INNER ATTITUDE

Priests’ Recollection

13 December 2012

OUR INNER ATTITUDE

“Hail, full of grace.”  And in the interchange between Gabriel and Our Blessed Mary he declared, “With God nothing is impossible.” Quite true with regard to his creatures. But with regard to the Godhead, we can ask with all respect: Did God create himself? Can God destroy himself? Can God create another God? (God exhausts all being. “Clash of competencies?”)

When God creates, he cannot help but create limited beings, including limited being like us humans.  And this limitation we are very much aware of. Our intercessory prayers are expressions of our limitedness. The great number of worshippers praying together in the liturgy brings out the phenomenon of a fuller humanity, a good way of overcoming our limitedness, though not absolutely. We pray in unison and exchange the kiss of peace – another way of assuaging our limitedness. Then we go back, each one to his tasks and life. And the sense of limitation returns as strong as ever.

There are two ways of overcoming our limitation: either by dialogue or by domination. By dialogue. Remember the Book of Genesis describing God coming down, walking hand in hand with Adam and Eve and enjoying the cool breeze of the evening? Beautiful intimacy! Recall God forming a covenant with Noah, Abraham, Moses and the people he calls his own. And finally and definitively reaching out to us in his Son Jesus Christ who establishes the new and eternal Covenant in his Pascal Mystery that is extended from age to age and expressed in the celebration of the Eucharist where we overcome our limitedness. The Eucharist is never ending. We extend it into our lives, each one of us. How? By spending time with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. I beg you to understand me when I say you must spend time with the Eucharistic Lord, the Alpha and Omega – all time belongs to him. Begin with 4 minutes and go on to 40. You will begin to enjoy it. St. Thomas Aquinas says that whoever finds true joy in spending time with Jesus is already marked out for heaven. Here there is true love of God and neighbour.

But we are sinners, and so the other way of overcoming our limitation is by dominating others. I need not mention the names of the so called dominators in world history, who came to grief trying to conquer the world. In our own little world we want to exercise power, which makes us feel great; a spurious product, indeed. This is the perennial onslaught of anger and jealousy. Anger is symptomatic of hatred for the other, and jealousy is self-hatred for lacking the gifts that we see others having. Depression is another sign of self-anger. Think of the story of Cain and Abel. Both offered gifts in sacrifice, but Cain lacked the right dispositions – there was hatred in his heart. God looked at the heart and not the gift.

In the sacrament of Reconciliation we usually confess individual outbursts of anger and/or feelings/sentiments of jealousy. But we ought to examine if the malaise is not deeper, the real sickness or inner dispositions. Expressions of anger and jealousy only feed the sickness in us – the dispositions getting more and more entrenched.

As we know, Jesus internalises ethics. Thus it is not enough to exclude adultery as long as the underlying lustful mentality remains intact. Not only exclude murder but more the contempt and cruelty that expresses itself in words of hatred and gestures of derision. Not only vindictive actions and hurtful words but rather the spirit of vindictiveness itself. God requires not the performance or avoidance of certain actions as much as the development of certain kinds of persons. For example, the transparently honest person, the inflexibly loyal friend, the God-oriented man of prayer, and so on. That’s how we want to live and die.

Passage from Newman:

Passage from Teresa of Avila:

Passage from Newman: (awaiting our friend)

 

 

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What Is the Immaculate Conception?

By Scott P. Richert

Question: What Is the Immaculate Conception?

Few doctrines of the Catholic Church are as misunderstood as the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Many people, including many Catholics, think that it refers to the conception of Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. That event, though, is celebrated at the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord (March 25, nine months before Christmas). What is the Immaculate Conception?

Answer:

The Immaculate Conception refers to the condition that the Blessed Virgin Mary was free from Original Sin from the very moment of her conception in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne. We celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8; nine months before is December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Fr. John Hardon, S.J., in his Modern Catholic Dictionary, notes that "Neither the Greek nor Latin Fathers explicitly taught the Immaculate Conception, but they professed it implicitly." It would take many centuries, though, for the Catholic Church to recognize the Immaculate Conception as a doctrine, and many more before Pope Pius IX, on December 8, 1854, would declare it a dogma.

In the Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX wrote that "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."

As Father Hardon further writes, the Blessed Virgin's "freedom from sin was an unmerited gift of God or special grace, and an exception to the law, or privilege, which no other created person has received."

Another misconception people have is that Mary's Immaculate Conception was necessary to ensure that Original Sin would not be passed on to Christ. This has never been a part of the teaching on the Immaculate Conception; rather, the Immaculate Conception represents Christ's saving grace operating in Mary in anticipation of His redemption of man and in God's foreknowledge of Mary's acceptance of His Will for her.

In other words, the Immaculate Conception was not a precondition for Christ's act of redemption but the result of it. It is the concrete expression of God's love for Mary, who gave herself fully, completely, and without hesitation to His service.

 

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FR. MERVYN'S PRAYER TO MARY

Prayer:

         O gracious Lady, beloved Mother of God and our loving Mother, from where shall we learn Faith if not from you, sweet Maiden who said “Yes” to God’s invitation to carry the Saviour in your virginal womb, and nurse him at your breast? You followed him with a mother’s concern right through his ministry, accompanied him on his cross-laden ascent to Calvary, and became the sorrowing woman on the hill. Through faith and steadfast loyalty you treasured the mysteries of Jesus in your heart, and have made them ours, so that whatever happened to you and Jesus must happen to us: a holy life and happy death in God and community in him forever. Amen.

 

{composed by me on 11^th. August 2012}

 

 

 

 

 

 

DID MARY DIE?

Question: Did the Virgin Mary Die Before Her Assumption?

The Assumption of Mary into Heaven at the end of her earthly life is not a complicated doctrine, but one question is a frequent source of debate: Did Mary die before she was assumed, body and soul, into Heaven?

Answer: From the earliest Christian traditions surrounding the Assumption, the answer to the question of whether the Blessed Virgin died like all men do has been "yes." The Feast of the Assumption was first celebrated in the sixth century in the Christian East, where it was known as the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (the Mother of God). To this day, among Eastern Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, the traditions surrounding the Dormition are based on a fourth-century document called "The Account of St. John the Theologian of the Falling Asleep of the Holy Mother of God." (Dormition means "the falling asleep.")

That document, written in the voice of Saint John the Evangelist (to whom Christ, on the Cross, had entrusted the care of His mother), recounts how the Archangel Gabriel came to Mary as she prayed at the Holy Sepulchre (the tomb in which Christ had been laid on Good Friday, and from which He rose on Easter Sunday). Gabriel told the Blessed Virgin that her earthly life had reached its end, and she decided to return to Bethlehem to meet her death.

All of the apostles, having been caught up in clouds by the Holy Spirit, were transported to Bethlehem to be with Mary in her final days. Together, they carried her bed (again, with the aid of the Holy Spirit) to her home in Jerusalem, where, on the following Sunday, Christ appeared to her and told her not to fear. While Peter sang a hymn,

The face of the mother of the Lord shone brighter than the light, and she rose up and blessed each of the apostles with her own hand, and all gave glory to God; and the Lord stretched forth His undefiled hands, and received her holy and blameless soul. . . . And Peter, and I John, and Paul, and Thomas, ran and wrapped up her precious feet for the consecration; and the twelve apostles put her precious and holy body upon a couch, and carried it.

The apostles took the couch bearing Mary's body to the Garden of Gethsemane, where they placed her body in a new tomb:

And, behold, a perfume of sweet savour came forth out of the holy sepulchre of our Lady the mother of God; and for three days the voices of invisible angels were heard glorifying Christ our God, who had been born of her. And when the third day was ended, the voices were no longer heard; and from that time forth all knew that her spotless and precious body had been transferred to paradise.

"The Falling Asleep of the Holy Mother of God" is the earliest extant written document describing the end of Mary's life, and as we can see, it clearly indicates that Mary died before her body was assumed into Heaven. The earliest Latin versions of the story of the Assumption, written a couple of centuries later, differ in certain details but agree that Mary died, and Christ received her soul; that the apostles entombed her body; and that Mary's body was taken up into Heaven from the tomb.

That none of these documents bear the weight of Scripture does not matter; what matters is that they tell us what Christians, in both the East and the West, believed had happened to Mary at the end of her life. Unlike the Prophet Elijah, who was caught up by a fiery chariot and taken up into Heaven while still alive, the Virgin Mary (according to these traditions) died naturally, and then her soul was reunited with her body at the Assumption. (Her body, all of the documents agree, remained incorrupt between her death and her Assumption.)

We can still see the influence of "The Falling Asleep of the Holy Mother of God" in Eastern iconography today. The icon on this page (click here to see a larger version of it) is found in Annunciation of the Mother of God Byzantine Catholic Church in Homer Glen, Illinois. In the foreground, Mary's lifeless body lies on the couch, as the Apostles prepare to move her body to the tomb. Behind the couch stands Christ, surrounded by angels and cherubim (signifying Heaven), holding in His hands the soul of His Blessed Mother (presented as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, signifying Mary's birth into eternal life).

While Eastern Christians have kept this early tradition surrounding the Assumption alive, Western Christians have largely lost touch with them. Some, hearing the Assumption described by the Eastern term Dormition, incorrectly assume that the "falling asleep" means that Mary was assumed into Heaven before she could die. But Pope Pius XII, in Munificentissimus Deus, his November 1, 1950, declaration of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, cites ancient liturgical texts from both East and West, as well as the writings of the Church Fathers, all indicating that the Blessed Virgin had died before her body was assumed into Heaven. Pius echoes this tradition in his own words:

This feast shows, not only that the dead body of the Blessed Virgin Mary remained incorrupt, but that she gained a triumph out of death, her heavenly glorification after the example of her only begotten Son, Jesus Christ . . .

Still, the dogma, as Pius XII defined it, leaves the question of whether the Virgin Mary died open. What Catholics must believe is

That the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.

"[H]aving completed the course of her earthly life" is ambiguous; it allows for the possibility that Mary may not have died before her Assumption. In other words, while tradition has always indicated that Mary did die, Catholics are not bound, at least by the definition of the dogma, to believe it.

Mary, Mother of Jesus

Mary, the no nonsense matter-of-fact maid of “no good” Nazareth, who became the Mother of the Saviour of the world.

 

 

LEARNING FROM MARY

Learning from Mary’s strength and patience

Jessica Gotwals, a junior nursing major from Telford, Pa.

SCRIPTURE: Luke 1:26-38 (NRSV)
Scroll down for complete Scripture.

DEVOTIONAL:
I can’t imagine what Mary would have felt when she received Gabriel’s message that she would be the mother of Jesus. Mary found herself in circumstances she could not explain. The social ramifications of her pregnancy were daunting, and she must have experienced moments of fear and uncertainty. Part of me likes to think that Mary didn’t accept Gabriel’s message as easily as Luke portrays — that she tried to rationalize with Gabriel, or was even angry with God.

What is so striking about Mary in this story is the way she responded to her situation. Mary chose to glorify God for the gift of a child. Mary is often depicted as being one-dimensional – she is quiet, meek, and acquiescent. However, I think she is a powerful character that warrants our attention; I prefer to think that Mary’s serene responses to Gabriel indicate deep strength rather than mere submission.

Mary is a powerful example of faith. Often, like Mary, we find ourselves in circumstances we did not choose. As Christians our powerful witness to the world lies in how we choose to react to situations. This posture of grace, perseverance and joy in the face of difficulty does not come easily — it comes from unwavering faith in God, and it must be practiced.

Mary is also an example of patience. Advent is a time of waiting as we anticipate the coming of Christ. Mary, perhaps more than anyone, knows what it means to wait, as she spent nine months anticipating the birth of Jesus. Like Mary, we wait for clarity in our difficult situations and anticipate the hope and joy that Jesus brings to our lives.

Peace to you as you wait.

 

POEM: INCARNATION

INCARNATION

Sun of Justice, descend into

the darkness of the

Virgin’s womb – symbol of the world’s unlit hunger for the Light.

Let the Spirit strike

sweet impulse, and chaste,

to fill with power

the chamber of the night;

and make the nuptials of the

Father

with the Maid of Nazareth

bear fruit,

whom all men call,

By the angel’s word:

“JESUS”.

                 Fr. Mervyn Carapiet

VISITATION OF MARY TO ELIZABETH

The Visitation

Feast day: 31 May

A young girl was travelling along the wild tracts of a hilly country. She was hastening to a certain town named Ain Karim, and carrying in her bosom a burden so precious, that if certain people knew of it she would pay for it with her life. That was two thousand years ago.

Nobody need think twice to know who this young girl was. The Virgin Mary of Nazareth who was on her way to her cousin Elizabeth. The precious burden she was bearing was the Son of God himself - bearing him in her womb. Braving hardship and danger she sped on her way, because above the awareness of danger and hardship was a nobler consciousness, that of love and service.

“And there entering in she gave Elizabeth greeting.” Mary opened her lips and greeted Elizabeth. There is nothing special about the fact of greeting. It is something that is so ordinary, that everybody takes it for granted. So, if it is so normal, why does the evangelist Luke make special mention of it? The Gospels, as you know, are very concise accounts of Our Lord’s life and usually you should not expect to find household details mentioned therein. And so, why mention a simple affair as “and there entering in she gave Elizabeth greeting?” We have the answer from the lips of Elizabeth herself. She told our Blessed Mother, “As soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy!” And the evangelist adds, “And Elizabeth herself was filled with the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, Mary’s word of greeting was no ordinary salutation.  When your friend greets you it gives you some happiness, but it does not bring about your sanctification and salvation. But with Mary it was different: as soon as she opened her mouth, John the Baptist was sanctified and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Mary’s words were like the words of Baptism. Mary’s word was like a sacrament simply because Jesus was acting through her. He was waiting for Mary to utter her words to exercise his saving action on others. It seemed he could hardly wait.

If it were not for the presence of Jesus the words of our Blessed Lady would have had no effect. It would have been only a friendly social gesture.  But Jesus waited for her to speak for him to act. He willed to act through her, or rather together with her, resulting in the sanctifying of Elizabeth and the child she was carrying. It looked like the Saviour couldn’t wait. Already present in the womb, Jesus meant salvation, strength and mercy. During the three years of his public life, Our Lord Jesus walked through the flood of physical pain and moral shame, healing them all with a word, with a touch, with an act of his will.

 Then the young Mary sang her great canticle of joy and self-knowledge in God: “My soul glorifies the Lord...the Almighty works marvels for me...all generations will call me blessed...” Mary was not able to respond this way at the Annunciation when the angel greeted her with, “Hail, full of grace.” But the elderly Elizabeth’s words of delighted recognition, namely, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb,” prompted Mary’s “Magnificat”. It seems that such a deep and joyful realisation can be the fruit of a simple good deed or generous word spoken to someone in need. Again and again, to our astonishment we discover that it is in the poor, in those who need our help, that the Lord is waiting to fill us with the joyful fact that we are blessed and healed. Like Mary, then, according to the prophet Isaiah, we shall experience enlightenment of some kind but also “our wound will quickly be healed over” (Isaiah 58, 6 – 8).

PRAYER TO IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

In this long but beautiful prayer, we pray to Mary under the name Queen of the Most Holy Rosary and call upon the love of her immaculate heart to intercede for the conversion of the entire world.

Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, help of Christians, refuge of the human race, victorious in all the battles of God, we prostrate ourselves in supplication before thy throne, in the sure hope of obtaining mercy and of receiving grace and timely aid in our present calamities, not through any merits of our own, on which we do not rely, but only through the immense goodness of thy mother's heart. In thee and in thy Immaculate Heart, at this grave hour of human history, do we put our trust; to thee we consecrate ourselves, not only with all of Holy Church, which is the mystical body of thy Son Jesus, and which is suffering in so many of her members, being subjected to manifold tribulations and persecutions, but also with the whole world, torn by discords, agitated with hatred, the victim of its own iniquities. Be thou moved by the sight of such material and moral degradation, such sorrows, such anguish, so many tormented souls in danger of eternal loss! Do thou, O Mother of mercy, obtain for us from God a Christ-like reconciliation of the nations, as well as those graces which can convert the souls of men in an instant, those graces which prepare the way and make certain the long desired coming of peace on earth. O Queen of peace, pray for us, and grant peace unto the world in the truth, the justice, and the charity of Christ.

Above all, give us peace in our hearts, so that the kingdom of God may spread its borders in the tranquility of order. Accord thy protection to unbelievers and to all those who lie within the shadow of death; cause the Sun of Truth to rise upon them; may they be enabled to join with us in repeating before the Savior of the world: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will."

Give peace to the nations that are separated from us by error or discord, and in a special manner to those peoples who profess a singular devotion toward thee; bring them back to Christ's one fold, under the one true Shepherd. Obtain full freedom for the holy Church of God; defend her from her enemies; check the ever-increasing torrent of immorality, arouse in the faithful a love of purity, a practical Christian life, and an apostolic zeal, so that the multitude of those who serve God may increase in merit and in number.

Finally, even as the Church and all mankind were once consecrated to the Heart of thy Son Jesus, because He was for all those who put their hope in Him an inexhaustible source of victory and salvation, so in like manner do we consecrate ourselves forever to thee also and to thy Immaculate Heart, O Mother of us and Queen of the world; may thy love and patronage hasten the day when the kingdom of God shall be victorious and all the nations, at peace with God and with one another, shall call thee blessed and intone with thee, from the rising of the sun to its going down, the everlasting "Magnificat" of glory, of love, of gratitude to the Heart of Jesus, in which alone we can find truth, life, and peace.

 

MY FAIR LADY

Gospel: Lk 1: 46-56

Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.”

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

Reflection

Mary must have brimmed over with careful confidence and expectation as she traveled to Elizabeth. Her mother probably wondered what was happening to Elizabeth if Mary told her at all.

Mary never doubted the angel but for her to be the Mother of the Savior was so awesome and incredible that she felt impossible not to feel that she had a mirage and it was a dream. Mary always had a perfect union with God all her life and this was the capstone, but still, it was so beautiful and breathtaking, and beyond anything she ever thought possible. Her certainty was impenetrable and she must have traveled as if she was above the ground, swimming in the air with her Beloved, communicating now in an even more splendid manner within her womb. This intimacy must have seemed as inundating as swimming in the blazing sun above but protected by God's burning love within.

Because of her profound humility perhaps she kept saying "when I see Elizabeth pregnant with my own eyes how will I be able to express myself?" Now we know, for we have her exalted “Magnificat.”

What type of sentiment and wonder do we experience when we take Holy Communion?

This journey to see Elizabeth reminds me of those beautiful lyrics written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe in the film "My Fair Lady"

My Fair Lady:

I have often walked down this street before;
But the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before.
All at once am I, several stories high.
Knowing I'm on the street where you live.
Are there lilac trees in the heart of town?
Can you hear a lark in any other part of town?
Does enchantment pour, out of ev'ry door?
No, it's just on the street where you live!
And oh! the towering feeling
Just to know somehow you are near.
The overpowering feeling
That any second you may suddenly appear!
People stop and stare. They don't bother me.
For there's no where else on earth that I would rather be.
Let the time go by, I won't care if I
Can be here on the street where you live.

I could have danced all night!
I could have danced all night!
And still have begged for more.
I could have spread my wings
And done a thousand things I've never done before.
I'll never know, what made it so exciting;
Why all at once, my heart took flight. I only know when he
Began to dance with me I could have danced,
danced, danced all night!

HYMNS TO MOTHER MARY

hymns to mother mary

Be with us Mary along the Way

No man can live as island;

Journey through life alone;

Since we’re most loved by a mother

Jesus gave us his own

Ref: Be with us Mary along the Way

Guide every step we take

Lead us to Jesus your loving son;

Come with us Mary, come

When Jesus met with rejection, Mary stood by the Cross;

How can a mother desert her Son ? She’ll also stand by us

Help us, O star of the Ocean, be with us in our strife,

When we are faced with temptation, tossed by the storms of life.

Daily Daily Sing to Mary

Daily Daily Sing to Mary

Sing my soul her praises due

All her Feasts, her action worship

With the heart’s devotion true

Lost in wondering contemplation

Be her majesty confessed

Call her Mother, call her Virgin

Happy Mother, Virgin blest.

She is mighty to deliver

Call her, trust her lovingly

When the tempest rages round thee

She will clam the troubled sea

Gifts of heaven she has given

Noble lady to our race

She, the Queen who decks her subjects

With the light of God’s own grace

Hail Queen of Heaven

Hail Queen of Heaven, the ocean star

Guide of the wanderers here below

Thrown on life’s surge, we claim thy care

Save us from peril and from woe,

Mother of Christ, Star of the Sea

Pray for the Wanderers, Pray for me…2

O Gentle, Chaste and Spotless Maid

We sinners make our prayers through thee

Remind thy Son that he has paid

The price of our iniquity

Virgin most pure, star of the sea

Pray for the sinner, pray for me.

Holy Virgin

Holy Virgin, by God’s decree, you were called eternally,

That He could give his son to our race,

Mary, we praise you, hail, full of grace !

Ch: Ave, Ave, Ave Maria ! (2)

By your Faith and loving accord as the handmaid of the Lord,

You undertook God’s plan to embrace,

Mary, we thank you, hail , full of grace !

Let us Mingle together

Ch: Let us Mingle together

Voices joyful and gay

Singing Hymns to our Mother

T’is her own month of May

Bring the choicest of flowers

Search the woodland and grove

Wreath a crown for our Lady

As a pledge of our Love

What are fast fading roses

All the lilies that grow

Nothing worth of Mary

Has this world to bestow

Mary ask for her treasure,

One that each can impart,

Hear and grant her petition,

“Sinners, give me thy heart.”

Maiden Mother

Maiden Mother, meek and mild

Take, Oh take me for thy child.

All my life, Oh, let it be

My best joy to think of thee

Ch: When my eyes are closed in sleep

Through the night my slumbers keep

Make my latest thoughts to be

How to love thy Son and Thee.

Teach me when the sunbeam bright

Calls me with its golden light

How my waking thoughts may be

Turned to Jesus and to Thee

Mother Dear

Mother Dear, Oh Pray for me

Whilst far from heaven and thee,

I wander in a fragile bark

O’er life’s tempestuous sea.

O Virgin Mother, from thy throne,

So Bright in Bliss above,

Protect thy child and Cheer my path

With thy sweet smile of love

Ch: Mother Dear, Oh Pray for me

And never cease thy care,

Till in heaven eternally,

Thy love and Bliss I share.

Mother Dearest

Mother Dearest, Mother fairest

Help of all who call on thee

Virgin Pure, Brightest, rarest,

Help us, help, we cry to thee

Ch: Mary help us, Help we pray (2)

Help us in, all care and sorrow

Mary help us, Help we pray

Mary, Help in pain and Sorrow

Soothe those rack’d on bed of pain

May the golden light of morrow

Bring them health and joy again

Help our priest, our sisters lowly,

Help our Pope, long may he reign,

Pray that we who sing their praises

May in Heaven all meet again.

Mary help the absent loved ones

How we miss their presence here

May the hand of thy protection

Guard & Guide them far and near.

Mother of God

Ch: Mother of God, plead with your Son,

Pray for us sinners, Mary most pure.

May God pour cleansing streams over us,

Washing our souls form every stain.

May he remove our stony hearts,

Give us a heart of flesh in its stead.

May he incline our minds to his voice,

That we may bend our hearts to his will.

May he renew the strength of the weak

And be the hope of wavering wills.

That he may wipe away every tear

And makes his light to shine on our face

O Come to the throne of Grace

O Come to the throne of Grace,

O Come to the heart most pure

To Mary, our hope of life,

In whom salvation is sure

Ch: O Lady of Fatima hail

Immaculate Mother of Grace

O pray for us help us today

Thou hope of the human race.

Immaculate Heart, we kneel

To consecrate all to thee

The present, its pain and joy

The future all it may be

The rosary white and gold

We take from the virgin hand

A pledge of the power of God

To heal & strengthen our Land.

The Bells of the Angelus

The Bells of the Angelus, Calleth to pray

In sweet tones announcing

The sacred Ave,

Ch: Ave, Ave, Ave Maria (2)

O Bless us dear Lady

With Blessing from heaven,

And to our petitions,

Let answers be given

In grief and temptation

In joy and in pain,

We’ll seek thee, our Mother

Nor Seek thee in Vain

Thee Virgin Mother Dearest

Ch: The Virgin Mother Dearest

We greet with gladsome lay

And haste with flowers fairest

To crown thee Queen of May

The Lilly of the Valley

So sweet and snowy fair

Her smiles the fitting emblem

Of thy conception rare

The humble violet

Which lurks in secret dwell

Is on thine altar set

Thy loneliness to tell

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POPE JOHN PAUL II ON MARY'S MOTHERHOOD

MARY IS THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD Pope John Paul II From the very beginning, the Church has recognized the virginal motherhood of Mary, who conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit At the General Audience of Wednesday, 13 September, the Holy Father continued the catechesis he had begun the previous week on the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this talk he discussed the mystery of Mary's virginal motherhood and the title officially attributed to her by the Council of Ephesus in 431. Here is a translation of the Pope's catechesis, which was the second in the series on the Blessed Virgin and was given in Italian. 1. In the Constitution Lumen gentium, the Council states that "joined to Christ the head and in communion with all his saints, the faithful must in the first place reverence the memory 'of the glorious ever Virgin Mary, Mother of our God and Lord Jesus Christ'" (n. 52). The conciliar Constitution uses these terms from the Roman Canon of the Mass, thereby stressing how faith in the divine motherhood of Mary has been present in Christian thought since the first centuries. In the newborn Church Mary is remembered with the title "Mother of Jesus". It is Luke himself who gives her this title in the Acts of the Apostles, a title that corresponds moreover to what is said in the Gospels: "Is this not ... the son of Mary?", the residents of Nazareth wonder according to the Evangelist Mark's account (6:3); "Isn't Mary known to be his mother?", is the question recorded by Matthew (13:55). The motherhood of Mary also concerns the Church 2. In the disciples' eyes, as they gathered after the Ascension, the title "Mother of Jesus" acquires its full meaning. For them, Mary is a person unique in her kind: she received the singular grace of giving birth to the Saviour of humanity; she lived for a long while at his side; and on Calvary she was called by the Crucified One to exercise a "new motherhood" in relation to the beloved disciple and, through him, to the whole Church. For these who believe in Jesus and follow him, "Mother of Jesus" is a title of honour and veneration, and will forever remain such in the faith and life of the Church. In a particular way, by this title Christians mean to say that one cannot refer to Jesus' origins without acknowledging the role of the woman who gave him birth in the Spirit according to his human nature. Her maternal role also involves the birth and growth of the Church. In recalling the place of Mary in Jesus' life, the faithful discover each day her efficacious presence in their own spiritual journey. 3. From the beginning, the Church has acknowledged the virginal motherhood of Mary. As the infancy Gospels enable us to grasp, the first Christian continuities themselves gathered together Mary's recollections about the mysterious circumstances of the Saviour's conception and birth. In particular, the Annunciation account responds to the disciples' desire to have the deepest knowledge of the events connected with the beginnings of the risen Christ's earthly life. In the last analysis, Mary is at the origin of the revelation about the mystery of the virginal conception by the work of the Holy Spirit. This truth, showing Jesus' divine origin, was immediately grasped by the first Christians for its important significance and included among the key affirmations of their faith. Son of Joseph according to the law, Jesus in fact, by an extraordinary intervention of the Holy Spirit, was in his humanity only the son of Mary, since he was born without the intervention of man. Mary's virginity thus acquires a unique value and casts new light on the birth of Jesus and on the mystery of his sonship, since the virginal generation is the sign that Jesus has God himself as his Father. Acknowledged and proclaimed by the faith of the Fathers, the virginal motherhood can never be separated from the identity of Jesus, true God and true man, as "born of the Virgin Mary", as we profess in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. Mary is the only Virgin who is also a Mother. The extraordinary co-presence of these two gifts in the person of the maiden of Nazareth has led Christians to call Mary simply "the Virgin", even when they celebrate her motherhood. The virginity of Mary thus initiates in the Christian community the spread of the virginal life embraced by all who are called to it by the Lord. This special vocation, which reaches its apex in Christ's example, represents immeasurable spiritual wealth for the Church in every age, which finds in Mary her inspiration and model 'Mother of God' was expression of popular piety 4 The assertion: "Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary" already implies in this event a transcendent mystery, which can find its most complete expression only in the truth of Jesus' divine sonship. The truth of Mary's divine motherhood is closely tied to this central statement of the Christian faith: she is indeed the Mother of the Incarnate Word, in whom is "God from God ... true God from me God". The title "Mother of God", already attested by Matthew in the equivalent expression "Mother of Emmanuel", God-with-us (cf. Mt 1.23), was explicitly attributed to Mary only after a reflection that embraced about two centuries. It is third-century Christians in Egypt who begin to invoke Mary as "Theotókos", Mother of God. With this title, which is broadly echoed in the devotion of the Christian people, Mary is seen in the true dimension of her motherhood: she is the Mother of God's Son, whom she virginally begot according to his human nature and raised him with her motherly love, thus contributing to the human growth of the dime person who came to transform the destiny of mankind. 5. In a highly significant way, the most ancient prayer to Mary ("Sub tuum praesidium...", "We fly to thy patronage...") contains the invocation: "Theotókos, Mother of God". This title did not originally come from the reflection of theologians, but from an intuition of faith of the Christian people. Those who acknowledge Jesus as God address Mary as the Mother of God and hope to obtain her powerful aid in the trials of life. The Council of Ephesus in 431 defined the dogma of the divine motherhood, officially attributing to Mary the title "Theotókos" in reference to the one person of Christ, true God and true man. The three expressions which the Church has used down the centuries to describe her faith in the motherhood of Mary: "Mother of Jesus", "Virgin Mother" and "Mother of God", thus show that Mary's motherhood is intimately linked with the mystery of the Incarnation. They are affirmations of doctrine, connected as well with popular piety, which help define the very identity of Christ. Taken from: L'Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English 20 September 1995, page 7 L'Osservatore Romano is the newspaper of the Holy See. The Weekly Edition in English is published for the US by: The Cathedral Foundation L'Osservatore Romano English Edition 320 Cathedral St. Baltimore, MD 21201 Subscriptions: (410) 547-5315 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting FREE (410) 547-5315 end_of_the_skype_highlightingFax: (410) 332-1069 lormail@catholicreview.org Provided Courtesy of: Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Road Irondale, AL 35210 www.ewtn.com

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