PODCAST | The Diamonds in Our Lady’s Crown:The Beauty of Our Prayers and Sacrifices

[ View Transcript ]

In this meditation, Fr. Leo Austin reflects on how Our Lady opens our hearts to giving ourselves as a ransom for many, as we say in the Mass when we receive the Eucharist. To be a ransom for many, as she teaches us, means desiring to make ourselves humble instruments of God.

Drawing on the scene of the ten lepers in St. Luke’s Gospel, Fr. Leo reminds us that when we are confronted with the healing power of God’s grace, whether we feel worthy or not, all of us have the possibility of giving ourselves to make an encounter between people and God possible. Our Lord takes everything we offer him and exchanges our life and our pain for the needs and sufferings of others. And only in Heaven we will see the results of our actions and prayers.

Through entrusting our prayer, our sacrifices, and the desires of our heart to Our Lady, we can be sure of them having a positive impact on those around us and create a beautiful crown of the Church adorned with our prayers and sacrifices.

“Allow your soul to be consumed by desires — desires for loving, for being forgotten, for holiness, for Heaven. Do not stop to wonder whether the time will come to see them accomplished… Make them more fervent every day, for the Holy Spirit says that he is pleased with men of desires. Let your desires be operative and put them into practice in your daily tasks” (St. Josemaria Escriva; Furrow, no. 628).

Image: Virgen de las Cuevas by Francisco de Zurbarán via WikiMedia Commons