INTERCESSION THROUGH MARY

by Fr. John Jonah A. Orat, Cebu Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services Adviser

or Asking the BVM to help us…because she can help us, because she can always help
us, because a mother always helps her children, because she is our Mother of
Perpetual Help, our Mother of Hope, Our Mother of Mercy and our Mother of
compassion. And that encompasses everything that I am going to share with you in this
homily.
1. “In the beginning was the Word…
 He became like unto us but he was never like us because he was without sin
 Because he was the only Begotten-Son of the Living God
 He is the most holy, the most sublime, the most perfect in dignity
 You cannot raise him up any higher because he is already in the highest x3.

2. The Archangel Gabriel spoke to Mary, “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is
with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb
Jesus.”
 Next to JC, she is the most holy, the most sublime, the most perfect in dignity
 You cannot raise her up any higher because she is already in the highest x3
together with her Son.
 You need something. She can give you. She is full of grace.

3. St. Gemma Galgani had a favor to ask from our LJC. No, he answered. But it is
not for me, it is for our sick neighbor. No. No. No. Persistence in prayer. “Ok, if
you will not grant it to me, I will ask your mother to ask you.” And our Lord said,
“Ok.” Because he could not refuse his mother.
 OLJC cannot refuse if the BVM intercedes for us.
 Because JC cannot be separated from his Mother and Mary cannot be
separated from her Son.

4. “The HS will come unto thee and the Power of the Most High will
overshadow thee and thou shalt bear in your womb a Son, and thou shalt
name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.
 Never a woman so blessed for all time and for all eternity. The Holy Trinity of
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is with her forever and ever and ever.
 She is the child of God the Father, she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit, she is
the mother of the only-begotten Son of God.
 If you want your petitions to go to her Son, Ask for her intercession. To Jesus
thru Mary. She is his mother.
 If you want your petitions to go to God our Father, Ask for her intercession. To
God the Father thru Mary. She is his daughter.
 If you want your petitions to the Holy Spirit, Ask for her intercession. She is
the Spouse of the Holy Spouse.
5. And the BVM sings the MAGNIFICAT: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the
Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his
lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has
done great things for me, and holy is his Name.
 All the charisms, all the gifts, all the virtues of all the saints combined, the
BVM has them a thousand. She saw the creation of the world.
 40ad. St. James was having a very hard time converting the people in
Zaragosa, Spain, He was so frustrated and discouraged. He prayed and the
BVM on a pillar accompanied by thousands of angels appeared to him to
console and encourage him. The BVM ot the Pillar.
 It is mystical bilocation while a holy person is still alive. St. Vincent Ferrer, St.
Francis of Assisi. San Martin de Porres. Padre Pio de Pietrelcina.

6. The BVM intercedes at the Wedding at Cana.

7. The Litany asking for the Intercession of BVM. “Holy Mary, pray for us…”
8. The Holy Rosary of the BVM. It is a great prayer for her intercession.
 200 hundred Hail Mary’s everyday we are seeking the intercession of the
BVM.
 St. Dominic: Through the Hail Mary we seek the INTERCESSION of the BVM
[Holy Mary, Pray for us sinners now and Holy Mary pray for us especially at
the hour of our death. Amen.

9. The Our Father: Teach us how to pray and OLJC teaches us how to pray :
 St. Teresa de Avila: Our Father who are in heaven, HOLY BE YOUR NAME.
Glorified be your name, Magnified be your name. Praised be your name…. I
did not know that every time we pray the Our Father, we are praising God the
Father. Amen.
 It has to go together with “Thy Kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it
is in heaven because you cannot praise God if you have not done his will.
 His will is for you to receive the gifts and the fruits of the Holy Spirit… divine
joy, divine wisdom. Divine understanding. Divine peace. Divine love.

10. 10 AD. St. Andrew the Blessed Fool-for-Christ, saw the dome of the church
open and the Virgin Mary enter, moving in the air above him, surrounded by
angels and saints. She knelt and prayed with tears for all faithful Christians in the
world. She is INTERCEDING for us so that her son will accept the prayers of the
people asking for her protection.
 His disciple, St. Epiphanius, also saw it. "Do you see, brother, the Holy
Theotokos, praying for all the world?" Epiphanius answered, "Yes, Holy
Father, I see it and am amazed!
  There is not one saint who is not devoted to the BVM. There is no saint that
has not asked the BVM her intercession.

11. Apparitions, miracles and Healings all over the world. The BVM interceding
for us. The miraculous image of our Lady of Guadalupe in the tilma of Blessed
Juan Diego, The healing waters in Loudes, the dancing sun at Fatima.
 Sr. Bernadette Moreau
 “I opened my eyes and I could see perfectly,” said Jimena, a 16-year-old
Spanish World Youth Day pilgrim who said she miraculously recovered her
sight after receiving the Eucharist at Fátima, Portugal, during a Mass there.

12. Divine Appointment. We are here where God precisely wants us to be. This is
not a coincidence. This is the will of God. This is God’s design. You and I have
been specially chosen by God on a mission that is very important in the world
today. There is so much need for intercession through the BVM.
 War and the threat of global war, famine and terrifying epidemics where
people die without receiving the sacraments, immoral laws that contradict the
will of God: divorce, euthanasia, abortion, total use of contraceptives and
homosexual marriages.
 Persecutions of the Church in so many parts of the world and attacks on the
Pope. There is odium or great hatred towards our faith.
 Never has there been so many cases of discouragement, despair, suicide,
demonic influence, infestation and possession. They are not anymore afraid
to build temples of Satan and Churches of Satan.
 Our greatest intercessor against the devil and the demons of hell is the BVM.
 “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph,” the BVM tells us at Fatima

13. THE CHURCH IS DYING. Large Basilicas and majestic cathedrals are empty.
This year in Cebu, only 4 applicants in the minor seminary.

14. VOCATIONS. The nuns of the Pious Disciples of Divine Master, their vocation
campaign are with, tell me that vocations are generation with the Charismatic
Renewal Services. Many nuns from their congregation were charismatics.
 When I left my first parish assignment where we conducted LSS every week,
my parish secretary became a nun. She is the mother superior of the
Missionary Sisters of Jesus the Eternal Priest. 2 animators, one is now a nun
of the Merciful sisters. My cook wanted to become a religious brother. Two
became nuns of the Daughter of St. Therese. Some returned to get married.
 The future is in the hands of the lay people now in the program of synodality
and the reawaking of the gifts of the Holy Spirit of his Holiness Pope Francis.
 And the group of MARIAN INTERCESSORS that will before by us in different
parts of the world
 15. THE HOLY SPIRIT. We are family, and we intercede for one another. And
Mary is our greatest intercessor next to the Holy Spirit.
 We are just human beings with a tendency to continue sinning the same sins
over and over again. St. Paul tells us, “It is the Holy Spirit who comes to the
aid of our weakness.” [Rom 8:26-27]
 “The Holy Spirit himself intercede for us with inexpressible groaning!” This is
praying in the Holy Spirit. Do not wonder then if the words you speak while
praying in the Spirit cannot be understood by others because they are not
supposed to be understood by others. “… IT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT
INTERCEDING FOR US, PRAYING FOR US WITH INEXPRESSIBLE
GROANINGS!
 And I said to myself, “OMG! I am the one who sins, and it is God who tries to
find a way for me to come back to him. He does not only judge me with
clemency, he governs me with leniency!”
16. THE SAINTS INTERCEDE FOR US. How much more will he intercede for the
saints when they cry out to him. The saints become our intercessors because the
Holy Spirit MIGHTILY INTERCEDES for them who are interceding for us.
 It is from gift to gift, from grace to grace, from discipline to discipline, from
obedience to obedience, from humility to humility, from sanctity to sanctity…

17. ST. JOSEPH. According to the mystic Maria de Jesus de Agreda [in her “Ciudad
Mystica de Dios, volume 3, The Transfixion,”] St. Joseph suffered a lingering
sickness. While very sick, he was blessed like no other because he had the BVM as
his nurse, and our LJC as his caregiver. When his suffering became too painful,
Mary, his spouse, and Jesus, his son, would pray for the pain to subside, and you
know how powerful their prayers are. Mary and her Son are one, INTERCEDING for
St. Joseph.
 You die with so much anger, so hate, so much happiness: It is called heart attack
 Your heart is too small to contain the violence of the Love of God.
 God gave St. Joseph special, miraculous assistance so that his small heart could
contain “the pure love of God” in his heart.
 Mary prayed for his heart to be stronger for a time. And when the time came, for
his soul to separate from his body, God took away the special assistance, and he
died for too much love of God that his heart could not contain it anymore.
 As follower of Jesus Christ, we will have to live, suffer and die for love of God
and thus we become his saints. Not just to suffer and die but to suffer and die for
love of Him. Thus, suffering for the love of God makes you a saint and dying in
his love assures you a place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

THE MEMORARE: Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known
that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession,
was left unaided. / Inspired by this confidence / I fly unto thee, / O Virgin of virgins, my
Mother.
/ To thee do I come, before thee I stand,/ sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word
Incarnate, despise not my petitions, / but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.