Feast of the Visitation

	How did Mary's human nature accept what God asked of her? If Saint Luke the evangelist tells us about this visit of Mary to Elizabeth, it is certainly not for the sake of an anecdote (…) He wants us to understand something that touches upon the economy of Salvation and prepares for the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Similarly, it isn't by accident that the Virgin Mary's song of thanksgiving appears at the end of the story of that visit, as the conclusion of the cycle of annunciations. (…) To understand why the Visitation prepares the way for the Magnificat, we must first use our imagination a little. We know the end of the story, for whom everything has been accomplished regarding Salvation, and for whom the Holy Spirit was poured in our hearts. But how did the Virgin Mary understand from the beginning what was happening when she saw an angel appear suddenly in her house of Nazareth and announce to her that she would be the mother of the Savior? (…) And even if the dialogue ended well in the order of grace (“Let it be done to me according to thy word” (Lk 1:38), how did Mary's human nature accept what God was asking of her? (…) Could Mary see clearly all by herself? (…) Elizabeth said a word that confirmed what the Angel Gabriel had said: “But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy” (Lk 1: 43-44). Immediately, Mary knew that she hadn't been the victim of an illusion, a fixed idea or a dream, but that it truly was God's work that was being accomplished. There is more. Through the recognition that she received by someone else, Mary also discovered that the child in Elizabeth's womb already recognized her son. The reader of the Gospel understands that that child, who would be the greatest among the prophets, already gave witness to the fact that the one that Mary is expecting is truly the Son of God. This is why Mary's song of praise could now spring up. (…). Andre Cardinal Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris Basilica of the Visitation of Annecy-Monday, May 31 2010

Mother Teresa

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

Mother Teresa

Blessed Mother



Mother Teresa's Rosary

	That night in 1981, when I boarded a plane in Chicago, Illinois, I felt tired. As more passengers entered the aircraft, the place hummed with conversation. Then, suddenly, people fell silent. (…) I turned back to see what was happening, and gaped. Two nuns were coming down the aisle, dressed in simple white robes edged with blue. I immediately recognized the familiar face of one of them with her wrinkled skin and her intensely warm eyes. I had seen that face on the cover of TIME magazine. The two nuns paused, and I realized that my seat companion was going to be Mother Teresa. As the last few passengers settled in, Mother Teresa and her companion took out their rosaries. I noticed that each decade was made up of grains of a different color. Mother Teresa told me later that each decade represented a different part of the world. She added: "I pray for the poor and dying on each continent." The two women began to pray, their voices a low murmur. Although I consider myself not a very religious Catholic, going to church mostly out of habit, I joined this prayer almost without realizing it. Mother Teresa turned to me and this time her eyes filled me with a great sense of peace. "Young man," she asked, "do you often recite the rosary?" "No, not really," I admitted. She took my hand while scrutinizing my eyes. Then she smiled. "Well, you will now." And she put her rosary into my hand. (...) Since this unexpected encounter on the plane, my life has changed. (...) Now I try to keep in mind what really counts—not money or security or property—but the way we love others. Jim Dennison, USA 1981

Mary, Joseph, and the Trinity

There are two creatures whose holiness belongs to an entirely separate order, since they have a relationship that is completely different than the others with the Holy Trinity: firstly, the Mother of God, and secondly, Saint Joseph. All sanctified creatures are such because of the Incarnation. Mary and Joseph also received the effects of the saving Incarnation. But first, God destined them to be his associates, each one in his or her own manner, to bring about that Incarnation. The Mystery of Saint Joseph's Fatherhood Tequi, Paris 1986

The Seven Seals of the Virgin Mary

	We might consider that the Virgin Mary is like this book, sealed with seven seals, that Saint John the Evangelist saw in the Revelation, and which could only be opened by the Lamb (Rev 5:5). The seven seals are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit that the Virgin Mary fully possesses, more than any other creature. We can also understand them as the seven privileges that she enjoys. In the first, she was chosen by God from all eternity as the first-born of all the creatures. In the second, she conceived in her womb and in her flesh the Word and his humanity, which he received from her most pure blood. In the third, she sanctified Saint John by her words, by virtue of the incarnate Word in her most pure womb. In the fourth, after she had given birth to Jesus, she remained a virgin. In the fifth, the Son of God himself was subjected to her, humble and obedient. In the sixth, after her death her body did not know corruption. In the seventh, she was placed at the right hand of her Son. If, after we die, we want to enter into the blessed Kingdom of Heaven, we must strive right now to perfection, practice humility, patience, charity, and all the other virtues. Let us exert ourselves to do so. Saint Maria Magdalena de Pazzi Mystical Author (1566-1607)

Priestly Advice with Mary

	Tomorrow you will go home. I’d like to ask that all of you do one thing and say one prayer. When you arrive and open the door of your church, stop for a minute. Say to Mary: “O my Mother, enter first. From this day on, I want to pray, preach and hear confessions in this house that is yours and mine: I want to live all my priesthood with you.” Then when you go to the rectory, after opening the door, stop again for a minute, invite Mary to go before you, and tell her: “O my Mother, enter first. I want to live with you in this home, and while I am near you, I want to observe mortification, patience, purity, and charity.” Finally, when you open the door of your bedroom, stop one more time, invite your Mother to go in first, and tell her: “And here most of all, O my Mother, always be with me. In this place I want to pray, study, sleep, and die under your gaze and near your heart.”
	Cardinal Verdier, Memoirs of My Pastoral Retreats In: Maria – études sur la Vierge Marie – Under the direction of Hubert du Manoir, S.J. - Volume III, 1954.

Prayer to Our Lady of Good Welcome

	O Mary, give us attentive, humble and gentle hearts able to welcome with tenderness and compassion all the poor that you send us. Give us hearts full of mercy able to love and serve, and quench all divisions and to see in our suffering and broken brothers the presence of the living Jesus. Lord, bless us from the hand of your poor; Lord, smile to us through the eyes of your poor; Lord, receive us one day in the blessed company of your poor. Amen Jean Vanier, Founder of L'Arche

Eucharistic people in Mary

	During the 2005 Synod of Bishops, which was devoted to the Holy Eucharist, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio reflected on the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary: Our faithful people believe as a Eucharistic people in Mary. They tie together their affection for the Eucharist and their affection for the Virgin, our Lady and Mother (cf. Redemptoris Mater III, 44). In the “school of Mary,” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, § 1), we can reread contemplatively the passages in which John Paul II sees our Lady as a Eucharistic woman, and sees her not alone but “in the company of” (Acts 1:14) the People of God. We follow here that rule of tradition by which, with different nuances, “what is said of Mary is said of the soul of every Christian and of the whole Church” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 57). Our faithful people have the true “Eucharistic attitude” of giving thanks and of praise. Remembering Mary, they are grateful for being remembered by her, and this memorial of love is truly Eucharistic. In this respect I repeat what John Paul II affirmed in Ecclesia de Eucharistia number 58: “The Eucharist has been given to us so that our life, like that of Mary, can become completely a Magnificat.” Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, (Pope Francis) www.catholicculture.org

The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

FATIMA, God's Grace Will be Your Strength!

	The children were playing at building a wall, when suddenly they saw, above an oak tree, a Lady clothed entirely in white, dazzling and brighter than the sun. The beautiful Lady told them: “Do not be afraid, I will do you no harm.” Lucia asked: “Where do you come from, and what do you want from us?” The Blessed Virgin answered: “I come from Heaven. I have come to ask you to return here on the 13th of each month at the same time, for six months. Then, I will tell you who I am and what I want. I will return a seventh and last time.” Then Lucia asked: “Will I go to heaven also?” “Yes.” “And Jacinta?” “Yes.” “And Francisco?” “He will too, but he will have to recite many rosaries.” Then Lucia asked if two girls, aged 16 and 20, who had died not long ago, were in heaven. The Blessed Virgin answered: “The first one, yes; the other, no.” “Would you like to offer your sufferings to God to atone for sins,” the Blessed Virgin asked, “and obtain the conversion of sinners?” The children replied with great simplicity: “Yes, we would.” The Virgin then said: “You will suffer a lot, but God's grace will be your strength!” While she was saying these words, she opened her hands. Out came bright rays of light that penetrated into the children’s souls (…). Driven by an immense interior force, the children fell to their knees, saying: “Most Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee 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 indifferences whereby He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.” (…) Then, slowly, the Virgin rose into the sky and left in the direction of the East.
	Sources: Lucie, Mémoires, Fatima, 1963; Lucie, Lucie raconte Fatima, éd. by Dom C. Jean-Nesmy, Paris et Montsûrs, 1975; Lucia, Memorias II, Fatima, 1996, (Lucia’s Memoires).

Mary's Mission and the Holy Spirit

	Mary's heart is abundantly filled with the Holy Spirit. The day after the Society of the Holy Heart of Mary merged with the Spiritans (the Congregation of the Holy Spirit), Libermann wrote in the Rules: “The Congregation... especially consecrates its members to the Holy Spirit, author and consummator of all holiness, and inspirer of the apostolic spirit, and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, abundantly filled with the Holy Spirit, the fullness of holiness and of the apostolate, participating the most perfectly in the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, her Son, for the redemption of the world.” (…) “ will consider the Immaculate Heart of Mary like a perfect model of faithfulness to all the divine inspirations of the Holy Spirit and of the interior practice of the virtues of the religious and apostolic life. They will find in it a refuge, to which they will flee in their labors and pains.” Jacob Libermann (1852)

Urgent Appeals by the Virgin Mary

	The Price is Very High! The Virgin Mary has addressed urgent appeals in recent apparitions approved by the local bishops to the people of our times. Humanity is called to make a serious conversion that will bring them back to God their Creator and their unique Savior Jesus Christ, because Satan leads thousands of deceived souls to hell. Our heavenly Mother calls out to people of all conditions and religions in many places with a voice full of anguish: "Convert and do penance!" (before it is too late and the punishment from heaven falls on you). The Virgin Mary gave the same warnings to the world in 1917 at Fatima, Portugal. But her calls were not broadcast (…). The cost was the 50 million casualties of WWII and the 80 million victims of international communism. The price to pay for not listening to the Virgin Mary is very high! Are we going to keep making the same mistakes?
	Fr. Jean-Regis Fropo, diocesan priest and exorcist, in his book: Les récentes apparitions de la Vierge Marie dans le monde (1947-2002) reconnues par l’Église catholique, (Recent Apparitions of the Virgin Marie in the World (1947-2002) recognized by the Catholic Church), Éditions Croix du Salut. www.editions-croix.com/

Place it in the Hands of Mary

	If you wish to present something to God, no matter how small it may be, place it in the hands of Mary… Consecrating ourselves in this way to Jesus through Mary implies placing our good deeds in Mary's hands. Now, although these deeds may appear good to us, they are often defective, and not worthy to be considered and accepted by God, before whom even the stars lack brightness. Let us pray, then, to our dear Mother and Queen that having accepted our poor gift, she may purify it, sanctify it, beautify it, and so make it worthy of God. Any good our soul could produce is of less value to God our Father, in winning his friendship and favor, than a worm-eaten apple would be in the sight of a king, when presented by a poor peasant to his royal master as payment for the rent of his farm. But what would the peasant do if he were wise and if he enjoyed the esteem of the queen? Would he not present his apple first to her, and would she not, out of kindness to the poor man and out of respect for the king, remove from the apple all that was maggoty and spoilt, place it on a golden dish, and surround it with flowers? Could the king then refuse the apple? Would he not accept it most willingly from the hands of his queen who showed such loving concern for that poor man? … "If you wish to present something to God, no matter how small it may be," says St Bernard, "place it in the hands of Mary to ensure its certain acceptance." Saint Louis de Montfort The Secret of Mary 37

The Death of Saint Joseph

Joseph passed away... No one has ever mentioned how he died... He came without making any noise; he struggled without glory; He was the silent actor of a sublime story, One day he disappeared, never to return. We watched him fade into the background, The Child-God walked in his foot prints next to the Virgin Mary; During the day he planed off the rough edges on wooden boards; And at night, the angels made him aware of hateful plots. When Jesus left home, Joseph’s role ended; Thereafter the Gospel speaks of him no more. One evening, he probably left aside his planer And just went to bed, with Mary at his bedside. The night fell no differently than that night long ago When the Angel of the Lord came to awaken him and tell him to flee... The Angel returned that night to help him die; And Joseph heard his soft and soothing voice. The Angel said: “Joseph, son of David, It is I again. Rest peacefully, for the Child and his mother No longer need to fear dangers on this earth. Now they are ready to live and die without you.” But Joseph was reluctant to fall asleep. Perhaps He was waiting for someone he wished to see again, For he was attentive to the noises outside With a glimmer of hope in his eyes. He sat up suddenly... Footsteps broke the silence; The door of the house opened to the darkness outside, And Jesus, crossing the threshold of his youth, Hurried to his father’s side and leaned over him. How far he must have walked to come! Dust Covered his bare feet and accentuated his features; But a bright light shone from his eyes And filled Joseph's eyes forever more... Mary whispered: “It is you, my Son!” And the Angel bowed down. Jesus, bending over Joseph’s bed, embraced his father; No words were exchanged between them, As Jesus fought his first battle against death! And in the shadows lingered death, powerless... But the old worker did not expect his Son to make his heart Young and strong again: he looked into the divine face And died with that vision set apart. Ah! Blessed is the one who, with a trusting soul, Having prayed, suffered and worked, One evening, waiting, can lie down his fatigue, And then, in a divine embrace, depart! Georges D'Aurac

Mary, Mother of The Church

Mary, Mother of The Church Indeed, the reality of the Church is not limited to its hierarchical structure, liturgy, sacraments, and legal statutes. We must seek her very essence and the primary source of her sanctifying efficacy in her mystical union with Christ. We cannot conceive of this union by ignoring the one who is the Mother of the Word and whom Jesus Christ wanted to unite so intimately to himself for our salvation. This is why the loving contemplation of the wonders that God operated in his holy Mother must be seen within the vision of the Church. And the knowledge of the true Catholic doctrine on Mary will always constitute a key to rightly understand the mystery of Christ and the Church. Paul VI (1978) Closing Allocution of the Third Session of the Second Vatican Council (Nov 21, 1964)

The Chapel of the Sisters of Loretto (USA)

	The Chapel of the Sisters of Loretto (USA) In the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, a mystery has lasted for more than 130 years and still attracts more than 250,000 visitors each year—the Miraculous Staircase of Loretto Chapel. This chapel was completed in 1878 and only then did the Sisters realize that they had forgotten to have a staircase built to reach the choir loft. Unperturbed, they made a novena to Saint Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. On the ninth and final day of their novena, a man came knocking at the chapel door looking for work. The carpenter built the staircase all by himself, which is already a major feat. He worked without using any nails or glue—only wooden pegs—and he disappeared when his elegant spiral staircase was completed, without thanks or pay. Two questions still perplex experts today: How can this staircase remain standing all these years without any means of support? Where did the wood come from since the type of wood used for the staircase does not exist in New Mexico? We will probably never know the answers to these questions. Some people are inclined to believe that the mysterious carpenter was actually St Joseph sent by Jesus in answer to the Sisters' prayers. Over the years many pilgrims and tourists have flocked to see the Miraculous Staircase and Loretto Chapel is now a famous Christian pilgrimage site. MDN Team Adapted from www.lorettochapel.com/staircase.html