Help me to love God with my whole mindso that my mind may be habitually occupied with God and that I may value His good pleasure above everything elseabove my convenience, above all earthly treasures, above all knowledge and friendship, above health and life. Mary, Mother of God, you are the Comforter of the Afflicted because in your lifetime you bore every sort of affliction and you can now sympathize with me in my sufferings. To you we owe the life of grace, without which there is no escape from the death of sin. Mary, Mother of God, you are the Virgin most pure because you are full of grace. In his soul they saw no more than they see in each little soul as it leaves the baptismal font, grace having taken the place of original sin. What was true of the effusion of the Holy Spirit on that day, is equally true of every outpouring of grace: God gives nothing to earth without causing the gift to pass through your hands. 2. What a striking lesson you give me by this unlimited confidence in the power and goodness-of your Divine Son! But all graces come through you. Help me to make good use of the graces given me by God. Mary, Mother of God, humility is the virtue you especially practised from childhood. Your Heart, Blessed Mother, is always conformable to Our Lord's will. You saw in the cross an altar, in your Son a Priest, and in His Blood the price of our Redemption. How can I ever imagine the emotions of longing and most eager expectation of the Birth of the Divine Child! In that moment the mystery of love and mercy, promised to mankind thousands of years earlier foretold by so many prophets, desired by so many saints, was accomplished upon earth. I trust that you will lovingly bow down to help my efforts. 2. When still a child you consecrated yourself entirely to God, the Love of chaste souls; and afterwards you would rather be deprived of the great dignity of Divine Motherhood than to lose your virginity. You are the woman, the new Eve; the wood of the Cross is the new tree of life, the death of Jesus, the new Adam, takes away the sting of the death of Adam. The Holy Spirit would work in you the greatest work of His omnipotence, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee." You are indeed the most wonderful Mother that has ever walked this earth. Who would not love you and endeavor to imitate you, most beautiful and immaculate Mother of God? From your pure blood the Holy Spirit formed the pure Body of Jesus. What must have been your anguish when you looked at the sacred body of Jesus as the long nails were being driven into His hands and feet! GLADE PARK, Colorado (Catholic Online) - The feast dedicated to "Our Lady of the Rosary" was instituted by Pope Pius V. It was to commemorate the anniversary of the defeat of the Turkish fleet at the battle of Lepanto on the first Sunday in October 1571. I cannot advance in the path of sanctity without humility, which is the heart and soul of virtue. You knew that thousands even of His faithful followers throughout the world would turn from Him and would make His coming the occasion of their eternal ruin. On the day of Pentecost the Apostles' worldly views about the Kingdom of God on earth were banished by the Spirit of God, and holiness replaced their imperfections, but no-taint of the slightest sin had to be removed from your virginal soul. Through you we have received Jesus Christ, the Universal Source of Grace, so through your intercession, we still continue to receive the various actual graces suited to our state of life. Our Lady of Compassion Our Lady of Compassion (Nuestra Senora de la Piedad) The convent of Our Lady of La Piedad dates back to the year 1595. Mary, Mother of God, how sacred was the life of Jesus in your womb while you awaited His coming! Mary, Mother of God, your life, like that of your Divine Son, was a daily crucifixion and martyrdom. OUR LADY OF SORROWS Feast day- September 15, 2022. Only give me the grace to abandon myself completely to your motherly guidance. But I can never be your true child if I am not humble. Satan is more humiliated at seeing himself under the heel of the lowliest of creatures than at feeling himself crushed by God's almighty arm. Hence with Holy Church I repeat, "You are all fair, Mary, and the stain of original sin is not in you. Who can describe the merits and graces that adorned your soul at the glorious instant of your Nativity at a period when all other children have no merit! OLMC Feast Website About The Feast Page He forms Himself in me by supernatural principles, which He implants in my mind; by supernatural intentions and meritorious actions. Your Heart is pure and spotless because sanctified beyond all other hearts by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, making it worthy to be the dwelling-place of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Feast of Our Lady of Palestine was established in 1927 by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, . Unmindful of your dignity and greatness, you thought only of returning thanks to God, to whom you attributed all your greatness and privileges. The Prophet tells us that God is "wonderful in His saints" (Ps. His mother named him after the great St. Francis of Assisi. As you were the Mother of Jesus in the Incarnation, when He assumed a physical Body, so also you are the Mother of Jesus in His Mystical Body, and of all those who, as members of that Body, are the brothers and sisters of Christ by Divine adoption. I did it not once or twice but numberless times. When you became the Mother of Jesus according to the flesh, you became the Mother of men according to the spirit. As you cradled the new-born Savior and nourished and cared for Him, so at Pentecost you cradled the new-born Church, watched over its frail, delicate body and fostered and nourished it with motherly care. I rejoice with you in the happiness which filled your heart because of such love. May my faith influence my conduct. The feast is like an octave for the birthday of Our Lady on September 8th. Mary, Mother of God, the results of your visit to Elizabeth were wonderful. Our Lady of Consolation, Saturday after the Feast of St. Augustine (Aug. 28) Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sept. 8 The Most Holy Name of Mary, Sept. 12 Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sept. 15 Our Lady of Mercy (Our Lady of Ransom), Sept. 24 Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, Oct. 7 Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Oct. 11 And thy own soul a sword shall pierce " Since you were enlightened by the Scriptures, you realized that your Child would be contradicted and utterly rejected by the Jews, who had, for forty centuries, unceasingly sighed for Him as a Savior. We can certainly call you "Suppliant Omnipotence.". But no child ever belonged to its mother as Jesus belonged to you. Mary, Mother of God, help me to understand as clearly as God wishes to let me do so, the value of suffering and sickness. Therefore, I offer Jesus to the Father through your hands, and in Holy Communion I ask for graces through you. I consecrate to you my very being and my whole life: all that I have, all that I love, all that I am. The saints tell me that it is the foundation and guard of all virtues, since without humility a soul can possess no other virtue. To become the Mother of God meant for you a knowledge of and a share in the Passion of Christ that would plunge you into the depths of a sea of lonely desolation. Mary, My Mother, as Dispenser of all graces, you make the world share in the infinite merits of the redemption. By granting them these graces you have performed a work of the apostolate. Why Is Our Lady Full of Sorrow? - catholicfaithstore.com Your Child, becoming the King of Martyrs, would make you their Queen. He was with you not only with His actual grace, touching your heart and enlightening your understanding. You are indeed all-powerful in Heaven, but your omnipotence is not one of authority and command, but of intercession. Mary, Mother of God, I admire Your obedience and humility in submitting to the law of purification by presenting yourself in the temple like every other Jewish Mother, forty days after the birth of Jesus. . Holiness is union with God through love. Mary, My Mother, you were not obliged by the Law of Moses to present and ransom your firstborn Son. She heard the voices of Archangel Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret - they are on the banner over her left shoulder! God would work a miracle so that you might remain a virgin, and yet become the Mother of God. You saw Barabbas preferred to Jesus when the Roman governor showed the Man of Sorrows to the angry mob. No one could have had a closer approach to God than you, for it is impossible for any creature to be closer to God's Son than His own Mother. Mother Mary - Our Lady of Compassion - Feast Day All Events. more marvelous spirits; He could not have made anything more wonderful than a Mother of God. We beg you for a burning charity for God to imitate the works of Christ. Mary, Mother of God, how wonderful was your own interior life as you carried the Son of God in your womb and awaited His coming! COLUMN: Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes: World Day of the Sick--2/7/2021 Help me to become a child in your school. For as often as I offended God by mortal sin, so often have I crucified the Son of God and made a mockery of Him. So, as daughter of Adam you submitted to the sentence passed in the garden of Eden. Help me to receive Holy Communion frequently, at least each week, if not daily. Give me the same virtues in my state of lifea will inflamed with the desire that God's Will be done and a mind steeped in the knowledge of what that Will is. I look to you, Mother of Mercy. In your humility you gladly suffered contempt with Jesus. We ask you to procure for us, by your prayers the great grace of final perseverance so that those who are joined to honor you in the kingdom of your Son on earth may be together always in heaven. Your Divine Son was destined to crush the serpent's head by releasing mankind from the slavery of Satan, thus putting an end to the empire of sin. Note: This prayer was approved and enriched with an indulgence of five hundred days by Pope Pius X at all audience held on August 18, 1908, and was included in the official edition of approved indulgenced prayers (1950). 2. No other has a like understanding of our miseries, or is in a position to render us on all occasions timely and powerful help. From that time forward until His Ascension into Heaven, you were the constant adorer of the Word-made-Flesh in all the mysteries of His earthly life. Bless the people of the Americas, citizens of those lands to which uncounted thousands have come to seek refuge and livelihood. This is the very heart of your apostolate. The divine maternity permits you to love God with a very singular kind of love and to be loved by Him with an equally singular love. 2. are merged in the supreme suffering at the Passion. To you I give my body, my heart and my soul. Mexico's celebration for Our Lady of Guadalupe | Catholics & Cultures Let me never be influenced by temporal considerationswealth, honors and pleasuresthat I may always follow the counsel of Jesus: "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be given you besides" (Luke 12, 31). He also found joy in His Divine Sonship and glorious human nature, joy in His intellect, with its immeasurable knowledge and the contemplation of God; joy in His will, with its freedom, sinlessness, holiness and unbounded power joy in His destiny as our Redeemer; joy in the future kingdom of His Church, which was to arise from His life and death. Not for this reason alone did He love you. You bore your sorrows bravely because you received them from God's hands. Excerpted from Our Lady of Sorrows by Fr. You are beautiful at your presentation in the temple; in prayer before Gabriel as he awaited your answer, in Nazareth's hidden life and later as you followed Jesus and listened to Wisdom speak. How often has mortal sin, destroying in me the beautiful image of the Blessed Trinity, brought death to my soul, delivered me to God's wrath and condemned me to everlasting hell-fire! . Coming from the Latin words cum and patior, compassion means to suffer. Only thus could you become one with Your God in the salvation of souls. As formerly the shepherds and the magi found Jesus close to you, so now may all sinners, unbelievers and pagans find Jesus through you, His Mother. If we could not say that you are the Mother of God for having given a body to the Son of God, then we could neither adore this Body; nor would we have been redeemed by the sacrifice of this Body on the cross, nor would we be united to the divinity in receiving this Body in the Eucharist. Holiness is a complete separation from creatures and perfect union with God through love. Mary, Mother of God, sincere devotion to you is a sign of perseverance in doing good till death. Obtain for me the grace to love God with my whole heartso that all the love my heart is capable of may be consecrated to Him, and all other affection subordinated to the love I owe God. February 07, 2021. Joachim was of the royal house of David, and Anne of the priestly family of Aaron. He was with you not only by His essence, His presence, and His power, as He is with all His creatures. Don Luis de VelascoII, when he was Viceroy of New Spain, had as his confessor a Dominican, Fray Cristobal de Ortega, who also acted as his financial adviser. You remained there working for God, meditating on His holy Law, praying and praising His divine Goodness. Petition God that their hope may never fail amid the troubles and the cares of this life. I trust that through you I shall obtain the help I need to keep the commandments, avoid sin, receive the Sacraments frequently, pray much and save my soul. Because you were full of God's grace and a Virgin most pure, Gabriel could exclaim, "You have found grace with God." After the most holy and adorable Name of Jesus, there is no name more glorious and more powerful than yours. Mary, My Mother, the Heart of Jesus was a generous Heart, symbolized by the wound in His side from which came forth the last drops of His Heart's Blood shed for us, and by which w e can reach the treasures of that Divine Heart. The Nativity and the Crucifixion were as one action. You became the Mother of a Son who is almighty, eternal and infinite in all perfections, equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Indeed, I will suffer with joy if I realize that Christ is suffering with me and in me and that He sends me the cross only to trace His image in my soul by uniting me closely with Himself. Mary, My Mother, your first presentation to God, made by the hands of your parents, was an offering most acceptable in His sight. (1) You prepared in your virginal womb a fit temple for the union of the Son of Godthe Divine Wordwith our human nature. Jesus is the only Mediator of justice, and by His merits He obtains for us all graces and salvation but you are the Mediatrix of grace. You formed His whole Self, to die for us as a sacrificial Lamb. Mary, My Mother, the word which best summarizes your whole career is "Mother." Our Lady of Sorrows Feast Day - DocsLib We praise your virginity and admire your humility; but because we are poor sinners, your mercy attracts us more and we embrace it more lovingly. 3. Saint Elizabeth received the Holy Spirit through your intervention, in order to teach us that we must make use of you as our Mediatrix with your Divine Son, if we wish to obtain the Holy Spirit. Though you did not pay even the smallest part of our debt, you cooperated in His work by the entire union of your will with His. Teach me to imitate your humility by acknowledging my nothingness and seeking the glory of God in everything. . Your womb was so pure, so immaculate that it became the Holy of Holies, in which Jesus Christ our Lord, the Eternal High Priest, alone found entrance. You became the Mother of God without ceasing to be a virgin, and your happy fruitfulness only consecrated and increased your purity. 1. You resigned yourself to the care of God, in the fullest confidence that He would guard your innocence and reputation. You willingly became the Mother of Jesus when you answered the message of the Archangel Gabriel with the words "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word" (Luke 36, 38). It urges my senses to lower desires, because I seek sensible pleasure in its every degree. There is no sinner so spoiled and so mired in vice that you would deny him aid. Help me, above all, so that by my good example I may enrich and ennoble every human being whose life I touch. I desire that all that is in me and around me may belong to you and may share in the benefits of your motherly blessing. It affords Jesus the joy of rewarding you who, with Him, suffered so much for men. If unfortunately I should lose this life by sin, you can bring me back to supernatural life. Mary, Mother of God, you are the Virgin most pure because you are the Immaculate Conception. You are the Glory of Jerusalem; you are the Joy of Israel; you are the Honor of our people. Grant that following your good counsel, I may avoid sin, practise virtue, save my soul and attain eternal life. Overshadowed by the power of the Holy Spirit, you were to conceive and bear the Messias, and at the same time remain a Virgin in every respect. In the same way you, who freely delivered your son to a cruel death, parted with your Son. America Needs Fatima As I gaze upon youthe ideal of perfection and sanctity, may a similar longing for God and complete dedication of myself to Him awaken in my soul. On November 27, 1830, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Catherine Labour in her Daughters of Charity convent in Paris, asking that a medal be cast according to the pattern which Our Lady displayed, and promising that all who wear this medal will receive great . You see me, smile on me, listen to me, stretch your arms out to me, because you hear my prayer and, like a mother, you are anxious to help your child. The feast was placed in the Roman Missal under the title of Our Lady of Compassion in 1482, highlighting the love of Blessed Mother in suffering with her Son, Jesus. All these souls were given to you by Jesus on the crossthey are your children. How consistent with the infinite tenderness of God that His Christ, the Immortal Child, should be conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the body of a young virgin and that a virgin should bear a Child to redeem the world. In His infinite mercy God chose Abraham who was to be the Father of a Chosen Nation. This was the earliest promise of a Redeemer to come, and you were to be His immaculate Mother. It is still . You heard Simeon's words as if they had been spoken to you by God Himself, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be contradicted. In every struggle l am sure to find in you both help and consolation because you are the Mediatrix between sinners and your Divine Son. It is your Son who abides with me in the tabernacle as the best Friend I have in this world, who offers Himself to the Father for me as the Victim of Calvary at Holy Mass, who gives Himself to me as Food in Holy Communion. Mary, Mother of God, because of your influence in obtaining helpful remedies against spiritual and bodily maladies, the Church calls you the "Health of the Sick." God reserves to Himself the dispensing of justice to all creatures. Those words include us all. What untold merit you must have laid up for eternity during the nine months that preceded your Nativity. I wish to do penance by giving up sin and amending my life, by asking pardon and making reparation to the Heart of Jesus and to your Immaculate Heart, so grievously offended by our sins. May I be found worthy of your frequent visits with Jesus to my heart in this life and of the invitation to come and live with You both for all eternity in heaven. Jesus rewarded your confidence and resignation by working His first miracle at your request. Jesus could give meafter the gift of Himselfnothing more precious than you. Your fullness of grace brought you to a most intimate union with the Author of grace. Mary, My Mother, your little life held a mystery immeasurably deeper than that of any other human life, since no mind could measure the distance that lay between the chosen Maiden who was not only the servant of the Lord but also His true Mother, and the rest of mankind who were His servants and no more. You have entered into the highest state of power and glory in Heaven in order that you may help us in our journey through so many dangers to the kingdom of Heaven.