?

There is no better preparation for Holy Com?munion than to entrust it all to the Immaculata:? She knows best how to prepare our hearts, and thus we may be certain that we afford Jesus the great?est pleasure, that we show him the greatest love. Even without this actual oblation we are hers, because we have dedicated ourselves to her and never revoked our dedication.

?

The Immaculata suggests a thousand ways to her children. For example, someone may desire to give her the greatest joy of which he is capable. What does he do? He borrows the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and then he is sure that he has infi?nitely outrun all men and angels taken together in his love of the Immaculata. In turn, he loves Jesus with her heart, or rather she in him and through him loves Jesus, for example, in Holy Commun?ion.

?

Prayer, prayer above all, is an effective weapon in the fight for freedom and happiness of souls.

Only supernatural means lead to a supernatural end. Heaven, or, if I may say so, the divinization of the soul, is something supernatural in the full sense of the word. With natural powers one is in?capable of reaching it. One needs a supernatural means, the grace of God. One gains this grace by humble and confident prayer. Grace, and only grace, illuminating the intellect and strengthening the will, is the reason for conversion, or freeing the soul from the fetters of evil.

?

The saints claim that whoever prays to the Mother of God during a temptation will surely not sin. Whoever turns to her throughout life with con?fidence will surely be saved. Much patience and confidence in the Immaculata is necessary, and much prayer in dif?ficulties, or the invocation of the sweetest name of Mary, or “Hail Mary.” In more difficult and more important situations, five decades of the Rosary will not be out of the way. Yes, every difficulty or suffering will change itself into a source of merit.

?

My dear brothers, let us remember and often recall that a single turning to the Immaculata will suffice, either by word or glance or only a thought, so that she would repair all that we have ruined both in ourselves and those around us. She will guide us at the present moment and take our fu?ture and the results of our future work under her care. For that reason let us often have recourse to her. ?The entire fruit of our activity in the direction of converting and sanctifying souls depends upon prayer.

?

Without regard for what kind of sins we have on our conscience, we can rise from them if only we turn with all confidence to the Immaculata. ?The cause of the Immaculata is to be our ac?tivity. We cannot permit that other purposes displace our main purpose: to win the whole world for the most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculata. Every?thing must measure up to that purpose, because these are divine affairs. Here we need to get on our knees, with the attitude that all prayer, ejaculations, all our imperfections are to be burned for her, so that we love her, draw near to her, throw out from ourselves what is not hers. ?One who cannot bend his knees and beg her in humble prayer to know who she is, let him not expect to learn anything more intimate about her. You know the story of the prayer of Duns Scotus: “Permit me to praise you, 0 Most Holy Virgin; give me strength against your enemies.” ?We see how the first part of this prayer is humble: “Permit me to praise you.” But in the sec?ond part we see how strong and resolute it is: “give me strength against your enemies.” Hence the sec?ond part of the prayer is strength and manliness, strength against one’s enemies.

?

Prayer is not for prayer’s own sake, but to help us unite our will with the will of God. Al?ways and everywhere prayer is necessary, but as a means, not an end. ?We are to win the whole world for the Immaculata; therefore we must strongly support ourselves by prayer. If anyone is physically weak, he must nour?ish himself better and more often. In the same way those spiritually sick need more of the nourishment of grace, which can be obtained through prayer. Let us always remember that we will know the Immaculata more in humble prayer and in the loving experiences of daily life, than from learned definitions, distinctions and arguments, even though we are not allowed to ignore these. ?A soul without the spirit of prayer may be convinced that it does much, but it is like a ship that sails very rapidly in order to break itself on a rock.

?

I have experienced that only prayer obtains the grace of conversion.

?

?

The post Preparing for Holy Communion and Prayer first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The post She Will Crush Your Head… first appeared on AirMaria.com.

DEDICATED TO THE WOMAN I LOVE:

The Woman whom even God dreamed of

Before the world was made;

The Woman of whom I was born

At a cost of pain and labor at a Cross;

The Woman who, though no priest,

Could yet on Calvary’s Hill breathe,

“This is my Body; This is my Blood”

For none save her gave Him human life.

The Woman who guides my pen,

Which falters so with words

In telling of the Word.

The Woman who, in a world of Reds,

Shows forth the blue of hope.

Accept these dried grapes of thoughts

From this poor author, who has no wine;

And with Cana’s magic and thy Son’s Power

Work a miracle and save a soul

Forgetting not my own.

The Servant of God: Archbishop Fulton Sheen

The post Dedicated to the Woman I Love first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria Meditations

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION: These words fell from the lips of the Immaculata herself. Hence, they must tell us, in the most precise and essential manner, who she really is. Since human words are incapable of expressing Divine realities, it follows that these words, “Immaculate” and “Conception”, must be understood in a much more profound, much more beautiful and sublime meaning than usual: a meaning beyond that which human reason at its most penetrating commonly gives to them…

Who then are you, O Immaculate Conception?

Not God, of course, because He has no beginning. Not an angel, created directly out of nothing. Not Adam, formed out of the dust of the earth. Not Eve, molded from Adam’s rib. Not the Incarnate Word, Who exists before all ages, and of Whom we should use the word “conceived” rather than “conception.”

Humans do not exist before their conception, so we might call them created “conceptions.” But you, O Mary, are different from all other children of Eve. They are conceptions stained by Original Sin; whereas you are the unique, Immaculate, Conception.

Everything which exists, outside of God Himself, since it is from God and depends on Him in every way, bears within itself some semblance to its Creator; there is nothing in any creature which does not betray this resemblance, because every created thing is an effect of the Primal Cause…

Who is the Father? What is His personal life like? It consists in begetting, eternally, because He begets His Son from the beginning and forever.

Who is the Son? He is the Begotten-One, because from the beginning, and for all eternity, He is begotten by the Father.

And Who is the Holy Spirit? The flowering of the love of the Father and the Son. If the fruit of created is a created conception, then the fruit of Divine love, that prototype of all created love, is necessarily a Divine “conception.” The Holy Spirit is, therefore, the “uncreated, eternal conception,” the prototype of all the conceptions that multiply life throughout the whole universe.The Father begets; the Son is begotten; the Spirit is the “conception” that springs from their love; there we have the intimate life of the Three Persons by which They can be distinguished from one another. But They are united in the Oneness of Their Nature, of Their Divine existence. The Spirit is, then, this thrice holy “conception,” this infinitely holy Immaculate Conception.

…The creature most completely filled with this love, filled with God Himself, was the Immaculata, who never contacted the slightest stain of sin, who never departed in the least from God’s will. United to the Holy Spirit as His spouse, she is one with God in an incomparably more perfect way than can be predicated of any other creature.

What sort of Union is this? It is above all an interior union, a union of her essence with the “essence” of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in her; lives in her. This was true from the first instance of her existence. It was always true and it will always be true.

And in what does this life of the Spirit in Mary consist? He Himself is uncreated Love in her; the Love of the Father and of the Son, the Love by which God loves Himself, the very love of the Most Holy Trinity. She is a fruitful Love, a “Conception.” Among creatures made in God’s image, the union brought about by married love is the most intimate of all. In a much more precise, more interior, more essential manner, the Holy Spirit lives in the soul of the Immaculata, in the depths of her very being. He makes her fruitful, from the very first instance of her existence, all during her life, and for all eternity.

This eternal “Immaculate Conception” [the Holy Spirit] produces in an immaculate manner Divine life itself in the womb or depths of Mary’s soul, making her the Immaculate Conception, the human Immaculate Conception. And the virginal womb of Mary’s body is kept sacred for Him; there He conceives in time the human life of the Man-God.

… she, the Immaculata, grafted into the Love of the Blessed Trinity, becomes, from the first moment of her existence and forever afterwards, the “complement of the Blessed Trinity.” In the Holy Spirit’s union with Mary we observe more than the love of two beings… in this union, Heaven and Earth are joined; all of Heaven with the Earth, the totality of eternal love with the totality of created love. It is truly the summit of love.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe

The post Who are you, Immaculate Conception? first appeared on AirMaria.com.

“Let us give ourselves to the Immaculata. Let her prepare us, let her receive Him in Holy Communion. This is the manner most perfect and pleasing to the Lord Jesus and brings great fruit to us.”   – St. Maximilian Kolbe

 For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more.
– Saint Maximilian Kolbe

“A soul consecrated to the Immaculate must follow the inspirations of the heart with complete liberty and approach the tabernacle, the cross, the Holy Trinity with much more courage, because that soul does not approach alone, but together with the Heavenly Mother, the Immaculate. Therefore, the soul consecrated to the Immaculate needs to pray the ejaculatory prayers and other prayers with great liberty, as the wings of the love of God guide it, where the Holy Spirit inspires it, shattering all barriers.”

 “A soul that is consecrated to the Immaculate, even if it does not turn its thought in an explicit way to the Immaculate and offers the prayer, the work, the suffering or any other thing, directly to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, that soul procures for the Heart of Jesus a pleasure that is incomparably greater than it would if it were not consecrated to the Immaculate.”

 “If we belong to the Immaculate, then everything that is ours belongs to Her and Jesus accepts everything that comes from us as if it came from Her, as if it belonged to Her. In this case, She cannot leave those actions imperfect, but She renders them worthy of Herself, that is Immaculate, without the slightest stain.”

“Even if we already belong to the Immaculate, nevertheless, with the more important things, it is good to give them to Her as Her property, even with the mere invocation, “Mary”. When in difficulty, offer even this as Her property, with the invocation “Mary”: may She remove it, leave it be, reduce it or increase it as She pleases. When it is finished, always by means of the invocation “Mary”, may She purify it, repair that which is no good and offer it to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus as Her own personal offering.”

“Let us often have recourse to the Immaculate.  When difficulties arise, offer them to Her, so that She may do with them as She prefers: remove them, reduce them, increase them or leave them as they are; but also at the end of work it is good to offer to Her the action completed, so that its effect may be that which She desires.”

“We want to be the property of the Immaculate up to the point that, not only will there be nothing in us that is not Hers, but that we become almost annihilated in Her, changed into Her, transubstantiated into Her, that She Herself remain. That we belong to Her, as She belongs to God.”

“Let us totally consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate, in order that She may deign to use us as instruments to save and sanctify souls. Let us conquer hearts for Her, because wherever She enters, there also penetrates divine grace and from this follows salvation and sanctification.”

“May the life of the Immaculate take possession of us ever more, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, and this without any limitation, growing, in the same way, in every soul that exists and will exist for all time: behold our beloved ideal.”

“Draw ourselves closer to the Immaculate, make ourselves similar to Her, permit that She take possession of our heart and of our entire being, that She live and work in us and through us, that She Herself may love God with our heart, that we may belong to Her without any restriction: behold our ideal.”

“We have the firm hope that only in Paradise could we belong to the Immaculate in an incomparably more perfect way. And along these lines we cultivate the desire and we pray to Her that She permit us to become always more Hers under every aspect.”

“Let us entrust to the Immaculate our entire being, all the faculties of our soul, that is to say, our intellect, our memory and our will, all the faculties of our body, that is, all of our senses and each one individually, our strength, our health or our infirmity; let us entrust to Her our entire life and all of its events whether they be pleasing, displeasing or indifferent. Let us entrust to Her our death, in whatever moment, place or way it may happen. And lastly, let us entrust to Her all of our eternity.”

“You alone have destroyed all heresies in the whole world.” The Immaculate, therefore, crushes the head of the serpent and destroys his enormous body composed of the most diverse heresies of various times and places. It is not written, however, that the Immaculate destroys heretics, because She loves all souls and for the love that She has for them She destroys the “heresies”, with the aim of freeing them from the heretical plague.”

“Be of the Immaculate, in order to become ever more pure, with a conscience ever more pure, immaculate, as She is of Jesus, even to the point of becoming mother and the conqueress of hearts for Him. You are of Her: let yourself be led by the Immaculate: everything that does not depend on your will She permits for your good, even if it comes from the bad will of others. It is She that wants this to happen to you.”

“Be calm, love one another, bearing with one another’s defects, so that your interior serenity may draw the souls of the pagans to the Immaculate. In fact, with the help of the Immaculate, not only can we do all things, but we can also endure all things.”

“The Immaculate must be, as soon as possible, the Queen of all men. Whoever resists Her and will not submit to Her dominion, will be lost. Whoever recognizes Her as Queen and departs, as Her knight, to conquer the world for Her, will live, grow and flourish ever more abundantly. This applies to every soul, every association and every organization: religious institutes, nations, etc.”

The post St. Maximilian Kolbe speaks of the Immaculata first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Variety #83 – Fr. Lucjan Krolikowski ( 15min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

Fr. Lucjan Krolikowski lived with Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe from the age of 17 to 20 at Niepokalanow “City of the Immaculate” in Poland. During this time Fr. Lucjan was one of the friars studying for the priesthood.

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

+++

The post Video – Variety #83: I lived with St Maximilian Kolbe for Three Years – PART 1 first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #130814b ( 09min) Play – Fr. Joachim on the exemplary life of St Maximilian Kolbe, Martyr. He  points out that he too had to overcome faults and grow in grace as he grew in his devotion to Mary. He joined the Conventual Franciscans and gathered an army of friars around him to use the mass media to spread devotion to Our Lady for the salvation of souls. Finally he was martyred by the Nazis in their death camp after offering himself in place of a condemned criminal.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Maximilian Kolbe – Feast – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: Ezk 18:2
Resp: psa 116:1017
2nd: 1jo 3:1318
Gsp: joh 15:1217

Audio (MP3)

+++

The post Aug 14 – Homily – Fr Joachim: Kolbe Martyr for the Immaculate first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Month of Mary #10 ( 16min) Play -Tonight we move from St. Louis de Montfort to St. Maximilian Kolbe. Father gives us an introduction to the life of the Saint, from his childhood when Our Lady appeared to him and offered him a white crown (purity) and a red crown (martyrdom), up to his “Martyrdom of Charity,” when took another man’s place in a Nazi starvation bunker*. St. Maximilian’s particular trait was his burning desire to do the will of God and to offer himself completely to whatever God’s will desired.

Today’s Prayer: Come, Holy Spirit, Living in Mary. Make me pure in body and spirit and help me to die to myself.

*It was Franciszek Gajowniczek, whose last public event before his death in 1995 was right here at Our Lady’s Chapel.

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

+++

The post Month of Mary 10 – Fr. Maximilian – A Red Crown and a White Crown first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Homily #150814n ( 06min) Play – Saint Maximilian Kolbe did many great things, but all of them were means to his driving goal: to become more and more the Immaculate’s. Father quotes from a letter of St. Maximilian to prove this, and asks if we are to take this as mere empty spiritual rhetoric? No, he says, this really is the truth, “All good things come to us with Her”. We must never forget this, and become more and more Her’s every day. This is the greatest thing St. Maximilian did, let us seek to do the same.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Maximilian Kolbe – Solemnity – Form: OF
Readings: Friday 19th Week of Ordinary Time
1st: jos 24:1-13
Resp: psa 136:1-3, 16-18, 21-22, 24
Gsp: mat 19:3-12

Audio (MP3)

+++

The post Aug 14 – Homily – Fr Matthias: St. Maximilian’s Greatest Work first appeared on AirMaria.com.