O Highly Favoured: Reflections on ‘The Immaculate Conception’

By J A Russell

In the Virgin Mary, God revealed His power in a way we cannot rationalise but in faith believe. God took flesh in the way that spoke of His patience down through the ages and in The Immaculate Conception revealed His choice, reminding us that through her Son we too are called and chosen. God not only presents the holy Virgin as a model of discipleship, but reveals ever more of Himself through her. This book traces some of the steps taken by the Mother of God and how, in a world all busy and rushed, she reminds us that we too are called to listen to God, to consider His ways and take time to receive His grace. Mary had a will as if bended to God, waiting in an attitude of loving obedience; Gods will shines forth in her, showing that indeed He is our Father to Whom all things are possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Nov 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496993250

J A Russell

With the coming of Vatican ll in the 1960s, the author, as a Catholic mother of young children, welcomed the invitation to become a catechist involved with preparation for the sacraments of first confession and holy communion. She found that the more she expressed her faith, the more her faith was strengthened. It was certainty in God’s presence in the sacraments that enabled her to continue practicing her faith in times of adversity, with constant awareness of living in the light of God’s presence on the journey back to him. It is through a deep and continuous relationship as daughter of a loving father who is here with us in every aspect of our lives—whether serving him at home in the kitchen or at the altar in church, suffering in illness, or running freely along a beach—that the author wishes to encourage the reader to also seek a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit of God, holding on to the promises Jesus gives in the gospels. As a young person, the author found a great sense of God’s omnipresence through traveling widely and attending mass in foreign countries (mass still being said in Latin), being greatly influenced by the beauty and wonder of creation. Throughout a time of suffering, it was a great comfort to her to experience this same God present in her difficulties—still loving, still guiding, and patiently leading her into a deep experience of his powerful healing and grace. The author has great devotion to the mother of God and over the years has found immense joy as a Eucharistic minister. As a Catholic, she has seen the coming together of Christians in shared services. She has love of prayer, singing, and composing sacred music and is author of several inspiring books on God’s powerful presence, having a long-held desire to share the wonder of God’s life and healing light, which remain with us throughout even the simplest of things in our everyday life.

Book preview

O Highly

Favoured

image002.tif

Reflections on

‘The Immaculate

Conception’

9225.png

by J A Russell   

image002%20black.tif

AuthorHouse™ UK

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403 USA

Phone: [phone]

© 2014 J A Russell. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NJB are from The New Jerusalem Bible, copyright © 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.  Reprinted by Permission.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/22/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9324-3 (sc)

    978-1-4969-9325-0 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

9269.pngimage006.tif

See how God loves

the Virgin Mary

See how God treats His Virgin Mother

A woman born of another’s womb

A crown on her head, her feet on the serpent

Resplendent more than the sun or the moon

O Highly Favoured

CONTENTS

Meeting Jesus

Close to Him

God’s Kingdom

The Virgin’s Response

God-is-with-us

Adoration

Life-line of Grace

The Will of God

Encounter

Obedience

‘My Son, the Beloved’

Scripture readings are from the Jerusalem Bible and the NRSV, Catholic Edition.

When all things were in quiet silence

and the night was in the midst of her course,

Thy Almighty Word, O Lord,

came down from Heaven,

from Thy royal throne.

Wisdom 18:14

Meeting Jesus

image007.tif

God is found in

adoration, contemplation, listening

‘O Highly Favoured One’

The Incarnation

image008.tif The Word became flesh,

He lived among us, and we saw His glory,

the glory that He has from the Father as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jn.1:14

The power of grace enables God’s will to be done on earth. The Source of grace is God the Son, sent by God the Father, to give God the Holy Spirit; through the mercy of God we are linked to Him by the life of the Trinity poured forth into His beloved children on this earth. Why God should want to love some of His created is a mystery when, humanly speaking, some acts committed by man would make us turn away and cringe. But God looks upon us all with unconditional love, waiting for each person to accept His gifts of grace and forgiveness, never taking His eyes off us, never ceasing to hope, never abandoning us. God, yet God, waits and watches for our return, coming to greet us as we run to meet Him. God knows we were born with sin, wanting us to recognise our dependence upon Him as the means of salvation, giving each free will so we may lovingly turn to Him, embracing the Cross.

The deeper our relationship with our Abba, our Father, the deeper also is our relationship with the Son and the Holy Spirit. For each is One. The grace poured into our