Our Mother's Heart - described by Sister Lucia

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Chapter 13 in Sister Lucia’s Book “Calls” From the Message of Fatima is a brief but powerful chapter. Sister wrote:

…All children trust in the heart of their mother, and we all know that we have in her a place of special affection. The same applies to the Virgin Mary. Thus the Message says: “My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.” Hence the Heart of Mary is the refuge and the way to God for all His children…

This refuge and this way were proclaimed to all humanity immediately after the fall of our first parents. To the devil who had tempted and induced them to disobey obey…the Lord said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head and and you shall bruise His heel.” The ‘new generation’ that God foretold would be born of this woman, will tiumph in the battle against the progeny of satan to the point of crushing his head. Mary is the Mother of this new generation…

…It is from the heart of their mother that children receive their natural life, their first breath, their life-giving blood, the beating of their heart…And we can say the same of the Virgin Mary when she carried the Son of the Eternal Father in her womb. Hence it follows that the Heart of Mary is in some sense the heart of all that other generation, the first fruit of which is Christ, the Word of God.

O Queen of Heaven Rejoice, Alleluia! For He Whom you were chosen to bear, Alleluia! Has risen as He said. Alleluia!

By God Grace, coming to us through Mary, – The Church, the People of God truly is an Easter people! Blessed Easter Monday to all!

 

[patricius79]

Chapter 13 in Sister Lucia’s Book “Calls” From the Message of Fatima is a brief but powerful chapter. Sister wrote:

…All children trust in the heart of their mother, and we all know that we have in her a place of special affection. The same applies to the Virgin Mary. Thus the Message says: “My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.” Hence the Heart of Mary is the refuge and the way to God for all His children…

…It is from the heart of their mother that children receive their natural life, their first breath, their life-giving blood, the beating of their heart…And we can say the same of the Virgin Mary when she carried the Son of the Eternal Father in her womb. Hence it follows that the Heart of Mary is in some sense the heart of all that other generation, the first fruit of which is Christ, the Word of God."

Amen, dear sister, MariaChristi. Mary’s Immaculate Heart is where we can find the nurturing we need. Her Heart is the way to Jesus Christ.

It is wonderful to be in Easter Week, with Divine Mercy Sunday approaching quickly. Let’s prepare to completely immerse ourselves in the Infinite Mercy of our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ; His Mercy poured forth through our Mother. She is the neck of the mystical Body, as Pope St. Pius X tells us in Ad Diem Illum.

As the eminent theologian Fr Garrigou-Lagrange said in his book “Mother of the Savior”, our God Jesus Christ is the absolute spring of grace, and Mary is the superabundant river of grace.

Pope Leo XIII likewise says in Octobre Mensi that every grace we receive comes from Jesus through Mary. Pope Leo says that we have no way to the Father but Jesus, and no way to Jesus but Mary.

“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!”
w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_22091891_octobri-mense.html

Vatican II teaches that Mary’s saving role as our mother in the order of grace actually shows the power of Christ’s One Mediation (Lumen Gentium 60-62).

May the Immaculate Heart of our dearest Mother intercede for us and dispose us to receive grace, so that as many as possible find the Infinite Mercy of Jesus Christ this Sunday.

 

[MariaChristi]

Amen, dear sister, MariaChristi. Mary’s Immaculate Heart is where we can find the nurturing we need. Her Heart is the way to Jesus Christ.

It is wonderful to be in Easter Week, with Divine Mercy Sunday approaching quickly. Let’s prepare to completely immerse ourselves in the Infinite Mercy of our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ; His Mercy poured forth through our Mother. She is the neck of the mystical Body, as Pope St. Pius X tells us in Ad Diem Illum.

As the eminent theologian Fr Garrigou-Lagrange said in his book “Mother of the Savior”, our God Jesus Christ is the absolute spring of grace, and Mary is the superabundant river of grace.

Pope Leo XIII likewise says in Octobre Mensi that every grace we receive comes from Jesus through Mary. Pope Leo says that we have no way to the Father but Jesus, and no way to Jesus but Mary.

“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!”
w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_22091891_octobri-mense.html

Vatican II teaches that Mary’s saving role as our mother in the order of grace actually shows the power of Christ’s One Mediation (Lumen Gentium 60-62).

May the Immaculate Heart of our dearest Mother intercede for us and dispose us to receive grace, so that as many as possible find the Infinite Mercy of Jesus Christ this Sunday.

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks for your reply and for your great love for Jesus through Mary. In re-reading Sister Lucia’s book, it is amazing to me how often she quotes the Scriptures. It reminds me in some ways of Pope St. John Paul II and St. Louis De Montfort. It seems that Jesus has shown His Mother in a special way to those who hear Him, like the beloved disciple John at the foot of the Cross. The more a person takes Mary into his life, the more the Holy Spirit teaches that person about Mary’s pilgrimage of faith and the pilgrimage of faith intended for each human person. Her Heart is our refuge for she always points us to Jesus, Who is our Way, our Truth and our Life.

 

[patricius79]

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks for your reply and for your great love for Jesus through Mary. In re-reading Sister Lucia’s book, it is amazing to me how often she quotes the Scriptures. It reminds me in some ways of Pope St. John Paul II and St. Louis De Montfort. It seems that Jesus has shown His Mother in a special way to those who hear Him, like the beloved disciple John at the foot of the Cross. The more a person takes Mary into his life, the more the Holy Spirit teaches that person about Mary’s pilgrimage of faith and the pilgrimage of faith intended for each human person. Her Heart is our refuge for she always points us to Jesus, Who is our Way, our Truth and our Life.

Yes, dear sister Maria Christ. Pope St. John Paul II says that Mary is “she who believed”. Her faith opened up a interior space in humanity that can be filled with faith in God. As her motherhood is poured out upon the Church, she helps us to believe in the Infinite Mercy of Jesus Christ.

Along with he month of Mary, Mary’s month, is coming soon too, including the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Here is Pope Paul VI writing about the month of May, and how much grace there is in it, in the Encyclical Mense Maio. He says that Mary is the path to Jesus Christ, and that we seek Him in Mary and through Mary.
*
2. We are delighted and consoled by this pious custom associated with the month of May, which pays honor to the Blessed Virgin and brings such rich benefits to the Christian people. Since Mary is rightly to be regarded as the way by which we are led to Christ, the person who encounters Mary cannot help but encounter Christ likewise. For what other reason do we continually turn to Mary except to seek the Christ in her arms, to seek our Savior in her, through her, and with her? To Him men are to turn amid the anxieties and perils of this world, urged on by duty and driven by the compelling needs of their heart, to find a haven of salvation, a transcendent fountain of life.*
w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_29041965_mense-maio.html

 

[MariaChristi]

… Here is Pope Paul VI writing about the month of May, and how much grace there is in it, in the Encyclical Mense Maio. He says that Mary is the path to Jesus Christ, and that we seek Him in Mary and through Mary.
*
2. We are delighted and consoled by this pious custom associated with the month of May, which pays honor to the Blessed Virgin and brings such rich benefits to the Christian people. Since Mary is rightly to be regarded as the way by which we are led to Christ, the person who encounters Mary cannot help but encounter Christ likewise. For what other reason do we continually turn to Mary except to seek the Christ in her arms, to seek our Savior in her, through her, and with her? *To Him men are to turn amid the anxieties and perils of this world, urged on by duty and driven by the compelling needs of their heart, to find a haven of salvation, a transcendent fountain of life.
w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_29041965_mense-maio.html

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks so much for this quote from Bl. Pope Paul VI. I underlined above the words that impressed me most. How truly his words seem to express the experience of so many saints! I read that Pope Francis will be canonizing Bl. Jacinta and Bl. Francisco when he visits Fatima to celebrate May 13 - the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. How appropriate that those two little shepherd children would be canonized in this year of the Hundredth Anniversary of Mary’s Apparitions! I read also that Sr. Lucia’s cause has begun as well.

 

[patricius79]

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks so much for this quote from Bl. Pope Paul VI. I underlined above the words that impressed me most. How truly his words seem to express the experience of so many saints! I read that Pope Francis will be canonizing Bl. Jacinta and Bl. Francisco when he visits Fatima to celebrate May 13 - the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. How appropriate that those two little shepherd children would be canonized in this year of the Hundredth Anniversary of Mary’s Apparitions! I read also that Sr. Lucia’s cause has begun as well.

Thanks dear sister MariaChristi. That’s wonderful. God truly reveals things to the humble and childlike, like the Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia.

I like that quotation from Blessed Pope Paul VI too. Thanks for saying that he is a Blessed. I didn’t know that.

He’s very right that we seek Jesus Christ in our Mother, and through our Mother.

I like to think about how Jesus gave us His Mother from the Cross, so that we could be close to Him through her.

I love how he simply said: “Behold, your Mother!”. It seems to me that Christ gave her to us in his last will and testament, so that through her we would love Him in the Eucharist. As JPII says, she is our heritage.

Here is a quotation from Pope St. John Paul II in Redemptoris Mater (“Mother of the Redeemer”, 1987) about how the Crucified Jesus gave us Mary to be our Mother in the order of grace.

*When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother: ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home" (Jn. 19:25-27).

Undoubtedly, we find here an expression of the Son’s particular solicitude for his Mother, whom he is leaving in such great sorrow. And yet the “testament of Christ’s Cross” says more. Jesus highlights a new relationship between Mother and Son, the whole truth and reality of which he solemnly confirms. One can say that if Mary’s motherhood of the human race had already been outlined, now it is clearly stated and established. It emerges from the definitive accomplishment of the Redeemer’s Paschal Mystery. The Mother of Christ, who stands at the very center of this mystery-a mystery which embraces each individual and all humanity-is given as mother to every single individual and all mankind. The man at the foot of the Cross is John, "the disciple whom he loved."47 But it is not he alone. Following tradition, the Council does not hesitate to call Mary “the Mother of Christ and mother of mankind”: since she “belongs to the offspring of Adam she is one with all human beings… Indeed she is ‘clearly the mother of the members of Christ…since she cooperated out of love so that there might be born in the Church the faithful.’”*
w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html#%241C

 

[MariaChristi]

…Here is a quotation from Pope St. John Paul II in Redemptoris Mater (“Mother of the Redeemer”, 1987) about how the Crucified Jesus gave us Mary to be our Mother in the order of grace.

*When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother: ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ *And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home" (Jn. 19:25-27).

Undoubtedly, we find here an expression of the Son’s particular solicitude for his Mother, whom he is leaving in such great sorrow. And yet the “testament of Christ’s Cross” says more. Jesus highlights a new relationship between Mother and Son, the whole truth and reality of which he solemnly confirms. One can say that if Mary’s motherhood of the human race had already been outlined, now it is clearly stated and established. It emerges from the definitive accomplishment of the Redeemer’s Paschal Mystery. The Mother of Christ, who stands at the very center of this mystery-a mystery which embraces each individual and all humanity-is given as mother to every single individual and all mankind. The man at the foot of the Cross is John, "the disciple whom he loved."47 But it is not he alone. Following tradition, the Council does not hesitate to call Mary “the Mother of Christ and mother of mankind”: since she “belongs to the offspring of Adam she is one with all human beings… Indeed she is ‘clearly the mother of the members of Christ…since she cooperated out of love so that there might be born in the Church the faithful.’”
w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html#%241C

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks so much for that excerpt from Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical “Redemptois Mater”, I’ve been re-reading this encyclical and have found it to be such a blessing in so many ways. Jesus’ words from His Cross: “Behold your Mother” not only spoken to John but to all of us are planted deep in my heart.

Pope St. John Paul II assures us:

…One can say that if Mary’s motherhood of the human race had already been outlined, now it is clearly stated and established. It emerges from the definitive accomplishment of the Redeemer’s Paschal Mystery. The Mother of Christ, who stands at the very center of this mystery-a mystery which embraces each individual and all humanity-is given as mother to every single individual and all mankind…

What joy for us to keep listening to Jesus and receiving all Truth the Holy Spirit is sent to bring to His Church through Mary. May we obey Jesus as John did, taking Mary into our homes and into our lives.

Come Holy Spirit kindle in us the Fire of Your Love. Jesus, we trust in You. Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.

 

[patricius79]

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks so much for that excerpt from Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical “Redemptois Mater”, I’ve been re-reading this encyclical and have found it to be such a blessing in so many ways. Jesus’ words from His Cross: “Behold your Mother” not only spoken to John but to all of us are planted deep in my heart.

Dear sister MariaChristi,

It’s such a blessing when–despite all the devil’s tactics–people begin to understand the extent to which our Mother loves us in her Divine Son.

She is, as Blessed Pope Pius 9th tells us, as close to God as is possible for a creature.

It’s so beautiful that she is given by the Crucified Christ to every single person as his or her tender Mother.

As Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange tells us in the book “Mother of the Savior”, she is not the mother of men in general, but of each person in particular.

May she lead each of us in a special way to the Infinite Mercy of Jesus this Sunday (Divine Mercy Sunday.)

Another quotation from John Paul II’s Redemptoris Mater which I find touching and illuminating is here:

The piety of the Christian people has always very rightly sensed a profound link between devotion to the Blessed Virgin and worship of the Eucharist… Mary guides the faithful to the Eucharist.

1. Of the essence of motherhood is the fact that it concerns the person. Motherhood always establishes a unique and unrepeatable relationship between two people: between mother and child and between child and mother. Even when the same woman is the mother of many children, her personal relationship with each one of them is of the very essence of motherhood. For each child is generated in a unique and unrepeatable way, and this is true both for the mother and for the child. Each child is surrounded in the same way by that maternal love on which are based the child’s development and coming to maturity as a human being.

It can be said that motherhood “in the order of grace” preserves the analogy with what “in the order of nature” characterizes the union between mother and child.
http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-p.../hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html

 

[MariaChristi]

…Another quotation from John Paul II’s Redemptoris Mater which I find touching and illuminating is here:

The piety of the Christian people has always very rightly sensed a profound link between devotion to the Blessed Virgin and worship of the Eucharist… Mary guides the faithful to the Eucharist.

1. Of the essence of motherhood is the fact that it concerns the person. Motherhood always establishes a unique and unrepeatable relationship between two people: between mother and child and between child and mother. Even when the same woman is the mother of many children, her personal relationship with each one of them is of the very essence of motherhood. For each child is generated in a unique and unrepeatable way, and this is true both for the mother and for the child. Each child is surrounded in the same way by that maternal love on which are based the child’s development and coming to maturity as a human being.

It can be said that motherhood “in the order of grace” preserves the analogy with what “in the order of nature” characterizes the union between mother and child.
Redemptoris Mater (25 March 1987) | John Paul II

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks again for another excerpt from St. JPII. Yes, on this eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, how beautiful is the assurance of our Mother Mary’s Love for each of us, as she is fully united to Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Beatific Vision. Mary loves each of us with the Love she receives from God. As her children may we daily grow more Merciful as our Heaven Father is Merciful.

 

[patricius79]

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks again for another excerpt from St. JPII. Yes, on this eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, how beautiful is the assurance of our Mother Mary’s Love for each of us, as she is fully united to Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Beatific Vision. Mary loves each of us with the Love she receives from God. As her children may we daily grow more Merciful as our Heaven Father is Merciful.

Dear sister MariaChristi,

Yes, since Mary approaches as nearly to God as is possible for a creature, we can’t understand how much Mary loves each person, uniquely, as her child. This consoles me every day.

In Redemptoris Mater, in number 26, St. JPII affirms the Catholic teaching that Mary became the Holy Spirit’s “faithful Spouse” at the Incarnation. So she loves each human person in union with the infinite Love of the Holy Spirit.

May we all entrust ourselves completely to the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, so that we fully receive the Infinite Mercy of Jesus tomorrow and always.

*46. This filial relationship, this self-entrusting of a child to its mother, not only has its beginning in Christ but can also be said to be definitively directed towards him. Mary can be said to continue to say to each individual the words which she spoke at Cana in Galilee: “Do whatever he tells you.” For he, Christ, is the one Mediator between God and mankind; he is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6)…For every Christian, for every human being, Mary is the one who first “believed,” and precisely with her faith as Spouse and Mother she wishes to act upon all those who entrust themselves to her as her children. And it is well known that the more her children persevere and progress in this attitude, the nearer Mary leads them to the “unsearchable riches of Christ”(Eph. 3:8). *
w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear sister MariaChristi,

Yes, since Mary approaches as nearly to God as is possible for a creature, we can’t understand how much Mary loves each person, uniquely, as her child. This consoles me every day.

In Redemptoris Mater, in number 26, St. JPII affirms the Catholic teaching that Mary became the Holy Spirit’s “faithful Spouse” at the Incarnation. So she loves each human person in union with the infinite Love of the Holy Spirit.

May we all entrust ourselves completely to the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, so that we fully receive the Infinite Mercy of Jesus tomorrow and always.

46. This filial relationship, this self-entrusting of a child to its mother, not only has its beginning in Christ but can also be said to be definitively directed towards him. Mary can be said to continue to say to each individual the words which she spoke at Cana in Galilee: “Do whatever he tells you.” For he, Christ, is the one Mediator between God and mankind; he is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6)…For every Christian, for every human being, Mary is the one who first “believed,” and precisely with her faith as Spouse and Mother she wishes to act upon all those who entrust themselves to her as her children. And it is well known that the more her children persevere and progress in this attitude, the nearer Mary leads them to the “unsearchable riches of Christ”(Eph. 3:8).
w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks again for another reply and another quote from Saint John Paul II. This encyclical has been a special one for me. As I continue to read it, I am more and more grateful for God’s work in the soul of St. JPII. What a wealth he has left to the Church in the testimony of his life and in all his writings! His tender love for our Mother Mary, grounded as it is in Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church is such a help for all of us.

On this eve of Divine Mercy, the Feast on which St. John Paul II returned to our “Father’s House”, may he intercede for us.
Jesus, I trust in You.
Mary, Mother and Model for the Church, pray for us.

 

[patricius79]

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks again for another reply and another quote from Saint John Paul II. This encyclical has been a special one for me. As I continue to read it, I am more and more grateful for God’s work in the soul of St. JPII. What a wealth he has left to the Church in the testimony of his life and in all his writings! His tender love for our Mother Mary, grounded as it is in Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church is such a help for all of us.

On this eve of Divine Mercy, the Feast on which St. John Paul II returned to our “Father’s House”, may he intercede for us.
Jesus, I trust in You.
Mary, Mother and Model for the Church, pray for us.

Dear sister MariaChristi,

Yes, it’s beautiful to see manly men like St. Louis, Blessed Pope Paul VI, and St. John Paul II affirming their complete dependence on their Mother to unite them to Jesus.

May Pope St. John Paul II intercede for us on this day when God especially pours out Christ’s Infinite Mercy through Our Lady.

As Pope St. Pius 10th tells us, Mary is the supreme minister who distributes the grace of Jesus Christ, the One Mediator.

May we receive today this ocean of Jesus’s Mercy through childlike prayer to our Mother, in whom is concentrated the whole salvific economy, as JPII teaches:

Mary is the first to share in this new revelation of God and, within the same, in this new “self-giving” of God. Therefore she proclaims: “For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” Her words reflect a joy of spirit which is difficult to express: “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Indeed, "the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man is made clear to us in Christ, who is at the same time the mediator and the fullness of all revelation."90 In her exultation Mary confesses that she finds herself in the very heart of this fullness of Christ. She is conscious that the promise made to the fathers, first of all “to Abraham and to his posterity for ever,” is being fulfilled in herself. She is thus aware that concentrated within herself as the mother of Christ is the whole salvific economy, in which “from age to age” is manifested he who as the God of the Covenant, “remembers his mercy.”
w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear sister MariaChristi,

Yes, it’s beautiful to see manly men like St. Louis, Blessed Pope Paul VI, and St. John Paul II affirming their complete dependence on their Mother to unite them to Jesus.

May Pope St. John Paul II intercede for us on this day when God especially pours out Christ’s Infinite Mercy through Our Lady.

As Pope St. Pius 10th tells us, Mary is the supreme minister who distributes the grace of Jesus Christ, the One Mediator.

May we receive today this ocean of Jesus’s Mercy through childlike prayer to our Mother, in whom is concentrated the whole salvific economy, as JPII teaches:

Mary is the first to share in this new revelation of God and, within the same, in this new “self-giving” of God. Therefore she proclaims: “For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” Her words reflect a joy of spirit which is difficult to express: “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Indeed, "the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man is made clear to us in Christ, who is at the same time the mediator and the fullness of all revelation. In her exultation Mary confesses that she finds herself in the very heart of this fullness of Christ. She is conscious that the promise made to the fathers, first of all “to Abraham and to his posterity for ever,” is being fulfilled in herself. She is thus aware that concentrated within herself as the mother of Christ is the whole salvific economy, in which “from age to age” is manifested he who as the God of the Covenant, “remembers his mercy.”
w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html

Thanks again, dear brother Pat,

Yes, how perfect is God’s Mercy! In His great love for us He gave His Only Begotten Son born of a woman. This beautiful woman, full of grace, Jesus gave us to be our Mother and Model. Mary’s words in the Gospel of Luke are for us to hear and to live by the power of the Holy Spirit – as members of Christ’s Body we are called to grow in grace – as Mary grew. The Catechism rightly calls her the “Escatological Icon of the Church”.

Jesus, we trust in You!
Mary, Mother of the Church, Mother of Mercy, pray for us.

 

[patricius79]

Thanks again, dear brother Pat,

Yes, how perfect is God’s Mercy! In His great love for us He gave His Only Begotten Son born of a woman. This beautiful woman, full of grace, Jesus gave us to be our Mother and Model. Mary’s words in the Gospel of Luke are for us to hear and to live by the power of the Holy Spirit – as members of Christ’s Body we are called to grow in grace – as Mary grew. The Catechism rightly calls her the “Escatological Icon of the Church”.

Jesus, we trust in You!
Mary, Mother of the Church, Mother of Mercy, pray for us.

Dear sister MariaChristi,

Yes, our Mother and Model is the “Echatological Icon of the Church”. She is all that the Church aspires to be, and continually intercedes for each human with her Divine Son, our Lord. That is why, as Blessed Pius IX tells us, under her guidance and protection nothing is to be feared, and nothing is hopeless. Pope St. Pius X tells us that we can only find Jesus with Mary. He also beautifully describes her maternal care for us:

24. Leaving aside charity towards God, who can contemplate the Immaculate Virgin without feeling moved to fulfill that precept which Christ called peculiarly His own, namely that of loving one another as He loved us? “A great sign,” thus the Apostle St. John describes a vision divinely sent him, appears in the heavens: “A woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars upon her head” (Apoc. xii., 1). Everyone knows that this woman signified the Virgin Mary, the stainless one who brought forth our Head. The Apostle continues: “And, being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered” (Apoc. xii., 2). John therefore saw the Most Holy Mother of God already in eternal happiness, yet travailing in a mysterious childbirth. What birth was it? Surely it was the birth of us who, still in exile, are yet to be generated to the perfect charity of God, and to eternal happiness. And the birth pains show the love and desire with which the Virgin from heaven above watches over us, and strives with unwearying prayer to bring about the fulfillment of the number of the elect.
w2.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_02021904_ad-diem-illum-laetissimum.html

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear sister MariaChristi,

Yes, our Mother and Model is the “Echatological Icon of the Church”. She is all that the Church aspires to be, and continually intercedes for each human with her Divine Son, our Lord. That is why, as Blessed Pius IX tells us, under her guidance and protection nothing is to be feared, and nothing is hopeless. Pope St. Pius X tells us that we can only find Jesus with Mary. He also beautifully describes her maternal care for us:

24. Leaving aside charity towards God, who can contemplate the Immaculate Virgin without feeling moved to fulfill that precept which Christ called peculiarly His own, namely that of loving one another as He loved us? “A great sign,” thus the Apostle St. John describes a vision divinely sent him, appears in the heavens: “A woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars upon her head” (Apoc. xii., 1). Everyone knows that this woman signified the Virgin Mary, the stainless one who brought forth our Head. The Apostle continues: “And, being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered” (Apoc. xii., 2). John therefore saw the Most Holy Mother of God already in eternal happiness, yet travailing in a mysterious childbirth. What birth was it? Surely it was the birth of us who, still in exile, are yet to be generated to the perfect charity of God, and to eternal happiness. And the birth pains show the love and desire with which the Virgin from heaven above watches over us, and strives with unwearying prayer to bring about the fulfillment of the number of the elect.
w2.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_02021904_ad-diem-illum-laetissimum.html

Thanks again, brother Pat,

Yes, how truly our Popes have expressed the beauty of Mary’s maternal love for us! We can never really love her enough, it seems to me, but only continue to ask Jesus to share His Love for her with us – that we might love her more and more.

 

[patricius79]

Thanks again, brother Pat,

Yes, how truly our Popes have expressed the beauty of Mary’s maternal love for us! We can never really love her enough, it seems to me, but only continue to ask Jesus to share His Love for her with us – that we might love her more and more.

Dear sister,

St. Bernard said, “of Mary there is never enough”. I agree that we can’t love our Mother too much, since her love for God and for each human person surpasses all the love of the rest of creation. She is the Mother of God and is–as Blessed Pope Paul VI says–the path that leads to Jesus Christ. Jesus wants us to love her as He loves her, since we share the same Mother. Pope St. Pius 10th says:

10. For is not Mary the Mother of Christ? Then she is our Mother also… Wherefore in the same holy bosom of his most chaste Mother Christ took to Himself flesh, and united to Himself the spiritual body formed by those who were to believe in Him. Hence Mary, carrying the Savior within her, may be said to have also carried all those whose life was contained in the life of the Savior. Therefore all we who are united to Christ, and as the Apostle says are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones (Ephes. v., 30), have issued from the womb of Mary like a body united to its head. Hence, though in a spiritual and mystical fashion, we are all children of Mary, and she is Mother of us all. Mother, spiritually indeed, but truly Mother of the members of Christ, who are we (S. Aug. L. de S. Virginitate, c. 6).
w2.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_02021904_ad-diem-illum-laetissimum.html

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear sister,

St. Bernard said, “of Mary there is never enough”. I agree that we can’t love our Mother too much, since her love for God and for each human person surpasses all the love of the rest of creation. She is the Mother of God and is–as Blessed Pope Paul VI says–the path that leads to Jesus Christ. Jesus wants us to love her as He loves her, since we share the same Mother. Pope St. Pius 10th says:

10. For is not Mary the Mother of Christ? Then she is our Mother also… Wherefore in the same holy bosom of his most chaste Mother Christ took to Himself flesh, and united to Himself the spiritual body formed by those who were to believe in Him. Hence Mary, carrying the Savior within her, may be said to have also carried all those whose life was contained in the life of the Savior. Therefore all we who are united to Christ, and as the Apostle says are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones (Ephes. v., 30), have issued from the womb of Mary like a body united to its head. Hence, though in a spiritual and mystical fashion, we are all children of Mary, and she is Mother of us all. Mother, spiritually indeed, but truly Mother of the members of Christ, who are we (S. Aug. L. de S. Virginitate, c. 6).
w2.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_02021904_ad-diem-illum-laetissimum.html

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks again, both for your own devotion to Jesus through Mary and for posting the words of the saints and Popes who were truly inspired to share their wisdom from God about Mary, our Mother and Model. By God’s Grace may we continue to learn from the Holy Spirit all Truth He is sent to give the Church.

 

[patricius79]

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks again, both for your own devotion to Jesus through Mary and for posting the words of the saints and Popes who were truly inspired to share their wisdom from God about Mary, our Mother and Model. By God’s Grace may we continue to learn from the Holy Spirit all Truth He is sent to give the Church.

Dear sister MariaChristi,

Yes, I think it can be good to gradually review what the Popes and Vatican II have taught us about devotion to Jesus through Mary, our Mother and Queen. Vatican II tells us that Mary is our Mother in the order of grace, whose role shows the power of the One Mediator. In my own life, my behavior didn’t begin to really improve until I began to call on Our Lady. Here is Pope St. Pius X regarding the importance of seeking her help:

15. These principles laid down, and to return to our design, who will not see that we have with good reason claimed for Mary that - as the constant companion of Jesus from the house at Nazareth to the height of Calvary, as beyond all others initiated to the secrets of his Heart, and as the distributor, by right of her Motherhood, of the treasures of His merits, - she is, for all these reasons, a most sure and efficacious assistance to us for arriving at the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. Those, alas! furnish us by their conduct with a peremptory proof of it, who seduced by the wiles of the demon or deceived by false doctrines think they can do without the help of the Virgin. Hapless are they who neglect Mary under pretext of the honor to be paid to Jesus Christ! As if the Child could be found elsewhere than with the Mother!
w2.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_02021904_ad-diem-illum-laetissimum.html

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear sister MariaChristi,

Yes, I think it can be good to gradually review what the Popes and Vatican II have taught us about devotion to Jesus through Mary, our Mother and Queen. Vatican II tells us that Mary is our Mother in the order of grace, whose role shows the power of the One Mediator. In my own life, my behavior didn’t begin to really improve until I began to call on Our Lady. Here is Pope St. Pius X regarding the importance of seeking her help:

15. These principles laid down, and to return to our design, who will not see that we have with good reason claimed for Mary that - as the constant companion of Jesus from the house at Nazareth to the height of Calvary, as beyond all others initiated to the secrets of his Heart, and as the distributor, by right of her Motherhood, of the treasures of His merits, - she is, for all these reasons, a most sure and efficacious assistance to us for arriving at the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. Those, alas! furnish us by their conduct with a peremptory proof of it, who seduced by the wiles of the demon or deceived by false doctrines think they can do without the help of the Virgin. Hapless are they who neglect Mary under pretext of the honor to be paid to Jesus Christ! As if the Child could be found elsewhere than with the Mother!
w2.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_02021904_ad-diem-illum-laetissimum.html

Dear brother Pat,

What a beautiful excerpt from Pope St. Pius X! Yes, How consistent the Catholic Church’s teaching on Mary has been as it has developed over the centuries. The Catechism of the Catholic Church published after Vatican II wisely reminds us that “the Church’s true devotion to Mary is intrinsic to Christian worship” (cf paragraph 971) and the word intrinsic which means “essential” is put into italics in the Catechism to stress it.

Thanks again for your replies and your devotion to Jesus through Mary.

 

[patricius79]

Dear brother Pat,

What a beautiful excerpt from Pope St. Pius X! Yes, How consistent the Catholic Church’s teaching on Mary has been as it has developed over the centuries. The Catechism of the Catholic Church published after Vatican II wisely reminds us that “the Church’s true devotion to Mary is intrinsic to Christian worship” (cf paragraph 971) and the word intrinsic which means “essential” is put into italics in the Catechism to stress it.

Thanks again for your replies and your devotion to Jesus through Mary.

Dear sister MariahChristi,

I agree with Pope Paul VI that devotion to Mary is essential to Christian worship, since–as Vatican II tells us-- supremely honoring this creature, Mary, is most favorable to worshiping God alone.

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