St Gertrude the Great, ora pro nobis!

Prayer of St. Gertrude the Great

Hail, White Lily, of the ever-peaceful and glorious Trinity!

Hail, Vermilion Rose, the delight of Heaven, of whom the King of Heaven was born and by whose milk He was nourished! Do thou feed our souls with the effusions of thy Divine influences.

Blessed John Duns Scotus, ora pro nobis!

The Franciscan Monk Duns Scoto in his Cell

Perhaps the most influential point of Duns Scotus' theology was his defense of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. At the time, there was a great deal of argument about the subject. The general opinion was that it was appropriately deferential to the Mother of God, but it could not be seen how to resolve the problem that only with Christ's death would the stain of original sin be removed. The great philosophers and theologians of the West were divided on the subject (indeed, it appears that even Thomas Aquinas sided with those who denied the doctrine, though some Thomists dispute this). The feast day had existed in the East since the seventh century and had been introduced in several dioceses in the West as well, even though the philosophical basis was lacking. Citing Anselm of Canterbury's principle, "potuit, decuit, ergo fecit" (God could do it, it was appropriate, therefore he did it), Duns Scotus devised the following argument: Mary was in need of redemption like all other human beings, but through the merits of Jesus' crucifixion, given in advance, she was conceived without the stain of original sin. God could have brought it about (1) that she was never in original sin, (2) she was in sin only for an instant, (3) she was in sin for a period of time, being purged at the last instant. Whichever of these options was most excellent should probably be attributed to Mary.  This apparently careful statement provoked a storm of opposition at Paris, and suggested the line 'fired France for Mary without spot' in the famous poem "Duns Scotus's Oxford," by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

This argument appears in Pope Pius IX's declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Pope John XXIII recommended the reading of Duns Scotus' theology to modern theology students.

Wiki

... I wonder how many modern theology students have been exposed to Duns Scotus.  You may have heard the Friars of the Immaculate have put together a movie on the life of Bl. John Duns Scotus.  It is in Italian but Ignatius Press is now selling the DVD with subtitles. 

Marian Symposium at Guadalupe Shrine

Apparently I've been slacking.  These photos are from the Marian Symposium hosted at the Guadalupe Shrine a few weeks ago.  As I said before, this is thee conference to attend at the Shrine.  I met Mother Miriam(formerly Rosalind Moss of Catholic Answers), what a fantastic lady.  I did not realize she was not able to found her order in the Arch. St. Louis, but Bishop Slattery welcomed her to Tulsa OK recently.  Although she still does appear on Catholic Answers Live, I told her I missed her since Relevant Radio will not carry the program.  I've thought of getting XM Radio to pick it up on EWTN radio.  Okay, what else, oh, I love Bishop Ricken btw.  Ah, and Dr. Miravalle is a deacon?  I had no idea, he assisted at Mass.  He didn't assist last year so this was news to me.

Side note: The Friars are offering a Low Mass for All Saints & All Souls Day next week, both at 5:30 pm.

Fr. Peter Fehlner

Friars of the Immaculate broadcasting on AirMaria.com

Dr. Mark Miravalle

Bp. Ricken taking notes

Rosary before Mass

Fr. Angelo wins the award for greatest beard I've ever seen.

TheCompass: Suamico family hosts ninth annual outdoor rosary

SUAMICO — When the calendar turns to October, it's family rosary time on the Kontny estate. However, this is not your everyday family rosary. For nearly a decade, Hank and Monica Kontny have hosted a candlelit living rosary on their four acres on the west side of Green Bay for several hundred people.

"It came out of my deep love for our Lady," noted Monica. "I just wanted to do something special."

As she reminisced about that first rosary nine years ago, she recalled that they barely had enough people to make the 50 beads that form this living rosary. This year's event, held on the first Saturday of the month, saw enough people to pray all 20 decades (the traditional 15, plus the five luminous mysteries).

Deacon Bob Ellis of Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Green Bay served as the night's unofficial master of ceremonies. He began by leading the crowd with the singing of "Ave Maria" as the Knights of Columbus in full regalia led a Marian procession into the center of the crowd. They were followed by the Little Flower Society of St. Thèrése, which consisted of young girls dressed in white first Communion dresses. As they processed across the lawn, the girls tossed rose petals to the ground in preparation for the arrival of the statue of the Blessed Mother.

"Nights like this are important because it's a public display of faith," Deacon Ellis told The Compass. "Mrs. Kontny invites everyone and it gets everyone turning to God and praying."

continue at The Compass

St. Luke the Evangelist, ora pro nobis!

Source

Bishop Ricken's homily from this weekend's Marian Symposium

AirMaria

I've got photos and thoughts too, which I will share after the ritual grieving period is over.

All I need is a miracle

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Except from The Miracle of the Sun at Fatima by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

Why Are Miracles Important?

Miracles are not only important; they are indispensable for the credibility of our faith. They are God’s way of enabling us to believe that someone, who claims to be speaking for God, is really telling the truth.

The logic is very simple. Someone says that he is a spokesman for God. The prophet or seer is proclaiming something which requires divine authorization to be accepted on faith. But people can make all kinds of claims to being mystics or communicators of an alleged divine mission to the human race. How are their claims to be accepted? They are accepted on the grounds of sound reason not on blind credulity. Their claims are acceptable only if the claimant gives evidence of being in contact with God. Who then uses this human spokesman as the agent of a prodigy that could only be performed by the power of God?

That is why in the Gospels Christ was constantly associating two things: his teaching and his miracles. Sometimes he would work the miracle before revealing a truth that He wanted to have believed. This is what He did when He fed the five thousand people with five loaves and two fishes, which was clearly a miracle. Then, as described by St. John, He made the astounding pronouncement of giving his own flesh to eat and his own blood to drink in the Holy Eucharist. This was the revealed mystery that Christ wanted his followers to believe.

At other times Jesus would first reveal the mystery and then perform the miracle. That is what He did when He first told the man, dropped through the roof, that his sins were forgiven. That was such an unheard of claim, that the Pharisees protested “Who but God can forgive sins?” So, we may say, Jesus countered their skepticism by telling the paralyzed man to pick up his mat and walk. The miraculous healing of the paralytic provided the rational basis for accepting Christ's claim that He, the Son of Man, had power on earth to forgive sins because He was also the Son of God.

How Does the Solar Phenomenon Confirm the Message of Fatima?

It was no coincidence that the solar phenomenon at Fatima came only several months after the basic message of Fatima had been communicated to the children. The phenomenon had to have a purpose for its occurrence, and the message had to have a divine confirmation of its authenticity.

When the phenomenon occurred in October, it was witnessed by thousands of people, friendly and unfriendly, simple believers and professed skeptics, those disposed to believe Our Lady’s message and others who were openly hostile to what the Blessed Virgin was reported to have said.

In God’s providence the hostility of the skeptics was necessary to give rational grounds for believing what the children said the beautiful Lady was telling them. All the reports of those who witnessed the spectacle of the sun testify to their stupefaction at what they saw. No one, not even the most hardened agnostic, doubted that what he saw was a prodigy. This was necessary to provide the rational foundation for accepting, on faith, the Marian message of Fatima because of the solar event which everybody had to accept, as a fact, perceived by the senses.

Why, then, was the solar prodigy of Fatima necessary? It was necessary in order to satisfy our spontaneous need for giving rational credence to what Mary was telling Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta. The children did not need the solar phenomenon to believe what Our Lady was telling them. But we do.

It is not coincidental that Mary asked her Divine Son to work the miracle at Cana as the first of the signs performed by her Son. Immediately, we are told, his disciples believed in Him. She has been doing the same ever since. As God, He is master of the sun, moon and stars which He created. Her message at Fatima was to tell a sinful world to stop offending the Divine Majesty and to repent of their sins. As at Cana, she asked Jesus to work a miracle. At Cana, as the poet said, the water looked at its Maker and blushed. At Fatima the sun looked at its Maker and whirled in dazzling splendor to acknowledge its Creator.

Never Forget.

Battle of Lepanto by Giovanni Coli and Filippo Gherardi.

Memorize!!! 

Lepanto by GK Chesterton

White founts falling in the Courts of the sun,

And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;

There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,

It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard;

It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips;

For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.

They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,

They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,

And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,

And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross.

The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;

The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass;

From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun,

And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun.

Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard,

Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,

Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,

The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall,

The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,

That once went singing southward when all the world was young.

In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,

Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.

Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,

Don John of Austria is going to the war,

Stiff flags straining in the night-blasts cold

In the gloom black-purple, in the glint old-gold,

Torchlight crimson on the copper kettle-drums,

Then the tuckets, then the trumpets, then the cannon, and he comes.

Don John laughing in the brave beard curled,

Spurning of his stirrups like the thrones of all the world,

Holding his head up for a flag of all the free.

Love-light of Spain--hurrah!

Death-light of Africa!

Don John of Austria

Is riding to the sea.

Mahound is in his paradise above the evening star,

(Don John of Austria is going to the war.)

He moves a mighty turban on the timeless houri's knees,

His turban that is woven of the sunsets and the seas.

He shakes the peacock gardens as he rises from his ease,

And he strides among the tree-tops and is taller than the trees;

And his voice through all the garden is a thunder sent to bring

Black Azrael and Ariel and Ammon on the wing.

Giants and the Genii,

Multiplex of wing and eye,

Whose strong obedience broke the sky

When Solomon was king.

They rush in red and purple from the red clouds of the morn,

From the temples where the yellow gods shut up their eyes in scorn;

They rise in green robes roaring from the green hells of the sea

Where fallen skies and evil hues and eyeless creatures be,

On them the sea-valves cluster and the grey sea-forests curl,

Splashed with a splendid sickness, the sickness of the pearl;

They swell in sapphire smoke out of the blue cracks of the ground,--

They gather and they wonder and give worship to Mahound.

And he saith, "Break up the mountains where the hermit-folk can hide,

And sift the red and silver sands lest bone of saint abide,

And chase the Giaours flying night and day, not giving rest,

For that which was our trouble comes again out of the west.

We have set the seal of Solomon on all things under sun,

Of knowledge and of sorrow and endurance of things done.

But a noise is in the mountains, in the mountains, and I know

The voice that shook our palaces--four hundred years ago:

It is he that saith not 'Kismet'; it is he that knows not Fate;

It is Richard, it is Raymond, it is Godfrey at the gate!

It is he whose loss is laughter when he counts the wager worth,

Put down your feet upon him, that our peace be on the earth."

For he heard drums groaning and he heard guns jar,

(Don John of Austria is going to the war.)

Sudden and still--hurrah!

Bolt from Iberia!

Don John of Austria

Is gone by Alcalar.

St. Michaels on his Mountain in the sea-roads of the north

(Don John of Austria is girt and going forth.)

Where the grey seas glitter and the sharp tides shift

And the sea-folk labour and the red sails lift.

He shakes his lance of iron and he claps his wings of stone;

The noise is gone through Normandy; the noise is gone alone;

The North is full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes,

And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise,

And Christian killeth Christian in a narrow dusty room,

And Christian dreadeth Christ that hath a newer face of doom,

And Christian hateth Mary that God kissed in Galilee,--

But Don John of Austria is riding to the sea.

Don John calling through the blast and the eclipse

Crying with the trumpet, with the trumpet of his lips,

Trumpet that sayeth ha!

Domino gloria!

Don John of Austria

Is shouting to the ships.

King Philip's in his closet with the Fleece about his neck

(Don John of Austria is armed upon the deck.)

The walls are hung with velvet that is black and soft as sin,

And little dwarfs creep out of it and little dwarfs creep in.

He holds a crystal phial that has colours like the moon,

He touches, and it tingles, and he trembles very soon,

And his face is as a fungus of a leprous white and grey

Like plants in the high houses that are shuttered from the day,

And death is in the phial and the end of noble work,

But Don John of Austria has fired upon the Turk.

Don John's hunting, and his hounds have bayed--

Booms away past Italy the rumour of his raid.

Gun upon gun, ha! ha!

Gun upon gun, hurrah!

Don John of Austria

Has loosed the cannonade.

The Pope was in his chapel before day or battle broke,

(Don John of Austria is hidden in the smoke.)

The hidden room in man's house where God sits all the year,

The secret window whence the world looks small and very dear.

He sees as in a mirror on the monstrous twilight sea

The crescent of his cruel ships whose name is mystery;

They fling great shadows foe-wards, making Cross and Castle dark,

They veil the plumèd lions on the galleys of St. Mark;

And above the ships are palaces of brown, black-bearded chiefs,

And below the ships are prisons, where with multitudinous griefs,

Christian captives sick and sunless, all a labouring race repines

Like a race in sunken cities, like a nation in the mines.

They are lost like slaves that sweat, and in the skies of morning hung

The stair-ways of the tallest gods when tyranny was young.

They are countless, voiceless, hopeless as those fallen or fleeing on

Before the high Kings' horses in the granite of Babylon.

And many a one grows witless in his quiet room in hell

Where a yellow face looks inward through the lattice of his cell,

And he finds his God forgotten, and he seeks no more a sign--

(But Don John of Austria has burst the battle-line!)

Don John pounding from the slaughter-painted poop,

Purpling all the ocean like a bloody pirate's sloop,

Scarlet running over on the silvers and the golds,

Breaking of the hatches up and bursting of the holds,

Thronging of the thousands up that labour under sea

White for bliss and blind for sun and stunned for liberty.

Vivat Hispania!

Domino Gloria!

Don John of Austria

Has set his people free!

Cervantes on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath

(Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.)

And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain,

Up which a lean and foolish knight for ever rides in vain,

And he smiles, but not as Sultans smile, and settles back the blade....

(But Don John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)

You likes? Check out Christopher Check's CD set on the battle and the poem and Dale Ahlquist's book with footnotes.

Also check out Mary Victrix for more on today.  This is a must read.

Hardon: Three Elements Make Up a Well-Meditated Rosary

Then as, remember, the Holy Father tells us there are three elements that go to make up a well-meditated rosary. The first of these and you almost want to close your eyes when you hear it, the first says the Pope is mystical contemplation. Your Holiness, thanks for the compliment. Honest, I’m not even a budding Teresa of Avila. Thanks for the suggestion, Your Holiness. [ROFL!]  Can you tell me something more simple that will apply to me? Clearly the term, which the Pope uses, “mystical contemplation” needs to be explained.

My notes tell me to tell you we may be confused or turned off to be told that in saying each successive decade we are to practice quote, “mystical contemplation”, unquote. But there’s nothing here either for confusion or being turned off. You know what our problem is – our Mother language, English. I think I’ve spent most of my theological life telling my students the one language that is not Catholic is English. To use the plain Anglo-Saxon, “it ain’t Catholic.” The result is all kinds of meanings, connotations are brought up when we hear words like mystic and contemplation.

First: Mystical Contemplation
Second: Intimate Reflection
Three: Pious Intention

continue at Real Presence

Good Help Shrine makes USA Today!

CHAMPION, Wis. – Philip and Barbara Hesselbein came to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help to pray for a grandson who has an inoperable brain tumor.

Darlene Searcy prayed for her family and for herself; she has cancer.

Mary Spakowicz, who also has cancer, came "because God will hear me here."

The afflicted and the faithful have long made pilgrimages to the quiet country site where Belgian immigrant Adele Brise said in 1859 that she saw the Virgin Mary three times. For the past few years, maybe 30 or 50 people had trickled in daily to visit the chapel, Brise's grave and the candlelit crypt that marks the site of the apparition.

That changed in December, when Bishop David Ricken of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay certified after investigations by three theologians that Brise had indeed seen a beautiful lady in white who said she was the "queen of heaven."

That made the shrine, which is a mile from the unincorporated town of Champion, the USA's only official site where Mary is said to have appeared.

Now there's a steady flow of traffic into the recently enlarged gravel parking lot. Cars, vans and buses bring 500 people — and often many more — here daily. License plates from Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana were spotted one recent weekday.

A new building houses much-needed restrooms.

A former boarding school on the site is being refurbished to house two priests recently assigned full time to the shrine.

"I knew that there would be some increase in interest" after he certified Brise's vision, Ricken says. "I wasn't sure how wide it would be, how broad it would be."

Our Lady of Good Help attracts far fewer visitors than international Marian shrines such as France's Lourdes, which draws 5 million a year, or Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe, which has double that.

Still, Ricken expects the number of visitors to continue to rise and says the diocese is trying to figure out how to accommodate them without losing "the simplicity of that beautiful shrine and the peace of the place."

continue at USA Today

I'm told USA Today has the second largest newspaper circulation in the U.S.

HT ED

Marian Symposium at Guadalupe Shrine

I mentioned it a while back but I got word there is still room at this event.  It's going to be a gorgeous time of the year to visit the Shrine with the autumn leaves and all that jazz.  Plus it is very significant to have Bishop Ricken as the main celebrant and the special connection Wisconsin shares with Our Lady.  That is not to even mention the star studded lineup.  The Marian Symposium the past few years has been thee event to attend at the Shrine for myself.  

Drew Mariani leading the rosary at MS 2010

Main celebrant for the Mass:
His Excellency Most Rev. David L. Ricken
Bishop of Green Bay

MC of the symposium:
Mr. Raymond De Souza
Director of Evangelization & Apologetics, Diocese of Winona
EWTN Program Host

Speakers:
Our Lady of All Nations, Queen of the Americas, and Her Remedy for Peace
Dr. Mark I. Miravalle
Franciscan University of Steubenville
President, Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici
Bright as the Sun, Fair as the Moon: Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Way of Beauty
       
Fr. Angelo M. Geiger
Superior Delegate for the USA and Australia,
Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate
The Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary: Redeemer and Co-Redemptrix
       
Fr. Dwight Campbell
Apostles of Jesus Christ, Priest & Victim
Mariologist
Our Lady of Guadalupe: from Mother of Israel's Hope to Queen of the Americas
       
Sr. Rosalind Moss
Daughters of Mary, Mother of Our Hope
Apologist

Marian Symposium 2011

Some photos from last years event:

Our Lady of La Salette, ora pro nobis!

Our Lady of La Salette, London, UK

Mélanie and Maximin, the two children privileged to see Mary in 1846, came from the town of Corps near Grenoble, in a poor part of south-eastern France. Maximin Giraud was eleven years old at the time and Mélanie Calvat fourteen. On Saturday 19 September, they were looking after their employer's cattle, high up on the pasture above La Salette, a village near Corps, when they saw a wonderful apparition of Mary.

A globe of light opened to reveal a resplendent woman seated on a stone with her head in her hands. The children later described her as very tall and beautiful, wearing a long, white, pearl studded, sleeved dress, and a white shawl, with some sort of tiara or crown on her head. Hanging from her neck was a large crucifix adorned with a small hammer and pincers, with a brilliantly shining figure of Christ on it. The whole effect was as if she was made of light.

Speaking tearfully she told them that unless people repented she would be forced to let go the arm of her son because it had become so heavy. Mary went on to complain that she had to pray ceaselessly to her son for them, but the people still worked on Sundays and blasphemed. She also spoke of coming punishments for these sins, including crop blights and famine. She confided a secret to each of the children, which they were not to divulge, although eventually these secrets were made known to Pope Pius IX

Finally she asked the children to spread her message before disappearing. When the children returned home they told their story, an account of which was taken down in writing the next day. They faced much opposition in making known Mary's message, but they maintained their story with resolution. The local Bishop too faced quite a degree of opposition in investigating the apparition, and it was only after four years, and having set up two commissions of enquiry, that Mgr de Bruillard, as bishop of Grenoble, approved of devotion to Our Lady of Salette, in the following terms.

"We declare that the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to two shepherds, on September 19, 1846, on a mountain in the Alps in the parish of La Salette, bears in itself all the marks of truth and that the faithful are justified in believing without question in its truth. And so, to mark our lively gratitude to God and the glorious Virgin Mary, we authorise the cult of Our Lady of La Salette."

Theotokos

National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette
Confradia De la Inmaculada Concepcion Intramuros Grand Marian Procession
Intramuros, Manila

Fr. John Hardon; blessed are the sorrowful

This is a transcription of an audio recording, so you lose a bit in the translation..

Sorrow - surely if there is anything that we would not expect to bring joy it is sorrow. It is as though Christ said, “Happy are the unhappy.” We are tempted to say, “Lord, what do you mean?” But we know this is one place where experience is not only the best, but it is about the only teacher. Truly this symbolizes the cross. It is the trials that God sends us. But I wish to distinguish because, remember we are talking about joy, and we are stuck with our vocabulary. What else can we do? We can wave our arms or shake our heads in communicating ideas. We found a convenient method on making strange sounds through the orifice called the mouth. And people hear it, and they get ideas. So making strange sounds. 

The sorrow which Christ gives us, accept and patiently endured is not sadness. What is the difference? In both cases of course there is pain, but though I am sorrowful the reason (it is always objective) that in effect it means psychologically or subjectively between a sad person and a person weighed down with sorrow, well I might not be able to tell the difference. They both seem to be, well, under a heavy burden. But there is a big difference. It all depends on what we are morning about. Which is legitimate sorrow and it is not (to coin a word) illegitimate sadness.

Our best paradigm for this is Christ Himself. What are the two occasions, which our Savior wept? He wept over Jerusalem; he wept at the grave of Lazareth. Was that it? As far as I can tell that was it. Now as we know the gospels are revelatory not only in what Christ taught, but also in what He did. In this case, His tears are a revelation. Not that He wept, which showed that He was human, but the reasons why He wept.

Authentic sorrow therefore, which is one of the conditions for happiness, is sorrow over sin and sorrow over loss of those we love, which is a sign of love. Let’s take the second first. It is not wrong, and you should not consider it weakness, either in ourselves or in others, and to develop a sensitivity (I don’t want you to anticipate what I am going to talk about yet) but to recognize there is a genuine beauty about weeping over the loss of a loved one. I don’t mean unrestrained sorrow. But the sorrow, which means bereavement, may indeed be tinged with some self-interest because the loved one I will no longer have. But it can also be deeply self-less.

In other words I have come to love someone very dearly and that person is gone. A sensitivity to other people’s sorrow over their loss of loved ones is of God. But secondly, the sorrow that is born of sorrow for sins, this is Christ. Christ wept over Jerusalem because Jerusalem had as we know rejected Him and with Him its promise of salvation. He also sorrowed as we know, over both the sin of Jerusalem and the sufferings. The fall of Jerusalem as a consequence of sin.

So you might say there are three kinds of authentic sorrow blessed by God. The sorrow of bereavement, the sorrow over sin, the sorrow over the sufferings of others knowing that not all people profit from their sufferings, and my compassion goes out to those who are in pain. What a sentence! Sadness is every other kind of mourning. It is essentially selfish, sadness. Sadness is the sorrow (to use that word) over things that don’t deserve to be mourned over. And while we may and should indeed sorrow, we are forbidden to be sad. Sadness when yielded to is a sin. Sorrow within the limits we have described is a virtue.

Fr. Hardon Archives

Our Lady of Sorrows, ora pro nobis!

jvlin

Dolores del Puente

Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother

Today's feast celebrates the incredible victory of the Catholic armies of Christendom, particularly the decisive charge of King Jan Sobieski of Poland into the Ottoman lines(which inspired Tolkien's Rohirrim charge at Pelennor Fields in the Lord of the Rings).  Fr Z has more.  The Mother of God continues to intercede for us today, if we request it of her. 

From a homily by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
(Homilia 2 super “Missus est”: PL 183, 61-71)

Call on Mary whose name means “Star of the Sea”

The Gospel says: And the virgin’s name was Mary. We should speak a little this name which is said to mean “star of the sea”. It is most fitting for the Virgin Mother who may well be compared to a star; for, as a star beams forth its rays without any diminution of its own luster, so, too, the Virgin gave birth to a Son with no loss to her virginity. The departing rays do not lessen the star’s brightness, nor Mary’s Son her inviolate maidenhood. She is, therefore, that noble star risen from Jacob, whose rays give light to the whole world, whose splendor shines in the heavens and penetrates to the lowest places of the earth. She gives light to the earth and warmth to minds more than to bodies. She encourages virtues and stamps out vices. She is, therefore, that illustrious and noble star raised by nature above the wide sea of life. She shines with merits, she enlightens with her example.

You, all of you, who are cast about upon the sea of time, amidst storms and tempests, more than those who walk on life’s solid ground, keep your eyes fixed on the brightness of that star if you do not wish to be overwhelmed by those storms. If the winds of temptation arise, if you run aground on the reefs of affliction, look to the star, call upon Mary. If you are upset by the immensity of your sins, confused by the corruption of your conscience, terrified by the thought of judgement, overtaken by great sadness or deep despair, think of Mary.

In danger, anguish and doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Do not let her name leave your lips nor your heart. In order to obtain the help of her prayers, do not abandon the company of her presence. Following her, you will not be lost; calling on her, you will not despair; thinking of her, you will not err; holding to her, you will not fall. Under her protection, you will not fear; under her guidance, you will succeed, so that you may experience for yourself how fittingly it was said, and the Virgin’s name was Mary.

Office of Readings

Happy Birthday to our Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary

Embracing Christ and the Cross: Our Lady of Charity

September 8 celebrates Mary's Nativity. For Catholics in Florida, in Cuba and perhaps elsewhere, Our Lady of Charity is their special patroness.

Photo: Stained glass window in Habana, Cuba.

She is a woman with maybe a million titles—some majestic, some courtly, some theological, some regional, and some lovingly familial.

From Our Lady of Fatima, to Our Lady of Guadalupe, to Our Lady of Czestochowa, to Our Lady of Akita, to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, to Our Lady of Grace, to Our Lady Star of the Sea, to Mother of Mercy, to Seat of Wisdom, to Gate of Heaven, to Cause of our Joy . . .

Depending on where in the world you live or visit, you probably know one that engenders devotion too. Every version of her name blesses both her and the people who prayerfully call upon her unceasing maternal intercession and protection. No worries, the Blessed Virgin Mary answers to them all!

In 1612, three young men in a tiny boat in the Bay of Nipe, off the coast Cuba, attributed their safety in a violent storm to Mary. Nicknamed "the three Juans," they were two brothers, Rodrigo and Juan de Hoyos, and a slave, Juan Morena. While they were offshore collecting sea salt, a storm blew up causing them to pray for safety. Their prayers were answered, not only with a calming sea, but also with a gift found floating on the water—a statue of Mary holding the Child Jesus. An inscription read: "I am the Virgin of Charity."

The unique image displays the Virgin holding the Child Jesus close to her heart with her left arm, as he holds a small globe in one hand and extends a hand of blessing with the other. Mary's right hand extends a small gold cross.

Read the rest here.

We will, we will rock you.

Fra Angelico, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

BTW, Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Traditional calendar.

StarTrib: Good Help Shrine; 'It's like heaven touching earth'

Cornfields and towering grain silos line the Minnesota Catholics' approach to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. The smell of manure wafts from nearby dairy farms.

But the parking lot where the motor coach stops is newly graveled, and plans to expand beyond the shrine's small brick church and gift shop are in progress. Because like this group from Hastings, pilgrims are coming.

It's here at this modest shrine in the heart of Wisconsin farm country, where Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared more than 150 years ago. Eight months ago, the bishop in nearby Green Bay officially validated the apparitions, making the shrine the first such holy site in the country and one of only a dozen or so in the world.

Since then, regular visitors to the site have grown from a few hundred a year to a few thousand a week. The Hastings group numbers 19.

For the Minnesota pilgrims, a miracle isn't the goal of their two-day trip, though they would welcome one. It's mostly about seeking a closer connection to the Almighty through the mother of Christ.

"It's like heaven touching earth," said Joanne Knoll, "It is very moving, to know she was there."

continue at Star Tribune

Wow, the Shrine is really picking up some press! 

3,000 attend Feast of the Assumption Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help

Mary Mancoske has attended the annual Mass to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help since 1958. And Monday’s ceremony was on par with the rest.

“It was just wonderful,” the Greenleaf native said.

Mancoske was concerned that the shrine’s newfound fame could dilute its sanctity.

“I just hope it doesn’t ruin the sacredness and get too commercial,” she said.

The small shrine gained international attention in December when the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay — with approval from the Vatican — officially recognized it as a site where the Virgin Mary had appeared. It’s the first and only such site in the United States.

An estimated 3,000 visitors gathered on the lawn outside the chapel on Monday to take part in the annual celebration that pays tribute to the Roman Catholic belief that the body of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, ascended into heaven along with her spirit. That’s more than twice as many as last year, when 1,200 people attended.

more at GB PG

I relayed a story that back in the day, the Shrine would have upwards of 10,000 people show up for devotionals on the feast day.  It looks like we might be on a return swing. 

Originally I was going to take my family up to the shrine for the Assumption Feast but work is too busy right now to take time off.  For any new readers, I'm a database programmer by trade.  I work for the largest software company in the world that you've never heard of.  I haven't got asked in a while, but no, I don't work for the diocese.  Folks who like traditional liturgy, are anti-contraception, like technology, and are not afraid to talk about any of it are more likely to end up in the nuthouse than in a diocese(I'm slightly joking).  But I digress.

Here's a video from Fox 11

Holy celebration draws thousands: fox11online.com

Queen assumed into heaven, ora pro nobis!

The Dormition(Assumption) of the Virgin, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Mary's soul, dressed in pure white, is depicted in a sitting position, with her hands put together in a sign of prayer. Christ is holding the soul not in a mother-like fashion, but as if he was showing it to everyone. He is showing the viewer the path to sanctity through purity and prayer.

more details at Rollins.edu

Here's a more recent adaption: