Catholic Fire

Your birth, O Blessed Virgin Mary, fills the whole world with a sweet consolation and a holy joy, because of you was born our Jesus, our God, who has taken away from us the curse in which we were plunged by the sin of our first parents, and filled us with all kinds of blessings.  ~ St. John Vianney “The Immaculate Virgin…invites us not to fix our eyes on her but to pass beyond, and as much as possible, to enter into the mystery in which she was conceived: the mystery of God who is One and Three, full of grace and fidelity.”  ~ Pope St. John Paul II The Catholic Church celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on its traditional fixed date of September 8, nine months after the December 8 celebration of her Immaculate Conception as the child of Saints Joachim and Anne. History of this feast day The feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the oldest of the Marian solemnities, was mentioned by the Church Fathers in the early fifth century. ...

1. Saturday is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe -- - one of my favorite Marian feast days. Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, brings hope into our lives. She covers us in the folds of her heavenly mantle and cradles us. She is the Mother who tenderly consoles us and protects us from evil. She is the one who carries Divine Life within her and crushed the head of the wicked serpent. She brings us life and love; hope and healing. She brought conversion to Mexico and will renew the Americas again if we pray for her intercession. She is the Mother of Mercy. Here is a beautiful reflection for this Feast Day from Father Stephen Morris with some intercessions to help us during this Jubilee Year of Mercy. Here is a story of my family's personal miracle through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 2. On December 8, we celebrated two significant events in the Catholic Church on the same day – the beginning of the Jubilee Year of Mercy and the Solemnity of ...

By Jean M. Heimann The season of Advent is a time of preparation. It is a time to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus. It is a time to make more room for him in our lives. During Advent, we wait patiently and prayerfully, with the Blessed Virgin Mary, in joyful hope and in anticipation of the miracle of the Incarnation. This year is remarkable in that Pope Francis has proclaimed it to be an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. During this Advent, then, we are called to come to Jesus and to seek out his merciful love which can heal all that is injured within us. He calls us out of the darkness into the light of His radiant and merciful love. For, his mercy has the power to free us of our fears, worries, and all the burdens that weigh us down.  It can heal us of the hurts that lie deep within and of the despair that accompanies our darkest sins. First and foremost, God invites to embrace his mercy, to repent and to be cleansed, to be made spotless and holy. This Adv...

Today the Church honors St. Catherine of Laboure, the humble Daughter of Charity to whom Mary appeared, requesting that the Miraculous Medal be struck so that all who wear it would receive great graces. Saint Catherine Laboure was born in Burgundy, France on May 2, 1806. The ninth of eleven children born to a farm family, she felt a call to the religious life from an early age. Catherine entered the community of the Daughters of Charity, in obedience to a vision of Saint Vincent de Paul, telling her that God wanted her to work with the sick. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Catherine Laboure, who was then a 24-year-old novice, three times. On July 18, 1830, the first apparition occurred in the community's motherhouse. St. Catherine saw a lady seated on the right side of the sanctuary. When St. Catherine approached her, the heavenly visitor told her how to act in time of trial and pointed to the altar as the source of all consolation. Promising to entrust St. Catheri...

Related:  Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

"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, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin." — Catechism of the Catholic Church Gospel: Luke 1 :26-38 From a 2013 homily by Pope Francis on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: The Gospel of St Luke presents us with Mary, a girl from Nazareth, a small town in Galilee, in the outskirts of the Roman Empire and on the outskirts of Israel as well. A village. Yet the Lord’s gaze rested on her, on this little girl from that distant village, on the one he had chosen to be the mother of his Son. In view of this motherhood, Mary was preserved from original sin, from that fracture in communion with God, with others and with creation, which deeply wounds every human being. But this fracture was healed in advance in the Mother of the One who c...

First, recite the Prayer to the Immaculate Conception.  Then, recite the appropriate prayer of each of the nine days. PRAYER TO THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION O God,  who by the Immaculate Conception  of the Blessed Virgin Mary,  did prepare a worthy dwelling place for Your Son,  we beseech You that, as by the foreseen death of this, Your Son, You did preserve Her from all stain,  so too You would permit us, purified through Her intercession,  to come unto You.  Through the same Lord Jesus Christ,  Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,  God, world without end.  Amen.     Day One O most Holy Virgin, who was pleasing to the Lord and became His mother, immaculate in body and spirit, in faith and in love, look kindly on me as I implore your powerful intercession. O most Holy Mother, who by your blessed Immaculate Conception, from the first moment o...

The saint of the day for November 8 is Blessed John Duns Scotus, Franciscan priest and theologian of the thirteenth century. Bl. John Duns Scotus was born in Duns, Berwickshire, Scotland, to a wealthy farming family around 1265.  At the age of 15, he entered the Novitiate of the Order of Friars Minor and was ordained a priest in 1291, at the church of St. Andrew of the Monks of Cluny. Following his ordination, he traveled between England and France to pursue advanced philosophical and theological studies. On Christmas night 1299, Bl. John, immersed in contemplation of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, fell into ecstasy. The Blessed Mother appeared to him and placed on his arms the Child Jesus who kissed and embraced him fondly. After four years of teaching at Oxford and Cambridge, at the end of 1301, Bl. John returned to Paris, where he earned his bachelor's degree in theology. Then, on the vigil of receiving his doctorate, he had to leave France suddenly, to re...

(Vatican Radio) Following a tradition laid out by his predecessors, Pope Francis celebrated the Feast of the Immaculate Conception by travelling to Piazza di Spagna where he venerated the statue named for the Marian Feast. The celebration began with a reading from the book of Revelation in which Mary is described as a “woman, clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and around her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev. 12:1). The Holy Father then recited a prayer to the Immaculate Conception, in which he asked Our Lady to “awaken in us a renewed desire for holiness,” and to “make present all of the Gospel’s beauty” in our lives. He went on to ask Mary’s intercession in helping us remain attentive to the Lord’s voice, and to never be indifferent to the cry of the poor, the sick, the elderly, of children, and every human life. Before taking leave of the Piazza, the Holy Father greeted the sick and disabled who had gathered in the Square for the celebrations.After the cele...

Saint Anne conceiving the Virgin Mary Jean Bellegambe Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse This year the Church has transferred the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception to today so as not to conflict with the 2nd Sunday of Advent, but the obligation to attend Mass does not transfer. This solemn dogma was defined by Blessed Pius IX in 1854. Our Lady Immaculately Conceived is the patroness of the United States of America.   "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 Blessed Pope Pius IX on the 8th of December 1854 proclaimed the Dogma of the faith revealed by God that the Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Sav...

Today is the feast of St. Bernadette Soubirous, the renowned visionary of Lourdes. Born in Lourdes, France, on January 7, 1844, Bernadette was the first child of Francois and Louise Soubirous, a poor peasant family. A severe asthma sufferer, Bernadette was such a poor student that she was unable to make her First Holy Communion until she was 14. She had many trials to contend with as a child -- poverty, health problems, which caused her to be behind in school, many responsibilities as the oldest child of six siblings, moving from one poor place to another, and a father who escaped from his financial problems by drowning them in alcohol. Her education was entrusted to the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction. - a teaching and nursing order whose mother-house is at Nevers, in central France. The Sisters soon discovered that although Bernadette had a quiet, modest demeanor, she had a lively sense of humor and a pleasing personality. It was to this simple 14-year-old girl...

February 10, 2013. (Romereports.com) Italian journalist Vittorio Messori is widely known for tackling current issues within the Catholic Church. Previously, he has published two books about John Paul II and Joseph Ratzinger. Now, he is focusing his attention on the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes. He believes the authenticity of the message, lies in the credibility of Bernadette's testimony, since she says she saw the apparition directly. It's also the topic of his latest book Bernadette non ci ha ingannati, or Bernadette Does Not Deceive. VITTORIO MESSORI Journalist and Writer “History can show that the apparitions of Lourders are authentic. And when we have a faith crisis, which also happens to me, naturally, when we have doubts, when we have problems, then we can seize that which is true, and that is Lourdes.” Messori says the message of Lourdes can help many people reconcile with their Catholic faith, because her apparitions appear to strengthen the Pope's...

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