Sister Mildred, the mystic of the devotion to Our Lady of America, wrote that on the evening of August 5, 1957, “Our Lady spoke to me about the Divine Indwelling. It was her life and she lived it perfectly always conscious of His presence, never forgetting that all her greatness came from within, from Him who dwelt there, working, loving, and doing good through her. This is what Our Lady means when she speaks of reformation, renewal. It is this about which she is so concerned, namely sanctification from within. . . . She seemed anxious to impress me with some idea of the greatness of this gift of God to us, namely, His Divine Presence within our souls through sanctifying grace.”
This is the fourth of six articles on the Practice of the Divine Indwelling. They will be published each Thursday from the Feast of the Queenship of Mary to the 63rd Anniversary of Our Lady of America’s first apparition on September 26.
Our prayer should not be limited to petitions to God and meditation on His Word. “This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with Him.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2708).
Those who daily live the Divine Indwelling are temples of the Holy Trinity. St. Paul asks, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own. For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your in your body.” (2 Cor. 6:19-20). As such, we should live as St. Paul urges us by glorifying God in our bodies, the temples of the Holy Spirit.
Souls who live the Divine Indwelling are like the Jewish temple in Jerusalem which had its Holy of Holies, since souls contain the presence of the living God, as did the Holy of Holies with the Ark of the Covenant. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and only on one day each year. Likewise, only Jesus Christ, our Victim-High Priest, and the Holy Trinity can enter our Holy of Holies and dwell there in our temple of the Holy Spirit. Satan cannot enter, he can only stand at the door and try to get us to close it through his temptations and distractions. Unlike the yearly entrance of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies, Christ’s indwelling can be prolonged for a soul in the state of grace and, with the reception of the Eucharist, the indwelling is of the real, glorified, risen, living Christ.
Today’s Holy of Holies are also all of the tabernacles throughout the world that house the Blessed Sacrament, the real presence of the living God, just as the Holy of Holies housed His presence in the Jewish temple. By Our Lady of America’s appearance as “the Immaculate Tabernacle of the Indwelling God,” she makes the analogy that we are tabernacles that house the Indwelling God. Like Mary, we are called to be living tabernacles for the divine trinity indwelling within us by our faith and God’s grace. The Holy Trinity becomes the soul of our soul.
The Divine Indwelling is a real divinization in the being and powers of the soul, which grows with prayer, fasting and the sacraments through the whole of the person in cooperation with the graces received by God to live a holy and virtuous life. The human result of this process is called a saint. St.Faustina Kowalska recognized the Divine Indwelling. She wrote in her Diary, “My soul is touched by God and wholly absorbs itself in Him. . . . Permeated by God to its very depths, it drowns in His beauty.” (Diary, No. 767).
Like St. Faustina, you too may have your soul touched by God by reading the remaining two articles in this series that will be published each Thursday until September 26. You may read Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.
Here is what you can do to help Our Lady of America:
- Learn how to practice the complete devotion. Read my book, Our Lady of America, Our Hope for the States. For a 20% discount, enter this code at checkout: America.
- Pray the Novena to Our Lady of America for True Change and Hope for America.
- Obtain your medal as a shield against evil.
- Venerate her image in your home for the safeguard of your family.
- Sign the Petition for the Solemn Procession and Placement of the Statue of Our Lady of America in our National Shrine.
- Host a Visitation with an image of Our Lady of America and pray An Hour of Prayer for Purity, Peace and Protection.
- Order bulk quantities of the bumper sticker below to distribute to others.
- Print, sign and mail a letter to your Bishop in the form found here.
- We must make Our Lady’s message known to many more people. Please forward this email to your friends and Like us and Share this message on Facebook with your friends and other groups.
- For more information on the story of Our Lady of America told in an interesting narrated slide show click here.
Your generous gift today will help us to carry out our mission to help Our Lady of America bring God’s purification, holiness, and peace for the Church in America.
