An enterprising young Catholic who has started his own consultation firm shares the unexpected ways in which God entered his life more and more deeply.
To be frank, I cannot really tell about how I meet God without first telling about how I meet the Mother of God.
So, what I am going to do is to break this up into two headings.
HOW I MEET THE MOTHER OF GOD
Our sweet Virgin Mary, Lady of Light, pray for us.
I was brought up in a Catholic family and led a normal Catholic life, like going to church and praying here and there. But I disliked saying the rosary. Neither did I pray to our Blessed Mother, just like our Protestant brothers and sisters. I would usually come home after the family rosary was over.
Years passed. Before I began my MBA. I went for a retreat at the Divine Retreat Centre—one of my first “stay in” retreats. The retreat went ok. During the counselling session nothing of the sort which people usually expect—like the counsellor telling me something about my life which no one else knew—happened to me. In fact, I found the session so boring I just wanted to get up and go. The counsellor was a very elderly priest and he was just casually asking how I am and what I am doing and the usual routine questions. He had neither visions nor prophecies. But at the end of the counselling he held out his rosary and gave it to me. I took it and left.
The retreat got over and I started my MBA. I kept the rosary the priest had given me in a corner of the room, but never used it for prayer. Then, one fine day, I took out the rosary and started saying it by myself. From that day, something unexpected happened to me.
I started to notice that things were different on the days I prayed the rosary and the days on which I didn’t. Every time I continued to say the rosary my spiritual life used to grow; I could face troubles in a better way; I could fight temptations much more easily. But the days I didn’t pray turned out to be very different. So, I started to say the rosary every day and more frequently. I started to see with crystal clear certainty the power and influence the rosary had in my life.
From then until today I haven’t missed saying at least one mystery of the rosary every day of my life, even if it was the most tiring day or the day when my mom passed away or the busiest day of my life. I have never let go of the rosary of our Mother. I started to propagate this devotion as well.
Before I move to the next part I will share some insights I have gained about the rosary.
What makes this prayer so powerful?
The angel said, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Since Gabriel was sent by God, these were the Father’s words. Just imagine! If God so honoured Mary, how much more should we honour her! Nowhere else in the Bible do we see God honouring a creature to this extent.
“Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb,” Elizabeth, filled with the Holy spirit, spoke these words; so they were the Spirit’s words.
And, finally, the fruit of Mary’s womb, JESUS.
So the whole Trinity is involved in this prayer, where we pray along with Mary, thus making it so powerful that the devils have an overwhelming fear of the rosary. St. Bernard says that the Angelic Salutation puts them to flight and makes all hell tremble.
I personally believe that each time we honour the Blessed Mother she directs all those praises to the Lord at least tenfold, as when Elizabeth says, “Blessed are you among women.” Mary just doesn’t hear it and fly to the seventh heaven. No! She immediately gives praise to the Lord as in the Magnificat and lowers herself. Speaking of magnifying, Archbishop Fulton J. sheen once referred to our Blessed Mother as being like “a magnifying glass that intensifies our love of her son.”
The rosary is made up of two things: mental prayer and vocal prayer. In the rosary, mental prayer is none other than meditation of the chief mysteries of the life, death and glory of Jesus Christ and of his blessed Mother. The rosary said without the meditation on the sacred mysteries of our salvation would almost be a body without a soul.
Misconceptions
A lot of people think that Catholics worship Mary. Many people have told me so. So, this point must be made clear: We do not worship Mary. We worship and adore only God. We ask Mary to pray “FOR” us, just as we ask a friend to pray for us when we face a tough situation.
Both Catholics and Non-Catholics go in pilgrimage to Jerusalem as it is considered the most holy place where Jesus walked. If the land where Jesus walked is holy, how much more is the Womb that bore Him. If we forget this, we miss out on the importance of the Mother in our lives.
My favourite quote
Saint Louis De Montfort used to say: “If you say the rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins, you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory.” Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul, if – and mark well what I say – if you say the rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins.
HOW I MEET GOD
When I got the first part of this story right in my life, the second part started falling in place much quicker and with greater ease. After meeting the Mother, she introduced me to the Trinity in a much closer and more lasting manner than I had ever felt before meeting the Mother. The Trinity gets automatically attracted to a person who is closer to the Mother than a person who is not. This is what I learned from my life. Before I just used to have a superficial relation with Jesus, but now I have a much better relationship with the Triune God. I started to develop a great love for the Catholic Church. I started to get the grace to receive the Eucharist daily, go frequently for confession, read the Word of God daily, do my personal prayer in a much better manner.
I don’t say that all this happened overnight. No! This change came about slowly and steadily. The Mother started to teach me everything with great clarity that would last me a lifetime. I am not saying that I am perfect. I am totally imperfect, but, each time my imperfections pop out, I make an effort to at least try to correct it, since the Mother just can’t let go of me and I can never thank the Mother enough for all the graces she got for me through her intercession. So, if you really, truly want to fall in love with the Trinity, catch hold of the MOTHER.
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