We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not too distant future, trials that will require us to be ready to give up our lives..."¹ 

Mary said, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For He has looked with favor on his lowly servant; From this day all generations will call me blessed.  The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name."  (Lk 1: 46-49)

         Mary's magnificent hymn of praise, the Magnificat, gives us a view into her heart and soul.  We see her obedience, her faith, and her total love for the living God.  As she sings her canticle, she looks back through the ages at God's faithfulness to his people; she looks at all the wondrous things he has done and then sees how she is part of his plan; she realizes in a new way his overwhelming love for her as he chooses her to receive his greatest gift - to bring God's promised Messiah into the world.  And the only thing she can offer him in return is a heart overflowing with thankfulness and praise.  Mary, our Mother, wants to teach us to love and praise God as she does: with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Let us learn from her as we look back and reflect upon the time just prior to her singing her beautiful song of praise.

          In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph of the house of David.  The virgin's name was Mary.  (Lk 1: 26-27)

The beautiful narrative of the Annunciation as told in the first chapter of Luke's Gospel tells of the angel Gabriel sent from God to invite his highly favored daughter, Mary, to become the mother of the Redeemer.  This ordinary woman, extraordinarily graced by God from the moment of her conception, was told she would conceive and bear a son and name him Jesus.  "How can this be...?" she asked.  The angel told her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God."  Mary placed her life at the disposal of his plan and said, "I am the servant of the Lord, let it be done according to your word.  [As a side note - I love the title with which Mary identified herself - servant.  In Greek this word is δούλη (doulē), which means a female slave, a servant of servants, the lowest level of servitude.]  Her surrender to the Lord was total.

          This overshadowing of the Holy Spirit must have been the most incredible experience of union with God ever.  I imagine she would have wanted to savor this moment for a good period of time.  Yet Luke tells us "in those days" Mary set out in haste to visit her kinswoman, Elizabeth, whom the angel said was with child in her old age "for nothing is impossible with God." In faith, Mary began this arduous journey of nearly one hundred miles, which must have taken several days, to the hill country to a town of Judah. She went on the wings of the Holy Spirit to love and serve her aged cousin.  Pope Benedict said this was the first eucharistic procession.  One may also say that she was the first bearer of the good news of our salvation.  When Mary entered Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth, the child within Elizabeth's womb leapt; "Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out in a loud voice, 'Blest are you among women and blest is the fruit of your womb.  But who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?'"

     Because there were no easy forms of communication over distances at that period of time, the sight of Elizabeth, great with child, must have filled Mary's heart with joy.  This was indeed confirmation of what the angel had told her about her cousin.  How good it is for all of us to have a confirmation of what God has spoken quietly to our heart.  It was not possible for Elizabeth to know through human eyes that Mary was pregnant.  It was only by the revelation of the Holy Spirit that she knew Mary was bearing the Son of God.  The exuberant joy of these two women must have filled that little home.  I can only describe this moment as an explosion of grace.  Mary, filled to overflowing with love and gratitude and joy, sang her Magnificat with great exultation.  When she said, "my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior," the Greek word "rejoice" translates to jubilee joy - to jump or leap in great jubilation.  She marvels at the faithfulness and mercy of God in redeeming the human race and with all humility acknowledges that the Almighty has done great things for her. She gives him the glory, taking none for herself.

          The town where this event took place is called Ein Karim, which means "Garden Fountain" or "Vineyard Fountain."  In visiting that little home in the Holy Land, one can see a well inside with the water flowing down into a fountain in the little village just below the shrine.  It is called Mary's Spring.  When Mary visited Elizabeth, a little spring burst forth, as often happens in places of her visitations.  Water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.  Wherever she goes, the Holy Spirit is there as well.  The following passage describes Ein Karim to me.

  "You are an enclosed garden, my sister, my bride,

             an enclosed garden, a fountain sealed.

   You are a park that puts forth pomegranates,    

             with all choice fruits;

   Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,

             with all kinds of incense;

   Myrrh and aloes,

             with all the finest spices.

   You are a garden fountain, a well of water

             flowing fresh from Lebanon.

   Arise, north wind! Come, south wind!

             blow upon my garden

             that its perfumes may spread abroad.

                                            (Song 4: 12-16)

       Magnificat, A Ministry to Catholic Women, is a work of which I have been privileged to be a part since its beginning on the Feast of the Holy Rosary, October 7,1981.  

         Magnificat takes its inspiration from the Visitation, and before we had ever heard of Ein Karim, the Lord inspired us with this passage from Scripture.  We are women whose lives have been transformed through God's mercy by "the love God poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Rom 5: 5).  We have experienced a taste of the joy these two women, Mary and Elizabeth, shared as they came together.  Through the grace and mercy of God, the Holy Spirit, given to us in baptism and confirmation, has been stirred and fanned into a flame (2 Tm 1: 6), making us new creations in Christ.  This personal encounter with the risen Christ has impelled us to go and tell the good news to our sisters in Christ, to evangelize and foster spiritual growth in women all over the world.

          Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, in speaking to the Curia at the end of 2007 identified a crucial need in the Church: to evangelize.  He also stated that the Gospel cannot be implemented without a personal encounter with Christ.  He said further, "Whoever has recognized a great truth, whoever has found a great joy should transmit it.  He cannot keep it to himself."

          John Paul II told us (Rimini, Italy, April 2001) that Mary is the privileged and sure means for encountering the Lord: "It is she who prepares us to welcome His Word and makes us persevering in prayer, in the expectation of the Spirit who inflames our hearts and leads us to put out into the deep with courage, toward the goals that the Lord is indicating."

          As a mother, I care deeply about the spiritual well-being of my children. I have learned that Mary, my heavenly Mother, cares much more about my spiritual growth.  Time and again I have asked Mary to help me pray, to prepare my heart to receive the Eucharist, to assist me in my ordinary duties, etc., and she has more than answered my prayer.  In the Apostles' Creed, we say Jesus "was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary."  This is also true in our lives.  Mary was there at Cana interceding with Jesus: "They have no more wine."  One interpretation is the "wine" of the Holy Spirit.  She was present at Pentecost, praying with the apostles and disciples for the coming of the Spirit.  (When the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them, the joy of those receiving the Spirit was so profound that some bystanders scoffed, "They have had too much new wine.")

          Father Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household and a regular contributor to the Magnificat publication, said in one of his Advent homilies in 2007 that "all prayers and hymns to the Holy Spirit begin with "Come!"  This means that the Spirit is something that we have received and that we must receive again and again."  The "Spirit who interiorly transforms us, gives us a taste of  the praise of God, opens our mind to the understanding of the Scriptures, teaches us to proclaim Jesus 'Lord' and gives us the courage to assume new and difficult tasks in the service of God and neighbor."  Mary, spouse of the Holy Spirit, teaches us openness and docility to the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives.

          Mary's life was filled with unexpected twists and turns, joys and sorrows.  She  embraced each day and situation with total submission to the will of God.  "I am the servant of the Lord, let it be done according to your word."  Father Romanus Cessario says it best in his exquisite meditations in the 2008 Holy Week edition of Magnificat, "The Via Matris: The Way of Our Sorrowful Mother." Father Cessario writes that "although Mary was conceived immaculately she did not refuse to embrace the sorrows that she endured for the Lord's sake... Her 'Fiat,' her prayer of submission to the divine plan, commits Mary to cooperating with her Son as he wins the world's salvation.  The sorrows of Mary are meant to provide a source of encouragement for Christian believers.  What the Mother of God experienced in faith becomes both a model and a support for us."  She truly is the Woman of the Way and the Help of Christians.  So often I have turned to her and meditated on her trials in life and been strengthened.  How many of us, as parents, have had concerns for our children and grandchildren, and have entrusted them to her to watch over them. Mary is the first and foremost disciple, with virtues for all to emulate!

          Saint Augustine tells us that we cannot be exempt from trials but that we progress through means of them. In the ministry of Magnificat we have received strength and inspiration from hearing the testimonies of so many women who have endured great obstacles and difficulties, have overcome them, and have grown spiritually through the power of the Holy Spirit and Mary's help.  As Mary endured the depths of sorrow, she received the heights of joy and praise. Reflecting on her many trials gives us strength to endure and to grow in our own gratitude to God.

          This year marks the twentieth anniversary of John Paul II's Apostolic Letter On the Dignity and Vocation of Women.  The introduction opens with an excerpt from a prophetic message to women given at the close of the Second Vatican Council, December 8, 1965.

          "The hour is coming, in fact has already come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, effect, and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at this moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with the Spirit of the Gospel can do much to aid mankind in not falling..."      The word "imbued" means to soak, to saturate as if one were dyeing a garment.  God's plan for us is to be saturated with his Holy Spirit - as Mary is.  

          Women have been given by God great power to influence for good or for evil.  We see this in the Scriptures and in our society and culture today. The late Archbishop Sheen said that "woman is the measure of the level of our civilization." As go women, morally, so goes the culture.  She is a standard bearer. As we see the moral decline in our culture today, we also see that godly women can make a difference in influencing our culture for good. I have witnessed that when a woman surrenders her heart to the Lord and his purposes for her life, dramatic changes often happen within her family and sphere of activities.

          In John Paul II's Apostolic Letter on women he wrote, "in order to intervene in the history of his people, God addresses himself to women..."  And also, "In the Spirit of Christ... women can discover the entire meaning of their femininity and thus be disposed to making a 'sincere gift of self' to others thereby finding themselves." 

          I believe God is speaking this message to the hearts of women all over this world.  Let us pray that we respond in this critical hour.  I believe it is only through the grace of God in the power of his Spirit that we as women can pull down the strongholds that allure us to seek ourselves in following the ways of the world. Jesus said, "Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Mt 10: 39). I like to think of this passage in this way: in seeking ourselves we lose our selves, but in losing ourselves in Christ we discover who we are. It is only in Christ that we can find our true identity and fulfillment. "Self-help" programs apart from Christ, striving to have the perfect body or to rise on the corporate ladder, will never gain for us true peace. Our position or beauty, etc., is not our worth; it is only Christ and his plans for us that will bring true happiness.

                                      read more 

State of The World 

by Marilyn Heap

It is no secret that we live in troubled and confusing times. At the heart of some of this confusion is the issue of government versus religion. As Christians we must be aware of what is happening in our country that appears to have only political implications. Yes, the dismantling of our system of government is being done very successfully. But ... this has only been able to be accomplished because our Judeo-Christian morality has been systematically dismantled paving the way for destroying our government as we know it. 

The moral criteria by which we as Christians live is no longer the standard upon which our laws are based. We are no longer a Christian society, but an amoral, secular one that says what is good is bad, and what is bad is good. Our laws are now interpreted from this amoral point of view, not from a framework of Judeo-Christian morality. We must now learn how to live in this corrupt climate without betraying our moral code that is TRUTH and not some foggy, outmoded way of approaching life. This will be very difficult and we must be prepared to meet the challenge.

To see what Sacred Scripture says and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches on some of the subjects mentioned in paragraph 2 above, refer to the following:                          Matthew 19:3-9,  1 Corinthians 6:10, 1 Timothy 1:10 CCC #'s  1852, 2257, 2259, 2270, 2271, 2348, 2350,  2353,  2366,  2370,  2378,  2384  and  2385

                                      top  

Conway, Arkansas Chapter Has First Meal

By Debbie Eckert 

Coordinator of Conway, Arkansas Chapter

Debbie Eckert- Coordinator

"We are women, women of faith. United in God's love, sisters in grace. Looking to Jesus to lead us each day. We are women, women of faith! The words of this song rang true to the hearts of the newly- formed,  "Jesus, Bread of Life" Chapter in Conway, Arkansas.

September 28, was our birthday and we were covered in the love of Jesus and Mary. We served 215 women, representing 21 communities and even some from other faith traditions. This was truly a work of the Holy Spirit since we are only 5 % Catholic in our state.

The journey seemed long to us getting to that first meal, but the wisdom of those who have gone before us was a key element in the success of our first Breakfast. A funny story that was a gift and word of the Holy Spirit was a trip that our service team took to our Mother Chapter's Meal. 

As we traveled in the car 3 hours to Cherokee Village, we were laughing, sharing and meeting as we drove. The more we talked, the faster I drove...unaware of the speed limit. I was pulled over for speeding! The best part was I did not get a ticket. The officer was merciful and told us to SLOW DOWN! This was a word from the Holy Spirit...Slow Down...you will get established, just take your time. I include this to encourage those in formation ...take your time, it will happen.

Thanks to you who intercede regularly for Magnificat. Your prayers are jewels in the treasure chest of each chapter. One last question?? Do we really have to wait until September of 2015 to attend the next Int'l Leaders' Conference? We can't wait to connect with our sisters again. The conference is awesome!! If you have never been, save your money, it is well worth it!

Left to right: Doris Williams, Treasurer, Lib Harrison, Historian, Sarah Thornton, Secretary , Aggie Neck, Speaker