As the Spouse of the Paraclete, "[s]urrendering with alacrity to the abundant and alluring grace of the Holy Spirit, Mary has pledged herself to Him in the spirit of fidelity, thereby becoming His Chaste Spouse. She has rejected everything that is contrary to the Holy Spirit. She has only one Eternal Spouse: the Beloved Counselor." [4]
If a woman looks to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the model of a perfect spouse, she would live in perfect harmony with her husband, just as the Blessed Virgin Mary is perfectly united with the Holy Spirit; and she would conform to her marriage vows with love [5], in the same way the Blessed Virgin Mary is "caught up into the Will of the Holy Spirit. Mary's conformity to the Consoler is so complete that His desires, sentiments and plan of action have become hers." [6]
In a marriage that mirrors the pairing of the Holy Paraclete and the Blessed Virgin Mary, the husband is loved so unconditionally by his wife that he would do anything she says, and she would lead him to the heart the Blessed Virgin Mary as she herself is guided by her Blessed Mother. The family they would have and the children that are brought up by them would never leave the embrace of Christ.
A wife to her husband is also a mother to her children. The mother who loves her children in the way the Mother of God loves Her Son from conception to crucifixion [7], and who guides her children to the heart of their father (whose heart she fell in love with and married in the first place) will never face infidelity, endure the pains of separation and divorce, of brokenness and loneliness.
The absence of such pains is not her reward. Her reward is her children's constant love for her because of the unwavering love she has for them and for their father whom they also love. In much the same way the Blessed Virgin Mary is rewarded with the love of Her Beloved Son because She also loves God the Father Whom the Son also loves.
To this day, Her Son continues to love Her Mother and pay attention to what She has to convey--Her unconditional love for us sinners through Her constant intercessions. What mother would not want her children to love her and listen to her in the way Christ loves and listens to His Mother? What woman would not want to be like her most beautiful Blessed Mother? [8]
A woman who becomes a spouse, then a mother, is first a daughter of God the Father. The Father in Heaven is a perfect Father Who loves unconditionally all daughters from every corner of the world and welcomes into the Kingdom of Heaven all who love as the Blessed Virgin Mary loves.
The Blessed Virgin Mary Whose perfect obedience to the Father has earned Her a special place in Heaven as Queen of Heaven and Earth. Although no other woman, however saintly, is Her equal in the trio of gifts of Immaculate Conception, Chaste Union with the Holy Spirit and Motherhood to the Son of God, every woman is nonetheless blessed with the gift of family from daughterhood, marriage to motherhood and has her place in Heaven as a beloved daughter whose soul is embraced by and filled with the uninterrupted flow of God's love.
[1] The Blessed Virgin Mary as a trinity of persons came into my thoughts a few days ago as a vague concept.
[2] I looked for and found support that the Blessed Virgin Mary is "is the Spouse of the Paraclete" at http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=3013
[3] I also looked for and found support that the Blessed Virgin Mary is "the Daughter of God the Father" in the concluding prayer of the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin Mary at http://www.catholictradition.org/Two-Hearts/crown.htm.
[4] http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=3013
[5] A number of marriage vows can be found on the internet, including here: http://weddings.about.com/cs/bridesandgrooms/a/vowwording.htm
[6] http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=3013
[7] Conception as I define it means the very moment the spermatozoon enters the ovum, even before the zygote is formed. Crucifixion as I define it here means death, but not by euthanasia.
[8] "Bernadette described Our Lady as being very young and very beautiful – In her own words:
See http://www.biographyonline.net/spiritual/bernadette-soubirious.html'so lovely that, when you have seen her once, you would willingly die to see her again!' [1]"
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