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School of Mary – Day #2: My Heart and the Heart of Mary

apostolate — Tue, 06 May 2008 07:01:20 +0000

Day #2: My Heart and the Heart of Mary

MARY: My little daughter, your mother is calling you and showing you what distinguishes her as Mother: the Heart! Draw near to my Heart, kiss it, and experience how burning is its love for you! God has submerged his mercies in it and wants it to be the center of regeneration for those children whom he has entrusted to me. You are my daughter and so entrust yourself to the Heart of your Mother who loves you so much.

THE SOUL: If you show me your Heart, Mary, I will also show you mine! How much smallness there is in my little heart! You are immaculate and pure, the delight of God and I am full of imperfections and faults! You love God immensely and I am so cold toward Him! You are so full of gifts and graces and I am your little poor one! … O my Mother, I place my heart in yours; work on it; lift it up into the holy love of God … reform it! It?s so ugly … even if I don?t really know it yet because I?m so blinded by pride … Tear the secrets from this heart; curtail its self-deceptions with your light; adorn it with virtues by the help of your grace so that I can truly call myself your child.

MARY: If you want to know your heart, measure it against mine. Don?t believe that all is evil within you nor
that all is good. Don?t be discouraged or presumptuous, but recognize your weaknesses with filial simplicity without hiding them from your sight and without getting irritated … Always remain in peace and I will help you to reform yourself.

ASPIRATION: O Heart of Mary, be my model and the refuge of my poor heart.

LITTLE WORK: Deprive yourself of something superfluous to which you feel attached.

About the Meditations

The daily School of Mary meditations come from the book, A Month with Mary, written by a holy Italian priest Father Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970). Originally written as spiritual thoughts to his spiritual daughter, the work is comprised of thirty-one meditations for the month of May.

Father Dolindo wrote A Month with Mary on pocket-sized pages joined into small fascicles of 8 to 12 pages. He sent them to Laura de Rosis every two to three days and later transcribed them with some modifications in volume III of his autobiography: The Story of My Life in the Plan of the Great Mercy of God, pp. 1140ff (cf. Epistolario 1:212n, 218n). This work is from 1912: one of those years which passed in the life of Father Dolindo with the cadence of a “Way of the Cross” … But he, serene as ever, loved Christ the more, loved Our Lady the more and reflected on this love in these few pages to which he wished to give the significant title: A Profound Reform of Heart in the School of Mary. These meditations are written in the style of the Imitation of Christ. (90pp. laminated gloss, saddle stitch)

To obtain a copy of A Month with Mary or other books published by the Academy of the Immaculate, visit our on-line bookstore at http://www.marymediatrix.com/bookstore/academy

Ave Maria!

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Mother of the Eucharist

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:00:45 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

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)

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 blessings 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.

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School of Mary – Day #3: My Temperament

apostolate — Tue, 03 May 2011 15:25:03 +0000

Day #3: My Temperament

THE SOUL: In order to reform my heart I must study it intimately as it is, my good Mother. I look at it and I seem to see there a mass of confusion which doesn?t allow me to see it clearly. How full I am of darkness! You tell me what my temperament is, that is the fundamental character of my heart.

MARY: The temperament is the sum of the constant tendencies of the heart which propel it to act in the same way. You know your temperament from the defects into which you most often fall, from the spontaneous acts of your heart, from your habits …

Are you very easily given to anger, … do you get disturbed over nothing, do you react, show yourself offended? … Are you closed, taciturn, leaden; do you build so many castles in the air? … Are you insensitive, hard, egotistical, obstinate in your judgments? … Are you lazy, indolent, slow, negligent, pessimistic? … Do you see everything black and think that everyone is against you? Do you give too much weight to a word that innocently escapes from another and construe it to be an insinuation, an injury, a resentment? Do you easily hold a grudge, show resentment in small ways, react violently, backbite, grumble and even lie and calumniate? … Are you proud, full of yourself, vain, desirous of being admired, praised, given special consideration? … Are you greedy, attached to earthly things? Are you always looking for entertainment, ruminating about worldly ideals, hankering after your satisfactions, seeking after your tastes, complaining about your food, drink and clothing? … Examine yourself and where you perceive major lacks there you will discover your temperament and there is the field where you must exert more effort. It isn?t difficult to amend your ways; start a little at a time; begin to conquer yourself at least a few times every day
and you will see that your temperament will be modified and your heart will be changed.

ASPIRATION: O Mary, deliver me from the wretchedness of my character … from anger, from impatience …

LITTLE WORK: If it seems that a person who has offended you deserves to be reproved, don?t do it when you are still in a fit of anger, but wait until tomorrow to correct him.

About the Meditations

The daily School of Mary meditations come from the book, A Month with Mary. To obtain a copy of this or other books published by the Academy of the Immaculate, visit our on-line bookstore at http://www.marymediatrix.com/bookstore/academy

Ave Maria!

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Holy Rosary: Scripture-Based, Gospel-Inspired – Sep 30 – Homily – Fr Alan

apostolate — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 18:55:22 +0000

On the memorial of St. Jerome (Priest and Doctor of the Church, Sep 30, 2019), Fr. Alan explains that the Rosary, contrary to detractors’ claims, is a fundamentally scriptural prayer, which Pope St. John Paul II described as “a compendium of the Gospel.” Even St. Jerome, great lover of Scripture and translator of the Bible, would have heartily endorsed the Rosary, had he lived at a later period of the Church.

Ave Maria!

Mass: St. Jerome – Mem

Readings: Monday 26th Week of Ordinary Time
1st: Zec 8:1-8
Resp: Ps 102:16-18, 19-21, 29, 22-23
Gsp: Lk 9:46-50

More on the Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/093019.cfm

For more on St. Jerome’s comment, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ,” see the Second Reading from today’s Office of Readings in the Breviary (online here: https://divineoffice.org/0930-or/?date=20190930)

Eleanor Burnside’s book, Bible Rosary: The Life of Jesus, Thirty-Five Mysteries is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Rosary-Jesus-Thirty-Five-Mysteries/dp/0960806008

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Who are You? – Oct 05 – Homily – Fr. Cassian Sama, OP

apostolate — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 16:07:35 +0000

At the Fall 2019 Marian Day at the Mother of the Redeemer Retreat Center, gives the homily at Bloomington, IN on Oct 05, 2019 on how people have great trouble answering the simple questions “Who are you?” and the this is because we are not familiar with ourselves because we are not familiar with how God made us to be happy with Him for all time. We must therefore learn to be children of God like the humble saints like St. Therese of Lisieux. He refers to the book “My Ideal, Jesus, Son of Mary” https://academyoftheimmaculate.com/products/my-ideal-jesus-son-of-mary. He also relates how Mary worked in his life and his family and the best way to be a Child of Mary is through reciting the Rosary.

Fr. Cassian info: https://www.boilercatholics.org/meet-the-staff/

Ave Maria!

Mass: Saturday 26th Week of Ordinary Time – Wkdy
Readings:
1st: bar 4:5-12, 27-29
Resp: psa 69:33-35, 36-37 0
Gsp: luk 10:17-24

More on the Readings: http://dev.airmaria.com/r?m=1516

Also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/90378558559/videos/914638688922364
and YouTube: https://youtu.be/fpiywgDaD-8

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Dear Synod Fathers, Strive to Learn at the School of Mary – Oct 08 – Homily – Fr Andre

apostolate — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 13:36:24 +0000

In the homily on Oct 08, 2019 (Tuesday of the 27th Week of Ordinary Time), Fr. Andre comments on the Gospel account of the different approaches of Jesus’ friends, the sisters Martha and Mary. Jesus clearly spoke: Mary chose the better part. As the Synod gets under way, Father suggests that Church leaders should strive to learn at the school of Mary, not only from the example of Martha’s sister, but first and foremost from Jesus’ Mother, the preeminent member of the Church.

A preoccupation on “pastoral need” without sufficient contemplation at Jesus’ feet in his Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament risks failing to comprehend Jesus’ words to Martha: “There is need of only one thing.” Father urges the bishops to lead the Church on their knees, in Eucharistic adoration, to hear the voice of Jesus needed for the proper guidance of the Church.

Ave Maria!

Mass: Tuesday 27th Week of Ordinary Time – Wkdy
Readings:
1st: Jon 3:1-10
Resp: Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 7-8
Gsp: Lk 10:38-42

More on the Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100819.cfm

Also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/90378558559/videos/559921514745257
and YouTube: https://youtu.be/6F_-Z9uFnbQ

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