Our Lady has asked the following of God's children:
1. Prayer - every time Our Lady appeared she asked that we pray daily. Not just any prayer...the Holy Rosary. Now, as a Catholic we all see them, we can pray with them, but can we really pray with them? Do we know how to focus that prayer? Feel the beads within your hands and let the rest of the world fall a way for a time?
Adapt to life:
I do prefer physical beads, but I will say that the download of Laudate has taught my own children how to maintain the prayer easily. Teach our children to pray from an early age, include them in your daily Rosary. Children mimic what they see. If they see you obeying God, they, too, will obey. If they see you praying, and see you reaping the rewards of that, they will pray too.
2. Reparations - to old school Catholics this is called Penance (ok...to all of us, but reparation sounds way less scary). We are called to confess our sins and leave them behind for eternity. You may want to do more than just "confess" your sins. God grants us mercy without asking...perhaps we should use that and be sure we do ask. Then it will be known to Him that we want His will to be done through us. A simple Act of Contrition is not the answer here. We must be truly sorry, we must mean it when we ask forgiveness of our Lord.
Adapt to life:
Ask for forgiveness regularly. Forgive regularly. Now, forgiveness is not the same as allowing people to walk on you, but that is a whole different blog post. Let your child see you begging God to forgive your transgressions. Let them see you put those sins in the past and no longer committing them. Our children will more readily ask for forgiveness if it does not seem shameful to do so.
3. Consecration - pay attention here...this matters: Consecration makes things holy. If we consecrate our lives to the Holy Mother, then we are opening them up to Jesus. We are consecrating our lives and hearts to Christ through the Holy Mother. This is important!!! By consecrating ourselves to Mary we are making ourselves holy for God. For His glory and happiness. We are called to have a fire within our souls for Jesus and Mary.
Adapt to life:
It seems like so much to live up to...lucky for us, we only have to desire and ask. When you truly desire and ask something of God, he responds somehow. I cannot fully tell you how to incorporate this into your life, but I can tell you a great book to assist you in doing this would be 33 Days to Morning Glory. I used it as a personal retreat and it has done wonders in my life.
Rosary - Pray this daily with an examination of conscience...then consecrate yourself to God and the Holy Mother.
Make the Sign of the Cross
Holding the Crucifix, say the Apostles' Creed
On the first bead, say anOur Father
Say three Hail Marys on each of the next three beads
Say the Glory Be
For each of the five decades, announce the Mystery (perhaps followed by a brief reading
from Scripture) then say the Our Father
While fingering each of the ten beads of the decade, next say ten Hail Marys while
meditating on the Mystery. Then say a Glory Be (After finishing each decade, some say the
following prayer requested by the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima: O my Jesus, forgive us
our sins, save us from the fires of hell; lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who have
most need of your mercy.
After saying the five decades, say the Hail, Holy Queen
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