|
This page is to give the devotees of Our Lady of Good Success the opportunity to share their daily cares and worries with other members of the Apostolate.
We hope that by praying for each other and performing this spiritual work of mercy we will obtain many graces for one another. By doing this we are imitating Mother Mariana.
The “Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple” which hangs in the Church of Nuestra Senora de Merced in Quito, Ecuador is here to the
right. St. Simeon is there with the Holy Family. Visible around the edge of this picture are the demons that fear this awesome scene. Surrounding the Holy Family, are heavenly hosts protecting them from harm and adoring the Infant Christ. Above is poised an angel with a sword ready to pierce the heart of the Blessed Mother.
The feast day of Our Lady of Good Success falls on the Feast of the Presentation, February 2nd. It is by no accident that it falls on this day. We must recall that this day in the life of the Blessed Mother was both “joyful” and “sorrowful”. Joyful in the fact that Jesus presented to the Lord and recognized by the holy priest and prophetess, Simeon and Anna, as the Savior of Israel where Simeon states “Now…my eyes have seen thy salvation…” (John 2, 30). Sorrowful in the fact that at that next moment, Mary’s heart was pierced with the sword, where Simeon prophecies, “And thy own soul a sword shall pierce…” (John 2, 35). At that moment, she was made fully aware of all of the suffering her Son was going to live through—all of the rejection, hypocrisy, blasphemy, disobedience and sacrilege that will be His to endure. If not for Divine Intervention, Mary would have died of sorrow. This sorrow was so great it was considered the first of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Mary accepted this sorrow, suffering with patience and resignation to God’s will. She understood that she had been asked to offer her sufferings along with her Son, the Messiah. All through Our Lady’s life, she shared in the sufferings and sorrows of Our Lord. She suffered with Him to save the world from eternal damnation.
Here is the correlation with the story of Mother Marianna and Our Lady at the Presentation. As Mary had been asked to suffer along with Christ in reparation for the sins of the world so too was Mother Marianna. In 1582 while praying before the Tabernacle, Our Lady of Good Success asked Mother Marianna if she was willing to suffer in reparation for the sins of the Twentieth Century. Above her head hung three swords; one for the sins of heresy, one for the sins of blasphemy and one sins for impurity—all of which would be prevalent during the Twentieth Century. As she consented, three swords pierced her heart and she fell dead to the floor. After her death, she found herself before God’s Judgment Seat. Our Lady told her that she could either stay in heaven or go back to earth to suffer for the sins of the future. Our Lady stated that it was her “desire that you imitate me and return to life”. Mother Mariana consented and returned to life.
We, too, can imitate Our Lady and Mother Marianna by offering our prayers and our daily crosses to make reparation for the sins of the present and future—to be united in prayer for each other’s intentions.
If you have a prayer request please click on “Request
Form”.
|