The Lord has done marvelous deeds...

Sing to the Lord a new song,

for He has done marvelous deeds.  - Psalm 98:1

God chose Mary the Immaculate to be "a model of holiness" ... At Mary's conception, a new way of being human happens, and we are "chosen, destined" to share it.  Adam and Eve were tricked by the serpent's "conception." The yes of Mary at the Annunciation, the culmination of the Immaculate Conception, undoes the disobedience of Eden and makes paradise a possibility once again for us. - From Magnificat, Vol 20, No 10, Dec 2018.  www.magnificat.com

Lift your heart in joy and exalt Him                   Laud the glorious Conception
In the Blessed Sacrament all Holy, supernal     Of the Queen in God's Kingdom

Where the Lord, His glory veiling,                    Who remaining Virgin stainless,
Comforts souls true and lowly.                          Bore for men the Word eternal.

Alabado, sung after Benediction

The Immaculate Conception (detail): Sassoferrato

Excerpt: Homily, St Patrick's Cathedral -
8 Dec 1996 - John Cardinal O'Connor...

"Today is the date of the Immaculate Conception, the eighth of December...Mary was made immaculate, conceived without any trace of sin because she was going to be the co-creator of the humanity of Christ.  She was going to be, as God the Father was the Creator, the re-creator of the human race with Christ.  She was going to be the tabernacle in which Christ would be conceived. 

    We cannot now, of course, be conceived without original sin.  But the more we can purify ourselves through the Sacrament of Penance, through our own penances, through trying to observe the Commandments and keeping close to Christ, then the more fitting we become as tabernacles of the Eucharist.

    All of this requires an effort, perhaps for some an unaccustomed effort. St Augustine tells us the reward.  He was still in process of conversion from a highly profligate, promiscuous life.  Then he went into a Catholic community to worship in the Eucharistic sacrifice.  He said to a Catholic friend:

        

    "How I wept, deeply moved by your hymns, songs, and the voices that echoed through your Church!  What emotion I experienced in them!  Those sounds flowed through my ears, distilling the Truth in my heart.  A feeling of devotion surged within me and the tears streamed down my face - tears that did me good."

    May that be our experience in this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."

Glorious things are spoken of you, O Mary,
for from you arose the sun of justice, Christ our God.
(Communion Antiphon - today's liturgy)

"To the maternal intercession of Mary, the Virgin of expectation, 

 let us entrust our path toward the Lord, while we continue

our Advent itinerary of making our heart and our life ready 

for the coming of Emmanuel, God-with-us."

- Benedict XVI, 12/05/11, Noon Angelus

 O chosen and fairest Virgin Mary, intercede for us!

Holy imprint

    ...He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. ~ Hebrews 11:6b

 

Viaticum ~ Alexey Venetsianov (19c)

On her deathbed, St Juliana...

    "...begged that the Sacred Host might be laid upon her breast, in order that her heart might feel some refreshment from being near to Jesus; and  when the priest, in compliance with her request, spread the corporal (cloth) on her breast and laid Our Lord upon it, she exclaimed with the greatest delight:  'O my sweet Jesus!'

    As she drew her last breath, the Sacred Host disappeared, and as it was not to be found, the bystanders were sure that our Saviour, in the Blessed Sacrament, had united Himself to her heart, to strengthen her in her passage and accompany her to Heaven.

    

     After her death the form of the Host was found stamped upon her chest in the exact spot over her heart over which the Blessed Sacrament had been placed."

Excerpt from Fr Michael Muller, CSSR

The Blessed Eucharist, Our Greatest Treasure

St Juliana Falconieri

Florence, Italy ~ 1270-1341

Foundress - Sisters of the Third Order of Servites

Patron of Sufferers of chronic illness

Exemplary devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows and the Eucharist

"Handmaid of the Holy Eucharist"

Incorrupt

FEAST DAY - June 19

 

 

 

  "Juliana grew up more like an angel than a human being."

~Blessed Alexius Falconieri, one of the seven founders of the Servite Order

and uncle to St Juliana

 

St Juliana Falconieri, pray for us!

My cup overflows...

 My cup overflows... Psalm 23:5

“Look then on Jesus, the author and preserver of faith: 

in complete sinlessness He suffered, and at the hands of those

who were His own, and was numbered among the wicked. 

As you drink the cup of the Lord Jesus (how glorious it is!),

give thanks to the Lord, the giver of all blessings.”

 From a letter of

St. Raymond of Peñafort

nee Spain~ 1175-1275

Lawyer, Dominican (contemporary of St Thomas Aquinas)

Wise and holy Confessor

Founder - Order of Our Lady of Ransom

Compiled Church's legal documents into one source (Canon Law)

Patron of Lawyers and Canon Lawyers

Feast Day - January 7

Click here: St. Raymond of Peñafort - YouTube (2 mins)

St. Raymond of Peñafort, pray for us!

 

To warn, to lead, to bring them back

“Remember then how our fathers worked out their salvation; remember the sufferings through which the Church has grown, and the storms the ship of Peter has weathered because it has Christ on board.  Remember how the crown was attained by those whose sufferings gave new radiance to their faith.  The whole company of saints bear witness to the unfailing truth that without real effort no one wins the crown.” 

– St Thomas Becket

"A martyr, a saint, is always made by

the design of God, for His love of men,

to warn them and to lead them ,

to bring them back to His ways.”

~ St. Thomas Becket, homily excerpt, Christmas morning Mass (1170),
four days before he was martyred

St. Thomas Becket

Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr*

England  (1118-1170)

FEAST DAY - December 29

 

 

 

*On December 29th, 1170, four knights from the court of King Henry II burst into Canterbury Cathedral as the Archbishop was on his way to Vespers. Just inside the cloister door, they murdered Thomas Becket, whose defense of the rights of the Church had angered the King. His last words were: 'I accept death for the name of Jesus and for the Church.'

The murder shocked the conscience of all Europe; miracles were announced immediately; the archbishop was canonized as a martyr by Alexander III in 1173; the king did public penance at his tomb, and much of what St Thomas had worked for all his life was accomplished by his death.

 

 

 

Thomas said this to a friend on his way to Ordination: "Hereafter, I want you to tell me, candidly and in secret, what people are saying about me. And if you see anything in me that you regard as a fault, feel free to tell me in private. For from now on, people will talk about me, but not to me. It is dangerous for men in power if no one dares to tell them when they go wrong." 

Click here: St. Thomas Becket - YouTube  (2 mins - Apostleship of Prayer)

 

St Thomas Becket, pray for us!

The Eternal Word leapt down from Heaven

Feast of Our Lady of Loreto

December 10

  

Tradition tells us that in 1294 the Holy House of Nazareth was brought by angels to Loreto, where it remains today. This house is where the Annunciation occurred and where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived as a family. There is a stunning painting of the Annunciation at the Basilica, which surrounds the Holy House, depicting the Word of God in a Sacred Host. It is pierced by a ray coming from the Holy Spirit and reaching Mary, who is kneeling in prayer on a prie-dieu in her house at Nazareth. Many miracles are granted through Our Lady of Loreto’s powerful intercession.

"At the Annunciation by her 'Yes' to God, Mary became the first tabernacle. ...  In this instant, the Eternal Word leapt down from Heaven and 'He whom the whole world cannot contain enclosed Himself in your womb, O Holy Mother of God'. 

Mary is the new Ark of the Covenant containing not just the Word of the Torah or Law, but the Eternal Word, Jesus Christ.  And so the Litany of Loreto addresses her as the 'Cause of our Joy, Spiritual Vessel, Vessel of Honor, Singular Vessel of Devotion' and the 'House of God.'  She is the 'Seat of Wisdom' because once born, Eternal Wisdom made her lap His throne."

Fr Giles Dimock, O.P.

Click here: Litany of Loreto

Click here: Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto - YouTube (4 mins)

 

 

 

 As the young people who came to Loreto got ready for a long overnight vigil that would last till sunrise, filled with singing, playing music, dancing, doing street theatre, Benedict XVI paid a visit (2007) to the Holy House of Loreto at the start of what some have dubbed ‘Agora (or gathering) Night.’  In a live link-up with the youth outside, he recited a prayer in front of the statue of Our Lady, a prayer which he wrote for them. Here is an English translation of that prayer:

Morning star, talk to us about Him and tell us about the journey following Him on the path of faith.

Mary, who lived with Jesus in Nazareth, etch your feelings in our lives.

May your meekness, your listening silence, make the Word blossom in truly free choices.

Mary, tells us about Jesus, so that the freshness of our faith shines in our eyes and warms the heart of those who are with us, as you did on visiting Elizabeth who in her old age rejoiced with you for the gift of life.

Mary, Virgin of the Magnificat, help us bring joy to the world and, as at Cana, lead every youth who is committed to the service of his brothers do only what Jesus says.

Mary, look upon on the Agora [gathering] of Youth so that it will be fertile ground for the Italian Church.

Pray that Jesus, who died and has risen, is reborn in us, and transform us in a night full of light, full of Him.

Mary, Our Lady of Loreto, heaven’s gate, help us raise our eyes.

We want to see Jesus; talk to Him; proclaim His love to everyone. 

Our Lady of Loreto, pray for us!

The Lord has done marvelous deeds!

SOLEMNITY of the

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

December 8

 

Sing to the Lord a new song,

for He has done marvelous deeds.  - Psalm 98:1

 

Lift your heart in joy and exalt Him                   Laud the glorious Conception
In the Blessed Sacrament all Holy, supernal     Of the Queen in God's Kingdom

Where the Lord, His glory veiling,                    Who remaining Virgin stainless,
Comforts souls true and lowly.                          Bore for men the Word eternal.

Alabado, sung after Benediction

 

  The Immaculate Conception ~ Diego Velazquez

 

Excerpt: Homily, St Patrick's Cathedral - 8 Dec 1996 - John Cardinal O'Connor...

"Today is the date of the Immaculate Conception, the eighth of December...Mary was made immaculate, conceived without any trace of sin because she was going to be the co-creator of the humanity of Christ.  She was going to be, as God the Father was the Creator, the re-creator of the human race with Christ.  She was going to be the tabernacle in which Christ would be conceived. 

    We cannot now, of course, be conceived without original sin.  But the more we can purify ourselves through the Sacrament of Penance, through our own penances, through trying to observe the Commandments and keeping close to Christ, then the more fitting we become as tabernacles of the Eucharist.

    All of this requires an effort, perhaps for some an unaccustomed effort. St Augustine tells us the reward.  He was still in process of conversion from a highly profligate, promiscuous life.  Then he went into a Catholic community to worship in the Eucharistic sacrifice.  He said to a Catholic friend:

        

    "How I wept, deeply moved by your hymns, songs, and the voices that echoed through your Church!  What emotion I experienced in them!  Those sounds flowed through my ears, distilling the Truth in my heart.  A feeling of devotion surged within me and the tears streamed down my face - tears that did me good."

    May that be our experience in this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."

  

Click here: Catholic Fire: The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Incl Brief overview - What is the IC? YouTube

 

 

 

 O fairest Virgin Mary, intercede for us!