Monday, September 8, 2014

Death thru Eve, Life thru Mary

 "When the most holy Virgin was born, the whole world was made radiant;
blessed is the branch and blessed is the stem which bore such holy fruit."
Today's Liturgy of the Hours
 
 
  
FEAST of the NATIVITY
of the BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
September 8
 
"This radiant and manifest coming of God to men most certainly needed a joyful prelude to introduce the great gift of salvation to us.  
The present festival, the birth of the Mother of God, is the prelude, 
while the final act is the foreordained union of the Word with flesh.  Today the Virgin is born, tended and formed, and prepared for her role as Mother of God, 
who is the universal King of the ages." 

St Andrew of Crete, bishop - Oratio 1: PG 97


Another woman is now given thee in place of the first,
a prudent and humble Eve instead of the proud and foolish one,
an Eve who shall offer thee, not the tree of death but the
Bread of Life, and who shall yield thee, not the poisoned fruit
of bitterness but the delicious fruit of immortality.
 
Change thou, therefore, the wicked words of self-excuse into
the voice of praise and thanksgiving, and say to the Lord,
‘The woman whom Thou gavest me, gave me of the
tree of life and I did eat; and it has become in my mouth sweeter
than honey, because in it Thou hast given me life.’
 
Behold here the purpose for which the Angel was sent from God
to the Virgin. O Virgin, worthy of all admiration, deserving of
all honour! O most wonderful of women and venerable over all.”

  St Bernard of Clairvaux 
 
 
 
 Death through Eve, life through Mary." ~ Saint Jerome 
 
"The day of the Nativity of the Mother of God is a day of universal joy, because through the Mother of God, the entire human race was renewed, and the sorrow of the first mother, Eve, was transformed into joy." 

Saint John Damascene, Father and Doctor of the Church


"We never give more honour to Jesus than when we honour his Mother, and we honour her simply and solely to honour him all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek - Jesus, her Son. ... She is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God.  
If you say "Mary," she says "God." 

Saint Louis Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, #94


Click here: Nativity of the BVM - YouTube (song +images - lovely! - 2 mins)
Click here: The Birth of Mary - YouTube (Commentary + images - 2 mins)
 
 
Mary, mother of the Bread of Life, pray for us!

No comments:

Post a Comment