I am embarrassed to admit that I am continuing to learn to shed my perfectionistic, high expectations, Type A+, people pleasing, trying to fit everything in the day (and then don’t know why I’m exhausted) tendencies. The hard part about this is that it has led me to overanalyze everything, consider how things could have gone better, and unfortunately become critical of myself and others. Some of this is specific to my upbringing and cultural norms, but nonetheless, here I am near the end of my thirties and I am in great need of training my brain to think differently and changing my habits to act more lovingly.
Although I have always felt like a mama’s girl, I can’t say that I have always lived in accordance with the ten virtues that Saint Louis de Montfort has explained that our Blessed Mother has modeled for us, and that help us pursue a fuller and holier life here on earth.
Visiting Mary's Home
The new Blessed Conversations study Home is all about Mary’s virtues, and they are presented in a way that makes it easy for us to put them into practice.
When I picked up Home it was hard for me not to binge read it. The stories, narrations, illustrations, and journaling prompts felt like a fresh-baked loaf of bread straight out of the oven that I couldn’t wait to taste. While it was hard to stop myself from devouring this new study in one sitting, I am so glad I did because every section can be truly savored.
This book is not meant to lead you to judge yourself and examine how you come up short, but is designed to show you how Mary’s heart is open and waiting for yours. Through it she speaks to us in a way that only a mother can influence her child. With a sweet, calming voice that evokes confidence, wisdom, charity, and not a “be like me” attitude but more of an “imitate me because I want to lead you to Love Himself” invitation.
Learning Mary's Virtues
She invites us to share in these virtues with her:
- Angelic Sweetness
- Ardent Charity
- Blind Obedience
- Constant Mental Prayer
- Divine Purity
- Divine Wisdom
- Heroic Patience
- Lively Faith
- Profound Humility
- Universal Mortification
When you consider the ten virtues of Mary, they may appear intimidating, feel like they are for “holier people,” or that these virtues will be impossible to apply to daily life. But who is a better person to lead us to the Heart of her Son than our Blessed Mother?
She is the ever-gentle hand on our shoulder that guides us to her Son, and she does this through these virtues. She doesn’t leave us alone to figure out what makes us uniquely feminine and how it fits into our spiritual life.
While we journey through these virtues as a community, we can ask our Blessed Mother to help us with one or all of the virtues. Unlike earthly expectations, our Blessed Mother doesn’t have any. The ways in which we measure ourselves aren’t how we are seen by our Mom.
Growing in Grace and Virtue
Summer allows for an invitation to slow down and enter more deeply into areas of our lives that need to be prayed into. Our summer prayer goals could include something we are working on from Lent, a new habit of prayer such as reading the Bible, waking up early to attend daily Mass, increasing our effort to receive the Sacrament of Confession more often, or learning to imitate the virtues of our Blessed Mother.
Just imagine if we could help each other cultivate these virtues, if we could change the way in which we see ourselves and treat others. It may not be immediate (as nothing ever is in the spiritual life), but just like exercising, the more we train, the more we show up, the attention we give to following these virtues will begin to take root over time. Surely, if we all work to bring these virtues into our homes, churches, workplaces, and communities, we will see the effects in ways we could never imagine.
These virtues—both those that we receive through the help of grace and those we form through the hard work of repetitive habits—help us live more fully in God’s Kingdom here on earth.
Cultivating a Personal Relationship with Mary
Like a loving mother who sews an heirloom blanket for her daughter, adding the most beautiful border and personalized intricate details, that is what our Blessed Mother does for us, individualizing her virtues to our unique personalities and vocations as when we imitate her virtues. We follow the pattern that Mary has modeled for us so we can grow closer to her Son.
She doesn't hold on to this heirloom blanket for just one daughter. But she hands down this way of living as a daughter of God to all of us because that is the heart of a good mother, and she offers us her maternal heart (no strings attached) if we accept it.
This summer let’s enter into the home of our mother and allow her to teach us her virtuous ways, and regain our desire to be holy Catholic women.
Mytae Carrasco Wallace is Las Vegas born and raised and holds a Masters in Public Administration. She and her husband have the privilege of leading Pre-Cana retreats for their home parish. On the daily you can find her raising her three kiddos, choreographing dance moves to entertain her children, and doing her own version of carpool karaoke. She was a contributing author to All She Had. Find out more about her here. Mytae es creada y nacida en Las Vegas, NV. Tiene su Maestría en Administración Pública. Ella y su esposo tienen el privilegio de dirigir los retiros de Pre-Cana para su parroquia. Diariamente puedes encontrarla criando a sus tres hijos, coreografiando movimientos de baile para entretener a sus hijos y cantando su propia versión de karaoke en el carro. Fue autora contribuyente de All She Had. Conozca la mejor aquí..
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