Groundbreaking Course on the Sermon on the Mount

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114: Intercessory Prayer

Question: If we are not to petition during the Prayer of the Heart (PH) and Lectio Divina (LD), when and how should intercessory prayer happen/take place?

Answer: As an allocated moment (time and space), intercessory prayer should happen at a special time, as a specific type of prayer. During Mass we have a time for it, as we do during the Divine Office (I am sure that in our personal prayer as well we do pray for others).

Your may ask the same question for other types of prayer as well: Prayer of Praise and Prayer of Thanksgiving, "when shall we say them?".

Here I would like to explain more clearly the deep relationship between LD & PH on the one hand and Intercessory Prayer on the other.

It is important to remember that LD is a key unavoidable type of prayer today. It is by far the most transformative type of prayer. Why? Because it allows a part of Christ (today's part of Christ-Word Bread) to become incarnated in us and transform us in Him. The more we are transformed in Christ the more powerful our intercession becomes (acts on God). Jesus explains the relationship between Lectio Divina and the efficiency of our prayer (which has been answered) in the Gospel of St John where He says: if you do my Will (keep my commandments) ask me all what you want (because you'll BE in my Name) and you will receive it, i.e. the Father will grant it to you (see John 15:7).


If LD is done properly, all its transformative power will be enacted. Then PH becomes much more fruitful and even more transformative. Otherwise, if you practise PH without LD, its transformative power is dramatically decreased.


Now let us consider what happens during the PH. While we are practising the PH, the Power of the Holy Spirit is working in our depths and through us will help Lift the entire World to God the Father in the Son, through the Holy Spirit. This is done automatically. The more we are transformed in Jesus, the better it works - automatically. St Therese explains that wonderfully at the end of her Manuscript C, in the Story of the Soul.

She says:

"All the saints have understood this, and more especially those who filled the world with the light of the Gospel teachings. Was it not in prayer that St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. John of the Cross, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis, St. Dominic, and so many other famous Friends of God have drawn out this divine science which delights the greatest geniuses? A scholar has said: “Give me a lever and a fulcrum and I will lift the world.” What Archimedes was not able to obtain, for his request was not directed by God and was only made from a material viewpoint, the saints have obtained in all its fullness. The Almighty has given them as fulcrum: HIMSELF ALONE; as lever: PRAYER which burns with a fire of love. And it is in this way that they have lifted the world; it is in this way that the saints still militant lift it, and that, until the end of time, the saints to come will lift it."

Intercessory prayer has different levels of power and action. What is more powerful than to pray for somebody or - if it was given to you by the grace of God - to take this person and lift him/her to God and introduce him/her into God's Fire of Love? Here St Therese presents to us the most powerful version of Intercessory Prayer.

It is a duty of love for us to pray for everybody. St Paul says that we have to pray for one another all the time, without excluding any other person. St James in the end of his Letter, mentioning the Prophet Elijah speaks about the power of a prayer that is heard/answered by God. This should grab our attention and invite us to deepen our understanding of Intercessory Prayer.

In addition, one has to remember the relationship between Intercessory Prayer and the  Priesthood of the Faithful. A Priest "prays for" others, like St Paul invites us to do all the time. (This is why we have the Divine Office. But it is something that becomes second nature to us, it is part of the "fabric" of the New Creature that we become in Christ. Being "in Christ" makes the Fire of the Holy Spirit that dwells in Him, pray in us and through us. The Holy Spirit knows how to pray and knows what we should ask for, and the way God wants it. What depends on us is not to pay attention to all that multiplicity of things to pray for. Our duty is just to get closer and closer to Jesus and to the Fire of His Love and be transformed by IT.

St Therese developed those important questions in two different places in that same Manuscript C, in the Story of the Soul:

"Since I have two brothers and my little Sisters, the novices, if I wanted to ask for each soul what each one needed and go into detail about it, the days would not be long enough and I fear I would forget something important. For simple souls there must be no complicated ways; as I am of their number, one morning during my thanksgiving, Jesus gave me a simple means of accomplishing my mission.

He made me [34r°] understand these words of the Canticle of Canticles: “DRAW ME, WE SHALL RUN after you in the odour of your ointments.” O Jesus, it is not even necessary to say: “When drawing me, draw the souls whom I love!” This simple statement: “Draw me” suffices; I understand, Lord, that when a soul allows herself to be captivated by the odour of your ointments, she cannot run alone, all the souls whom she loves follow in her train; this is done without constraint, without effort, it is a natural consequence of her attraction for You. Just as a torrent, throwing itself with impetuosity into the ocean, drags after it everything it encounters in its passage, in the same way, O Jesus, the soul who plunges into the shoreless ocean of Your Love, draws with her all the treasures she possesses. Lord, You know it, I have no other treasures than the souls it has pleased You to unite to mine; it is You who entrusted these treasures to me, and so I dare to borrow the words You addressed to the heavenly Father, the last night which saw You on our earth as a traveler and a mortal. Jesus, I do not know when my exile will be ended; more than one night will still see me singing Your Mercies in this exile, but for me will finally come the last night, and then I want to be able to say to You, O my God:“I have glorified you on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do. And now do you, Father, glorify me with yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world existed.“I have manifested your name to those whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they have learned that whatever you have given me is from you; because the words you have given me, I have given to them. And they have received them, and have known of a truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.“I pray for them, not for the world do I pray, but for those whom you have given me, because they are yours; and all things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep in your name those whom you have given to me.

“But now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world, in order that they may have joy made full in themselves. I have given them your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

“Yet not for these only do I pray, but for those who through their word are to believe in me.

“Father, I will that where I am, these also whom you have given me may be with me, that they may see my glory which you have given me, because you loved me from the foundation of the world. And I have made known your name to them, and will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”" (Manuscript C)

In fact Thérèse is explaining the Common Priesthood of the Faithful, received in Baptism, in Jesus-Priest. And a few pages afterwards she gives a further explanation of her new way of praying, her new way of practising the Prayer of the Heart:

“Mother, I think it is necessary to give a few more explanations on the passage in the Canticle of Canticles: “Draw me, we shall run,” for what I wanted to say appears to me little understood. “No man can come after me, unless the FATHER who sent me draw him,” Jesus has said. Again, through beautiful parables, and often even without using this means so well known to the people, He teaches us that it is enough to knock and it will be opened, to seek in order to find, and to hold out one’s hand humbly to receive what is asked for. He also says that everything we ask the Father in His name, He will grant it. No doubt, it is because of this teaching that the Holy Spirit, before Jesus’ birth, dictated this prophetic prayer: “Draw me, we shall run.”

What is it then to ask to be “Drawn” if not to be united in an intimate way to the object which captivates our heart? If fire and iron had the use of reason, and if the latter said to the other: “Draw me,” would it not prove that it desires to be identified with the fire in such a way that the fire penetrate [36r°] and drink it up with its burning substance and seem to become one with it? Dear Mother, this is my prayer. I ask Jesus to draw me into the flames of His love, to unite me so closely to Him that He live and act in me. I feel that the more the fire of love burns within my heart, the more I shall say: “Draw me,” the more also the souls who will approach me (poor little piece of iron, useless if I withdraw from the divine furnace), the more these souls will run swiftly in the odor of the ointments of their Beloved, for a soul that is burning with love cannot remain inactive. No doubt, she will remain at Jesus’ feet as did Mary Magdalene, and she will listen to His sweet and burning words. Appearing to do nothing, she will give much more than Martha who torments herself with many things and wants her sister to imitate her. " (Manuscript C)

All that Thérèse is describing happens in the same movement of the Prayer of the Heart. Jesus attaches people to us (without us doing it or knowing it), so when we do the PH we perform, as well, our Priestly duty of intercession. In the Prayer of the Heart we offer our being to Jesus and are immersed in Him. The more we are transformed in Jesus the more we are like a sponge, unknowingly absorbing all the persons Jesus wants us to carry. They are like our mystical body ("Union with Jesus" is union with a portion of his Body). So whenever we do the Prayer of the Heart (The more we are transformed in Jesus, the more PH becomes more and more constant in us), and we are then immersed (with them) in His Fire. The Power of the Holy Spirit in us is lifting not only us but all our mystical body.

[Many more things occur during the PH, and this is just to reply to your question and show the deeper levels of Intercession and their relationship with our level/degree of transformation in Jesus and with the practice of the PH.]


In conclusion we can say that it is not really possible to separate deep powerful intercession from our being, from our PH.

When somebody asks us to pray for him/her, or we just remember to pray for a certain person/intention, let us not forget that (in my eyes) the most powerful, perfect and pure way to do it is to entrust this intention to Our Lady, by saying one "Hail Mary" and that's it. If your remember again this person/intention, you may just redo that again: say the "Hail Mary", entrusting this person to Mary. St Therese used to say that Our Lady knows better the will of God (what to say to God and how to say it), we don't. In this sense she is called "Throne of Wisdom", because the Wisdom of God, Jesus, is dwelling in her in His absolute perfection while it is not the case for us. We either carry too much the person, or worry too much, or are busy too much in dealing and arranging the life of others, forgetting our utter ignorance. And all this is not intercessory prayer, but impurity added to our way of dealing with God.

I hope this helps.

78: What is holiness? #1

Two facts: 1- Holiness is a fundamental issue in our life. 2- Understanding what is holiness is therefore as fundamental.

Two other facts: 1- Since early 60s, with the Council Vatican II, we have been reminded that Jesus calls all of us to Holiness (see: Lumen Gentium, chapter 5, The Universal call to holiness). And this is very positive.

2- Details about what is holiness and how to reach it remain until today difficult to access. Therefore these concepts remain very imprecise and vague. We often accommodate with general ideas and directions, but when it comes to details, we lack a great deal of practical insight.

Some people think that by just abiding by Christian Dogma, Liturgy (+ Sacraments) and Morality it is enough [or worse: it guarantees you] to reach holiness. Our popular understanding of “holiness” is something, but the more precise one is something totally different.

It is important to notice that our understanding of: 1- The Cross (what Jesus accomplishes on the Cross), 2- Easter, 3- Baptism and 4- Christian life are directly related. Plus, in the end, all will bring us to holiness, obviously.

Our understanding of these 4 realities did shrink a lot from the original view/understanding – with dramatic consequences on our understanding of holiness. It shrank to a frightening point. To explain it, I’ll take an example: the Promise given to Abraham to give him the Land.

After 430 years of “slavery” in Egypt, God decided that the time was right to act and save His People. We all have a geographical idea of the journey of the people of God, from Egypt to the Promised Land (see the map).

This Journey was made in 40 years. (Remember that this journey wouldn’t take more than 3 days waking, if you take a more direct route) I would divide this journey in 4 parts (not like the map shown). This is my choice, just to make my point. 

1- One night: walking to the red sea and crossing it (ok, you may add few days or weeks while Moses and the Pharaoh are defying each others and having the plagues of Egypt). 

2- Two years: from the crossing until the area called Kadesh Barnea. 

3- Thirty eight years: going in circles around the area of Kadesh. 

4- Finally entering the Promised Land: crossing the Jordan, fighting against the local populations (7 tribes). 

The full journey is 1 + 2 + 3 + 4.

I am using the full journey as an example of our spiritual Christian Journey, heading toward Holiness (the “Promised Land”). The whole action that Jesus accomplishes on the Cross comprises in it the full journey. Saving us is not just taking us from Egypt to the desert (crossing the Red Sea)!! It is the same for Baptism: being baptised is not just crossing the Red Sea, finishing from the slavery of the Devil (Pharaoh) like the Fathers of the Church used to say. The full realisation of Baptism is to reach the Promised land. Wouldn’t you agree?

Same for Easter: during Easter Vigil we focus a lot on the essential reading of the crossing of the red sea. Nothing wrong with it. But crossing the desert, spending 40years in it, crossing the river Jordan, have no impact on our understanding of Easter. We often, traditionally use Easter Vigil to Baptise the catechumens. Does it push more toward this “reduction” of the concepts? Well the debate is opened.

Same thing for our Christian daily life: we measure everything by one measure: “am I in the sate of grace or not? If not, I do have to go to confession. So my life is to be or not to be in the sate of grace”. It is like saying: “did I cross or not the desert?”. Ok, fair enough. But where is the Desert in our Christian life? Do we see it? Do we understand its deep meaning? Do we understand manna? Receiving the Law? Not listening to God, and having to go in circles during 38 years until we are totally purified (see Numbers c. 16)? having to cross the waters of the river Jordan? Having to go and fight 7 tribes?

It seems that everything lies on: “am I in the state of grace or not?”, and the rest will take care of itself. I just need to pray, to go to Mass, to confess, to de good deeds, and holiness will come by itself. So: “take it easy, sit down and relax. Take a deep breath, you are saved from the Red Sea. The rest will come, you just need to be a good Christian.”

Crossing the Red Sea is fundamentally like seeing Saul being kicked out of his horse and falling, blind, under the powerful liberating light of Jesus.

All what comes after, is infinitely much more: it is when Paul takes time to grow (he spends 3 years in Arabia)… and then works, serves... Saint Paul’s life doesn’t revolve around his falling from his horse. It seems that for us, holiness is bout falling from our horse.

“Falling from our horse” is technically called: “conversion”. So our Christian life, Baptism, the Cross, Easter, are simply reduced to be BINARY: I am or not in the state of grace (1,0). And, if I am not, I should go to confession. All the rest will be - roughly - fine. (Yes “roughly”, as you noticed.) This is what some will later call: holiness.

People think, vaguely that Holiness will/might come, roughly, automatically, by itself, by power of magic.

I am not sure of that at all. I wouldn’t plan my entire life with “roughly” and “maybe”.

Conclusion: well I invite you to re-read this short blog, meditate on it, write down your thoughts, put them in order, make your own conclusions and kindly post them in the “comments” below.

68 : How to 'dwell in Jesus'

Jesus says to us: 'Dwell in Me as I dwell in you' (John 15:4) How can we dwell in Him ? How does He dwell in us?

First let us see where and how Jesus dwells in us?

By our Baptism, Jesus takes our heart as His dwelling place. He is in the deepest part of our heart.

We can visualise our heart like a Circle. Jesus is in the deepest part of it.

When we enter in our heart, what do we see inside of it?

We have 3 areas where we can be:

1- A green area (see the previous diagram): this area is the place where we are when we are in ourselves, immersed in our thoughts and feelings.

2- A blue area: this area symbolises the effort we make in order to move toward Jesus-God, dwelling inside of us: we knock on Jesus’ door, we ask the Holy Spirit to allow us inside, in order to be with Jesus.

3- A white area: this area is where Jesus is. This is His Kingdom, where He introduces us, putting us in direct contact with the Fire of His Love. (see the diagram below)

Therefore, during the day, and during prayer we can be:

I- Outside of our heart (see the diagram below: the heart to the left)

II- Inside of our heart: in the green area

III- Asking Jesus to enter in Him

IV- Dwelling in Jesus, with the Fire of His Love

As you can see, we are not necessarily “dwelling in Jesus”. This is why Jesus invites us insistently: ‘dwell in Me, as I dwell in you’.

We can easily understand that if we “dwell in Jesus” our daily acts/work will be different. It is from that Meeting inside of us with Jesus that we draw Energy, Light and Love for our daily life.

This is why Jesus says ‘without Me you can do nothing’ (John 15:15)

‘Dwell in my Love’ (John 15:9)

65: Jesus is born in our heart

There are three Christmas Masses: midnight, dawn and during the day. Not only we are allowed to attend them and but we are invited to receive Communion during these 3 Masses.

The three masses of Christmas tell us of three births of God’s Son:

1- His birth at Bethlehem. Luke 2:1-14.

2- His birth in our hearts. Luke 2:15-20.

3- His birth in eternity (the only begotten of the Father). John 1:1-18.

You’ll certainly guess that I might have a greater interest in the “dawn Mass”. It is a more “interior” perspective about Christmas. It alludes to Jesus’ birth in our hearts.

By our Baptism, Jesus is born in our heart. As a small seed, He’ll grow in us until He reaches the fullness of His height. That moment could be considered as a fuller “birth of Jesus in our hearts” or, if you will, the equivalent of what the Mystics called the “Spiritual Marriage” with Jesus. Remember what saint Paul claimed: “it is not me who live, Christ lives in me”.

Christmas is as well about personal spiritual life: let us look inside and watch out Jesus in us.

Who better than Mary can give birth to Jesus? Who can carry Him in the fullness of His hight and bear the intensity of His Divinity? Mary only can do it. We need both: the Son of God, offering Himself to us as the biggest and deepest gift, and Mary, the “capacity” to handle that divine weight in us.

Let us invite Mary in the cradle of our heart so she can come. She comes carrying Jesus in her. She is the best “space” we can offer to God so He can come and dwell in us.

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus once said that before Communion she invites Mary to dwell in her heart, so when she receives Jesus, the Host, He’ll think that He is dwelling in her. To me, it looks like the best way to receive Jesus in us.

62: The practical use of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception #2

Immaculate Conception

(continuation of previous post)
To me, the historical context of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is very important in order to understand it fully, and we should strive to understand the “political”, practical, thread in it.

Again, being specialised in “Spiritual Theology”, I am essentially interested in the practical spiritual impact of the Proclamation of a Dogma, any Dogma.

First: what is a “Dogma”?

The word “Dogma” we use, is a word inherited from the Greek Philosophers. A dogma for them is a universal principle which founds and justifies a specific practical conduct, and which can be formulated in one or in several propositions. A Dogma (especially amongst the Stoic Philosophers) is like a sentence of practical wisdom that one will meditate, ponder upon, and put into practice: it essentially impacts the daily life.

The use of the word “dogma” crossed from the cultural philosophical use amongst the Greeks to early Christians.

- Was that an error? Would that have meant a deviation of the right understanding of Jesus’ message?

- I am not sure it is the case. Let us have a closer look.

For early Christians (the first centuries), the “dogmas” were something very practical. It appears as well to be the same for the non-Greek christians: the Apostles themselves who were Semites.

A very early example of the implicit use of the idea of a “dogma”

See for instance how saint Matthew in his gospel presents the Trinity as a “Dogma”, i.e. as something to put into practice. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is the Great Charter (Carta Magna) of the newly baptised. Remember we are baptised (i.e. immersed) in each Person of the Trinity. In the Sermon of the Mountain, saint Matthew dedicates a section for each person of the Trinity: Mt 5:17-48 is offered to put the Son into practice, Mt 6 is to help us put the Father into practice, and Mt 7 is for us to put the Holy Spirit into practice. Each Person is a “dogmata”, not a sentence thought, but a Person in whom we are supposed to meditate upon, to enter, to be immersed in.

“Being Baptised” meant simply that the Father did Baptise (immerse) us, in the Trinity.

- How would this happen?

- For the first Generation, God the Father was considered to have like two hands: st Irenaeus says that the Son and the Holy Spirit are the Hands of the Father (remember that Irenaeus is disciple of the disciple of saint John). So “Baptism” would be seen as follows:

The Father takes us in His Hands and holds us tight: as a result we shouldn’t escape from His hands. How? But a set of practices that would help us remain immersed (baptised) in the Son, in the Father and in the Holy Spirit (in that order, see 2 Co 13:13).

To “be Baptised” for the first generation of Christians implied to put into practice the Three Divine Persons of the Trinity. The “Dogma” of the Trinity was practical and vital.

Therefore for the Catechesis of the first Christians (i.e. the Sermon of the Mountain), a whole chapter was dedicated to approach each Person of the Trinity in a practical way.

For a mnemonic reason, remember that each hand has 5 fingers, so you’ll find the 5 points (one per finger) to remember about the Son in Mt 5 and the same for the Holy Spirit: five sections in Mt 7.

Easy to count, easy to remember, easy for meditation, easy to put into practise. The whole “Greater Charter” (Carta Magna) of Christianity, i.e. the Dogma of the Trinity, is all comprised in this Sermon, the Sermon of the Mountain.

The historical background of the dogma

- Would dogmas change?

- Obviously: no.

- Would we have new dogmas?

- Obviously: no.

- So why do we have “new” dogmas?

- We don’t. We just proclaim a truth as a “dogma” when we see it, after a long development, under a clearer light. (Theological note: Even if it is the Pope who proclaims a Dogma, the proclamation is an act of all the Church, as you'll see below, the Pope makes a consultation first in order to "sense" the "feeling of the faithful". The infallibility of the Pope draws its principle from the infallibility of the Church and not vice-versa.)

I would ad to that last reply something important to my eye: a Dogma, as we just said, has a direct practical use to it. It is not “one more truth to proclaim”, it is one more thing to put into practise, one more thing we already put into practise but the use of which today is much more urgent, this is why it is underlined by the Faithful, the Church, the Pope.

- So why that urge to proclaim Mary as the “Immaculate Conception”?

- This is exactly my point: the historical context of the proclamation is very important to understand the reason and mainly its application in daily life.

Let us remember few facts that will help us situate historically the “proclamation” of the Immaculate Conception of Mary by Pope Pius IX:

Pius IXth

1- Pope Pius the IX^th is witnessing the end of the “Middle Age” political system, and the new spirit of the French Revolution invading the spirit of the Italians and most of Europe.

2- These changes are quite drastic and, with all the good will of the Pope, are seen and felt as a threat to the normal order of things.

Pellegrino Rossi

3- The Pope’s life is under serious threat. His Prime Minister, Pellegrino Rossi, has been assassinated (15^th of November 1848), the Swiss Guards are disarmed, making the Pope to a prisoner in his palace.

Then on the 24^th of November 1848, the Pope then escapes in disguise as a regular priest to Gaeta, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies leaving Rome to the radicals and the mob.

4- At Gaeta, in a very small crypt, the Pope prays during 9 months. He had a great devotion to Mary under the name of the “Immaculate Conception”. (You can visit the Church (“Santissima Annunziata”) and the crypt also called “Cappella d’Oro”)

Cappella d'Oro in Gaeta where Pius IX prayed for 9 months

It is during this time that the Pope formed the decision to start the process of consultation that will lead later to the declaration of the Dogma of the “Immaculate Conception”.  He published his Encyclical Letter, “Ubi Primum”, the 2^nd of February 1849 to the bishops of the Catholic Church asking them for opinion on the definition of a dogma on the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.

The Pope remained in Gaeta till the 4^th of September 1849.

Time of total distress

The Pope’s Prime minister is killed, his life is under threat, he has to escape, and he does it in disguise. This tells us the degree of distress the Pope is in.

It is quite obvious that the only practical help he could find was in Mary, not only that, but “Mary the Immaculate Conception”. In a situation of darkness, of total darkness, where the future of the Church is under serious threat, the traditional political order is upside down and threatened to disappear, where evil is trying to kill… the Pope turns in prayer to the Immaculate, the only Creature after Jesus that was never defeated by Evil. We can say that the Pope found the solution for his distress.

Do you see the practical, spiritual and political situation in which is born the desire to proclaim solemnly Mary as the “Immaculate Conception”?

He is in fact declaring that he found The Solution for his distress, he wants to present the solution, and he wants to say what happened to him and how she helped him.

He wants to say that this is the will of God to put in the Centre of the Church the First Sign of His Victory, the New Eve, the one that was never defeated by Evil. She is at the heart of the Church, real source and proof of Hope that God gave us.

You’ll notice that in the definition of the Immaculate Conception, it is said that this “grace”/ privilege comes directly from Jesus’s salvation, from Jesus’ Cross. I like to see Her, first Saved Person, and mother, with Him, of all the saved, I like to contemplate Her coming out of His Side, New Eve, totally pure.

The first sign of Jesus’ victory on the Cross is Mary. The prototype of all the Saved people, is Mary.

The mother and the “Mould” of all the saved, is Her as well. She generated the Head, and generates each person in the Body.

God put this Sign (the Immaculate) right in the centre of his Church. Mary is the only one who believed (see previous posts), Mary is the Prototype of Jesus’ Disciple and follower (see previous posts).

All of us, like the Pope and like that moment in the history of the Church, we reach the darkest point in our spiritual journey, and we all lift our eyes, in the darkness, to the Star of the Sea, Mary, the Only Immaculate Point in the Dark Sky, “gift of Jesus for us”, “capacity to believe” given by Him to us.

The role of Immaculate in the “Dark night of the spirit”

Now this is more technical here. According to saint John of the Cross, the “Dark night of the spirit” is the deepest and final purification the faithful should go through before reaching the “Union with Jesus” (See his book "The dark night", especially the second part). You might recognise it in the “Great trial” mentioned in the book of Revelation (Rev 9:14-17) or find it in a more plain way in: what the Apostles (or any Jesus’ follower) have to go through when Jesus is about to start his Passion: all your hopes about the Messiah-Saviour will vanish, all your life, your spiritual life seems to go and disappear in the land of oblivion.

Ven. Fr. Marie-Eugène

Now, a great catholic Master, the Venerable Fr Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus OCD (1894-1967) (his process of Beatification is on the verge of reaching completion), in his great book “I want to see God”, says that Mary plays a fundamental role in this crucial moment were everything in our “spiritual life” seem to disappear. He quotes saint Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort, saying that the presence of Mary all together 1- makes that time of deep purification lighter, more bearable, and 2- is essential for this turning point in our spiritual life (the deep purification). In fact, for the first time, we are called to make a pure act of Faith, and in order to do so, we learn to use “Mary’s faith”, or better said: we ask her to “believe for us”. In doing so, we let her grow in us, and transform our spirit at the image of hers, being now for the first time capable of “believing as she believes”.

We are then starting to follow “the only one who believed in the Resurrection”, “the one around whom the distressed apostle gathered in order to draw from her the pure faith in Jesus”.

In a way, pope Pius the IX^th is saying to us: in these great times of distress, the Church continues not with the strength of papacy, or any human strength, but through the help God put in Mary, the Immaculate. God had his victory in her, and is offering to each one of us this same Victory, by putting Mary in the centre of Jesus’ faithful. Mary said “Yes” to God in the darkest moment of history (when Jesus is dead): she believed in the Resurrection; and God gives us her “Yes” so we can use it and overcome the darkness. (Note: John-Paul II made all this very clear during his Pontificate)

Does it make more sense now to believe that Mary is Immaculate Conception? Do we see better how practical is that “dogma”?