Blessed Virgin Mary – Page 17

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. On this day, November 27th, in 1830, the Immaculate Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Catherine Laboure in the chapel of the motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity in Paris.

At one point during the apparition Catherine saw Our Lady standing on a globe, with dazzling rays of light streaming from her outstretched hands. Framing the figure was an inscription: O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Mary spoke to Catherine: “Have a medal struck upon this model. Those who wear it will receive great graces.” The Medal of the Blessed Virgin Mary, popularly known as the Miraculous Medal, was approved by Pope Leo XIII on July 23, 1894.

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Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Benedictine Oblation

As we Venerate the glorious memory of the most holy Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, O Lord, through her intercession, that we, too, may merit to receive from the fullness of your grace.

PAX

In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

On this Feast of the Presentation in the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I, too, offer myself to God through this renewal of my oblation. I commit myself anew to Stability of Heart, Fidelity to the Spirit of the Monastic Life, and Obedience to the Will of God as a Benedictine Oblate of the venerable monastery of Saint Meinrad.

Our Lady of the Rosary

The rosary is essential to the spiritual life of Christians. We ought to live the rosary.

The rosary is a practical study of sacred Scripture in the we remain faithful to the call to be close to Christ through constant a memory of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord. Theologically, we call this the Paschal Mystery.

The rosary, popularly seen as a Marian prayer (i.e., connected to the Blessed Virgin Mary), but really it is a Christological prayer.

The supreme victory promised by God through the intercession of Mary is none other than being generated by love and the grace of conversion. Praying the rosary keeps us in touch with Christ, the Savior, the Good Shepherd.

Read more in the John Paul II teaching found in his apostolic letter, Rosary of the Virgin Mary, and a more of the feast today given by CNA.

Our Lady of Sorrows

Why the Sorrowful Mother? Why do Catholics honor Mary, the Mother of God with the title of “Sorrows”? Is it an honor to be called such? Some good questions, I think. Mark Miravalle answers the question this way:

We could just as well ask St. Paul why he instructs all Christians to “make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24).

We Christians, too, will suffer and do suffer. Our suffering has the capacity to release a portion of the infinite graces merited by Jesus at Calvary, what theologians call “objective redemption.” But as these redemptive graces of Jesus must be personally received by the human heart, every Christian has a role in this mysterious release and reception of grace which theologians call “subjective redemption.”

Mary alone, as the “New Eve” with Jesus the “New Adam,” participates in both objective and subjective redemption: both in the historic acquisition of redemptive grace and in the providential release of redemptive grace. Blessed John Paul would teach of his mother and ours that Mary’s intensity of suffering at Calvary was a “contribution to the redemption of all” (Salvifici Doloris, 25).

Continue reading Our Lady of Sorrows

Most Holy Name of Mary

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that to all who are celebrating her glorious name, the Blessed Virgin Mary herself may dispense the benefits of your mercy.

Nativity of Mary

The feast of the nativity of the blessed Virgin Mary, born from the tribe of Judah, from the seed of Abraham and the race of King David, from whom the Son of God was born, made man through the Holy Spirit, that men might be freed from the ancient servitude of sin.

“…this feast of Mary’s birth should remind us of God’s loving plan” (Abp. Charles J. Chaput, Installation homily).

Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Queen of Heaven
means Queen of Earth, Queen of the Truth of earth, of earth in its permanent
truth, because veritas Domini manet: the truth of Being endures.

The wait for
Christ’s return-and each of us is called to experience this-is the passion and
the joy, the joyous hope for that day when all the world will be truly itself,
all mankind will acknowledge Him, and Christ will truly be “everything in
everyone.” That moment is the meaning of everything that is, the meaning of the
whole of time, of all that we do, and the apex, the heart of hope, because
man’s glory depends on this; in this adherence man begins to cry out God’s
glory. Our life seeks glory because it is made for this. Glory is not something
promised for the future, but is a promise already begun and already fulfilled.
To the extent that we offer ourselves and acknowledge that the substance of
everything is Christ, this promise is accomplished for us. Paradise is not
somewhere else; it will be here. Paradise is the total truth between you and
me, in the relationship between you and me; it is the total truth in the
relationship between me and the image that comes to me through thought, between
me and things. Paradise is a feast which “fulfills every feast the heart has
desired.”

May the hand of Our Lady introduce us into the Mystery, because this
is the meaning of our days, the meaning of time that passes. May her gaze guide
us on our journey, may her example teach us, may her figure be the plan of our
purpose. Generous Mother, who generates for us the great presence of Christ, we
want to be consoled, comforted, nourished, enriched, and gladdened by that
Presence which was born again from your flesh, and for this reason we ask you
to make us participate in your freedom, your readiness to help, your life.

Luigi Giussani

The Holy Rosary

Assumption of Mary, Mother of God

In the Ascension, the Lord, with His Resurrection, has
become the Master of the World. Therefore, there is One among us who will save
everything that we are, who is so powerful as to save our life, as to preserve
it entire in order to give it back to us whole by forgiving our sins. The
demonstration of this is the mystery of the Assumption, when He took Our Lady’s
humanity and did not leave her in the clutches of death even for an instant.

With
the mystery of the Assumption, the Lord says, “You see, I will not let you lose
anything of what I have given you, of what you have used, of what you have
tasted, even of what you have misused, if you are humble with me. Blessed are
the poor in spirit, that is to say: if you acknowledge that everything is
grace, that everything is mercy, because your criteria are nothing, my
criterion will be everything.” Our Lady is already at this ultimate, profound
level of Being from which all beings draw substance, life, and destiny. This is
why she was bodily lifted into heaven, where the Mystery of God dwells: so that
she would be for us, daily, the Mother of the event.

The glorification of Our
Lady’s body indicates the ideal of Christian morality, the valuing of every
moment, every instant. Therefore it is the prizing of life, of our existence,
the life of the world’s body, it is the exaltation of matter lived by the soul,
lived by the consciousness which is relationship with God. It is the prizing of
our earthly life, not because it is a lucky one due to particular
circumstances, but because through even the smallest things is borne our
relationship with the Infinite, with the mystery of God

(Luigi Giussani, The
Holy Rosary)

In the Virgin Mary’s Assumption we have a path to our destiny in the God

Today’s feast celebrates the ultimate fulfillment of Mary’s
journey as God’s faithful and humble servant. As we reflect on this joyful
feast, we hopefully realize that she is inviting us and teaching us to sing the
Magnificat [the text for today’s Gospel] along with her as we continue along
our own journeys, however near or far the fulfillment of our journey remains.
We too are invited to proclaim in joy and humble service the compassion and
justice of our God. Today’s feast assures us that like Mary, in serving the
reign of God, we too will one day share in her destiny. (Father Damian, Abbot of Saint Joseph’s Abbey, Spencer)

The Office of Readings leads us to shout for joy:

Dearest brethren, this is a time
when all flesh should shout for joy, because the Mother of the Word made flesh
is assumed into heaven; nor should human mortality desist from singing songs of
praise on this glorious festival, when the nature of man is elevated in the
Virgin to solitary eminence, high above all the orders of immortal spirits. (Saint Bernard, Second Nocturn)

The Assumption (Dormition) of the Blessed Virgin Mary – a period of fast

August 1 through 14 is a period of fasting in the
Byzantine churches in preparation for the feast of the Dormition of the
Theotokos (Assumption) on August 15.

Unfortunately, we in the Roman Church have lost the Assumption fast, but we continue to bless herbs and flowers on this solemnity.

It is truly right to bless you, O
Theotokos, as the ever-blessed and immaculate Mother of our God. More honorable
than the cherubim, and by far more glorious than the seraphim, ever a virgin, you
gave birth to God the Word; O true Theotokos, we magnify you!

“Dostojno je.”