Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

1 JANUARY 2016. Today the whole of the Church celebrates the Octave of Christmas and the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God.

"Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb." 

(Luke 1:42)

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

15 AUGUST 2013. The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This day we celebrate the height of humanity,
rescued from the world.
The promise of a loving God becomes a reality
for the first born among those
who dwell in the Divine Will by grace.
Death, its reign ended with the cross
and resurrection some time before,
loses its grip on the most favored of Israel's children.
She is our mother, given to us by her Son, the Redeemer.
She is our protectress,
who carries the cares and needs of others to Him.
Beginning with the feast at Cana,
she brings all her children and their needs to Him.
One with the Apostles,
present at Pentecost.
Awash in the Holy Spirit.
She proclaims her Son by her life of devotion to Him.
She proclaims her Son by her life of devotion to her children,
John and the others, entrusted to her by Him on the cross.
She awaits in hope to be reunited with Him after His ascension.
The Apostles, present at her death,
rejoice in the return of her to the Son.
For three days in the tomb, angels are heard singing.
Then,
silence.
The tomb is opened. The tomb is empty.
The assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

O Holy Mother, pray for us your children. We, the Order of Preachers, are claimed by you as your children. You have provided for us the model of Christian life: dedication to the truth of the salvation offered to the world by your Son and our Lord, Jesus Christ. As you are the first born of just human estate to enjoy bodily unity with God in Glory; you show to us the promise of the Father, the gift of the Son, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, brought to fulfillment in the joy of eternity with the infinite, loving God, creator of all.

Amen.

Happy New Year!

31 DECEMBER 2011. May the peace of Christ, the Prince of Peace, through the Holy and Divine Will reigning in each of us, be with each of us now and throughout 2012, relying always on the love and intercession of our Lady, most chaste spouse of the Holy Spirit and the vessel of our Salvation, Jesus Christ.

"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus," our hope in the new year.

Solemnity of the Assumption

15 AUGUST 2011. O God, how we wish to follow the exemplar of our Blessed Mother!

Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

31 MAY 2010. Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. From today's Gospel reading from the Gospel of Saint Luke, we hear of Mary's journey to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and the immortal words of Elizabeth's greeting:

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”

And Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.”

Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.

(Lk 1, 39-56)

Today's feast originated with the Franciscan Order in the medieval period. Originally, the feast was recommended by Saint Bonaventure, after which it was adopted and spread by Franciscan religious throughout Europe. In A.D. 1389, Pope Urban VI, as a part of his efforts to end the Great Western Schism, inserted the feast on the General Roman Calendar and assigned it to the date of 2 July. Today's feast continued to be celebrated on 2 July, until A.D. 1969 when Pope Paul VI moved it to today's date--31 May--to harmonize better with the Gospel account by falling between the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (25 March) and the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist (24 June).

I pray that all of us today, in our commemoration of this feast, will also keep hearts that leap for joy at the sound of Mary's greeting to us, her children on earth, beckoning us to draw closer to Her immaculate heart and the Sacred Heart of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Saint Louis Montfort's Prayer to Mary

Hail Mary, beloved Daughter of the Eternal Father! Hail Mary, admirable Mother of the Son! Hail Mary, faithful spouse of the Holy Ghost! Hail Mary, my dear Mother, my loving Mistress, my powerful sovereign! Hail my joy, my glory, my heart and my soul! Thou art all mine by mercy, and I am all thine by justice. But I am not yet sufficiently thine. I now give myself wholly to thee without keeping anything back for myself or others. If thou still seest in me anything which does not belong to thee, I beseech thee to take it and to make thyself the absolute Mistress of all that is mine. Destroy in me all that may he displeasing to God, root it up and bring it to nought; place and cultivate in me everything that is pleasing to thee.

May the light of thy faith dispel the darkness of my mind; may thy profound humility take the place of my pride; may thy sublime contemplation check the distractions of my wandering imagination; may thy continuous sight of God fill my memory with His presence; may the burning love of thy heart inflame the lukewarmness of mine; may thy virtues take the place of my sins; may thy merits be my only adornment in the sight of God and make up for all that is wanting in me. Finally, dearly beloved Mother, grant, if it be possible, that I may have no other spirit but thine to know Jesus and His divine will; that I may have no other soul but thine to praise and glorify the Lord; that I may have no other heart but thine to love God with a love as pure and ardent as think I do not ask thee for visions, revelations, sensible devotion or spiritual pleasures. It is thy privilege to see God clearly; it is thy privilege to enjoy heavenly bliss; it is thy privilege to triumph gloriously in Heaven at the right hand of thy Son and to hold absolute sway over angels, men and demons; it is thy privilege to dispose of all the gifts of God, just as thou willest.

Such is, O heavenly Mary, the "best part," which the Lord has given thee and which shall never be taken away from thee--and this thought fills my heart with joy. As for my part here below, I wish for no other than that which was thine: to believe sincerely without spiritual pleasures; to suffer joyfully without human consolation; to die continually to myself without respite; and to work zealously and unselfishly for thee until death as the humblest of thy servants. The only grace I beg thee to obtain for me is that every day and every moment of my life I may say: Amen, So be it--to all that thou didst do while on earth; Amen, so be it--to all that thou art now doing in Heaven; Amen, so be it--to all that thou art doing in my soul, so that thou alone mayest fully glorify Jesus in me for time and eternity.

Amen.

The Annunciation of the Lord

25 MARCH 2010. Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord: the announcement of the Achangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary nine months before Christmas that she would bear a Son, having been overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, and her son would be the savior of the world.

From the Gospel of Saint Luke, we hear the story of the Annunciation:

And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.

Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

 (Lk 1, 26-38 Douay-Rheims, 1899)

The Solemnity of the Annunciation has been celebrated in the Church since at least the sixth century and is mentioned between A.D. 530 and A.D. 533 in a sermon by Abraham of Ephesus. The first verified mention of the Annunciation is in the Galesian Sacramentary in the seventh century. And, the tenth synod of Toledo (A.D. 656) and the Trullan synod (A.D. 692) speak of the Annunciation as a universally accepted feast of the Church.

The Annunciation gives humanity its clearest example of surrender to the Lord in a manner that is at the zenith of humanity's comparability to the Lord's surrender of Himself for our race. Mary does not question Gabriel and does not defer her response to Gabriel's greeting until a more convenient moment. She simply says, "Yes." This simple yes, which in its nature is probably the most significant response of humanity to the Lord prior to the coming of the Son of God, is no simple nor trivial act. Mary gives herself freely and without reservation to the Divine Will of God, reserving nothing for herself and nothing for the world. And, through this greatest gift of human love expressed in deed for the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ comes into the world to redeem the whole of the history and future of humanity.

Hail Mary, full of grace
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God
Pray for us sinners
Now and at the hour of our death. 

Amen.

IMAGE: El Greco (Spain 1541-1614).

Prayer to Mary for a Good Mind

 By A. Hanrion, S.J.

O Mary, my Mother,
I offer you my soul, my mind, and my heart.
Make of me God's instrument.
Give me a penetrating mind to discover,
firm to judge,
open to understand,
free to serve the truth;
an honest mind in telling what it sees
rather than what it wants to see;
a tolerant mind which does not dictate to other people,
but which explains what it sees clearly;
a mind infused by the light and the truth of your Son Jesus,
patient in faith,
while waiting for the vision of eternal life.

Amen.

Reparation for Insults to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Crowned Madonna, Rokitno, Poland, 1671

5 DECEMBER 2009. Today is Saturday, the day that Church custom dedicates to the veneration and honor of the Blessed Virgin. In reparation for all the insults the Blessed Virgin Mary suffers throughout the world, we the Church offer our prayer:

O blessed Virgin, Mother of God, look down in mercy from Heaven, where thou art enthroned as Queen, upon me, a miserable sinner, thine unworthy servant. Although I know full well my own unworthiness, yet in order to atone for the offenses that are done to thee by impious and blasphemous tongues, from the depths of my heart I praise and extol thee as the purest, the fairest, the holiest creature of all God's handiwork. I bless thy holy Name, I praise thine exalted privilege of being truly Mother of God, ever Virgin, conceived without stain of sin, Co-Redemptrix of the human race. I bless the Eternal Father who chose thee in an especial way for His daughter; I bless the Word Incarnate who took upon Himself our nature in thy bosom and so made thee His Mother; I bless the Holy Spirit who took thee as His bride. All honor, praise and thanksgiving to the ever-blessed Trinity who predestined thee and loved thee so exceedingly from all eternity as to exalt thee above all creatures to the most sublime heights. O Virgin, holy and merciful, obtain for all who offend thee the grace of repentance, and graciously accept this poor act of homage from me thy servant, obtaining likewise for me from thy Divine Son the pardon and remission of all my sins. Amen.

SOURCE: The Raccolta, 1950

Memorial of the Queenship of Blessed Virgin Mary

22 AUGUST 2009. Today the Church celebrates the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Today's celebration was first enunciated by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Ad caeli reginam, issued on October 11, 1954. Originally, the memorial was celebrated on the last day of Mary's month--May 31. However, Pope Paul VI moved the feast to August 22.

Recognizing previous recognitions of Mary as Queen, Pope Pius XII recites the many saints that have attributed heavenly royalty to Our Mother. At one point, Pius writes:

St. Alphonsus Ligouri, in collecting the testimony of past ages, writes these words with evident devotion: "Because the virgin Mary was raised to such a lofty dignity as to be the mother of the King of kings, it is deservedly and by every right that the Church has honored her with the title of 'Queen'."

Mary, Our Mother, is indeed the queen of heaven and earth. As Christ the King was born of her virgin womb, and she was chosen by God to bear His Son, we acknowledge that Mary has a royal presence in the sight of the Lord. There is no other woman to whom the title of queen so rightly belongs.

LET US PRAY

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy!
Our life, our sweetness, and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished
children of Eve, to thee do we send
up our sighs, mourning and weeping
in this valley, of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us; and
after this our exile show unto us the
blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus;
O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God

That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

IMAGE: The Salus Populi Romani crowned by Pope Pius XII in 1954

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

15 AUGUST 2009. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady into heaven to be with her son, Our Lord Jesus, in the majesty and presence of God. It seems as though today is a turning point in the calendar; seasonally Autumn will be right around the corner and this solemnity marks a turning of the Church from the long days of Summer, and Ordinary Time, toward the great celebration of the Incarnation of Christ.

Pope Pius XII, in 1950, enunciated as Catholic dogma the belief that Our Lady was assumed bodily into heaven. In Pius XII's Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus (The Most Bountiful God), the Pope proclaims that: "the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." While fairly recent in time, the Assumption is not a new teaching. Indeed, Tradition reaching back as far as the Third Century tells the faithful of Mary's bodily assumption to be with Our Lord.

Indeed, too, the Assumption is the very fulfillment of the hope in Christ that all faithful share--the bodily return of Our Lord and the bodily redemption of all the faithful to live in eternity with God. On the Solemnity of the Assumption in 2004, the great Pope John Paul II said this:

Today the Church celebrates Mary’s glorious Assumption body and soul into Heaven. The two dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption are closely related. Both proclaim the glory of Christ the Redeemer and the holiness of Mary, whose human destiny is even now perfectly and definitively realized in God.

"When I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also" (Jn 14: 3). Mary is the pledge of the fulfilment of Christ’s promise. Her Assumption thus becomes for us "a sign of sure hope and consolation" (cf. Lumen Gentium, 68).

Today we venerate Our Lady who was assumed bodily into Heaven, a destiny for which every person is created--to be loved by God to the complete fulfillment of that Love. Thus, we pray for the assistance of Our Lady, assumed and seated in heaven with Christ Her son, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit--the Holy Trinity--that as the Blessed Virgin Mary was the fulfillment of Christ's promise to us, we may hope in Christ, loving Christ with our very lives, to share too in Our Mother's eternal reward, with Her assistance and the intercessory assistance of all the angels and saints.

Prayer:

Father in heaven,
all creation rightly gives you praise,
for all life and all holiness come from you.
In the plan of your wisdom
she who bore the Christ in her womb
was raised body and soul in glory to be with him in heaven.
May we follow her example in reflecting your holiness
and join in her hymn of endless love and praise.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.