Our Lady holding Jesus as He accepts flowers from the shepherd child

Our Lady holding Jesus as He accepts flowers from the shepherd child

Welcome to our intercessory prayer ministry for families, babies, little ones and those who love them.

In our prayers for families, we pray for the sanctity of all life and for vocations to marriage, the priesthood and consecrated life, which are born and nurtured in families.

The
Prayer of Entrustment to Mary was prayed for this ministry at the icon of the Madonna Salus Populi Romani (Salvation of the Roman People, Our Lady of Good Health) in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (Basilica of Mary Major) in Rome, Italy, in Nossa Senhora do Rosario da Fatima (Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary) in Fatima, Portugal, in Eglise du Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart Parish Church), the site of St. Bernadette's baptismal font, in Lourdes, France and at The National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts at the Shrine of the Holy Innocents before Our Lady of Guadalupe and at Basilica Papale de San Pietro in Vaticano (St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City) at the Tomb of St. John Paul II in Rome, Italy and at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Basilica of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe) in Mexico City, Mexico.

This ministry is consecrated to Jesus Christ, Wisdom Incarnate, through the hands of Mary and dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. In our prayers to Mary, we honor and worship her Son Jesus. When He was on the Cross, He gave His Mother to John and she became our Mother as well. "Behold, your Mother." John 19:27

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
For the greater glory of God

December 31, 2010

The Lessons of Nazareth

The family is the priviledged setting where every person learns to give and receive love. It is a unique good for children, who are meant to be the fruit of the love, of the total and generous self-giving of their parents. "O God who in the Holy Family left us a perfect model of family life lived in faith and obedience to your will, help us to be examples of faith and love for your commandments." Pope Benedict XVI

The Lessons of Nazareth
Pope Paul VI

"Nazareth is a kind of school where we may begin to discover what Christ’s life was like and even to understand his Gospel. Here we can observe and ponder the simple appeal of the way God’s Son came to be known, profound yet full of hidden meaning. And gradually we may even learn to imitate him.

Here we can learn to realise who Christ really is. And here we can sense and take account of the conditions and circumstances that surrounded and affected his life on earth: the places, the tenor of the times, the culture, the language, religious customs, in brief, everything which Jesus used to make himself known to the world. Here everything speaks to us, everything has meaning. Here we can learn the importance of spiritual discipline for all who wish to follow Christ and to live by the teachings of his Gospel.

How I would like to return to my childhood and attend the simple yet profound school that is Nazareth! How wonderful to be close to Mary, learning again the lesson of the true meaning of life, learning again God’s truths. But here we are only on pilgrimage. Time presses and I must set aside my desire to stay and carry on my education in the Gospel, for that education is never finished. But I cannot leave without recalling, briefly and in passing; some thoughts I take with me from Nazareth.

First, we learn from its silence. If only we could once again appreciate its great value. We need this wonderful state of mind, beset as we are by the cacophony of strident protests and conflicting claims so characteristic of these turbulent times. The silence of Nazareth should teach us how to meditate in peace and quiet, to reflect on the deeply spiritual, and to be open to the voice of God’s inner wisdom and the counsel of his true teachers. Nazareth can teach us the value of study and preparation, of meditation, of a well-ordered personal spiritual life, and of silent prayer that is known only to God.

Second, we learn about family life. May Nazareth serve as a model of what the family should be. May it show us the family’s holy and enduring character and exemplify its basic function in society: a community of love and sharing, beautiful for the problems it poses and the rewards it brings, in sum, the perfect setting for rearing children – and for this there is no substitute.

Finally, in Nazareth, the home of a craftsman’s son, we learn about work and the discipline it entails. I would especially like to recognise its value – demanding yet redeeming – and to give it proper respect. I would remind everyone that work has its own dignity. On the other hand, it is not an end in itself. Its value and free character, however, derive not only from its place in the economic system, as they say, but rather from the purpose it serves.

In closing, may I express my deep regard for people everywhere who work for a living. To them I would point out their great model, Christ their brother, our Lord and God, who is their prophet in every cause that promotes their well being."

December 30, 2010

Mary Mother of God

The child's father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
Luke 2:33-35


Mary, Our Mother, understands the sufferings we carry when our children hurt. Let us bring our children to her and ask for her intercession to her Beloved Son Jesus. Her heart was pierced when she heard Simeon's words, as she held her precious baby. She did not understand, but she kept all these things in her heart. Let us unite our sufferings and those of our children with Mary by praying the Memorare.

Mary was petitioned as "Mother of God" at least by the 3rd Century, as is evidenced by the discovery of the Sub Tuum prayer:

This prayer, known in Latin as "Sub tuum Praesidium" and first found in a Greek papyrus, c. 300, is the oldest known prayer to the Virgin.

We turn to you for protection,
Holy Mother of God.
Listen to our prayers
and help us in our needs.
Save us from every danger,
glorious and blessed Virgin.

The "Memorare" is a sixteenth-century version of a fifteenth-century prayer that began "Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria." Claude Bernard (1588-1641) popularized the idea that the "Memorare" was written by Saint Bernard.

Remember, most loving Virgin Mary,
never was it heard
that anyone who turned to you for help
was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence,
though burdened by my sins,
I run to your protection
for you are my mother.

Mother of the Word of God,
do not despise my words of pleading
but be merciful and hear my prayer.
Amen.

December 29, 2010

God's sign is the baby

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

God’s sign is simplicity. God’s sign is the baby. God’s sign is that he makes himself small for us. This is how he reigns. He does not come with power and outward splendor. He comes as a baby, defenseless and in need of our help. He does not want to overwhelm us with his strength. He takes away our fear of his greatness. He asks for our love: so he makes himself a child. He wants nothing other from us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into His feelings, His thoughts and His Will. We learn to live with Him and to practice with Him that humility of renunciation that belongs to the very essence of love.
Pope Benedict XVI Homily Saint Peter's Basilica December 24, 2006

Revelation 3:7-8 The holy one, the true, who holds the key of David, who opens and no one shall close, who closes and no one shall open, says this: I know your works behold, I have left an open door before you, which no one can close.

Jesus is love. He opens the door for us to enter into His love. Let us pray for open hearts that we may enter through the door the way He came into the world, as a little baby with Joseph and Mary as His models of holiness.

December 28, 2010

The Holy Innocents

Today is the Feast Day of the Holy Innocents, the patron saints of babies. These innocent children were slain for Jesus Christ.

Herod, king of Judea, was unpopular with his people because of his connections with the Romans and his religious indifference. He was insecure and fearful of any threat to his throne. He was a master politician and a tyrant capable of extreme brutality. He killed his wife, his brother and his sister’s two husbands, to name only a few.

Matthew 2:12-18
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way. When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him." Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, "Out of Egypt I called my son." When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet: "A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more." Herod was “greatly troubled” when astrologers from the east came asking the whereabouts of “the newborn king of the Jews,” whose star they had seen. They were told that the Jewish Scriptures named Bethlehem as the place where the Messiah would be born. Herod cunningly told them to report back to him so that he could also “do him homage.” They found Jesus, offered him their gifts and, warned by an angel, avoided Herod on their way home. Jesus escaped to Egypt.

Herod became furious and ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under. The horror of the massacre and the devastation of the mothers and fathers led Matthew to quote Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children...” Matthew 2:18. Rachel was the wife of Jacob. She is pictured as weeping at the place where the Israelites were herded together by the conquering Assyrians for their march into captivity.

They have been ransomed as the firstfruits of the human race for God and the Lamb. Revelation 14:4

The Holy Innocents are few, in comparison to the genocide of abortion today. The greatest treasure God put on the earth is a human person, destined for eternity and graced by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Lord, you give us life. We pray that all life will be protected, in Your Holy Name.

1 John 1:5 Now this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

December 26, 2010

The Holy Family



Today is the feast day to honor the Holy Family, the name given to the family unit of Jesus: The Divine Son of God Jesus, his mother Mary, and his foster father Joseph. The Feast of the Holy Family is not just about the Holy Family, but about our own families too. The main purpose of the Feast is to present the Holy Family as the model for all Christian families, and for domestic life in general. Our family life becomes sanctified when we live the life of the Church within our homes. This is called the "domestic church" or the "church in miniature." St. John Chrysostom urged all Christians to make each home a "family church," and in doing so, we sanctify the family unit by making Christ and his Church the center of family and individual life by reading scripture regularly, praying daily, attending Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation and imitating the actions of the Holy Family, all done together as a family unit.

"May the Holy Family, who had to overcome many painful trials, watch over all the families in the world, especially those who are experiencing difficult situations. May the Holy Family also help men and women of culture and political leaders so that they may defend the institution of the family, based on marriage, and so that they may sustain the family as it confronts the grave challenges of the modern age! During this Year of the Eucharist may Christian families find the light and strength to be united and to grow as the 'domestic church' especially in their diligent participation in the celebration of the Eucharist on Sunday."
Pope John Paul II Prayer from Angelus Message for the Feast of the Holy Family 2004

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church 533-534

The hidden life at Nazareth allows everyone to enter into fellowship with Jesus by the most ordinary events of daily life:

The home of Nazareth is the school where we begin to understand the life of Jesus - the school of the Gospel. First, then, a lesson of silence. May esteem for silence, that admirable and indispensable condition of mind, revive in us. . . A lesson on family life. May Nazareth teach us what family life is, its communion of love, its austere and simple beauty, and its sacred and inviolable character... A lesson of work. Nazareth, home of the "Carpenter's Son", in you I would choose to understand and proclaim the severe and redeeming law of human work. . . To conclude, I want to greet all the workers of the world, holding up to them their great pattern their brother who is God.

The finding of Jesus in the temple is the only event that breaks the silence of the Gospels about the hidden years of Jesus. Here Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the mystery of his total consecration to a mission that flows from his divine sonship: "Did you not know that I must be about my Father's work?" Mary and Joseph did not understand these words, but they accepted them in faith. Mary "kept all these things in her heart" during the years Jesus remained hidden in the silence of an ordinary life.

1 John 3:1-2 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

December 25, 2010

Silent Night

For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. Luke 2:11



For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:5

December 24, 2010

What child is this?

Luke 2:4-20
And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.

December 23, 2010

The Heart of Mary

The Virgin’s love conceived first in her heart and then in her womb. Saint Augustine stated this when commenting on the Gospel of the Annunciation: “The angel announces; the Virgin listens, believes and conceives. Christ is believed and conceived through faith. The Virgin Mary first conceived in her heart, and then fruitfulness came to the Mother’s Womb”.

A promise of love can only be fulfilled in love! The sign that God chose to give humanity to reveal the promise of his presence in history, as John Paul II taught us, found its full meaning in the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. The sign was a virgin’s heart, receiving with love the Heart of God who is Love. A Virgin’s love will conceive, a Virgin’s heart will receive the fullness of life and give birth to the Life of the World!

“Therefore, the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall name him Emmanuel” Isaiah 7:14

A Virgin, a pure and humble heart, dedicated totally to loving God, completely available and generously disposed to His designs, was the one to cooperate, with her fiat, in the fulfillment of the plan of salvation. In the Virgin’s undivided, prayerful, generous and pure human heart a miraculous conception, a miraculous fecundity, took place. A love so pure, so total, and so unconditional became so powerfully life-giving. The pure, immaculate love of a human heart was the soil, the perfect soil, to bear the child and thus, to be the sign of the presence of God among men. This is the great sign promised by Isaiah: love, pure, unconditional love is so powerful that it gives life. Only love creates, said St. Maximilian Kolbe, because love is the force, the powerful force, that calls forth life.

December 20, 2010

Joseph and Mary

Behold the virgin shall bear a Son and they shall name Him Emmanuel, which means "God is with us."

December 19, 2010

Joseph Model of Faith

In Luke’s Gospel, there was an angelic Annunciation to Mary. In the first chapter of Matthew, we learn that Joseph gets one too. He was named after the greatest dreamer of the Old Testament. Maybe that’s why his annunciation came in a dream. Mary’s response is her great faith. When told the unbelievable, she believed. Joseph also responded with great faith. He was also told the unbelievable and he believed. His response of faith entailed taking action. He changed his plans, received Mary into his home, and accepted responsibility for this special child. All Joseph had to go by was what he received from an angel, in a dream. Joseph is a great model of faith because he keeps walking with the Lord, even in the dark.

Matthew 1:18-25
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means "God is with us." When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus.



May we always walk with the faith of Joseph and Mary and place our trust in God Our Heavenly Father, seeking to do His Will.

December 17, 2010

O Jesus we trust in You.

FROM ABUNDANT LIFE TO ETERNAL LIFE
May the Angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs greet you at your arrival and lead you into the holy city, Jerusalem. May the choir of Angels greet you and like Lazarus, who once was a poor man, may you have eternal rest.

On this day, as my friend Pattie and her husband Billy are laid to rest, we pray:

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your Holy Will, which is Love and Mercy itself.
Prayer at the end of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Through the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary, we pray for complete healing of body, mind and spirit of their children DeeDee and Billy. We implore through the intercession of Father Patrick Peyton CSC, for this miracle. May the love of Jesus and Mary be poured into their hearts.

Isaiah 11:6 "A child shall lead them."

December 14, 2010

St. John of the Cross

"To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness, but the greatness of its humility."
Saint John of the Cross

Today is the feast day of Saint John of the Cross, Spanish mystical Doctor of the Church, Carmelite friar and priest who was born in Spain in 1542. John learned the importance of self-sacrificing love from his parents. His father gave up wealth, status, and comfort when he married a weaver's daughter and was disowned by his noble family. After his father died, his mother kept the destitute family together as they wandered homeless in search of work. These were the examples of sacrifice that John followed with his own great love, God.

When the family finally found work, John still went hungry in the middle of the wealthiest city in Spain. At fourteen, John took a job caring for hospital patients who suffered from incurable diseases and madness. It was out of this poverty and suffering, that John learned to search for beauty and happiness not in the world, but in God.

After John joined the Carmelite order, Saint Teresa of Avila asked him to help her reform movement. John supported her belief that the order should return to its life of prayer. But many Carmelites felt threatened by this reform, and some members of John's own order kidnapped him. He was locked in a cell six feet by ten feet and beaten three times a week by the monks. There was only one tiny window high up near the ceiling. Yet in that unbearable dark, cold, and desolation, his love and faith were like fire and light. He had nothing left but God and God brought John his greatest joys in that tiny cell.

“In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlightenment, and instruction.” Saint John of the Cross

After nine months, John escaped by unscrewing the lock on his door and creeping past the guard. Taking only the mystical poetry he had written in his cell, he climbed out a window using a rope made of strips of blankets. With no idea where he was, he followed a dog to civilization. He hid from pursuers in a convent infirmary where he read his poetry to the nuns. From then on his life was devoted to sharing and explaining his experience of God's love.

"Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth; mine are the people, the righteous are mine and mine are the sinners; the angels are mine and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God Himself is mine and for me, for Christ is mine and all for me. What then do you ask for and seek, my soul? Yours is all this, and it is all for you." Saint John of the Cross

His life of poverty and persecution could have produced a bitter cynic. Instead it gave birth to a compassionate mystic, who lived by the beliefs that:

"Who has ever seen people persuaded to love God by harshness? Where there is no love, put love and you will find love."

December 13, 2010

The Family Rosary

Patrick Peyton grew up in a poor rural area of Ireland but with great zeal, he brought millions of people closer to Jesus and Mary through the Family Rosary. Born on January 9, 1909, in Caracastle, County Mayo, Ireland, Patrick was the sixth of nine children in a family where often there were more people than potatoes to feed them but every night without fail his father would lead the family in praying the Holy Rosary. This kept them spiritually nourished and united in difficult times.

One moving encounter with his father was later recounted by Father Peyton when speaking to huge gatherings. In Ireland there was what was known as an "American Wake", when a member of the family set out for America to find work. Pat and his brother Tom found themselves in this situation in 1928. The last words his father shared with him on this occasion were: "Be faithful to Our Lord in America." Pat would strive to do just that. He and Tom were never saw their parents again.

The brothers arrived in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where some of their sisters already lived. Tom worked in the coal mines while Pat accepted a job with the cathedral parish as a "sexton" or janitor. This gave him time to pray before the Eucharist, which revived his feeling of being called to the priesthood.

Pat and Tom presented themselves to the Holy Cross priests who came to preach a mission in the parish. Each proclaimed that he had a vocation to the priesthood. They entered the seminary at the University of Notre Dame, where Pat was delighted to study much harder at an institution named for Our Lady. Pat was an excellent theology student, once he received the remedial help he needed completing high school. They were studying at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., when disaster struck.

Pat became deathly ill with tuberculosis. He was throwing up blood and getting weaker daily. He was transferred back to the Notre Dame infirmary. The illness had developed for nearly a year when doctors told Pat: "You had better try prayer. All that we have tried is not working!" Pat was at his worst when a fellow Irishman, Fr. Cornelius Haggerty, C.S.C, came to give him a real challenge. "Mary is alive right here and now, Pat. You know how dedicated the Irish are to the Rosary. Well, pray it yourself, believing that Mary is alive and able to give you 100 percent of what you ask".

Pat prayed his Rosary more fervently than ever and the impossible happened. After a novena of Rosaries, Pat declared himself cured! It was December 8, 1939, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The doctors needed persuading to give him the tests that would prove him right: there was no trace of tuberculosis! Pat was thrilled as he returned to his studies, determined that if he was ordained a priest, he would dedicate his priesthood to the work of the one who saved his life: Mary.

The blessed day came in June 1940 when he was ordained with his class. His illness had set him back, While praying, it came to Father Peyton how he would repay Our Lady for this miraculous healing. He would promote the Family Rosary all around the U.S.A. Father Peyton saw much to do as "Mary's donkey", as he referred to himself. He was persuasive and focused. His energy was boundless. He wrote to Bishops and anyone he could think of to help him promote the "Family Rosary", which he founded in 1942, always speaking with great affection of Mary's intercessory power and giving the story of his own healing as an example. Father Peyton started leading the Rosary on radio, trusting that Mary would guide him. He became known as the "Rosary priest" encouraging people to strengthen their family by praying the rosary.

He opened Family Theater Productions in Hollywood. He knew Bing Crosby and Loretta Young, who said of him, "I never met a man so in love with a woman as Father Peyton was in love with the Blessed Mother". He promoted family prayer, and the famous slogan, "The family that prays together stays together", was written in 1947 for the program. In 1948 he began to organize huge Rosary rallies, called Family Rosary Crusades.

The mission of the Servant of God, Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C. was drawing people closer to Jesus and Mary through the Family Rosary and his gratitude to Our Lady for preserving his life and priesthood. He spoke of nothing but the Blessed Mother, her Rosary, and the work of the Family Rosary and Family Theater Productions.

Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton,C.S.C., pray for us.

December 12, 2010

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Patroness of the Unborn



Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. A poor Indian Juan Diego was a 57-year-old widower who lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady. He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.

The bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan Diego’s uncle became seriously ill. Poor Diego was to try to avoid the lady. The lady found Diego and assured him that his uncle would recover and she provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma. Juan Diego told his story to the Spanish bishop, who instructed him to return and ask the Lady for a miraculous sign to prove her claim. The Virgin told Juan Diego to gather some flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill. It was winter and no flowers bloomed, but on the hilltop Diego found flowers of every sort, and the Virgin herself arranged them in his tilma, or peasant cloak. When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s tilma appeared an image of Mary miraculously imprinted exactly as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. It was December 12, 1531.

Mary's apparition was an event of great significance for Native Americans. Nine million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. Our Lady of Guadalupe shows us God's love for the poor and for the unborn that stems from the Gospel itself.

Mary to Juan Diego: “My dearest son, I am the eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, Author of Life, Creator of all and Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth...and it is my desire that a church be built here in this place for me, where, as your most merciful Mother and that of all your people, I may show my loving clemency and the compassion that I bear to the Indians, and to those who love and seek me.”

The Image on the Tilma
The imprint of Mary on the tilma is striking, and the symbolism was primarily directed to Juan Diego and the Aztecs. Mary appears as a beautiful young Indian maiden with a look of love, compassion, and humility, her hands folded in prayer in reference to the Almighty God. Her rose dress, adorned with a jasmine flower, eight petal flowers, and nine heart flowers symbolic to the Aztec culture, is that of an Aztec princess. Her blue mantle symbolized the royalty of the gods, and the blue color symbolized life and unity. The stars on the mantle signified the beginning of a new civilization. La Morenita appeared on the day of the winter solstice, considered the day of the sun's birth; the Virgin's mantle accurately represents the 1531 winter solstice! Mary stands in front of and hides the sun, but the rays of the sun still appear around her, signifying she is greater than the sun god, the greatest of the native divinities, but the rays of the sun still bring light. Twelve rays of the sun surround her face and head. She stands on the moon, supported by an angel with wings like an eagle: to the Aztec, this indicated her superiority to the moon god, the god of night, and her divine, regal nature. Most important are the black maternity band, a jasmine flower, and a cross that are present in the image. Mary wore a black maternity band, signifying she was with child. At the center of the picture, overlying her womb, is a jasmine flower in the shape of an Indian cross, which is the sign of the Divine and the center of the cosmic order to the Aztec. This symbol indicated that the baby Mary carried within her, Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, is Divine and the new center of the universe. On the brooch around her neck was a black Christian cross, indicating she is both a bearer and follower of Christ, the Son of God, our Savior, who died on the Cross to save mankind. The image signified Mary bringing her Son Christ to the New World through one of their own.

Mary to Juan Diego: Am I not here, who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not the fountain of your joy?

December 09, 2010

Saint Juan Diego

On December 9, 1531, Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, which is near Mexico City today. She sent him to request of Bishop Zumárraga the building of a shrine there, where she promised to pour out her grace upon those who invoked her. The bishop asked Juan Diego to present proof of the apparition. On December 12, Our Lady sent Juan Diego to gather roses atop the hill at Tepeyac. Despite the cold of winter, he found roses in bloom and gathered them within his cloak, or tilma. Our Lady arranged the roses and sent them with Juan Diego to the bishop as proof. Opening his tilma, the roses fell to the ground and there remained impressed upon the tilma the image of Our Lady, the apparition at Tepeyac. With the grace of enlightenment, Juan Diego dedicated himself to prayer as well as the practice of virtue and boundless love of God and neighbor.

Prayer to St. Juan Diego
You who were chosen by Our Lady of Guadalupe as an instrument to show your people and the world that the way of Christianity is one of love, compassion, understanding, values, sacrifices, repentance of our sins, appreciation and respect for God’s creation, and most of all one of humility and obedience; You whom we know is now in the Kingdom of the Lord and close to our Mother; Be our angel and protect us, stay with us as we struggle in this modern life often not knowing where to set our priorities; Help us to pray to our God to obtain the gifts of the Holy Spirit and use them for the good of humanity and the good of our Church, through the Heart of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Heart of Jesus. Amen

December 08, 2010

The Immaculate Conception

IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY FRIEND PATTIE
AND HER BEAUTIFUL DEVOTION TO OUR LADY


May the Angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs greet you at your arrival and lead you into the holy city, Jerusalem. May the choir of Angels greet you and like Lazarus, who once was a poor man, may you have eternal rest.



Mary, the one who is "full of grace" and the one whom "all generations will called 'blessed'" has been viewed as unique since the earliest days of the Christian faith. Just as Christ has been called the "new Adam," the Church Fathers, especially Saints Justin in 150AD and Irenaeus 180AD, saw Mary as the "new Eve," who humbly obeyed God, even though Eve disobeyed. The Church Fathers also called Mary the "new ark of the covenant" and theotokos, God-bearer. It is from these titles that the doctrine of Mary's Immaculate Conception and sinlessness unfolded. Saint Ephrem, the Syrian, in 373AD spoke of Mary as without stain or blemish, calling her "all-pure, all-immaculate, all-stainless, all-undefiled, all-incorrupt, all-inviolate." Saint Augustine left open the possibility of Mary's sinlessness, even using language similar to the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with the elect. Wisdom 3:9

O MARY CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN,
PRAY FOR US WHO HAVE RECOURSE TO THEE.

December 04, 2010

Prepare ye the way of the Lord

A voice cries out in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight His paths. Isaiah 40:3

John the Baptist was a voice crying out in the desert proclaiming repentance as the the way of hope to the afflicted and those lost in the wilderness of darkness and sin. John was the messenger who led the people to Jesus.

Pondering John the Baptist brings us to Mary, the mother of Our Savior. Introducing Redemptoris Mater, his encyclical devoted to the Blessed Mother, Pope John Paul II wrote, "The Mother of the Redeemer has a precise place in the plan of salvation, for when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father! Galatians 4:4-6. This is the meaning of Advent. God initiates; Mary responds. God offers; mankind receives. This is the way of love and faith."

Mary is unique in her perfection and holiness. She is a mother for everyone. She draws us near her to reveal her Son to the Church and to the entire world. It is fitting to reflect on the four weeks of Advent by contemplating the past, present, and future in our lives with Jesus.

Mary is perfectly prepared for the coming of God. She is young, poor, and unassuming. By God's grace and her free choice, she became the Mother of God.

Pope John Paul II described Mary as "the one who in the ‘night’ of the Advent expectation began to shine like a true ‘Morning Star'. For just as this star, together with the ‘dawn,’ precedes the rising of the sun, so Mary from the time of her Immaculate Conception preceded the coming of the Savior, the rising of the ‘Sun of Justice’ in the history of the human race".