Nov. 21 - Memorial of Mary's Presentation

  • Thread starter Thread starter MariaChristi
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MariaChristi

Guest
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

What a sweet Saturday! It is always “Mary’s Day” on Saturdays for me, but today as I look at this painting by Titian, my heart is stirred by the sweetness of “little Mary” ascending the steps of the Temple. The Priest looks almost overpowering at the top of the steps and makes her look even smaller but there is a “quiet and humble majesty” as she extends her hand and arm almost as if in awe of the Lord’s temple as she knows it to be His House of Prayer.

May each of us today enter the temple of our own hearts as His little child, in awe and in growing faith, hope and above all charity. May we grow, by the power of His Holy Spirit into the holiness to which we are called, as our Mother Mary did. By His Grace may each of our hearts, be in Truth, His temple – His “little house of Prayer” as was little Mary…

Holy Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
 
Thank you Maria Christi for sharing yet another insightful reflection on Maty and her Role in the Church and in our lives.

May God bless you and yours abundantly and forever! 🙂
 
Dear MariaChristi, thank you for sharing this. Never heard of this memorial before or seen the painting yet together with the insightful description you’ve used to link also to the painting to describe Mary is perfectly apt. 🙂
 
What a beautiful painting by Titian! I have never seen this before. Thank you for sharing the painting and this reflection on Mary.
 
Richard_White said:
Thank you Maria Christi for sharing yet another insightful reflection on Mary and her Role in the Church and in our lives.

May God bless you and yours abundantly and forever! 🙂
Click to expand...
Dear Richard,

Thanks so much for your reply. Mary’s role in the Mystery of the Church, The Body of Christ, is something I continue to learn by God’s Grace. I’ve been especially helped by the Legion of Mary’s founder Servant of God Frank Duff as he was influenced by St. Louis de Montfort. I’ve begun a thread in the Apologetics section of CAF, which you may be interested in reading. SEE HERE

It is really important for us as Catholics to share the richness, the fullness of our faith. I started the thead in the “Spirituality” area but it was moved to “Apologetics” perhaps because the thread’s title is: “A helpful book for “Apologetics” and much more…” I wanted to connect personal spirituality with any apologetics we may attempt; we simple cannot give what we do not have ourselves. If you have time this weekend, I’d be grateful for any comment you might have on that thread as well. Thanks again.
 
MariaChristi said:
Dear Richard,

Thanks so much for your reply. Mary’s role in the Mystery of the Church, The Body of Christ, is something I continue to learn by God’s Grace. I’ve been especially helped by the Legion of Mary’s founder Servant of God Frank Duff as he was influenced by St. Louis de Montfort. I’ve begun a thread in the Apologetics section of CAF, which you may be interested in reading. SEE HERE

It is really important for us as Catholics to share the richness, the fullness of our faith. I started the thead in the “Spirituality” area but it was moved to “Apologetics” perhaps because the thread’s title is: “A helpful book for “Apologetics” and much more…” I wanted to connect personal spirituality with any apologetics we may attempt; we simple cannot give what we do not have ourselves. If you have time this weekend, I’d be grateful for any comment you might have on that thread as well. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Mary’s role in the Mystery of the Church is so important for all of us to realize. Thank you for sharing what you have learned. We are all enlightened.
 
what is the title of the book you recommend in the link? did I miss it?
 
7_Sorrows said:
what is the title of the book you recommend in the link? did I miss it?
Click to expand...
Dear 7Sorrows,

Thanks for asking. You didn’t miss it. The title is: “A helpful book for Apologetics and much more…”

I wanted people to look at the thread without knowing the title of the book. 🙂 When you read the original post, you may guess why. The other two posts I made to the same thread were titled "Chapter One - “Who Am I?” and the one I posted this morning was titled, “…the true face of the Catholic Church”.

The book was written by a layman whose cause has been introduced in Rome and it can be read by clergy, religious, and laity for a deeper appreciation of our Catholic Faith, especially the mystery of the Church, the Body of Christ and the place of Mary in this Mystery. Are you going to look for the thread in Apologetics? I hope so. If you go to my profile page and look at the threads I’ve begun, you may find it more easily. Thanks for your love of Jesus and our Mother Mary, which prompted you to ask about the book; and
thanks also for reading and replying to this thread as well.
 
skippykerrie said:
Beautiful, thank you for sharing this. God Bless xx
Click to expand...
Dear skippykerrie,

It is such a beautiful painting! Mary’s pure reflection of God’s holiness has inspired much of Sacred Art. I’m happy that you appreciated this lovely depiction of Mary as a child – we don’t see her pictured as a child too often, but how wise the Church is in giving us this “Memorial” to ponder. For those unfamiliar with the term “Memorial”: In the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, a memorial is a lower-ranked feast day in honour of a saint, the dedication of a church, or a mystery of religion.

God bless you too and thanks for responding to this thread. 🙂
 
MariaChristi said:
Dear 7Sorrows,

Thanks for asking. You didn’t miss it. The title is: “A helpful book for Apologetics and much more…”

I wanted people to look at the thread without knowing the title of the book. 🙂 When you read the original post, you may guess why. The other two posts I made to the same thread were titled "Chapter One - “Who Am I?” and the one I posted this morning was titled, “…the true face of the Catholic Church”.

The book was written by a layman whose cause has been introduced in Rome and it can be read by clergy, religious, and laity for a deeper appreciation of our Catholic Faith, especially the mystery of the Church, the Body of Christ and the place of Mary in this Mystery. Are you going to look for the thread in Apologetics? I hope so. If you go to my profile page and look at the threads I’ve begun, you may find it more easily. Thanks for your love of Jesus and our Mother Mary, which prompted you to ask about the book; and
thanks also for reading and replying to this thread as well.
Click to expand...
PDF of Handbook of the Legion of Mary: legionofmarytidewater.com/docs/hb05.pdf
 
friardchips said:
Dear MariaChristi, thank you for sharing this. Never heard of this memorial before or seen the painting yet together with the insightful description you’ve used to link also to the painting to describe Mary is perfectly apt. 🙂
Click to expand...
Dear fiardchips,

I’m not sure when I became aware of this memorial but I did some research to see how long it has been celebrated in the Church.

Mary’s presentation was celebrated in Jerusalem in the sixth century. A church was built there in honor of this mystery, but it does appear in the West in the 11th century. It is on many of our Catholic calendars for Nov. 21, although it is considered a minor feast in today’s liturgy.

Titian was the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. During his long career, he experimented with many different styles of painting which embody the development of art during his epoch. I found this painting simply by searching on google for a picture of Mary’s Presentation and this was my favorite among those I found. Thanks for your reply. 🙂
 
Vico said:
PDF of Handbook…
Click to expand...
Dear Vico,

I wonder if you read my reply to 7 Sorrows when she asked about the link. I purposely left out the word “Handbook” in the link. Here is the link which I gave because it is the thread title: A helpful book for “Apologetics” and much more… Another link to the PDF file is within the thread.

If you follow my link to the actual thread in the Apologetics Forum, hopefully you’ll find much more 🙂
 
Vico said:
Icon of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple

http://www.pravmir.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/vvedenie.jpg
Click to expand...
Dear Vico,

Thanks for the icon. Did your source give any details on the imagery? It looks as if the image of Mary is repeated (to the left, looking at the icon); she is seated and being visited by an angel who is giving her something. – I can imagine some possible symbolism in that – but I’m wondering if the iconographer wrote anything about his own interpretation of this icon. I wish I understood Greek also. Do you know what the Greek letters indicate? I would guess the letters over the figure of Mary would be her name and over St. Joachim and St. Anne I would guess their names as well. The three figures behind Mary and her parents would seem to be angels carrying candles-- possible symbols of light? I’d really like to know more if you have a link to any details on this particular icon.

Icons are often called “windows into heaven” because they are said to give the viewer a glimpse of the eternal realm. They are always beautiful to me. Of all the icons from the Eastern Church which I have seen, I think my favorite is Our Lady of Tenderness or it is also called Our Lady of Vladimir. For more on this icon see HERE
 
MariaChristi said:
Dear 7Sorrows,

Thanks for asking. You didn’t miss it. The title is: “A helpful book for Apologetics and much more…”

I wanted people to look at the thread without knowing the title of the book. 🙂 When you read the original post, you may guess why. The other two posts I made to the same thread were titled "Chapter One - “Who Am I?” and the one I posted this morning was titled, “…the true face of the Catholic Church”.

The book was written by a layman whose cause has been introduced in Rome and it can be read by clergy, religious, and laity for a deeper appreciation of our Catholic Faith, especially the mystery of the Church, the Body of Christ and the place of Mary in this Mystery. Are you going to look for the thread in Apologetics? I hope so. If you go to my profile page and look at the threads I’ve begun, you may find it more easily. Thanks for your love of Jesus and our Mother Mary, which prompted you to ask about the book; and
thanks also for reading and replying to this thread as well.
Click to expand...
Thank you MariaChristi. I will look for those threads.
 
MariaChristi said:
Dear Vico,

Thanks for the icon. Did your source give any details on the imagery? It looks as if the image of Mary is repeated (to the left, looking at the icon); she is seated and being visited by an angel who is giving her something. – I can imagine some possible symbolism in that – but I’m wondering if the iconographer wrote anything about his own interpretation of this icon. I wish I understood Greek also. Do you know what the Greek letters indicate? I would guess the letters over the figure of Mary would be her name and over St. Joachim and St. Anne I would guess their names as well. The three figures behind Mary and her parents would seem to be angels carrying candles-- possible symbols of light? I’d really like to know more if you have a link to any details on this particular icon.

Icons are often called “windows into heaven” because they are said to give the viewer a glimpse of the eternal realm. They are always beautiful to me. Of all the icons from the Eastern Church which I have seen, I think my favorite is Our Lady of Tenderness or it is also called Our Lady of Vladimir. For more on this icon see HERE
Click to expand...
Icons show multiple events together. It the first icon the letters are Old Church Slavonic for the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple. The left is the Annunciation and the name abbreviations of the Virgin Mary and Angel Gabriel are shown. Bottom is the Presentation, The Virgin Mary is small and her parents Joachim and Anna are shown behind her and their names above.

Greek Version:
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Vico said:
Icons show multiple events together. It the first icon the letters are Old Church Slavonic for the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple. The left is the Annunciation and the name abbreviations of the Virgin Mary and Angel Gabriel are shown. Bottom is the Presentation, The Virgin Mary is small and her parents Joachim and Anna are shown behind her and their names above.

Greek Version:
https://iconreader.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/byzantine_15c.jpg
Click to expand...
Many thanks, Vico. I really appreciate your taking the time to post a bit more on the icon. It helps to ponder the mystery further. 🙂 Blessed Feast of Christ the King today!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top