Understanding, Exodus 32:7-14, Psalms 51:3-19, Luke 15:1-32, Pope Francis's Angelus, Inspirational Hymns - Gregorian Chants, Our Lady of Medjugorje Monthly Message, Feast of the Nativity of Mary, St Anne Church Jerusalem, Mediatrix , 54 Day Novena for Our Nation and World Peace, Mystical City of God Book 1 Chapters 6-7 The Immaculate Conception and Birth of Mary, Catholic Catechism - Part Three - The Life of the Christ - Chapter 3 Article 2 The Church - Mother and Teacher RECHARGE: Heaven Speaks to Young Adults
JESUS I TRUST IN YOU (Year of Mercy). "Always Trust in Jesus, He the beacon of light amongst the darkest clouds" ~ Zarya Parx 2016
JESUS I TRUST IN YOU (Year of Mercy). "Always Trust in Jesus, He the beacon of light amongst the darkest clouds" ~ Zarya Parx 2016
"Where There is a Will, With God, There is a Way", "There is always a ray of sunshine amongst the darkest Clouds, the name of that ray is Jesus" ~ Zarya Parx 2014
The world begins and ends everyday for someone. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge, reason and free will, make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in Heaven. The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, wonder and awe (fear of the Lord) , counsel, knowledge, fortitude, and piety (reverence) and shun the seven Deadly sins: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony...Its your choice whether to embrace the Gifts of the Holy Spirit rising towards eternal light or succumb to the Seven deadly sins and lost to eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes from this earth to the Darkness, Purgatory or Heaven is our Soul...it's God's perpetual gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...~ Zarya Parx 2013
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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2016 - YEAR OF MERCY
Pope Francis has declared an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. This Holy Year of Mercy began December 8, 2015, the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. It will close November 20, 2016, the Feast of Christ the King. This year’s motto is “Merciful Like the Father.”
Sometimes, when we think of the word mercy, we picture someone throwing themselves on their knees before a cruel villain, pleading to be spared some punishment. This is not our understanding of God’s mercy. We do not ask for God’s mercy because we are afraid of incurring his wrath as punishment for our sins. Rather, when we call on God to have mercy, we are calling on God in the only way we know him—as one who responds with compassion to those in need. When we show mercy to others, we are responding as God responds, with compassion.
Liturgical Cycle: C - Gospel of Luke - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Daily Rosary
(MON, SAT) - Joyful Mysteries
(TUES, FRI) - Sorrowful Mysteries
(WED,SUN) - Glorious Mysteries
(THURS) - Luminous Mysteries
(MON, SAT) - Joyful Mysteries
(TUES, FRI) - Sorrowful Mysteries
(WED,SUN) - Glorious Mysteries
(THURS) - Luminous Mysteries
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Inspirational Hymns
Contents
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Our Lady of Medjugorje Monthly Messages
September 2, 2016 message from Our Lady of Medjugorje:
Dear children, according to the will of my Son and my motherly love, I am coming to you, my children, but especially to those who have not yet come to know the love of my Son. I am coming to you who think of me and who invoke me. To you, I am giving my motherly love and I am carrying the blessing of my Son. Do you have pure and open hearts, and do you see the gifts, the signs of my presence and love? My children, in your earthly life, be led by my example. My life was pain, silence and immeasurable faith and trust in the Heavenly Father. Nothing is by chance: neither pain, nor joy, nor suffering, nor love. All of these are graces which my Son grants to you and which lead you to eternal life. Of you, my Son asks for love and prayer in Him. As a mother I will teach you: to love and to pray in Him means to pray in the silence of your soul and not only reciting with your lips; it is even the least beautiful gesture done in the name of my Son - it is patience, mercy, the acceptance of pain and sacrifice done for the sake of another. My children, my Son is looking at you. Pray that you also may see His face and that it may be revealed to you. My children, I am revealing to you the only and real truth. Pray that you may comprehend it and be able to spread love and hope; that you may be able to be apostles of my love. In a special way, my motherly heart loves the shepherds. Pray for their blessed hands. Thank you. ~ Blessed Mother Mary
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Papam Franciscus
(Pope Francis)
Pope Francis Angelus:
September 11, 2016
2016-09-11 Vatican Radio
Pope Francis warned against a “false freedom” which has created “many new forms of slavery” during his Jubilee Audience in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday.
The Holy Father’s catechesis focused on the word ‘redemption,’ which he said is “little used, but it is important because it points to the most radical liberation God is able to perform for us, for all humanity, and for the entirety of creation.”
“It appears that the people of today no longer love to think of being liberated and saved by the intervention of God; in fact, people today are under the illusion that their liberty is a force with which to obtain all things. They even boast of this,” – Pope Francis said – “But in reality, it is not like this. How many illusions are being sold under the pretext of freedom, and how many new forms of slavery are being created in our time in the name of a false freedom!”
“There are so many slaves: ‘I do this because I want to do it, I take drugs because I like it, I'm free, I will do something else.’ They are slaves!” – the Holy Father continued – “They become slaves in the name of freedom. We have all seen such people eventually end up in the ground. We need God to deliver us from all forms of indifference, selfishness and self-sufficiency.”
Pope Francis said we have been called instead to a new state of life.
“By becoming one of us, the Lord Jesus not only takes on our human condition, but he also raises us up to the possibility of being children of God,” – the Pope said – “By His death and resurrection, the unblemished lamb Jesus Christ has conquered death and sin to free us from their domination. He is the Lamb who was sacrificed for us, so we might receive a new life of forgiveness, love and joy. How beautiful are these three words: forgiveness, love and joy!”
“All that He has assumed has also been redeemed, liberated and saved,” Pope Francis said.
“Certainly, it is true that life puts us to the test, and sometimes we suffer for it,” – he continued – “Nevertheless, in these moments we are invited to turn our gaze to the crucified Jesus, who suffers for us and with us, as certain proof that God does not abandon us. Never forget, however, that in anguish or persecution - as in everyday suffering - we are always freed by the merciful hand of God, who raises us to himself and leads us to new life.”
The Pope said the love of God has no limits, and we are able to discover “ever-new signs” of God’s attention to us.
“Our whole life, though marked by the fragility of sin, is placed under the gaze of God who loves us,” Pope Francis said.
“How many pages of Holy Scripture tell us about the presence, closeness, and tenderness of God for all people, especially for children, the poor and the afflicted!” – the Holy Father said – “God has a great tenderness - a great love - for children, for the weak, for those discarded by society. The more we are in need, the more his gaze on us is filled with mercy. He shows a merciful compassion towards us because he knows our weaknesses. He knows our sins and forgive us; He always forgives!”
Pope Francis concluded his catechesis by asking the pilgrims to “let us open ourselves to Him, so we receive his Grace: Because, as he Psalm says, ‘with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is the fullness of redemption.”
Over 30,000 pilgrims attended the special Saturday Audience, which takes place once a month during the Jubilee of Mercy.
Pope Francis warned against a “false freedom” which has created “many new forms of slavery” during his Jubilee Audience in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday.
The Holy Father’s catechesis focused on the word ‘redemption,’ which he said is “little used, but it is important because it points to the most radical liberation God is able to perform for us, for all humanity, and for the entirety of creation.”
“It appears that the people of today no longer love to think of being liberated and saved by the intervention of God; in fact, people today are under the illusion that their liberty is a force with which to obtain all things. They even boast of this,” – Pope Francis said – “But in reality, it is not like this. How many illusions are being sold under the pretext of freedom, and how many new forms of slavery are being created in our time in the name of a false freedom!”
“There are so many slaves: ‘I do this because I want to do it, I take drugs because I like it, I'm free, I will do something else.’ They are slaves!” – the Holy Father continued – “They become slaves in the name of freedom. We have all seen such people eventually end up in the ground. We need God to deliver us from all forms of indifference, selfishness and self-sufficiency.”
Pope Francis said we have been called instead to a new state of life.
“By becoming one of us, the Lord Jesus not only takes on our human condition, but he also raises us up to the possibility of being children of God,” – the Pope said – “By His death and resurrection, the unblemished lamb Jesus Christ has conquered death and sin to free us from their domination. He is the Lamb who was sacrificed for us, so we might receive a new life of forgiveness, love and joy. How beautiful are these three words: forgiveness, love and joy!”
“All that He has assumed has also been redeemed, liberated and saved,” Pope Francis said.
“Certainly, it is true that life puts us to the test, and sometimes we suffer for it,” – he continued – “Nevertheless, in these moments we are invited to turn our gaze to the crucified Jesus, who suffers for us and with us, as certain proof that God does not abandon us. Never forget, however, that in anguish or persecution - as in everyday suffering - we are always freed by the merciful hand of God, who raises us to himself and leads us to new life.”
The Pope said the love of God has no limits, and we are able to discover “ever-new signs” of God’s attention to us.
“Our whole life, though marked by the fragility of sin, is placed under the gaze of God who loves us,” Pope Francis said.
“How many pages of Holy Scripture tell us about the presence, closeness, and tenderness of God for all people, especially for children, the poor and the afflicted!” – the Holy Father said – “God has a great tenderness - a great love - for children, for the weak, for those discarded by society. The more we are in need, the more his gaze on us is filled with mercy. He shows a merciful compassion towards us because he knows our weaknesses. He knows our sins and forgive us; He always forgives!”
Pope Francis concluded his catechesis by asking the pilgrims to “let us open ourselves to Him, so we receive his Grace: Because, as he Psalm says, ‘with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is the fullness of redemption.”
Over 30,000 pilgrims attended the special Saturday Audience, which takes place once a month during the Jubilee of Mercy.
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2016 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed - 09/11/2016
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Today's Word - understanding [uhn-der-stan-ding]
Origin: before 1050; Middle English understandynge, late Old English understandincge (noun). See understand, -ing1, -ing2
1. mental process of a person who comprehends; comprehension; personal interpretation: My understanding of the word does not agree with yours.
2. intellectual faculties; intelligence; mind: a quick understanding.
3. superior power of discernment; enlightened intelligence: With her keen understanding she should have become a leader.
4. knowledge of or familiarity with a particular thing; skill in dealing with or handling something: an understanding of accounting practice.
5. a state of cooperative or mutually tolerant relations between people: To him, understanding and goodwill were the supreme virtues.
6. a mutual agreement, especially of a private, unannounced, or tacit kind: They had an understanding about who would do the dishes.
7. an agreement regulating joint activity or settling differences, often informal or preliminary in character: After hours of negotiation, no understanding on a new contract was reached.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19
3 For I am well aware of my offences, my sin is constantly in mind.4 Against you, you alone, I have sinned, I have done what you see to be wrong, that you may show your saving justice when you pass sentence, and your victory may appear when you give judgement,
12 Give me back the joy of your salvation, sustain in me a generous spirit.
13 I shall teach the wicked your paths, and sinners will return to you.
17 Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken, contrite heart you never scorn.
19 Then you will delight in upright sacrifices,-burnt offerings and whole oblations -- and young bulls will be offered on your altar.
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Today's Epistle - Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
7 Yahweh then said to Moses, 'Go down at once, for your people whom you brought here from Egypt have become corrupt.8 They have quickly left the way which I ordered them to follow. They have cast themselves a metal calf, worshipped it and offered sacrifice to it, shouting, "Israel, here is your God who brought you here from Egypt!" '
9 Yahweh then said to Moses, 'I know these people; I know how obstinate they are!
10 So leave me now, so that my anger can blaze at them and I can put an end to them! I shall make a great nation out of you instead.'
11 Moses tried to pacify Yahweh his God. 'Yahweh,' he said, 'why should your anger blaze at your people, whom you have brought out of Egypt by your great power and mighty hand?
13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to whom you swore by your very self and made this promise: "I shall make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and this whole country of which I have spoken, I shall give to your descendants, and it will be their heritage for ever."
14 Yahweh then relented over the disaster which he had intended to inflict on his people.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Luke 15: 1-32
Meeting God in life
Luke 15:1-32
1. Opening prayer
Lord Jesus, send your
Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that you
read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the
Word, written in the Bible, you helped them to discover the presence of
God in the disturbing events of your sentence and death. Thus, the cross
that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of
life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.
2. Reading
a) A key to the reading:
Today’s Gospel gives
us three parables to help us consider in depth our image of God. The
image that a person has of God influences greatly his or her way of
thinking and acting. For instance, the image of God as a severe judge
frightens the person and renders that person too submissive and passive
or rebellious and riotous. The image of God as patriarch or boss, was
and still is used to legitimise relationships of power and dominion, in
society and in the Church, in the family as well as in the community. In
Jesus’ days, the idea that people had of God was of someone distant,
severe, a judge who threatened with punishment. Jesus reveals a new
image of God: God as Father, full of kindness for all and each one
individually. This is what these three parables want to communicate to us.
As you read, try to pause on each detail and, above all, let the words penetrate and challenge you. Try to discover what they have in common and try to compare this with your image of God. Only then, try to analyse the details of each parable: attitudes, actions, words, place, atmosphere, etc.
As you read, try to pause on each detail and, above all, let the words penetrate and challenge you. Try to discover what they have in common and try to compare this with your image of God. Only then, try to analyse the details of each parable: attitudes, actions, words, place, atmosphere, etc.
b) A division of the text to assist with the reading:
Luke 15:1-3: The key to the meaning of the three parables
Luke 15:4-7: In the first parable, you are invited to find the lost sheep
Luke 15:8-10: In the second parable, the woman tries to find the lost coin
Luke 15:11-32: In the third parable, the father tries to find his lost son
Luke 15:11-13: The decision of the younger son
Luke 15:14-19: The frustration of the younger son and the will to go back to the Father’s house
Luke 15:20-24: The Father’s joy in finding his younger son again
Luke 15:25-28b:The older son’s reaction
Luke 15:28a-30: The Father’s attitude towards his older son and the son’s reply
Luke 15:31-32: The Father’s final reply
Luke 15:4-7: In the first parable, you are invited to find the lost sheep
Luke 15:8-10: In the second parable, the woman tries to find the lost coin
Luke 15:11-32: In the third parable, the father tries to find his lost son
Luke 15:11-13: The decision of the younger son
Luke 15:14-19: The frustration of the younger son and the will to go back to the Father’s house
Luke 15:20-24: The Father’s joy in finding his younger son again
Luke 15:25-28b:The older son’s reaction
Luke 15:28a-30: The Father’s attitude towards his older son and the son’s reply
Luke 15:31-32: The Father’s final reply
c) The Gospel:
1 The tax collectors
and sinners, however, were all crowding round to listen to him, 2 and
the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, 'This man welcomes sinners
and eats with them.' 3 So he told them this parable: 4 'Which one of
you with a hundred sheep, if he lost one, would fail to leave the
ninety-nine in the desert and go after the missing one till he found it?
5 And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders 6
and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours,
saying to them, "Rejoice with me, I have found my sheep that was lost." 7
In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven
over one sinner repenting than over ninety-nine upright people who have
no need of repentance. 8 'Or again, what woman with ten drachmas
would not, if she lost one, light a lamp and sweep out the house and
search thoroughly till she found it? 9 And then, when she had found it,
call together her friends and neighbours, saying to them, "Rejoice with
me, I have found the drachma I lost." 10 In the same way, I tell you,
there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.'
11 Then he said, 'There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, "Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me." So the father divided the property between them. 13 A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery. 14 'When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch; 15 so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. 16 And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them. 17 Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's hired men have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger! 18 I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; 19 I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired men."
20 So he left the place and went back to his father. 'While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him. 21 Then his son said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son." 22 But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate.
25 'Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. 26 Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. 27 The servant told him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been fattening because he has got him back safe and sound." 28 He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out and began to urge him to come in; 29 but he retorted to his father, "All these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends.
30 But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property -- he and his loose women -- you kill the calf we had been fattening." 31 'The father said, "My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. 32 But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found." '
11 Then he said, 'There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, "Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me." So the father divided the property between them. 13 A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery. 14 'When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch; 15 so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. 16 And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them. 17 Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's hired men have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger! 18 I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; 19 I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired men."
20 So he left the place and went back to his father. 'While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him. 21 Then his son said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son." 22 But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate.
25 'Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. 26 Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. 27 The servant told him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been fattening because he has got him back safe and sound." 28 He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out and began to urge him to come in; 29 but he retorted to his father, "All these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends.
30 But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property -- he and his loose women -- you kill the calf we had been fattening." 31 'The father said, "My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. 32 But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found." '
3. A moment of prayerful silence
so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.
4. Some questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
a) What pleased or struck you most in the three parables? Why?
b) What is the main point of the parable of the lost sheep?
c) What is the main point of the parable of the lost coin?
d) What is the younger son’s attitude and what image does he have of his father?
e) What is the older son’s attitude and what image does he have of his father?
f) What is the father’s attitude towards each of his sons?
g) Do I identify with the younger or the older son? Why?
h) What do these three parables share in common?
i) Does our community reveal to others this love of God as Father that is full of kindness?
b) What is the main point of the parable of the lost sheep?
c) What is the main point of the parable of the lost coin?
d) What is the younger son’s attitude and what image does he have of his father?
e) What is the older son’s attitude and what image does he have of his father?
f) What is the father’s attitude towards each of his sons?
g) Do I identify with the younger or the older son? Why?
h) What do these three parables share in common?
i) Does our community reveal to others this love of God as Father that is full of kindness?
5. For those who wish to go deeper into the theme
a) The context then and now:
The 15th chapter
of Luke’s Gospel holds a central place in Jesus’ long journey to
Jerusalem. This journey begins in Luke 9:51 and ends in Luke 19:29. The
15th chapter is like the top of the hill from which we can
see the journey already travelled and the rest of the journey to come.
It is the chapter of God’s warm kindness and mercy, themes that are
Luke’s main concern. The communities must be a revelation of the face of
this God for humanity.
We have three parables here. Jesus’ parables have a precise purpose. These short stories taken from real life try to lead the listeners to reflect on their own life and discover there a particular aspect of God’s presence. In the parables there are two types of stories of life. Some stories are not normal and are not usual occurrences in daily life. For instance, the father’s goodness towards his younger son is not usual. Generally, fathers act much more severely towards children who behave like the younger son in the parable. Other stories are normal and are usual events in daily life, for instance the attitude of the woman who sweeps the house to look for the lost coin. As we shall see, these are different ways of urging people to think on life and on the presence of God in life.
We have three parables here. Jesus’ parables have a precise purpose. These short stories taken from real life try to lead the listeners to reflect on their own life and discover there a particular aspect of God’s presence. In the parables there are two types of stories of life. Some stories are not normal and are not usual occurrences in daily life. For instance, the father’s goodness towards his younger son is not usual. Generally, fathers act much more severely towards children who behave like the younger son in the parable. Other stories are normal and are usual events in daily life, for instance the attitude of the woman who sweeps the house to look for the lost coin. As we shall see, these are different ways of urging people to think on life and on the presence of God in life.
b) A commentary on the text:
Luke 15:1-2: The key to the meaning of the three parablesThe
three parables in chapter 15 are preceded by this information: "The tax
collectors and sinners, however, were all crowding round to listen to
him, and the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, ‘This man welcomes
sinners and eats with them!’" (Lk 15:1). On the one hand there are the
sinners and publicans, on the other the Pharisees and scribes, and
between the two groups stands Jesus. This was also happening in the 80’s
when Luke was writing his Gospel. The pagans approached the
communities, wanting to join and take part. Many of the brothers
complained saying that to welcome a pagan was against Jesus’ teaching.
The parables helped them discern. In the three parables we notice the
same concern: to show what must be done to regain what was lost: the lost sheep (Lk 15:4-7), the lost coin (Lk 15:8-10), the two lost sons (Lk 15:11-32).
Luke 15:3-7: In the first parable you are invited to recover the lost sheep Jesus speaks to his listeners: “If one of you has a hundred sheep…”. He says “one of you”. This means that you are
challenged! You, he, she, all of us are challenged! We are asked to
challenge ourselves with the strange and unlikely story of the parable.
Jesus asks: “Which one of you with a hundred sheep, if he lost one,
would fail to leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the
missing one till he found it?” What is your answer to Jesus’ question?
The way the question is put, we understand that Jesus thinks the answer
must be positive. But will it be so? will it be positive? Would you run
the risk of losing ninety-nine sheep in order to find the lost one? I
hear a different reply in my heart: “I am very sorry, but I cannot do
this. It would be silly to leave the ninety-nine sheep in the desert to
find the lost one!” But God’s love is above all normal rules of
behaviour. Only God can do such a crazy thing, so strange, so out of the
normal behaviour of human beings. The background to this parable is the
criticism of the scribes and Pharisees against Jesus (Lk 15:2). They
considered themselves to be perfect and despised others, accusing them
of being sinners. Jesus says: “I tell you, there will be more rejoicing
in heaven over one sinner repenting than over ninety-nine upright people
who have no need of repentance”. In another place he says: “Tax
collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God
before you!” (Mt 21:31) According to Jesus, God is happier with the
repentance of one sinner than with ninety-nine Pharisees and scribes.
God is happier with the repentance of one atheist who never goes to
church than with ninety-nine who consider themselves practising and
faithful Catholics and who despise atheists and prostitutes. This
different image of God that Jesus presents to the doctors, Pharisees and
all of us is quite disturbing!
Luke 15:8-10: In the second parable, the woman looks for the lost coin
This parable is different. The short story of the lost coin alludes to the normal behaviour of poor women who do not have much money. The woman in the parable has only ten silver coins. In those days, a drachma was worth a day’s labour. For poor women, ten drachmas was a lot of money! That is why, if they lost one coin, they would look for it and sweep the whole house till they found it. And when they found it, they would be immensely happy. The woman in the parable talks to her neighbours: “Rejoice with me! I have found the drachma I had lost!” Poor people who were listening to the story would have said: “That’s right! That’s what we do at home! When we find the lost coin our joy is great!” Well, as comprehensible as the great as the joy of poor women is when they find the lost coin, much greater is God’s joy over one sinner who repents!
This parable is different. The short story of the lost coin alludes to the normal behaviour of poor women who do not have much money. The woman in the parable has only ten silver coins. In those days, a drachma was worth a day’s labour. For poor women, ten drachmas was a lot of money! That is why, if they lost one coin, they would look for it and sweep the whole house till they found it. And when they found it, they would be immensely happy. The woman in the parable talks to her neighbours: “Rejoice with me! I have found the drachma I had lost!” Poor people who were listening to the story would have said: “That’s right! That’s what we do at home! When we find the lost coin our joy is great!” Well, as comprehensible as the great as the joy of poor women is when they find the lost coin, much greater is God’s joy over one sinner who repents!
Luke 15:11-32: In the 3rd parable, the father tries to meet again his two lost sonsThis
parable is well known. It reminds us of things that happen in life as
well as of other things that do not happen. The traditional title is
“The Prodigal Son”. In fact, the parable does not speak only of the
younger son, but describes the attitude of both sons, emphasising the
father’s effort to recover his two lost sons. The fact that Luke places
this parable in the central chapter of his Gospel, tells us how
important it is for the interpretation of the whole message contained in
Luke’s Gospel.
Luke 15:11-13: The younger son’s decisionA
man had two sons. The younger son asks for his share of the
inheritance. The father shares everything between them. Both the older
son and the younger son receive their share. Inheriting something is no
personal merit. It is a free gift. God’s bequest is shared as gifts with
all human beings, Jews and pagans, Christians and non-Christians. All
have some share in the Father’s bequest. Not all look after their share
in the same way. Thus, the younger son goes off a long way and squanders
his share by living a dissipated life and forgetting his Father. There
is no mention yet of the older son who also received his share. Later,
we shall know that he goes on staying at home, carrying on his life as
usual and working in the fields. In Luke’s time, the older son
represented the communities that came from Judaism; the younger son
represented communities that came from paganism. Today, who is the
younger and who the older son? Or may be both exist in each one of us?
Luke 15:14-19: The frustration of the younger son and the decision to go back to the Father’s houseThe
need for food causes the younger son to lose his freedom and become a
slave, looking after pigs. He is treated even worse than the pigs. This
was this situation of millions of slaves in the Roman Empire in Luke’s
day. This situation reminds the younger son of his Father’s house: “How
many of my father’s hired men have all the food they want and more, and
here am I dying of hunger!” He sees his life for what it is and decides
to go home. He even prepares his speech to his Father: “I will leave
this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against
heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat
me as one of your hired men!” A hired hand does what he is told,
follows the law of servitude. The younger son wanted to follow the law,
as the Pharisees and scribes wished to do in Jesus’ time (Lk 15:1). This
is what the Pharisee missionaries imposed on the pagans they converted
to the God of Abraham (Mt 23:15). In Luke’s time, Christians who came
from Judaism wanted Christians who were converted from paganism to
submit to the yoke of the law (Acts 15:1ff).
Luke 15:20-24: The Father’s joy at seeing the younger sonThe
parable says that the younger son was still a long way off from the
house, but the Father saw him, ran to him and kissed him tenderly. Jesus
gives the impression that the Father had been waiting all the time at
the window, looking at the road, trying to see whether his son would
appear on the road! To our way of feeling and thinking, the Father’s joy
seems to be overdone. He will not let his son finish his prepared
speech. He does not listen! The Father does not want his son to become a
slave. He wants him to be a son! This is the great Good News that Jesus
brings! A new robe, new sandals, a ring for his finger, a lamb, a
feast! In this great joy at the meeting, Jesus gives us a glimpse of the
Father’s great sorrow at the loss of his son. God was very sad and now
people begin to be aware of this when they see the Father’s great joy at
seeing his son once more! This joy is shared with all at the feast that
the Father orders to prepare.
Luke 15:25-28b: The older son’s reactionThe
older son comes back from work in the fields and sees that there is a
feast in the house. He does not go in. He wants to know what is going
on. When he is informed of the reason for the feast, he feels very angry
and will not go in. Closed in on himself, he only thinks of his rights.
He does not agree with the feast and cannot understand the Father’s
joy. This implies that he did know his Father well, even though they
lived in the same house. Had he known his Father, he would have been
aware of the Father’s great sorrow at the loss of the younger son and he
would have understood his joy at his return. Anyone who is too
concerned with observing the law of God runs the risk of forgetting God
himself! The younger son, even though he was away from home, seems to
know the Father better than the older son who lived with him in the same
house! Thus the younger son has the courage to go back to the Father’s
house, while the older son no longer wants to go into his Father’s
house! The older son does not want to be a brother, is not aware that,
without him, the Father will lose his joy, because he too is son like
the younger son!
Luke 15:28a-30: The Father’s attitude towards his older son, and the older son’s reply The
Father goes out of the house and begs his older son to go in. But the
son replies: “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once
disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered so much as a kid for me to
celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes
back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the
calf we had been fattening!" The older son glories in his observance:
“I have never once disobeyed your orders!” He too wants a feast and joy,
but only with his friends. Not with his brother, not with his father.
He does not mention his brother as such, he does not call him brother,
but “this you son”, as if he were no longer his brother. It is he, the
older brother, who speaks of prostitutes. It is his malice that
interprets thus the life of his younger brother. How often does the
older brother misinterpret his younger brother’s life! How often do
Catholics misinterpret the life of others! The Father’s attitude is
different. He goes out of the house for both sons. He welcomes the
younger brother, but does not want to lose the older brother. Both are
part of the family. The one must not exclude the other!
Luke 15:31-32: The Father’s final replyJust
as the Father pays no attention to the arguments presented by the
younger son, so also he pays no attention to the older son’s arguments
and says to him: "My son, you are with me always and all I have is
yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because
your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is
found!" Could it be that the older son was really aware of being always
with the Father and to find in his presence the cause of rejoicing? The
Father’s expression: “All I have is yours” includes also the younger son
who has come back! The older son has no right to make distinctions. If
he wishes to be his Father’s son, then he will have to accept him as he
is not as he would like the Father to be! The parable does not give us
the final answer of the older son. This concerns us, because we are all
older brothers!
c) Further information:
The two economies: the Father’s House and the Master’s House
This parable is known as that of the prodigal son, and this implies the economic side of things. Prodigal means
someone who spends freely, even though this is a secondary detail in
the parable. Really, the main point of the text is found in the fact
that the follower of Jesus will one day have to make a choice: the
choice between the Father’s House or the system of sharing the master’s
house or the system of accumulation.
The parable begins
with a young man who asks the father to give him his share of the
inheritance because he wants to leave home (Lk 15:12). To leave the
Father’s house requires that the person have the one thing the world
readily accepts: money. Without money the young man could not face the
world. But the young man was not mature enough to administer the money
and goes on a life of debauchery (Lk 15:13). To make things worse, when
he had spent all his money, he goes through difficult economic times,
which, in biblical language, are always described by the word “hunger”.
In the biblical world, famine exists only when the economic structure
has collapsed. So also the young man begins to be in need (Lk 15:14).
Difficulties faced
generate maturity. The young man sees that he still needs money to
survive in this world. So, for the first time in his life, he seeks
employment (Lk 15:15). Thus he goes to theMaster’s House who
sends him to look after pigs. He is very hungry, his wages are not
sufficient and he tries to satisfy his hunger by eating the food given
to the pigs (Lk 15:16). Meanwhile, in the master’s house things are not
so simple: the pigs’ food is for the pigs. The worker must eat from the
wages he gets for his service. Thus the master’s concern is not his
worker’s hunger but to fatten the pigs. The young man discovers that in
the master’s house food is denied, not shared, not even the food given
to the pigs. Each for himself!
From his experience in
the master’s house, the young man begins to compare his present
situation with that in his father’s house. In his Father’s House the
workers are not hungry because the bread is shared with all the
workers. In the father’s house no one remains without food, not even the
workers! The young man then decides to go back to his father’s house.
Now he is sufficiently mature to know that he cannot be considered as
son, so he asks his father for employment. In the father’s house the
workers are not hungry because the bread is shared.
There are those who
think that the son goes back because he is hungry. If so, his return
would be opportunism. It is not this, but a choice for a particular kind
of house. In the master’s house, nothing is shared, not even the pigs’
food. In the father’s house, no one is hungry because the mission of the
Father’s House is to “fill the hungry with good things” (Lk 1:53).
Sharing is the thing that keeps hunger away in the father’s house. But
the young man discovers this only because he is hungry in the master’s
house. Comparing the two models, the young man makes his choice: he
prefers to be a worker in the father’s house, a place of sharing, a
place where no one goes hungry and all are satisfied. So he goes back to
the father’s house asking to be one of the workers (Lk 15:17-20).
By putting this
reflection at the heart of his Gospel, Luke is warning the Christian
communities that are organising themselves in the particular economic
system of the Roman Empire. This system is symbolised in the parable by
the master’s house, where pigs get more attention than workers,
or, where investment is worth more than work. In the Father’s House, or
in the house of Christians, this system cannot rule. Christians must
concentrate their lives on sharing their goods. Sharing goods means
breaking with the imperial system of domination. It means breaking with
the master’s house. In the Acts of the Apostles we see that one of the
beautiful characteristics of the Christian community lies in the sharing
of goods (Acts 2:44-45; 3:6; 4:32-37).
Luke wants to remind
us that the greatest sign of the Kingdom is the common table in the
Father’s House, where there is room for all and where the bread is
shared with all. Living in the Father’s House means sharing everything
at the common table of the community. No one may be excluded from this
table. We are all called to share. As we are constantly reminded in our
celebrations: no one is so poor that he or she cannot share something.
And no one is so rich that he or she may not have something to receive.
The common table is built on sharing by all. Thus the feast in the
Father’s House will be eternal.
The three parables
have something in common: joy and the feast. Anyone who experiences the
free and surprising entrance of the love of God in his or her life will
rejoice and will want to communicate this joy to others. God’s saving
action is source of joy: “Rejoice with me!” (Lk 15:6.9) It is from this
experience of God’s gratuity that the sense of feasting and joy is born
(Lk 15:32). At the end of the parable, the Father asks to be joyful and
to celebrate. The joy seems to be dampened by the older son who does not
want to go in. He wants the right to celebrate only with his friends
and does not want to celebrate with the other members of his human
family. He represents those who consider themselves just and think that
they do not need conversion.
6. Praying a Psalm
Psalm 63(62): Your love is more than life
God, you are my God, I pine for you;
my heart thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
as a land parched, dreary and waterless.
Thus I have gazed on you in the sanctuary,
seeing your power and your glory.
Better your faithful love than life itself;
my lips will praise you.
my heart thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
as a land parched, dreary and waterless.
Thus I have gazed on you in the sanctuary,
seeing your power and your glory.
Better your faithful love than life itself;
my lips will praise you.
Thus I will bless you all my life,
in your name lift up my hands.
All my longings fulfilled as with fat and rich foods,
a song of joy on my lips and praise in my mouth.
On my bed when I think of you,
I muse on you in the watches of the night,
for you have always been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;
my heart clings to you,
your right hand supports me.
in your name lift up my hands.
All my longings fulfilled as with fat and rich foods,
a song of joy on my lips and praise in my mouth.
On my bed when I think of you,
I muse on you in the watches of the night,
for you have always been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;
my heart clings to you,
your right hand supports me.
May those who are hounding me to death
go down to the depths of the earth,
given over to the blade of the sword,
and left as food for jackals.
Then the king shall rejoice in God,
all who swear by him shall gain recognition,
for the mouths of liars shall be silenced.
go down to the depths of the earth,
given over to the blade of the sword,
and left as food for jackals.
Then the king shall rejoice in God,
all who swear by him shall gain recognition,
for the mouths of liars shall be silenced.
7. Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank
for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the
Father. May your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength
to practice that which your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary,
your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live
and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and
ever. Amen.
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Feast Day : Feast Day of Nativity of Mary
Feast Day: September 8
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| Nativity of Mary, 1509 Borgona |
Tradition celebrates the event as a liturgical feast in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and in most Anglican liturgical calendars on 8 September, nine months after the solemnity of her Immaculate Conception, celebrated on 8 December. The Eastern Orthodox equivalent, the Nativity of the Theotokos pertains to the birth of the Virgin Mary in the Orthodox perspective.
This feast, like that of the Assumption of Mary, originated in Jerusalem. It began in the fifth century as the feast of the Basilica Sanctae Mariae ubi nata est, now called the Basilica of Saint Anne. In the seventh century, the feast was celebrated by the Byzantines and at Rome as the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The feast is also celebrated by Syrian Christians on 8 September and by Coptic Christians on 9 May (1 Bashans). The feast is also included in the Tridentine Calendar for 8 September.
The scene was frequently depicted in art, as part of cycles of the Life of the Virgin. Late medieval depictions are often valuable records of domestic interiors and their fittings - at this period the setting was often in a wealthy household.
Apostolic tradition places Mary's birthplace either in the Church of Saint Anne in Jerusalem, or in Tzippori, Israel, where Saint Anne once lived
Reference
- Roten S.M., Johann G., The History of the Liturgical Celebration of Mary's Birth
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Snippet I: Church of St Anne, Via Dolorasa, Jerusalem
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| Birthplace of Saint Anne, Mother of Mary, Jerusalem |
The Church of St. Anne
is a Roman Catholic church, located at the start of the Via Dolorosa,
near the Lions' Gate and churches of the Flagellation and Condemnation,
in the Muslim Quarter of the old city of Jerusalem.
During
the Roman Period a pagan shrine to either the Egyptian god Serapis or
the Greek god Asclepius, both gods of healing, stood on the grounds next
to the two Pools of Bethesda.
A
Byzantine basilica was built over the remains of the shrine in the 5th
century. Baldwin I, the first titled Crusader king of Jerusalem,
banished his wife Arda to the old convent which still existed here in
1104. A small Crusader church, the so-called Moustier, was then erected over an extension of the northern Pool of Bethesda.
The
actual Church of St Anne followed sometime between 1131 and 1138,
during the reign of Queen Melisende. It was erected near the remains of
the Byzantine basilica, over the site of a grotto believed by the
Crusaders to be the birthplace of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. It is dedicated to Anna and Joachim, the parents of Saint Mary, who according to tradition lived here.
Unlike
many other Crusader churches, St. Anne's was not destroyed after Ṣalāḥ
ad-Dīn's 1187 conquest of Jerusalem. In 1192 Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn, known in the
West as Saladin, converted the building into an Islamic seminary or madrasa, known as al-Madrasa as-Salahiyya (of Saladin),
as is still written in the Arabic inscription above the entrance. In
the 15th century it was considered as the most prestigious college in
the city, counting among its more prominent students the Islamic jurist
and city historian Mujir al-Din (1456–1522).
During
the renewed Muslim rule of Palestine, Christian pilgrims were only
permitted inside the grotto after paying a fee. Eventually the madrasa
was abandoned and the former church building fell into disrepair. In
1856, in gratitude for French support during the Crimean War, the
Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I presented it to Napoleon III. It was
subsequently restored, but the majority of what remains today is
original. Currently St. Anne's belongs to the French government and is
administered by the White Fathers, an order of the Catholic Church named
for the colour of their robes.
Design and construction
Built
between 1131 and 1138 to replace a previous Byzantine church, and
shortly thereafter enlarged by several meters, the church is an
excellent example of Romanesque architecture. The three-aisled basilica
incorporates cross-vaulted ceilings and pillars, clear clean lines and a
somewhat unadorned interior. The nave is separated from the lower
lateral aisles by arcades of pointed arches. The high altar, designed by
the French sculptor Philippe Kaeppelin incorporates many different
scenes. On the front of the altar are depicted the Nativity (left), the
Descent from the Cross (center) and the Annunciation (right); on the
left-hand end is the teaching of Mary by her mother, on the right-hand
end her presentation in the Temple. In the south aisle is a flight of
steps leading down to the crypt, in a grotto believed by the Crusaders
to be Mary's birthplace. An altar dedicated to Mary is located there.
The Byzantine basilica was partly stretched over two water basins,
collectively known as the Pools of Bethesda, and built upon a series of
piers, one of which still stands today in its entirety.
Acoustics
The
church possesses amazing acoustics perfect for Gregorian chant, with
sounds moving across the open space and up from the grotto. This makes
the church a pilgrimage site for soloists and choirs, especially
sopranos and tenors
References
- Roten S.M., Johann G., The History of the Liturgical Celebration of Mary's Birth
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Today's Snippet II: Mediatrix
- In Roman Catholic Mariology, the title Mediatrix refers to the intercessory role of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a mediator in the salvific redemption by her son Jesus Christ, and that he bestows graces through her. Mediatrix is an ancient title that has been used by a number of saints since at least the 5th century. Its use grew during the Middle Ages and reached its height in the writings of saints Louis de Montfort and Alphonsus Liguori in the 18th century.A general role of mediation or intercession is attributed to Mary in Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, and the term "Mediatrix" was applied to her in the dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium of the Second Vatican Council. "This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator."The use of the title Mediatrix and the doctrine of Mary having a higher level of saintly intercession (owing to her special relationship with her son Jesus) is distinct from the theological issues involved in the establishment of Mediatrix of all graces as a dogma. On 12 September 2015, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments through the Archdiocese of Lipa, Philippines formerly declared the 1948 Marian apparition under the title Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces to be authentic and worthy of pious belief, now rejected as non-supernatural by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith on 1 June 2016.
Early history
Mediatrix is an ancient title. A prayer attributed to Ephrem the Syrian in the 4th century calls her "after the mediator, you (Mary) are the mediatrix of the whole world"[6] The title was also used in the 5th century by Basil of Seleucia. By the 8th century the title Mediatrix had found common use and Andrew of Crete and saint John of Damascus used it.
These early notions place Mary's mediation on a higher level than that of other forms of intercession of saints. Her position as the mother of Jesus Christ the redeemer and source of grace makes her preeminent among others who may be called mediators.
Later Middle ages
The use of the Mediatrix title continued to grow in the Middle Ages and Bernard of Clairvaux (12th century), Bonaventure and Bernardino of Siena (15th century) frequently employed it.
In the 13th century Saint Thomas Aquinas noted that only Jesus Christ can be the perfect mediator between God and humankind. But this does not hinder that others may be called mediators, in some respect, between God and man, because they assist and prepare union between God and man
The same notion was stated in the 16th century, by the Council of Trent which declared "that the saints, who reign together with Christ, offer up their own prayers to God for men; that it is good and useful suppliantly to invoke them, and to have recourse to their prayers, aid, (and) help for obtaining benefits from God, through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our alone Redeemer and Saviour; but that they think impiously, who deny that the saints, who enjoy eternal happiness in heaven, are to be invocated; or who assert either that they do not pray for men; or, that the invocation of them to pray for each of us even in particular, is idolatry; or, that it is repugnant to the word of God; and is opposed to the honour of the one mediator of God and men, Christ Jesus; or, that it is foolish to supplicate, vocally, or mentally, those who reign in heaven".
17th–18th centuries
The reliance on the intercession of Mary grew and reached its height in the writings of saints Louis de Montfort and Alphonsus Liguori in the 18th century.
Louis de Montfort's approach (which later influenced Pope John Paul II) emphasized that Mary is the natural path to approaching Jesus, due to the special relationship she has with him. This reliance on the intercession of Mary is based on the general Montfortean formula: "...to do all our actions by Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary so that we may do them all the more perfectly by Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus and for Jesus..."
In his book Treatise on Prayer Alphonsus Liguori reviewed the writings of Thomas Aquinas and Bernard of Clairvaux on the intercession of saints, and Mary's role as Mediatrix, and strongly supported the title.
19th–21st centuries
The title Mediatrix has been used by a number of popes. Leo XIII used it in 1896 and Pius X in 1904. This continued in the 20th century with Benedict XV and Pius XI. However, Pius XII avoided the use of the title, although he urged reliance on the intercession of Mary.
Pope John Paul II used the title Mediatrix a number of times and in his encyclical Redemptoris Mater wrote:
"The maternal role of Mary towards people in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power": it is mediation in Christ. ...Mary's mediation is intimately linked with her motherhood...through this fullness of grace and supernatural life she was especially predisposed to cooperation with Christ, the one Mediator of human salvation. And such cooperation is precisely this mediation subordinated to the mediation of Christ.
In September 2012, the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, claimant visionnaire Emma de Guzman stated that the Virgin Mary revealed her maternal role as "Mediatrix before the Mediator", a special Marian title associated by many Filipino Catholics as in reference to Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces
Theological issues
Among Catholic theologians, it is undisputed that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and the human race, especially in the salvific role of redemption as exhibited by the crucifixion on Mount Calvary. Accordingly, the word "mediator" in the strict sense fits Jesus alone in relation to God, but in a subordinate sense Christians exercise a mediation "that is effective through, with, and in Christ. The subordinate mediator never stands alone, but is always dependent on Jesus."
With special reference to Mary, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting the Second Vatican Council, which in its document Lumen gentium referred to Mary as "'Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix and Mediatrix", says:
"Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. ... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix" (Lumen gentium, 62). "Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men ... flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it" (Lumen gentium, 60). "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source" (Lumen gentium, 62).
At a Mariological Congress held at Czestochowa in August 1996, a commission was established in response to a request, by the Holy See, which had asked to know the opinion of the scholars present at the Congress on the possibility of defining a new dogma of faith regarding Mary as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate. (In recent years, the Holy Father and various dicasteries of the Holy See had received petitions requesting such a definition.) The response of the commission, deliberately brief, was unanimous and precise: it is not opportune to abandon the path marked out by the Second Vatican Council and proceed to the definition of a new dogma.
Mediatrix of all graces
Going further than expressing belief in Mary as Mediatrix, proposals have been made to declare that Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces. Pope Benedict XV allowed the dioceses of Belgium to celebrate the feast of Mary Mediatrix of all graces on May 31. In printings of the Roman Missal from that date until 1961, the Mass of Mary Mediatrix of All Graces was found in the appendix Missae pro aliquibus locis (Masses for Some Places), but not in the general calendar for use wherever the Roman Rite is celebrated. Other Masses authorized for celebration in different places on the same day were those of the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen of All Saints and Mother of Fair Love and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Belgian celebration has now been replaced by an optional memorial on 31 August of the Virgin Mary Mediatrix.
References
- Mary's Pope: John Paul II, Mary, and the Church by Antoine Nachef (Sep 1, 2000) ISBN 1580510779 pages 179–180
- McGurkin, John Anthony. The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, 2011 ISBN 1405185392 p. 597
- Pope Paul VI, Lumen gentium, §62, November 21, 1964
- Mark Miravalle, 1993, Introduction to Mary, Queenship Publishing ISBN 978-1-882972-06-7, pages 109–111, 207–208
- L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 25 June 1997, p.10
- Mark Miravalle, 1993, Introduction to Mary, Queenship Publishing ISBN 978-1-882972-06-7, page 104
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa, III, 26,1
- Council of Trent, Session XXV
- Mark Miravalle, 1993, Introduction to Mary, Queenship Publishing ISBN 978-1-882972-06-7, page 156
- Mark Miravalle, 1993, Introduction to Mary, Queenship Publishing ISBN 978-1-882972-06-7 page 175
- Treatise on Prayer by St Alphonsus Liguori (Jun 7, 2009) ISBN 098199010X page 26
- The Mystery of Mary by Paul Haffner (2004) ISBN 0852446500 page 260
- Pope John Paul II's encyclical Redemptoris Mater, Part III, "Maternal Mediation" On the Blessed Virgin Mary in the life of the Pilgrim Church
- https://web.archive.org/web/20130127011338/http://www.lapietainternational.com:80/index.php/messages/99-2012-messages. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2013. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - Castro, June Keithley. "Messages from Mama Mary"
- Timothy 2:5
- The Intercession of Saints
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 969–970
- Behold Your Mother by Stephen Rossetti 2007 ISBN 1594710287 page 25
- Mark Miravalle, 2008, Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, seminarians, and Consecrated Persons, Queenship Publishing ISBN 1-57918-355-7 page 448
- See, for instance, the 1957 printing and a late-1920s printing. Calendrier liturgique francophone 2010-2011
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Today's Snippet III: History of the 54 Day Rosary Novena
"Whoever desires to obtain favors from Me should make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary, and three novenas in thanksgiving." ~ Promise of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary
On March 3, 1884, Our Lady of Pompeii appeared before the gravely ill daughter of an Italian military officer and, through her, gave the world a new devotion of tremendous power.
or over a year, Fortuna Agrelli had been in great distress and even near-death. Indeed, her case had been given up as hopeless by the most celebrated physicians. In desperation, on February 16, the afflicted girl and her family began a novena of Rosaries.
Two weeks later, the Queen of the Holy Rosary appeared before Fortuna one evening. Sitting upon a high throne, surrounded by luminous figures, Our Lady was holding the Divine Child on Her lap and a Rosary in Her hand. Both were arrayed in golden garments and were accompanied
by Sts. Dominic and Catherine of Siena.
“Child, your faith has pleased Me.” Our Lady said to Fortuna, “Whoever desires to obtain favors from Me should make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary, and three novenas in
thanksgiving.”
Obedient to Our Lady’s command, Fortuna and her family completed the six novenas whereupon the young girl was restored to perfect health and her family showered with many blessings.
“This miracle of the Rosary made a very deep impression on Pope Leo XIII, He wrote 17 encyclicals on the Rosary and urged all Christians to love the Rosary and pray it fervently.
A laborious Novena, but a Novena of Love. Youwho are sincere will not find it too difficult,
if you really wish to obtain your request. Should you not obtain the favor you seek, be assured that the Rosary Queen, who knows what each one stands most in need of, has heard your prayer. You will not have prayed in vain. No prayer ever went unheard. And Our Blessed Lady has never been known to fail. Look upon each Hail Mary as a rare and beautiful rose which you lay at Mary's feet. These spiritual roses, bound in a wreath with Spiritual Communions, will be a most pleasing and acceptable gift to her, and will bring down upon you special graces. If you would reach the innermost recesses of her heart, lavishly bedeck your wreath with spiritual diamonds holy communions. Then her joy will be unbounded, and she will open wide the channel of her choicest graces to you.
if you really wish to obtain your request. Should you not obtain the favor you seek, be assured that the Rosary Queen, who knows what each one stands most in need of, has heard your prayer. You will not have prayed in vain. No prayer ever went unheard. And Our Blessed Lady has never been known to fail. Look upon each Hail Mary as a rare and beautiful rose which you lay at Mary's feet. These spiritual roses, bound in a wreath with Spiritual Communions, will be a most pleasing and acceptable gift to her, and will bring down upon you special graces. If you would reach the innermost recesses of her heart, lavishly bedeck your wreath with spiritual diamonds holy communions. Then her joy will be unbounded, and she will open wide the channel of her choicest graces to you.
Reference:
- Knights of Divine Mercy. Retreived August, 8, 2016 from http://knightsofdivinemercy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/54_Day_Novena_Rosary.pdf
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Today's Snippet IV: The 54 Day Novena
Start: Monday August 15, 2016 - Feast of the Assumption
Finish: Friday, October 7, 2016 - the Feast of our Lady of the Rosary
Duration: 54 consectuvite days of a total of 6 nine days novenas starting with 3 novenas of petition (27 days) followed by 3 novenas of thanksgiving (27 days). Only Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious Mysteries are recited in order, daily as taught in original novena of 1884. NOTE: The Luminous mysteris are NOT included in this novena because they are a modern day addition. The original 54 day novena was issued in 1884 by Our Lady of Pompeii with the thre original mysteries and continues in original tradition..
Intentions: Worldwide Conversion, Our Nation, and World Peace
Intentions: Worldwide Conversion, Our Nation, and World Peace
How to Recite the 54-Day Rosary Novena
Traditionally a novena is nine days. Thus, Our Lady’s words to young Fortuna, “make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary in petition, and three novenas in thanksgiving.”
The novena consists of five decades of the Rosary (one set of mysteries) each day for twenty-seven days in petition; then immediately five decades each day for an additional twenty-seven days in thanksgiving, regardless of whether or not the request has been granted yet.
So began six novenas of Rosaries, which became known as the 54-day Rosary Novena.
To do the novena properly one must pray the Rosary for 54 consecutive days, without missing a day, and must pray the particular Mystery indicated for that day following the correct sequence.
That is, the first day of the novena always begins with the Joyful Mysteries (regardless of what day of the week the novena is started); the second day, the Sorrowful Mysteries are prayed; and the third day of the novena, the Glorious Mysteries are prayed. The fourth day of the novena begins again with the Joyful Mysteries and continues on in that sequence throughout the 54 days of the novena.
The 54 day novena starts on Monday, August 15, 2015 on the Feast of the Assumption with the Joyful Mysteries. Below are included the opening petition and thanksgiving prayers for each Mystery.
Opening prayer s for Joyful Mysteries
In petition:
Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I humbly kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses snow white buds to remind thee of thy joys each bud recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God's graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my petition; from thy bounty thou wilt give me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly seek. I despair of nothing that I ask of thee. Show thyself my Mother!
In thanksgiving:
Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I gratefully kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses snow white buds to remind thee of thy joys each bud recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, Dispenser of God's graces. and Mother of all who invoke thee! thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my thanksgiving; from thy bounty thou hast given me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly sought. I despaired not of what I asked of thee, and thou hast truly shown thyself my Mother.
Opening Prayers for Sorrowful Mysteries
In petition:Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I humbly kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses blood red roses to remind thee of the passion of thy divine Son, with Whom thou didst so fully partake of its bitterness each rose recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God's graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! Thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my petition; from thy bounty thou wilt give me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly seek. I despair of nothing that I ask of thee. Show thyself my Mother!
In thanksgiving:
Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I gratefully kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses blood red roses to remind thee of the passion of thy divine Son, with Whom thou didst so fully partake of its bitterness each rose recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God's graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! Thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my thanksgiving; from thy bounty thou hast given me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly sought. I despaired not of what I asked of thee, and thou hast truly shown thyself my Mother.
Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I gratefully kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses blood red roses to remind thee of the passion of thy divine Son, with Whom thou didst so fully partake of its bitterness each rose recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God's graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! Thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my thanksgiving; from thy bounty thou hast given me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly sought. I despaired not of what I asked of thee, and thou hast truly shown thyself my Mother.
Opening Prayers for Glorious Mysteries
In petition:
Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I humbly kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses full blown white roses, tinged with the red of the passion, to remind thee of thy glories, fruits of the sufferings of thy Son and thee each rose recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God's graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! Thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my petition; from thy bounty thou wilt give me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly seek. I despair of nothing that I ask of thee. Show thyself my Mother!
In thanksgiving:
Hail!, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I gratefully kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses full blown white roses, tinged with the red of the passion, to remind thee of thy glories, fruits of the sufferings of thy Son and thee each rose recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God s graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my thanksgiving; from thy bounty thou bast given me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly sought. I despaired not of what I asked of thee, and thou hast truly shown thyself my Mother.
Indulgencies
Made by the Blessed Virgin to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan.
1. To all those who will recite my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and very great
graces.
2. Those who will persevere in the recitation of my Rosary shall receive some signal grace.
3. The Rosary shall be a very powerful armor against hell; it shall destroy vice, deliver from sin, and shall dispel heresy.
4. The Rosary shall make virtue and good works flourish, and shall obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies; it shall substitute in hearts love of God for love of the world, elevate them to desire heavenly and eternal goods. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means!
5. Those who trust themselves to me through the Rosary, shall not perish.
6. Those who will recite my Rosary piously, considering its Mysteries, shall not be overwhelmed
by misfortune nor die a bad death. The sinner shall be converted; the just shall grow in grace and
become worthy of eternal life.
7. Those truly devoted to my Rosary shall not die without the consolations of the Church, or without
grace.
8. Those who will recite my Rosary shall find during their life and at their death the light of God, the fullness of His grace, and shall share in the merits of the blessed.
9. I will deliver very promptly from purgatory the souls devoted to my Rosary.
10. The true children of my Rosary shall enjoy great glory in heaven.
11. What you ask through my Rosary, you shall obtain.
12. Those who propagate my Rosary shall obtain through me aid in all their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Son that all the confrères of the Rosary shall have for their brethren in life and death the saints of heaven.
14. Those who recite my Rosary faithfully are all my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.
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Featured Item from Litany Lane
St Anne and St Joachim Education of Mary Notebooks
by LitanyLane
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FEATURED BOOK
THE MYSTICAL CITY OF GOD
Mystical City of God, the miracle of His omnipotence and the abyss of His grace the divine history and life of the Virgin Mother of God our Queen and our Lady, most holy Mary expiatrix of the fault of eve and mediatrix of grace. Manifested to Sister Mary of Jesus, Prioress of the convent of the Immaculate Conception in Agreda, Spain. For new enlightenment of the world, for rejoicing of the Catholic Church, and encouragement of men. Completed in 1665.
THE DIVINE HISTORY AND LIFE OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD
Venerable Mary of Agreda
Translated from the Spanish by Reverend George J. Blatter
1914, So. Chicago, Ill., The Theopolitan; Hammond, Ind., W.B. Conkey Co., US..
IMPRIMATUR: +H.J. Alerding Bishop of Fort Wayne
Translation from the Original Authorized Spanish Edition by Fiscar Marison (George J. Blatter). Begun on the Feast of the Assumption 1902, completed 1912.
This work is published for the greater Glory of Jesus Christ through His most Holy Mother Mary and for the sanctification of the Church and her members.
Book 1, Chapter 6
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
In the tribunal of the divine will,
as the inevitable source and universal cause of the whole creation,
all things with their conditions and circumstances, are decreed and
determined, so that nothing is forgotten and no created power can in
the least impede the fulfillment of the decree. All the spheres and
the inhabitants contained in them are dependent on this ineffable
government that rules them and cooperates with the natural causes
unfailingly and unerringly in all that must be done. God works in all
and sustains all by his sole will; in Him lies the preservation of
all things or their annihilation, for without Him they would return
to the non–existence, from which they were drawn. But since He
has created the universe for his glory and for the glory of the
incarnate Word, therefore He has from the beginning opened the paths
and prearranged the ways by which the same Word should lower Himself
to assume human flesh and to live among men, and by which they might
ascend toward God, know Him, fear Him, seek Him, serve Him, love Him,
praise Him and enjoy Him eternally. As the opportune and preordained
time had arrived, the three divine Persons conferred with each other
saying: “Now is the time to begin the work of our pleasure and
to call into existence that pure Creature and that soul, which is to
find grace in our eyes above all the rest. Let Us furnish Her with
richest gifts and let Us deposit in Her the great treasures of our
grace. Since all others, whom We called into existence, have turned
out ungrateful and rebellious to our wishes, frustrating our
intention and impeding by their own fault our purpose, namely, that
they conserve themselves in the happy state of their first parents,
and since it is not proper, that our will should be entirely
frustrated, let Us therefore create this being in entire sanctity and
perfection, so that the disorder of the first sin shall have no part
in Her. Let Us create a soul according to our pleasure, a fruit of
our attributes, a marvel of our infinite power, without touch or
blemish of the sin of Adam. Let Us perfect a work which is the object
of our Omnipotence and a pattern of the perfection intended for our
children, and the finishing crown of creation. All have sinned in the
free will and resolve of the first man (Rom. 5, 12); let Her be the
sole creature in whom We restore and execute that which they in their
aberration have lost. Let Her be a most special image and likeness of
our Divinity and let Her be in our presence for all eternity the
culmination of our goodwill and pleasure. In Her We deposit all the
prerogatives and graces which in our first and conditional resolve We
had destined for the angels and men, if they had remained in their
first estate. What they have lost We renew in that Creature and We
will add to these gifts many others. Thus our first decree shall not
be frustrated, but it shall be fulfilled in a higher manner through
this our first and chosen One (Cant. 6, 8). And since We assigned and
prepared the most perfect and estimable of our gifts for the
creatures who have lost them, We will divert the stream of our bounty
to our Well–beloved. We will set Her apart from the ordinary
law, by which the rest of the mortals are brought into existence, for
in Her the seed of the serpent shall have no part. I will descend
from heaven into her womb and in it vest Myself from her substance
with human nature.”
“It is
befitting and due to the infinite goodness of our Divinity, that It
be founded and enclosed in the most pure matter, untouched and
unstained by fault. Nor is it proper that our equity and providence
overlook what is most apt, perfect and holy, and choose that which is
inferior, since nothing can resist our will (Esther 13, 9). The Word,
which is to become man, being the Redeemer and Teacher of men, must
lay the foundation of the most perfect law of grace, and must teach
through it, that the father and mother are to be obeyed and honored
as the secondary causes of the natural existence of man. The law is
first to be fulfilled by the divine Word by honoring Her as his
chosen Mother, by exalting Her with a powerful arm, and lavishing
upon Her the most admirable, most holy and most excellent of all
graces and gifts. Among these shall be that most singular honor and
blessing of not subjecting Her to our enemy, nor to his malice; and
therefore She shall be free from the death of sin.”
“On earth
the Word shall have a Mother without a father, as in heaven He has a
Father without a mother. And in order that there may be the proper
correspondence, proportion and consonance in calling God his Father
and this Woman his Mother, We desire that the highest correspondence
and approach possible between a creature and its God be established.
Therefore at no time shall the dragon boast of being superior to the
Woman, whom God will obey as his true Mother. This dignity of being
free from sin is due and corresponds to that of being Mother of the
Word, and it is in itself even more estimable and useful. It is a
greater good to be holy than to be only mother; but all sanctity and
perfection is nevertheless due to the motherhood of God. The human
flesh, from which He is to assume form, must be free from sin. Since
He is to redeem in it the sinners, He must not be under the necessity
of redeeming his own flesh, like that of sinners. Being united to the
Divinity his humanity is to be the price of Redemption, wherefore it
before all be preserved from sin, and We have already foreseen and
accepted the merits of the Word in this very flesh and human nature.
We wish that for all eternities the Word should be glorified through
this tabernacle and habitation of the human nature.”
“She is to
be the daughter of the first man; but in the order of grace She is to
be singularly free and exempt from fault; and in the order of nature
She is to be most perfect, and to be formed according to a special
providence. And since the incarnate Word is to be the Teacher of
humility and holiness and for this end is to endure labors,
confounding the vanity and deceitful fallacies of mortals by choosing
for Himself sufferings as the treasure most estimable in our eyes. We
wish that She, who is to be his Mother, experience the same labors
and difficulties, that She be singularly distinguished in patience,
admirable in sufferings, and that She, in union with the
Onlybegotten, offer the acceptable sacrifices of sorrow to Us for her
greater glory.”
“Now the
time has arrived,” added his Majesty, “which was resolved
upon by our Providence for bringing to light the Creature most
pleasing and acceptable to our eyes. That Creature, in whom the human
nature is freed from its first sin, who is to crush the head of the
dragon, who was typified by that singular sign, the Woman that
appeared in the heavens in our presence, and who is to clothe the
eternal Word with human flesh. The hour is at hand, so blessed for
mortals, in which the treasures of our Divinity are to be opened and
the gates of heaven to be unlocked. Let the rigor of our justice be
softened by the chastisements, which we have until now executed upon
the mortals; let the attribute of our mercy become manifest; let the
creatures be enriched, and let the divine Word merit for them the
treasures of grace and of eternal glory.”
“Now let the
human race receive the Repairer, the Teacher, the Brother and Friend,
to be life for mortals, a medicine for the sick, a consoler for the
sorrowful, a balsam for the wounded, a guide and companion for those
in difficulties. Let now the prophecies of our servants and the
promises made to them that We would send a Savior to redeem them, be
fulfilled. And in order that all may be executed according to our
good pleasure, and that We may give a beginning to the mystery hidden
since the constitution of the world, We select for the formation of
our beloved Mary the womb of our servant Anne; in her be She
conceived and in her let that most blessed Soul be created. Although
her generation and formation shall proceed according to the usual
order of natural propagation, it shall be different in the order of
grace, according to the ordainment of our Almighty power.”
“You do
already know how the ancient serpent, since he saw the sign of this
marvelous Woman, attempts to circumvent all women, and how, from the
first one created, he persecutes all those, whom he sees excelling in
the perfection of their works and life, expecting to find among them
the One, who is to crush his head (Gen. 3, 15). When he shall
encounter this most pure and spotless Creature, he shall find Her so
holy that he will exert all his powers to persecute Her in pursuance
of the concept which he forms of Her. But the arrogance of this
dragon shall be greater than his powers (Is. 12, 7); and it is our
will that you have particular charge of this our holy City and
tabernacle of the incarnate Word, protecting, guarding, assisting and
defending Her against our enemies, and that you enlighten, strengthen
and console Her with all due solicitude and reverence as long as She
shall be a wayfarer among the mortals.”
At this proposal of the Most High all
the holy angels, prostrate before the royal throne of the most holy
Trinity, avowed their promptitude and eagerness to obey the divine
mandate. Each one desired in holy emulation to be appointed, and
offered himself for such a happy service; all of them gave to the
Almighty praise and thanksgiving in new songs, because the hour had
arrived for the fulfillment of that for which they had, with the most
ardent desires, prayed through many ages. I perceived on this
occasion that from the time of that great battle of saint Michael
with the dragon and his allies, in which they were hurled into
everlasting darkness while the hosts of Michael remained victorious
and confirmed in grace and glory, these holy spirits commenced
immediately to pray for the fulfillment of the mysteries of the
Incarnation of the Word, of which they became cognizant at that time.
And they persevered in these oft repeated prayers up to the hour in
which God manifested to them the fulfillment of their desires and
petitions.
On this account the celestial spirits at this new
revelation conceived an additional joy and obtained new accidental
glory, and they spoke to the Lord: “Most High and
incomprehensible God and Lord, Thou art worthy of all reverence,
praise and eternal glory; and we are thy creatures and made according
to thy divine will. Send us, most powerful Lord, to execute thy most
wonderful works and mysteries, in order that in all things thy most
just pleasure may be fulfilled.” In such terms of affection the
heavenly princes acknowledged themselves as subjects; and if it had
been possible, they desired to increase in purity and perfection in
order to be more worthy guardians and servants of Mary.
Then the Most High chose and
appointed those who were to be occupied in this exalted service (the
guardianship of Mary) from each of the nine choirs of angels. He
selected one hundred, being nine hundred in all. Moreover he assigned
twelve others who should in a special manner assist Mary in corporeal
and visible forms; and they were to bear the emblems or escutcheons
of the Redemption. These are the twelve which are mentioned in the
twenty–first chapter of the Apocalypse as guarding the portals
of the city; of them I will speak in the explanation of that chapter
later on. Besides these the Lord assigned eighteen other angels,
selected from the highest ranks, who were to ascend and descend by
that mystical stairs of Jacob with the message of the Queen to his
Majesty and those of the Lord to Her.
In addition to all these holy angels
the Almighty assigned and appointed seventy seraphim, choosing them
from the highest ranks and from those nearest to the Divinity, in
order that they might communicate and converse with this Princess of
heaven in the same way as they themselves interact with each other,
and as the higher communicate with the lower ones.
In order that this invincible
warrior–troop might be well appointed, saint Michael, the
prince of the heavenly militia was placed at their head, and although
not always in the company of the Queen, he was nevertheless often
near Her and often showed himself to Her. The Almighty destined him
as a special ambassador of Christ our Lord and to act in some of the
mysteries as the defender of his most holy Mother. In a like manner
the holy prince Gabriel was appointed to act as legate and minister
of the eternal Father in the affairs of the Princess of heaven. Thus
did the most holy Trinity provide for the custody and the defense of
the Mother of God.
The divine wisdom had now prepared
all things for drawing forth the spotless image of the Mother of
grace from the corruption of nature. The number and congregation of
ancient Patriarchs and Prophets had been completed and gathered, and
the mountains had been raised, on which this mystical City of God was
to be built (Ps. 86, 2). By the power of his right hand He had
already selected incomparable treasures of the Divinity to enrich and
endow Her. A thousand angels were equipped for her guard and custody,
that they might serve as most faithful vassals of their Queen and
Lady. He had provided a noble and kingly ancestry from whom She
should descend and had selected for Her most holy and perfect
parents, than whom none holier or more perfect could be found in the
world. For there is no doubt that if better and more apt parents
existed, the Almighty would have selected them for Her, who was to be
chosen by God as his Mother.
In the formation of the body of the
most holy Mary the wisdom and power of the Almighty proceeded so
cautiously that the quantities of the four natural elements of the
human body, the sanguine, melancholic, phlegmatic and choleric, were
compounded in exact proportion and measure; in order that by this
most perfect proportion in its mixture and composition it might
assist the operations of that holy Soul with which it was to be
endowed and animated. This wonderfully composed temperament was
afterwards the source and the cause, which in its own way made
possible the serenity and peace that reigned in the powers and
faculties of the Queen of heaven during all her life. Never did any
of these elements oppose or contradict nor seek to predominate over
the others, but each one of them supplemented and served the others,
continuing in this well ordered fabric without corruption or decay.
Never did the body of the most Holy Mary suffer from the taint of
corruption, nor was there anything wanting or anything excessive
found in it; but all the conditions and proportions of the different
elements were continuously adjusted, without any want or excess in
what was necessary for her perfect existence and without excess or
default in dryness or moisture. Neither was there more warmth than
was necessary for maintenance of life or digestion; nor more cold
than was necessary for the right temperature and for the maintenance
of the bodily humors.
On the Saturday next following, the
Almighty created the soul of his Mother and infused it into the body;
and thus entered into the world that pure Creature, more holy,
perfect and agreeable to His eyes than all those He had created, or
will create to the end of the world, or through the eternities. God
maintained a mysterious correspondence in the execution of this work
with that of creating all the rest of the world in seven days, as is
related in the book of Genesis. Then no doubt He rested in truth,
according to the figurative language of Scripture, since He has now
created the most perfect Creature of all, giving through it a
beginning to the work of the divine Word and to the Redemption of the
human race. Thus was this day a paschal feast for God and also for
all creatures.
By the force of this divine
pronouncement and through the love with which it issued from the
mouth of the Almighty, was created and infused into the body of most
holy Mary her most blessed Soul. At the same time She was filled with
grace and gifts above those of the highest seraphim of heaven, and
there was not a single instant in which She was found wanting or
deprived of the light, the friendship and love of the Creator, or in
which She was touched by the stain or darkness of original sin. On
the contrary She was possessed of the most perfect justice, superior
to that of Adam and Eve in their first formation. To Her was also
concealed the most perfect use of the light of reason, corresponding
to the gifts of grace, which She had received. Not for one instant
was She to remain idle, but to engage in works most admirable and
pleasing to her Maker.
Although She was adorned as the
Bride, descending from heaven, endowed with all perfections and with
the whole range of infused virtues, it was not necessary that She
should exercise all of them at once, it being sufficient that She
exercise those, which were befitting her state in the womb of her
mother. Among the first thus exercised were the three theological
virtues, faith, hope and charity, which relate immediately to God.
These she at once practiced in the most exalted manner recognizing by
a most sublime faith the Divinity with all its perfections and its
infinite attributes, and the Trinity with its distinction of Persons.
This knowledge by faith was not impeded by the higher knowledge which
God gave her, as I will soon demonstrate. She exercised also the
virtue of hope, seeing in God the object of her happiness and her
ultimate end. Toward this her sanctified Soul at once hastened and
aspired with the most intense desires of uniting Herself with God and
without having for one moment turned to any other object or tarried
one moment in her upward flight. At the same instant also She put
into action the virtue of charity, seeing in God the infinite and
highest Good, and conceiving such an intense appreciation of the
Divinity, that not all the seraphim could ever reach such an eminent
degree of fervor and virtue.
The other virtues which adorn and
perfect the rational part of the creature, She possessed in a
proportion corresponding to the theological virtues. The moral and
natural virtues were hers in a miraculous and supernatural measure,
and in a still more exalted manner was She possessed of the gifts and
fruits of the Holy Ghost in the order of grace. She had an infused
knowledge and habit of all these virtues and of all the natural arts,
so that She knew and was conversant with the whole natural and
supernatural order of things, in accordance with the grandeur of God.
Hence from her first instant in the womb of her mother, She was
wiser, more prudent, more enlightened, and more capable of
comprehending God and all his works, than all the creatures have been
or ever will be in eternity, excepting of course her most holy Son.
In correspondence with this wonderful
knowledge of her most holy soul at the instant of its union with the
body, Mary exerted Herself by eliciting heroic acts of virtue, of
incomparable admiration, praise, glorification, adoration, humility,
love of God and sorrow for the sins committed against Him whom She
recognized as the Author and end of these admirable works. She
hastened to offer Herself as an acceptable sacrifice to the Most
High, beginning from that instant with fervent desire to bless Him,
love Him and honor Him, because She perceived that the bad angels and
men failed to know and love Him. She requested the holy angels whose
Queen She already was, to help Her to glorify the Creator and Lord of
all, and to pray also for Her.
The Lord in this instant showed Her
also her guardian angels, whom she recognized and accepted with
joyful submission, inviting them to sing canticles of praise to the
Most High alternatively with Her. She announced to them beforehand
that this was to be the service which they were to render Her during
the whole time of Her mortal life, in which they were to act as her
assistants and guards. She was informed moreover of her whole
genealogy of all the rest of the holy people chosen by God, the
Patriarchs and Prophets, and how admirable his Majesty was in the
gifts, graces and favors wrought in them. It is worthy of admiration,
that, although the exterior faculties of her body at the creation of
her most holy Soul were hardly large enough to be distinguished,
nevertheless, in order that none of the miraculous excellence with
which God could endow his Mother might be wanting, He ordained by the
power of right hand, that in perceiving the fall of man She shed
tears of sorrow in the womb of her mother at the gravity of the
offense against the highest Good.
In this wonderful sorrow at the
instant of her coming into existence, She began to seek a remedy for
mankind and commenced the work of mediation, intercession and
reparation. She offered to God the clamors of her ancestors and of
the just of the earth, that his mercy might not delay the salvation
of mortals, whom she even looked upon as her brethren. Before She
ever conversed with them with the most ardent charity and with the
very beginning of her existence She assumed the office of
Benefactress of men and exercised the divine and fraternal love
enkindled in her heart. These petitions the Most High accepted with
greater pleasure than the prayers of all the saints and angels and
this pleasure of God was also made known to Her, who was created to
be the Mother of God. She perceived the love of God and his desire to
descend from heaven in order to redeem men, though She knew not how
it should be consummated. It was befitting that God should feel
Himself impelled to hasten his coming on account of the prayers and
petitions of this Creature; since it was principally for the love of
Her that He came, and since in Her body He was to assume human flesh,
accomplish the most admirable of all his works, and fulfill the end
of all other creatures.
In writing of these sacraments of the
King, howsoever honorable it is to reveal his works, I confess my
inaptitude and incapacity, being only a woman, and I am afflicted,
because I am speaking in such common and vague terms, which fall
entirely short of that, which I perceive in the light given to my
soul for the understanding of these mysteries. In order to do justice
to such sublimity, there were need of other words, more particular
and especially adapted terms and expressions, which are beyond my
ignorance. And even if they were at my service, they would be weighed
down and made insipid by human weakness. Let therefore this human
imbecility acknowledge itself unequal and incapable of fixing its
eyes on this heavenly sun, with which the rays of the Divinity break
upon the world, although yet beclouded in the maternal womb of holy
Anne. If we seek permission to approach this wonderful sight, let us
come near free and unshackled. Let us not allow ourselves to be
detained, neither by our natural cowardice nor by a base fear and
hesitation, even though it be under the cloak of humility. Let us all
approach with the greatest devotion and piety, free from the spirit
of contention (Rom. 13, 12); then we will be permitted to examine
with our own eyes the fire of the Divinity burning in the bush
without consuming it (Exodus 2, 2).
WORDS OF THE QUEEN
The Virgin Mary
speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain
It is an act of justice due to the
eternal God that the creature coming to the use of reason, direct its
very first movement toward God. By knowing, it should begin to love
Him, reverence Him and adore Him as its Creator and only true Lord.
The parents are naturally bound to instruct their children from their
infancy in this knowledge of God and to direct them with solicitous
care, so that they may at once see their ultimate end and seek it in
their first acts of the intellect and will. They should with great
watchfulness withdraw them from the childishness and puerile
trickishness to which depraved nature will incline them if left
without direction. If the fathers and mothers would be solicitous to
prevent these vanities and perverted habits of their children and
would instruct them from their infancy in the knowledge of their God
and Creator, then they would afterwards easily accustom them to know
and adore Him. My holy mother, who knew not of my wisdom and real
condition, was most solicitously beforehand in this matter, for when
She bore me in her womb, she adored in my name the Creator and
offered worship and thanks for his having created me, beseeching Him
to defend me and bring me forth to the light of day from the
condition in which I then was. So also parents should pray with
fervor to God, that the souls of their children, through his
Providence, may obtain Baptism and be freed from the servitude of
original sin.
And if the rational creature has not
known and adored the Creator from the first dawn of reason, it should
do this as soon as it obtains knowledge of the essential God by the
light of faith. From that very moment the soul must exert itself
never to lose Him from her sight, always fearing Him, loving Him, and
reverencing Him.
Book 1, Chapter 7
THE
BLESSED BIRTH OF MARY IMMACULATE
The most holy Mary, being conceived
without sin as described above, was entirely absorbed in spirit and
entranced by her first vision of the Divinity. At the first instant,
and in the narrow dwelling of the maternal womb, began the love of
God in her most blessed soul, never to be interrupted, but to
continue through all the eternities of that high glory, which She now
enjoys at the right hand of her divine Son.
The most happy mother, holy Anne
passed the days of her pregnancy altogether spiritualized by the
divine operations and by the sweet workings of the Holy Ghost in all
her faculties. Divine Providence, however, in order to direct her
course to greater merit and reward, ordained, that the ballast of
trouble be not wanting, for without it the cargo of grace and love is
scarcely ever secure. In order to understand better, what happened to
this holy woman, it must be remembered, that satan, after he was
hurled with the other bad angels from heaven into the infernal
torments, never ceased, during the reign of the old Law, to search
through the earth hovering with lurking vigilance above the women of
distinguished holiness, in order to find Her, whose sign he had seen
(Gen. 3, 15) and whose heel was to bruise and crush his head.
Lucifer’s wrath against men was so fierce, that he would not
trust this investigation to his inferiors alone; but leaving them to
operate against the virtuous women in general, he himself attended to
this matter and assiduously hovered around those, who signalized
themselves more particularly in the exercise of virtue and in the
grace of the Most High.
Filled with malice and astuteness, he
observed closely the exceeding great holiness of the excellent matron
Anne and all the events of her life; and although he could not
estimate the richness of the Treasure, which was enclosed in her
blessed womb (since the Lord has concealed this as well as many
mysteries from him), yet he felt a powerful influence proceeding from
saint Anne. The fact that he could not penetrate into the source of
this activity, threw him at times into greater fury and rage. At
other times he quieted himself with the thought, that this pregnancy
arose from the same causes as others in the course of nature and that
there was no special cause for alarm; for the Lord left him to his
own hallucinations and to the vagaries of his own fury. Nevertheless
the whole event was a source of great misgiving to this perverse
spirit, when he saw how quietly her pregnancy took its course and
especially, when he saw, that many angels stood in attendance. Above
all he was enraged at his weakness in resisting the force, which
proceeded from the blessed Anne and he suspected that it was not she
alone, who was the cause of it.
Filled with this mistrust, the dragon
determined, if possible, to take the life of the most felicitous
Anne; or, if that was impossible, to see that she should obtain
little satisfaction from her pregnancy. For the pride of Lucifer was
so boundless as to persuade him of his ability to overcome or take
away the life of Her, who was to be the Mother of the incarnate Word,
or even the life of the Messias and Redeemer of the world, if only he
could obtain knowledge of their whereabouts. His arrogance was
founded upon the superiority of his angelic nature to the condition
and power of mere human nature; as if both were not subject to grace
and entirely dependent upon the will of their Creator. Audaciously
therefore he set himself to tempt holy Anne, with many suggestions,
misgivings, doubts and diffidences about the truth of her pregnancy,
alleging her protracted years. All this the demon attempted in order
to test the virtue of the saint, and to see, whether these
temptations would not afford some opening for the perversion of her
will.
But the invincible matron resisted
these onslaughts with humble fortitude, patience, continued prayer
and vivid faith in the Lord. She brought to naught the perplexing
lies of the dragon and on account of them gained only additional
grace and protection from on high. For besides the protection
abundantly merited by her past life She was defended and freed from
the demons by the great princes, who were guarding her most holy
Daughter. Nevertheless in his insatiable malice the enemy did not
desist on that account; and since his arrogance and pride far exceeds
his powers, he sought human aid; for with such help he always
promises himself greater ease of victory. Having at first tried to
overthrow the dwelling of saint Joachim and Anne, in order that she
might be frightened and excited by the shock of its fall, but not
being able to succeed on account of the resistance of the holy
angels, he incited against saint Anne one of the foolish women of her
acquaintance to quarrel with her. This the woman did with great fury,
insolently attacking saint Anne with reproach and scorn; she did not
hesitate to make mockery of her pregnancy, saying, that she was the
sport of the demon in being thus found pregnant at the end of so many
years and at so great an age.
The blessed Anne did not permit
herself to be disturbed by this attack, but in all meekness and
humility bore the injuries and treated her assailants with kindness.
From that time on she looked with greater love upon these women and
lavished upon them so much the greater benefits. But their wrath was
not immediately pacified, for the demon had taken possession of them,
filling them with hate against the saint; and, as any concession to
this cruel tyrant always increases his power over his victims, he
incited these miserable dupes to plot even against the person and
life of saint Anne. But they could not put their plots into
execution, because divine power interfered to foil their natural
womanly weakness. They were not only powerless against the saint, but
they were overcome by her admonitions and brought to the knowledge
and amendment of their evil course by her prayers.
The dragon was repulsed, but not
vanquished; for he immediately availed himself of a servant, who
lived in the house with Joachim and Anne, and exasperated her against
the holy matron. Through her he created even a greater annoyance than
through the other women, for she was a domestic enemy and more
stubborn and dangerous than the others. I will not stay to describe,
what the enemy attempted through this servant, since it was similar
to that of the other woman, only more annoying and malicious. But
with the help of God saint Anne won a more glorious victory than
before; for the watcher of Israel slumbered not, but guarded his holy
City (Ps. 120, 4) and furnished it so well with sentinels, chosen
from the strongest of his hosts, that they put to ignominious flight
Lucifer and his followers. No more were they allowed to molest the
fortunate mother, who was already expecting the birth of the most
blessed Princess of heaven, and who, enriched by heroic acts of
virtue and many merits in these conflicts, had now arrived at the
fulfillment of all her highest wishes.
The day destined for the parturition
of saint Anne and for the birth of Her, who was consecrated and
sanctified to be the Mother of God, had arrived: a day most fortunate
for the world. This birth happened on the eighth day of September,
fully nine months having elapsed since the Conception of the soul of
our most holy Queen and Lady. Saint Anne was prepared by an interior
voice of the Lord, informing Her, that the hour of her parturition
had come. Full of the joy of the Holy Spirit at this information, she
prostrated herself before the Lord and besought the assistance of his
grace and his protection for a happy deliverance. The most blessed
child Mary was at the same time by divine providence and power
ravished into a most high ecstasy. Hence Mary was born into the world
without perceiving it by her senses, for their operations and
faculties were held in suspense.
She was born pure and stainless,
beautiful and full of grace, thereby demonstrating, that She was free
from the law and the tribute of sin. Although She was born
substantially like other daughters of Adam, yet her birth was
accompanied by such circumstances and conditions of grace, that it
was the most wonderful and miraculous birth in all creation and will
eternally redound to the praise of her Maker. At twelve o’clock
in the night this divine Luminary issued forth, dividing the night of
the ancient Law and its pristine darknesses from the new day of
grace, which now was about to break into dawn. She was clothed,
handled and dressed like other infants, though her soul dwelt in the
Divinity; and She was treated as an infant, though She excelled all
mortals and even all the angels in wisdom. Her mother did not allow
Her to be touched by other hands than her own, but she herself
wrapped Her in swaddling clothes: and in this Saint Anne was not
hindered by her present state of childbirth; for she was free from
the toils and labors, which other mothers usually endure in such
circumstances.
So then saint Anne received in her arms Her, who
was her Daughter, but at the same time the most exquisite Treasure of
all the universe, inferior only to God and superior to all other
creatures. With fervent tears of joy she offered this Treasure to his
Majesty, saying interiorly “Lord of infinite wisdom and power,
Creator of all that exists, this Fruit of my womb, which I have
received of thy bounty, I offer to Thee with eternal thanks, for
without any merit of mine Thou hast vouchsafed it to me. Dispose Thou
of the mother and Child according to thy most holy will and look
propitiously down upon our lowliness from thy exalted throne. Be Thou
eternally blessed, because Thou hast enriched the world with a
Creature so pleasing to thy bounty and because in Her Thou hast
prepared a dwelling–place and a tabernacle for the eternal Word
(Sap. 9, 8). I tender my congratulations to my holy forefathers and
to the holy Prophets, and in them to the whole human race, for this
sure pledge of Redemption, which Thou hast given them. But how shall
I be able to worthily to treat Her, whom Thou hast given me as a
Daughter? I that am not worthy to be her servant? How shall I handle
the true ark of the Testament? Give me, O my Lord and King, the
necessary enlightenment to know thy will and to execute it according
to thy pleasure in the service of my Daughter.”
The Lord answered the holy matron
interiorly, that she was to treat her heavenly Child outwardly as
mothers treat their daughters, without any demonstration of
reverence; but to retain this reverence inwardly, fulfilling the laws
of a true mother toward Her, and rearing Her up with all motherly
love and solicitude. All this the happy mother complied with; making
use of this permission and her mother’s rights without losing
her reverence, she regaled herself with her most holy Daughter,
embracing and caressing Her in the same way as other mothers do with
their daughters. But it was always done with a proper reverence and
consciousness of the hidden and divine sacrament known only to the
mother and Daughter. The guardian angels of the sweet Child with
others in great multitudes showed their veneration and worship to
Mary as She rested in the arms of her mother; they joined in heavenly
music, some of which was audible to blessed Anne. The thousand angels
appointed as guardians of the great Queen offered themselves to her
service. This was also the first time, in which the heavenly Mistress
saw them in a corporeal form with their devises and habiliments, as I
shall describe in another chapter and the Child asked them to join
with Her in the praise of the Most High and to exalt Him in her name.
At the moment of the birth of our
Princess Mary the Most High sent the archangel Gabriel as an envoy to
bring this joyful news to the holy Fathers in limbo. Immediately the
heavenly ambassador descended, illumining that deep cavern and
rejoicing the just who were detained therein. He told them that
already the dawn of eternal felicity had commenced and that the
reparation of man, which was so earnestly desired and expected by the
holy Patriarchs and foretold by the Prophets, had been begun, since
She, who was to be the Mother of the Messias, had now been born; soon
they would now see the salvation and glory of the Most High. The holy
prince gave them an understanding of the excellence of the most holy
Mary and of what the Omnipotent had begun to work in Her, in order
that they might better comprehend the happy beginning of the mystery,
which was to end their prolonged imprisonment. Then all the holy
Patriarchs and Prophets and the rest of the just in limbo rejoiced in
spirit and in new canticles praised the Lord for this benefit.
All these happenings at the birth of
our Queen succeeded each other in a short space of time. The first
exercise of her senses in the light of the material sun, was to
recognize her parents and other creatures. The arms of the Most High
began to work new wonders in Her far above all conceptions of men,
and the first and most stupendous one was to send innumerable angels
to bring the Mother of the eternal Word body and soul into the
empyrean heaven for the fulfilling of his further intentions
regarding Her. The holy princes obeyed the divine mandate and
receiving the child Mary from the arms of her holy Mother Anne, they
arranged a new and solemn procession bearing heavenward with
incomparable songs of joy the true Ark of the covenant, in order that
for a short time it might rest, not in the house of Obededon, but in
the temple of the King of kings and of the Lord of lords, where later
on it was to be placed for all eternity. This was the second step,
which most holy Mary made in her life, namely, from this earth to the
highest heaven.
Who can worthily extol this wonderful
prodigy of the right hand of the Almighty? Who can describe the joy
and the admiration of the celestial spirits, when they beheld this
new and wonderful work of the Most High, and when they gathered to
celebrate it in their songs? In these songs they acknowledged and
reverenced as their Queen and Mistress, Her, who was to be the Mother
of their Lord, and the source of the grace and glory, which they
possessed; for it was through his foreseen merits, that they had been
made the recipients of the divine bounty. But above all, what human
tongue, or what mortal could ever describe or comprehend the
heart–secrets of that tender Child during these events? I leave
the imagination of all this to Catholic piety, and still more to
those who in the Lord are favored with an understanding of it, but
most of all to those who, by divine bounty shall have arrived at the
beatific vision face to face.
Borne by the hands of the angels the
child Mary entered the empyrean heaven where She prostrated Herself
full of love before the royal throne in the presence of the Most
High. Then (according to our way of understanding), was verified what
long before had happened in figure, when Bethsabee entered into the
presence of her son Solomon, who, while presiding over his people of
Israel, arose from his throne, received her with honor and reverence,
and seated her at his side as queen. Similarly, but in a more
glorious and admirable manner, the person of the divine Word now
received the child Mary, whom He had chosen as Mother, as Queen of
the universe. Although her real dignity and the purpose of these
ineffable mysteries were unknown to Mary, yet her infant faculties
were strengthened by divine power for the reception of these favors.
New graces and gifts were bestowed upon Her, by which her faculties
were correspondingly elevated. Her powers of mind, besides being
illumined and prepared by new grace and light, were raised and
proportioned to the divine manifestation, and the Divinity displayed
Itself in the new light vouchsafed, revealing Itself to Her
intuitively and clearly in a most exalted manner. This was the first
time in which the most holy soul of Mary saw the blessed Trinity in
unveiled beatific vision.
The sole witnesses of the glory of
Mary in this beatific vision, of the sacraments then again revealed
to Her, of the divine effect that overflowed into her most pure soul,
was God the Author of this unheard of wonder, and the astounded
angels, who in some measure perceived these mysteries in God Himself.
The Queen seated at the side of the Lord, who was to be her Son, and
seeing Him face to face, was more successful in her prayer than
Bethsabee (III Kings 2, 21). For She prayed that He bestow the
untouched Sunamite Abisag, his inaccessible Divinity, upon his
sister, human nature by the hypostatic union be fulfilled in the
person of the Word. Many times He had pledged Himself to it among men
through the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets and now Mary besought Him
to accelerate the reparation of the human race, expected for so many
ages amid the multiplied iniquity and the ruin of souls. The Most
High heard this most pleasing petition of his Mother, and acting more
graciously than Solomon of old toward his mother, He assured Her that
soon his promises should be fulfilled, and that He should descend to
the world in order to assume and redeem human nature.
In this divine consistory and tribunal of the most
holy Trinity it was determined to give a name to the Child Queen. As
there is no proper and legitimate name, except it be found in the
immutable being of God himself (for from it are participated and
determined according to their right weight and measure all things in
infinite wisdom) his Majesty wished himself to give and impose that
name in heaven. He thereby made known to the angelic spirits, that
the three divine Persons, had decreed and formed the sweet names of
Jesus and Mary for the Son and Mother from the beginning before the
ages, and that they had been delighted with them and had engraved
them on their eternal memories to be as it were the Objects for whose
service They should create all things. Being informed of these and
many other mysteries, the holy angels heard a voice from the throne
speaking in the person of the Father: “Our chosen One shall be
called MARY, and this name is to be powerful and magnificent. Those
that shall invoke it with devout affection shall receive most
abundant graces; those that shall honor it and pronounce it with
reverence shall be consoled and vivified, and will find in it the
remedy of their evils, the treasures for their enrichment, the light
which shall guide them to heaven. It shall be terrible against the
power of hell, it shall crush the head of the serpent and it shall
win glorious victories over the princes of hell.” The Lord
commanded the angelic spirits to announce this glorious name to saint
Anne, so that what was decreed in heaven might be executed on earth.
The heavenly Child, lovingly prostrate before the throne, rendered
most acceptable and human thanks to the eternal Being; and She
received the name with most admirable and sweet jubilation. If the
prerogatives and graces, which She then was favored with, were to be
described, it would necessitate an extra book of many volumes. The
holy angels honored and acknowledged most holy Mary as the future
Mother of the Word and as their Queen and Mistress enthroned at the
right hand of her Son; they showed their veneration of her holy name,
prostrating themselves as it proceeded from the throne in the voice
of the eternal Father, especially those, who had it written on the
devises over their breast. All of them gave forth canticles of praise
for these great and hidden mysteries. In the meanwhile the infant
Queen remained ignorant of the real cause of all that She thus
experienced, for her dignity of Mother of the incarnate Word was not
revealed to Her till the time of the Incarnation. With the same
reverential jubilee did the angels return in order to replace Her
into the arms of holy Anne, to whom this event remained a secret, as
was also the absence of her Daughter; for a guardian angel, assuming
an aerial body, supplied her place for this very purpose. More than
that, during a great part of the time in which the heavenly Child
remained in the empyrean heaven, her mother was wrapped in ecstasy of
highest contemplation, and in it, although she did not know what was
happening to the Child, exalted mysteries concerning the dignity of
the Mother of God, to which She was to be chosen, were revealed to
her. The prudent matron kept them enshrined within her breast,
conferring them in her thoughts with the duties she owed to her
Child.
On the eighth day after the birth of
the great Queen multitudes of most beautiful angels in splendid array
descended from on high bearing an escutcheon on which the name of
MARY was engraved and shone forth in great brilliancy. Appearing to
the blessed mother Anne, they told her, that the name of her daughter
was to be MARY, which name they had brought from heaven, and which
divine Providence had selected and now ordained to be given to their
child by Joachim and herself. The saint called for her husband and
they conferred with each other about this disposition of God in
regard to the name of their Daughter. The more than happy father
accepted the name with joy and devout affection. They decided to call
their relatives and a priest and then, with much solemnity and
festivity, they imposed the name of MARY on their Child. The angels
also celebrated this event with most sweet and ravishing music,
which, however, was heard only by the mother and her most holy
Daughter.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN
The Virgin Mary
speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain
My admonition to thee, whom in spite
of thy weakness and poverty I have chosen with such generous kindness
as my disciple and companion, is this: that thou strive with all thy
powers to imitate me in an exercise, in which I persevered during my
whole life from the very first moment of my birth, omitting it on not
a single day, however full of cares and labors it might have been.
This exercise was the following: every day at the beginning of dawn,
I prostrated myself in the presence of the Most High, and gave Him
thanks and praise for his immutable Being, his infinite perfections,
and for having created me out of nothing; acknowledging myself as his
creature and the work of his hands, I blessed Him and adored Him,
giving Him honor, magnificence and Divinity, as the supreme Lord and
Creator of myself and of all that exists. I raised up my spirit to
place it into his hands, offering myself with profound humility and
resignation to Him and asking Him to dispose of me according to his
will during that day and during all the days of my life, and to teach
me to fulfill whatever would be to his greater pleasure. This I
repeated many times during the external works of the day, and in the
internal ones I first consulted his Majesty, asking his advice,
permission and benediction for all my actions.
Be very devout toward my most sweet
name. I wish that thou be convinced of the great prerogatives and
privileges, which the Almighty concedes to it, so that I myself, when
I saw them in the Divinity, felt most deeply obliged and solicitous
to make a proper return; and whenever the name MARY occurred to my
mind (which happened often) and whenever I heard myself called by
that name, I was aroused to thankfulness and urged to new fervor in
the service of the Lord, who gave it to me. Thou hast the same name
and I wish, that in proportion it should cause the same effects in
thee and that thou imitate me faithfully by following the lesson
given thee in this chapter, without failing in the least point from
this day onward. And if in thy weakness thou shouldst fail, rouse
thyself immediately, and in the presence of thy Lord and mine,
acknowledge thy fault, confessing it in sorrow. Repeating these holy
exercises over and again with solicitous care, thou shalt find
forgiveness for imperfections and grow accustomed to strive after
what is highest in all virtues and most pleasing and agreeable to thy
own tastes and mine, thou shalt not be denied the grace of employing
thyself entirely in listening, attending to and obeying in all things
thy Spouse and Lord, who seeks in thee only what is most pure, most
holy and perfect, and a will prompt and eager to put the same into
practice.
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Catholic Catechism
PART THREE - THE LIFE OF THE CHRIST
SECTION ONE - MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER THREE - GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE
ARTICLE THREE -THE CHURCH, MOTHER AND TEACHER
CHAPTER THREE - GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE
1949 Called to beatitude but wounded by sin, man stands in need of salvation from God. Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him:
- Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.1
ARTICLE 3 - THE CHURCH, MOTHER AND TEACHER
2030 It is in the Church, in communion with all the baptized, that the Christian fulfills his vocation. From the Church he receives the Word of God containing the teachings of "the law of Christ."72 From the Church he receives the grace of the sacraments that sustains him on the "way." From the Church he learns the example of holiness and recognizes its model and source in the all-holy Virgin Mary; he discerns it in the authentic witness of those who live it; he discovers it in the spiritual tradition and long history of the saints who have gone before him and whom the liturgy celebrates in the rhythms of the sanctoral cycle.
2031 The moral life is spiritual worship. We "present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,"73 within the Body of Christ that we form and in communion with the offering of his Eucharist. In the liturgy and the celebration of the sacraments, prayer and teaching are conjoined with the grace of Christ to enlighten and nourish Christian activity. As does the whole of the Christian life, the moral life finds its source and summit in the Eucharistic sacrifice.
I. MORAL LIFE AND THE MAGISTERIUM OF THE CHURCH
2032 The Church, the "pillar and bulwark of the truth," "has received this solemn command of Christ from the apostles to announce the saving truth."74 "To the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce moral principles, including those pertaining to the social order, and to make judgments on any human affairs to the extent that they are required by the fundamental rights of the human person or the salvation of souls."75
2033 The Magisterium of the Pastors of the Church in moral matters is ordinarily exercised in catechesis and preaching, with the help of the works of theologians and spiritual authors. Thus from generation to generation, under the aegis and vigilance of the pastors, the "deposit" of Christian moral teaching has been handed on, a deposit composed of a characteristic body of rules, commandments, and virtues proceeding from faith in Christ and animated by charity. Alongside the Creed and the Our Father, the basis for this catechesis has traditionally been the Decalogue which sets out the principles of moral life valid for all men.
2034 The Roman Pontiff and the bishops are "authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach the faith to the people entrusted to them, the faith to be believed and put into practice."76 The ordinary and universal Magisterium of the Pope and the bishops in communion with him teach the faithful the truth to believe, the charity to practice, the beatitude to hope for.
2035 The supreme degree of participation in the authority of Christ is ensured by the charism of infallibility. This infallibility extends as far as does the deposit of divine Revelation; it also extends to all those elements of doctrine, including morals, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, explained, or observed.77
2036 The authority of the Magisterium extends also to the specific precepts of the natural law, because their observance, demanded by the Creator, is necessary for salvation. In recalling the prescriptions of the natural law, the Magisterium of the Church exercises an essential part of its prophetic office of proclaiming to men what they truly are and reminding them of what they should be before God.78
2037 The law of God entrusted to the Church is taught to the faithful as the way of life and truth. The faithful therefore have the right to be instructed in the divine saving precepts that purify judgment and, with grace, heal wounded human reason.79 They have the duty of observing the constitutions and decrees conveyed by the legitimate authority of the Church. Even if they concern disciplinary matters, these determinations call for docility in charity.
2038 In the work of teaching and applying Christian morality, the Church needs the dedication of pastors, the knowledge of theologians, and the contribution of all Christians and men of good will. Faith and the practice of the Gospel provide each person with an experience of life "in Christ," who enlightens him and makes him able to evaluate the divine and human realities according to the Spirit of God.80 Thus the Holy Spirit can use the humblest to enlighten the learned and those in the highest positions.
2039 Ministries should be exercised in a spirit of fraternal service and dedication to the Church, in the name of the Lord.81 At the same time the conscience of each person should avoid confining itself to individualistic considerations in its moral judgments of the person's own acts. As far as possible conscience should take account of the good of all, as expressed in the moral law, natural and revealed, and consequently in the law of the Church and in the authoritative teaching of the Magisterium on moral questions. Personal conscience and reason should not be set in opposition to the moral law or the Magisterium of the Church.
2040 Thus a true filial spirit toward the Church can develop among Christians. It is the normal flowering of the baptismal grace which has begotten us in the womb of the Church and made us members of the Body of Christ. In her motherly care, the Church grants us the mercy of God which prevails over all our sins and is especially at work in the sacrament of reconciliation. With a mother's foresight, she also lavishes on us day after day in her liturgy the nourishment of the Word and Eucharist of the Lord.
II. THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH
2041 The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life. The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor:
2042 The first precept ("You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor") requires the faithful to sanctify the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the principal liturgical feasts honoring the mysteries of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the saints; in the first place, by participating in the Eucharistic celebration, in which the Christian community is gathered, and by resting from those works and activities which could impede such a sanctification of these days.82
The second precept ("You shall confess your sins at least once a year") ensures preparation for the Eucharist by the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, which continues Baptism's work of conversion and forgiveness.83
The third precept ("You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season") guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord's Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feasts, the origin and center of the Christian liturgy.84
2043 The fourth precept ("You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church") ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.85
The fifth precept ("You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church") means that the faithful are obliged to assist with the material needs of the Church, each according to his own ability.86
The faithful also have the duty of providing for the material needs of the Church, each according to his own abilities.87
III. MORAL LIFE AND MISSIONARY WITNESS
2044 The fidelity of the baptized is a primordial condition for the proclamation of the Gospel and for the Church's mission in the world. In order that the message of salvation can show the power of its truth and radiance before men, it must be authenticated by the witness of the life of Christians. "The witness of a Christian life and good works done in a supernatural spirit have great power to draw men to the faith and to God."88
2045 Because they are members of the Body whose Head is Christ,89 Christians contribute to building up the Church by the constancy of their convictions and their moral lives. The Church increases, grows, and develops through the holiness of her faithful, until "we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."90
2046 By living with the mind of Christ, Christians hasten the coming of the Reign of God, "a kingdom of justice, love, and peace."91 They do not, for all that, abandon their earthly tasks; faithful to their master, they fulfill them with uprightness, patience, and love.
IN BRIEF
2047 The moral life is a spiritual worship. Christian activity finds its nourishment in the liturgy and the celebration of the sacraments.
2048 The precepts of the Church concern the moral and Christian life united with the liturgy and nourished by it.
2049 The Magisterium of the Pastors of the Church in moral matters is ordinarily exercised in catechesis and preaching, on the basis of the Decalogue which states the principles of moral life valid for every man.
2050 The Roman Pontiff and the bishops, as authentic teachers, preach to the People of God the faith which is to be believed and applied in moral life. It is also incumbent on them to pronounce on moral questions that fall within the natural law and reason.
2051 The infallibility of the Magisterium of the Pastors extends to all the elements of doctrine, including moral doctrine, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, expounded, or observed.
72 Gal 6:2.
73 Rom 12:1.
74 1 Tim 3:15; LG 17.
75 CIC, can. 747 § 2.
76 LG 25.
77 Cf. LG 25; CDF, declaration, Mysterium Ecclesiae 3.
78 Cf. DH 14.
79 Cf. CIC, can. 213.
80 Cf. 1 Cor 2:10-15.
81 Cf. Rom 12:8,11.
82 Cf. CIC, cann. 1246-1248; CCEO, cann. 881 § 1, § 2, § 4.
83 Cf. CIC, can. 989; CCEO, can. 719.
84 Cf. CIC, can. 920; CCEO, cann. 708; 881 § 3.
85 Cf. CIC, cann. 1249-1251; CCEO, can. 882.
86 Cf. CIC, can. 222; CCEO can. 25; Furthermore, episcopal conferences can establish other ecclesiastical precepts for their own territories (Cf. CIC, can. 455).
87 Cf. CIC, can. 222.
88 AA 6 § 2.
89 Cf. Eph 1:22.
90 Eph 4:13; cf. LG 39.
91 Roman Missal, Preface of Christ the King.
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RE-CHARGE: Heaven Speaks to Young Adults
To all tween, teens and young adults, A Message from Jesus: "Through you I will flow powerful conversion graces to draw other young souls from darkness. My plan for young men and women is immense. Truly, the renewal will leap forward with the assistance of these individuals. Am I calling you? Yes. I am calling you. You feel the stirring in your soul as you read these words. I am with you. I will never leave you. Join My band of young apostles and I will give you joy and peace that you have never known. All courage, all strength will be yours. Together, we will reclaim this world for the Father. I will bless your families and all of your relationships. I will lead you to your place in the Kingdom. Only you can complete the tasks I have set out for you. Do not reject Me. I am your Jesus. I love you...Read this book, upload to your phones/ipads.computers and read a few pages everyday...and then Pay It Forward...
Reference
- Recharge: Directions For Our Times. Heaven Speaks to Young Adults. recharge.cc.
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