Piercing of Our Saviour's Side

The Mother of Sorrows remained standing on Calvary, leaning against the holy Cross and adoring  the sacred body of her Son and His divine Person, to which this most holy body always remained united.  This great Queen continued ever constant in the interior practice of the most heroic virtues, ever firm and immovable amidst the impetuous movements of her bitter sorrows.  The greatest affliction of this merciful and divine Mother was the culpable ingratitude which men, to their own great detriment and loss, would return for this incomprehensible benefit.  She also felt great anxiety about the burial of the divine body of her Son, and how it was to be taken down from the Cross.  Suddenly she beheld a crowd of armed men approaching Calvary.  Her fears were redoubled, for she dreaded some outrage to the sacred body of the Redeemer.
"The Divine Life of the Most Holy Virgin (Chapter 27)
Ven. Mary of Agreda

The Crucifixion

Anguish

	Both Mother and Son Experienced Our Anguish The sorrow laden heavenly Queen, Bent, trembling 'neath her grief, is seen To draw anigh where fell, like foss, From wounds the blood adown the cross. The angel voice, which erst addressed The May, did her with joy invest, With joy she bore the Savior blest, And her Son born in swathing dressed, And dressed with her him ever led, And led on cross his arms he spread. Amid her tears the bitter sword Of sorrow struck her, when the Lord, Her only Son, on cross was hung, Thereto with four sharp nails was stung: From whetted spikes his arms do burn, With agonies his breast is torn; Through these dread sufferings must they go The Holy Twain to heal our woe. (...) Brother Eysteinn Asgrimsson(d.1360, Iceland) Excertp from the poem "Lilja" (The Lily)

Prophecy of Amos

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord”
 (Amos 8:11).

The Mother of God and the Last Supper (I)

	The Mother of God and the Last Supper (I) The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11: 23-25) The Holy Scriptures do not mention it, but there is no doubt that the Mother of God was present. Certainly, she came to Jerusalem as always for the Easter feast and celebrated the Passover meal with the whole group of Jesus' followers. She who kept all of Jesus' words in her heart—how she must have kept His departing words within her! “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you” (Luke 22:15). Was she reminded then of the Wedding at Cana (1)? Now His hour had come. Now he was able to give that which before He could only foretell symbolically. The washing of the feet: He was among them as one who serves (John 13). This is how she had seen Jesus during His whole life. This is how she herself had lived and would continue to live. She understood the mystical meaning of the washing of the feet (Cf. John 13:2-11). He who approaches the holy table must be completely pure. But only His grace can give that purity. Saint Edith Stein The Secret of the Cross

Your Son is Burning

	Your Son is Burning! In 1734—at the time of the War for Corsican Independence—in the village of Romanacce, dependent of the town of Oletta, there lived a certain Michael Bartolo, who had a painting of the Virgin in his house that he had received as a gift (...). Michael was an ardent patriot. His house served as a refuge for bold messengers bringing news from beyond the mountains during the war against the Genoese. On Good Friday of 1734, his wife, a very devout woman, was busy kneading dough to make the traditional Corsican Easter cakes. And, as was her beautiful habit, she prayed while working. Suddenly, in the middle of her occupations, she heard her own name called out in a stern and urgent tone: Maria! She quickly turned around, but when she saw no one at all in the room, she resumed her work, confused about what had happened. A second time the voice called: Maria! And it added: Your son is burning! Maria leapt towards the crib where her child was sleeping, underneath the painting of the Madonna. A burning log had fallen from the "fucone" (the Corsican word for a hearth made up of a simple slab of stone in the middle of the room). Fire was licking the crib. The mother grabbed her child, hugged him, and overwhelmed with emotion, after putting out the nascent fire, fell to her knees in front of the Madonna! She had no doubt in her mind that the Virgin had saved her child! But while she lovingly contemplated the image of Mary, she was astonished to see tears coming down her eyes. To make sure this wasn't an illusion; Maria put her finger on the canvas, and left a fingerprint there that is still visible today! L. Cristiani Marie reine de la Corse (Mary Queen of Corsica) In: Maria-etudes sur la Vierge Marie-under the direction of Hubert du Manoir, S.J. Volume IV, 1956

Fatima

Fatima

Reparatory Suffering

	The Reparatory Suffering of the Young Shepherds of Fatima On May 13, 1917, Our Lady told the young shepherds of Fatima: “Do you want to offer yourselves to God and accept all the sufferings that he wills to send you as an act of reparation for the sins that offend him, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners?” Without batting an eye about the suffering that God would send them, the young shepherds abandoned themselves entirely to his will. “Yes, we do” they said. Our Lady welcomed this reply as being the first fruit of her message and, in a gesture of maternal protection, she enveloped us in the immense light of God, and answered: “You will have to suffer very much, but God's grace will comfort you.” It is this grace that led us into the immense ocean of God's light and pushed us to worship him in the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and to love him in the divine Eucharist, while saying interiorly in the silence of our heart: “O most Holy Trinity, I adore you. My God, my God, I love you in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.” Sister Lucia (d.Feb. 2005) The Message of Fatima, Carmel of Coimbra, Fatima 2006

Meaning

Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the

answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt.

Meaning is something you build into your life.  You build

it out of your own past, out of your affections and

loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is

passed on to you, out of your own talent and

understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the

things and people you love, out of the values for which you

are willing to sacrifice something.  The ingredients are

there.  You are the only one who can put them together

into that pattern that will be your life.  Let it be a life that

has dignity and meaning for you.  If it does, then the

particular balance of success or failure is of less account.

John Gardner



Obedient Love

Obedient Love O Mary, In an immense effort of obedient love, You accept us, You adopt us With maternal tenderness. From this day forward, may my heart accept as brothers All those that Jesus wishes to send me, And let my obedience in conquering what I find repugnant Take your obedience to Jesus as its model, The One who adopted those who killed him. Venerable Emmanuel d'Alzon (1810-1880) founder of the Assumptionists

Joseph, Mary's Spouse

Joseph, Mary's Spouse It is becoming more and more a commonly accepted doctrine in the Church that Saint Joseph, after Mary, was and still is closer to Our Lord than any other saint. The Church does not hesitate to declare the humble carpenter superior in grace and beatitude to the Patriarchs, Moses, the greatest prophet Saint John the Baptist, and also to the Apostles, Saint Peter, Saint John, Saint Paul, and with greater reason superior in holiness to the greatest martyrs and the other greatest doctors of the Church. Leo XIII, in the Encyclical Quanquam Pluries, wrote: “In truth, the dignity of the Mother of God is so lofty that naught created can rank above it. But as Joseph has been united to the Blessed Virgin by the ties of marriage, it may not be doubted that he approached nearer than any to the eminent dignity by which the Mother of God surpasses so nobly all created natures. For marriage is the most intimate of all unions which from its essence imparts a community of gifts between those that by it are joined together. Thus in giving Joseph the Blessed Virgin as spouse, God appointed him to be not only her life's companion, the witness of her maidenhood, the protector of her honor, but also, by virtue of their conjugal tie, he participates in her sublime dignity.” Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange(1877-1964)

Silence is So Deep in Mary's Soul

	Silence is So Deep in Mary's Soul... Mary in prayer is filled with the Holy Spirit in the silence of her home. Silence is so deep in Mary’s soul that she can hear what God wants to say to her. And God always says things that surprise human understanding. God prepared Mary’s soul to receive all that was going to happen with Faith, Hope and Love. Mary’s soul was prepared in the crucible of suffering. No one can receive the gift of God, in Faith, Hope and Love, without passing through deep interior suffering. That's how God always enters a soul; He digs down deep enough to plant the three splendid trees that are Faith, Hope and Love. Then He reigns in it totally and absolutely. Who can express the degree of suffering that Mary experienced since her childhood, until she attached herself to God alone and consecrated her entire life to Him?
	Marie-Benoite Angot Adorer avec Marie (Praying with Mary), Editions le Sarment.

Fatima Prayer

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and

Holy Spirit, I offer You the most precious

Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus

Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the

world, in reparation for the outrages,

sacrileges, and indifference with which He

Himself is offended.  And, through the infinite

merits of His most Sacred Heart and

the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You

the conversion of poor sinners.

Mary's Smile

	Mary's Smile Now Mary dwells in the joy and the glory of the Resurrection. The tears she shed at the foot of the Cross have turned into a smile, which nothing can ever wipe away, just as her maternal compassion towards us always remains unchanged. The intervention of the Virgin Mary in offering succor throughout history testifies to this, and does not cease to call forth, in the people of God, an unshakable confidence in her: the Memorare prayer expresses this sentiment very well. Mary loves each of her children, giving particular attention to those who, like her Son at the hour of his Passion, are prey to suffering; she loves them quite simply because they are her children, according to the will of Christ on the Cross. The psalmist, seeing from afar this maternal bond which unites the Mother of Christ with the people of faith, prophesies regarding the Virgin Mary that “the richest of the people … will seek your smile” (Ps 44:13). Here in Lourdes, in the course of the apparition of Wednesday March 3, 1858, Bernadette contemplated this smile of Mary in a most particular way. It was the first response that the Beautiful Lady gave to the young visionary who wanted to know who she was. Before introducing herself, some days later, as “the Immaculate Conception,” Mary first taught Bernadette to know her smile, this being the most appropriate point of entry into the revelation of her mystery. Benedict XVI, Homily Esplanade in front of the Basilica of Notre-Dame du Rosaire, Lourdes, Monday, September 15, 2008