Kathryn Forrester Thro: The Beautiful Mass Bells. A Call To Loving Action

Kathryn Forrester Thro:
The Beautiful Bells of Mass: A Call to Action.

How the bells at Mass remind us to go out into the world with joy and love! I am a little bell, who cannot do anything at all, of myself. Yet in the Mass, as the great quote tells us, "We consume Christ, so that He consumes us!" In a world with so many things competing for our attention, at Mass we can look upon and venerate a portrait of Christ or a statue of The Blessed Virgin Mary, and we can be inspired towards loving action.
The beautiful and mysterious wonders of all the virtues of The Blessed Virgin Mary are so relevant in today's world. Mary always points us towards her Son, Jesus Christ, and His call to loving action.

Mary's heart is virtuous in love. She points towards Christ's love for the poor and dis-enfranchised. People of different faiths all over the world respect and venerate Our Lady. She is not only Queen of Love but also of justice.

October is a month set aside to remember women and children who have been abused and battered. The Blessed Virgin's heart cries out for the poor women, the single mothers who live in terrible circumstances, who need courage to ask for help. Shelters all over the country are filled to capacity, and according to statistics, these shelters only see three percent of the women and children living under the shadow of abuse, negligence, hunger and homelessness.

If we are truly members of Christ's Body, then we will feel the urgency of the needs of others not living in comfort. Does not our own body react when even its least member is hurting? If we stumble and fall, stubbing only our "baby toe", do we not flinch in sharp pain? How much more then, should we who are members of Christ, feel the deeper pain of those who live in fear, pain, poverty or loneliness? These circumstances of our fellow human beings should pierce us as they pierce the heart of Christ and of His Blessed Mother. In a world full of vulgar images and self-centeredness, they point to a better way.

We must, we must look out from our windows and see the world as it is: potentially beautiful, yes, but with so much work to be done in the fields of love.
Sometimes we can only do the smallest thing, but just as Christ turned a few loaves and fishes into a large, communal meal, miracles can happen and each response to the smallest request can be a new miracle.

If we can take time to listen to beautiful music devoted to Christ and His Blessed Mother, attend Mass with an open heart, then we will not be able to resist the great calling to do what we can, however little, with great devotion.

Let us be like the beautiful bells at mass, the little bells signaling God's Holiness!
Their ring, their singular sounds of joy can become a call to action.


Love is always more powerful than circumstances. St. Paul said that we fight not against flesh, but against powers and principalities. God always wins with love.
The world can be transformed by love in action. We can do nothing of ourselves. I am nothing, I know nothing, I have nothing...without Christ. With Christ, I can do all things.

"In Christ there is no male or female" an oft -forgotten scripture. Women and precious, innocent children who are battered and abused can find a great advocate in The Blessed Virgin and most importantly, in our Heavenly Father and In His Son, who bore our sorrows and wounds on the Cross and conquers them, so this day, in loving actions and prayer.