Catholic Fire

Visitation Mariotto Albertinelli 1503 - Oil on wood, 232 x 146 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said,“Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has m...

O beloved Mother, You who know so well the ways and holiness of love, Teach us to raise our minds and hearts often to the Trinity, And to fix thereon our respectful and loving attention. Since you journey with us on the path of eternal life, Do not be a stranger to the frail pilgrims your charity is willing to shelter. Turn your merciful gaze toward us. Draw us into your brilliance. Shower us with your kindness. Lead us into the Light and into Love. Lead us ever further and higher into the splendors of heaven. Let nothing ever trouble our peace, Nor make us leave the thought of God But let each minute take us further into the depths of the august mystery, Until the day when our souls, Fully blossomed by the light of divine union Will see all things in eternal love and unity. Amen. ~ By Marthe Robin

Sarah of Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering has done a beautiful job of hosting The Loveliness of Rosaries Fair today. You will find an amazing treasury of rosary reflections there. What a wonderful way for Catholic women to show their love for Mother Mary! During the month of May, in addition to working at my two businesses, I am enrolled in an in depth Bible study course on the Blessed Mother and the mysteries of the rosary and their corresponding scriptures passages. I was so happy to see these posts which correspond to my studies.

By Jean M. Heimann During the month of May, we seek to imitate our Blessed Mother in a special way in order to bring peace, patience, and prayer into our home and into every aspect of our daily lives. As women, we are called to imitate Mary, the spouse of the Holy Spirit and the Mother of the Church. This is not an easy task, particularly when we are inundated by messages from our culture encouraging us to behave in ways that is not conducive to developing virtues. According to St. Alphonsous Ligouri, we are called to imitate our Blessed Mother in the virtues of: humility, faith, hope, chastity (purity), poverty, obedience, patience, and spirit of prayer. However, it’s important not to expect perfection in any one of these areas. God does not expect it, so neither should we. During this month, I would like to focus on one or two virtues at a time in order to give them adequate attention. Let’s start with humility. St. Bernard tells us humility “is the foundation and guardian of the vir...

Packed with prayers, scripture, and poetic reflections, Heidi Hess Saxton’s beautiful devotional, Behold Your Mother: Mary Stories and Reflections from a Catholic Convert consists of 48 meditations that will draw each of us to the heart of Our Mother Mary, who in turn, will draw us into the heart of her beloved Son. Each of the devotions provides us with a vivid and imaginative description of how our Blessed Mother must have felt and thought during the significant events of her life. These thought - provoking meditations provide us with insight into the “treasures of her heart” which enable us to relate to her on a human level. Saxton enchants us with three charming stories of how she “discovered” the Blessed Virgin Mary in her life and came to rely on Mary for protection and strength. As I read the stories, I was fascinated with these refreshing testimonies of the simple, yet powerful ways, the Blessed Mother gently acted as a channel of grace in her life, drawing her near to the S...

"Mary is the sealed fountain and the faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit where only he may enter. She is the sanctuary and resting-place of the Blessed Trinity where God dwells in greater and more divine splendor than anywhere else in the universe, not excluding his dwelling above the cherubim and seraphim. " "The more the Holy Spirit finds Mary, His dear and inseparable spouse, in any soul, the more active and mighty He becomes in producing Jesus Christ in that soul, and that soul in Jesus Christ." ~ St. Louis de Montfort "As the Mother of Jesus our Savior, Mary was the Co‑redemptrix of the human race; as the spouse of the Holy Spirit, she shares in the distribution of all graces." ~ St. Maximillian Kolbe "Through her divine maternity, Mary in a certain way entered the divine family as a spouse who enters a royal home. With regard to the Father she became the first born daughter: I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the first-born before all crea...

Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for May is: "That Christians may use literature, art and the mass media to greater advantage in order to favor a culture which defends and promotes the values of the human person". His mission intention is: "That the Virgin Mary, Star of evangelization and Queen of the Apostles, may still guide today with maternal affection the missionaries, both men and women, throughout the world, just as she accompanied the Apostles in the early stages of the Church".

Today is the optional memorial of St. Anslem of Canterbury, Benedictine Monk, Bishop, Theologian, Philosopher, and Doctor of the Church. St. Anslem (b. 1033, Aosta, Lombardy; d. 1109, Canterbury, Kent) is generally considered to be the founder of the philosophical school of Scholasticism, for his attempt to analyze and illumine the truths of faith through the aid of reason. He was a major figure in the intellectual life of the Middle Ages, and a major political and ecclesiastical force as well. To learn more about him, go here. Here are a few of his gems: "O God, let me know you and love you so that I may find joy in you; and if I cannot do so fully in this life, let me at least make some progress every day, until at last that knowledge, love and joy come to me in all their plenitude. While I am here on earth let me know you fully; let my love for you grow deeper here, so that there I may love you fully. On earth then I shall have great joy in hope, and in heaven complete joy in t...

"It was through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came into the world, and it is also through her that He must reign in the world." ~ St. Louis de Montfort

A PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF SORROWS Dearest Mother, before you could become the Consoler of the Afflicted, you first had to know true sorrow. I pause with you now, and meditate on that great suffering in your life, the death and burial of your most beloved Son. Oh, how humble I am, dear Mary, when I see before me your Son in the tomb. He gave His life so we may know freedom from sin. Remind me always that any suffering in my life is passing, just as the suffering you experienced passed in the joy of the Resurrection. Holy Mary, Mother of Sorrows, I mourn with you, knowing the certain joy of your Son and His gift of everlasting life. Through this act of His, you have become our Mother of Consolation. Amen.

"The most radical and elevating affirmation of the value of every human being was made by the Son of God in His becoming man in the womb of a woman." ~ Pope John Paul II

Britney May Play Virgin Mary It sounds nightmarish to me!

"Does she, our heavenly mother, not invite us to avoid evil and to accomplish good, meekly following the divine love written in every Christian heart? Does she (who kept her own hope alive at the moment of harshest trial) not ask us not to lost hope when suffering and death knock at the door of our homes? Does she not ask us to look trustingly to our future? Does the Immaculate Virgin not exhort us to be brothers to one another, joined by the commitment to build together a more just, united and peaceful world?" ~ Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican City, December 8, 2007 (VIS)

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the solemn dogma defined by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854. As Our Lady Immaculately Conceived is the patroness of the United States of America, this is a holy day of obligation in the United States. Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Blessed Pope Pius IX proclaimed on December 8, 1854: "The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin." ~ Catechism of the Catholic Church Via Catholic Culture. The Immaculate Conception Today's meditation with Fr. Philippe, OP: Gospel Lk 1:26-38 Today we celebrate Mary as the Father's bel...

I don't doubt that this is true , but some of us have been faithfully praying to Mother Mary for her conversion and who knows? Let us continue to pray for her, not that she won't have to face the consequences of her actions, but that she'll leave the culture of darkness and enter into the light of His love.

Louis's life is inseparable from his efforts to promote genuine devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus and mother of the church. Totus tuus (completely yours) was Louis's personal motto; Karol Wojtyla chose it as his episcopal motto. Born in the Breton village of Montfort, close to Rennes (France), as an adult Louis identified himself by the place of his baptism instead of his family name, Grignion. After being educated by the Jesuits and the Sulpicians, he was ordained as a diocesan priest in 1700. Soon he began preaching parish missions throughout western France. His years of ministering to the poor prompted him to travel and live very simply, sometimes getting him into trouble with church authorities. In his preaching, which attracted thousands of people back to the faith, Father Louis recommended frequent, even daily, Holy Communion (not the custom then!) and imitation of the Virgin Mary's ongoing acceptance of God's will for her life. Louis founded the Missionaries...

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." ~ Luke 1 A "yes" in imitation of Mary, such a yes creates joy, a new life, a breath, a blessing. A yes like Mary's: what a blessing! What fullness of good in the world! A yes from Mary: how much blessing! What joy, what felicity! What salvation! What hope... ~ Pope John Paul II