Remember that you are Dust

From Mary of Nazareth, A Moment with Mary.


Mary, Our Loving Mother.

One evening I was on the sun deck getting ready to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. Before beginning prayer, I like to take a few minutes to consider what I'm about to do. I look at creation around me, seeing the wonder and beauty of it all, realizing that all of this was made for me. And here I am in my little corner of God's Kingdom, about to thank Him for His love and His blessings.

If I could just be like our Mother Mary... If I could pray like her and be like her. I wanted to be like her in her relationship with our dear Lord. Because she was "one of us," I felt that we could discuss this together as mother and child. So, I turned to our dear Mother Mary, present in the Word within me, without whom nothing was made (cf. Jn 1:3).

In my spirit, focusing on her I said: "Mother, what could I do to be more like you? You're so modest, humble, and conscious of God's love for you. You're generous, patient and are truly in love with our blessed Jesus, your Child and your God."

"Look at the moon," I heard her say in my heart. "What is it made of?" The outline of the moon was quite visible in the early evening sky. "Dust," I answered. I remembered the astronauts landing on the moon and seeing all the dust there.

"Where does it get its light then, which it reflects so brightly in the darkness of the night?" she asked. "From the sun," I replied. "If you wish to be like me, remember that you are dust and in the dark night of this world, your Light comes from the Son of God," she said. Aren't these the words of a Queen? Aren't these the words of a Mother? See how close she and Heaven are to our spirit? If I want to be like Mother Mary, I must remember that I am dust, that this dark world has its own gods, that Jesus is my Light, that Jesus is the true God, that He made me God's child. Without Jesus, our spirit lives in darkness, such a terrible darkness we cannot even know who we are.

Excerpt from "Bless the Lord My Soul" by Deacon Raymond,
Archdiocese of Ottawa, Ontario Canada.