Purple Baked Goods

                It all started with a group email request from my dear friend for purple baked goods.  She was facilitating a Young Women of Grace retreat Friday and Saturday at our parish, and needed to feed these hungry teen-agers, ages twelve to eighteen.  I had fanciful thoughts of experimenting in my kitchen with red and blue food coloring.  That was my will, but God had other plans for me, and I ultimately swung by the bakery at my local grocery store, instead.  I walked into our main church office on Friday morning to drop off the cookies I bought, and I learned that there were forty of them – forty young women!  Wow!  What a great turn-out!

                Having done my duty, I thought my obligation was finished.  Little did I know, my involvement with these forty young retreatants was so not over!  Later that afternoon I decided to check which time slots were still open for our once-a-month, twenty-four hour Eucharistic Adoration.  I noticed that there was a big opening from 2:00 a.m. – 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning!  I debated signing up for either one, or two hours, and wondered how I was going to leave my home without disturbing my husband and son.  I have never committed myself for two hours before…I finally decided to take a leap of faith that God would pave the way for me, and keep me awake that second hour!

                Ah!  I love Eucharistic Adoration!  I sat in God’s holy presence, His unconditional love, and ocean of mercy for over an hour, just soaking Him into my heart and soul.  No words.  Just love.

Then a fellow parishioner entered the daily chapel to pray also.  I still had forty-five minutes, so I decided to pray my rosary, the Joyful Mysteries.  I was praying the rosary the way Saint Louis de Montfort prayed it, with the short phrases in the middle of each Hail Mary, to stay attentive.  While I was praying, I was thinking about the forty young women of grace.  When I got to the third mystery, the “Nativity of Our Lord,” Mary, my Holy Mother of God, spoke to my heart.  She wanted me to do something for her.

First, Mary showed me four of the young women, wearing blue-grey nun habits, so holy!  Their backs were turned to me, so I couldn’t see their faces.  Their love for God was like a breath of fresh air!  Then Mary showed me how she was sheltering all forty of the young women with a corner of her Heavenly Mantle, protecting them from all evil and all harm.  Mary spoke to my heart.  She said, “Bring them to me... be a mother to them.”  I realized that Mary spiritually placed them under my charge, to pray for them always!  I was also aware that I needed to humble myself under Mary’s loving guidance, and be completely dependent upon her.  That is the only way for me to know when, and how, to bring these precious daughters of God to Mary, and nurture their faith.

The rest of my rosary prayers became very special.  For the third mystery, the “Nativity,” Saint Louis de Montfort’s phrase after saying, “Jesus,” in each Hail Mary is, “born into poverty.”  I saw how Jesus was being born into their hearts, one heart for each bead on my rosary.  When I got to the tenth bead of the decade, I realized I needed to pray thirty more “Nativity” beads, because there were thirty more daughters of God needing prayers for Jesus to be born into their hearts!  My hands backed up three times over the ten beads to fit in three more decades.

For the fourth mystery, the “Presentation of Jesus in the Temple”, Saint Louis’s phrase for each Hail Mary is “…Jesus, sacrificed.” I prayed forty Hail Mary’s for each of the forty daughters of God, for their sacrifices to the Lord that they will make during their lifetimes.

  For the fifth mystery, the “Finding of Jesus in the Temple,” Saint Louis’s phrase for each Hail Mary is, “…Jesus, Saint among saints.”  I prayed forty Hail Mary’s for Mary to make each daughter of God a saint!

 This is my prayer for each of these very special young women of grace:

Mary, Sweet Mary, my Holy Mother of God, I humbly and lovingly place these young women inside your Immaculate Heart.  Mary, Holy Virgin, please bathe them in the Wound in your Son’s Sacred Heart, in His ocean of divine mercy and love!  Mary, Queen of Angels and Saints, please offer them up to Jesus’ most holy and precious Blood.

Jesus, my beloved and merciful Savior, I humbly and lovingly ask that You please allow Your most holy and precious Blood to fall upon the hearts, minds, and souls of these chosen daughters of Yours.  Jesus, meek and humble of heart, please consume them in the fire of Your love; baptize them in Your Holy Spirit of Love; be born into their hearts and souls, that they may be born into Your love; and dwell in them, that they may dwell in Your love.

Mary, our Blessed Mother, please help these blessed daughters of God to see God’s love for them today, and every day!  Amen!