Topic: The First Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary
(In honor of the month of the Precious Blood)

Quote:
?And there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.? – Luke 22:43-4

Meditation:
Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich explains that Our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane ?understood not only the consequence of every species of concupiscence, but also its own peculiar expiatory chastisement, the significance of all the instruments of torture connected with it; so that not only the thought of the instrument made Him shudder, but also the sinful rage of him that invented it, the fury and wickedness of all that had ever used it, and the impatience of all, whether innocent or guilty, who had been tortured with it. All these tortures and afflictions Jesus perceived in an interior contemplation, and the sight filled Him with such horror that a bloody sweat started from the pores of His sacred Body.? – The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations, Volume 4, (Tan Books), 89

Does a mother suffer only when she witnesses the suffering of her child? Or does she suffer over and over again in her heart, anticipating the suffering of her child? Is Our Lady not aware of the avarice of Judas and the hatred of the leaders in the Temple towards her Son? A mother in her compassion cannot help but anticipate the pain and suffering of her child. It is not recorded in Holy Scripture that Our Lady was present in the Garden, but her heart was always unwaveringly united with God, and she would share in his agony on the eve of the great manifestation of God?s passionate love for mankind. She would share, the way a Mother shares in the suffering of her son: silently, meekly, heart breaking, full of love, yet accepting.

Resolution:
I will meditate in the Rosary what it cost Our Lady to accept the Will of God in the Redemption of humanity. Our Lady does not need to be present in the Garden of Gethsemane to share in the suffering of Her Son.

Marian Vow:
?The Immaculate was the universal Mediatrix of redemption, to wit, was the only Coredemptrix who has shared in person with the Redeemer – ?under Him and with Him? (LG 56) – the work of universal redemption, cooperating actively with her tears, mixed in the Blood of Her Crucified Son, to rescue sinful mankind, from Adam to the last man who lives on the earth.? – Marian Seraphic Pathways, Statutes #51

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 First Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Topic: The Second Sorrowful Mystery – Scourging at the Pillar
(In honor of the month of the Precious Blood)

Quote:
?[Pilate said] ?I am innocent of this man’s blood. Look to it yourselves.? And the whole people said in reply, ?His blood be upon us and upon our children.?Then he released Barabbas to them, but after he had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified.? – St Matthew 27:24-26

Meditation:
??The Virgin kept all these things in her heart?: her whole history can be summed up in these few words! It was within her heart that she lived, and at such a depth, that no human eye can follow her?.This Queen of virgins is also Queen of martyrs; but again it was in her heart that the sword pierced, for with her everything took place within! Oh! How beautiful she is to contemplate during her long martyrdom, so serene, enveloped in a kind of majesty that radiates both strength and gentleness? She learned from the Word Himself how those must suffer whom the Father has chosen as victims, those whom He has decided to associate with Himself in the great work of redemption, those whom He ?has foreknown and predestined to be conformed to His Christ,? crucified by love.? – Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity,? The Complete Works, Volume I (ICS Publications) “Last Retreat” #40.

Resolution:
Today, I will embrace one pain in order to imitate Our Lady?s interior dispositions during the scourging at the Pillar. I will say ?For the love of God, the conversion of sinners, and sins against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.? (St. Therese says ?For one pain endured with joy, we shall love the good God more forever.?)

Marian Vow:
?Brothers, kissing your feet, and with all the charity of which I am capable, I beg all to use daily all possible reverence and honor toward the most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ? – St. Francis (Letter To The General Chapter).

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 Second Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Topic: The Third Sorrowful Mystery & Profound Humility – The Crowning with Thorns
(In honor of the month of the Precious Blood)

Quote:
?Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, they mocked him, saying, ?Hail, King of the Jews!? They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucify him.? – Matthew 27: 29-31

Meditation:
?Let us consider the things of this world in which we are apt to take a vain delight. One may pride himself on his robust health and bodily strength, another on the science, knowledge, eloquence and other gifts that he has acquired through study and art. Another pride himself upon his wealth and possessions; another upon his nobility and rank; another upon his moral virtues, or other virtues which bring him spiritual grace and perfection: but must not all these gifts be regarded as so many benefits proceeding from God?? – Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo, Humility of Heart, (Tan Books)

Resolution:
Father Mary Cajetan Mary da Bergamo, the author of Humility of Heart asks ?Do you thank God for the many blessings which you are constantly receiving from Him ? from your very heart, with true humility?”
Today I will practice one act of humility by remembering any gift I have comes from God. I will begin to imitate Our Lord?s humility shown in the Crowning of Thorns and Our Lady?s Profound Humility.

Marian Vow:
Should I be surprised to find opportunities to practice humility? When I really think of Our Lord?s crowning with thorns, how can I be surprised that I might be asked to endure a humiliation? What does Our Lady teach me regarding humility? Why is Our Lady mentioned so few times in the Gospel of St. John? Didn?t Our Lord entrust the care of His Mother to the Beloved Disciple? Venerable Mary of Agreda, offers this explanation:

Our Lady was so humble that she asked St. John to strike her name from his writings unless he was absolutely unable to do otherwise. This is an expression of her Profound Humility.

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 Third Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Topic: The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery – Carrying of the Cross
(In honor of the month of the Precious Blood)

Quote:
?Then therefore [Pontius Pilate] delivered him to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him forth. And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha.? – John 19:16-17

Meditation:
?It was a dreadful thing for a mother to walk the streets over her own son?s blood. No one cared for it. No heart was touched. None suspected the heavenly mystery, at which angels were gazing in silent stupor. Mary too must tread upon it. It was sorrow almost literally trampling its own heart under foot. She must tread on that which she was worshipping. That which colored the street-mud, which blotched the paving-stones, which clung, half wet and half dry, to the garments of the multitude, was hypostatically united to the Godhead. It merited the plenitude of divine worship. Mary was adoring it at every step.? – Father Faber, The Foot of the Cross, (Tan Books), 220.

Resolution:
Today, when about my ordinary activities, I will try to remember the steps taken by Our Lady following Our Lord and Her Worship of the Precious Blood. When I walk up the stairs today, in particular I will remember the Precious Blood and I will make a Spiritual Communion.

Marian Vow:
?Let the tertiaries, if possible, participate everyday in the holy sacrifice of the altar, standing at the foot of the cross of Calvary, in union with the Immaculate Coredemptrix, to offer themselves as victims united with the Divine Victim, Jesus Crucified, receiving in their own hearts Holy Communion (or at least spiritual Communion, if it is not possible to receive the Sacrament). Nourished with the Eucharistic Jesus, united to the Immaculate Mediatrix, let the tertiaries each day live faithfully the daily obligations of their state.? – Marian Seraphic Pathways, Constitutions #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 – The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Topic: The Portiuncula Indulgence – Our Lady of the Angels (August 2nd)

Quote:
?[St. Francis] embraced the Mother of Our Lord Jesus with indescribable love because, as he said, it was she who made the Lord of majesty our brother, and through her we found mercy. After Christ, he put all his trust in her and took her as his patroness for himself and his friars.” – St. Bonaventure, From The Life of St. Francis

Meditation:
The Portiuncula Indulgence refers to the plenary indulgence originally granted by Pope Honorious III at the request of St. Francis to those who visit the chapel of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi on August 2nd. This chapel was dear to the heart of Holy Father Saint Francis. (The original small chapel is now enshrined in a large basilica.) The indulgence has been extended to Franciscan churches the world over.
(See the Catholic Encyclopedia for further reading.)

Father Marion Habig, OFM, explains the history of the Portiuncula indulgence:
?A special impulse led St. Francis on a certain night to go to the chapel. There he saw our Lord and His holy Mother surrounded by a great host of angels. Filled with astonishment and reverence, the saint prostrated himself upon the ground and adored the Divine majesty. Then he heard the voice of our Lord urging him with ineffable tenderness to ask some special favor. Nothing was so near to the heart of Francis as the salvation of souls, and so, after a few moments of reflection, he asked for the grace of a full pardon for all who, being contrite and having confessed their sins, would visit this little sanctuary. Mary cast herself upon her knees before her Divine Son, and repeated the petition of her faithful servant.?
The Franciscan Book of Saints (Franciscan Herald Press:1979), 570.

Resolution:
What can be my resolution if I cannot visit a Franciscan church today?
I will imitate Holy Father St. Francis who took the Blessed Virgin as his special patroness and I will pray in a special way for the salvation of souls.

Marian Vow:
?On Marian anniversaries (solemnities, feasts and memorials) let [the Tertiaries] make every effort not to miss Holy Mass and Communion in honor of the divine Mother and Queen of the Seraphic Order.?
Marian Seraphic Pathways, Constitutions, 29b.

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 Portiuncula Indulgence – Our Lady of the Angels first appeared on AirMaria.com.

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.