Thanks again, dear Brother Pat,Dear sister MariahChristi,
…I’ve started reading some of Pope Leo XIII (13th) , whom I quoted briefly above. He talks about the world and Church in his time which is somewhat like the world and the Church in our time, saying that many Catholic are so “in name only”. But he goes on, emphasizing the Infinite Mercy of Jesus given through Mary:
4…The Eternal Son of God, about to take upon Him our nature for the saving and ennobling of man, and about to consummate thus a mystical union between Himself and all mankind, did not accomplish His design without adding there the free consent of the elect Mother, who represented in some sort all human kind… With equal truth may it be also affirmed that, by the will of God, Mary is the intermediary through whom is distributed unto us this immense treasure of mercies gathered by God, for mercy and truth were created by Jesus Christ.(6) Thus as no man goeth to the Father but by the Son, so no man goeth to Christ but by His Mother. How great are the goodness and mercy revealed in this design of God! What a correspondence with the frailty of man! We believe in the infinite goodness of the Most High, and we rejoice in it; we believe also in His justice and we fear it. We adore the beloved Saviour, lavish of His blood and of His life; we dread the inexorable Judge. Thus do those whose actions have disturbed their consciences need an intercessor mighty in favour with God, merciful enough not to reject the cause of the desperate, merciful enough to lift up again towards hope in the divine mercy the afflicted and the broken down. Mary is this glorious intermediary; she is the mighty Mother of the Almighty; but-what is still sweeter - she is gentle, extreme in tenderness, of a limitless loving-kindness. As such God gave her to us. Having chosen her for the Mother of His only begotten Son, He taught her all a mother’s feeling that breathes nothing but pardon and love. Such Christ desired she should be, for He consented to be subject to Mary and to obey her as a son a mother. Such He proclaimed her from the cross when he entrusted to her care and love the whole of the race of man in the person of His disciple John.
w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_22091891_octobri-mense.html
Thanks dear sister. Yes, it’s good to do what we can to absorb what the Church teaches about Jesus and Mary. Leo XIII is so right about Mary’s “extreme tenderness”, how she “breathes nothing but compassion and pardon”, and how she mediates between us in Christ. I thank God for His Mercy in her help. Here is Pope Leo XIII again in the same encyclical (Octobri Mense), touching on this and on how we need to pray for those who don’t know that Mary is their Mother in the order of grace:Thanks again, dear Brother Pat,
Yes, how beautiful is the Catholic Church of which Mary our Mother is the icon – the Mother and Model. The teachings of the Church are so beautiful and yet how few take time to read, these days, it seems. Thanks for your continued posting of excerpts such as this one to honor the Mother of God and help others to understand better God’s Great Love for Mary and her unique role in His Plan of salvation for us.
Thanks so much, brother Pat, for another excerpt from Pope Leo XIII. May more and more Catholics grow in appreciation for the treasures of our Faith. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen.Thanks dear sister. Yes, it’s good to do what we can to absorb what the Church teaches about Jesus and Mary. Leo XIII is so right about Mary’s “extreme tenderness”, how she “breathes nothing but compassion and pardon”, and how she mediates between us in Christ. I thank God for His Mercy in her help. Here is Pope Leo XIII again in the same encyclical (Octobri Mense), touching on this and on how we need to pray for those who don’t know that Mary is their Mother in the order of grace:
5. The design of this most dear mercy, realized by God in Mary and confirmed by the testament of Christ, was comprehended at the beginning, and accepted with the utmost joy by the Holy Apostles and the earliest believers. It was the counsel and teaching of the venerable Fathers of the Church. All the nations of the Christian age received it with one mind; and even when literature and tradition are silent there is a voice that breaks from every Christian breast and speaks with all eloquence. No other reason is needed than that of a Divine faith which, by a powerful and most pleasant impulse, persuades us towards Mary. Nothing is more natural, nothing more desirable than to seek a refuge in the protection and in the loyalty of her to whom we may confess our designs and our actions, our innocence and our repentance, our torments and our joys, our prayers and our desires – all our affairs. All men, moreover, are filled with the hope and confidence that petitions which might be received with less favor from the lips of unworthy men, God will accept when they are recommended by the most Holy Mother, and will grant with all favors. The truth and the sweetness of these thoughts bring to the soul an unspeakable comfort; but they inspire all the more compassion for those who, being without Divine faith, honor not Mary and have her not for their mother; for those also who, holding Christian faith, dare to accuse of excess the devotion to Mary, thereby sorely wounding filial piety.
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro1.htm
Yes, how much our Lord and Lady love each human person If only we will let them in, we can have great healing and peace–everything we’ve ever truly wanted, which is the Goodness of God Himself.Thanks so much, brother Pat, for another excerpt from Pope Leo XIII. May more and more Catholics grow in appreciation for the treasures of our Faith. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Dear Brother Pat,Yes, how much our Lord and Lady love each human person If only we will let them in, we can have great healing and peace–everything we’ve ever truly wanted, which is the Goodness of God Himself.
As Pope Leo 13 says, the truth and sweetness of these thoughts (about the way to Jesus through Mary) bring to the soul an unspeakable comfort. Pope Leo 13 especially encourage the praying of the Rosary (about which he wrote 11 Encyclicals!), which, he says, is especially pleasing to our Lady. He says that the Rosary protects us from error and strengthens our souls:
7. Now, among the several rites and manners of paying honor to the Blessed Mary, some are to be preferred, inasmuch as we know them to be most powerful and most pleasing to our Mother; and for this reason we specially mention by name and recommend the Rosary. The common language has given the name of corona to this manner of prayer, which recalls to our minds the great mysteries of Jesus and Mary united in joys, sorrows, and triumphs. The contemplation of these august mysteries, contemplated in their order, affords to faithful souls a wonderful confirmation of faith, protection against the disease of error, and increase of the strength of the soul. The soul and memory of him who thus prays, enlightened by faith, are drawn towards these mysteries by the sweetest devotion, are absorbed therein and are surprised before the work of the Redemption of mankind, achieved at such a price and by events so great…The prayer is composed of words proceeding from God Himself, from the Archangel Gabriel, and from the Church; full of praise and of high desires; and it is renewed and continued in an order at once fixed and various; its fruits are ever new and sweet.
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro1.htm
Dear sister MariChristi,Dear Brother Pat,
Thanks again for another excerpt to foster appreciation for Mary and her Rosary. Thanks for the link to the Papal Encyclicals website. I was amazed at what a prolific writer Pope Leo XIII was! God has so richly blessed His Church, yet as we read in the Liturgy of the Hours this morning: “Yet basely He has been treated by His degenerate children…”(Deuteronomy 32)
Dear Brother Pat,Dear sister MariChristi,
… Here is Pope Leo XIII again on the Rosary. Does this not sound like our times, in which we so badly need God’s Mercy, given through Mary?:
*For as the disastrous condition of the Church and of Society proved to Us the extreme necessity for signal aid from God, it was manifest to Us that that aid should be sought through the intercession of His Mother, and by the express means of the Rosary, which Christians have ever found to be of marvelous avail. *This indeed has been well proved since the very institution of the devotion, both in the vindication of Holy Faith against the furious attacks of heresy, and in restoring to honor the virtues… Likewise in Our age, afflicted with that tempest of various evils, it is a joy to Our soul to relate the beneficent influence of the Rosary. Notwithstanding all this, you yourselves, Venerable Brethren, behold with your own eyes the persistence – nay, the increase – of the reasons for renewing again this year Our summons to the Faithful to turn with increased ardor in prayer to Mary, the Queen of Heaven. Besides, the more We fix Our thoughts upon the character of the Rosary, the clearer its excellence and power appear to Us. Hence, while Our wish increases that it may flourish, Our hope grows also that through Our recommendation it may come to be more greatly prized, its holy use become more extended and flourish abundantly. But We shall not now return to the various instructions which in past years We have given upon this subject. We shall take instead the opportunity of pointing out the particular ruling and designs of Providence which ordains that the Rosary should have new power to instill confidence into the hearts of those who pray, and new influence to move the compassionate heart of Our Mother to comfort and succor Us with the utmost bounty.
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro5.htm
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Yes, dear sister MariaChristi, I was just reflecting today on how someone told me the way was to Jesus through Mary about 4 and a half years ago. But it didn’t register. It was only when I read True Devotion to Mary after a subsequent crisis that I began to understand the way to find Jesus, which is MaryDear Brother Pat,
Yes, our age, like every age has need of God’s grace coming to us through Mary. The Rosary is a powerful prayer and needs to be continuously “re-discovered” it seems in order to keep it from becoming a “dead letter” i.e. words without meaning. We need to enter into the mysteries of the Rosary that we may encounter Christ who is our Way, our Truth and our Life.
Thanks again for posting the words of Pope Leo and for your own desire to love Jesus through Mary, more and more. Please let us continue to pray for one another, for the Church and for all those in most need of God’s Mercy.
Dear brother Pat,Yes, dear sister MariaChristi, I was just reflecting today on how someone told me the way was to Jesus through Mary about 4 and a half years ago. But it didn’t register. It was only when I read True Devotion to Mary after a subsequent crisis that I began to understand the way to find Jesus, which is Mary
Here is Pope Leo 13 continuing about the Rosary, and Mary’s role–by the grace of Jesus Christ-- as Mediatrix of Grace and Co-Redemptrix:
*
2. The recourse we have to Mary in prayer follows upon the office she continuously fills by the side of the throne of God as Mediatrix of Divine grace*; being by worthiness and by merit most acceptable to Him, and, therefore, surpassing in power all the angels and saints in Heaven. Now, this merciful office of hers, perhaps, appears in no other form of prayer so manifestly as it does in the Rosary. For in the Rosary all the part that Mary took as our co-Redemptress comes to us, as it were, set forth, and in such wise as though the facts were even then taking place; and this with much profit to our piety, whether in the contemplation of the succeeding sacred mysteries, or in the prayers which we speak and repeat with the lips. First come the Joyful Mysteries. The Eternal Son of God stoops to mankind, putting on its nature; but with the assent of Mary, who conceives Him by the Holy Ghost. Then St. John the Baptist, by a singular privilege, is sanctified in his mother’s womb and favored with special graces that he might prepare the way of the Lord; and this comes to pass by the greeting of Mary who had been inspired to visit her cousin. At last the expected of nations comes to light, Christ the Savior. The Virgin bears Him. And when the Shepherds and the wise men, first-fruits of the Christian faith, come with longing to His cradle, they find there the young Child, with Mary, His Mother. Then, that He might before men offer Himself as a victim to His Heavenly Father, He desires to be taken to the Temple; and by the hands of Mary He is there presented to the Lord. It is Mary who, in the mysterious losing of her Son, seeks Him sorrowing, and finds Him again with joy. And the same truth is told again in the sorrowful mysteries.
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro5.htm
Dear sister MariaChristi, I underlined and italicized my favorite part of what you said here. That is beautiful. Yes, every grace we’ve ever received has been given by Jesus our God through His Mother, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit.Dear brother Pat,
St. Therese of Lisieux said it so well: “Everything is Grace”. God’s grace comes to us through Mary spiritually, as Jesus came to us through her physically. The Church has taught this truth of Mary’s role in God’s plan, through Pope Leo XIII and other Popes, teachers and Doctors of the Church for centuries now.
Thanks for posting this except and for your own love and devotion to Jesus through Mary.
Dear Brother Pat,Dear sister MariaChristi, …
As we continue to journey in this time of rejoicing in the Resurrection, it is wonderful to think of how much Jesus (God) and Mary (His creature and Mother) loved every human person in their passion.
Pope Leo 13 tells us that Mary knew from the beginning how the divine child in her womb was to be offered as a sacrifice for our salvation:
*3. In the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus is in an agony; in the judgment-hall, where He is scourged, crowned with thorns, condemned to death, not there do we find Mary. But she knew beforehand all these agonies; she knew and saw them. When she professed herself the handmaid of the Lord for the mother’s office, and when, at the foot of the altar, she offered up her whole self with her Child Jesus *-- then and thereafter she took her part in the laborious expiation made by her Son for the sins of the world. It is certain, therefore, that she suffered in the very depths of her soul with His most bitter sufferings and with His torments. Moreover, it was before the eyes of Mary that was to be finished the Divine Sacrifice for which she had borne and brought up the Victim. As we contemplate Him in the last and most piteous of those Mysteries, there stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, who, in a miracle of charity, so that she might receive us as her sons, offered generously to Divine Justice her own Son, and died in her heart with Him, stabbed with the sword of sorrow.
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro5.htm
You’re welcome dear sister. I think the demons work so hard to prevent people from calling on Mary or saying the Rosary, because these practices will bring them securely to Jesus.Dear Brother Pat,
Thanks again for your love of Jesus and Mary and for sharing the excerpts from Pope Leo XIII to help us all appreciate God’s love for us in giving us Jesus through Mary.
Yes, dear brother Pat,You’re welcome dear sister. I think the demons work so hard to prevent people from calling on Mary or saying the Rosary, because these practices will bring them securely to Jesus.
A doctor of the Church, St. Alponsus says that no devotion is more pleasing to Mary than frequently calling on her.
And we know the tremendous power of the Rosary as well.
Mary the Queen of Heaven, our Mother, is constantly praying with her Divine Spouse, the Holy Spirit, for us to Jesus Christ. We need only receive the graces of union with Jesus by calling on her.
Pope Leo 13 continues:
4. Thence the Rosary takes us on to the Glorious Mysteries, wherein likewise is revealed the mediation of the great Virgin, still more abundant in fruitfulness. She rejoices in heart over the glory of her Son triumphant over death, and follows Him with a mother’s love in His Ascension to His eternal kingdom; but, though worthy of Heaven, she abides a while on earth, so that the infant Church may be directed and comforted by her “who penetrated, beyond all belief, into the deep secrets of Divine wisdom” (St. Bernard). Nevertheless, for the fulfillment of the task of human redemption there remains still the coming of the Holy Ghost, promised by Christ. And behold, Mary is in the room, and there, praying with the Apostles and entreating for them with sobs and tears, she hastens for the Church the coming of the Spirit, the Comforter, the supreme gift of Christ, the treasure that will never fail. And later, without measure and without end will she be able to plead our cause, passing upon a day to the life immortal. Therefore we behold her taken up from this valley of tears into the heavenly Jerusalem, amid choirs of Angels. And we honor her, glorified above all the Saints, crowned with stars by her Divine Son and seated at His side the sovereign Queen of the universe.
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro5.htm
Yes, dear sister, Mary is the Spouse of God the Holy Spirit, and her love is so much stronger than all hatred.Yes, dear brother Pat,
The demons know Mary’s love is stronger than their hatred, for she is filled with God’s Love, so they seek to turn us away from her and from her Son, and from the fullness of Truth the Holy Spirit brings to us in His Church. By God’s grace may we persevere in praying the Rosary daily.
Yesterday I posted on CAF, another quote from Sister Lucia’s book “Calls From the Message of Fatima”. In Chapter 16 of this book Sister encourages us to persevere in praying the Rosary and to persevere in virtue. This earth is a “valley of tears” and Jesus knew we would need Mary’s help on our pilgrimage of faith – home to our Father!
Praying the Rosary is a good way to obey Jesus’ words on Calvary: “Behold your Mother” because in pondering the Mysteries we see Mary on her journey of faith, following Jesus, keeping in her heart all He said and did. Thanks again, dear brother, for your faithfulness.
Yes, dear brother Pat,Yes, dear sister, Mary is the Spouse of God the Holy Spirit, and her love is so much stronger than all hatred.
God wants us to know more deeply His mercy in Jesus given through Mary.
IAs I quoted from Pope Leo 13th above:
Mary is this glorious intermediary; she is the mighty Mother of the Almighty; but-what is still sweeter - she is gentle, extreme in tenderness, of a limitless loving-kindness. As such God gave her to us. Having chosen her for the Mother of His only begotten Son, He taught her all a mother’s feeling that breathes nothing but pardon and love.
w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_22091891_octobri-mense.html
This reminds me of a certain passage from True Devotion to Mary which was one of the first passages which moved me toward the Blessed Mother:
*107. Second, [true devotion to Mary] is trustful, that is to say, it fills us with confidence in the Blessed Virgin, the confidence that a child has for its loving Mother. It prompts us to go to her in every need of body and soul with great simplicity, trust and affection. *We implore our Mother’s help always, everywhere, and for everything. We pray to her to be enlightened in our doubts, to be put back on the right path when we go astray, to be protected when we are tempted, to be strengthened when we are weakening, to be lifted up when we fall into sin, to be encouraged when we are losing heart, to be rid of our scruples, to be consoled in the trials, crosses and disappointments of life. Finally, in all our afflictions of body and soul, we naturally turn to Mary for help, with never a fear of importuning her or displeasing our Lord.
ewtn.com/library/Montfort/TRUEDEVO.HTM
Dear sister Deborah Mary,Yes, dear brother Pat,
Trust is an important factor in our relationship with God and with Mary. Thanks so much for your excepts and for your own devotion to God and our Mother whom Jesus gave to us from His Cross. By God’s grace may we all grow closer to Mary, and through her to Him.
Dear brother Pat,Dear sister Deborah Mary,
Thanks so much for your encouragement. We can all encourage one another to seek Jesus–as Pope Paul 6th said–with Mary, through Mary, and in Mary.
If we do, we will be so happy, because–as St. Louis-Marie says–no matter what we go through, Mary and Jesus will make themselves so present to us.
Pope Leo 13 writes:
5. If in all this series of Mysteries, Venerable Brethren, are developed the counsels of God in regard to us – “counsels of wisdom and of tenderness” (St. Bernard) – not less apparent is the greatness of the benefits for which we are debtors to the Virgin Mother. No man can meditate upon these without feeling a new awakening in his heart of confidence that he will certainly obtain through Mary the fullness of the mercies of God. And to this end vocal prayer chimes well with the Mysteries. First, as is meet and right, comes the Lord’s Prayer, addressed to Our Father in Heaven: and having, with the elect petitions dictated by Our Divine Master, called upon the Father, from the throne of His Majesty we turn our prayerful voices to Mary. Thus is confirmed that law of merciful meditation of which We have spoken, and which St. Bernardine of Siena thus expresses: “Every grace granted to man has three degrees in order; for by God it is communicated to Christ, from Christ it passes to the Virgin, and from the Virgin it descends to us.” And we, by the very form of the Rosary, do linger longest, and, as it were, by preference upon the last and lowest of these steps, repeating by decades the Angelic Salutation [the Hail Mary], so that with greater confidence we may thence attain to the higher degrees – that is, may rise, by means of Christ, to the Divine Father. For if thus we again and again greet Mary, it is precisely that our failing and defective prayers may be strengthened with the necessary confidence; as though we pledged her to pray for us, and as it were in our name, to God.
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro5.htm
Yes, dear sister, we can trust in Mary’s prayers for us to Jesus. As Pope Leo says, we can “certainly obtain through Mary the fullness of the mercies of God”. She makes up for all we lack. What a mother we have!Dear brother Pat,
When I read this excerpt, I was especially blessed by the quote from St. Bernardine of Siena which Pope Leo XIII shared. How true it is! Often I am aware of how poorly I pray the Rosary, yet I know the power of the often repeated words of the “Hail Mary” : “…Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners NOW and at the hour of our death. Amen.” I believe with all my heart Mary hears our prayers, and I trust in her prayers for us. Thanks again, dear brother, for your faithful sharing of your own devotion to Jesus through Mary.
Thanks, again brother Pat,Yes, dear sister, we can trust in Mary’s prayers for us to Jesus. As Pope Leo says, we can “certainly obtain through Mary the fullness of the mercies of God”. She makes up for all we lack. What a mother we have!
Pope Leo 13 continues:
6. Nor can our prayers fail to ascend to Him as a sweet savor, commended by the prayers of the Virgin. And He it is who, all-benign, invites her: “Let thy voice sound in My ears, for thy voice is sweet.” For this cause do we repeatedly celebrate those glorious titles of her ministry as Mediatrix. Her do we greet who found favor with God, and who was in a signal manner filled with grace by Him so that the superabundance thereof might overflow upon all men; her, united with the Lord by the most intimate of all conjunction; her who was blessed among women, and who “alone took away the curse and bore the blessing” (St. Thomas) – that fruit of her womb, that happy fruit, in which all the nations of the earth are blessed. Her do we invoke, finally, as Mother of God; and in virtue of a dignity so sublime what graces from her may we not promise to ourselves, sinners, in life and in the agonies of the end?
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro5.htm
Thank you dear sister, Deborah Mary. Amen. We can never understand the pure beauty and goodness of Our Lady, which is from the grace of Jesus Christ. She loves God more than all the rest of humankind altogether, yet remains merely the humble servant of God. It is not possible for God to make a kinder creature than Mary, despite being Omnipotent. Our Mother loves each human person beyond any comparison beneath God. Yet she remains infinitely beneath God, being a creature of her own Son. The faith is such a beautiful mystery.Thanks, again brother Pat,
How beautiful to read how God gave Pope Leo XIII such love for Our Mother, to share with all the Church in his encyclical! How good God is to raise up holy men and women in every age to extol the Beauty He gave to Mary!