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!
