Blessed Virgin Mary – Page 18

The Brown Scapular: Mary’s promise

This past
Saturday was the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the liturgical
commemoration of Mary on which we automatically thought of the brown
scapular. Or, we did make an association with the BVM of Mount Carmel and the scapular. Our sensibilities have changed dramatically to the point that only the old people remember such devotions by-and-large.

Recently at the parish we were talking about selling rosaries,
bibles, catechisms nun-made fudge, and I introduced offering the brown
scapular. The person who is organizing this very small “church store” looked at me
quizzically: what are scapulars? So much for Catholic culture and the Catholic
liturgical imagination! I explained that as a concept originally referred to a
form of clothing, a wide band of clothe put on the shoulders reaching down to the front and back of the legs, often to the ankles. The scapular is worn by priests, nuns, and sisters like, but not limited to
the Dominicans; the scapular historically was worn as an apron that would
protect the tunic. Later the scapular was blessed taking it out of the realm of
a work outfit. But I am not talking about the scapular worn as part of the religious habit of the religious.

Continue reading The Brown Scapular: Mary’s promise

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Hail Mary, full of grace.

The Lord is with you –O serene virgin.

You stand out as the temple

Of the humble and the great,

Of the lion and the lamb,

Of Christ the
savior–Yet you remain a virgin.

You have been made mother

Of the bud and the
dew,

You are queen of virgins,

Rose without thorns.

(The text is excerpted from
a longer Sequence for the feast of the Annunciation of the B.V.M.)

Missionary image of Our Lady of Pompeii visits East Haven, CT parish

The missionary image of Our Lady of Pompeii is making the rounds the various parishes in the USA strengthening the faith of the people and evoking the confidence in Christ. Tonight, the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Pompeii was brought to the parish church named for the same in East Haven, CT. Thanks to Father Matthew R. Mauriello, pastor of Saint Roch Church (Greenwich, CT) and the coordinator of the US Marian Mission of Our Lady of Pompeii.

Father John Lavorgna, pastor of the East Haven parish welcomed the bishop, clergy and the lay faithful. Mass began to strains of “Santa Maria del Camino.” Father John did a terrific job at bringing many people together for prayer and fraternity.

750 people prayed the Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated by the Most Reverend Peter Anthony Rosazza and 17 priests. Three of the priests present tonight were representing the Archbishop-Prelate of Pompeii Carlo Liberati. The faithful heard a letter sent to them by Archbishop Liberati and from the Pope via the Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, SDB. Bishop Peter did some parts of the Mass in Italian and others in English; he sang the propers of the Mass and the Eucharistic prayer.

Following the Liturgy, several people prayed the Rosary, including members of the Third Order Dominicans. Because of a realization that the Rosary is gospel lived, it is known to cut off the head of evil. The Rosary connects us not only with God by way of meditating on His great of act of Love, but also the spiritual home of the Basilica of Our Lady of Pompeii with Pompeii, East Haven, CT.

The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii is traditionally observed on May 8. This feast of the Blessed Mother is recalled as result of the good work of Blessed Bartolo Longo (a man who gave his life to Christ –after a life of following spiritism and satanism. He became a Third Order Dominican and a member of the Order of Holy Sepulchre, an Apostle of the Rosary. Longo is also known for his famous Supplica, a prayer which sets one’s heart on truth and reality of the Incarnate Word of God. Blessed Bartolo might be seen as Italy’s equivalent of Saint Faustina. Longo’s mission, which ought to be ours, “is to write about Mary, to Mary praised, to have Mary loved.”

There’s at least 8 churches in the USA named in honor of Our Lady of Pompeii: East Haven, CT, Chicago, IL, Tickfaw, LA, Baltimore, MD, Paterson, NJ, Vineland, NJ. New York, NY and Dobbs Ferry, NY.

May, the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Hail Mary, poor and humble Woman,
Blessed by the Most High!
Virgin of hope, dawn of a new era,
We join in your song of praise,
to celebrate the Lord’s mercy,
to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom
and the full liberation of humanity.

Hail Mary, lowly handmaid of the Lord,

Glorious Mother of Christ!

Faithful Virgin, holy dwelling-place of the Word,

Teach us to persevere in listening to the Word,

and to be docile to the voice of the Spirit,

attentive to his promptings in the depths of our conscience

and to his manifestations in the events of history.

Hail Mary, Woman of sorrows,

Mother of the living!

Virgin spouse beneath the Cross, the new Eve,

Be our guide along the paths of the world.

Teach us to experience and to spread the love of Christ,

to stand with you before the innumerable crosses

on which your Son is still crucified.

Hail Mary, woman of faith,

First of the disciples!

Virgin Mother of the Church, help us always

to account for the hope that is in us,

with trust in human goodness and the Father’s love.

Teach us to build up the world beginning from within:

in the depths of silence and prayer,
in the joy of fraternal love,

in the unique fruitfulness of the Cross.

Holy Mary, Mother of believers, pray for us. Amen.

a prayer written to Mary, the Mother of God by Blessed John Paul II, Lourdes, 2004

Annunciation of the Lord

What happened
here in Nazareth, far from the gaze of the world, was a singular act of God, a
powerful intervention in history, through which a child was conceived who was
to bring salvation to the whole world. The wonder of the Incarnation continues
to challenge us to open up our understanding to the limitless possibilities of
God’s transforming power, of his love for us, his desire to be united with us.
Here the eternally begotten Son of God became man, and so made it possible for
us, his brothers and sisters, to share in his divine sonship. That downward
movement of self-emptying love made possible the upward movement of exaltation
in which we too are raised to share in the life of God himself (cf. Phil
2:6-11).

The Spirit who “came upon Mary” (cf. Lk 1:35) is the same
Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of Creation (cf. Gen 1:2). We
are reminded that the Incarnation was a new creative act. When our Lord Jesus
Christ was conceived in Mary’s virginal womb through the power of the Holy
Spirit, God united himself with our created humanity, entering into a permanent
new relationship with us and ushering in a new Creation. The narrative of the
Annunciation illustrates God’s extraordinary courtesy (cf. Mother Julian of
Norwich, Revelations 77-79). He does not impose himself, he does not simply
pre-determine the part that Mary will play in his plan for our salvation: he
first seeks her consent. In the original Creation there was clearly no question
of God seeking the consent of his creatures, but in this new Creation he does so.
Mary stands in the place of all humanity. She speaks for us all when she
responds to the angel’s invitation. Saint Bernard describes how the whole court
of heaven was waiting with eager anticipation for her word of consent that
consummated the nuptial union between God and humanity. The attention of all
the choirs of angels was riveted on this spot, where a dialogue took place that
would launch a new and definitive chapter in world history. Mary said,
“Let it be done to me according to your word.” And the Word of God
became flesh.

When we reflect on this joyful mystery, it gives us hope, the
sure hope that God will continue to reach into our history, to act with
creative power so as to achieve goals which by human reckoning seem impossible.
It challenges us to open ourselves to the transforming action of the Creator
Spirit who makes us new, makes us one with him, and fills us with his life. It
invites us, with exquisite courtesy, to consent to his dwelling within us, to
welcome the Word of God into our hearts, enabling us to respond to him in love
and to reach out in love towards one another.

Pope Benedict XVI

14 May 2009

Basilica
of the Annunciation, Israel

As a way of deepening the Mystery of the Incarnation, here is “Beyond the Clash of Absolutes: Abortion” taken from Carl A. Anderson’s 2010 book, Beyond A House Divided.

In Christ’s wounds we are healed: World Day of the Sick and Our Lady of Lourdes

We celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the 19th World Day of the Sick.

God of mercy, we celebrate the feast of Mary, the sinless mother of God. May her prayers help us to rise above our human weakness.

By his wounds you have been healed (1 Peter 2:24)

Many in the world suffer. That is a given and we ought to keep the suffering of others in the forefront of our minds. I think this is appropriate for no other reason than the example of Jesus who showed had compassion on all suffering people, healing them in body, mind, and soul. He even allowed Himself to be conquered by evil and suffering, though we know that He ultimately defeated death by death itself when on the third day he rose from the dead. Jesus’ own suffering and rising is proof of a love that knows know limits. As Benedict has said in various places that “Only a God who loves us to the extent of taking upon himself our wounds and our pain, especially innocent suffering, is worthy of faith.”

Continue reading In Christ’s wounds we are healed: World Day of the Sick and Our Lady of Lourdes

Dictionary of Apparitions of the Virgin Mary, published

Monsignor René Laurentin published a new edition of the Dictionary of Apparitions of the Virgin Mary. More than 2600 apparitions are included in the edition from around the world.

The video clip introducing the Dictionary is here.

Mary, Mother of God

The sacred Liturgy of the Church fittingly calls to mind three aspects of worship and gives us the essential qualities of Christian life and praise of God. We can note from the Liturgy the (1) humility of all the characters in today’s Gospel, (2) the adoration of the Holy Name of Jesus, (3) and closeness to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God.

Humility proclaims the greatness of God

Approaching to the divine is done only in humility; only in recognizing that we don’t make ourselves; only in knowing who we are in front of God, creator of heaven and earth. The gospel tells how to approach God: like the humble people of history:

Jesus, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, was made flesh, who fulfilled the Law with the rite of circumcision and accepted the name given by the angel
Mary, the teenage virgin who stands in wonder and awe before the Spirit
Joseph, the righteous carpenter, who protected the Gift
shepherds, the rustic men who were amazed and glorified and praise God.

Adoration of the Name of Jesus

The last line in today’s reading from the Book of Numbers says: “So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.” This OT prefiguring of the centrality of the name of Jesus having power is startling and it helps us to keep in mind that Jesus himself said that if you ask anything in his name he will give it to you.

In the Missal of Blessed John XXIII (1962) has the Church celebrate the feast of the circumcision of Jesus, which, besides dedicating a male to God, it is also giving of the name of to the baby. A separate feast day is given for the Holy Name of Jesus in this missal prayed on the first Sunday of teh year, or if Sunday’s dates are 1, 6 or 7, the feast falls to January 2.

But connected here we recall that Mary’s son was given the name “Jesus,” meaning God saves. Paul’s letter to the Philippians tells us that God the Father gave us Jesus’ name so that at hearing his name we would recognize and adore the name of Jesus above all others (2:9). In another place in the NT we hear Saint Peter saying that “there is no other name under heaven , given to men, whereby we must be saved,” and that at the name of Jesus “every knee shall bend, in heaven, on earth and under the earth.”

The spiritual teaching of many saints includes a profound reverence for the divine name of Jesus. One can think of Saint Bernard, Saint Bernardine of Siena, Saint John Capistrano, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the orders such as the Cistercians and Dominicans who promoted the devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. Pope John Paul II restored the feast of the Holy Name in the 2002 Roman Missal as an optional memorial giving it another day, that of January 3

Catholic custom is at the hearing of the name of Jesus one bends the neck in a slight bow as a sign of respect. Ultimately, the feast takes seriously the dominical saying, “hallowed be Thy name.”

Closeness to Mary, the Mother of God

The feast we observe on this the first day of January is an old Marian feast. We recognize that woman gave birth to the Son of God. It is through Mary that we know the face of God, who had a heartbeat. Indeed, through her ‘yes’ to God’s invitation the Eternal Word of God became man, in fact, God-man. Theologically, through Mary the activity of the Holy Spirit is made known to the world. That is why we say, “Come Holy Spirit, come through Mary” as a pious aspiration. In the Year of Grace Pius Parsch says that “she is the priestess who joyfully and solemnly offers on high the Lord’s fruitfruits of sacrifice in redemption” (vol 1, p. 246).

For a man schooled in Jewish theology and the Law, Saint Paul acknowledges and preaches that in the divine plan we personally meet God. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul states: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Further on Paul says that we are “no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.” How did this happen? It happened through a woman allowing herself to be disponable to God. That Mary was close to her son Jesus, who is our brother and Savior, Mary our Mother advocates our cause with her Son. Mary is the mediatrix of graces. That is, she intercedes on our behalf with Jesus. And as some preachers will say, “a Jewish mother always gets what she wants from her son.” Mary, the Mother of God, pleads our cause if we go to her with our heart open and supple for grace to be received.

In looking at what the Liturgy gives to us we can put the words of the Pope on our lips: “In giving ourselves to Christ, our Hope, you, O Mother of God, are always present.”

The Tidings Brought to Mary

Paul Claudel’s extraordinary play, “The Tidings Brought to Mary” will be presented by Blackfriars Repertory Theater and the Storm Theater.

Details:

Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 8:00 pm.

Manhattan Center, 311 West 34th Street (at 8th Avenue), New York, NY 10001.

Paul Claudel’s 1912 play is situated in 15th century France telling the story of two sisters of the Vercors family, one giving her life to God and the other focused on herself.

Monsignor Luigi Giussani said of the play, “The theme of ‘The Tidings Brought to Mary’ can be defined like this: love is the generator of the human person according to its total dimension; that is, to say, love is the generator of each person’s story in that it generates a people.”

Many have said that Tidings is challenging, thought-provoking and well-received. Until Blackfriars Theater produced the play in 2009, it had not been seen in NYC since 1923.

The text of “The Tidings Brought to Mary.”

Read the Introduction to Tidings by Monsignor Luigi Giussani: Tidings Brought to Mary Luigi Giussani Introduction.pdf

A review of the play

To purchase tickets visit this link. All tickets are picked up at the door.

Prayer for Anglicans seeking full communion with the Catholic Church

Eternal Father, we place before you the project of forming
the Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans seeking full communion with the
Catholic Church. We thank you for this initiative of Pope Benedict XVI, and we
ask that, through the Holy Spirit, the Ordinariates may become:

families of charity, peace and the service of the poor,
centres for Christian unity and reconciliation, communities that welcome and
evangelize, teaching the Faith in all its fullness, celebrating the liturgy and
sacraments with prayerful reverence and maintaining a distinctive patrimony of
Christian faith and culture.

Drawing on that heritage we pray:

Go before us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most
gracious favour, and further us with thy continual help; that in all our works,
begun, continued and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy Name, and finally
by thy mercy obtain everlasting life; though Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

V. Our Lady of Walsingham.

R. Pray for us
as we claim your motherly care.

V. Saint
Therese of the Infant Jesus.

R. Pray for us as we place this work under your patronage.

V. Blessed John
Henry Newman

R. Pray that Christ’s Heart may speak unto our hearts.

V. Saints and
Martyrs of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and North America.

R. Pray for us and accompany us on our pilgrim way.