June 6 - First Saturday in June - "Mary's Day"

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Sometime ago, it seemed to me that not only “First Saturdays” were “special days of Reparation to Mary” for me but by God’s Grace, every Saturday hence forth would be and so they are. Today since we do have public Masses allowed in our parish, I am grateful to be going to Mass and receiving Holy Communion, remembering Jesus’ and Mary’s words to Sister Lucia of Fatima:

Lucia was a postulant in the Convent of St. Dorothy in Pontevedra, Spain when she had the apparition of our Blessed Mother. She was standing over a cloud of light with the Child Jesus at her side. The Blessed Virgin put one hand on Lucia’s shoulder, while her other hand sustained her Immaculate Heart that was surrounded with thorns. The Child Jesus said: "Have compassion on the Heart of your Blessed Mother. It is surrounded with thorns that ungrateful men pierce each moment, and there is no one that is willing to offer an act of reparation to take the thorns away."

Our Lady immediately said to Lucia: "Look, my daughter. My Heart is surrounded with thorns that ungrateful men pierce unceasingly with their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console me and announce that for all those, who for five consecutive first Saturdays, confess, receive Holy Communion, pray the Holy Rosary and accompany me for 15 minutes by meditating the mysteries of the Holy Rosary with the intention to do reparation, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with the graces needed for salvation."

Today’s Mass readings help us to see how much the world needs Jesus through Mary. St. Paul wrote:

… the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine
but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity,
will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth
and will be diverted to myths.
But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances;
put up with hardship;…( from 2 Tm 4:1-8)

And from today’s Gospel:

In the course of his teaching Jesus said,
“Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
seats of honor in synagogues,
and places of honor at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext,
recite lengthy prayers.
They will receive a very severe condemnation.” (from Mk 12:38-44)

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your Faithful. Kindle in us the Fire of Your Love. Jesus, we trust in You. Mary Mother of the Church please pray with us and for us. St. Joseph as you protected Mary and the Child Jesus, so now protect the Church.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I too am glad for the resumption of First Saturday and First Friday Masses.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Tis_Bearself,

Thanks for your “heart” and for this reply. It was good to see more persons at Mass today than yesterday, and I wonder if that is because some people’s work schedules did not allow them to participate in Mass yesterday. Hopefully they were able to offer that sacrifice and other sacrifices on the First Friday in Reparation to the Sacred Heart.

As we were driving to Mass, this morning, my husband and I were talking about the sad decrease in devotion to Mary especially among many Catholics who seem to either never have been taught to honor Mary or simply have heard so much from others on the false notion of “worshiping Mary” that they are beginning to believe that falsity rather than the Truth the Church has taught and practiced for centuries.

By God’s Grace, let us offer Reparation for the five reasons Jesus spoke of to Sister Lucia:

WHY FIVE SATURDAYS?

It is sometimes asked why Our Lady asked for Communions of reparation on five first Saturdays, instead of some other number. Our Blessed Lord answered that question when He appeared to Sr. Lucia May 29, 1930. He explained that it was because of five kinds of offenses and blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, namely: blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception, against her perpetual virginity, against the divine and spiritual maternity of Mary, blasphemies involving the rejection and dishonoring of her images, and the neglect of implanting in the hearts of children a knowledge and love of this Immaculate Mother.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I am happy to offer reparation. The number of people who post on this forum having a “Mary problem” makes me rather sad.

However, among normal Catholics, if anything I see more devotion to the Blessed Mother now than when I was young in the 1970s. For example, it is quite normal to have May crownings (when there isn’t a pandemic/ church closure of course) and October rosary devotions, and many priests will say a Mary prayer at some point after Mass or during announcement time, etc. The two Catholic schools here are teaching Marian devotion to the children, I have seen this first hand when I happened to attend a school Mass. Perhaps it is just the area I live in which is heavily Italian and you know how Italian Catholics are about their mothers including the Blessed Mother

We also have the priests like Fr. Heilman who seems to be stepping into the shoes of Fr. Peyton with the number of rosaries he has his (very large) prayer group saying all the time. And the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has run a huge Zoom rosary group each evening since March, although I think now it is weekdays only because they always include a priest and the priests now have to say Masses again over the weekends so they are not as available.

I hope these devotions console the heart of our Blessed Mother and hope to spread the devotions to her.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Tis_Bearself,

The neglect and outright blasphemies which Jesus listed for Sister Luica have been going on all over the world for some time, now, and the sadness of those who love our Mother Mary truly, continues to grow deeper.

Perhaps because I go back further than you, and many others on the Forum, I remember a childhood filled with Marian devotion from Catholic Elementary School through Catholic High School, College and Catholic Graduate school. May crownings were in every classroom and processions went through the neighborhood.

As an adult I taught in a Catholic school complex where both Grade School and High School were on the sam campus and we had a procession from the Grade School where a child crowned the statue of Infant Mary in St. Anne’s Arms to the Hight School where a H.S. student crowned a statue of Our Lady of Victory. Beautiful memories!

The saddest blasphemy in the present culture is the 5th of the blasphemies, Jesus explained to Sister Lucia of Fatima: "… blasphemies involving the rejection and dishonoring of her images, and the neglect of implanting in the hearts of children a knowledge and love of this Immaculate Mother.

Those who have a “problem with Mary” as you put it, probably had parents or teachers or priests who showed them an example of neglect or ignorance – children are great “imitators”. They grow up with many impressions imbedded. I am grateful to my Mother for including “the name Mary” in both my Baptismal Name and that of my older sister. Two other baby girls died at birth but my brother had a sweet devotion to Mary ( he was named after my Dad and took the name “Joseph” for his Confirmation name.) I remember crowning a statue of Mary in our home!

It is true that some ethnic parishes do more perhaps to keep devotions but every family, regardless of where their roots began, needs to “tend the garden”. Please, by God’s Grace, let us all pray today in Reparation to our Mother who has suffered and still suffers so much. Let us keep her company – praying our Rosary with even greater attention and devotion.

Thanks again, for your reply, Tis_Bearself.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Stephie,

Thanks once more for your Faith-full and Loving “heart”. Did I tell you that I made a tiny crown that “fit” a small statue of Our Lady of Grace in our home? We have a few statues but I like this one especially since it was given to me by a third grade boy, years ago along with a matching size statue of St. Joseph with Baby Jesus in his arms.

My husband put a picture of the Sacred Heart on our Mantle in the Living room and I had the two little statues on the side of the picture. It is a really Strong but Gentle-looking Jesus pointing to His Heart. I had some trouble trying to make Mary’s crown and so I prayed to Jesus and Joseph to help me and finally was able to get it to fit her head. Next step was to move her closer to Jesus’ Heart and have Joseph and the Baby Jesus facing her. I really like it!

 

[hazcompat]

Mary, Mother of God’s Word and Temple of the Trinity​

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

The Blessed Virgin, temple of the Holy Trinity, radiates God’s light. Daughter of the Father, source of life, Mary is not a goddess but a creature loved and redeemed by God. Mother of the Word made flesh, image of the Father, Mary manifests to the world the infinite richness of the knowledge of God revealed by Jesus.

The Blessed Virgin was that blank page upon which God wrote the history of salvation. The white page evokes Mary’s availability and her absence of sin. Through Mary, God made Himself visible to our eyes. The Life of God was manifested in Jesus. Whoever sees Jesus sees the Father. Just as a narrative makes us see the story told as if it were unfolding before our eyes. Through the Holy Spirit, the Word of God makes the face of Christ visible in the light of the faith: “Jesus Christ is the human face of God and the divine face of man.”

Far from being a possessive mother, Mary always leads to Jesus as she did at the wedding at Cana: “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5). Spouse of the Holy Spirit, God’s gift to us that makes the Church grow, Mary contributes through her intercession to the growth of the faith and of the Body of Christ, the Church.

Mary’s divine motherhood does not stop at the Nativity. It unfolds until Calvary when Jesus gives her as spiritual mother to John, the beloved disciple who represents the Church, and at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descends upon the apostles praying in the Upper Room and upon a multitude of believers gathered in Jerusalem.

Glorified in body and soul, the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, continues to work alongside her Son for the growth of the total Christ, the Head, Jesus, and the members, who are the baptized and those who believe in him. French bishop and theologian Bossuet defined the Church as “Christ extended and communicated.”

Hence the role of the Blessed Virgin in evangelization. Many religious missionary congregations have chosen the patronage of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God’s Word. Of about 400 female congregations of apostolic life, 130 have a Marian name. No one has loved the Word made flesh as much as Mary. No one has welcomed the Word of God with as much faith and love as Mary.

Adapted from: Fr. Manuel Rivero O.P

Cathedral of Saint-Denis (Reunion Island)

Read more on mariedenazareth.com:​

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among 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.

 

[petra22]

My sister was on lock-down for the Coronavirus at her independent living compound but she told me she decided to have her own May crowning for Mother Mary so she went and found some beautiful flowers… So did my Sister-in-Law in Florida! And I have a pewter statue of the holy family that I made a little crown of gold and green beads for the Blessed Mother, I keep them on her all the time except for St. Joseph’s birthday, then she shares with him!!!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear hazcompat,

Thanks much for the lovely picture and tribute to Mary our Mother and her relationship to the Holy Trinity (adapted from Fr. ManuelRivero, O.P.). It is early in the morning of Trinity Sunday as I write this, after re-reading an article HERE on “Mary and the Holy Trinity”

Let us praise the Lord as Mary did today and always! Thanks again.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Petra,

Thanks so much for sharing the lovely ways in which you and your sister and your sister-in-law have all shown our Mother such love. How pleased Jesus and Mary are, when we sincerely offer little things with great love!