Ave Maria!

Mary Vitamin for November 12th

Topic: Acts of Love

Quote:
St. John Eudes
??[T]he heavenly Virgin was never idle, but remained constantly turned towards God, ever exercising her love for His divine majesty.??
The Admirable Heart (Loreto Publications: 2004), 225.

Meditation:
St. John Eudes
??She loved Him with her whole heart, her whole soul and all her strength, according to the full extent of the grace that was in her, so that grace was doubled in her soul, if not from moment to moment, at least from hour to hour, and perhaps more often. [??] If Jesus bestows an eternal kingdom upon those who give a glass of water to the poor for love of Him, what gifts, what treasures, what graces did He constantly pour into Mary’s pure heart, in which He did not encounter the least obstacle to the inexhaustible blessings which He ardently wished to communicate to her.??
The Admirable Heart (Loreto Publications: 2004), 225-6.

Resolution:
Today, I will try to imitate the love of Our Lady towards Our Lord by recalling the presence of God during the day and making an act of love for God. (I will try to do this in the Angelus.)

It is not necessary to use a written prayer but if you would like to use a prayer for the Act of Love:

O Lord God, I love you above all things
and I love my neighbor for your sake
because you are the highest, infinite and perfect
good, worthy of all my love.
In this love I intend to live and die.
Amen.

From Women for Faith and Family
This site also has the Acts of Faith and Hope.

Marian Vow:
St. Maximilian Kolbe
??It is said that the Holy Spirit dwells in the souls of the just. If this is so, there he must dwell in the most perfect manner possible in the soul of the Immaculata. Our Most Holy Mother is totally suffused in the divine. For this reason we call her the spouse of the Holy Spirit, even though we know that this name is only a distant shadow of the reality.??
Fr. H.M. Manteau-Bonamy, O.P., Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit, (Franciscan Marytown Press: 1977), 52.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

+++

Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

+++

?

The post Mary Vitamin – Nov 12 – Acts of Love first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!

Mary Vitamin for November 19th

Topic: Presentation of Mary in the Temple (November 21)

Quote:
??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 the temple to offer him, not aromatical spices, nor calves, nor gold, but her entire self, consecrating herself as a perpetual victim in his honor.??
St. Alphonsus di Liguori, The Glories of Mary, (Tan Books: 1978), 337.

Meditation:
Part of St. Francis de Sales?? sermon for the Presentation of Mary in the Temple.
??Let us pass on now to the third point, which is the absolute surrender of our glorious Mistress to the Divine Majesty.

?It is thus that we must give ourselves totally to the Lord because the Saviour does not want us to do what He Himself cannot do??which is to give Himself to us partially. His goodness is so great that He wishes to give Himself to us totally. Similarly, He desires, and it is only just that we give ourselves to Him without reserve. [??] There remains what is most difficult to give up, yourself, your own will. It must be annihilated entirely, without reserve. ”
The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales on Our Lady, (Tan Books:1985), 44.

Our Lady, even at the tender age of three, was well advanced in the paths of holiness. She well understood the desires of God. She did not try to hand Him things, but rather Her own heart, Immaculate and pure.

Resolution:
Today I will imitate Our Lady’s gift of self. Today I will think of Our Lady standing in the Temple seemingly empty handed but actually giving to God the greatest gift any creature has ever offered. Today, when I pass the crucifix, I will show my empty hands to the Lord on the cross and imitate Our Lady’s offering of her Heart.

Marian Vow:
St. Francis de Sales
God is not satisfied with our offerings when they are not accompanied by that of our own heart, ” the Divine Majesty asks first for our heart. “My son, give Me your heart?? [Prov. 23:26], says this incomparable Goodness, and after that your offerings will be pleasing to Me.??
The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales on Our Lady, (Tan Books:1985), 44.

I will tap my heart in remembering my Marian Vow.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

+++

Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

+++

The post Preparing for the Presentation first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!

Mary Vitamin for December 3rd

Topic: Mary is our Advent

Quote:
Fr. Angelo M. Geiger, FI
??Christmas is always with us, and therefore Mary is always our Advent. She is always announcing the coming dawn.??
??The Morning Star of Advent?? from the magazine
Missio Immaculatae International, November 2007 edition**

Meditation:
Fr. Angelo explains this idea by calling upon the words of the Seraphic Father St. Francis:

??Behold: daily He humbles Himself as when from heaven’s royal throne He came down into the womb of the Virgin. Daily He Himself comes to us with like humility; daily He descends from the bosom of the Father upon the altar in the hands of the priest??
Admonition 1

Resolution:
What are my Advent plans?
Have I included Mary in my preparation for Christmas?
How can I become more like the Blessed Virgin so that the Lord may find repose in my heart and in my life this Christmas?

Today, I will say the Rosary and pay attention to the closing prayer of the Rosary,

??By meditating on these mysteries, of the most Holy Rosary, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise …??

I will ask Our Lady to help me to prepare for Christmas.

(Here’s a link to How to pray the Rosary)

Marian Vow:
Fr. Angelo
??Our Lady’s life must become our life, all day, every day, through a continuous effort to be one with Her.??
(same article from Missio Immaculatae International)

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

**For more information on the Franciscans of the Immaculate’s magazine
Missio Immaculate International
contact the friars at:
fitheotokos@bluemarble.net

+++

Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

+++

?

The post Mary Vitamin – Dec 3 – Mary is our Advent first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!

Mary Vitamin for December 11th

Topic: In the Eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Quote:
??Miguel Cabrera wrote of Our Lady’s eyes in 1751, “Her eyes are downcast, and like a dove’s, so peaceful and pleasant that just to see them cause joy and reverence.??
Janet Barber, I.H.M. “Latest Scientific Findings on the Images in the Eyes:
A Handbook on Guadalupe, (Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate: 1996), 89.

Meditation:
The shrine’s photographer noticed an image in the eye of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Scientists have since examined the image:

??Ophthalmologists have testified that even though they are opaque, both eyes in the Image show depth and become filled with light when the opthalmoscope’s light is trained into them. They have asserted that it would be impossible to produce with paint such perfectly placed reflections in eyes offering so little space with the Virgin looking down and on such rough material as the tilma.??
Janet Barber, I.H.M. “Latest Scientific Findings on the Images in the Eyes:
A Handbook on Guadalupe, (Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate: 1996), 90.

(Information on the images found in Our Lady’s eyes:
http://www.catholicapologetics.net/apolo_7.htm )

Resolution:
Today, I will remember the eyes of Our Lady are real. I will remember that she sees me all day long and that I am not alone in the crosses I carry.

Marian Vow:
??Concretely, day by day, at the examination of conscience, the person consecrated to the Immaculate (and in a special way whoever has the Marian Vow) should verify in what way and to what degree he has realized union with the Immaculate by living this Marian character:
– thinking and working as a “docile instrument?? and as a “thing and property?? of the Immaculate in giving totally of his time and energy to her;
– thinking and working for Mary, with Mary and in Mary, by renouncing thoughts and works of a purely “natural?? bent, or carried out according to his “own?? way of seeing and doing;
– thinking and working on the basis of the two fundamental questions: what would the Immaculate think and what would the Immaculate do in this precise moment and situation.??
Marian Seraphic Pathways, Directory #40

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate

This site has a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Also check out “pictures” once you’re there:

http://www.sancta.org/intro.html

+++

Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

Related site: Castle of the Immaculate

+++

The post Mary Vitamin – Dec 11th: In the Eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!

Mary Vitamin for December 19th

Topic: Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Quote:
Pope St. Gregory I
??The body of the Lord came into the presence of the disciples through closed doors, which body, in truth, at His birth came forth to human eyes from the closed womb of the Virgin. What wonder, then, if after His Resurrection and about to reign victorious in eternity, He entered through closed doors, who, coming so that He might die, came forth from the unopened womb of the Virgin???
(The Faith of the Early Fathers. Selected and trans. by W. A. Jurgens. 3 Vols. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1970. No. 2331).
Meditation:
The Lord has no need of doors to enter my home and my soul. He comes when “two or three are gathered in His name.?? He abides with us, causes no damage, breaks no barriers in my home or my soul. Why should His birth, His actual departure from the Virgin’s womb be any different?

Resolution:
In prayer today, when I lift my heart and mind to God, I want to contemplate the Lord’s presence in my soul and yet how He abides in me gently. I want to remember how He passed through the walls of the upper room in order to be with His disciples, gently. I want to believe that in the same way, He passed through the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and She felt no pain and did not lose Her virginity because He passed through in a miraculous way.

Marian Vow:
St. Maximilian Kolbe
??Do not be surprised that within yourself you sense both good and evil. Whatever evil there is, is from yourself, and all that is good flows through the hands of the Immaculate Mediatrix of grace from God. We must fight with our weaknesses without growing angry. We must place all our trust in her and through holy obedience she will bring us to heaven. Trust without limit in her and all our weaknesses will be turned about to your own good.??
Will to Love, (Marytown Press: 1998), 86.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.?

+++

Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

Related site: Castle of the Immaculate

+++

The post Mary Vitamin – Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!

Vitamin for Christmas Day

Topic: What did the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph do near the manger?

Quote:
Cure of Ars
??They looked at, contemplated and admired the Christ child. That is all they did. They were in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar of the manger. They blessed and thanked God who gave us his Son out of His love for us. Nobody will ever be able to understand or explain what went on inside Mary at that time.??
From A Moment With Mary
http://www.mariedenazareth.com/3562.0.html?&L=1

Meditation:

Fr. Gabriel Pellettieri, FI
What do we learn from the three main characters of the cave in Bethlehem?
??Jesus, Our Lady and St. Joseph “incomparable teachers of every virtue “offer us sublime examples of poverty, virginity and humility at the moment of the birth of the Divine Child.
St. Joseph teaches us to be poor, that is, to be lacking in everything, at times even in what is necessary.
Indeed, he chose the poverty of a cave, not having the means to provide for a better and more dignified childbirth.
Our Lady, in her virginal childbirth, teaches us to be pure: chaste in soul and in body, in thoughts, desires and actions.
Finally, great is the lesson in humility that the Baby Jesus bestows upon us from His poor cradle. The Creator of the universe humbles Himself to the point of desiring to be born in a cave and to be laid in a manger “in reality, a box fro which horses and cattle eat??hidden from all, in a small town of Palestine.??
Who is Mary? (Academy of the Immaculate: 2001), 46.

Resolution:
Today I will pause in front of the manger, in imitation of Our Lady, I will make a spiritual Communion and pray that my heart and soul may be a little heaven, another manger, where He can abide.

Marian Vow:
St. Maximilian Kolbe
“Our life must be an extension on this earth of Jesus’ life by means of Mary”
(from a conference on July 5, 1936).
http://www.ewtn.com/library/PRIESTS/TRACMARI.TXT

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Thanks be to God for graces received.

+++

Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

Related site: Castle of the Immaculate

+++

The post Mary Vitamin – Near the Manger first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria!

Mary Vitamin for January 3rd

Topic: The Holy Name of Jesus

Quote:
??Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High…????
Luke 1:30-32

Meditation:

Our Lady was the first to revere the Holy Name of Jesus. She began to do this as soon as the angel revealed the Sacred Name. All during the arduous journey into the hill country of Judah, on her errand of charity, She kept the Sacred Name within Her heart. When Our Lady arrived at the house of Zecharias and greeted Elizabeth, Our Lady, revealed the secret Her Immaculate heart pondered during the journey:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
And my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour
??
Holy is His name.
Magnificat Luke 1:46-55

Resolution:
Today when I pray the rosary, I will take extra care in saying the Holy Name of Jesus. I will think of Our Lady in Her journey who said the Holy name of Jesus over and over again, lovingly and reverently.

Marian Vow:
St. Isaac Jogues carved the Holy Name of Jesus into the trees around His mission house in upstate New York, in deference to the power of the Holy Name over the devils. By virtue of my Marian Vow, Our Lady Herself will etch the Holy Name upon my heart. I will ask for this grace in the rosary and remember my vow.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate & AirMaria

For an explanation of the monogram IHS:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07649a.htm

?

+++

Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

Related site: Castle of the Immaculate

+++

The post Mary Vitamin – Jan 3: The Holy Name of Jesus first appeared on AirMaria.com.