In the school of Mary one can learn to live, not only to give Christ to the world, but also to await with faith the hour of Jesus, and to remain with Mary at the foot of the cross. Wherever providence has placed a person, there is always more to be done for God's cause. Priests should with supernatural confidence, show the narrow road which leads to life. Consecrated and Religious fight under Mary's banner against inordinate lust for freedom, riches, and pleasures. In response to the Immaculate, they will fight with the weapons of prayer and penance and by triumphs of charity. Go to her, you who are crushed by material misery, defenseless against the hardships of life and the indifference of men. Go to her, you who are assailed by sorrows and moral trials. Go to her, beloved invalids and infirm, you who are sincerely welcomed and honoured at Lourdes as the suffering members of our Lord. Go to her and receive peace of heart, strength for your daily duties, joy for the sacrifice you offer.

~ Pope Pius XII, Le Pelenirage de Lourdes

"Let us go there!"

In all kinds of ways, God has to prod us and reach out to us again and again, so that we can manage to escape from the muddle of our thoughts and activities and discover the way that leads to him. But a path exists for all of us. The Lord provides everyone with tailor-made signals. He calls each one of us, so that we too can say: "Come on, ‘let us go over’ to Bethlehem – to the God who has come to meet us. Yes indeed, God has set out towards us. Left to ourselves we could not reach him. The path is too much for our strength. But God has come down. He comes towards us. He has travelled the longer part of the journey. Now he invites us: come and see how much I love you. Come and see that I am here. Transeamus usque Bethlehem, the Latin Bible says. Let us go there!

- from Pope Benedict's 2009 Christmas sermon

The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh

The Eighth day before the first of January, eighth day of the lunar month.

Innumerable ages having passed since the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created Heaven and earth and formed man in his own image;

many more centuries after the flood, when the Most High placed his rainbow in the heavens as a sign of the covenant and of peace;

from the migration of Abraham, our father in faith, from Ur of the Chaldeans, twenty- one centuries;

from the exodus of the people of Israel out of Egypt, led by Moses, thirteen centuries;

from the anointing of David as King, about one thousand years;

in the sixty-fifth week according to Daniel’s prophecy;

in the year of the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; from the founding of the city of Rome,

seven hundred and fifty-two years; in the rule of Caesar Octavian Augustus, the forty- second year;

the whole world being at peace: Jesus Christ, eternal God, the eternal Father’s Son, being pleased by His coming to consecrate the world, by the Holy Spirit conceived, nine months having passed since His conception, in Bethlehem of Judah was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. [KNEEL]

The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

The above is via NLM.

The Proclamation from the USCCB, as compared with the Vatican edition, has left many people dissatisfied. John Burchfield of the St. Theresa's Gregorian Schola made this English version as a more literal rendering of notes and text.

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

From Fr. Marin's allocutio last week:

Mary's Immaculate Conception was not declared as dogma until 1854, when Pope Pius IX declared it in his Papal Bull.

"We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful...."

- Pope Pius IX

However, for many many years, it was already in the life of the Church. Mary was blessed more than any other creature. The Greek Fathers believed that she was free from the stain of sin. Only one other woman was born without original sin: Eve. But there is a world of difference between Eve's choice and Mary's choice. Mary is the New Eve, the woman promised in the Book of Genesis. God said that "I will put enmity between you and the woman," and we now know that 'woman' refers to the Virgin Mary. The word 'enmity' in a way means that the serpent will have no power over Mary. It was as if God was already telling us in a vague way that Mary will be preserved from sin. Let us take the opportunity on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception to honor her--God's masterpiece, to do something special for her.

And that is dying.

I am standing upon that foreshore, a ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, "there! she's gone!"
"Gone where?" "Gone from my sight, that's all", she is just as large in mast and spar and hull as ever she was when she left my side; just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at that moment when someone at my side says, "there! she's gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "here she comes!"
And that is dying.

Victor Hugo

by Thriol

Remember the Holy Souls


P. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.
P. May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
R. Amen.

Mary's Notebook - November Issue

Legion of Mary, Tidewater, produces a monthly Newsletter called Mary's Notebook. Do subscribe.

Here are some excerpts from this month's issue

It is private dedication, and deep trust in Mary that inspires the Legionary to spend countless hours writing the minutes, practicing saying them, and seeking to do his best. It is my opinion that the secretary who takes the time to do his best, will find that God does the rest and uses these minutes as an amazing tool for evangelization and for recruiting and growth of the Legion of Mary. It is also my opinion that it is exactly when it is the hardest to prepare the minutes well that it counts the most that they are well prepared.

- Christopher Miller, "Order of the Praesidium Meeting"

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So even in Heaven Mary is living the Rosary in all its richness and profundity. She looks with joy and thanksgiving on every mystery of Jesus down to the last detail. Everything about Jesus is unforgettable to Mary. She sees with the greatest clarity that the Almighty has done great things for her. She sees that everything that is true, and good and beautiful in her is the unique fruit of the redemptive love of her Son. In her mind and heart resides the totality of the Gospel. In the Rosary Mary wants to share with us her experience of Jesus and with Him to enter into the heart life of the Trinity. No wonder Our Lady invites us again and again to pray the Rosary as a gentle but sure way of opening our lives to the Gospel and the Persons of the Trinity. No wonder the Rosary is at the heart of the spirituality of the Legionary because the spirit of the Legion is the spirit of Mary and she is the Lady of the Rosary.

- Fr Bede McGregor O.P., "The Role of the Rosary in the Life of the Legionary"

Patrician Meeting - October 2009

Apostolate!

"A CATHOLIC WHO NEVER TRIES TO WORK FOR THE CONVERSION OF NON-CATHOLICS OR TO BRING BAD CATHOLICS BACK TO THE SACRAMENTS IS A SOLDIER WHO LET THE ENEMY WIN WITHOUT PUTTING UP A FIGHT."

From the Baltimore Catechism

On the Feast Day of the Holy Rosary

I came across this in the Opus Dei website :)
Happy feast day everyone!
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“Don’t those who are in love always say the same things to each other?”
The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you will be amazed at the results. (The Way, 558)

The beginning of the way, at the end of which you will find yourself completely carried away with love for Jesus, is a confident love for Mary.

—Do you want to love Our Lady? —Well, get to know her. How? —By praying her Rosary well.

But, in the Rosary... we always say the same things! —Always the same? And don’t those who are in love always say the same things to each other?... Could it not be that there is monotony in your Rosary because, instead of pronouncing words like a man, you emit sounds like an animal, while your mind is very far from God? —Moreover, listen: before each decade we are told the mystery to be contemplated. —Have you... ever contemplated these mysteries?

Become little. Come with me and —this is the essence of what I have to confide— we will live the life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Each day we will render them a new service. We will hear their family conversations. We will see the Messiah grow up. We will admire His thirty years of hidden life... We will be present at His Passion and Death... We will be awed by the Glory of His Resurrection... In a word: we will contemplate, carried away with Love (the only real love is Love), each and every instant of Christ Jesus. (Holy Rosary, Introduction)

Allocutio by Fr. Marin on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (October 6, 2009)

***Paraphrased version only***

Many people don't like praying the rosary. Some people say it is only boring, vain repetition. Consider this: when you like a new song and you want to remember it, you usually repeat it again and again. And even the songs that you sing probably repeat the same things again and again. Are these vain repetitions? The rosary is a very beautiful prayer. In it, we repeat the words of an angel and a saint. And in the end is added a very beautiful and interesting request, "Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death." Every word of the Hail Mary is filled with so much meaning. And although it may seem that we are giving too much attention to Mary, by repeating the Ave Maria more times than the Lord's Prayer and the Glory Be, we mention the Most Holy Name of Jesus just as often, if not more. For at the center of each Ave Maria is Jesus. When the mystery of each decade is announced, it is not just a phrase that we announce. It leads us to a meditation on the life of Our Lord like Mary, who kept the words of Jesus in her heart and contemplated on them.

Now, it is true that we sometimes find difficulty in praying the rosary. Oftentimes, we get distracted. We start praying the first decade and before we know it, we've reached the fourth decade, and realize that in between, we have spaced out. Our minds had fluttered to other things again. But we should not despair. St. Therese used to confess in her letters that she prayed the rosary so badly. She would always be distracted or feel sleepy. But still, she tried to pray it well everyday. I'm sure that Our Lady is not standing beside you, criticizing you everytime you pray the rosary distractedly. Of course, we should give it our best effort and say it as lovingly as we can. But I'm sure the effort you put in praying the rosary, although you may get distracted, will make Our Lady very happy.

In this month of the Rosary, it would be good for us if we can say the rosary daily. Not only do we make Our Lady happy, we also attain many graces for ourselves. We should also encourage our family and friends to pray this prayer. The Rosary is a prayer that has been loved by all the saints, endorsed by the Church for hundreds of years, and endorsed by Mary herself in the apparitions approved by the Church. What more recommendations do we need?

"Blessed be that monotony of Hail Marys which purifies the monotony of your sins!"

- St. Josemaria Escriva