Tag: gerard’spoemtostalphonsus

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, Gerard MANLEY HOPKINS SJ, MARIAN HYMNS, MARIAN POETRY, MARIAN PRAYERS, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, MAY - The Blessed Virgin MARY'S MONTH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

It’s 1 May, The Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Posted on by AnaStpaul

It’s 1 May
Let us Rejoice in our Mother Mary!
The Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary

“Bright Mother of our Maker, Hail!
Thou Virgin ever blest,
the Ocean’s Star by which we sail
and gain the port of rest!”
(Anonymous 8th Century Latin Hymn)

The May Magnificat
By Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ (1844-1889)

May is Mary’s month and I
Muse at that and wonder why:
Her feasts follow reason,
Dated due to season-

Candlemas, Lady Day:
But the Lady Month, May,
Why fasten that upon her,
With a feasting in her honour?
Ask of her, the mighty Mother:
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is Spring?
Growth in everything-
All things rising, all things sizing
Mary sees, sympathising
With that world of good,
Nature’s motherhood.

Well but there was more than this:
Spring’s universal bliss
Much, had much to say
To offering Mary May.

Visits to the Altar of Our Lady
On the Love of Mary for Her Children
(Imprimatur, 1867)

Mary loves us because we are her children. A loving and tender Mother is never wearied by the importunities of her little ones and Mary, who is the most loving and tender of all mothers, will never weary of hearing and answering our petitions.
The one great thing that she desires, for all her children is that they should become like her Son Jesus. He is the only Child who never disobeyed her or grieved her.
It is for His love that she loves us.
How great must be His love for us, when He inspires Mary with such a love! The best return we can make Him is to have a perfect trust and confidence in His Blessed Mother.
Those who are not devout to Mary cannot really understand the great Mystery of the Incarnation and do not love Jesus as they should – for, if they loved Him, they would love His Mother too, even a tiny bit as much as He loves her.

Let us try, then, during this Month of May, to become more like Jesus.
Let us consider what spiritual grace we need most, in order to attain this great end and let us ask it with confidence everyday.
Let us also try to induce others, to honour Mary, by special devotion to her during this most beautiful month.

Let Me Love Your Jesus
By St Ildephonsus (c 607-670)

Virgin Mary, hear my prayer,
through the Holy Spirit,
you became the Mother of Jesus,
from the Holy Spirit,
may I too have Jesus.
Through the Holy Spirit,
your flesh conceived Jesus,
through the same Spirit,
may my soul receive Jesus.
Through the Holy Spirit,
you were able to know Jesus,
to possess Jesus
and to bring Him into the world.
Through the Holy Spirit,
may I too come to know your Jesus.
Imbued with the Spirit, Mary, you could say
“I am the handmaid of the Lord,
be it done unto me according to your word,”
in the Holy Spirit, lowly as I am,
let me proclaim the great truths about Jesus.
In the Spirit, you now adore Jesus as Lord
and look on Him as Son,
in the same Spirit, Mary,
let me love your Jesus.
Amen

Posted in JESUIT SJ, POETRY, PRAYERS to the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on HUMILITY, SAINT of the DAY

Quote/s of the Day – 31 October – The Memorial of St Alphonsus Rodriguez SJ (1532-1617)

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 31 October –

The Memorial of St Alphonsus Rodriguez SJ (1532-1617)

“In the difficulties which are placed before me,
why should I not act like a donkey?
When one speaks ill of him – the donkey says nothing.
When he is mistreated – he says nothing.
When he is forgotten – he says nothing.
When no food is given him – he says nothing.
When he is made to advance – he says nothing.
When he is despised – he says nothing.
When he is overburdened – he says nothing.
The true servant of God must do likewise
and say with David:
“Before Thee I have become like a beast of burden.”

St Alphonsus Rodriguez (1532-1617)in-the-difficulties-which-are-placed-before-me-st-alphonsus-rodriguez-20-june-2018

Honour is flashed off exploit, so we say;
And those strokes once that gashed flesh or galled shield
Should tongue that time now, trumpet now that field,
And, on the fighter, forge his glorious day.
On Christ they do and on the martyr may;
But be the war within, the brand we wield
Unseen, the heroic breast not outward-steeled,
Earth hears no hurtle then from fiercest fray.

Yet God (that hews mountain and continent,
Earth, all, out; who, with trickling increment,
Veins violets and tall trees makes more and more)
Could crowd career with conquest while there went
Those years and years by of world without event
That in Majorca, Alfonso watched the door.

Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ (1844-1889),
in honour of Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez SJ (1532-1617)gerard manley hopkins in honour of st alphonsus rodriguez - 31 oct 2018