In the Way of Mary
A Companion on the Journey
Reflection 2
Communicate
Communicate with your family or community abou this prayer. Let them know this is happening and they are invited. Set up a space. Advise them ahead of time what you are doing together. Assign before you start what people will read.
Assign
Assign before you start what people will read.
1 Reader - Read the Gospel passage
3 Readers - Read one story each
1 Reader - Read the Gospel passage a second time
1 Reader - Read the Gospel passage a third time
1 Reader - Read the Gospel passage a fourth time
As we ring our bell
Or light our candle
We pray that God is with us.
Sign of the Cross
In the Name of the Father,
And of the Son,
And of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Reading the Gospel Passage
"The angel said to her:
Rejoice so highly favoured! The Lord is with you''
(Luke 1 : 28)
Listening to 3 stories
Listen to these stories carefully…
Story 1
"Mary was so highly favoured by God. God calls us in a similar way. Not just liked or known or important to God but "HIGHLY FAVOURED". Meaning: someone esteemed by God, treated with honour. Even though we feel ordinary, that is not how God looks at us! "The Lord is with you" - what Important people we must be. what special lives we must live, remembering that we are only highly favoured because the Lord has made us this way.
Story 1
No wonder the Lord rejoices in us. if we have him in our hearts, lives and actions. Our important challenge is to believe in our own goodness and live with God as the centre of our lives. Our God made us. called us, lives in us, made us exactly as He wanted and rejoices in us. No wonder we are so highly favoured We must respond in belief of our goodness and His presence in us."
Story 2
"I know that my life is totally surrounded and immersed in God's goodness and love. but when faced with the banalities of life I tend to react as though this is not the case. In Mary I see a woman in whose life there is no conflict between theory and reality. Her words bear testimony to this:
Story 2
: "And Mary said. 'My soul magnifies the Lord. and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant ... for the mighty one has done great things for me."' Lk l : 46). I therefore pray for the grace to be completely open to the promptings of the Spirit in the knowledge that I too am highly favoured and that the Lord really does live in me and I in him."
Story 3
In our highly individualised world, we often get caught up in our own self. When have I felt joy? But, this passage in the joy of another. The angel rejoices in Mary. As a parent, the greatest moment of joy is sometimes at the birth of a child. Going through the hardship, many months in pain, and finally the climax of birthing pain, the first moments with that new little person is of pure joy. You are meeting a new person. This joy will be soon shared with friends and family.
Story 3
So it is not just parents who share this joy, but friends and wider family too. Joy overflows. The thoughts of struggle, pain and messy nappies and emotional tantrums evaporate in pure joy. Joy often comes after much struggle. But here the angel expressed joy, before the struggle. The Lord is with her. Which raises the question, when has the Lord been with you. Often when Marists come together for a celebration like Fourviere in July, there is great joy in the room.
Story 3
It is like joy is overflowing and being poured out. The community brings together like minded people who share in Mary’s spirit. This sense of Spirit is contagious. You need to taste and experience this Marist spirit. Hospitality. A sense of fun and humor. Spontaneity. A desire to seek justice. This is often why many Marists are initially draw to the charism. Both the invitation of the other to the Marist charism and the sense of something new brings a sense of joy into our lives.
Sharing an image or a word
Share any words or images that stood out for them in the readings…
What meaning does it hold for you.
Re-Read the Gospel Passage a second time
"The angel said to her:
Rejoice so highly favoured! The Lord is with you''
(Luke 1 : 28)
Sharing connection to life
Take one or two of the reflections just read.
What feelings rise in you as you read the reflections? How does it connect to your life?
Re-Read the Gospel Passage a third time
"The angel said to her:
Rejoice so highly favoured! The Lord is with you''
(Luke 1 : 28)
Respond in prayer
Does the passage call you to respond in prayer? What prayers does this invoke in you?
Psalm 139
Recite the Psalm together
one side at a time.
Blue then red
Psalm 139
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Psalm 139
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Psalm 139
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Psalm 139
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night’,
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Psalm 139
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
Psalm 139
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
Psalm 139
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.
Hail Mary
Hail Mary
Hail Mary, Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
Reflect, Ponder and Live
Ask Mary to teach you a deeper understanding of how to follow Jesus more closely by living out this Gospel passage in the way of Mary.
Re-Read the Gospel Passage a fourth time
"The angel said to her:
Rejoice so highly favoured! The Lord is with you''
(Luke 1 : 28)
Sign of the Cross
In the Name of the Father,
And of the Son,
And of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
As we ring our bell
Or light our candle
We pray that God is with us.
In the Way of Mary
A Companion on the Journey
Reflection 2