Tag: month of the immaculate heart of mary

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Our Morning Offering – 2 August – Inflame our Hearts with Your Love

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 2 August – The Memorial of St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Most Zealous Doctor of the Church and a Catholic Monday of the Holy Ghost

Inflame our Hearts with Your Love
Prayer To the Holy Ghost
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

You made Mary full of grace
and enflamed the hearts of the Apostles
with a holy zeal.
Inflame our hearts with Your love.
You are the Spirit of Goodness,
Give us the courage to confront evil
You are Fire, set us ablaze with Your love
You are Light, enlighten our minds,
that we may see what is truly important.
You are the Dove, give us gentleness.
You are a soothing Breeze, bring calm to the storms that rage within us.
You are the Tongue, may our lips ever sing God’s praises
You are the Cloud, shelter us under the shadow of Your protection
O Holy Ghost, melt the frozen,
warm the chilled and enkindle in us an earnest desire to please You.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Quote/s of the Day – 2 August – St Alphonsus

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 2 August – The Memorial of St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

Everyone knows that honor paid to a mother redounds to her children. Hence St. Bernard says, let not any one think that by greatly praising the mother he will throw into the shade the glories of the Son; for the more he honors the mother, so much more he honors the Son. And there is no doubt that on account of the merits of Jesus, the great privilege has been granted to Mary to be the mediatrix of our salvation; not, indeed, mediatrix of justice, but of grace and intercession.

How great then should be our confidence in this queen, knowing how powerful she is with God, and at the same time how rich and full of mercy; so much so that there is no one on earth who does not share in the mercies and favors of Mary! 

Let us always have recourse to this most sweet queen, if we would be sure of our salvation; and if the sight of our sins terrifies and disheartens us, Let us remember that Mary was made queen of mercy for this very end, that she might save by her protection the greatest and most abandoned sinners who have recourse to her.

Oh, happy those who live under the protection of a mother so loving and so powerful! The prophet David, although Mary was not yet born, besought of God salvation, by dedicating himself to Mary as her son, and thus prayed; “Save the son of thy handmaid.” Whose handmaid?” asks St. Augustine, “she who says: Behold the handmaid of the Lord.”

Be joyful then, all ye children of Mary; remember that she adopts as her children all those who wish her for their mother. Joyful; for what fear have you of being lost when this mother defends and protects you? 

Every one who loves this good mother and trusts in her protection, should take cour age and repeat: What do you fear, oh my soul? The cause of thy eternal salvation will not be lost, as the final sentence depends upon Jesus, who is thy brother, and upon Mary who is thy mother. And St. Anselm full of joy at this thought, exclaims, in order to encourage us: Oh, blessed confidence! Oh, secure refuge! The mother of God is my mother also. 

And because all men have been redeemed by Jesus, Mary loves and favors all. She was seen by St. John clothed with the sun: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun.” She is said to be clothed with the sun, because, as “There is no one that can hide himself from his heat,” so there is no one living on the earth who is deprived of the love of Mary. 

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Thought for the Day – 2 August – The Heart of Mary in General

Posted on by AnaStpaul

St John Eudes – The Admirable Heart of Mary

The Heart of Mary in General

The first heart of Mary, the Mother of God, is the heart of flesh enclosed in her virginal breast. Although this heart is corporeal, it is nevertheless completely spiritualized by the spirit of grace and the spirit of God which fills it.

The second heart is her spiritual heart, made God-like, not indeed by the hypostatic union as in the Incarnate Word, but by a superlative participation in the divine perfections, as we shall see in the following pages. This heart is referred to by the words of the Holy Ghost: “All the glory of the king’s daughter is within,”

The third heart of Mary is divine and is truly God Himself, for it is none other than the love of God. This is the heart of which she says: “I sleep, and my heart watcheth,” which means according to the interpretation of several holy Doctors: “While I grant necessary rest to my body, my Son Jesus, who is my Heart and whom I love like my own heart, is always watching over me and for me.”

These three hearts of the Mother of God constitute a single Heart, through the holiest and most intimate union that ever was and will be, next to the hypostatic union. Of these three hearts, or rather, of this single Heart, the Holy Ghost has said twice: “Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.” Our Lady cherished the mysteries and marvels of her Son’s life, first of all, in her material and corporeal heart, the principle of life, the seat of love and of the other physical emotions. All the movements, every beat of this virginal heart, the material functions that it accomplished and the emotions that swayed it, existed solely for Jesus and for the things that concerned Him. Her love was spent in loving Him, her hatred in hating all that is contrary to Him, her joy in rejoicing in His glory and His grandeurs, her sorrow and compassion in bewailing His trials and sufferings. The same may be said of every emotion of her bodily heart.

Secondly, Mary kept all these things in her spiritual heart, that is, in the noblest part of her soul, in the inmost recesses of her mind, All the faculties of her soul were constantly applied to contemplating and adoring everything that took place in the life of her Beloved Son, down to the very smallest details. Thirdly, Our Lady kept all these things in her divine Heart, that is, in her Son Jesus, who was the mind of her mind and the heart of her heart. He in turn kept them for her and recalled them to her mind when necessary, that she might feed herself in contemplation upon the mysteries of His life, rendering them due honor and adoration, and repeating them to the holy apostles and disciples, who were to preach them to the faithful.

This then is what is meant by the admirable Heart of the beloved Mother of God.

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Quote/s of the Day – 1 August – Hail, holy Mother

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 1 August – “Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” – Readings: Sedulius, Ps 44:2, Ecclus 24:14-16, Luke 11:27-28

Hail, holy Mother, who in childbirth brought forth the King Who rules heaven and earth world without end.

Sedulius, Ps 44:2

She is clothed with the eternal Sun of the Godhead and with all the perfections of the Divine Essence, which surround, fill and penetrate her to such an extent that she has become transformed, as it were, into the power, goodness and holiness of God.

St John Eudes (The Admirable Heart of Mary)

That which denotes the grandeur and the charm of maternity in a woman are grief and tenderness. Grief which rends the heart as it rends the body in order to give life. Tenderness which binds the child to the mother and the mother to the child in such a way as to form only one being, as they form only one flesh. All these characteristics are found physically in the human maternity of Mary, in her relations with Jesus, and mystically in the spiritual maternity of Mary vis-a-vis all Christians but more especially Religious. The poem of maternal love which each mother lives, often without knowing it, is found in Mary with more grandeur and glory.

Thomas a Kempis (The Imitation of Mary)

Fifthly, on nothing will thine eyes rest with such keen delight as on the inexpressible beauty of Jesus and Mary, whose glorified bodies are so irresistibly charming, attractive, beautiful and majestic, that if the damned were permitted to behold them, they would no longer find Hell intolerable.

Father Martin von Cochem (The Four Last Things: On Heaven)

Mary has produced, together with the Holy Ghost, the greatest thing which has been, or ever will be, which is a God-Man; and she will consequently produce the greatest things that there will be in the latter times. The formation and education of the great Saints, who shall come at the end of the world, are reserved for her. For it is only that singular and miraculous Virgin who can produce, in union with the Holy Ghost, singular and extraordinary things.

St Louis de Montfort (True Devotion to Mary)

Before all ages, in the beginning, He created me, and through all ages I shall not cease to be. In the holy Tent I ministered before Him, and in Sion I fixed my abode. Thus in the chosen city He has given me rest, in Jerusalem is my domain. I have struck root among the glorious people, in the portion of my God, His heritage, and my abode is in the full assembly of Saints.

Ecclus 24:14-16

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

AUGUST – The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Do not be surprised if I say that the virginal Heart of this Mother of Fair Love is an admirable Heart indeed. Mary is admirable in her divine Maternity because as St. Bernardine of Siena says, “to be Mother of God is the miracle of miracles,” miraculum miraculorum.

But the august Heart of Mary is also truly admirable, for it is the principle of her divine Maternity and of the wonderful mysteries this privilege implies.

Of Mary’s admirable Heart I shall attempt to speak in this book although to speak and write worthily of the holy Heart of God’s own Mother one would need a heart of fire. To know and proclaim the perfections of the noble Heart of the Queen of Angels one should have the intellect of a cherub and the flaming love of a seraph. Nay more, it would be necessary to possess the mind, the heart, the tongue and the hand of Jesus Christ, the King of all hearts, to understand, honor, proclaim or commit to writing the treasures of sanctity contained in the holy Heart of Mary, the worthiest, most royal and most marvellous of all hearts after the most adorable Heart of our Saviour Himself.

Mary is truly admirable in all her perfections and in all her virtues?
But what is most admirable in her is her virginal heart. The heart of the
Mother of God is a world of marvels, an abyss of wonders, the source and principle of all the virtues which we admire in our glorious Queen: “All the glory of the king’s daughter is within.”

St John Eudes

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Thought for the Day – 1 August – Reasons for the name ‘Admirable’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

St John Eudes – The Admirable Heart of Mary

Reasons for the name ‘Admirable’

Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of God, chose the incomparable Virgin Mary from among all creatures to be His Mother and deigned to be nourished and governed by her. In His infinite goodness He also gave her to us to be our Queen, our Mother and our sure Refuge in all our needs. He therefore wishes us to honor her as He honors her and to love her as He loves her.

According to the Apostle St. Paul, Christ is the Head of His Mystical Body, the Church, and we are the members. We must therefore be animated by His Spirit; we must follow His inspirations, walk the path He has traced, and continue, as it were, His life on earth by practising the virtues which were His own. It follows that our devotion to His Holy Mother must be a continuation of His devotion to her. We must be filled with the sentiments of respect, submission and affection which He entertained for her on earth and still entertains in heaven. Mary always held and will hold forever the first place in the Sacred Heart of her Divine Son; she always was and will never cease to be the first object of His love after the Eternal Father; and so He wishes that, next to God, she should be the principal object of our devotion. For this reason, after the veneration we owe to the Divine Majesty of God, we cannot render a greater service to Jesus Christ or do anything more pleasing to Him than to serve and honor His most worthy Mother.

Among the divinely inspired passages of Sacred Scripture I select one from the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, which is a compendium of all the great things that can be said or thought of our marvellous Queen. “A great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

What is this great sign? Who is this miraculous woman? St. Epiphanius, St. Augustine, St. Bernard and many other holy doctors agree that the woman is Mary, the Queen among women, the Sovereign of angels and men, the Virgin of virgins. She is the woman who bore in her chaste womb the perfect man, the God-Man. “A woman shall compass a man.” Mary appears in heaven because she comes from heaven, because she is heaven’s masterpiece, the Empress of Heaven, its joy and its glory, in whom everything is heavenly. Even when her body dwelt on earth, her thoughts and affections were all rapt in heaven.

She is clothed with the eternal Sun of the Godhead and with all the perfections of the Divine Essence, which surround, fill and penetrate her to such an extent that she has become transformed, as it were, into the power, goodness and holiness of God. She has the moon under her feet to show that the entire world is beneath her. None is above her, save only God, and she holds absolute sway over all created things.

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary, JESUIT SJ, MARIAN DEVOTIONS, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, SACRED and IMMACULATE HEARTS

August – The Month of theImmaculate Heart of Mary

Posted on by AnaStpaul

August – The Month of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary

Messenger of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 1876

Excerpt from – “Object Of This Devotion”

The object of the Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is twofold, material and spiritual; the former secondary, the latter primary. The material object is the material heart of the Mother of the Word Incarnate. The spiritual object is her spiritual heart, that is to say, the ardent charity with which she was inflamed for God, as well as that, which she bore towards men. There is neither distance, separation nor opposition between these two loves; it is precisely because she loves God that Mary loves us and, the more perfectly she loves God, the greater her affection for us.

The love which Mary bears us is similar to that manifested towards us by her Divine Son, when, while on earth, He sought sinners rather than the just; our condition as sinners, far from opposing an obstacle, is rather a claim upon her. In this point, as in all others, Mary walks faithfully in the footsteps of her Son and model and, if she loves the just with a love of complacency because of their virtues, the love of compassion and mercy which she feels for sinners, is still greater, not because they are worthy of it but because, of their greater necessities. Finally the material heart of Mary, by means of which we should raise our thoughts to the spiritual, is ordinarily represented, not only with flames escaping from it which figure her love and crowned with flowers, emblems of her virtues but also, pierced with a sword, to call our attention to her sorrows.

The end proposed by devotion to the Immaculate Heart, is to urge us to a greater love towards Mary; for this object we are invited to consider her heart which is the most perfect masterpiece which nature and grace combined, have ever formed of a simple creature – besides this, in our regard, it is the heart of the most tender of mothers who loves us far better than we love ourselves. In these two considerations is to be found her claim upon our love –can we refuse it?
This general end contains several partial ones, some of which it will be well to indicate – such as gratitude towards Mary, confidence in her, lively compassion for her sufferings and imitation of her virtues.

Note: The Messenger of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a Jesuit periodical of the Apostleship of Prayer.
It is printed in Dublin, Ireland and with monthly sales of around 52,000, it is still one of the largest-selling magazines in Ireland and I believe there are versions in various countries around the world.