Mary, My Mother, I firmly believe that the saints and blessed in Heaven can aid us by interceding for us with God. Your Heart was also a pure Heart, pure as the light, purer than the snow, free from the stain of original sin, from the least taint of actual sin, from the least evil tendency of our fallen naturea heart full of light and beauty reflecting to the full the radiance of the Sacred Heart of your Divine Son. Mary, Mother of God, I believe that the most sublime of your privileges is your divine maternity. He had to crown the gift of His love with the grand gift of you, His Mother. It was not enough for the Infinite Lover of souls to free us from the slavery of hell by His Passion and death and to bestow upon us His body and blood, soul and divinity. To become the Mother of God meant for you a knowledge of and a share in the Passion of Christ that would plunge you into the depths of a sea of lonely desolation. This marked the beginning of your life of suffering together with Jesus. As the God-man, Jesus is the perfect Mediator between God and man, because He alone could in all justice merit our reconciliation with God as well as the graces which God would impart after the reconciliation. If you had no husband, the unbelieving Jews would have stoned you as a sinner. 1. Everything that God may send me, or permit in my life, whether favorable or unfavorable, sweet or bittereven illness, is acceptable to me, for I have resolved, after your example to conform myself to the Divine Will in all things. 2. you. Mary, My Mother, may the faithful recitation of my Rosary be a sign of my gratitude to Jesus and to you for all you have done for me in bringing about my Redemption. 3. May I remember always your sorrows on Calvary, through which you begot us to God and became the co-redemptrix of our race. Your Heart was also a suffering Heart. Infirmities of the body are nature's warning voice concerning the approach of death, which I cannot finally escape. When the Persons of the Blessed Trinity gaze on you, the Immaculate One, most pure, most beautiful, supremely pleasing to eternal love, what can they refuse you? Mary, My Mother, you were not obliged by the Law of Moses to present and ransom your firstborn Son. Only give me the grace to abandon myself completely to your motherly guidance. 3. Once more He renewed His offering at the Presentation in the Temple. All your trials and sufferings are now transformed into jewels that decorate your triumphal throne in Heaven. 1. The Church has always taught that God has entrusted to your hands all heavenly treasures, and many of the saints assure me that you give to your clients as much of these treasures as you wish and when you wish to do so. Never did a mother love her son as you loved Jesus; and so never did a mother share in her son's agony so deeply as you shared the Passion. May they consider it to be the greatest privilege bestowed upon them by God to dedicate their sons and daughters to His holy service. 3. He found joy in God, His Heavenly Father, and in the Holy Spirit, joy in all the wonderful perfections of God. When your cousin Saint Elizabeth greeted you as blessed among women, you answered, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior because he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid" (Luke 1, 46). By your humility you have found such great grace with God that you were chosen to co-operate with His Divine Son in restoring man to a dignity far superior to that which he had lost by sin. You are certainly the refuge of sinners, but you wish what your Son wishes. May your title of Mother of Divine Providence ever give us confidence that you will never fail us, but will provide for all we need in this present life that we may attain eternal life. Immaculate Virgin, you are that human being. Therefore, with childlike confidence I appeal to your motherly Heart for help. 3. Corruption is a consequence of sin, but you were sinless. I have carried my cross patiently which He gave me to carry. I am happy at the thought that you, a human creature, have escaped completely from the clutches of Satan, that born of a race universally tainted, you are more pure and more brilliant than the most sublime of the angels; and that you are my Mother. Not only the Mother of Mexico, but of all the Americas. Overshadowed by the power of the Holy Spirit, you were to conceive and bear the Messias, and at the same time remain a Virgin in every respect. You thought only of the good you could do in Elizabeth's home. With heavenly homage the angelic messenger greeted you "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1, 28). From Him there flowed heavenwards an unceasing stream of glory, the waves of His grace ever poured over the earth. How great must have been that longing! You, who were yourself the Queen of Prophets, saw that from that moment "the sword of sorrow" would enter your soul and remain there during the rest of your days. You have not lost grace, as Adam lost it, but you have found it because you have desired and sought it. If the sinner dies in his sins you cannot desire to save him, because Jesus will not save him. To all of us your Immaculate Heart after that of Jesus is most loving and most merciful. Our Lady of Sorrows: Compassion Unlimited. All good things come to us through your hands. Appeared to St. Jerome Emiliani, 1530 5. Aid me through your influence with your Divine Son, to be a true child of yours and to grow daily into your likeness. You truly deserve to be called the Mediatrix of Grace. While you bore the Author of all things in your womb, and your heart was beating quickly with love, adoration and longing, still your face told nothing of this, and no one knew that such marvellous things were taking place in you. But all heaven rejoiced at your birth, because you were destined one day to bring the Savior into the world; you were to become God's Mother and the Queen of heaven and earth. Help me to realize that it is only through the cross that I can attain to its glory and that it is only through suffering that I can possess the kingdom of heaven. Mary, My Mother, your power as Mother of Divine Providence is indeed as great as your compassion and willingness to help. The cross is the measure of God's love for us and the sum total of our love for God. "Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. Mary, My Mother, in your womb, the sanctuary of the living God, Jesus was occupied with the sanctification and government of the world. He alone has paid the full price of our ransom, and to this price no one else has contributed. When He changed the water to wine, He did your bidding as God, since as man He could not perform miracles. My imitation of both Jesus and you depends upon my response to the amount of grace that God sees fit to give me. All these souls were given to you by Jesus on the crossthey are your children. You knew that thousands even of His faithful followers throughout the world would turn from Him and would make His coming the occasion of their eternal ruin. I wish to attend Holy Mass, receive Holy Communion, and visit Jesus in the tabernacle in union with you, in the spirit in which you yourself did so. Your charity for the souls redeemed by the precious blood of your divine Son is so great that you ask mercy for those who flee to you for refuge, with all the earnest tenderness of a mother pleading for her only child. Thus an angel appeared to Joseph and said, "Do not be afraid, Joseph, son of David, to take to thee Mary thy wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. As I gaze upon youthe ideal of perfection and sanctity, may a similar longing for God and complete dedication of myself to Him awaken in my soul. In you, and of your substance, was this day formed His adorable Body. It was life of the utmost weakness and helplessness, and yet His is the strength of God Himself. Since you are the Mother of men, God gave you a special knowledge of the needs of every Christian that you might help us to save our souls. We all rejoice because all the graces and spiritual benefits we have received and shall receive, all our future glory comes from this exalted mystery of the Incarnation. I want to take devotion to you seriously. In heaven all your subjects are crowned by the King of kings, and they pay homage to you. This is what took place at His entrance into the world; and again when He took upon Himself the office of Savior in the mystery of the Circumcision, and received from you the Holy Name of Jesus. Mary, Mother of God, I choose you as my model of Eucharistic devotion. When you became the Mother of Jesus according to the flesh, you became the Mother of men according to the spirit. I firmly believe that He will hear my prayer also, if this should be the Will of God. Mary, My Mother, you are Queen also because your are Co-Redemptrix. Such love set your Heart on fire with love for your Divine Son, not only as your Son, but also as your God and Savior since you had shared in advance in the merits of His Passion and death. Bless the people of the Americas, citizens of those lands to which uncounted thousands have come to seek refuge and livelihood. He promised that my prayers would be heard when He said, "Ask, and it shall be given you" (Matt. It is the ideal and providential moment to entrust . Only thus could you become one with Your God in the salvation of souls. St. Brigid of Kildare Feast Day February 1st. 2. Through thirty-three years of Jesus' life on earth you suffered in silence. The icon is now displayed in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, and the Russian calendar commemorates the feast of Our Lady of Vladimir on May 21. Jesus proclaimed your motherhood from the cross by entrusting you to John and John to you when He said, "Woman behold thy sonSon, behold thy Mother.". To you we owe the life of grace, without which there is no escape from the death of sin. By your Divine Motherhood you formed the closest bond of union with the adorable Trinity, the privileged Daughter of the Father, the loving Mother of the Son and the immaculate Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Holiness is union with God through love. 3. You were not to raise up children unto Godnot ordinary offspring, but a Child, the Son of God! On the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, 28 First Holy Communion students received the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time. Mary, My Mother, your apparition at Guadalupe as the Immaculate Conception is your only recorded appearance in North America. Mary, My Mother, through your divine maternity you procure for the three divine Persons a new and singular glory. You often discussed the coming of the Messias, since you knew He would be of your race and family. When His side was opened with a lance, a sword of anguish also pierced your Heart. You are Queen of the universe, not by force, but by the power of love. You hid your miraculous virginity under the mantle of humility. So, as daughter of Adam you submitted to the sentence passed in the garden of Eden. The child in the womb of Elizabeth was sanctified and exulted for joy at the presence of Jesus. The Sanctuary in 1906. Mary, My Mother, your whole life was like a Mass. The holy couple offered you to God by the ministry of the priest in charge, who invoked the blessing of God upon you and your parents. I am in need of forgiveness of sin, of strength in temptation. Mary, My Mother, your Son Jesus came to enlighten the world with His teaching and example. The holy old man Simeon took your Son in his arms. And so it is even now in heaven. But you merited the title Co-Redemptrix above all by your union with Christ in His redemptive sacrifice. Mary, My Mother, you are all beautifulbeautiful in mind, in body, in soul! You have entered into the highest state of power and glory in Heaven in order that you may help us in our journey through so many dangers to the kingdom of Heaven. As in Heaven the Divine Word is like the Father, so on earth the Son, according to the flesh, is like you His Mother. By your Motherhood you acquired a mother's power over your Divine Son, and you saw yourself raised above all the angels and saints. Even though my past sinfulness may have made me unworthy to appear before God, I trust that you will appeal to God in my behalf as the Mother of Divine Grace. It was an answer which had scarcely fallen from your lips, before It drew the only-begotten Son of God from the bosom of His Eternal Father, to become Man in your most pure womb! I admire the holiness of their lives and the nobility of their family. But how careless I am about my spiritual health! Make me a fervent apostle of the Eucharist. Home Feasts & Holy Days Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico) Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 2. He was obedient and immediately arranged with you the celebration of your chaste nuptials. I believe that all graces, all heavenly blessings descend from Jesusas from the Headby means of youas the neckto the body of the Church.