed Mother is like that parent walking with and pointing out the neighborhood’s highlights to a toddler: “Look at that lovely garden. Now what are these flowers called?”
Each moment can be a teaching/learning moment for us at the side of our Mother, as we pray through our 33 Marian consecration days…and beyond. Our Blessed Mother wants to wake us up! She longs to draw us to great earthly and heavenly realities spread before us daily like a banquet.
On that same crossing guard’s block, a little girl was being pushed in her stroller.
“I saw a garl-garl today,” she told the guard, her eyes and face alight with enthusiasm.
“A garl-garl?”
The father explained that the girl had just seen a gargoyle on someone’s lawn! Her dad was not one to browse text messages while pushing the stroller, as so many parents did. Whether he or his wife took the helm, they were full of lively observations and questions for the girl on every walk, turning that same set of blocks into a grand adventure each day.
Our Blessed Mother will help make our lives an adventure, too. She will pray and intercede for us, pleading for grace, wisdom, and all that his holy, to fill us. Let’s pull our heads up, open our eyes, ears, minds and hearts, and learn.
To Ponder:
What “devices” keep us distracted from the true things that matter in life?
Let Us Pray:
Dear Blessed Mother, you are “full of grace,” and respond each moment to heaven’s call amidst every mundane distraction. Teach us to walk with God amidst the busy-ness of life.
Copyright 2015 Marianna Bartholomew
