Feast of Our Sorrowful Mother or Scatter Me Here!

Sorrowful Mother Headstone, 
Rapperswil Catholic Cemetery

I put my trust forever,

O Mary, pure, in thee.

Then show thyself a mother,

And daily succour me.

And when death's hand shall touch me,

Thy pity I implore;

Oh, lead me, dearest Mother,

To God―for evermore!

Payers of an Irish Mother

Brian O'Higgins

38 Up. O'Connell Street, Dublin, 1934

                    ⬆︎  ⬆︎

Our Sorrowful Mother's Image was taken at this headstone, Rapperswil, Switzerland, 2015

The Most Holy Name of Mary

 Click on Recipe

As much as Mary's holy name is a blessing for us, it is a dread for the evil one.  Venerable Thomas a Kempis observes that the devils fear Mary so much that, if they but hear her holy name pronounced, they fly from the person who speaks it as if from a burning fire.  For this reason, we devoutly follow the indispensable counsel of Saint Bernard: "In dangers, in straits, in perplexity, call upon Mary.  Let her name be always in your mouth and in your heart."   

The Magnificat - Meditation of The Day - September 12th, 2014

 Click on Recipe

Let's Bake a Cake for Mary

Courtesy of Catholic cuisine.

Each year, on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, our family makes a cake to celebrate. Last year we made a Blueberry Cheesecake and this year we opted for a Lemon Blueberry Cake.   Although the type of cake varies from year to year, I usually make sure the cake itself is white, symbolizing Mary's purity, and then we add blueberries to symbolize her blue mantle.

We top the cake with a small statue of Mary and surrounded it with a circle of 10 candles, representing one decade of the rosary.  The children then take turns lighting the candles as the whole family prays a "Hail Mary" for each candle.  Afterwards we sing Happy Birthday and let the children blow out the candles!!!  My children look forward to this tradition every year!

Lemon Blueberry Cake

Adapted from the Food Network

Ingredients:

• 2 (8-inch) round white cakes (I made mine using a boxed white cake mix)
• 1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract, divided
• 2 (12-ounce) cans cream cheese frosting
• Fresh blueberries (I used frozen since I had some in the freezer.)
• Fresh mint sprigs and Lemon slices, quartered (optional)

Directions:

Use a knife to slice cake layers in half horizontally. Use a pastry brush to brush each layer with lemonade concentrate; set aside.

Stir 1 teaspoon of lemon extract into each can of frosting; set aside.

To assemble cake: frost and stack the cake layers on top of each other.

Decorate the cake with blueberries.  You can then add the optional clusters of mint sprigs and quartered lemon slices for further decoration if you'd like.

Happy Birthday Dear Blessed Mother!

More Wonderful Mary Recipes
Just follow the Links

• Mary's Birthday Party Mix
• A Blueberry "Waffle Cake" for Mary's Birthday!
• Blueberry Cheesecake for Our Lady
• A Birthday Cake for Our Lady! (Lemon Blueberry Cake)
• Happy Birthday, Dear Blessed Mother! (Cupcakes - Ave Maria)
• Birthday Cupcakes for Mary
• Mary Cakes
• Happy Birthday, Blessed Mother Mary! (Birthday Cake)
• Mystical Rosette Ombre Cake
• Strawberry Pink Lemonade Birthday Cake

 

Mary's Birthday Prayer

On that blessed Nativity all the angels descended from heaven to the house of St. Anne, to salute the child which that happy mother then gave to the world. (St. Bernadine)

Birthday Prayer to My Mother Mary

Mary, My Mother, I rejoice with the Blessed Trinity on your birthday because you were to take part in the Incarnation and Redemption of the world.  
I rejoice with all mankind because you became the Mother of our Redeemer.  
I rejoice with the whole Church because you are our life: you bore Jesus, Who is the Way and the Truth and the Life, and Who was to restore to mankind that supernatural life which had been lost.  
I have every reason to rejoice, for as the Mother of Jesus and my Mother, you are my hope of salvation. Through your prayers and the prayers of your holy parents may I learn to know and love you more and ever remain your faithful child.  This is my sure way of reaching heaven and my God.  

Bestow on Your servants, we beg of You, O Lord, the gift of heavenly grace, that we, for whom the Blessed Virgin's motherhood was the beginning of salvation, may be blessed with peace on the sacred feast day of her Nativity.  Through Christ Our Lord.  Amen.

(Prayer by Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D.)

First Friday of September, 2019

During the month of May, in the year 1688, St. Margaret Mary wrote to her superior in Dijon: "During Holy Communion on a certain Friday the Lord spoke to me, His unworthy servant, the following words: 'I promise thee in the excessive mercy of My heart that My all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without having received the sacraments; My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge at that last moment.'" Dedicated To

A Prayer for Sleep

Barbara Scott (sleeping ice skater), Switzerland, 1948
Photo by Walter Sanders

The peace of God is a most profound tranquillity and repose, like the silence of untrodden mountain summits clothed with eternal snows;  or like the lowest depths of the ocean, where the fierce storms that rage on the surface are unfelt, and where the turbulent industry of men can never penetrate.  Nothing can equal that peace.

O Loving Jesus, I offer Thee Thy most peaceful repose in the adorable Sacrament of the Altar, and in the hearts of all the just, and I beseech Thee most earnestly that I may rest this night in Thee so that in the morning I may awake with renewed fervour to love and serve Thee.  Amen.

My Queen and my Mother, bless me with thy pure and holy hand―

     That I may have a good night's rest, 

     That I may wake betimes in the morning, and have the grace and energy to rise promptly and continue the work thy divine and beloved Son has entrusted to my feeble hands.

Amen.

Prayers of an Irish Mother - 19th century

To Obtain Mary's Patronage

We recourse to you as my Refuge Holy Mother of God.

TO OBTAIN MARY'S PATRONAGE

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Most holy and Immaculate Virgin, My Mother Mary, to thee the Mother of my God, the Queen of the world, the Advocate, the hope and the Refuge of sinners I have recourse today, I who am the most miserable of all. I render thee my humble homage O Great Queen, and I thank thee for all the graces thou hast bestowed upon me until now particularly for having delivered me from hell which I have so often deserved. I love thee O Most Amiable Sovereign and for the love I bear thee, I promise to serve thee always and to do all in my power to make others love thee also. I place in thee, after God, all my hopes. I confide my salvation to thy care. Accept me for thy servant and take me under thy protection O Mother of Mercy. And since thou art so powerful with God deliver me from all temptations or rather obtain for me the strength to triumph over them until death. Obtain for me I beseech thee a perfect love for Jesus Christ. To thee I look for grace to die a good death. O My Mother, by the love which thou bearest to God, I beseech thee to help me at all times and particularly at the decisive moment of death. Do not leave me until thou sees me save in heaven occupied in blessing thee and singing thy mercies throughout eternity. Amen.

Remember O most pious Virgin Mary, that no one ever had recourse to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy mediation without obtaining relief. Confiding then in thy goodness and mercy I cast myself at thy sacred feet and do most humbly supplicate thee, O Mother of the Eternal Word, to adopt me as thy child and take upon thyself the care of my salvation. O let it not be said my dearest Mother that I have perished where no ever found but grace and salvation. Amen. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 

Evening Sigh

MOTHER MOST LOVABLE 

 

My most sweet Queen, how pleasant to me is that beautiful name used by those who are devoted to you, "Mater Amabilis," Mother Most Lovable.  Yes, how true it is, O my Lady, that you are exceedingly lovable, for your beauty has won the love of God Himself:  "The King has greatly desired your loveliness." 

St. Bonaventure tells us that to your lovers even your name is so lovely, that when they pronounce it, or hear it pronounced, they are set on fire;  and an intense longing wells up within them to love you still more:  "O sweet, O kind, O most lovable Mary—your name cannot be pronounced without setting us aflame;  nor can it strike upon our hearing without stirring the affections of those who love you." 

O how fitting it is then, most lovely Mother, that I should love you.  But I shall not be satisfied with merely loving you:  I want to be, after God, the first of your lovers on earth;  and later on, the first of your lovers in Heaven.  If this desire is too bold your loveliness alone is responsible, together with the particular love that you have given me;  if you were less lovable then my longing to love you would be less. 

Come, O my Lady, and accept this intense desire of mine.  In proof that you have accepted it, you must yourself obtain for me from God the love I seek.  I seek to love you more because the love I have for you gives great joy to God Himself.  

Evening Sigh—I love you exceedingly, O most lovely Mother.

The Third Person

INDEX

The Son of God was born on earth and became the Son of the Holy Virgin; and He communicated the Holy Ghost by spiration or breathing on the Apostles, and sent Him on the day of Pentecost in the form of a mighty wind (spiritus) as well as of fiery tongues. The Apostle assures you that you are the temple of the Holy Ghost. How great are the privileges and honors heaped upon those who have submitted to the obedience of faith, who strive to live the life of God, and make use of the Holy Sacraments!

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I opened the window to the gentle rain and said my prayers there.

  MORNING PRAYER

Manual for The Children of Mary

 
As soon as you awake, bless yourself with the sign of the Cross & say:

O my God, I give myself wholly to Thee.

Bless me, O Lord; defend and govern me this day and for ever, and after this short and miserable pilgrimage, bring me to everlasting happiness with thee.

O God, my Creator and Redeemer, look graciously on thy servant, the work of thy hands; and mercifully grant that all my thoughts, words, and actions, may be directed to the praise and honor of thy name, and the salvation of my own soul. Amen.  

Place yourself in the presence of God.

Most holy and august Trinity, one God in three Persons, I believe that thou art here present; I adore thee with sentiments of the most profound humility, and render thee, with all my heart, the homage which is due to thy Sovereign Majesty.

Thank God, and offer yourself to Him.

My God, I thank thee most humbly, for all the favours thou hast bestowed upon me; it is thy goodness which has brought me to the beginning of this day, which I desire to employ only in thy service.

I consecrate to thee all my thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings; bless them, O Lord, that they may be animated by thy love, and tend only to promote thy greater glory.

Resolve to avoid sin, and to practice holiness.

Adorable Jesus, Divine Model of that perfection to which we should aspire, I will endeavour this day, after thy example, to be mild, humble, chaste, zealous, patient, charitable, and resigned; and I will strive particularly to avoid those faults to which I am most subject, and which I sincerely desire to correct.  

Beg the necessary grace.

My God, thou knows my weakness; I can do nothing without the assistance of thy holy grace; do not refuse it to me. O my God, but proportion it to my wants; give me sufficient strength to avoid what thou hast forbidden, to practice the good thou expectest of me, and to suffer patiently all the crosses thou mayest be pleased to send me.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name: thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The Hail Mary.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The Apostles' Creed

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almightly, Creator of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell, the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

Act of Faith

MY God, I most firmly believe in thee, and in all that thou hast revealed to thy holy Catholic Church; because thou art truth itself, who neither canst deceive, nor be deceived. Amen.

Act of Hope

MY God, I most firmly hope in thee, because of all thy promises; and I trust that thou wilt give me eternal life, and all the graces necessary to obtain it, through the merits of my Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Act of Charity

MY God, I love thee with my whole heart and above all things, because thou art the Sovereign Good, and for thy own perfections most worthy of all love; and for thy sake I love my neighbour as myself. Amen.

The "Angelus Domini."

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary;
And she conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord,

Be it done to me according to thy word.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

And the Word was made flesh,

And dwelt amongst us.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

HAIL! Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy; our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thy merciful eyes towards us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement! O loving! O sweet Virgin Mary!

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Our Lady's Litany

 

The Most Witnessed Miracle in History

A bus mechanic named Farouk Mohammed Atwa was working at a Public Transport garage across the street from the Virgin Mary Orthodox Coptic Church in Zeitoun, Egypt (a suburb of Cairo) after sunset on the evening of April 2, 1968 when the figure of a woman standing on top of one of the church’s domes caught his attention. Alarmed because he saw the woman moving and thought she was preparing to commit suicide by jumping off the church’s roof, Farouk alerted two of his coworkers, and they all shouted at the woman to be careful so she wouldn’t fall. Their shouting attracted the attention of many people passing by on Tumanbay Street, who also saw the glowing white female figure when they looked up. 

One of the photos my wife Kathy and I saw at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona during our visit.
The Virgin Mary above the Church of Virgin Mary in Zeitoun, Cairo - Egypt, April 2nd, 1968. According to Coptic tradition this is one of the sites where the Holy family stayed during their flight to Egypt.

In Love with The Divine Outcast - end of Chapter 1o

05/09/19

Read In Love with The Divine Outcast Here

We all know that sanctification is a work both divine and human. It is divine through its immediate Principle, the Holy Spirit; through its meritorious cause, the Incarnation and the Death of the Son of God; through its end, the happiness of the Holy Trinity, in which holy souls are to participate for all eternity; finally through its chief means, the teachings and the graces of Jesus Christ transmitted to men through the Church.  

But this work is human also, since the graces of the Holy Spirit, and merits of the Son of God, the designs of the Holy Trinity, and all the efforts of Providence can bear fruit in a soul only as far as she freely co-operates with them.  

"And if Thou shouldest leave me,

O Treasure dear, divine,

Yet will I smile in gladness,

Though no caress be mine . . .

And Thy return, sweet Jesus,

I will await in peace,

Nor shall my Canticles of Love

E'en for a moment cease."

(St. Little Thérèse)

The Holy Spirit never speaks in vain. The silent soul listens and always hears His Voice.

Why All Men Should Practice Religion

Photo:  German Konrad Adenauer praying on election day, 1953.
Location:  Heppenheim, Germany
Photographer:  Ralph Crane

Index

There are many people in this world who, though they practice religion to some extent, are not much concerned whether the religion they practice is the true religion or not. There are others who have strayed so far from the notion of religion or the practice of religion that they will ask: "Why should I embrace any particular faith or practice any religion? What's the good of it? Why is it necessary?" In answering these questions I shall be forced to make this chapter a little longer than those preceding.

"The proper study of man," says the great Grecian philosopher Aristotle, "is man." In other words after the study of God Himself, there is no study so useful, so important as the study of man. It is useful to try to understand the nature of trees, of rocks, of animals and of the forces of nature, but it is more useful and far more necessary for man to understand man himself.  And in the study of man there is no consideration more profitable than the study of man's eternal destiny. From the beginning of the world, nothing has occupied man's attention more than this. Where did I come from? Why am I here on this earth? Whither am I going? These three questions have troubled the minds of men since the very beginning of human history. Taken together they form the mighty problem of what is called the riddle of existence. That riddle must be solved if man's life upon this earth is to have a solid, worthwhile purpose, if man's religion is to be reasonable.

Let us suppose that instead of the millions of men that live upon earth, there were but one. Suppose that that one, upon being ushered into existence, should as it were, find himself in a small rowboat in the middle of a vast ocean with nothing but water all around him stretching to the horizon. The rowboat seems to be headed in some direction, but East, West, North or South, the rower knows not. If you were that man, sooner or later, probably sooner, you would ask yourself these questions:  from what port did I set out? Why am I traveling at all? To what port am I headed? If you could give yourself no answer, you would most likely quit rowing. If I do not know for what port, if any, I am headed, why row? If I don't know, why I am rowing, why row? The oars seem to have been given to me for a purpose the boat seems to be made to carry me somewhere: the water itself seems to have been intended to sustain the boat.  But if with all this I am going nowhere in particular, I am embarked upon a ridiculous journey.  

Yet that is your position and the position of every man that ever lived upon this earth. Out of the womb of eternity when you existed not, you came and, with the speed of the fastest airplane that ever winged its way across the sky, you are traveling forward toward another eternity. What am I supposed to do while I am on this momentous journey? Is the journey after all worth taking seriously? Should I try to direct my way or should I just let myself drift? Storms will come in this journey through life as they would come to the rower upon the ocean. Storms will come in the shape of trials and disappointments, sickness, and, at times, the loss of fortune and friends and in the end, death. If there is no purpose in life other than to live, why should I try to bear up under such disappointments and trials? Why should I endeavor to rein in my passions or curb my selfish interests?  Or is there possibly a port toward which I am headed, for which it would be worth while steering a straight course and suffering the buffets of this life to reach?

There is such a port. Its existence gives awful significance to this life. The rower was given a pair of oars to row with;  you were given your reason to find out the direction in which you should steer your boat, the port toward which you should tend, in other words to know the grand purpose of life.  For unless you were put here by God, to live a short time on probation, to prove yourself amid the trials and temptations of this life as worthy of the life to come, then your lot is sand indeed. All through this life your heart will be yearning for happiness. You will go through life so wistfully enjoying a bit of it here, a bit of it there.  In the end your heart will still be yearning. It will never be completely satisfied. This is the testimony of every man that ever lived. Solomon, supposed to be the wisest and the richest of the kings of earth, surrounded with all the honors and the pleasures of life, in the end testified that it was all in vain. "Vanity of vanities," he exclaimed, "and all is vanity." Useless, worthless, dissatisfying, empty.

And at the moment of death, you will be unwilling to die. You will want more life. Your whole being will be crying out for eternal life. Yet you with your human heart, you wonderful intellect, your magnificent will, your marvelous imagination, you, the masterpiece of creation will be the greatest disappointment, the saddest wreck, the one great blunder in all the universe unless you honestly admit what your reason tells you: I was created by God, I am destined for God, and only the possession of God can one day fill my heart to overflowing with all happiness. Riches and honors and earthly enjoyments all pass away. Only God and eternal life remain forever. The great St. Augustine was a man who in his life tasted most of the pleasures that this life affords. In the end however like Solomon, he turns away from them with emptiness in his heart, exclaiming: "Thou has made me for Thyself, O Lord, and my heart will not rest unless it rest in Thee."

This then is the sole purpose of life, so to live as to prove ourselves worthy of God. It answers the question what is the good of religion, why it is necessary for me to embrace any religion and to enter any church. God creates the soul of each man who enters this world.  He infuses that soul into the body. Because of that soul man becomes a human personality with the dignity of having been created by the hand of God and in God's own image. Man then possesses this dignity but he also possesses a destiny equal to his dignity. That destiny is one day to possess God and to live happily with God throughout all eternity. But to merit eternal life with God, man must fulfill certain conditions. Man in this life then is on a short probation. For God intends that man shall obtain his salvation by living up to God's commandments with the divine assistance. This present life is but a sojourn upon earth. We have not here a lasting dwelling place, for heaven is man's true home. The great purpose of life then, and the great good and necessity of worshipping God in the true religion is to achieve the salvation of one's immortal soul. This is the fundamental reason for entering the Catholic Church, the only Church established by Jesus Christ. Why then should you be concerned about religion? Why?  Because God demands it of you and because the salvation of your immortal soul is at stake. The greatest evil that can ever befall you is the loss of your immortal soul. The late World War, or a war a hundred times more destructive, is of no consequence compared to the loss of your soul.  "What doth it profit a man," says Holy Writ, "if he gain the whole world, yet suffer the loss of his soul."

Month of Mary - !st Day

The Story:

St. Philip Neri distinguished himself by his love of Mary. In his earliest childhood not a day passed, on which he did not honor her by some pious practice or some work of mortification. He called her his dear Mother, his beloved patroness, his joy. When speaking of her his face became radiant with joy, and all his hearers felt their zeal growing by his speech. Never did he preach or instruct without mentioning the sweet name of Mary. In all his actions he remembered her; in all his words he praised her. Therefore he was blessed by his heavenly Mother with special benefits and graces, and was favored with an apparition of her. The most precious of the graces he received through her intercession was, as he said, his profound adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist. He lived and died―a faithful servant of Mary.

Prayer:

O Mother of fair love! show me thy glory and fill me with admiration to thee―the most beautiful work of thy and my Creator. Replenish me with love to thee who didst give me Jesus―the fruit of the love of God, who still gives me Jesus, and teach me to know Him, to love Him, thus to gain His mercy. Look with pleasure upon the small tokens of my love and obtain by thy intercession for me a holy spirit that I may always honor thee and pray to thee in spirit and in truth. Amen.

Pray Your Rosary Every Day

The True Reason for Entering The Church

Photo:  Among The Stones
Jesuit novices reading their breviaries during contemplative prayer amidst the tombstones of Jesuit priests at Los Gatos Novitiate. 
Location:  San Jose, California, 1953
Photographer:  Margaret Bourke-White

Index

The fundamental reason then why one should enter the Catholic Church is that it is the Church established by Jesus Christ, in which he intended that all men work out the salvation of the soul entrusted to them. Of course there are many reasons why one might be attracted to the Church, reasons that sometimes impel men to enter the Church. One might be attracted by the splendor and beauty of Catholic worship, by the dignity and learning of her priests, by the staunch way in which the Church upholds the sacredness of the married state or because at times one's friends are Catholics or one's husband or wife. But while all of these are things that might attract us toward the Church, one's motive in entering the Church should be more substantial than the mere beauty of Catholic worship or the fact that my friend or my wife or husband is a Catholic.  

Nor should a true conversion ever mean "hitting the sawdust trail" as it is sometimes vulgarly termed. For conversion to God means much more than the sole declaration that you accept Christ after listening to a sermon or two. An emotional sermon that stirs up an emotional response is hardly sufficient ground for the full acceptance of all that Christianity implies. It is true that emotions have their place in religion, but no one should rely on them alone either in his acceptance of religion or in his religious life afterwards. One should enter the Catholic Church after reasonable inquiry into her doctrines, convinced that this is the Church Christ Himself founded, and hence there is a solemn obligation in conscience binding one to enter.

 

The salvation of one's immortal soul is the most important business man has to transact in this life.

God demands of us that we take it seriously. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God," Christ says to us. On the other hand just as no one should enter the Church unless from solid motives, so no one should remain in a Church unless he is sure that it is the Church established by Christ, and in which Christ meant him to work out the salvation of his soul. To embrace the Catholic faith then a certain amount of reasonable reflection is always necessary, a knowledge of her doctrines and an honest inquiry into her claims of being the One Church divinely instituted by the Savior of mankind.