JAN 1 - Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God

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Amiciel said:
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord - continued:

And the Virgin Mary responds with her 'fiat’. “She offers herself - this is the movement of her grace, the movement inspired by the Holy Spirit already dwelling in her …” (MMTQ, p. 35) And, as she has faithfully done during her whole life, she trustingly cooperates with the grace being offered by God!

“And **the Holy Spirit descends upon the Virgin Mary **in order to prepare her soul for the work that He is about to accomplish, a work in which the Virgin is called to cooperate.” (MMTQ, p. 35.)

“…the power of God … with the Virgin Mary’s collaboration, her Fiat, brings abut the incarnation of the Word of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity … **At this moment, the work of building the humanity of Christ begins. But greater still than that is … the union of the divinity with the humanity of Christ Jesus taken from the Virgin Mary. ** This union forms the Incarnate Word, Jesus … the same Jesus whom we know. This is the mystery that is fulfilled in the Annunciation.” (MMTQ, p. 36.)

As we celebrate the feast of the Annunciation, let us greet the Blessed Virgin for having been given the dignity and role of Mother of God. Let us thank her for her awesome cooperation with every grace the Lord willed to give her! It was her faithful cooperation with the Lord’s will that allowed her Divine Maternity to be a reality, followed by her maternity of grace, whereby we all become her children in the order of grace.

“She has given us Jesus; she has fashioned the humanity of Jesus, the Word Incarnate. Now she acts and works to build … the Mystical body of Christ.”(MMTQ, p.36.)

Today, “Let us ask for the grace to give her our constant and total filial trust. If we entrust to her our spiritual life, its growth will be faster and smoother.” (MMTQ, p. 23.)

What lessons can we draw from the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord?
(Pls read on for continuation of thought.)

Reference: MMTQ = More Mother than Queen, by Venerable Fr. Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus, OCD.
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Amiciel said:
The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord - continued:

What lessons can we draw from the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord?
  1. St. Augustine observes that the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived the Word in her heart even before she conceived the Word in her womb. It was through her faithful response to every offer of grace by the Lord which allowed her to be fruitful, enabling her to conceive the Word in her heart, which in turn, prepared her to conceive the Word in her womb.
We can start imitating Our Lady today. Be fruitful after her example, by cooperating with every grace the Lord offers us each moment. We can start by consciously conceiving the Word in our heart, and letting the process continue until we, too, are ready for the mission in life God has chosen for us - whatever it be at the different stages of our life.

Spiritual writers comment that the Virgin Mary’s 'fullness of grace was only a preparation for her maternity’. Our Lady accepted and treasured ALL the graces and opportunities for fruitfulness offered her by God through the ordinary demands of life as well as through the extraordinary. None was wasted; and so, she was always full of grace, and in the fullness of time, was ready to be the Mother of God.

What about ourselves? Baptism adorned and beautified our souls with Sanctifying Grace. Do we carelessly expose ourselves to losing it, or degrees of it, by giving way to fleeting pleasures? What about the actual graces that God constantly gives us each moment to help us remain faithful to Him? Are we even aware of them? Or are we too busy to notice? Do we use them - or do we waste them?

We know we can never be as faithful as our Blessed Mother was, to all the offers of grace we constantly receive from God; but we can surely try our level best to be faithful.
(Pls read on for continuation of thought.)
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Amiciel said:
What lessons can we draw from the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord? - continued:
  1. The Lord is almighty. He can do all things by Himself without depending on our cooperation to do His will. However, He wills to use our cooperation.
This was the case with the Incarnation. It was only after Mary gave her consent - her fiat - that God proceeded with His work of redemption to give the world a much-needed Saviour.

Likewise in our life, the Lord will not impose His will upon us to save us. He will however give us the grace, the light and the strength to cooperate with His will. If, like the Virgin Mary, we choose to trust in the Lord and give Him our fiat, then He can do wonders in the world with us as His instruments, and we can grow from grace to grace in our spiritual life. It is our untiring fiat that enables us to participate in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
(Pls read on for continuation of thought.)
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Amiciel said:
What lessons can we draw from the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord? - continued:
  1. The Archangel Gabriel greeted the Virgin Mary and said: 'The Lord is with you.’ (Lk 1:28). It expressed the reality of God’s indwelling within Mary’s soul.
In his book, A Biblical Walk Through the Mass, Ed Sri points out that the words ***‘The Lord be with you’ ***are words that were addressed to ‘biblical heroes’ to whom God assigned “a mission that stretched the individual beyond his ‘comfort zone’ and forced him to rely on God as never before…” (p. 24.)

To name a few of these ‘biblical heroes’: Recall Moses who felt inadequate to lead God’s people out of Egypt. God assured him ‘I will be with you’ (Exo 3:12; 4:12). Recall, too, **Joshua **who had been given the mission of leading God’s people into the Promised Land. To give him courage, he was assured that 'the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’ (Jos 1:5, 9). And now, we have Our Lady, who was chosen to become the Mother of the God-Man Jesus! The Archangel Gabriel assured her: ‘The Lord is with you’.

During the Holy Mass, these very words are addressed to us when we begin the Liturgy; and it is repeated throughout the Eucharistic Celebration. We are being assured, among other things, that if our life’s mission seems overwhelming, if we feel inadequate to handle the demands of our state in life, we are to take heart because we are not alone. Divine assistance is available because ‘the Lord is with us!’ And very shortly, we will encounter Him intimately in the Eucharist!
(To becontinued.)
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Amiciel said:
What lessons can we draw from the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord? - continued:
  1. Luke’s Gospel tells us that the Virgin Mary was troubled at the words of the angel. (Lk 1:29). She was disturbed at the praises being given to her. Why? Because truly humble souls are deeply aware of their weakness and insufficiency. They are aware that all glory belongs solely to God; aware, too, how dangerous flattery is to humility.
**Are these our sentiments, too? **Or do we sometimes exaggerate when we speak of ourselves to our advantage? Do we sometimes artfully praise ourselves? In our culture where praising self may be considered necessary if we are to go up our career ladder, we need to pray for guidance to find the happy balance of behaviour that will not endanger our spiritual life.
(Pls read on for continuation of thought.)
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Amiciel said:
What lessons can we draw from the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord? - continued:
  1. The foundation of a healthy spiritual life is humility. It was by the Virgin Mary’s humility that she was enriched by the extraordinary graces and virtues that prepared her for the role of Mother of God. It was her humility that attracted God to her.
“Why would God be so attracted to humility? Humility disposes us to the grace of God as does nothing else. Humility creates a space that God can inhabit with his self, healing and perfecting our self.” (MVM, p. 39.)

“Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household, says, 'perfect humility consists in constantly making oneself small, not for the sake of some personal need or benefit, but for the sake of love, to elevate others.’ It was that humility radiating in the soul of Mary that propelled God’s love from heaven in the form of an espousal.” (MVM, p. 40.)

“**All of this is meant to be an encouragement for us, **who, seeing how undeserving we are of God’s goodness, agonize because we have nothing to offer him but our own indigent nothingness. Monsignor Giussani consoles us: 'Approaching the Mystery requires only one thing: the awareness of our ineptitude, which is more than nothingness; of our basic incapacity and our continuous betrayal; of our culpable poverty; of our conniving incapacity; of our being nothing.’ Mary sings in her Magnificat, ‘[The Lord] has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden’ (Lk 1:48). This historical fact gives us confidence that God will look upon us similarly in our lowliness.” (MVM, p.41; emphasis added).
(Pls read on for continuation of thought.)
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Amiciel said:
What lessons can we draw from the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord? - continued:
  1. “Through the mystery of the Annunciation, 'God has placed, in the midst of barren, despairing mankind, a new beginning which is not a product of human history but a gift from above,’ Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger [now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI] wrote. It is a new beginning in human flesh, **for if Christ is not real in our lives in a fleshly way, then, Fr. Julian Carron explains, ‘*he becomes more and more something in our imagination. Remembrance is not enough; we need a presence made of flesh, historical, irreducible, that goes on seizing hold of me and drawing me on ***… Only someone who is happening now can draw along my whole life, my whole heart, all my love towards himself.’ The Annunciation is the inauguration of this new and permanent method by which God ordains to draw all people to himself.” (MVM, p.43.) (Emphasis added.)
“The Annunciation teaches us that, no matter how great may be our weakness, God asks only that we surrender to our heart’s desire for the Infinite and yield to the Infinite’s presence when he comes to meet us in the flesh. At the Annunciation, God asked Mary to be his mother. And at the crucifixion, he asked Mary to be a mother again, now in a new way: 'Behold, your son.’” (John 19:26) (MVM, p. 47.)

In obedience to the Lord’s command, let us accept the Virgin Mary as our Mother. She will help us live a fruitful life!

Through the following quote from St. Thomas of Villanova (+1555), we can see what a fiat can accoomplish:

“With a fiat, God created light, heaven, earth;
but with Mary’s fiat, God became Man.”
(Quoted in MVM, p.42.)

What will our 'fiat’ accomplish?
Reference: MVM = Mysteries of the Virgin Mary, by Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P.

O most loving Jesus,
I am all Thine and all I have are Thine,
through Mary, Thy most holy Mother. Amen.
(Short Form - Montfort Consecration.)
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May 13 - Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima

Collect (Opening Prayer):
“O God, who chose the Mother of your Son to be our Mother also,
grant us that, persevering in penance and prayer
for the salvation of the world,
we may further more effectively each day the reign of Christ.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.”

“The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in Portugal in 1917. The message of Fatima includes conversion of heart, repentance from sin, and dedication to the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially by praying the Rosary.” (Daily Roman Missal, MTF.)

For more information on Our Lady of Fatima and on Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, see links:
www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/O/ourladyoffatima.asp
www.ewtn.com/fatima/apparitions/BVM.htm
www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2017-05-13
 
grateful_child said:
June 8 - Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces, from CatholicCulture.org:

catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2016-06-08

"According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces. Pope Leo XIII declared in his Encyclical of September 22, 1891: “We may affirm that nothing, by the will of God, is given to us without Mary’s mediation, in such way that just as no one can approach the almighty Father but through His Son, likewise no one, so to speak, can approach Christ but through His Mother.”

Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces
Traditionally, today is the feast of Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces. All the graces which flow from the redemption of Jesus Christ are granted to the human family through the motherly intercession of Mary. Mary mediated Jesus Christ, the Author of all graces, to the world when she agreed to be the human mother of God made man (cf. Lk 1:38). And from the cross at Calvary (Jn 19:26) and as the final gift to humanity, Jesus gives Mary as a spiritual mother to us all: “Son, behold your mother” (cf. Jn 19:26). For this reason, Vatican II refers to Mary as a "mother to us in the order of grace " (Lumen Gentium, n. 62) and several twentieth century popes have officially taught the doctrine of Mary as Mediatrix of all graces, quoting the words of St Bernard: “It is the will of God that we obtain all favours through Mary.” The Mediatrix performs this task in intimate union with the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, with whom she began the drama of our Lord’s Redemption at the Annunciation (cf. Lk. 1:35).

Thirdly, Mary is our Advocate for people of God, in that she takes the petitions of her earthly children, especially in times of difficulties, and brings them through her maternal intercession before her Son and our Lord Jesus.

In the Old Testament, the Queen Mother brought the petitioned needs of the people of Israel to the throne of her son the king (cf. 1 Kings 2:19). Now Mary is the new Queen Mother and Advocate in the new Kingdom of her Son, who brings the petitioned needs of the people of God to the throne of her glorious Son, Christ the King, particularly in our present difficult times.

The universal mediation of the Mother of Jesus as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix of all graces, and Advocate for the people of God is already contained in the official and authoritative teachings of the Church’s Magisterium. Now, at the summit of the Marian era, what remains is the final proclamation by the Church of this final Marian doctrine as Christian dogma revealed by God."
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August 22, 2017 - Tuesday, The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Memorial):

Collect (Opening Prayer):
“O God, who made the Mother of your Son
to be our Mother and our Queen,
graciously grant that, sustained by her intercession,
we may attain in the heavenly kingdom
the glory promised to your children.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the HolySpirit,
one God, for ever and ever.”

Today’s Scripture readings and reflection:
usccb.org/bible/reflections/

Daily Holy Mass from the National Catholic Broadcasting Council, Canada:
dailytvmass.com/

“Instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1954, this feast commemorates the Blessed Virgin Mary’s participation in the glorious and universal Kingdom of God through her special role in Christ’s Redemption. Though not the source of grace, she is the channel through which all graces are received …” (Daily Roman Missal, MTF.)

For more on the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, see links:
www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/Q/queenshipofmary.asp
catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2017-08-22
 
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