Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of the Church

Pope Francis decreed in 2018 that the ancient devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Mother of the Church, be inserted into the Roman Calendar for the universal Church.

http://www.cultodivino.va/content/cultodivino/it/documenti/decreti-generali/decreti-generali/2018/de-beata-maria-virgine-ecclesiae-matre/decretum/englih.html

The liturgical celebration, Beatæ Mariæ Virginis, Ecclesiæ Matris, will be celebrated annually as a Memorial on the day after Pentecost.

Scripture, depicts Mary at the foot of the Cross (cf. Jn 19:25): 

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

There she became the Mother of the Church when she accepted her Son’s testament of love and welcomed all people in the person of the beloved disciple as sons and daughters to be reborn unto life eternal.

This title has its origins in the early Church Fathers.

St. Leo the Great says that "the birth of the Head is also the birth of the body", thus indicating that Mary is at once Mother of Christ, the Son of God, and mother of the members of his Mystical Body, which is the Church.

St. Augustine says that Mary is the "mother of the members of Christ, because with charity she cooperated in the rebirth of the faithful into the Church".

In 1964, Pope Paul VI “declared the Blessed Virgin Mary as ‘Mother of the Church, that is to say of all Christian people, the faithful as well as the pastors, who call her the most loving Mother’ and established that ‘the Mother of God should be further honored and invoked by the entire Christian people by this tenderest of titles’”

DIVINE OFFICE: Proper texts for the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of the Church

http://www.cultodivino.va/content/cultodivino/it/documenti/decreti-generali/decreti-generali/2018/de-beata-maria-virgine-ecclesiae-matre/adnexus.html

English translation of the texts as published by Universalis https://universalis.com/L/20190610/today.htm

PRAYER COLLECT

O God, Father of mercies, whose Only Begotten Son, as he hung upon the Cross, chose the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother, to be our Mother also; grant, we pray, that with her loving help, your Church may be more fruitful day by day, and exulting in the holiness of her children, may draw to her embrace all the families of the peoples. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Office of Readings

HYMN

Hail, of paradise the portal!

  Tree of Life regained, immortal;

Whence, through thee, all sweetness floweth,

  And salvation’s fruit still groweth.

Thou our hearts aright inclinest,

  On our life’s way brightly shinest;

Us from God’s just anger savest,

  Who to man our Saviour gavest.

Hail! Blest shrine of God the Father,

  Thither sinners haste to gather;

Pardon for their guilt obtaining,

  Freedom from the foe’s enchaining;

Strength from thee the weak shall borrow,

  Comfort, thou, of all who sorrow;

From the final wrath tremendous,

  Mother of our Christ, defend us.

Star of ocean! Mother fairest!

  Who the name of Mary bearest;

In thy bright illumination

  Pales each star and constellation.

Hail, O Father! Hail, sweet Mother!

  Hail, O Son of God, our Brother!

Let the hosts of heaven adore thee,

  Every spirit bow before thee.

Second Reading

From an allocution by Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council –(Allocutione ad Patres Concilii Vaticani II, die 21 novembris 1964)

The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

Meditating on the close relationships between Mary and the Church, for the glory of the Virgin Mary and for our own consolation, we proclaim the Most Blessed Mary Mother of the Church, that is to say of all the people of God, of the faithful as well as of the pastors, who call her the most loving Mother. And we wish that the Mother of God should be still more honoured and invoked by the entire Christian people by this most sweet title.

  This is a title, venerable brothers, not new to Christian piety; it is precisely by this title, in preference to all others, that the faithful and the Church address Mary. It truly is part of the genuine substance of devotion to Mary, finding its justification in the very dignity of the Mother of the word Incarnate.

  Just as, in fact, the divine maternity is the basis for her special relationship with Christ, and for her presence in the economy of salvation brought about by Jesus Christ, thus it also constitutes the principal basis for the relations between Mary and the Church, since she is the mother of him who, right from the time of his Incarnation in her virginal bosom, joined to himself as head his Mystical Body which is the Church. Mary, then, as mother of Christ, is mother also of all the faithful and of all the pastors.

  It is therefore with a soul full of trust and filial love that we raise our glance to her, despite our unworthiness and weakness. She, who has given us in Jesus the fountainhead of grace, will not fail to succour the Church, now flourishing through the abundance of the gifts of the Holy Ghost and setting herself with new zeal to the fulfilment of its mission of salvation.

  And our trust is even more lively and fully corroborated if we consider the very close links between this heavenly Mother of ours and mankind. Although adorned by God with the riches of admirable prerogatives, to make her a worthy Mother of the Word Incarnate, she is nevertheless very close to us. Daughter of Adam, like ourselves, and therefore our sister through ties of nature, she is, however, the creature who was preserved from original sin in view of the merits of the Saviour, and who possesses besides the privileges obtained the personal virtue of a total and exemplary faith, thus deserving the evangelical praise, beata quae credidisti (blessed art thou who believed). In her earthly life, she realised the perfect image of the disciple of Christ, reflected every virtue, and incarnated the evangelical beatitudes proclaimed by Christ. Therefore in her, the entire Church, in its incomparable variety of life and of work, attains the most authentic form of the perfect imitation of Christ.

Responsory                                                               Cf. Cf. Lk 1,35

The Holy Spirit came down upon Mary:
—* The Power of the Most High overshadowed her.

Once more He filled her who shared in the Passion of her own Son, as Mother of all the redeemed.
—* The Power of the Most High overshadowed her.

Morning Prayer

HYMN

Mary Immaculate, star of the morning,

  Chosen before the creation began,

Chosen to bring in the light of thy dawning,

  Woe to the serpent and rescue to man.

Here, in this world of both shadow and sadness

  Veiling thy splendour, thy course hast thou run:

Now thou art throned in all glory and gladness,

  Crowned by the hand of thy Saviour and Son.

Sinners, we worship thy sinless perfection;

  Fallen and weak, for thy pity we plead:

Grant us the shield of thy sov’reign protection,

  Measure thine aid by the depth of our need.

Bend from thy throne at the voice of our crying,

  Bend to this earth which thy footsteps have trod:

Stretch out thine arms to us, living and dying,

  Mary Immaculate, Mother of God.

Benedictus Antiphon

The disciples, with one mind, persevered in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

Evening Prayer

HYMN

Hail, Queen of the heavens, hail Mistress of earth;

Hail, Virgin most pure of immaculate birth:

Clear star of the morning in beauty enshrined;

O Lady, make speed to the help of mankind.

Thee God in the depth of eternity chose,

And formed thee all fair as his glorious spouse,

And called thee his own Word’s true Mother to be

By whom he created the earth, sky, and sea.

Hail, Mother most pure, hail, Virgin renowned,

Hail, Queen with the stars as a diadem crowned;

Above all the angels in glory untold,

Set next to the King in a vesture of gold.

These praises and prayers we lay at thy feet,

O Virgin of virgins, O Mary most sweet:

Be thou our true guide through this pilgrimage here,

And stand by our side when our death draweth near.

MAGNIFICAT Antiphon 

Jesus said to His Mother: Woman, behold your son; then He said to the disciple, behold your mother.

The Glorious Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

"By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory."

          From the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII, "Munificentísimus Deus", defining the dogma of the Assumption of Mary into heaven

 - November 1, 1950. 

********************

Booklet of the Divine Office with Gregorian Chant for Morning and Evening Prayer on the liturgical 

Solemnity of the Assumption - August 15

The beautiful centuries old antiphons of the liturgy for the Assumption gathered in the official prayer of the Church, the Divine Office, speak of our faith around Mary and the perfect way in which the Mystery of Redemption was accomplished in Her, thus fulfilling the Plan of God:

Christ ascended into Heaven and prepared an everlasting place for His Immaculate Mother, alleluia!

Through Eve the gates of Heaven were closed to all mankind through the Virgin Mother they were opened wide again, alleluia!

The Virgin Mary has been exalted above all the Heavens; come, let all men glorify Christ the King, whose Kingdom will endure for ever, alleluia!

All generations will call me Blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, alleluia!

Arise, O Virgin Queen, you are for ever worthy of our praise; take your place in the glorious dwelling place of the Eternal King!

The Lord has chose Her, his loved one from the beginning. He has taken Her to live with Him.

Glorious things are said of you, O Virgin Mary!

Blessed are you, O Mary, for the world's salvation came forth through you; now in glory, you rejoice for ever with the Lord!

The Virgin Mary is exalted above the choirs of angels; let all believers rejoice and bless the Lord!

The Lord has made you so glorious that your praise will never cease to resound among men.

We acclaim you, Holy Mary, as Queen of Heave; the Sun of Justice came froth from your bridal chamber!

The Holy Mother of God is exalted in glory, above the choirs of angels, in the Kingdom of Heaven!

We share the fruit of life through you, O daughter blessed by the Lord!

**************

Some mystics of the Church have been given a profound insight into the mystery celebrated by the Church under the title of the Assumption.  

Here are two examples from two mystics in the way to sainthood, whose writings have been declared by the Church free-from theological error:

I

The Assumption as described by Venerable Maria of Jesus of Agreda in her "Mystical City of God" 

Our Redeemer Jesus entered heaven conducting the purest soul of his Mother at his right hand.

She should be his Companion for all eternity, possessing such a likeness to Him, that none greater can be possible between a Godman and a creature. In this light the Redeemer himself presented Her before the throne of the Divinity; and speaking to the eternal Father in the presence of all the blessed, who were ravished at this wonder, the most sacred humanity uttered these words: "Eternal Father, my most beloved Mother, thy beloved Daughter and the cherished Spouse of the Holy Ghost, now comes to take possession of the crown and glory, which We have prepared as a reward for her merit.

She is the one who was born as the rose among thorns, untouched, pure and beautiful, worthy of being embraced by Us and of being placed upon a throne to which none of our creatures can ever attain, and to which those conceived in sin cannot aspire. This is our chosen and our only One, distinguished above all else, to whom We communicated our grace and our perfections beyond the measure accorded to other creatures; in whom We have deposited the treasure of our incomprehensible Divinity and its gifts; who most faithfully preserved and made fruitful the talents, which We gave Her; who never swerved from our will, and who found grace and pleasure in our eyes.

The most holy soul of Mary was immediately raised to the right hand of her Son and true God, and placed on the royal throne of the most holy Trinity, which neither men, nor angels nor the seraphim themselves attain, and will not attain for all eternity. This is the most exalted and supereminent privilege of our Queen and Lady, that She is seated on the throne with the three divine Persons and holds her place as Empress, while all the rest are set as servants and ministers to the highest King. To the eminence and majesty of that position, inaccessible to all other creatures, correspond her gifts of glory, comprehension, vision and fruition.

The full chapter on the Assumption can be read here:

****************

II

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary as explained to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta in her "Book of Heaven" Vol. 18  

I began to think about the feast of my Celestial Mama Assumed into Heaven; and my sweet Jesus, with a tender and moving tone, added: “My daughter, the true name of this Feast should be Feast of the Divine Will.

It was the human will that closed Heaven, broke the bonds with its Creator, made miseries and sorrow enter the field, and put an end to the feast that the creature was to enjoy in Heaven. Now, this creature, Queen of all, by doing the Will of the Eternal One always and in everything – even more, it can be said that Her life was Divine Will alone – opened the Heavens, bound Herself to the Eternal One, and restored in Heaven the feasts with the creature.

So, the true cause of this feast is the Eternal Will operating and fulfilled in my Celestial Mama. It operated such prodigies in Her as to astonish Heaven and earth, chain the Eternal One with indissoluble bonds of love, and capture the Word even into Her womb.

The very Angels, enraptured, repeated among themselves: ‘From where comes so much glory, so much honor, such greatness and prodigies never before seen, in this excelling Creature? Yet, it is from the exile that She is coming.’

Astonished, they recognized the Will of their Creator as Life operating in Her; and, trembling, they said: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy - honor and glory to the Will of Our Sovereign Lord. And glory, and trice Holy - She who let this Supreme Will operate.’

So, it is My Will that, more than anything, was and is celebrated on the day of the Assumption into Heaven of my Most Holy Mother.

It was My Will alone that made Her ascend so high as to distinguish Her among all. Everything else would have been as nothing, had She not possessed the prodigy of my Will.

It was My Will that gave Her Divine Fecundity and made Her the Mother of the Word. 

It was My Will that made Her see and embrace all creatures together, becoming the Mother of all, and loving all with a love of Divine Maternity. And making Her the Queen of all, It made Her rule and dominate. 

On that day, My Will received the first honors, the glory and the abundant fruit of Its work in Creation, and It began Its feast, which It never interrupts, for the glorification of Its operating in my beloved Mother.

And even though Heaven was opened by Me, and many Saints were already in possession of the Celestial Fatherland when the Celestial Queen was assumed into Heaven, however, She Herself was the primary cause, having fulfilled the Supreme Will in everything, and therefore we waited for She who had honored It so much and contained the true prodigy of the Most Holy Will, to make the first feast for the Supreme Volition. 

Oh! how the whole of Heaven magnified, blessed and praised the Eternal Will, upon seeing this sublime Queen enter the Empyreum, in the midst of the Celestial Court, all circumfused by the Eternal Sun of the Supreme Volition! They saw Her all studded with the power of the Supreme Fiat; there had been not even a heartbeat in Her which did not have this Fiat impressed on it. And, astonished, they looked at Her and said to Her: ‘Ascend, ascend higher. It is right that She who so much honored the Supreme Fiat, and through whom we find ourselves in the Celestial Fatherland, have the highest throne and be our Queen.’ And the greatest honor that my Mama received, was to see the Divine Will glorified.”  Book of Heaven August 15, 1925

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple - Pro Orantibus Day -

Although not recorded in Scripture, today the Church celebrates the Consecration of the Infant Mary to God in the Temple of Jerusalem.

The story is related in some of the apocryphal gospels, and is extensively recorded in The Mystical City of God of the Ven. Maria de Jesus de Agreda (book II ch 1). Here are some excerpts (#421-422):

421. The three years time decreed by the Lord having been completed, Joachim and Anne set out from Nazareth, accompanied by a few of their kindred and bringing with them the true living Ark of the covenant, the most holy Mary, borne on the arms of her mother in order to be deposited in the holy temple of Jerusalem. The beautiful Child, by her fervent and loving aspirations, hastened after the ointments of her Beloved, seeking in the temple Him, whom She bore in her heart...

Thus they pursued their journey from Nazareth to the holy city of Jerusalem, and also the parents of the holy child Mary felt in their hearts great joy and consolation of spirit.

422. They arrived at the holy temple, and the blessed Anne on entering took her Daughter and Mistress by the hand, accompanied and assisted by saint Joachim. All three offered a devout and fervent prayer to the Lord; the parents offering to God their Daughter, and the most holy Child, in profound humility, adoration and worship, offering up Herself...

Having offered their prayers, they rose and betook themselves to the priest. The parents consigned their Child into his hands and he gave them his blessing. Together they conducted Her to the portion of the temple buildings, where many young girls lived to be brought up in retirement and in virtuous habits, until old enough to assume the state of matrimony. It was a place of retirement especially selected for the first-born daughters of the royal tribe of Juda and the sacerdotal tribe of Levi.

On this special Marian feast, the Church celebrates also her contemplatives, the lives consecrated to God in a life of prayer. Thus this is also called "Pro Orantibus Day" -the Day For Those Who Pray-

Pope Francis marked the ocassion by visiting the contemplative monastery of the Camaldolese nuns in Rome, and prayed with them Vespers as well as a time of adoration to the Blessed Sacrament. 

Here is a short video of the visit:

Some references for the Pro Orantibus Day: http://www.cloisteredlife.com/pro-orantibus-day/

Saint Joseph

May is the month traditionally dedicated to Mary, Mother of Jesus, and on the first day of this month the Church invites us to look at Joseph, her husband. Yet instead of focusing on Joseph's working example, let us listen this time to a possible description of the confidential sharing of his bride about what kind of person was Joseph, how they met and got engaged, and how was their relationship.

Mary speaks:
There was my natural life and my supernatural life. I lived as a daughter of Israel, attending the synagogue, learning the Jewish scriptures and fulfilling my role. No one would have singled me out. I dressed and ate as others. I participated in family life and in the community life at Nazareth.
The Three Divine Persons
Yet, within me, my soul was absorbed by this light that revealed God. I understood God as taught by the scriptures, that He was one and there was no other. But my supernatural light brought me to understand that within this oneness there were three perfect Persons, all eternal and almighty. I did not share this with others, because I could not fully describe my experiences.
Meeting Joseph
Then, I met Joseph. He was kind and thoughtful. He, too, was holy and devout. Holiness joined us together. My soul rejoiced in his presence and I shared with him some beginning revelations, those that I could put into words. He always responded and I could see that my words gave nourishment to his soul. So, we spoke often. Our Jewish faith gave us many common themes. He was a just man, always living according to the Mosaic Law.
I could not explain my attraction to him. This attraction itself was a mystery and somehow, it shared in the mystery of God and the three Persons. The more I was absorbed in God in heaven, the more I felt attracted to Joseph on earth. God, himself, had singled him out and, my love for Joseph in no way violated my love for God. The two went together in a mystery that I could not understand but which was so evident to me.
The Proposal to Marry
Then came a special moment. I can never forget it. Joseph was older than I and he had never thought of marrying again. However, as we shared our mutual love for God, we both felt an attraction which we knew was there but we never spoke about. Then, one day, under a divine inspiration, Joseph asked me to be his wife. At this point, I had to tell him what God was doing in my soul. I told him that I felt absorbed by God and, in these great gifts I had given myself totally to God, that I had consecrated myself in a way that no daughter of Abraham would even think of doing. I had told God that I would be his perpetual virgin. This was the first gift. I also explained to Joseph that my attraction for him and his attraction for me was part of my divine experiences, that as I was absorbed into God, my heart was also moved closer to Joseph. So, I placed this great mystery before him in the only words I knew. He, somehow, understood. Yet, both of us did not know the outcome. I knew he was a just man and would ponder the situation.
Joseph’s Decision
Soon, however, he returned and said that, through me, God had touched his own heart and he, too, felt drawn into this holy calling. He would share in my virginal consecration. Again, he asked me to be his wife, with the understanding that he would always love me and protect me as a husband but would never ask me for the rights that a husband has regarding his wife.
We both knew that God had consummated a great gift. We were more mutually joined in our hearts than any other couple who had promised to marry each other. We were betrothed and we told everyone. No one else knew the great mystery. In the eyes of all, we were just like any other betrothed couple, waiting for the day when Joseph would tell my parents that he wanted to take me into his home. This would be the final and concluding moment.
In my own heart, my heavenly call and my earthly call had come together. This question was now answered. When I consecrated my virginity to God, I did not know how this could ever be fulfilled in my Jewish culture which made no such provision. God, in whom I had trusted, had everything prepared and I rejoiced in God my Savior.

www.locutions.org/2012/03/joseph-my-husband/

The greatest of God's interventions in our world since the Big Bang of Creation, which was the Incarnation of the Word, happened in the hiddenness of the most common and ordinary of places and human stories: youth, love, decisions, doubts, choices, fidelity, obedience, paradox, freedom, risk taking ... Just a mix that may be found in any of our lives ... if we too choose to live and walk in God's Presence. God has a magnificent plan for each one of us also. 

May Saint Joseph intercede for us today, together with Mary, his most Holy Spouse, so that we too may open our freedom to the breath of the Spirit in the silence of our heart. And may we work out with God, through prayer, the direction we are to take in every fork, small or big, of our life journey.

Witness to Christ's Risen Life

Today's reading at Mass (Acts 14:19-28) treated us to a matter of fact account of the boldness of Paul the Apostle in the face of persecution. While Paul and Barnabas where at Lystra: 

Some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.²⁰ But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

He was left behind as a corpse. This is how badly the stoning went. When the disciples came to pick up the pieces he got up and returned into the city -kind of shaking the dust off as if nothing really had happened. The next day he was in the way again. 

 ²¹ They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,

Paul not only did not run away or hide himself after being stoned but returned to the very territory of his attackers, back to Lystra, to Iconium and to Antioch. And we are told this itinerary in successive verses, which means that things happened one after the other; we are not talking about going back years later.

²² strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. 

I ask myself today, what kind of hardships am I willing and ready to go through in order to remain true to the faith and the Kingdom. Something to ponder and to pray about.

One of the Intercessions of Morning Prayer read this morning: Christ our Savior ... make us witnesses to your risen life. What a wonderful example of this witnessing we have in the passage of St. Paul quoted before. 

Paul's kind of courage in the face of persecution is a clear witness to the power of Jesus' Resurrection. Paul went to the desert for several years after his conversion and in the struggle of fighting his demons he surrendered his very life and being to God and became, truly, a Living Memory of Jesus, and His Apostle. This is the witness to the Risen Christ that, as Christians, we all are invited to give with our lives today too.

In our troubled times we are, again, getting almost daily news of persecutions and martyrdom, whether in India, Egypt, China or in our own countries. In some places churches are being attacked and burned, and Christians martyred. In other places teachers and doctors are removed from their jobs because they teach that abortion is murder or refuse to perform one. We may not be in those situations but maybe can think of a neighbor or a family member who is in need of a hand. 

Like Paul we too need to shake the dust off our comfortable souls and pray in earnest for our own conversion, for the healing of our blindness that prevents us from seeing Jesus in our brothers and sisters, and for the the grace to come so close to Jesus as to truly become witnesses to His risen life. 

Let us pray for each other as we request the intercession of Mary, Help of Christians, to bring to birth in our lives the passion for God that will make us Living Memories of Jesus, the Risen Christ.

Mary, Help of Christians - Our Lady of She Shan

Today, May 24, is the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, a well known advocation of Mary that spread especially with the Salesians all over the world.

Mary is venerated under this title in the shrine of She Shan, in Shanghai, China. As we know the Church in China is suffering persecution for their faith. Pope Benedict has requested that this be a Day in which the whole Church unites in prayer with and for the Church in China. As an expression of this great concern he has composed a prayer to Our Lady Help of Christians :

"Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother, venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title 

'Help of Christians,'

the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection. 

We come before you today to implore your protection. 

Look upon the People of God and, with a mother's care,

 guide them along the paths of truth and love, 

so that they may always be 

a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.

"When you obediently said 'yes' in the house of Nazareth, 

you allowed God's eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb 

and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption. 

You willingly and generously co-operated in that work, 

allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul, 

until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary, 

standing beside your Son, who died that we might live.

"From that moment, you became, in a new way, 

the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith 

and choose to follow in His footsteps by taking up His Cross. 

Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday 

you journeyed with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter. 

Grant that your children may discern at all times, even those that are darkest, 

the signs of God's loving presence.

"Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China, 

who, amid their daily trails, continue to believe, to hope, to love. 

May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world, and of the world to Jesus. 

In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high, 

offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love. 

Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love, 

ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built. 

Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. 

Amen!"

The shrine at Sheshan, with its “nine peaks above the clouds” is situated about 35 kilometres from Shanghai city. The mountain, according to legend, gets its name from a hermit named She who centuries ago, lived atop the mountain. 
In 1866, the Church in Shanghai built a hexagonal pavilion and placed within it an altar and a statue of Our Lady. Five years later, the Jesuits built a church at the summit of the mountain and dedicated it to Our Lady Help of Christians, opening it in 1873. 
In 1924, the bishops of China consecrated the nation to Our Lady and following the consecration they made a pilgrimage to Sheshan. Work on a basilica began in 1925 and was completed 10 years later. This church was the first basilica in all of the Far East and it became China’s favourite pilgrimage site. 
During the Cultural Revolution the beautiful bronze statue of Our Lady at the pinnacle of the basilica disappeared and other religious symbols, including the altar and the stained glass window were all virtually destroyed. Pilgrimages to the shrine resumed in 1979. A replica of the bronze statue of Mary holding up the Christ Child was finally re-installed on top of the tower in the year 2000. Some 10,000 believers paid for it. 
Every year since then, pilgrims by the thousands have flocked to Sheshan. In 1990, the first pilgrimage of the decade saw 30,000 Catholics coming to Sheshan for Our Lady’s feast. The elderly and the young made the long steep climb from the foothills of the mountain to the summit as a testimony of their love and devotion to Our Lady. 

In our troubled world today let us join in prayer with Mary, Help of Christians, for the Chinese and for all Christians and believers persecuted for their faith.

Rule of Life as a Hermit

Fall season at Emmanuel Hermitage

Another "stand alone page" has been created under the title Rule of Life.

It can be accessed directly in the menu below the heading of this blog.


The post includes the complete text of the initial personal Rule of Life that served this Diocesan Hermit to step into the path of a contemplative solitary, and live it out for five years until first profession of canonical eremitical vows for the Diocese.

There are some comments on specific aspects of the Rule, and the page also touches on the identity as a Redemptoristine Hermitess.

Blessed rather .... those who hear ... and obey

Our Lady of the Southern Cross - Paul Newton

      Today's Gospel reading at Mass was taken from Luke 11:27-28

While Jesus was speaking to the people, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him,

"Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!" 

      As I heard these words proclaimed I could picture Jesus sitting among the group of disciples and touched by the spontaneous words of a loving mother in the crowd, a woman like Mary, His Mother. 

      Those words evoked in Jesus very intimate thoughts of His Mother and everything that she had done and been for Him ....  Blessed indeed!! ... like every mother!

      But immediately His memory brought Him the images of Mary He cherished most and He knew best; images of Mary like no other mother, like no other woman or man - Mary the First Disciple, the faithful little one of YHWH, the daughter of His Father, the Jewish woman who taught Him, with words, but much more so with her own life, what to be the Son of God in a human body was like ...

      And thinking of this most treasured image of Mary, Jesus responded to the woman in the crowd:

"Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!"

      This beautiful example of Jesus' love for His Mother speaks also of Jesus priorities so well set in place. The Father is always first. Everything else flows from this first priority and is ordained towards it. Mary lived in this way every day of her life, and this was what Jesus treasured most in her: her faithfulness to the Father, her fidelity to her personal call.

      This is also what Jesus invites and treasures most in everyone of us, our faithfulness and fidelity to our own personal call. We all have a unique role to live out, an irrepeatable image of God to express with our uniqueness. We cannot discern, discover, and live our unique individual call without setting time and dedication in our daily life for prayer and reflection. We need special times and places to get in touch with our own deepest desire, which matches God's Desire for us. We need again prayer and dedication to be able to overcome our busy-ness and distraction, our fears and compulsions, and to respond with our life in action to the stirrings and invitation of Grace towards a fulfilled and genuinely Christian -Christ like- life, the life that can truly make us genuinely joyful and alive even in the midst of difficulties and suffering.


      We can hear the Word of God in the intimacy of our prayer space or, in a privileged way, in the celebration of the Eucharist where we can be fed -daily- with Jesus Himself at the table of the Word and at the Eucharistic table. We may drink sometimes from the prolongation of Jesus' Paschal Sacrifice at the altar of an Adoration Chapel. We can grow in our faith and love for the Word by praying the Rosary at home with our family or while driving to and from some errand or work. We may read the Word from the Book of Nature during a quiet walk among the beauty of the fall season, or from our preferred spiritual author.

      We can always turn to Mary, the model of discipleship that Jesus displays today before us. She is the powerful intercessor and caring mother always ready to help us in our struggles to give birth with deeds and actions those gentle insights that the Spirit of Jesus graces us with when we feel more devoted or even when we are most distracted.

      May she teach us to listen to the Word of God -and to obey it- with the totality of response and commitment that was her joy and Jesus' delight.

     

Birthday of Mary, Mother of God

Nine months after the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception -December 8th- today we celebrate the birth of Mary Mother of Jesus and Mother of God, and our Mother.

With joyful gratitude we sing our praises to our Mother and rejoice at the great things that the Lord has done with her.

Happy Birthday, Blessed Mother. Bring us closer to your Son, and teach us to love and trust God as you did. Amen.

The Assumption of Mary -Body and Soul- into Heaven

Coronation of Mary by Diego Velázquez: Spain 1599-1660

The Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven is a glorious feast of the triumph of the Plan of God for humanity.
Mary excels every other human being after her son Jesus the Christ. But her holiness is just the same as the holiness we are called to. It is the holiness of listening to and responding to God's invitation of Grace. It was not easy for her and it is not easy for us. But it is possible with God's grace because "All is possible with God".

Today we rejoice with Mary because in her humility she has become great with the greatness and the holiness of God. But above all we rejoice with her because she is totally one of us, and where she is not only we can be but we are called, urged to be.

I can think of all the Beatitudes of the Gospel welcoming her "home" today, and she herself joining in the praise of God who has done great things in her, Holy is his Name.


In this magnificent feast, with the background of the liturgical texts of Mary's triumph today God granted me the final confirmation of my vocation as a contemplative, as a pray-er and a Diocesan Hermit. My heart sings for joy and rejoices in the Peace of the Lord as well as in the goodness of the local Church community that God has called me to serve with my life of prayer. This is the Day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.

With a grateful heart I delight especially in greeting Mary with my favorite hymn from the Liturgy of the Hours:

Mary the dawn, Christ the Perfect Day;
Mary the gate, Christ the Heavenly Way!
Mary the root, Christ the Mystic Vine;
Mary the grape, Christ the Sacred Wine!
Mary the wheat, Christ the Living Bread;
Mary the stem, Christ the Rose Blood-red!
Mary the font, Christ the Cleansing Flood;
Mary the cup, Christ the Saving Blood!
Mary the temple, Christ the temple's Lord;
Mary the shrine, Christ the God adored!
Mary the beacon, Christ the Haven's Rest;
Mary the mirror, Christ the Vision Blest!
Mary the mother, Christ the mother's Son
By all things blest while endless ages run. Amen.

Text: Anon., alt. by the Dominican Sisters of Summit, 1972

Perpetual Profession as a Diocesan Hermit

Today we are celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a title of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, with long and wide tradition in the Church. The Carmelite Orders of women and men have her as their Mother and Patroness under this advocation which connects their lifestyle dedicated to prayer and asceticism with the prophet Elijah and other early hermits who inhabited over the centuries the caves of Mount Carmel in Palestine.

As a hermit myself I too cherish this feast and I'm grateful for special blessings received on this day over the years. I'm especially grateful this year as I prepare to celebrate my perpetual profession of vows as a hermit next month.

The adventure into the eremitic life started for me ten years ago with an intense process of discernment after many years living the cenobitic religious life. The last eight years living as a hermit are the culmination of a long journey of faith and soul search. Initially, when the invitation came strong and clear, I was scared and reluctant to try the path of the hermit. With God's Grace and Mary's powerful intercession I was able to take the first steps and thus discover and embrace my deeper vocation in a lifestyle that is made of paradoxes and rich with the simplicity of what is essential in life.

The accompaniment of an exceptional spiritual director has been a key instrument of God's grace and guidance. There have been many others also who made it possible for me to come to this point in the journey. Their help, encouragement and support, and even their challenge have made it possible. I am deeply and prayerfully grateful to them all.

Mary's Role Deeper than that of Peter

We have heard this week the news of the appointment of Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec as Head of the Congregation for Bishops in Rome. As background for the news release there was an interview he gave in 2003 and was published in the Spanish edition of the magazine 30 Giorni. These are the words spoken by the Cardinal I want to focus on:

The role of Mary is deeper than that of Peter or of the Bishops

Cardinal Ouellet made this statement in the context of ecumenism; but it strikes me as much more urgent to bring to the front this truth in the context of the hierarchy in our days when we see the weakness and failure of an exaggerated relevance of the ministerial priesthood in the Church, and of a primacy of right doctrine over right and holy living of gospel values.

The role of Mary is both unique and irrepeatable as Mother of Christ, but also she is the model and example of true Christian discipleship for everyone, clergy as well as lay people. She is the contemplative par excellence always listening to the Spirit, and the Mediatrix with Christ of all graces. The source of her immense and humble power is not from ecclesial ordination but from her sharing in the highest possible way for a human being in the same life and holiness of God.

And here is the amazing thing: that humble and ultimate power of Mary for bringing grace to the Church and to the world is available to each one of us if we too open our hearts and our lives to the transforming and sanctifying power of the Spirit always at work in making us grow into the likeness of Christ -and Mary. Her total acceptance of and response to the Plan of God for her, and through her for the world is the ultimate road to holiness and the goal of each of our lives on earth.

As important and necessary as the role of the ordained priesthood is in the Church, there is sometimes a tendency to emphasize the ritual aspect of the priesthood, and the channel of authority and tradition over and beyond that of personal holiness and relationship with God in the building up of the life of the Church. It is certainly in the service of the Church that by means of the ordination to the priesthood the person has become an instrument of Christ the Priest so literally that we don't need to guess what is the level of his personal holiness in order to be sure that Christ is really acting through him. But as true as this is, if it is overestimated we can also fall into a magical approach in which the priestly ministry is valued mainly by external performance. This is a permanent temptation because we like to judge and evaluate and we can do that with actions but not with the inner promptings and intentions of the person.

In our days loaded with news of scandals and abuse in the part of the clergy we all need to reflect on the urgency of personal transformation and holiness as means of exercising the powerful common priesthood of all baptized Christians in the building up of the Reign of God.

May Mary, Queen of the Apostles, and Mother of Divine Grace guide us in our journey of discipleship and transformation, as we continue praying also for Pope Benedict, for Cardinal Marc Ouellet, and for all our bishops and priests so that they may always strive to grow in holiness as the first means to faithfully perform their challenging and graced filled ministry in the service of the Church and of the whole world.

Immaculate Heart of Mary

After the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus we celebrate Mary's Immaculate Heart. The gospel for this feast is the episode of Young Jesus remaining in the Temple of Jerusalem without telling anything to his parents, Mary and Joseph (Lk 2:41-51).

Here we have the perfect family of the Son of God Incarnate, and this passage shows us that they had the same difficulties of every family: misunderstandings, stress, anxiety ... and a teenager doing his "thing". By the way, Jesus doesn't hesitate to correct his Mother as to who his real Father is. Doesn't He sound like any family with a teenager on board?

The circumstances were so trying that the gospel concludes:

"Jesus' Mother pondered all these things in her heart."

Mary met here, probably for the first time, a Jesus she didn't know yet: the obedient Jesus who had a mind of his own as to Who he would ultimately obey.

Jesus was already attuned with the Inner Voice but this visit to the magnificent Temple of Jerusalem, a first as a young adult Jew, was a very special experience. He got in touch with his calling and his sense of identity in such a powerful way that everything else dropped off his attention, including his parents. Jesus had to respond to that experience and did so by probing his insights in conversation with the teachers of Israel and breaking with the expectations of behavior of a good son.

But then, as it always happens with authentic experiences of encounter with God, Jesus went down to the ordinary and was obedient to Joseph and Mary. He was free to "disobey" them for a greater obedience, but he was free also to obey them again afterwards in humble alignment with the ordinary.

This is no small lesson on freedom and obedience which, with Mary, we too are invited to ponder in our heart in order to be able to live our lives and make decisions with mature fidelity to God first, and then to our elders, in the different aspects of life. Let us ask Mary for the wisdom she learned from Jesus as she was teaching him to live as a human son of God.