Our "Unique" Mother Mary

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

MariaChristi

Guest
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Looking at the calendar: tomorrow is the Feast of St. Monica. Since Sunday’s Liturgy has precedence, some may “miss it” – this commemoration of a very special Mother. The former date of May 4th was changed to August 27 to be immediately before the Feast of her illustrious son, the great theologian, writer, and Bishop of Hippo, St. Augustine. How appropriate! Not unlike Mary’s Annunciation before the Birth of Christ – the faith of each Mother is so important. Mary said “yes” to the birth of Christ. She believed God. Monica, also believed that nothing is impossible for God and so she prayed that her son would have a “new birth” in Christ.

St. Monica’s persevering prayer for Augustine’s (and also her husband’s)conversion has moved many of us. Monica prayed over 20 years before she finally saw them baptized. Today I was pondering how unique every person is, but of all the human persons God created none is more “Unique” than our Mother Mary. As St. Bernard said, “Never enough of Mary”; and it is true that saints and artists continue to write and paint beautiful pictures of Mary but none say enough and none can really say all Mary is, except God. Yet, He has revealed her in Scripture for us, and the Church continues to learn more by the power of the Holy Spirit and teaches us. We learn through Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church how “Unique” our Mother is.

He created each of us to be unique and unrepeatable, and I wonder how much we love her “uniquely” who loves us so much. Doesn’t a Mother love each child in a special way? Doesn’t Mary look upon us with special love? Each Hail Mary we pray repeats the beautiful truth that she is interceding for us, “now and at the hour of our death. Amen”. When was the last time we thanked our Mother for praying for us? I bet St. Augustine thanked St. Monica many times for her prayers for him! 🙂
 
MariaChristi said:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Looking at the calendar: tomorrow is the Feast of St. Monica. Since Sunday’s Liturgy has precedence, some may “miss it” – this commemoration of a very special Mother. The former date of May 4th was changed to August 27 to be immediately before the Feast of her illustrious son, the great theologian, writer, and Bishop of Hippo, St. Augustine. How appropriate! Not unlike Mary’s Annunciation before the Birth of Christ – the faith of each Mother is so important. Mary said “yes” to the birth of Christ. She believed God. Monica, also believed that nothing is impossible for God and so she prayed that her son would have a “new birth” in Christ.

St. Monica’s persevering prayer for Augustine’s (and also her husband’s)conversion has moved many of us. Monica prayed over 20 years before she finally saw them baptized. Today I was pondering how unique every person is, but of all the human persons God created none is more “Unique” than our Mother Mary. As St. Bernard said, “Never enough of Mary”; and it is true that saints and artists continue to write and paint beautiful pictures of Mary but none say enough and none can really say all Mary is, except God. Yet, He has revealed her in Scripture for us, and the Church continues to learn more by the power of the Holy Spirit and teaches us. We learn through Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church how “Unique” our Mother is.

He created each of us to be unique and unrepeatable, and I wonder how much we love her “uniquely” who loves us so much. Doesn’t a Mother love each child in a special way? Doesn’t Mary look upon us with special love? Each Hail Mary we pray repeats the beautiful truth that she is interceding for us, “now and at the hour of our death. Amen”. When was the last time we thanked our Mother for praying for us? I bet St. Augustine thanked St. Monica many times for her prayers for him! 🙂
Click to expand...
Beautiful.

A couple of relevant quotations:

First, from Blessed Pope Pius IX:

“From the very beginning, and before time began, the eternal Father chose and prepared for his only-begotten Son a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom, in the blessed fullness of time, he would be born into this world. Above all creatures did God so loved her that truly in her was the Father well pleased with singular delight. Therefore, far above all the angels and all the saints so wondrously did God endow her with the abundance of all heavenly gifts poured from the treasury of his divinity that this mother, ever absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and perfect, would possess that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity than which, under God, one cannot even imagine anything greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in comprehending fully.”
papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9ineff.htm

Second from Pope St. John Paul II, in his Encyclical on the Mother of the Redeemer:

“45. 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.”
w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html
 
patricius79 said:
Beautiful.

A couple of relevant quotations:

First, from Blessed Pope Pius IX:

“From the very beginning, and before time began, the eternal Father chose and prepared for his only-begotten Son a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom, in the blessed fullness of time, he would be born into this world. Above all creatures did God so loved her that truly in her was the Father well pleased with singular delight. Therefore, far above all the angels and all the saints so wondrously did God endow her with the abundance of all heavenly gifts poured from the treasury of his divinity that this mother, ever absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and perfect, would possess that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity than which, under God, one cannot even imagine anything greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in comprehending fully.”
papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9ineff.htm

Second from Pope St. John Paul II, in his Encyclical on the Mother of the Redeemer:

“45. 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.”
w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html
Click to expand...
Thanks dear brother,

The quotes are relevant indeed! How good to read them and rejoice in all God has done!
 
MariaChristi said:
Thanks dear brother,

The quotes are relevant indeed! How good to read them and rejoice in all God has done!
Click to expand...
Thanks dear sister. I’m in awe of Blessed Pope Pius IX’s statement that besides God, one cannot even imagine a holiness greater than that of Mary.
 
patricius79 said:
Thanks dear sister. I’m in awe of Blessed Pope Pius IX’s statement that besides God, one cannot even imagine a holiness greater than that of Mary.
Click to expand...
Yes, dear brother Pat,

Mary our Mother has been honored so greatly by our God, and she is also our Model in humility - she opened her heart and mind and soul and strength to receive all His Holy Will - and said “Yes!” By His Grace, may we do the same.
 
MariaChristi said:
Yes, dear brother Pat,

Mary our Mother has been honored so greatly by our God, and she is also our Model in humility - she opened her heart and mind and soul and strength to receive all His Holy Will - and said “Yes!” By His Grace, may we do the same.
Click to expand...
The theologian Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange talks about how Mary’s love for us received a great increase for each one of us by the words of our dying Savior: “Behold your son”.

It is so beautiful.
 
patricius79 said:
The theologian Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange talks about how Mary’s love for us received a great increase for each one of us by the words of our dying Savior: “Behold your son”.

It is so beautiful.
Click to expand...
Thanks, brother Pat,

Yes, Mary’s love for us was increased by Jesus’ Words – she loves each with a unique love! 🙂
 
MariaChristi said:
Thanks, brother Pat,

Yes, Mary’s love for us was increased by Jesus’ Words – she loves each with a unique love! 🙂
Click to expand...
Little children and infants depend completely on their mothers. It is so simple.

She is so wonderfully consoling. She never asks for justice, but rather is all tenderness. She is the chosen channel of all Christ’s Infinite Mercy.

She is the Virgin most merciful, the Queen of all hearts, the Mother of the Church.

Here is Pope Pius IX:

This sublime and singular privilege of the Blessed Virgin, together with her most excellent innocence, purity, holiness and freedom from every stain of sin, as well as the unspeakable abundance and greatness of all heavenly graces, virtues and privileges — these the Fathers beheld in that ark of Noah, which was built by divine command and escaped entirely safe and sound from the common shipwreck of the whole world;[15] in the ladder which Jacob saw reaching from the earth to heaven, by whose rungs the angels of God ascended and descended, and on whose top the Lord himself leaned’[16] in that bush which Moses saw in the holy place burning on all sides, which was not consumed or injured in any way but grew green and blossomed beautifully;[17] in that impregnable tower before the enemy, from which hung a thousand bucklers and all the armor of the strong;[18] in that garden enclosed on all sides, which cannot be violated or corrupted by any deceitful plots;[19] as in that resplendent city of God, which has its foundations on the holy mountains;[20] in that most august temple of God, which, radiant with divine splendors, is full of the glory of God;[21] and in very many other biblical types of this kind. In such allusions the Fathers taught that the exalted dignity of the Mother of God, her spotless innocence and her sanctity unstained by any fault, had been prophesied in a wonderful manner.
 
patricius79 said:
Little children and infants depend completely on their mothers. It is so simple.

She is so wonderfully consoling. She never asks for justice, but rather is all tenderness. She is the chosen channel of all Christ’s Infinite Mercy.

She is the Virgin most merciful, the Queen of all hearts, the Mother of the Church.
Click to expand...
Thanks, brother Pat, for your reply and also for the beautiful quote from Pope Pius XI

We need to remember, however, that Mary is filled with God’s Grace and His Justice is important to her. At Fatima, Mary told us to stop offending God, for He is already much offended; that is, we need to stop sinning against His Commandments. He justly deserves our loving obedience. Mary also repeats her words at Cana: “Do whatever He tells you”.

She is truly the Mother of Mercy and she is also Mother of the Just and Holy God, Who is Truth and does the Truth lovingly. We cannot separate the attributes of God for He is one Supreme Being over all. He is both Justice and Mercy – and Mary reflects both.

Truly Mary is the channel of all His Graces to us, and we are consoled by her tenderness and we are told by Jesus that unless we turn and become as little children, we cannot enter heaven. By God’s Grace we can become like Mary our Mother and depend on her intercession to be true children of God and thus her true children as well.

We are blessed to have our truly “Unique Mother” for God has made her our perfect human Model – as we behold our Mother, we see all that we are called to be! Thank you, Jesus, for giving Mary to us, from Your Cross! Thank you Mary, for loving us so much! 🙂
 
MariaChristi said:
Thanks, brother Pat, for your reply and also for the beautiful quote from Pope Pius XI

We need to remember, however, that Mary is filled with God’s Grace and His Justice is important to her. At Fatima, Mary told us to stop offending God, for He is already much offended; that is, we need to stop sinning against His Commandments. He justly deserves our loving obedience. Mary also repeats her words at Cana: “Do whatever He tells you”.

She is truly the Mother of Mercy and she is also Mother of the Just and Holy God, Who is Truth and does the Truth lovingly. We cannot separate the attributes of God for He is one Supreme Being over all. He is both Justice and Mercy – and Mary reflects both.

Truly Mary is the channel of all His Graces to us, and we are consoled by her tenderness and we are told by Jesus that unless we turn and become as little children, we cannot enter heaven. By God’s Grace we can become like Mary our Mother and depend on her intercession to be true children of God and thus her true children as well.

We are blessed to have our truly “Unique Mother” for God has made her our perfect human Model – as we behold our Mother, we see all that we are called to be! Thank you, Jesus, for giving Mary to us, from Your Cross! Thank you Mary, for loving us so much! 🙂
Click to expand...
Yes, dear sister. Mary, the Mother of Mercy, helps us to love Jesus with all our hearts, by giving us her own heart, in which we live.

We cannot separate the attributes of God. But Mercy (Goodness) is the highest attribute of God. Jesus told Faustina he cannot punish even the greatest sinner if they make an appeal to His Compassion.

Jesus told st. Faustina that even the demons believe God is holy. But they do not believe that God is Goodness.

Christ has established Mary as our Mother in order to protect us from His Justice. As St. Maximilian Kolbe says, Mary is, in a sense, the “incarnation” of Divine Mercy.

Mary is the Refuge of sinners. No matter what we’ve done, she looks only at the intention with which we come to her for help.

Yes, amen, dear sister. Let us become as little children, depending on our Mother to help us to all of Christ’s will.

Here is a passage from St. Alphonsus Liguori:

Kings should, then, occupy themselves principally in works of mercy, but not so as to forget the just punishments that are to be inflicted on the guilty. It is, however, not thus with Mary, who, although a Queen, is not a queen of justice, intent on the punishment of the wicked,** but a queen of mercy, intent only on commiserating and pardoning sinners**. And this is the reason for which the Church requires that we should expressly call her “the Queen of Mercy.”
marys-touch.com/Glories/ChI.htm

Here is Pope Leo XIII:

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
 
I find it difficult to understand or love or feel Mary. 😶 It is wonderful, however, to see what she has done for many
 
Lea101 said:
I find it difficult to understand or love or feel Mary.
Click to expand...
May I ask why you find it difficult?

To me, it’s like loving my own mother, or maybe a grandmother since my own mother also had a devotion to Mary, so we both loved her as we would a beloved female relative, such as a grandma or a very special aunt.
 
i can identify 2 reasons…
The first one is that I don’t know much about Mary to feel a connection. For Jesus, we have the gospels, I can see what he said exactly, I can see his unique personality poking through and hence, I know him almost like how I might know someone in real life. With Mary, we have a tiny portion of the gospel, we have indirect sayings and people’s interpretations/assumptions of her personality.Personally it’s hard for me to know her. It’s like trying to love someone a friend has told you about, but have never directly seen or heard.

The second reason is that I don’t really have a mother-figure in my life (mom has passed years ago) and I was kind of an annoying child so I don’t understand how maternal love really feels like, or how it’s like to love a woman like that?
 
If you didn’t have a loving mom in your life, I can see where it might be hard to “get” Mary. Mary is like the ultimate wise, loving mom. At least that’s how I relate to her. ( I think some of the men who have or have had devotion to her put her on a pedestal as the ultimate “perfect woman”, which is a conception of her that I cannot relate to and don’t really want to.)

I have met people who did not have a father or father figure in their life or didn’t have a good relationship with the man who acted as their father, and they have difficulty with the Christian concept of God as a loving father, so it’s kind of the same thing.
 
My dad is waaayy worse than my mom but I personally find a connection to God much easier because we have the whole Bible. Not perfect, though, of course.

I do agree with some men’s view as the ‘ultimate perfect woman’. Not even lying, there was one guy in my parish who claims that Mary probably never pooped bc nothing ‘impure’ would come out of her. Oh my gosh. Thank goodness it’s not a common thing
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top