Our eyes are upraised to you in sorrow and in joy. How much I worry about my physical health! Feast of Our Lady Mother of Sorrows - 15th Sept Grant that following your good counsel, I may avoid sin, practise virtue, save my soul and attain eternal life. You brought forth Jesus, your First-born, without pain; but in giving birth to your second-born, what agony did you not have to endure? You became the Mother of God and remained a virgin. Mary, Mother of God, your sorrows are not merely the sorrows of an earthly mother grieving over the death of an only child. And finally when the sacrifice was completed by His death upon the cross you had your place beside Him. 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." It is truly the will of God that all graces should come to us through you. Mary, My Mother, how shall I stand before my Judge at the day of judgment? You share so entirely in His Passion that, if it had been possible, you would gladly have borne all the torments your Son bore. How humble you were! I plead for these sinners and I beg you to help them to break their chains, to shake off their human respect, to hope in the mercy of your Son. You were declared to be the spiritual "Mother of all the living." Your sorrow would be as deep as the sea. He was with you not only by a special protection guiding you in His ways and leading you securely to salvation. 3. The Feast of Our Lady of Mercy | Mercy Home for Boys & Girls The Holy Spirit overshadowed you at the Annunciation, and on Pentecost He made your heart a furnace of Divine love. Let me feel some of the sentiments of loving expectation that you felt while waiting for the birth of your Child, so that I may prepare myself for His coming and the graces of the mystery of His Nativity may bear fruit in my soul. OLMC Feast Website About The Feast Page Pray for more lay apostles, who in every walk of life will defend the rights of God, proclaim His Truth and preach His holy Will by word and example. We all rejoice because all the graces and spiritual benefits we have received and shall receive, all our future glory comes from this exalted mystery of the Incarnation. Rule over us by the queenly power of your love that the Kingdom of your Sonthe Kingdom of Truth and Life, Holiness and Grace, Justice, Love and Peacemay come upon earth. 11, 29). Jesus is the Son of God by His marvelous and eternal birth "in the bosom of His Father." Then, through your compassion be pleased to send down to us, your poor servants, a rich abundance of your graces and blessing. You are the Queen of your Son's kingdom. To bring us forth, you gave much more than our earthly mothers gave. You were in the judgment-hall and heard it ring with lies. The Apostles, who had abandoned their Master informed you of your Son's betrayal by Judas and of His brutal capture after His agony. Teach me to answer such love with childlike confidence. You found the cross very heavy during the three years of His public life, for then He had to leave your side that He might be "about His Father's business,"the sanctification and salvation of souls. You are truly the "Queen of Peace.". Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found, not taken, grace, as Lucifer tried to take it. Thus was fulfilled the prophesy that Christ would be born of the family of David. About Our Lady of Sorrows This is one of many Marian feast days which occurs throughout the liturgical year. These mysteries remind me also of your own glory, the Assumption of your soul and body into heaven and your crowning there as Queen of Heaven and Earth. Your life, like that of your Divine Son, was a daily crucifixion and martyrdom, but on Good Friday that crucifixion reached its climax. May your holy marriage be an inspiration to Christian husbands and wives so that they may always live in sincere love and peace and be obedient to the commandments of God. Your intimate union with your Divine Son is the reason for your power with Him. Help me to use the graces God gives me for my sanctification. You receive all graces through Jesus Christ, because you pray and ask for them in the Name of Jesus Christ. I am your merciful mother, the merciful mother of all of you who live united in . 7, 24). ", Feast, November 21 (Novena, November 12-20). Mary, Mother of God, you reign in splendor for all eternity with your Divine Son. Through your prayers you will obtain forgiveness for my past negligence. Joseph was a virgin for your sake, that a Virgin Son might be born of a virginal marriage. How God has loved you by making you His Mother! Give strength and courage to those who work for the salvation of souls as apostles of our own time so that following the example of the divine Missionary, Jesus Christ, they may labor zealously for the spread of God's Kingdom. You beheld Him suspended by iron nails. Blessed are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD. This wisdom and prudence showed itself at a very early age, when you willed to devote yourself entirely to God and were presented by your saintly parents, at your own request, for the temple service. Of course, you never thought of yourself as a sinner for humility is truth, and you knew that you had never offended God. Your motherly interest in my needs and the salvation of my soul encourage me to make a prompt appeal to you in all my needs and dangers. I cannot have Jesus for my Brother if I do not have you for my Mother. Mary, My Mother, I am happy to be your child. Feast, February 2 (Novena, Jan. 24-Feb. 1). Grace comes to us from Jesus and reaches us through you. The Annunciation Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Teach me to seek all things through your prayers, for your intercession is most powerful and Jesus can refuse you nothing. 1. The picture you imprinted on the cloak of the Indian at Guadalupe was the image of the Immaculate Conception. It was life of the utmost weakness and helplessness, and yet His is the strength of God Himself. . From you was derived the Precious Blood which was shed upon the cross for our salvation and the adorable Body which, after having been made the price of our Redemption, has become the food of our souls in the Holy Eucharist. According to God's eternal standards, the sanctity proclaimed by Gabriel when he called you "full of grace," was but the beginning of your wonderful growth in holiness. Mary, Mother of God, tradition tells us that when you were three years of age, your parents, Joachim and Anne, took you to the Temple in Jerusalem to fulfill their vow. To the Son you give His human nature which allows Him to make full reparation to the honor of His Father outraged by our sins. 11, 29). God bless. When the hands and feet of Jesus were pierced with nails, the sound of each blow of the hammer inflicted a wound in your Heart. In His infancy Jesus depended upon your loving care, and in death when He was abandoned by all, even by His Father, He still had your heart. Mary, Mother of God, I believe that it is a divinely revealed dogma that you, Immaculate Mother of God, having completed the course of your earthly life, were assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. Mary, My Mother, How perfectly you have followed the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and acted on divine wisdom! You were longing to see the Face of God and to be happy in the vision. The child in the womb of Elizabeth was sanctified and exulted for joy at the presence of Jesus. This doctrine was received in the early Church and handed down by the Fathers who praised you with extraordinary titles and most important writings. He is for us the source of all grace, the cause of our supernatural life. Mary, Mother of God, I believe what Holy Mother Church teaches about your Immaculate Conception: that from the first moment of your conception you possessed justice and holinessthat is sanctifying grace, even the fullness of grace, with the infused virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit, and with integrity of nature; yet you remained subject to death and other pains and miseries of life that your Son Himself willed to undergo. Teach me to admire your virtues that I maybe constantly reminded to imitate them and become like you. Continue to work wonders on our shores for our spiritual and material prosperity and keep us in peace and charity. The Consecration took place on Calvary where you shared in the offering of the bloody sacrifice of the New Testament. I firmly believe that He will hear my prayer also, if this should be the Will of God. Mary, My Mother, as the Immaculate Conception, you are the Woman who appeared as the mortal enemy of the serpent. Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe | Catholics & Cultures You would be hailed by all generations as blessed above all other women because you are the Mother of God and at the same time a spotless Virgin. Feast Days of Mary | Marians of the Immaculate Conception Having carried within you Jesus Christ, the Son of God, you share, as no one else does, in your divine Son's holiness and purity. From your heart we hope to obtain the love of God that He expects from His creatures, and also the pardon that guilty but repentant creatures ask from their merciful Creator. The early Christians, all lovers of the Eucharist, who visited you frequently during your hidden life of adoration, must have taken away with them the spirit of your Eucharistic devotion. Thus you became in some way the source of that grace which Jesus would pour forth over all mankind. Be pleased to intercede with Jesus, your Son, for Christian families. 3. Your Child, becoming the King of Martyrs, would make you their Queen. But in you they saw a soul whose sanctity surpassed that of angels and of men, a soul which would glorify God more perfectly than any other creature ever had glorified Him, or ever would glorify Him. In 1913, Pope Pius X fixed the date on September 15. Mary, My Mother, you are all beautifulbeautiful in mind, in body, in soul! 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). Your will was one with His, faithful to your promise made at the Incarnation. You were the only one who was exempt from the universal curse that had fallen on the whole human race. Mary, My Mother, may the example of your sinlessness urge us to that innocence and purity of life which flees from and abhors even the slightest stain of sin. I want to be devoted to you by giving myself entirely to you and through you to God. Teach parents to care for their children as God's sacred trust, to guard them from sin and to lead them in the way of virtue. A man and a woman had both taken part in the degradation of our race; they must both have part in its restoration. Mary, My Mother, your Heart is the masterpiece of the Holy Trinity. 3. This event has passed. Through your powerful intercession obtain for them the graces they need. In your contemplation of God, you behold our needs with our prayers, and you beg God to grant these favors to us. Who can understand the joy you feel to be able to give happiness to the whole world? May I have more of their love for you so that I may experience more of their joy in being devoted to you. God sent Gabriel, one of His glorious archangels, to deliver the most important message in the history of mankind, announcing the coming of the Savior of the world and the selection of you to be His Mother. From you all missionaries have received the salvation which they bring to the nations. He is your child and you are His Mother. I believe that all graces and heavenly favors flow to the Mystical Body of Christ as from the Head, but you are the channel, through which, by God's will, all graces come to humanity. Mary, Mother of God, make my interior life of union with Jesus more like your own. Not only were you full of grace, but you also bore the Author of grace. 2. I declare that I undertake them only that I may better promote the honor of God and devotion to you. Eternity is real; Heaven is eternal happiness, the final reward for loyalty to God. Your offering of the bloody sacrifice of Calvary is the perfect model for my offering Holy Mass. We do not attribute to you the power of producing supernatural grace, even though you are the Mother of God, for this power belongs to God alone. You would not be completely happy in heaven if you did not know the interests of those souls redeemed at the cost of so much pain to Jesus and you. Even before His coming your Heart was filled with love for those whom later He was to love with a tremendous love. Corruption is a consequence of sin, but you were sinless. Filled with grief, you saw how the disciples removed the nails from the Redeemer's hands and feet, extracted the thorns from His head, and took Him down from the cross. In your humility you refused praise, giving all the praise and glory to God. Sanctifying grace likened you to God as it did no other pure creature. I thank you for all you mean to me as my spiritual Mother. You are the most beautiful of creatures, the one in whom there is no spot, God's masterpiece. 3. You desire more to do good to me than I can desire to receive favors from you, for your Heart is all love and mercy. The Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12The Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dec. 18The Espousals of the Virgin Mary, Jan. 23Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Feb. 2Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculate (Our Lady of Lourdes), Feb. 11The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, March 25The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sept. 15Our Lady of Good Counsel, April 26Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, Saturday after AscensionOur Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, May 13Mary, Help of Christians, May 24Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces, May 31The Queenship of Mary, May 31Mary, Virgin Mother of Grace, June 9Our Lady of Perpetual Help, June 27Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, July 2Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16Humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary, July 17Our Lady of the Snows, Aug. 5Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, Aug. 13The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Aug. 15The Immaculate Heart of Mary, Aug. 22Our Lady, Health of the Sick, Saturday before the last Sunday in Aug.Our Lady of Consolation, Saturday after the Feast of St. Augustine (Aug. 28)Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sept. 8The Most Holy Name of Mary, Sept. 12Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sept. 15Our Lady of Mercy (Our Lady of Ransom), Sept. 24Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, Oct. 7Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Oct. 11Purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Oct. 16Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Nov. 21Mary, Mother of Divine Providence, Saturday before 3rd Sunday of Nov. Feast, December 8 (Novena, Nov. 29-Dec. 7). But that my devotion may be pleasing to you, help me to maintain my soul and body in the spotlessness of your purity, help me to try as best I can to walk in your footsteps, humbly seeking to be like you. It urges my senses to lower desires, because I seek sensible pleasure in its every degree. Like you let me realize my own nothingness. Proclaim the Good News You have never turned away your eyes from souls in need. May these graces become most fruitful in my soul till I become like you, another Christ. We obtain everything for our peace of soul in time and eternity from the Father through the Heart of Jesus and everything from Jesus through your Heart. 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. With Christ you have contributed to our redemption; hence you may be called Co-Redemptrix. How many are now in heaven because of the protection given them by your merciful Heart! Even your earthly sufferings were to deepen your sanctity. But that my devotion may be acceptable and my homage pleasing, let me endeavor to maintain within my soul, as much as possible the spotlessness of your purity and try to walk in your footsteps humbly and gently. The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is celebrated on September 15 and is dedicated to honoring the spiritual martyrdom of Mary. How fortunate I will be, if at death I am bound with the sweet chains of love to you! You stood by its side never turning your eyes from Him. St. Brigid of Kildare Feast Day February 1st. I thank you for consenting to become my spiritual Mother by giving me Jesus. The Nativity and the Crucifixion were as one action. I implore the help of your protection and choose you as my advocate. At the sound of your voice Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to prophesy: "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." With your heart breaking with sorrow, you had to die a spiritual death in order to become my spiritual Mother. Your Heart was also a pure Heart, pure as the light, purer than the snow, free from the stain of original sin, from the least taint of actual sin, from the least evil tendency of our fallen naturea heart full of light and beauty reflecting to the full the radiance of the Sacred Heart of your Divine Son. 3. God has created nature and all the wondrous functions of the human body. Mary, My Mother, your first presentation to God, made by the hands of your parents, was an offering most acceptable in His sight. Help me to receive Holy Communion frequently, at least each week, if not daily. Mary, My Mother, give me a rich share in the graces merited for me by your Son. 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! Whoever abides in this Church will bring forth much salutary fruit; whereas they who willingly separate themselves from it must wither away spiritually. This is a great time for us to reflect on the sorrows and the sufferings that Our Blessed Mother went through. The dangers facing the Church and the world are grave and evil. PRAYER: O most holy Virgin, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ: by the overwhelming grief you experienced when you witnessed the martyrdom, the crucifixion, and death of your divine Son, look upon me with eyes of compassion, and awaken in my heart a tender commiseration for those sufferings, as well as a sincere detestation of my sins, in order . You treasured up all the words spoken by the holy angels concerning your divine Son, as well as those pronounced by the prophetess Anna and by holy Simeon when you presented your Son in the temple, and you prudently pondered them in your heart. The Lord being your portion, you renounced all elsethe honors, the pleasures, and the rewards of marriageand joyously chose the life of a virgin. For that reason you were conceived by your mother, Saint Anne, without even the shadow of sin. I cannot even imagine the heavenly beauty that adorned your innocent soul as you were being prepared by the Eternal Father to be the Mother of His Divine Son and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. You said Yes so that we might live. You stood close to Jesus, your head raised to drink the bitter chalice offered your arms stretched out and reaching upward, like a priest at the altar. Apparition Of The Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculate (Our Lady of Lourdes), Feast, February 11 (Novena, February 2-10). You thought only of the good you could do in Elizabeth's home. You are our Mediatrix with our Mediator. Your soul filled with love and sorrow, you embraced your Son now pale in death, a victim for the sins of mankind. Being the new Eve who was to be the Mother of the new Adam you were, by the eternal decree of God and by the merits of Christ, withdrawn from the general law of original sin. Virgin of virgins, remember me in my needs, and show yourself my Mother. The moment of your exaltation, the highest to which God could raise a creature, finds you sunk in the abyss of your own nothingness. Now you realize human misery more fully and, therefore, show your mercy and compassion and help more generously. I already know of your great love for me for the sake of your Son who entrusted the care of my soul to you. The reredos is in gold relief, being copied from work in the chapel of the Duchess of Newcastle. Having loved your sinful children so much as to sacrifice for them your only Son in His Passion, you loved them to the end by giving them the Holy Eucharist. 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. It is from you alone that Christ took His human nature. But the same spirit of humility which had induced Jesus to obey the law of circumcision, made you also submit to the law of purification. Hence with Holy Church I repeat, "You are all fair, Mary, and the stain of original sin is not in you. pray for me! 1. Teach me to understand something of your love for the Holy Spirit and His love for you in keeping your soul beautiful and holy. Forgetting yourself completely, you were most intimately united with God. 18, 3). It commemorates the profound union of heart that existed between the Mother of the Redeemer and the Savior, through which she experienced many interior sorrows as a consequence of His Mission, but particularly during His Passion and Death. At the Crib, you were the first ostensorium of your Son, showing Him to the shepherds, to the Magi and to the world. We do not find you in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when your divine Son was received with so much honor by the people. Liturgical feast Our Lady of Compassion. 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. How consoling to know that I have Christ, my elder Brother, "always living to make intercession for me," and you, my Mother, ever pleading for me before the throne of God. As a child runs to its mother in every need and finds comfort in her glance and kind word, I can turn to you for help when I need it, for you are truly my Mother, whose heart is overflowing with kindness and mercy. Jesus is the new Adam and you are the new Eve. From the moment you said, "Be it done to me according to thy word," the Father in heaven made Jesus and you, as it were, a redemptive pair; you, of course, have always been dependent on Him. But you are the Mother of the living, for by your fidelity to your Maker you deserved to give to mankind a Redeemer who by His death has destroyed the reign of death and has thrown open to us the gates of everlasting life. Copyright by FATHERS RUMBLE AND CARTY Radio Replies Press Society St. Paul 1, Minn., U.S.A. EWTN | 5817 Old Leeds Rd. How much more precious you were than any chalice of richest gold. Teach me to desire ardently all that is pleasing to God, to seek after it prudently, to accept it truthfully and to do it perfectly, for the praise and glory of God. You are truly the pledge of Divine mercy. You were one of us, and yet you stood above us! 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. 1. Jesus ascended to Heaven before you not only that He might prepare a throne for you in that Kingdom, but also that He might Himself accompany you with all the blessed spirits and thus render your entry into Heaven more glorious and worthy of His Mother. Never before did angel greet man with the word "Hail, full of grace." May the instructions I receive increase the love of God in me and strengthen my determination to serve Him with greater zeal. Mary, Mother of God, as Mediatrix of All Graces you have entered into the highest state of power and glory in heaven in order that you may help us on our difficult journey to the heavenly City of God. The closer a soul is to God, the farther it is from sin. In heaven all your subjects are crowned by the King of kings, and they pay homage to you. Help me to return unceasing thanks to God for His many favors, and keep me humble in possessing and using them. Through your prayers and dignity the power and the fruits of the Passion of Jesus are applied to men No intercession, neither yours nor that of any saint, is of value except through Him, through His blessed wounds. You are the holiest of God's creatures because you are the Mother of God. Jesus, your First-born, was brought forth in joy at Bethlehem, but His brethren, your spiritual children, were brought forth in anguish of spirit at the foot of the cross. He paid the debt that original sin might not be incurred. August 9: OUR LADY OF THE BURNING CLOUD (ATOM BOMB) On Thursday, August 9, 1945, a blinding flash split the sky above Nagasaki. Parting with your dying Son was the height of your sorrow. First of all, because of your humility you merited to be exalted above all creatures. 1. Here there was a sacrifice, and Jesus was the Victim. All your privileges increased your power to love God. Such a stain would have reflected upon your Son, who is Holiness itself. Shed upon me more and more the living light of that faith which made you blessed. Your kingdom, like His, is a kingdom of imperishable glory, because yours is a throne of clemency, mercy and pardon. From your pure blood the Holy Spirit formed the pure Body of Jesus. When I say "Hail, Mary!" Our Lady of Sorrows | EWTN Mary, Mother of God, your name means Lady and Queen. Mary, Mother of God, Our Lady of Good Counsel, I appeal to you for advice and guidance. Prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary | MaryPages For my proud nature, humility is most difficult to practise. You formed His feet, to search after and seek us as a Good Shepherd, His hands to heal us and to be pierced for us; and His shoulders to carry the cross. You had a Heart of love from which in the course of time was to be formed the Sacred Heart of the loving Christ. 2. Your loving Son welcomed you with joy. I have loved and followed Jesus to the end. You saw the heavy cross placed on His bent shoulders. In all of the mysteries of Jesus, in every part of His life, the Father always thought of you two together; together you labored to save men. For the first time after four thousand years God in His Wisdom and power and love, created again a human being in that state in which He had created our first parents. It marks seven particularly sorrowful events in Mary's life, focussing on her experience of them - whereas on the actual days, the focus is on Jesus experience. By His almighty power He would form the body of the Savior of the world, and the Divine Son would unite it to Himself forever. 2. His mother named him after the great St. Francis of Assisi. Mary, Blessed Virgin, full of grace, Queen of all Saints, how consoling it is for me to venerate you under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel! Help those of our faith to throw themselves at the feet of a priest and confess their sins and ask pardon for them. "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus.