Category: Blessed Virgin Mary

Dear little one! how sweet thou art

This evening reflection on the Nativity of our Lord and Savior leads me to a friend’s Christmas card of this year which bears the poem of Oratorian Father and author Wilfrid Faber. Indeed, Father Faber is a terrific and powerful poet who exercised his ministerial priesthood with warmth and insight. Join me in celebrating he birth of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Dear little one! how sweet thou art, Thine eyes how bright they shine, So bright they almost seem to speak When Mary’s look meets Thine.

How faint and feeble is Thy cry, Like plaint of harmless dove, When Thou dost murmur in Thy sleep Of sorrow and of love!

When Mary bids Thee sleep thou sleep’st Thou wakest when she calls;
Thou art content upon her lap,
Or in the rugged stalls.

Simplest of babes! with what a grace Thou dost Thy Mother’s will! Thine infant fashions will betray The Godhead’s hidden skill.

When Joseph takes thee in his arms, And smooths thy little cheek, Thou lookest up into his face
So helpless and so meek.

Yes! Thou art what Thou seems’t to be, A thing of smiles and tears;
Yet Thou art God, and heaven and earth Adore Thee with their fears.

Yes! dearest Babe! those tiny hands That play with Mary’s hair, The weight of all the mighty world This very moment bear.

Art Thou, weak Babe, my very God? O, I must love thee then,
Love Thee, and yearn to spread Thy love Among forgetful men.

– Father Wilfrid Faber, Cong. Orat. (1814–1863)

Mary, the bright Star

The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was commissioned by Justino de Neve for the Hospital de los Venerables Sacerdotes in Seville, Spain. The painting is at the Museo del Prado.

“This important Marian feast occurs during Advent, a season of watchful and prayerful preparation for Christmas. She who knew better than anyone how to wait attentively for the Lord guides us and shows us how to make more vital and active our journey to the Holy Night of Bethlehem. With her, we spend these weeks in prayer and, guided by her bright star, hasten to make the spiritual journey that will lead us to celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation with greater intensity.”

~St. John Paul II, Angelus on 8 December 1998

O pure and immaculate and likewise blessed Virgin, who art the sinless Mother of thy Son, the mighty Lord of the universe, thou who art inviolate and altogether holy, the hope of the hopeless and sinful, we sing thy praises. We bless thee, as full of every grace, thou who didst bear the God-Man: we all bow low before thee; we invoke thee and implore thine aid. Rescue us, O holy and inviolate Virgin, from every necessity that presses upon us and from all the temptations of the devil. Be our intercessor and advocate at the hour of death and judgment; deliver us from the fire that is not extinguished and from the outer darkness; make us worthy of the glory of thy Son, O dearest and most clement Virgin Mother. Thou indeed art our only hope, most sure and sacred in God’s sight, to whom be honor and glory, majesty and dominion, for ever and ever, world without end. Amen.

St Ephrem (306-373)

Recalling Mary’s birth

Sermon on the Nativity of the Mother of God

Fr. Alexander Schmemann

The Church’s veneration of Mary has always been rooted in her obedience to God, her willing choice to accept a humanly impossible calling. The Orthodox Church has always emphasized Mary’s connection to humanity and delighted in her as the best, purest, most sublime fruition of human history and of man’s quest for God, for ultimate meaning, for ultimate content of human life.

If in Western Christianity veneration of Mary was centered upon her perpetual virginity, the heart of Orthodox Christian East’s devotion, contemplation, and joyful delight has always been her Motherhood, her flesh and blood connection to Jesus Christ. The East rejoices that the human role in the divine plan is pivotal. The Son of God comes to earth, appears in order to redeem the world, He becomes human to incorporate man into His divine vocation, but humanity takes part in this.

If it is understood that Christ’s “co-nature” with us is as a human being and not some phantom or bodiless apparition, that He is one of us and forever united to us through His humanity, then devotion to Mary also becomes understandable, for she is the one who gave Him His human nature, His flesh and blood. She is the one through whom Christ can always call Himself “The Son of Man.” Son of God, Son of Man… God descending and becoming man so that man could become divine, could become partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), or as the teachers of Church expressed it, “deified.” Precisely here, in this extraordinary revelation of man’s authentic nature and calling, is the source that gratitude and tenderness which cherishes Mary as our link to Christ and, in Him, to God. And nowhere is this reflected more clearly that in the Nativity of the Mother of God. Nothing about this event is mentioned anywhere in the Holy Scriptures. But why should there be? Is there anything remarkable, anything especially unique about the normal birth of a child, a birth like any other?

The Church began to commemorate the event with a special feast… because, on the contrary, the very fact that it is routine discloses something fresh and radiant about everything we call routine and ordinary, it gives new depth to the unremarkable details of human life… And with each birth the world is itself in some sense created anew and given as a gift to this new human being to be his life, his path, his creation.This feast therefore is first a general celebration of Man’s birth, and we no longer remember the anguish, as the Gospel says, “for joy that a human being is born into the world” (Jn. 16:21). Secondly, we now know whose particular birth, whose coming we celebrate: Mary’s. We know the uniqueness, the beauty, the grace of precisely this child, her destiny, her meaning for us and for the whole world. And thirdly, we celebrate all who prepared the way for Mary, who contributed to her inheritance of grace and beauty…

And therefore the Feast of her Nativity is also a celebration of human history, a celebration of faith in man, a celebration of man.Sadly, the inheritance of evil is far more visible and better known. There is so much evil around us that this faith in man, in his freedom, in the possibility of handing down a radiant inheritance of goodness has almost evaporated and been replaced by cynicism and suspicion. This hostile cynicism and discouraging suspicion are precisely what seduce us to distance ourselves from the Church when it celebrates with such joy and faith this birth of a little girl in whom are concentrated all the goodness, spiritual beauty, harmony and perfection that are elements of genuine human nature. Thus, in celebrating Mary’s birth we find ourselves already on the road to Bethlehem, moving toward the joyful mystery of Mary as the Mother to God.

Mary, Mother of the Church

Today’s Marian feast is relatively new to the Latin Church. Those familiar will recognize that it was St Paul VI who established the title for Mary as “Mother of the Church” but it was Popr Francis who established the liturgical memorial to be celebrated on the Monday following Pentecost. Hence, it is a moveable memorial.

Theologically the Magisterium indicates that the title of Mother of the Church recognizes the fact that the Holy Theotokos, Mary, Mother of God, was praying in the Cenacle with the Apostles at the Pentecost.

Biblically, it is revealed that Mary is the Mother of God, the mother of Jesus who was with Her Son as many key moments of of the Savior’s ministry and at the Cross when Jesus gave His instructions to Her and the Apostle John, establishing a relationship within the Kingdom of God. Jesus said to Mary, “Woman, behold thy son,” and to St. John (who mystically represents all His disciples), “Behold thy mother.”

The Collect

Lord our God, through your power and goodness the Blessed Virgin, the fairest fruit of your redeeming love, shines forth as the perfect image of the Church; grant to your people on their pilgrim way on earth that, with eyes fixed on Mary, they may follow closely in the footsteps of her Son until they come to that fullness of glory, which now they contemplate in his Mother with hearts filled with joy. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Our Lady of Czestochowa

Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the Black Madonna. The missionary and miraculous icon of Our Lady resides at The Pauline monastery at Jasna Gora. In 1717, the image was ceremoniously crowned and Jasna Gora became the center of a Marian devotion in Poland. Having been to the Shrine, I can attest that it is a beautiful and moving place.

St. John Paul II: “Jasna Gora is the Shrine of the nation. One must put their ear to this holy place to feel the heart of the nation beating in the Mother’s Heart. And it beats, as we know, all the tones of history, all the sounds of life”.

As with Poland so here in the USA, may then”heart of the nation beating in the Mother’s Heart”, may Our Lady of Czestochowa, pray for us.

The Dormition of the Mother of God

𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗜𝗜 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗦𝘁. 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀

“𝑇𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝐴𝑑𝑎𝑚 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑, 𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡; 𝑤𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐, 𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑛𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔, “𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝐼 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛?” (𝑆𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠 5:3) 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦 – 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑆𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝐻𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑉𝑖𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑛, 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙; 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜 𝐼, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑚 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛, 𝑎𝑚 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑒 – 𝐼, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑚 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙, ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦.”

Mary unites heaven and earth

Today, following yesterday’s Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The following passage is from St. Maximilian Kolbe:

In the union of the Holy Spirit with her, not only does love bind these two beings, but the first of them (the Holy Spirit) is all the love of the Most Holy Trinity, while the second (the Blessed Virgin Mary) is all the love of creation, and thus in that union heaven is joined to earth, the whole heaven with the whole earth, the whole of Uncreated Love with the whole of created love: this is the vertex of love.

Annunciation to Mary, the Mother of God

Blessed feast of the Annunciation
 
The oldest surviving icon of the Annunciation is found in the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria in Rome, Italy, and dates from the second half of the second century. Priscilla is thought to have been a well-to-do Roman who converted to Christianity and was martyred. These Christian catacombs, along with many others found surrounding Rome, are a treasury of early Christian iconography.

Our Lady of the Rosary

October 7th brings us to moment when we realize that Our Lady, through the gift of the gift of the Rosary opens a new vista for meditating on Life of Christ and the gift of salvation.

From a sermon of St Bernard of Clairvaux

We should meditate on the mysteries of salvation

The child to be born of you will be called holy, the Son of God, the fountain of wisdom, the Word of the Father on high. Through you, blessed Virgin, this Word will become flesh, so that even though, as he says: I am in the Father and the Father is in me, it is still true for him to say: “I came forth from God and am here.”

In the beginning was the Word. The spring was gushing forth, yet still within himself. Indeed, the Word was with God, truly dwelling in inaccessible light. And the Lord said from the beginning: I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. Yet your thought was locked within you, and whatever you thought, we did not know; for who knew the mind of the Lord, or who was his counsellor?

And so the idea of peace came down to do the work of peace: The Word was made flesh and even now dwells among us. It is by faith that he dwells in our hearts, in our memory, our intellect and penetrates even into our imagination. What concept could man have of God if he did not first fashion an image of him in his heart? By nature incomprehensible and inaccessible, he was invisible and unthinkable, but now he wished to be understood, to be seen and thought of.

But how, you ask, was this done? He lay in a manger and rested on a virgin’s breast, preached on a mountain, and spent the night in prayer. He hung on a cross, grew pale in death, and roamed free among the dead and ruled over those in hell. He rose again on the third day, and showed the apostles the wounds of the nails, the signs of victory; and finally in their presence he ascended to the sanctuary of heaven.

How can we not contemplate this story in truth, piety and holiness? Whatever of all this I consider, it is God I am considering; in all this he is my God. I have said it is wise to meditate on these truths, and I have thought it right to recall the abundant sweetness, given by the fruits of this priestly root; and Mary, drawing abundantly from heaven, has caused this sweetness to overflow for us.