How to ask the Virgin for favors effectively
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His biographers tell us countless anecdotes and events related to his ardent devotion to the Virgin of Saint Anthony Mary Claret, a spiritual giant who filled the entire 19th century of the Spanish Church. Let us not forget that he is one of the greatest Marian saints who ever lived. As a child he already stood out for his love and mercy towards the Virgin. We now look at the following story collected in one of the documented biographies of him:
While still a young layman, he had to make a trip in the company of a good gentleman, who observed the clear signs of Marian devotion that the young Claret displayed both in his conversations and in his conduct.
Mr. Portellas “that was the name of the companion- admired for his piety, he spoke to him in this way: – “It seems to me, Antonio, that you are very devoted to the Virgin”.
The answer was blunt: “How not, if everything I ask of you is enough for me?”
“What do you say? Explain to me how to ask him.”
Claret answered her: “I ask her what I want with love and trust. And if I see that she does not listen to me, I go closer to her, take her by the cloak and tell her: if you do not reach me, by dint of throwing you, I will tear the cloak. And then he listens to me”. So far the anecdote narrated by the diligent biographer.
Moral: Here we have a beautiful lesson on how we should pray and plead with Mary. We are offered three essential requirements: love, trust and perseverance. This last condition fails us very often, because when we address the Virgin we want to obtain a certain favor or grace as soon as possible, and we get impatient if this does not happen. And what about love and trust, as the key to the fruit of prayer?
The Church teaches us to exercise persevering prayer and is insistently repetitive in many of her prayers. She has learned the advice of the Lord in the parable of the importunate friend (Lk 11,5-8). The Our Father, which is the quintessential Christian prayer, teaches us to pray and the order in which our petitions must follow. Jesus has strongly reminded us: “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you”. That is what the Virgin whispers to us. She never ignores our pleas and directs them towards what is truly convenient for us, if we ask for something that does not conform to divine designs.
Let us learn from Saint Anthony Mary Claret to “pull the mantle” of Mary, a beautiful metaphor that says so much to all of us. And above all let us try to enter her Immaculate Heart to hear “if possible” her sweet heartbeats. her loving and powerful intercession in all our spiritual, corporal and temporal needs. Mary will always be present with her opportune help. But let us not stop insisting on her, as the young Claret, extraordinary and exemplary devotee of Mary, did with so much love and trust.
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