Homily #080428 ( 10min) Play – St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort preached devotion to Our Blessed Lady in order to bring the Jansenist heretics back to the Catholic faith. One of his books, True devotion to Mary, is destined to become a Catholic classic, alongside books like Imitation of Christ.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
+++

The post Apr 28 – Homily – Fr. Angelo: St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort first appeared on AirMaria.com.

OUR LADY OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

This title was given to our Blessed Mother in May 1868 by Saint Peter Julian Eymard to honor her in her relationship to the Holy Eucharist and to place her before us as a model in our duties and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Our Lady gives witness to being Christian. In her conduct toward the Blessed Sacrament, we learn what ours should be!

She believed in the reality of Christ’s presence in the Holy Eucharist. In other words, the virtue of faith was as necessary for her as it is for us. Great was her faith in her son, the Son of God, our Savior, and in all his teachings and deeds. This faith of hers found its particular exercise in regard to the Blessed Sacrament, the mystery of faith, the denial of which implies the destruction of the whole structure of our belief.

A second point in which Mary conformed to the general body of the faithful was her Sunday attendance at the Eucharist. And still another point in which the Blessed Virgin is our model is in her reception of Holy Communion during her life, and at the moment of her death. By her faith in and her love for our Lord in the Eucharist, Mary is an example for Christians and thereby brings us to fervent devotion to him.

Truly, we can call Mary, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, and follow her faith and love for Jesus in the Eucharist. Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament is the chosen and official patroness of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Her feast day is celebrated on May 13, the date on which the new Congregation received Archdiocesan approbation in Paris in 1856.

+++

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

Blessed are you, Mary, exalted Daughter of Sion! You are highly favored and full of grace, for the Spirit of God descended upon you. We magnify the Lord and rejoice with you for the gift of the Word made flesh, our bread of life and cup of joy. Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, our model of prayer in the Cenacle, pray for us that we may become what we receive, the body of Christ your son. Amen.

?

In all of Our Lady’s true apparitions, she desires there to be built a church where the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass can be offered and where her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, can be adored and worshipped. Just one example of this occurred at Fatima, Portugal on May 13, 1917. It was the Feast of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament?..

Prayers from Fatima

Pardon Prayer
My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I implore Your pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You. Amen.

Angel’s Prayer
Most Holy Trinity – Father, Son, Holy Spirit – I adore You profoundly and offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the earth, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference by which He Himself is offended. And by the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and those of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners. Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer
Most Holy Trinity, I adore you! My God, my God, I love you in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

AT THE SCHOOL OF MARY,
“WOMAN OF THE EUCHARIST”

In addition to her sharing in the Eucharistic banquet [of the first generation of Christians], an indirect picture of Mary’s relationship with the Eucharist can be had, beginning with her interior disposition. Mary is a “woman of the Eucharist” in her whole life. The church, which looks to Mary as a model, is also called to imitate her in her relationship to this most holy mystery.

Pope John Paul II, On the Eucharist in Its Relationship to the Church

+++

Her motherhood is particularly noted and experienced by the Christian people at the Sacred Banquet, the liturgical celebration of the mystery of the Redemption-at which Christ, his true body born of the Virgin Mary,, becomes present.

The piety of the Christian people has always very rightly sensed a profound link between devotion to the Blessed Virgin and worship of the Eucharist: this is a fact that can be seen in the liturgy of both the West and the East, in the traditions of the Religious Families, in the modern movements of spirituality, including those for youth, and in the pastoral practice of the Marian Shrines. Mary guides the faithful to the Eucharist.

(Pope John Paul II : Redemptoris Mater)

?

?

?

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.

?

?

Archbishop Fulton Sheen

+

?

Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament

a meditation from St. Peter Julian Eymard, Founder of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers

+

THE MONTH OF OUR LADY OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT

?

The Month of Mary is the month of bless?ings and of grace, for, as St Bernard, in company with all the Saints, assures us, all grace comes to us through Mary. The month of Mary is a continuous festival in honor of the Mother of God, which prepares us well for the beautiful month of the Blessed Sacrament which follows it.

+

Because our vocation calls us to give special honor to the Holy Eucharist, we must not for that reason give any the less devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Far from it, he would be guilty of blasphemy who would say, “The Most Blessed Sacrament suffices for me; I have no need of Mary.” Where, then shall we find Jesus on earth if not in Mary’s arms ? Was it not she who gave us the Eucharist? It was her consent to the Incarnation of the Word in her womb that inaugurated the great mystery of repa?ration to God and union with us which Jesus accomplished during His mortal life, and that He continues in the Eucharist.

+

Without Mary, we shall never find Jesus, for she possesses Him in her heart. There He takes His delight, and those who wish to know His inmost virtues, to experience the privilege of His intimate love, must seek these in Mary. They who love that good Mother find Jesus in her pure heart. We must never separate Jesus from Mary; we can go to Him only through her.

+

I maintain, moreover, that the more we love the Eucharist, the more we must love Mary. We love all that our friend loves; now, was ever a creature better loved by God, a mother more tenderly cherished by her Son, than was Mary by Jesus? Oh yes, our Lord would be much pained if we, the servants of the Eucharist, did not greatly honor Mary, because she is His Mother, Our Lord owes everything to her in the order of His Incarnation, His human nature. It is by the flesh that she gave Him that He has so glorified His Father, that He has saved us, and that He continues to nourish and save the world by the Blessed Sacrament.

+

Let us, then, honor the Blessed Virgin by a daily sacrifice. Let us go to our Lord through her; shelter ourselves behind her, take refuge beneath her protecting mantle; clothe ourselves in her virtues. Let us be, in short, but Mary’s shadow. Let us offer all her actions, all her merits, all her virtues to our Lord. We have only to have recourse to Mary and to say to Jesus: “I offer Thee the riches that my good Mother has acquired for me” and our Lord will be very much pleased with us.

?

Sacramentum Caritatis, Part One, #28

From Pope Benedict XVI?s apostolic exhortatation Sacramentum Caritatis, Part One:

The Eucharist and the Virgin Mary

33. From the relationship between the Eucharist and the individual sacraments, and from the eschatological significance of the sacred mysteries, the overall shape of the Christian life emerges, a life called at all times to be an act of spiritual worship, a self-offering pleasing to God. Although we are all still journeying towards the complete fulfilment of our hope, this does not mean that we cannot already gratefully acknowledge that God?s gifts to us have found their perfect fulfilment in the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Mother. Mary?s Assumption body and soul into heaven is for us a sign of sure hope, for it shows us, on our pilgrimage through time, the eschatological goal of which the sacrament of the Eucharist enables us even now to have a foretaste.

In Mary most holy, we also see perfectly fulfilled the ?sacramental? way that God comes down to meet his creatures and involves them in his saving work. From the Annunciation to Pentecost, Mary of Nazareth appears as someone whose freedom is completely open to God?s will. Her immaculate conception is revealed precisely in her unconditional docility to God?s word. Obedient faith in response to God?s work shapes her life at every moment. A virgin attentive to God?s word, she lives in complete harmony with his will; she treasures in her heart the words that come to her from God and, piecing them together like a mosaic, she learns to understand them more deeply (cf. Lk 2:19, 51); Mary is the great Believer who places herself confidently in God?s hands, abandoning herself to his will. (102)

This mystery deepens as she becomes completely involved in the redemptive mission of Jesus. In the words of the Second Vatican Council, ?the blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son until she stood at the Cross, in keeping with the divine plan (cf. Jn 19:25), suffering deeply with her only-begotten Son, associating herself with his sacrifice in her mother?s heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of the victim who was born of her.

Finally, she was given by the same Christ Jesus, dying on the Cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: ?Woman, behold your Son.?? (103) From the Annunciation to the Cross, Mary is the one who received the Word, made flesh within her and then silenced in death. It is she, lastly, who took into her arms the lifeless body of the one who truly loved his own ?to the end? (Jn 13:1).

Consequently, every time we approach the Body and Blood of Christ in the eucharistic liturgy, we also turn to her who, by her complete fidelity, received Christ?s sacrifice for the whole Church. The Synod Fathers rightly declared that ?Mary inaugurates the Church?s participation in the sacrifice of the Redeemer.? (104) She is the Immaculata, who receives God?s gift unconditionally and is thus associated with his work of salvation. Mary of Nazareth, icon of the nascent Church, is the model for each of us, called to receive the gift that Jesus makes of himself in the Eucharist.

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

The post Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament / Our Lady of Fatima first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Our Lady Co-redemptrix

Mary, Coredemptrix

You are blessed among women, co?redemptrix! Blessed One selected in pref?erence to all who are blessed! Chosen One, singular among all who are chosen! Priceless Pearl that belongs in the treasury of God’s wisdom! Mother, you are the Glory of Mo?thers! We seek you, O Lady, and in all sincerity turn to you in prayer. Help us in our weak?ness; turn away from us all disgrace. Who is more worthy of entreating the Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ than you, blessed Mary, who live with your Son and speak with Him? Speak, Mother, for your Son listens to you; and whatever you desire you will receive. In?voke His holy name in our behalf.

– St. Bernard (+1153)

O Mary, Mary, bearer of the fire of love, and dispenser of mercy! Mary, co-redemptrix of the human race, when you clothed the Word with your flesh, the world was redeemed. Christ paid its ransom with His Passion and you paid it with the sorrows of your body and soul.

-St. Catherine of Siena

Papal Teachings on the coredemption of Our Lady

Again it must be stated that Mary’s participation in the redemption of the human family was completely and in every way secondary and dependent to the sacrifice of Jesus the Savior. Hence, the title Co-redemptrix should never be interpreted as Mary having an equal role in the salvation of the world with Jesus.

At the same time, her truly meritorious act of giving flesh to the Redeemer and of participating uniquely in Jesus’ painful sacrifice rightly won for her the title of Co-redemptrix. The Church’s Magisterium has unquestionably confirmed the completely subordinate but authentic co-redeeming role of the Mother of Jesus.

Let us cite a few papal examples:

+ Pope Benedict XV in his 1918 apostolic letter stated: “To such extent did she [Mary] suffer and almost die with her, suffering and dying Son, and to such extent did she surrender her maternal rights over her Son for man’s salvation ? that we may rightly say that she together with Christ redeemed the human race” (Inter Sodalicia) .

+ Pope Pius Xl (1922-1939) referred to Mary as the co-redemptrix no less than six times in various papal documents. One papal statement Pope Pius addressed Mary in these words, “0 Mother of piety, and mercy who, when thy most beloved Son was accomplishing the Redemption of the human race on altar of the cross, did stand there both suffering with Him, as a Co-redemptrix; preserve in us the precious fruit of Redemption and of thy compassion.?

+ Pope John Paul II specifically used the title Co-redemptrix in developing the understanding of Mary’s spiritual crucifixion at the foot of the cross: Crucified spiritually with her crucified Son (c? Gal 2:20), she contemplated with heroic love the death of her God, she “lovingly consented to the immolation of this Victim which she herself had brought forth” (Lumen Gentium, No. 58) ? as she was in a special way close to the Cross of her Son, she also had to have a privileged experience of his Resurrection. In fact, Mary’s role as coredemptrix did not cease with the glorification of her Son. – Mary entered, in a way all her own, into the one mediation “between God and men” which is the mediation of the man Christ Jesus [1 Tim2:5]. [W]e must say that through this fullness of grace and supernatural life she was especially predisposed to cooperation with Christ, the one Mediator of human salvation. And such cooperation is precisely this mediation subordinated to the mediation of Christ. In Mary’s case we have a special and exceptional mediation ?

(Pope John Paul II: Redemptoris Mater, No. 39).

+++

A decree of the Holy Office praises the custom of adding after the name of Jesus that of His Mother, our Co-Redetnptrix, the Blessed Virgin Mary. The same Congregation has indulgenced (Jan. 22nd, 1914) the prayer in which Mary is addressed as Co-redemptrix of the human race. Since the word ?co-redemptrix’ signifies of itself simple cooperation in the work of redemption, and since it has received in the theological usage of centuries the very precise meaning of secondary and dependent cooperation?there can be no serious objection to its use, on condition that it be accompanied by some expression indicating that Mary’s role in this co-operation is secondary and dependent.

Fr. Reginald Garrigou-LaGrance OP (The Mother of Our Savior and Our Interior Life)

Mary’s co-operation in the Redemption.

The title Corredemptrix= Coredemptress, which has been current since the fifteenth century, and which also appears in some official Church documents under Pius X (and other Popes) must not be conceived in the sense of an equation of the efficacy of Mary with the redemptive activity of Christ, the sole Redeemer of humanity (1 Tim. 2, s).

As she herself required redemption and in fact was redeemed by Christ, she could not of herself merit the grace of the redemption of humanity Her co-operation in the objective redemption is an indirect, remote cooperation and derives from this that she voluntarily devoted her whole life to the service of the Redeemer, and, under the Cross, suffered and sacrificed with Him.

As Pope Pius XII says in the Encyclical ?Mystici Corporis” (1943): She offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father together with the holocaust of her maternal rights and her motherly love like a new Eve for all children of Adam As “The New Eve” she is, as the same Pope declares, in the Constitution” Muniticentissimus Deus” (1950), ?the sublime associate of the Redeemer?.

Dr. Ludwig Ott (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma)

Dr. Mark Miravalle : Introduction to Mary, Advocate, Mediatrix and Coredemprix

Mary’s role as Mediatrix with Jesus, the one Mediator, has two fundamental expressions in the order of grace. First, Mary uniquely participated with Jesus Christ in reconciling God and man through the Redemption. For this role she has been called “Co-redemptrix” (meaning a secondary and subordinate participator in Jesus’ Redemption of the world).

Secondly, Mary gave birth to Jesus, source of all grace, she distributes the graces merited by Jesus on Calvary to human family. This role of Mary as the person responsible the distribution of graces is referred to as “Dispenser of all grace? or oftentimes by the more general title, “Mediatrix of graces?.

When the Church calls Mary the “Co-redemptrix,” she means that Mary uniquely participated in the Redemption of humanity with her Son Jesus Christ, although in a completely subordinate and dependent manner to that of her Son. Mary participated in Jesus’ reconciliation of the human family God like no other created person. Mary’s unique participation in the Redemption was scripturally foreshadowed in the prophecy of Simeon: ?A sword shall pierce your own heart also.? (Lk. 2:35)

Mary is our Co-redemptrix with Jesus. She gave Jesus his body and suffered with him at the foot of the Cross. Mary is the Mediatrix of all grace. She gave Jesus to us, and as our Mother she obtains for us all his graces. Mary is our Advocate who prays to Jesus for us. It is only through the Heart of Mary that we come to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. The papal definition of Mary as Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate will bring great graces to the Church. All for Jesus through Mary. God bless you.

Letter of Endorsement for the Papal Definition of Mary Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate , Mother Teresa of Calcutta, August 14, 1993.

PRAYER to Mary, Mediatrix and Co-redemptrix

O Mary, Mother of God, I believe that as mediatrix with Jesus you share also in His sovereign dominion over the universe. You are Queen because you are the Mother of the Word Incarnate. Christ is universal King be?cause He rules all creatures by His personal union with the Divinity. You brought Him into the world that He might be King, according to the words of the archangel, “His reign will be without end.”

You are Queen also because you are coredemptrix. Jesus reigns over us not only by natural right, but also by the right of redemp?tion. As cooperator with your Son in that work of redemption, you also acquired the right to reign with Him.

God chose you to be His Mother and by that very choice has associated you with Himself in the work of the salvation of men. Since you had your place beside Jesus when there was question of ransoming us and merit?ing for us all the graces necessary for our salva?tion, you must in like manner have your place beside Him now, when there is question of securing for us by your prayers in heaven the graces prepared for us in view of the merits of Christ. This is my hope: that you will be a mother to me and obtain for me the grace I need to save my soul.

+++S

The post Our Lady Co-redemptrix first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The post St. Pio of Pietrelcina first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Ave Maria Meditations

I set off in search of the source of my vocation. It is beating there … in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. I thank God that during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 I was able to pray precisely there-in the Upper Room (Mark 14:15), where the Last Supper took place.

THE SOURCE OF MY VOCATION

by The Servant of God, Pope John Paul II

I transport myse1f in thought to that memorable Thursday when Christ, having loved his own to the end (Jn.13:1), instituted the Apostles as priests of the New Covenant. I see Him bending down before each of us, succesors of the Apostles, to wash our feet. I hear Him, as if He were speaking to me-to us-these words: “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the Master and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one anothers feet. I have given you an example to follow, so that as I have done for you, you also should do” (John 13:12-16).

Together with Peter, Andrew, James, and John … let us continue to listen: “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Remain in My love! If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is My commandment: love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down ones life for ones friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you” (Jn 15:9-14).

Is not the mysterium caritatis of our vocation contained in these sayings? These words of Christ, spo­ken at the hour for which He had come (Jn.12:27), are at the root of every vocation in the Church. From them flows the life-giving sap that nourishes every vocation: those of the Apostles and their suc­cessors, but also every other vocation, because the Son wishes to be a friend to everyone: because He gave His life for all. Here we find what is most important, most valuable, and most sacred: the love of the Father and the love of Christ for us, His and our joy, and also our friendship and fidelity, which ex­press themselves in the fulfillment of the commandments.

These words also contain the goal and the meaning of our vocation: to “go and bear fruit that will last” (Jn 15:16). The bond of love unites all things; substantially it unites the Divine Persons, but on a different level it also unites human beings and their different vocations. We have entrusted our life to Christ, who loved us first and, as the Good Shepherd, offered His life for us.

The Apostles heard Christ’s words and applied them to themselves as their personal vocation. So too we, their successors, shepherds of Christ’s Church, cannot but feel impelled to be the first to respond to this love, faithfully fulfilling the commandments and offering our life every day for the friends of our Lord. “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

In the homily I preached in Saint Peter’s Square on October 16, 2003, on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of my pontificate, I said: “While Jesus was saying these words, the Apostles did not realize that He was referring to Him­self. Not even His beloved Apostle John knew it. He understood on Calvary, at the foot of the Cross, when he saw Jesus silently giving up His life for ‘His sheep.’

When the time came for John and the oth­er Apostles to assume this same mission they then remembered His words. They realized that they would be able to fulfill their mission only because he had assured them that He Himself would be work­ing among them. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will last” (Jn.15:16). Not you, but I!-says Christ. This is the foundation of the efficacy of a bishop’s pastoral mission.

“Always be faithful to an intense interior life, nourished above all by the celebration of the Holy Mass, Eucharistic devotion and daily meditation.  Only through the Eucharist is it possible to maintain the innocence of children, the purity of the young, matrimonial chastity and fidelity, priestly and religious consecration”

(Pope John Paul II, Servant of God).

The post The Source of My Vocation by Pope John Paul II first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Marycast #60 ( 10min) Play – (Intro) In Marian year of 1987, Pope John Paul II gave the Church one of its greatest Marian encyclicals of all-time, “Redemptoris Mater,” or “Mother of the Redeemer”.  The gems and pearls present in this work reveal to us the wisdom and sanctity of this great pope who was forever in love with the Mother of God.

To ask questions regarding Mary, email Dr Mark Miravalle: marycast@airmaria.com
Ave Maria!

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)
+++

The post Video – JPII’s ‘Mother of the Redeemer”, Introduction – Dr Miravalle: MCast 60 first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Marycast #61 ( 10min) Play – (Part I) In Marian year of 1987, Pope John Paul II gave the Church one of its greatest Marian encyclicals of all-time, “Redemptoris Mater,” or “Mother of the Redeemer”.  The gems and pearls present in this work reveal to us the wisdom and sanctity of this great pope who was forever in love with the Mother of God.

To ask questions regarding Mary, email Dr Mark Miravalle: marycast@airmaria.com

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)

+++

The post Video – JPII’s ‘Mother of the Redeemer”, part I – Dr Miravalle: MCast 61 first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The post Mane Nobiscum Domine first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Marycast Specials #52 ( 10min) Play – In this series, Dr. Miravalle discusses the saint whom John Paul II titled “the Apostle of a new Marian Era”, St. Maximilian Kolbe.

To ask questions regarding Mary, email Dr Mark Miravalle: marycast@airmaria.com

Ave Maria!

Audio (MP3)
+++

The post Video – St. Maximilian Kolbe – Dr Miravalle: Mcast s52 first appeared on AirMaria.com.

The post Mother of the Eucharist first appeared on AirMaria.com.