Thursday, August 22, 2013

Turtledoves of Prayer

Happy Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary!  



In honor of Our Lady on her special day please enjoy the article I wrote for the August 2013 Roses for Our Lady newsletter.



Turtledoves of Prayer

“When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord… and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” ~ Luke 2:22-24


Whenever I pray the fourth joyful mystery of the rosary, the Presentation, I am usually struck by Simeon’s words to Mary regarding the sword that would pierce her heart, and I focus on that in my prayer.  But recently, that pair of turtledoves has been capturing my attention.  The turtledoves, a humble gift from the Blessed Mother, given from her poverty in joyful obedience to the law, represented a sacrificial offering.

Like our Mother Mary, we also have a humble gift to offer; the gift of our prayer.  Our prayer often stems from our poverty, as well, for aren’t we all poor when it comes to prayer?  We pray imperfectly, with distractions, much talking and little listening, often grudgingly giving of our time for the Lord.

But when we present our prayer to Mary, giving our petitions of need and sorrow, our words of gratitude and praise, and our promises of love within the Hail Mary, the Salve Regina or the Memorare, she takes that offering, like a lowly turtledove, and gives it to God for us.  Her love adds strength to our prayer causing the Lord’s heart to bend with favor toward us.

May we never fail to continually present our turtledoves of prayer to the Blessed Mother, asking her to offer them to Jesus on our behalf.  Please join Roses for Our Lady at our monthly holy hour for vocations on a regular basis.  Our united turtledoves of prayer can do so much good in our Archdiocese!  I look forward to praying with you!

2 comments:

  1. This is beautiful Anne! "Our turtledoves of prayer" will remain with me and in my prayer life. Thank you, thank you for this amazing post for our Blessed Mother who offers all our poverty to her Glorious Son. God Bless you and your family...

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  2. This is so beautiful Anne. I can relate to the distraction in prayer much to often, and to the humble prayer not as often as should. Like M-EM, "Our turtledoves" of prayer will stick with me too. Thank you.

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