Posts Tagged ‘Mary’
Discourse on Mary’s Immaculate Conception
How becoming it was that each of the Three Divine Persons should preserve Mary from Original Sin Great indeed was the injury entailed on Adam and all his posterity by his accursed sin; for at the same time that he thereby, for his own great misfortune, lost grace, he also forfeited all the other precious…
Read MoreAdvent Recollection: The Cave of Bethlehem
The Blessed Virgin was in the eastern part of this cave, exactly opposite the entrance, when she gave birth to the Light of the World. The crib in which the child Jesus was laid stood on the west side of the southern and more roomy part of the cave. This crib was a hollowed-out stone…
Read MoreDiscourse on the Presentation of Mary
The offering that Mary made of herself to God was prompt without delay, and entire without reserve There never was, and never will be, an offering on the part of a pure creature greater or more perfect than that which Mary made to God when, at the age of three years, she presented herself in…
Read MoreHow to Make Mary Live and Reign in Our Souls
Predestinate soul, have you understood, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, what I have tried to explain to you in the preceding pages? If so, be thankful to God, for it is a secret known and understood by only a few. If you have found the treasure hidden in the field of Mary, the…
Read MorePenance at Lourdes and Champion (PART I)
PART ONE: Our Lady to Adele Brise On October 9th, Catholics across the country will celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Good Help, America’s first and only approved Marian apparition. In the decades since the events of 1859 in Champion, Wisconsin, locals have referred to these appearances of the Virgin Mary as the “Wisconsin…
Read MoreThe Words of Christ from the Cross
Saint Anselm had for a long time prayed earnestly to the glorious Virgin Mary that she would reveal to him the mysteries of her divine Son’s suffering and death. His prayers were accompanied with ardent weeping and prolonged fasting. At last, the Blessed Virgin appeared before the saint. She spoke to him the following words,…
Read MoreOur Sanctification Through Mary
Mary Alone Has Found Grace with God Mary alone has found grace with God, both for herself and for every man in particular. The patriarchs and prophets and all the Saints of the old law were not able to find that grace. Mother of Grace Mary gave being and life to the Author of all…
Read MoreWe Must Find Mary
“In me is all grace of the way, and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.” -Eccles. 24:25 In her we shall find the grace to attain unto Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. To attain unto the Truth as the Apostle would have us…
Read MoreMeditation on the Feast of the Birth of Mary
“Mary was born a saint, and a great saint; for the grace with which God enriched her from the beginning was great, and the fidelity with which she immediately corresponded with it was great.” -St. Alphonsus Men usually celebrate the birth of their children with great feasts and rejoicings; but they should rather pity them,…
Read MoreDiscourse on the Feast of the Assumption
Meditation on the Death of Mary On this day the Church celebrates, in honour of Mary, two solemn festivals; the first is that of her happy passage from this world; the second, that of her glorious Assumption into Heaven. In the present discourse we shall speak of her happy passage from this world; and in…
Read MoreThe Youthfulness of Mary the Mother of God
How old was Mary when she conceived Our Lord according to St. Albert the Great? The accounts of the nativity of Christ, found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, each present to us very beautiful images of the Virgin Mary. She was the humble and innocent handmaid of the Lord, whose ready obedience to…
Read MoreMary is the Hope of All (PART I)
OUR HOPE Modern heretics cannot endure that we should salute and call Mary our Hope: ‘Hail, our Hope!’ They say that God alone is our hope; and that He curses those who put their trust in creatures in these words of the prophet Jeremias: “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man.” Mary, they exclaim,…
Read MoreSt. Albert the Great on the Color of Our Lady’s Hair
St. Albert the Great Speculation: “What Color was Mary’s Hair?” The desire to have a visual impression or image of any person whom we love is a very natural and human one. As beings who are both corporeal and spiritual, the affections of our heart and soul are inseparably conjoined to our physical senses. In…
Read MoreThe Secret of Our Lady and the Reality of Hell
Anyone who has been interested in the apparitions of Fatima from the beginning has felt a curiosity and burning desire to uncover or see uncovered the mysterious secret which the children claimed to have received from the Lady, and which they kept inviolate in the face of the most alluring promises as well as the…
Read MoreMay 13th and the Consecration of Russia
THE STORY OF FATIMA On a cool spring day in 1916, Lucy dos Santos, age 9, and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, ages 8 and 6 respectively, took their parents’ sheep to pasture in a place not far from their homes in the mountain village of Fatima, Portugal, about 90 miles north of Lisbon.…
Read MoreThe Author of the Salve Regina: the Stories of Two Great Lovers of Mary
The Salve Regina, after the Hail Mary, is undoubtedly the best-known and best-loved Marian prayer within the Catholic tradition. It is recited at the conclusion of each mystery of the Rosary; and, for those in monastic and consecrated life, it is traditionally sung as a final antiphon at night after compline, throughout most seasons of…
Read MoreMary as the Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant was a wood box about four-feet long and two and a half-feet wide. The word “ark” comes from the Hebrew word “aron” which means chest or coffer. The Ark was no ordinary chest. It was plated inside and out with gold. And it had an ornate cover, called the mercy…
Read MoreThe Immaculate Conception According to Anne Catherine Emmerich
“In the moment when the newborn child [Mary] lay in the arms of her holy mother Anna, I saw that at the same time the child was presented in Heaven in the sight of the Most Holy Trinity, and greeted with unspeakable joy by all the heavenly host.” —Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich Anne Catherine Emmerich…
Read MoreThe Quest for Mary the Historical Mother of Jesus
“Mary’s greatness consists in the fact that she wants to magnify God, not herself.” -Benedict XVI Not much is known about the life of Mary, the woman chosen to be the Mother of Christ. Nevertheless, she is the most famous of women in history, guardedly revealed to us by the inspired books. Yet she is…
Read MoreThe Sublime Image of Our Lady in Art
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” -Archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:28) The thought and history of the Blessed Mother in art is a magnificent subject that has enraptured Christians for over twenty centuries. Art is inseparable from Mary and reflects the high place she holds in global world…
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