Invitation to work.

Apostle of Nations – St. Paul wrote: “He who does not want to work, let him not eat” (2 Thessal 3,10). It is known that Indian sages forbade boys to eat when they did nothing for themselves or their parents. The Spartans had extraordinary judgments against lazy people. A lazy person was first reprimanded. Later he was caned. After the third reprimand, if he didn’t improve, he was sent into exile. Old Cato in Rome used to have applicants for Roman citizenship look at their hands to see if they were calloused or worked. No, we don’t talk about laziness, but on the contrary, about the need to work also in the field of faith, to work on one’s sanctification, improvement and acquisition of new virtues and merits.

The month of May is the month of the Virgin Mary. Since the Middle Ages, the Church has been praying the litanies to the Virgin Mary this month, which we call the Loreto litanies after the well-known Italian Marian pilgrimage site of Loreto. Even though centuries have passed and many of the titles and epithets we give to the Virgin Mary have lost their timeliness, and especially young people no longer understand them, or they seem out of date, we still want to pay more attention to them for our benefit.

On the first of May, Pope Pius XII. in 1956 declared St. Jozef, a worker. From IV. century we meet with the veneration of St. Joseph was not recorded in a single word, sentence in the Gospels, what he would have said. However, we know that he was a caring partner of the Virgin Mary, a husband before the world, and a true foster father to the child Jesus. After the annunciation, when the angel told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife (cf. Mt 1:20), he takes upon himself the beautiful mission of working for Jesus here on earth, thus proving his faithfulness to God in quiet work.

In the synagogue, Lord Jesus told his countrymen: “A prophet is honored everywhere, except in his homeland and in his house” (Mt 13:57). Despising someone hurts and offends. Jesus tries to be the first to prove his mission to his fellow citizens, that he is prophesied and the expected Messiah. He will not convince them with his words or deeds. They look at him only with natural eyes, and that is why the evangelist Matthew remarked: “And because of their unbelief, he did not do many miracles there” (Mt 13:58). We know that the Lord Jesus is very grateful to the mother and foster father for the good deeds they have shown. Their intercession in the kingdom of God is great. That is why the Church has been paying attention to the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. We do not bow to them, but in many devotions we turn to them for intercession with the Lord Jesus. Yes, we also pray directly to the Lord Jesus, but we also use this possibility and desire our work through them, turn your activity into a reward from the Lord Jesus. We have many proofs that we are not left without graces when we invoke the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph for help and protection. So we realize that it pays to pray, beg, that is, to work on our sanctification, obtaining graces for our life here on earth and through these saints.

The example of the Virgin Mary does not lose its meaning and value even today, in the age of advanced civilization. During May, we used to decorate pictures, statues, altars of the Virgin Mary with spring flowers and visit Marian pilgrimage sites and our churches in more significant numbers and more often. In this month, we pay special attention to the Litany of Loreto, where we say fifty times various attributes and titles of the Virgin Mary, thus paying her respect and at the same time working on our sanctification.

We too, want to notice the individual titles, think about them, explain them to ourselves, maybe speaking little today, but the same effective meaning when we follow her in her humility and humiliation. When we stand at the beginning of these reflections, it is like the desire of a little girl who wants to make a flower for her mother from the first spring flowers. The little girl feels joy in this activity. She is tireless in picking flowers. and when he puts flower to flower, he thinks of his mother, to whom he wants to give a flower out of love. The little girl knows that she will make her mother very happy. What can such a child give his mother more beautiful? After all, his mother is only waiting for this. The little girl cannot and cannot provide her with anything more. Our activity is also similar to a little girl. After all, we feel that we are sons and daughters of the Virgin Mary. The Lord Jesus reminded us of this on the cross: “Behold your mother” (Jn 19:27). In this month, when nature revives after the winter months, it’s as if we too feel the need to notice our heavenly Mother in this Easter season, in this most beautiful month for many. That’s why we want to willingly offer our hearts in every consideration. We realize that to the Virgin Mary, we cannot add anything to her glory, which she received for her faithfulness from her Son. The Virgin Mary already has the highest degree of glory, a reward from the Lord Jesus. Despite this knowledge, our voluntary participation in her devotions, prayer and meditations at the Litany of Loreto manifests our active love for the Virgin Mary. we know she likes such an activity and appropriately asks us for blessings, graces from her Son and everything necessary for us and those we will think of. When we fulfill this commitment, we too will surely receive the reward that the Lord Jesus gave to his mother and his foster father – St. to Joseph.

We don’t want to have our hands folded and wait. We know that even heaven is conquered by violence and only violent people can take it. Our violence, our increased reverence for the Virgin Mary, and our more frequent prayers and reflections on her life will be rewarded. We believe that her love will manifest even more in our lives.