Wearing the Veil~a Spiritual Journey with Our Lady (part 6)

"Do whatever he tells you."  John 2:5 This is one of my favorite Scripture verses. I can't tell you how often I have pondered it, and even repeated it in my head while I go about my day. I am a very simple person, and I have always needed simple step by step directions when learning something. So as far as I am concerned, this one sentence that Our Blessed Mother Mary spoke is the the simplest and most direct, from the one person (after Our Lord himself) most qualified to give spiritual guidance. When I place the veil on my head, it also makes me feel like I am placing myself under the direction of Mary. It makes me want to be like her, and learn from her how to love Jesus and others. I know that it won't happen overnight, but in little ways each day I sense her directing me. "Get up to pray." "Do this now." "Go and visit this person." "Go and help this person." "Keep quiet and listen." "Offer up this thing you dislike." "Give some encouragement." "Do your best at this task." "Give thanks to Jesus for this. He arranged it." "Be very patient." "Do this instead of what you planned to do." "Accept this as God's will for you."  "Stay awhile with Jesus." Little by little her direction is forming me in the Will of the Father for my life, because all of these things are His will for me in the present moment. Wearing the veil makes me more aware of obedience. Holy Scripture, the Commandments and the teachings of the Catholic Church are very important to me because obedience is a primary way that I tell the Lord that I love Him, and trust that He knows what is best for me. Traced back to Jesus, with over two thousand years of an unbroken succession of apostles (popes), never a change in her teaching of the faith and morals (because God's truths never change!), and with the promise that the Holy Spirit would guide her to all Truth, countless Saints have stood by and even died for their faith in Jesus and His Church! And some people think that those who follow these are just blindly following some arbitrary rules because they are weak and foolish?? This couldn't be further from the truth, and I feel sorry for them that they do not see, but it actually takes great courage, strength, and humility to not blindly follow your own "truth"! And if you read the lives of these Saints you will see what God did in each of them, and the profound things He accomplished through them, as they let go of their own will to follow His will for their lives. Their stories are incredible! It is not blind or foolish to trust the One who is the only One we can really place all our trust in! It is not blind or foolish because once you take that small step in faith to know Him, and love Him, then He makes Himself known and shows His love to you even more. Then you see! If someone has not experienced this, then I can only guess that either he has not yet reached out to Him in trust and faith, in love and with a sincere heart, or the Lord is waiting for the right time to reveal Himself, but this would be more rare I think, because He is so anxious to reveal more of Himself and His love to us...so very anxious! Prayer with faith and trust is the key to a relationship with God, and to understanding spiritual things. It is no coincidence that God's love for us has similarities of a parent's love for a child. When your child is a tiny infant, you love and care for him with great tenderness, taking care of all his needs, making sacrifices of yourself to care for him, but the infant has not come into full awareness and reason yet, and so does not really "know" you. You would love and care for him even if he never reached full awareness, but every parent can tell you what a great joy it is when you look into your baby's face and you know that he knows you! He begins to respond to you, smile at you, cooing and making noises, and each day as the baby grows, so does your relationship. Each day of "loving" each other makes the bond closer, and soon the child is loving you too with words, and affection, and deeds. It is the same with us and God. He is the parent, the Father, who loves and provides for us no matter what, but waits for us to come into our "awareness" of Him, and then to "respond" to Him, and we do this with prayer. It doesn't matter if we know any prayers, or if we  are unsure if we know how to pray because all it takes is a surge from the heart, a look of affection toward God, and He melts, just like a father or mother does when they see that look of affection from their baby. May the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be glorified in all places through the Immaculate Virgin Mary.