Catholic Fire

Today, November 21, is the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrates the fact that the parents of Our Lady brought her to the Temple and handed her over to live there for a long period as a virgin consecrated to the Temple, contemplating God exclusively.  Also known as the Dedication of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the feast originated in the East, where it is called the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos Into the Temple. The story of the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary captures the essential gospel portrayal of Mary totally committed to living out the will of God in her life. Her own willing, steadfast obedience lies at the heart of her life of self-sacrifice offered in love. History of the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Protoevangelium of James (7-8), and the writing entitled "De nativit. Mariae" (7-8), state that Joachim and Anna, faithful to a vow they had made, pr...

Devotion to Mary under the ancient title of  "Our Lady of Good Remedy" is widely known in Europe and Latin America and the Church celebrates her feast day on October 8. 800 years ago Christians were being captured and sold into slavery by the thousands, and nobody knew what to do about it. Then, in the year 1198, a man had an idea. St. John of Matha founded the Trinitarians to go to the slave markets, buy the Christian slaves and set them free. To carry out this plan, the Trinitarians needed large amounts of money. So, they placed their fund-raising efforts under the patronage of Mary. They were so successful at that, over the centuries, the Trinitarians were able to free thousands and thousands of people and to return them safely home. In gratitude for her miraculous assistance, St. John of Matha honored Mary with the title of "Our Lady of Good Remedy." Our Lady of Good Remedy is often depicted as the Virgin Mary handing a bag of money to St. John of Matha...

October 7 is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. This feast was instituted by Pope St. Pius V in thanksgiving for the great naval victory over the Turks at the battle of Lepanto on this day in the year 1570, a favor due to the recitation of the Rosary. This victory saved Europe from being overrun by the forces of Islam. Lepanto, perhaps the most complete victory ever gained over the Ottoman Empire, on October 7, 1571, is commemorated by the invocation "Help of Christians," inserted in the Litany of Loretto. At Belgrade the Turks were defeated on the Feast of Our Lady ad Nives in 1716. A second victory gained that year on the Octave of the Assumption determined Pope Clement XI to command the Feast of the Rosary to be celebrated by the universal Church. Leo XIII added the invocation "Queen of the most Holy Rosary, pray for us," to the Litany of Loretto. The Feast is in reality a great festival of thanksgiving for the signal and countless benefits bestowed on C...

September 15 marks the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. This title was given to our Blessed Mother due to the intense suffering and tremendous sorrow she experienced during the passion and death of her Son. She was indeed a co-redeemer with Christ due to the terrible pain she endured.  Traditionally and in Scripture readings, her suffering was not limited to the passion and death event; rather, it consisted of the seven dolors or seven sorrows of Mary, which were prophesied by the priest, Simeon in Luke 2: 34-35. There Simeon announced: "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed." Today, we are called to reflect on the seven great sorrows, which Mary lived in relation to her Son, as they are recorded in the Gospels or through tradition. The Seven Sorrows are: The prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35) The f...

On September 12, the Church celebrates the feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary to teach us how useful and advantageous it is for us to invoke her holy name in our needs. The name Mary by which we honor the Most Blessed Virgin means "Star of the Sea". It is, says Saint Bernard, very well given to her, because she is indeed a star which enlightens, guides, and leads us to a harbor in the stormy sea of this world. The feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary was first observed in Cuenca, Spain in 1513.  In 1683, Pope Innocent XI extended the celebration of the feast day to the universal Church, to be celebrated on September 12th, four days after the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Mother.  With the revisions of the Roman Missal in 1970 following the Vatican Council II, the feast day was removed from the universal calendar, although the Votive Mass remained.  However, Pope John Paul II in the third edition of the Roman Missal, issued...

1.  September is the ninth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of four months with a length of 30 days. In September, we say goodbye to summer with the official close of the swimming pools and other summer activities. This first day of September was a gorgeous day here in Wichita, Kansas (sunny, in the low 80's with a light breeze), so I decided to celebrate the new month by going on a picnic with my husband at the park. Here are a few photos I took. 2.   Here's one of my favorite September songs .  Do you remember this? 3.   September Marian Feast Days September 8:   Birth of Mary September 12:  The Most Holy Name of Mary September 15:  Our Lady of Sorrows 4.  Devotion for the Month of September  The Seven Sorrows of Mary 5.  September Poetry In the Days of the Golden Rod Across the meadow in brooding shadow I walk to drink of the autumn's wine­ The charm of stor...

On August 15 the universal Church celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which we commemorate her being taken up body and soul into heaven when her earthly life was finished. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: “The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she already shares in the glory of her Son's Resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of His Body” (974). Thus, the Assumption looks to eternity and gives us hope that we, too, will follow Our Lady when our life is ended. The Assumption first began to be celebrated as a feast day in the Eastern Church after the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (431) proclaimed Mary the Mother of God. By the sixth century, the feast celebrated Mary’s Dormition, “her falling asleep.” The western church began to celebrate this feast around 650. St. John Damascene (675-749), an early Father and Doctor of the...

By Jean M. Heimann On June 4, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a devotional name used to refer to the interior life of he Blessed Virgin Mary, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and above all, her virginal love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus, and her compassionate love for all persons.* This feast takes place one day after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The proximity of both celebrations reflects the deep connection between the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of His Mother. The connection between the Hearts of Jesus and Mary was prophesied by Simeon at the Presentation in the Temple of Jerusalem. In Luke 2:35, we read: “and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts...

Die Heimsuchung Mariens (The Visitation), 1695/1696, by Luca Giordano Luke 1:39-56 May 31 is the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which recalls Mary's visit with her cousin Elizabeth. This event is also the second joyful mystery of the rosary -- the first being the Annunciation. Elizabeth had been barren all her life, but in the Annunciation, Mary learned that her kinswoman was miraculously expecting a child in her old age. Upon hearing this good news, Mary fervently desired to share in Elizabeth's joy and serve her during the last part of her pregnancy. So she went "with haste" to visit Elizabeth and remained with her for three months. Mary's first action after God had come to dwell in her was one of self-denying charity. She undertook a troublesome journey in order to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Thus, she proclaimed charity to be the virtue which above all Christ brought with Him from heaven. God made Mary's visit the occas...

May 13, 2016 is the 99th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to three shepherd children in the small village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917.  She appeared six times to Lucia, 9, and her cousins Francisco, 8, and his sister Jacinta, 6, between May 13, 1917 and October 13, 1917. The story of Fatima begins in 1916, when, against the milieu of the First World War, which had introduced Europe to the most horrific and powerful forms of combat ever seen, and a year before the Communist revolution would plunge Russia and later Eastern Europe into six decades of oppression under militant atheistic governments, a resplendent figure appeared to the three children who were in the field tending the family sheep. “I am the Angel of Peace,” said the dazzling figure, who appeared to them two more times that year urging them to accept the sufferings that the Lord allowed them to undergo as an act of reparation for sins and to pray constantly for the conversion of sinners. Then, on the ...

By Jean M. Heimann On December 8, we celebrate two significant events in the Catholic Church on the same day – the beginning of the Jubilee Year of Mercy and the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Earlier this year, during Lent, Pope Francis announced that the Church would celebrate an extraordinary jubilee year devoted to God’s mercy. On April 11, 2015, he published a letter entitled Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy), stating that the Extraordinary  Jubilee Year of Mercy would take place from December 8, 2015 – the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – through November 20, 2016 – the Solemnity of Christ the King. We begin the Jubilee Year focusing on Mary, the Mother of God, who is also the Mother of Mercy.  We look at the face of our Lord Jesus Christ to see God’s mercy for us. He is the one who opens up the gates of salvation for us.  However, mercy begins with Mary, who is the Immaculate Conception. What is the dogma of the Immaculate Concep...

November 27 is the Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. Devotion to and wearing of the Miraculous Medal is second to the Rosary in popularity among traditional Catholic devotions. History In 1830, the Blessed Virgin Mary revealed the design of the Miraculous Medal to St. Catherine Laboure in an apparition. In Paris, on June 6, 1830, the Lord appeared to the young (age 24) Daughter of Charity novice Catherine at Mass, and again on the nights of July 18-19 when she was summoned to the chapel by a beautiful "child clothed in white" to converse with the Virgin Mary. Catherine was told prophecies and charged with "a mission" that manifested itself on November 27 in an early morning (5:30 am) appearance of the Blessed Virgin who was "clothed in white" standing on a globe and "a serpent." Rays of light issued forth from rings on her fingers and Catherine was told to commission a medal of what she was seeing. Then, turning the letter ...

St. James and his disciples adoring Our Lady of the Pillar Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar -- the Blessed Virgin Mary's first apparition in history. The Blessed Mother appeared to Saint James the Apostle , the brother of Saint John the Evangelist , on the bank of the river Ebro in Saragossa, Spain. Unlike every other recorded apparition, this one took place during the earthly life of the Mother of God. Our Lady of the Pillar is the patroness of Spain and all Hispanic peoples. Seven years after the death of Jesus, St. James reportedly traveled as far west as Spain to the village of Saragossa in northeast Spain. St. James became disheartened because of the failure of his mission. Tradition tells us that on January 2, 40 A.D. while he was deep in prayer, the Blessed Mother appeared to him and gave him a small wooden statue of herself and a column of jasper wood and instructed him to build a church in her honor: "This place is to be my house, and this image...

October 7 is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. This feast was instituted by Pope St. Pius V in thanksgiving for the great naval victory over the Turks at the battle of Lepanto on this day in the year 1570, a favor due to the recitation of the Rosary. This victory saved Europe from being overrun by the forces of Islam. Lepanto, perhaps the most complete victory ever gained over the Ottoman Empire, on October 7, 1571, is commemorated by the invocation "Help of Christians," inserted in the Litany of Loretto. At Belgrade the Turks were defeated on the Feast of Our Lady ad Nives in 1716. A second victory gained that year on the Octave of the Assumption determined Pope Clement XI to command the Feast of the Rosary to be celebrated by the universal Church. Leo XIII added the invocation "Queen of the most Holy Rosary, pray for us," to the Litany of Loretto. The Feast is in reality a great festival of thanksgiving for the signal and countless benefits bestowed on Ch...

Today, September 24, in many parts of the world, the Catholic Church commemorates the feast of Our Lady of Ransom, also known as Our Lady of Mercy or Nuestra Señora de la Merced. The Blessed Virgin appeared in 1218 in three separate visions to St. Peter Nolasco, St. Raymund of Penafort, and King James I of Aragon, asking them to found a religious order dedicated to freeing Christian captives from the barbarous Saracens or Moors, who at that time held a great part of Spain. On August 10, 1218, King James established the royal, military and religious Order of our Lady of Ransom (first known as the Order of St. Eulalia, now known as the Mercedarian Order ), with the members granted the privilege of wearing his own arms on their breast. Most of the members were knights, and while the clerics recited the divine office in the commanderies, they guarded the coasts and delivered prisoners. This pious work spread everywhere and produced heroes of charity who collected alms for the ranso...

September 15 is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. This feast is dedicated to Mary, Mother of God, and her union with the sufferings of her Divine Son, Jesus. In her suffering as co-redemptrix, she reminds us of the tremendous evil of sin and shows us the way of true repentance. The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows commemorates the seven great sorrows which Mary lived in relation to her Son, as they are recorded in the Gospels or through tradition. The Seven Sorrows are: The prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35) The flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15) Loss of the Child Jesus for three days (Luke 2:41-50) Mary meets Jesus on his way to Calvary (Luke 23:27-31; John 19:17) Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (John 19:25-30) The body of Jesus being taken from the Cross (Psalm 130; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:31-37) The burial of Jesus (Isaiah 53:8; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42; Mark 15:40-47) The Blessed Virgin Mary grants seven graces to the souls who honor her daily by saying seven Hail Ma...

“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 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.  Like other Marian feasts, it began to be celebrated at the local level without any major solemnity. As the feast began to spread throughout the Byzantine world in the sixth and seventh century, it was celebrated with greater solemnity. The solemnity of the fe...

An affluent, aristocratic family witnessed an astonishing miracle during the 4th century.  John and his wife were childless and prayed to the Blessed Mother for a child with whom they could share their love.  They made a vow to donate their possessions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady appeared to them in a dream on the night of August 4th into August 5th and told them to build a church in her honor on the Esquiline hill. She explained that the exact location of where they were to build would be marked out in snow.  This would be their sign that the request was truly from her. Incredibly, during that sultry summer night, a snowfall outlined the shape of the basilica on the hill. That night, the Blessed Mother also appeared to Pope Liberius in a dream so that he, too, could witness and confirm the miracle. The next morning, Roman citizens gathered on the hill to see the uncommon occurrence of snow sparkling in the summer sun. When John and his wife woke up, they...

On June 27 we commemorate Our Lady of Perpetual Help. I have had a long-time devotion to Our Blessed Mother under many titles, but began praying to Our Lady of Perpetual Help early in my childhood and continue to pray for her intercession today. She is such a sweet mother who always asks Jesus to grant me that which will draw me closest to Him. The Icon The icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is perhaps the oldest actual icon of the Blessed Virgin. According to tradition, St. Luke wrote an icon of Our Lady while she was still living in Jerusalem. When she saw the beautiful icon of herself holding the Child Jesus in her arms, she blessed both the artist and his work proclaiming, "My grace will accompany this icon." The passage of centuries has proven that Mary did not forget this promise. So numerous were the miracles and favors granted by means of this Holy Icon, Pope Innocent III in 1207 stated that Mary's soul seemed to have entered into this icon since it was...

By Jean M. Heimann On June 28, the Church celebrates the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary the day – one day after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus . The proximity of both celebrations reflects the deep connection between the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of His Mother. The connection between the Hearts of Jesus and Mary was prophesied by Simeon at the Presentation in the Temple of Jerusalem. In Luke 2:35, we read: “and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” The fulfillment of this prophesy is found in John 33-34: “But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.” It was at the piercing of Christ’s Heart at His de...