Our Lady's Discipleship

The Holy Father's Message of Hope for Today

The Holy Father recently spoke about the dark times through which he lived as a youth, speaking of how "Hitler had subjected one country after another, Poland, Denmark, the Benelux States and France, and in April of 1941 -- precisely in this season 70 years ago -- he had occupied Yugoslavia and Greece."

"It seemed that the Continent was in the hands of this power that, at the same time, cast doubt on the future of Christianity," the Pontiff said.

He had joined the "Sodality of Our Lady" as a young man and, although the dissolution of the seminaries hindered it, this bond continued, since "Catholicity cannot exist without a Marian expression."

"To be Catholics means to be Marian ... that in the Mother and by the Mother we find the Lord," he said.

We have great hope in following Our Lady's example of discipleship. To read the full text of his message go here.

Lord - Age of the Blessed Sacrament

Madonna with the Host - Ingres

THROUGH THE GREAT MERCY OF GOD, we happen to live in the age of the Blessed Sacrament ...

The hatred that once reached out to fling the visible Christ into the plot of the Passion we have seen reach out once again to obliterate His priesthood, destroy the Mass, and make impossible the Eucharistic presence of the Incarnate God in His world. After all persecution is an act of perverted faith. Men cannot attack what they believe does not exist. The vicious persecution against the Catholic priesthood is the attack upon Christ and the Mass, the method by which He ordained He should enter the world. An age of persecution, like ours, is a glorious age of faith - angelic and demoniac - in the real presence ...

This is a great age, the age of the Eucharist and the age of Mary. The Eucharist and the Mother of the Savior are inseparable. The age that loves and honors one must love and honor the other. Our age gratefully and deeply loves them both, virgin Mother and virgin Son.

- Daniel A. Lord, S.J.

Θεοτόκος - Mary, Mother of God

Birth of the Virgin - Murillo

Bishop Paul Andre Durocher clarifies our Lady's role in a succinct, beautiful piece here.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Virgin of the Lilies

Beautiful image by Carlos Schwabe.  Read about this in the Magnificat by clicking HERE.

Immaculate Conception

The Immaculate Conception

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1305) - Giotto

Except I Give Flowers Yuengling

And speaking of love. If you were ever wondering, here is what real men love ...

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

The Immaculate Conception (1618-19) - Diego Velázquez

Commentary by Fr. James Schall here

What if it is true?

The 13th Day
The True Story of Fatima

In a world torn apart by persecution, war and oppression, 3 shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal were chosen by God to offer an urgent message of hope to the world.

Based on the memoirs of the oldest seer, Lucia Santos, and many thousands of independent eye-witness accounts, The 13th Day dramatizes the true story of three young shepherds who experienced six apparitions of Our Lady between May and October 1917, which culminated in the final prophesized Miracle of the Sun on October 13th.

Abducted from their homes, thrown into prison and interrogated under the threat of death in the government s attempt to silence them, the children remained true to their story about the crucial messages from Mary of prayer, repentance and conversion for the world.

Have you prayed for the message?

tip to Amy Welborn

Rosary Stars: Praying the Gospel Trailer

What is it going to take to get you to start praying the Rosary? Check out this.

And HERE

And on Facebook

Franciscan Blessed Comes in Defense of the Immaculate Conception

Blessed John Duns Scotus, besides being known as the 'Subtle Doctor', is also referred to as the 'Marian Doctor'. It was he who presented a systematic theology of the Marian privilege of the Immaculate Conception, which the Catholic Church officially proclaimed as a Dogma of Faith in the Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of Pope Pius IX on the 8th of December 1854.

Read more from Noel Muscat, a Franciscan Friar Minor from Malta who since 2004 he has been offering his service to the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land as Secretary for Formation and Studies. Muscat concludes his great article JOHN DUNS SCOTUS AND HIS DEFENCE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION this way:

John Duns Scotus can be described as a Franciscan theologian who provided the Church with the Christological basis for the doctrine on the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, in such a way that it could truly be seen as the result of divine revelation. His Christ-centred vision of creation and redemption proves that the primacy of God's love in the mystery of the Incarnation is still at work in the Church and in the world. The mysterium iniquitatis, or mystery of evil, has been won over by Christ and his Immaculate Mother, whom Saint Francis salutes as the Virgo Ecclesia facta, the "Virgin made Church".

Presentation of Blessed Virgin Mary

It is vastly significant in these times to recall three things: (a) each one of us is the prima materia in the proof of a good and loving God; (b) secondly, as the sage Walker Percy observed, each one of us is a triadic being in a cosmos of dyadic occurrences since the beginning of all things: an observer and namer. Yet for all of this, the self is a mystery that none can name on our own. This has engendered a vast popular unthematized philosophy and lifestyle of trying to show that we are only dyadic creatures like the rest of the animal kingdom, supported and egged on by present-day reductionists and self-appointed definers of the realm of reality like the MSM.

In popular parlance: Yeah, right.

In this mysterious existence as humans, the Catholic Church makes truth claims that it purports to have received via revelation; that is, from outside the cosmos of culture and from outside the time/space continuum itself; about a divinity Who is trinitarian, covenant-making and self-donating; about this deity Who shares ontological being with us, so much so that we are made imago dei.

Today the Church celebrates the one human who in her fiat made it possible for us humans to be divinized, as the Eastern Church calls it. Through the Blessed Virgin Mary our deity became one-with-us, the Word made flesh (Jn 1,14), in Jesus Christ.

Lastly, (c) if the Catholic Church is right about the revelations she has received, who are we to choose which to accept as true and which to discard? One must accept all of her teaching, or reject it all. Anything else is the height of hubris.

A Prayer to Mary

"Note that Mary is not only the Mother of Jesus, Head of all the elect, but is also Mother of all his members. Hence she conceives them, bears them in her womb and brings them forth to the glory of heaven through the graces of God which she imparts to them. This is the teaching of the Fathers of the Church, and among them St. Augustine, who says that the elect are in the womb of Mary until she brings them forth into the glory of heaven." -- from EXCERPTS FROM THE LOVE OF ETERNAL WISDOM by Saint Louis De Montfort

There have been more than 40 million abortions in the United States since 1973. "Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion." - Mother TeresaLet us join in prayer with Father Mark at Vultus Christi ...

HEART OF JESUS, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, have mercy on this nation soaked in the blood of the innocent.

May that vast army of infants slaughtered mercilessly in their mothers' wombs raise their voices and plead before Thy throne in glory for an end to the crime of abortion that has so rightly merited Thy Father's wrath and caused our nation to become an abomination in His sight.

Do what Thou must, O merciful Heart of Jesus, to reveal to all the horror of this sin and to bring us to repentance.

Immaculate Virgin Mary, thou who didst bear Thy Son for nine months in the inviolate sanctuary of Thy womb, intercede for the United States of America, which claim thy maternal protection.
Amen.

The Rosary is a School of Contemplation and of Silence - Pope Benedict XVI

Truth Goodness 'n Beauty is the Rosary.

tip to Father Mark at Vultus Christi translating the Holy Father's address at Pompei.

Contemplation and Silence

The Rosary is a school of contemplation and of silence. At a first glance, it may seem like a prayer that accumulates words, one that it is difficult to reconcile with the silence rightly required for meditation and contemplation. In reality, the cadenced repetition of the Ave Maria does not disturb interior silence; on the contrary it calls it forth and sustains it.

Our Lady of the Rosary

The Battle of Lepanto - Paolo Veronese

Pope St. Pius V established this feast in 1573. The purpose was to thank God for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto - click here for survey of the battle - a victory attributed to the praying of the Rosary. Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church in 1716.

The development of the Rosary has a long history. First, a practice developed of praying 150 Our Fathers in imitation of the 150 Psalms. Then there was a parallel practice of praying 150 Hail Marys. Soon a mystery of Jesus' life was attached to each Hail Mary. Though Mary's giving the Rosary to St. Dominic is recognized as unhistorical, the development of this prayer form owes much to the followers of St. Dominic. One of them, Alan de la Roche, was known as "the apostle of the rosary." He founded the first Confraternity of the Rosary in the 15th century. In the 16th century the rosary was developed to its present form—with the 15 mysteries (joyful, sorrowful and glorious). In 2002, Pope John Paul II added the Mysteries of Light to this devotion.

- Americancatholic.org

The greatest retelling of the victory at Lepanto is by G. K. Chesterton in his epic poem of the same name.

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Birth of the Virgin Mary (1661) - Esteban Murillo

For more on this feast, visit Women for Faith & Family.

Holy Day of Obligation - Assumption

Kindly remember, gentle reader, that today is a Day of Holy Obligation, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. [h/t: Lady Dawn of Dawn Patrol for the beautiful video]

The Joy of Mary's Marriage of Joseph

(the following taken from The Franciscan Crown small booklet - The mosaic above is from the Sanctuary of Perpetual Adoration at the shrine of Marytown, Libertyville, IL)

In 1399, the Franciscan Order began commemorating the betrothal of Saint Joseph with a liturgical office that was later developed into the feast day of Joseph as the "Husband of Mary" (now a solemnity celebrated on March 19th). In 1741, the Franciscans requested that Pope Benedict XIV consecrate the whole Seraphic Order to Saint Joseph. Before opening the Second Vatican Council, Pope John XXIII (a Secular Franciscan) declared Saint Joseph the "Paternal Patron of the Universal Church." This proclamation formally recognized Joseph's role as inseparable from Mary's role as "Mother of the Church."

With this long history of devotion to the spousal relationship between Mary and Joseph, it is fitting that those meditating on the traditional seven joys in the life of a married woman, complete their prayer with an eighth joy - Mary's marriage to Joseph.

And, just as Francis could no longer keep his desire to wed "Lady Poverty" a secret from his closest friend, so too Joseph must have sung an anthem of praise at being chosen from all time to wed the most beloved of God.