33 Days to Morning Glory - Days 5 & 6

Day 5 & 6 discussion points are once again linked, thus had to be talked together.  I learned 3 important points:

1. Joining forces with Mary is the best strategy.
2. Entrusting to Mary our little offering ensures this is fully-maximized.
3. When there is concern or worry about the strategy, check your intention.

Joining forces with Mary is the best strategy

This is best illustrated by St. Louis's analogy - 

"It is as if a peasant, wishing to gain friendship and benevolence of the king, went to the queen and presented her with a fruit which was his whole revenue, in order that she might present it to the king.  The queen, having accepted the poor little offering from the peasant, would place the fruit on a large and beautiful dish of gold, and so, on the peasant's behalf, would present it to the king.  Then the fruit, however unworthy in itself to be a king's present, would become worthy of his majesty because of the dish of gold on which it rested and the person who presented it."

The benefit is two-fold:

1. Mary perfects our offerings because she augments it with her merits.
2. Mary presenting it puts God in a better disposition to accept it.

Entrusting to Mary our little offering ensures this if fully-maximized

Mary has better visibility on who needs prayer the most, at any given time.  Surrendering our humble offering to her would flow this to her pool of prayer offerings, which is distributed based on need and urgency.  It will be used to help those who need it the most, when they need it the most.  This, in no way, puts the people we want to pray for at a disadvantage. Our prayers are not votes, such that one less prayer could spell the difference between being granted or not.  No.  Our prayers are supplements.

It's a completely different discussion, but the image below helps illustrate my point.  Mary distributes our offerings according to the "Justice" illustration.

When there is concern or worry about the strategy, check your intention

What about me?  What about the people I'm praying for?  What is left for me and the ones I'm praying for? St. Louis aptly calls this out as self-love and responds with a mild reprimand / rebuke.

"This objection, which comes from self-love and ignorance of the generosity of God and His holy Mother, refutes itself.  A fervent and generous soul who gives God all he has, without reserve, so that he can do nothing more; who lives only for the glory and reign of Jesus Christ, through His holy Mother, and who makes an entire sacrifice of himself to bring it about - will this generous and liberal soul, I say, be more punished in the other world because it has been more liberal and more disinterested than others?  Far, indeed, will that be from the truth!  Rather, it is toward that soul ... that Our Lord and His holy Mother are the most liberal in this world and in the other, in the orders of nature, grace and glory."  (Boom!)