Topic: Moments of Prayer with Our Lady

Quote:
?When you are tempted turn your eyes to Mary and cry out, ?O Mary, my dear Mother, help me!? – St John Bosco, Don Bosco: A Spiritual Portrait, Edna Phelan, (Doubleday),232.

Meditation:
?[Don Bosco] was tireless in suggesting affectionate and appropriate ejaculations to the Blessed Mother of which the following are illustrative:

?Holy Virgin, give me a clean and pure heart?;
?Holy Virgin, Mother of purity, pray for me?;
?Hoy Virgin, make my body pure and my soul holy?;
?Holy Virgin, grant me the grace to use my tongue to give glory to God?;
?Holy Virgin, obtain for me grace and prudence in conversing with my companions?;
?O Mary, keep me ever from sin.??

?St. Bonaventure calls them ?aspirations? because they are like a breath which comes from the heart and goes to God. They are fiery darts which transport to God the affections of the heart and which destroy the enemies of the soul, temptations, and vice.? – St John Bosco, Don Bosco: A Spiritual Portrait,? Edna Phelan, (Doubleday),232.

Resolution:
Today, I will use one of Don Bosco?s Marian aspirations. If I can?t remember one exactly, I?ll say: Holy Virgin help me.

Marian Vow:
?During the hours of work during the day let there be frequent ?moments? of prayer with ejaculations, Eucharistic and Marian Spiritual Communions, acts of love and offering, short visits to the most Holy Sacrament, as often as possible;? Marian Seraphic Pathways, Statutes #25

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Ave Maria!

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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 – Moments of Prayer with Our Lady first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Topic: The Feast of the Assumption with St. Elizabeth of Hungary

Quote:
?How can I, a miserable creature remain wearing a crown of earthly dignity when I see my King, Jesus Christ crowned with thorns.? – St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Nesta de Robeck, St. Elizabeth of Hungary A Story of Twenty-Four Years, (Bruce Publishing: 1953) 37-8.

Meditation:
On the feast of the Assumption, when Elizabeth was only 10 years old, she entered the church, prostrated herself before the altar, removed her crown and spoke these moving words:? ?How can I a miserable creature remain wearing a crown of earthly dignity when I see my King, Jesus Christ crowned with thorns.?

Resolution:
On the Feast of the Assumption, I will imitate St. Elizabeth of Hungary and spiritually put aside my ?crown of pride?. I will remember this especially when I genuflect before the tabernacle and when I bow (or kneel) before receiving Communion. To help stay recollected during Mass, I will look at Our Lord crowned with thorns.

Marian Vow:
In honor of the Feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe
?When [St. Maximilian] looked with compassionate eyes and serene countenance at the executioners, they could not stand his gaze and demanded ?Turn your eyes away. Do not look at us that way!? As they left the cell they would mutter to themselves, ?We have never seen a man like him.? Thus hatred was conquered by love, evil by sheer goodness, and death by one who freely gave up his life so another might live…?
Brother Francis M. Kalvelage, FI, Kolbe Saint of the Immaculata, (Academy of the Immaculate: 2001), 10.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Ave Maria!

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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 – The Feast of the Assumption first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Topic: The ?Woman? of the Bible and Our Mother

Quote:
?[Mary] is the real, physical Mother of the Messiah; she is the real mystical Mother of the Church, the new people of God. This is the thread, that, without a break in continuity, starts with Genesis and reaches to Revelation, passing through Cana and Calvary.? – Father Stefano Manelli, FI, All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed, (Academy of the Immaculate: 1989), 356.

Meditation:
?On this subject, a passage interesting and rich in insight, accurate as it is delicate, has been written by I. de La Potterie:
A very important insight of modern exegesis has brought to light how the mystery of Mary in some way forms a synthesis of all of the preceding revelation about the people of God, about all that which God, through his salvific action, wishes to realize for his people. In Mary are accomplished all of the important aspects of the promises of the Old Testament to the Daughter of Sion, and in her concrete person is anticipated that which will be realized for the new people of God, which is the Church. Now, the history of revelation regarding the theme of the Woman Sion concretized in the person of Mary, and extended to the Church, constitutes a doctrinal bastion, an unshakable, well-structured ensemble for understanding the history of salvation, from its origins to the last times.? – Father Stefano Manelli, FI, All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed, (Academy of the Immaculate: 1989), 361.

Resolution:
My efforts at imitating Our Lady, at cultivating a habitual relationship with my heavenly Mother (which in the grand scheme of Christianity, specifically when compared to martyrdom, is an easy thing to do.) This simple devotion of Mother/child opens the mysteries of the Old Testament, is a symbol of the church, encourages appreciation of the True God/True Man reality of the Messiah, sheds light on the profound mystery of the Blessed Trinity and finally provides one with a greater and more profound desire to worship the Blessed Sacrament, the Son of God who is also the Son of Mary.

I will try to cultivate a deeper love for my Heavenly Mother, the Queen of Heaven. The more childlike I become in her presence the more the mysteries of heaven and God will be revealed.
Today I will repeat ?Mother? and realize so much is contained in this one simple word.

Marian Vow:
?She is queen also of earth because she is the Mother of God himself, but she both desires and has a right to be freely acknowledged by every heart, be loved as the Queen of every heart, so that through her that heart might become immaculate, similar to her heart and more worthy of union with God, with the love of God, with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.? – St. Maximilian Kolbe, Will to Love, (Marytown Press: 1998), 138.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Ave Maria!

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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 – The ?Woman? of the Bible and Our Mother first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Topic: Mary as the New Ark of the Covenant

Quote:
?The Virgin?s singular and magnificence triumph, her innocence her exceptional purity and sanctity, her immunity from every stain of sin, and finally her inexpressible richness and greatness in every grace, her virtues, and celestial privileges the holy Fathers contemplated: in the ark of Noah, which built by command of God remained completely secure and intact in the midst of great disaster?? – Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus

Meditation:
?Of all the Marian symbols in the Old Testament, certainly the Ark of the Covenant enjoys preeminence. One of the readings used in the revised liturgy of Vatican II for the solemnity of Mary?s Assumption body and soul into heaven treats of the Ark of the Covenant. Throughout the centuries, Christian peoples have venerated Mary under the title of Foederis Arca (Ark of the Covenant) in the Litany of Loreto. ? In fact, the Ark was the place par excellence of God?s presence. The Jews even came to consider the Ark as God Himself (Num 10:35), and God?s presence was seen between the cherubim placed above the Ark. But the Ark was only a symbol. Mary, instead, is the reality. In her, God was really present, so much so as to become her Son. ? Finally, in the mystery of Mary?s Assumption into heaven, in the splendor of glory, is realized most fully the incorruptibility of the Ark, perennial dwelling place of God.? – Father Stefano Manelli, FI, All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed, (Academy of the Immaculate: 1989), 59-60.

Resolution:
I will try to make one spiritual Communion today thinking about Our Lady as the Ark of the Covenant. I will see her as the fulfillment of the Old Testament image. I will see her traveling to her cousin Elizabeth as the new Ark of the Covenant, carrying within her the Real Presence of Christ. By trying to imitate Our Lady and making a spiritual Communion, she will bring to my soul the image of the Ark of the Covenant, making my soul the fitting receptacle for the presence of God.

Marian Vow:
?After Jesus Christ our Saviour had completed, by His death, the work of redemption, the angels ardently desired to possess Him in their heavenly country; hence they were continually supplicating Him in the words of David: ?Arise?? Come, O Lord, come quickly, now that Thou hast redeemed men; come to Thy kingdom and dwell with us, and bring with Thee the living ark of Thy sanctification, Thy Mother, who was the ark which Thou didst sanctify by dwelling in her womb.? – St. Alphonsus di Liguori, Glories Of Mary, (Tan Books: 1977) 389.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Ave Maria!

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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 – Mary as the New Ark of the Covenant first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Topic: The Birth of Mary

Quote:
?As the dawn is a cause of joy after the darkness and gloom of night, so was the birth of Mary.? – St. Alphonsus di Liguori, The Glories of Mary, (Tan Books: 1978), 628.

Meditation:
?Even in her cradle, Mary was the delight of the most Holy Trinity, the admiration of the Angels. ?Who is this privileged one,? they ask, ?who at the first dawn of life, is so rich in virtue and adorned with such glory?
In like manner should we rejoice, since Mary brings us the Bread of Life. From the day of her birth, we salute her as the aurora of the Eucharist, for we know that the Savior of mankind will take from her the substance of that Body and Blood which He will give us in the Adorable Sacrament of His love.? – St. Peter Julian Eymard, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, (Eymard Library), 31.

Resolution:
In honor of Our Lady?s birthday, as a present to my Heavenly Mother, I will say my prayers well. I will include a spiritual Communion and reflect that this day, the birthday of Mary, is the dawn of the Eucharist.

Marian Vow:
?Among our daily works, those which we ought to have most at heart are the spiritual. We should make every effort to perform them well, and let everything else yield to them, when necessity or obedience does not forbid; for they regard God most directly, and do the most to advance us in perfection. If we act otherwise, we draw upon ourselves the malediction fulminated by the Holy Spirit against those who do the work of God negligently.? – St. Vincent de Paul, A Year With The Saints, (Tan Books: 1988), 232.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Ave Maria!

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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: The Birth of Mary first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Topic: Confession & The Blessed Virgin Mary

Quote:
?Thus it often happened that, whilst the Divine Child was sheltered in the arms of His Mother and felt neither wind nor cold, she herself suffered severely from their effects.? – Ven. Mary of Agreda, The Divine Life of the Most Holy Virgin, (Tan Books), 90.

Meditation:
Our Lady is always willing to sacrifice herself for Her Son. One could cite many examples from the time of the Our Lady?s Presentation in the Temple to the Lord?s Passion. The following meditation is from St. Alphonsus di Liguori describing the Flight into Egypt.

?Most authors agree that it was three hundred miles [to Egypt]; so that it was a journey of upwards of thirty days. The road was, according to saint Bonaventure?s description of it, ?rough, unknown, and little frequented.? It was in the winter season; so that they had to travel in snow, rain, and wind, through rough and dirty roads. Mary was then fifteen years of age?a delicate young woman, unaccustomed to such journeys. ?O God, what a touching sight must it have been to have beheld that tender Virgin with her new-born Babe in her arms, wandering through the world!? – St. Alphonsus di Liguori, The Glories of Mary, (Tan Books), 428.

Resolution:
How can I imitate the Holy Mother of God who was able to hold the Divine Child in Her arms? I can come closest to this experience in Holy Communion. This week, I will go to Confession and do my best to confess my sins, at any cost to myself, so that I can imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary?s desire to protect Jesus from pain. I will make every effort to receive Communion with a clean soul and thus protect Jesus.

Marian Vow:
?The Franciscan Tertiaries of the Immaculate should habitually approach the sacrament of penance each week (or at least twice a month), and seek to have a Spiritual Director to guide and support them on the road of evangelical perfection.

To purify themselves of sin let them daily examine their consciences with sincere repentance and firm purpose of amendment.? – Marian Seraphic Pathways, Constitutions, #36

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Ave Maria!

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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 – Confession & The Blessed Virgin Mary first appeared on AirMaria.com.