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![[MaryVitamin] Marriage of Mary & Joseph](https://deaconjohnspace.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/espousal3.jpg?w=540)
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Mother Mary said at Fatima: "My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the sure way which will lead you to God." St. Thomas Aquinas said: "The things we love tell us who we are!" With that in mind, I will try to post each day something about Our Blessed Lady, items about the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and public domain Catholic books too! I pray you enjoy my ministry! Below are two albums of pictures that I created: 1. Our grand daughter Adrianna. 2. Tears of Mary!
Friday, September 09, 2016
Life Issues Forum: Praying for Our Communities and Our Nation
Thursday, September 08, 2016
Ancient Prayer In Honor of Our Lady's Nativity by St. Anselm
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| Burning Bush - icon of Mother of God (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Tribulation Times
September 8, 2016
(Gen 3:15) I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall cursh thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
The Catholic Church observes the actual birthday (the day they were born) of only two saints: Saint John the Baptist (June 24), and Mary, Mother of Jesus (8th September). In the case of all other saints, especially martyrs, they are venerated on the day of their death, which is called their dies natalis, or “birthday”, meaning “the day of their birth into heaven”. Patrick Duffy touches on the theme of joy and some of the history of this feast.
The joy of the feast
The Benedictus antiphon at Morning Prayer sums up the joy of this feast: Your birth, O Virgin Mother of God, announced joy to the whole world, for from you has risen the Sun of Justice, Christ our God. He released us from the ancient curse and made us blessed; he destroyed death and gave us eternal life.
Origin in St Ann’s Basilica, Jerusalem
The origin of the liturgy of this feast can be traced to the consecration of the church in Jerusalem in the 6th century that has been traditionally known as the Basilica of St. Ann, the mother of Our lady. The original church built in the 5th century was a Marian basilica erected on the spot known as the shepherd’s field and thought to have been the home of Mary’s parents. After its destruction and reconstruction in the 6th century, it was named in honor of St. Ann.
Introduced to Rome
By the 7th century the liturgy of the feast was introduced to Rome by monks from the East, where Pope Sergius I (687-701) solemnised it with a litania, that is, a procession with prayers. The procession went from the Roman Forum to the Basilica of St. Mary Major’s.
The date
The date, 8th September, was chosen as the 8th day (an octave) after the start of the Byzantine New Year and although it was celebrated on various other dates through the centuries, 8th September predominated. Later, the feast celebrating Mary’s Immaculate Conception, was set to correspond with it, nine months beforehand, on 8th December.
Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant
In the East, Mary’s birthday is celebrated as one of the twelve great liturgies. The title for the liturgy in the East: “The Birth of Our Exalted Queen, the Birthgiver of God and Ever-Virgin Mary”. The oldest existing sermon for the liturgy was written by St. Andrew of Crete (660-740):
The present feast forms a link between the New and the Old Testament. It shows that Truth succeeds symbols and figures and that the New Covenant replaces the Old. Hence, all creation sings with joy, exults, and participates in the joy of this day. … This is, in fact, the day on which the Creator of the world constructed His temple; today is the day on which, by a stupendous project, a creature becomes the preferred dwelling of the Creator.
SERMON ST ANDREW, ARCHBISHOP OF CRETE: On the Nativity of the Virgin Mary
ST AUGUSTINE: “The Hoped for day of the blessed and venerable Virgin Mary ever a Virgin has now come; therefore let our earth rejoice with great gladness, illuminated by the birth of so great a Virgin. For she is the flower of the field from which came forth the priceless lily of the valley; by her child-bearing the nature inherited from our first parents is changed, their fault wiped out. In her the sentence passed on Eve was remitted which said, “In sorrow shall you bring forth children,” for Mary brought forth the Lord in joy.
Eve sorrowed, but Mary exulted; Eve carried weeping in her womb, but Mary carried joy, for Eve brought forth a sinner, but Mary innocence herself. The mother of our race brought punishment into the world, but the Mother of our Lord brought salvation into the world. Eve was the source of sin, Mary the source of merit. Eve by killing was a hindrance, Mary by giving life was a help. Ever wounded, Mary healed. Obedience takes place of disobedience, faith makes up for faithlessness.
Mary may now play on her instruments, the Mother strikes the cymbals with swift fingers. The joyful choruses may sound out and songs alternate with sweet harmonies. Hear, then, how the she sings, she who leads our chorus. For she says, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid; for, behold, hence forth all generations shall call me blessed because He who is mighty has done great things for me.” And so the miraculous new birth takes away the cause of our increasing burden of sin, and Mary’s song puts an end to the weeping Eve.”
Ancient Prayer In Honour of Our Lady's Nativity by St. Anselm: Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O sacred Virgin; give me strength against thine enemies, and against the enemy of the whole human race. Give me strength humbly to pray to thee. Give me strength to praise thee in prayer with all my powers, through the merits of thy most sacred nativity, which for the entire Christian world was a birth of joy, the hope and solace of its life.
When thou wast born, O most holy Virgin, then was the world made light.
Happy is thy stock, holy thy root, and blessed thy fruit, for thou alone as a virgin, filled with the Holy Spirit, didst merit to conceive thy God, as a virgin to bear Thy God, as a virgin to bring Him forth, and after His birth to remain a virgin.
Have mercy therefore upon me a sinner, and give me aid, O Lady, so that just as thy nativity, glorious from the seed of Abraham, sprung from the tribe of Juda, illustrious from the stock of David, didst announce joy to the entire world, so may it fill me with true joy and cleanse me from every sin.
Pray for me, O Virgin most prudent, that the gladsome joys of thy most helpful nativity may put a cloak over all my sins.
O holy Mother of God, flowering as the lily, pray to thy sweet Son for me, a wretched sinner.
Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com
September 8, 2016
(Gen 3:15) I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall cursh thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
The Catholic Church observes the actual birthday (the day they were born) of only two saints: Saint John the Baptist (June 24), and Mary, Mother of Jesus (8th September). In the case of all other saints, especially martyrs, they are venerated on the day of their death, which is called their dies natalis, or “birthday”, meaning “the day of their birth into heaven”. Patrick Duffy touches on the theme of joy and some of the history of this feast.
The joy of the feast
The Benedictus antiphon at Morning Prayer sums up the joy of this feast: Your birth, O Virgin Mother of God, announced joy to the whole world, for from you has risen the Sun of Justice, Christ our God. He released us from the ancient curse and made us blessed; he destroyed death and gave us eternal life.
Origin in St Ann’s Basilica, Jerusalem
The origin of the liturgy of this feast can be traced to the consecration of the church in Jerusalem in the 6th century that has been traditionally known as the Basilica of St. Ann, the mother of Our lady. The original church built in the 5th century was a Marian basilica erected on the spot known as the shepherd’s field and thought to have been the home of Mary’s parents. After its destruction and reconstruction in the 6th century, it was named in honor of St. Ann.
Introduced to Rome
By the 7th century the liturgy of the feast was introduced to Rome by monks from the East, where Pope Sergius I (687-701) solemnised it with a litania, that is, a procession with prayers. The procession went from the Roman Forum to the Basilica of St. Mary Major’s.
The date
The date, 8th September, was chosen as the 8th day (an octave) after the start of the Byzantine New Year and although it was celebrated on various other dates through the centuries, 8th September predominated. Later, the feast celebrating Mary’s Immaculate Conception, was set to correspond with it, nine months beforehand, on 8th December.
Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant
In the East, Mary’s birthday is celebrated as one of the twelve great liturgies. The title for the liturgy in the East: “The Birth of Our Exalted Queen, the Birthgiver of God and Ever-Virgin Mary”. The oldest existing sermon for the liturgy was written by St. Andrew of Crete (660-740):
The present feast forms a link between the New and the Old Testament. It shows that Truth succeeds symbols and figures and that the New Covenant replaces the Old. Hence, all creation sings with joy, exults, and participates in the joy of this day. … This is, in fact, the day on which the Creator of the world constructed His temple; today is the day on which, by a stupendous project, a creature becomes the preferred dwelling of the Creator.
SERMON ST ANDREW, ARCHBISHOP OF CRETE: On the Nativity of the Virgin Mary
ST AUGUSTINE: “The Hoped for day of the blessed and venerable Virgin Mary ever a Virgin has now come; therefore let our earth rejoice with great gladness, illuminated by the birth of so great a Virgin. For she is the flower of the field from which came forth the priceless lily of the valley; by her child-bearing the nature inherited from our first parents is changed, their fault wiped out. In her the sentence passed on Eve was remitted which said, “In sorrow shall you bring forth children,” for Mary brought forth the Lord in joy.
Eve sorrowed, but Mary exulted; Eve carried weeping in her womb, but Mary carried joy, for Eve brought forth a sinner, but Mary innocence herself. The mother of our race brought punishment into the world, but the Mother of our Lord brought salvation into the world. Eve was the source of sin, Mary the source of merit. Eve by killing was a hindrance, Mary by giving life was a help. Ever wounded, Mary healed. Obedience takes place of disobedience, faith makes up for faithlessness.
Mary may now play on her instruments, the Mother strikes the cymbals with swift fingers. The joyful choruses may sound out and songs alternate with sweet harmonies. Hear, then, how the she sings, she who leads our chorus. For she says, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid; for, behold, hence forth all generations shall call me blessed because He who is mighty has done great things for me.” And so the miraculous new birth takes away the cause of our increasing burden of sin, and Mary’s song puts an end to the weeping Eve.”
Ancient Prayer In Honour of Our Lady's Nativity by St. Anselm: Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O sacred Virgin; give me strength against thine enemies, and against the enemy of the whole human race. Give me strength humbly to pray to thee. Give me strength to praise thee in prayer with all my powers, through the merits of thy most sacred nativity, which for the entire Christian world was a birth of joy, the hope and solace of its life.
When thou wast born, O most holy Virgin, then was the world made light.
Happy is thy stock, holy thy root, and blessed thy fruit, for thou alone as a virgin, filled with the Holy Spirit, didst merit to conceive thy God, as a virgin to bear Thy God, as a virgin to bring Him forth, and after His birth to remain a virgin.
Have mercy therefore upon me a sinner, and give me aid, O Lady, so that just as thy nativity, glorious from the seed of Abraham, sprung from the tribe of Juda, illustrious from the stock of David, didst announce joy to the entire world, so may it fill me with true joy and cleanse me from every sin.
Pray for me, O Virgin most prudent, that the gladsome joys of thy most helpful nativity may put a cloak over all my sins.
O holy Mother of God, flowering as the lily, pray to thy sweet Son for me, a wretched sinner.
Ladder of Divine Ascent excerpt: Step 7- "On Joy-Making Mourning"
15. Be concentrated without self-display, withdrawn into your heart. For the demons fear concentration as thieves fear dogs.Prayer request? Send an email to: PrayerRequest3@aol.com
This month's archive can be found at: http://www.
Friday, August 26, 2016
A controversial sex education program—supported by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family—is getting a lot of criticism.
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A controversial sex education program—supported by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family—is getting a lot of criticism.
We took a close look and found that it includes morally offensive images and other inappropriate content that “compromises the innocence and integrity of young people.”“Catholic parents and educators should not assume that this program in its current form is suitable for a faithful Catholic education simply because of its association with the Pontifical Council for the Family,” reads The Cardinal Newman Society report on The Meeting Point: Course of Affective Sexual Education for Young People.
Please read our full report here, as well as Patrick Reilly’s article about the program at National Catholic Register.
Also:
- See the clip of Patrick Reilly’s appearance yesterday on “EWTN News Nightly.”
- Check out my article on Donald Trump speaking at Sacred Heart University published at The Federalist.
- And don’t miss our weekly Catholic education news roundup by Matt Archbold.
Please keep our important mission to promote and defend faithful Catholic education in your prayers. May God bless you and your family!
In Christ,
Adam Cassandra
Editor
Thursday, August 25, 2016
From CMMB: DOUBLE your impact on children’s lives
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Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Did you know Our Lady of America appeared to a Precious Blood Sister from Ohio?
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Monday, August 01, 2016
ISIS is the Result of Christians “Growing Flaccid in Virtue and Ignorant of its Own Moral Foundations.”
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ISIS is the Result of Christians “Growing Flaccid in Virtue and Ignorant of its Own Moral Foundations.”
Don’t Be Fooled – Defend Yourself and Family Against ISISBy Fr. George William Rutler, Lifezette.com:
Fr. George William Rutler
Turning the other cheek is the counsel Christ gave in the instance of an individual when morally insulted: Humility conquers pride. It has nothing to do with self-defense. Christ warned the apostles, as shepherds, to beware of wolves.
Defend Yourself and Your Family
The Catholic Church has always maintained that the defiance of an
evil force is not only a right but an obligation. Its Catechism (cf.
#2265) cites St. Thomas Aquinas: “Legitimate defense can be not
only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another’s
life, the common good of the family or of the State.”A father is culpable if he does not protect his family. A bishop has the same duty as a spiritual father of his sons and daughters in the church, just as the civil state has as its first responsibility the maintenance of the “tranquility of order” through self-defense.
Christ warned the apostles, as shepherds, to beware of wolves. This
requires both the “shrewdness of serpents and the innocence of
doves.” To shrink from the moral duty to protect peace by not using
force when needed is to be innocent as a serpent and shrewd as a dove.
That is not innocence — it is naiveté.
Saints Leading the Way into Battle
Saint John Capistrano led an army against the Moors in 1456 to
protect Belgrade. In 1601, Saint Lawrence of Brindisi did the same in
defense of Hungary. As Franciscans, they carried no sword and charged on
horseback into battle carrying a crucifix. They inspired the shrewd
generals and soldiers, whom they had assembled through artful diplomacy,
with their brave innocence.This is not obscure trivia: Were it not for Charles Martel at Tours in 732 and Jan Sobieski at the gates of Vienna in 1683 — and most certainly had Pope Saint Pius V not enlisted Andrea Doria and Don Juan at Lepanto in 1571 — we would not be here now. No Western nations as we know them — no universities, no modern science, no human rights — would exist. In the ninth century, the long line of martyrs of Cordoba told the Spanish Umayyad Caliph Abd Ar-Rahman II that his denial of Christ was infernal, and that they would rather die than surrender. Saint Juan de Ribera (d. 1611) and St. Alfonsus Liguori (d. 1787) repeated the admonition that the concept of peace in Islam requires not co-existence but submission.
It’s Our Own Fault
The dormancy of Islam until recent times, however, has obscured the threat that this poses — especially to a Western civilization that has grown flaccid in virtue and ignorant of its own moral foundations.The shortcut to handling the crisis is to deny that it exists. On the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, there were over 60 speeches, and yet not one of them mentioned ISIS. Vice has destroyed countless individual souls, but in the decline of civilizations, weakness has done more harm than vice. “Peace for our time” is as empty now as it was when Chamberlain went to Munich and honor was bartered in Vichy. Hilaire Belloc, who knew Normandy and all of Europe well, said in 1929: “We shall almost certainly have to reckon with Islam in the near future. Perhaps, if we lose our faith, it will rise. For after this subjugation of the Islamic culture by the nominally Christian had already been achieved, the political conquerors of that culture began to notice two disquieting features about it. The first was that its spiritual foundation proved immovable; the second, that its area of occupation did not recede, but on the contrary slowly expanded.” The priest in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvrary in Normandy, France, was not the first to die at the altar — and he will not be the last. In his old age, the priest embodied a civilization that has been betrayed by a generation whose hymn was John Lennon’s “Imagine” — that there was neither heaven nor hell but “above us only sky” and “all the people living for today.” When reality intrudes, they can only leave teddy bears and balloons at the site of a carnage they call “inexplicable.” Fr. George William Rutler is a Catholic priest and the pastor of the Church of St. Michael in Manhattan. |
| from Courageous Priest. . |
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Friday, July 22, 2016
Catholic charged with “hate crime”
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Jesus promised, "the truth will set you free." Even so, enemies will "insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me."
And so it is in today's culture. Speaking the truth about gender and human sexuality can make you a target of "hate crime" accusations. Even at a Catholic university!
That's what reportedly happened last April to an employee at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles. She said that she told students that God created human beings male and female. The students accused her of a "hate crime."
LMU suspended the employee during a week of university-sponsored events celebrating the "LGBT community"… but good news! She has been reinstated, albeit without apology from the university. Read more about it here.
It sure seems a fitting time to recall the disastrous "Land O' Lakes Statement," which spurred along the secularization of many Catholic universities. Marking the statement's 49th anniversary this week, Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick Reilly published a must-read piece at National Catholic Register.
Reilly accuses the Land O' Lakes signers of choosing pride and prestige over Catholic identity, resulting in "a voluntary exile from the once-lush gardens of truth and wisdom that had distinguished the world’s Catholic universities."
Please read and share these articles, along with our other reports linked below. By helping us teach others about these issues, you play a critical role in our mission to promote and defend faithful Catholic education. Thank you, and may God bless you!
In Christ,
Adam Cassandra
Editor, The Cardinal Newman Society
The Latest on Catholic Education:
The Land O' Lakes Statement Has Caused Devastation For 49 Yearsby Patrick Reilly
In hindsight, what they did was appalling. But when several Catholic university leaders gathered in the summer of 1967 at a remote retreat in Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin, did they fully anticipate the consequences of their vision for "modern" Catholic education? Hopefully not.
LMU Reinstates Employee Accused of ‘Hate Crime’ for Defending Church Teachingby Adam Cassandra
The supposed "hate crime" in question involved a calm and reasoned defense of Church teaching on human sexuality by the employee in a conversation with students on campus during "Rainbow Week" — a celebration of the "LGBT community" sponsored by the University’s LGBT Student Services Office.
Mount Interim President Stresses Importance of Catholic Identity, Liberal Artsby Adam Cassandra
In a Q&A the Mount recently published with Trainor, he extols the "wisdom and guidance" of Ex corde Ecclesiae and says he values the "strong Catholic identity" at the Mount. Trainor also says in the interview that a liberal arts education "provide(s) the foundation for people to be critical thinkers and creative problem solvers."
Land O’ Lakes on Steroidsby William Dempsey
In publicly spurning the counsel of Notre Dame's (and his) bishop for the third time, University President Father John Jenkins has further undermined the crucially important relationship between Notre Dame and the Church. More, he rejected the recommendations for honorees from a faculty committee and took an action he knew would divide alumni, becloud the commencement and again stain Notre Dame's reputation in the pro-life community.
Cardinal Newman Profiled in Bishop Barron’s New Video Seriesby Adam Cassandra
The Cardinal Newman Society’s patron, Blessed John Henry Newman, is featured in a new video series produced by Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron "CATHOLICISM: The Pivotal Players," a multi-part series "that illumines a handful of saints, artists, mystics, and scholars who not only shaped the life of the Church but changed the course of civilization."
Latest News from Around the Web:
Catholic Theological Society Awards Highest Honor to 'Married' Gay Prof (LifeSiteNews)
Teaching the Faith in a Time of Crisis (Crisis Magazine)
Newman Guide-Recommended Institutions Team Up to Offer Associate's degrees to High School and Home School Students (Angelicum.net)
The Disappearance of the Real University? (National Catholic Register)
New Institute to Offer Online Classes in Medieval Theology and Philosophy (Catholic World Report)
Priests' Involvement is Seen as Vital to Parish Schools' Success (Aleteia)
Canada: Emails Reveal Catholic School More Concerned About Being Transgender 'Positive' Than Following Church Teaching (LifeSiteNews)
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