Oct 11 - "Feast of the Maternity of Mary"

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today is one of those “special days” when some of us renew our Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, as described by St. Louis de Montfort in his treatise on “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin”

As I mentioned in another thread, this is an “old feast” which is not on the current liturgical calendar, since the newer “Feast of the Solemnity of the Mother of God” is now celebrated on Jan. 1

Pondering the Great Mystery of God’s Beautiful Plan for all of us, Mary is so very important, as the Church teaches in the Catechism paragraph 971:

II. DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

971 “All generations will call me blessed”: “The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.” The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of ‘Mother of God,’ to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs… This very special devotion … differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration." The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an “epitome of the whole Gospel,” express this devotion to the Virgin Mary. (-- I’ve put some words in bold to emphasize their significance.)

Today especially may each Catholic remember Jesus’ words from the Cross:

“Behold your Mother”

May we do as the beloved disciple John did in hearing and obeying those words he heard on Calvary - may we take her into our homes and into our lives!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Francis,

Thanks for “stopping by” to like this thread. I was grateful to renew my total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, using the Act of Consecration of St. Louis de Montfort, yesterday. Also took the opportunity to read some paragraphs in his treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin

Reading the whole of Chap. 6 - Wonderful Effects of This Devotion, I was blessed by all the paragraphs, 213 through 225. Perhaps you and others may be blessed as I was in reading this excerpt from paragraph 225:

…Lastly, you never think of Mary without Mary thinking of God for you. You never praise or honour Mary without Mary joining you in praising and honouring God. Mary is entirely relative to God. Indeed I would say that she was relative only to God, because she exists uniquely in reference to him.

She is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God. If you say “Mary” she says “God”. When St. Elizabeth praised Mary calling her blessed because she had believed, Mary, the faithful echo of God, responded with her canticle, “My soul glorifies the Lord.” What Mary did on that day, she does every day. When we praise her, when we love and honour her, when we present anything to her, then God is praised, honoured and loved and receives our gift through Mary and in Mary. --I put into bold, words I want to emphasize.

It is painful to see only a few threads regarding Mary our Mother on the Forum – especially at this time in our history when we are in such need of her intercession.

Words of Pope St. John Paul II ring truer today than when he first uttered them in 1982:

…Where the Mother is, there too is the Son. When one moves away from the Mother, sooner or later he ends up keeping distant from the Son as well. It is no wonder that today, in various sectors of secularised society, we note a widespread crisis of faith in God, preceded by a drop in devotion to the Virgin Mother. --My emphasis given to words in bold.

Mary, Mother and Model for the Church, pray for us.

 

[Lee1]

Hail Mary mother of God, Queen of Angels, Queen of Heaven, Queen of the Universe. Amen.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Lee,

Thanks so much for your reply and your loving attention to our Mother. Yesterday, I had thought of posting a hymn to her but ran out of time…it turned out to be a very “busy” day with unexpected needs to be met, by God’s Grace.

Here is the hymn, entitled “Mother of Christ”:

Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ,
What shall I ask of thee?
I do not sigh for the wealth of earth,
For the joys that fade and flee.
But Mother of Christ,
Mother of Christ this do I long to see,
The bliss untold which thine arms enfold,
The treasure upon thy knee.

Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ,
He was all in all to thee,
In bethlehem’s cave,
In nazareth’s home, in the hamlets of galilee.
So, Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ,
He will not say nay to thee.
When he lifts His face to thy sweet embrace speak to him, Mother, of me.

Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ,
I toss on a stormy sea.
O, lift thy child as a beacon light to the port where I fain would be.
And Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ,
This do I ask of thee when the voyage is o’oer,
Oh, stand on the shore and show Him at last to me.

 

[Lee1]

That’s lovely, thank you

 

[Greenfields]

Thank you MariaChristi I will share that with my mum.

 

[MariaChristi]

Happy to share this Hymn with you Lee, and perhaps it will touch hearts and memories of others others who may read it – without letting us know. Had I not received your reply I may have forgotten to post it! So thank you as well.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Greenfields,

Yes, please share it with your dear mum!!! She may remember it from her youth as I did! I had never learned the last two stanzas of the hymn, or else I had forgotten them over the years, but I was grateful to read the additional two stanzas of the hymn when I looked it up on the internet this morning.

Technology is really a “mixed” blessing isn’t it? It can help or hurt us, depending on our use of it. May God give us Supernatural Wisdom that we may not be “worldly minded” for though we are in this world, we must battle against the “spirit of the world” which is opposed to the Spirit of God. Mary our Mother is given to us as both Mother and Model.

Pope Francis has again urged the Church to pray the daily Rosary followed by the two prayers to our Lady and to St. Michael the Archangel in particular:

We fly to thy protection, O holy Mother of God, despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.

St. Michael the Archangel defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Thanks again for your reply — it is always good to hear from you.