#blessedvirginmary — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 15 August: St. Edith Stein

Mary stands at the crucial point of human history and especially at the crucial point of the history of woman; in her, motherhood was transfigured and physical maternity surmounted. Just as the goal of all human education is presented to us in a concrete, vital, and personal way through Christ, so also the goal of all women’s education is presented to us through Mary.

The most significant evidence of the eternal meaning and value to be found in sexual differentiation lies in the fact that the new Eve stands beside the new Adam on the threshold between the Old and the New Covenants. God chose as the instrument for His Incarnation a human mother, and in her He presented the perfect image of a mother. From the time that she learns she is to bear a son she is completely at the service of this mission. He is given to her by God and in fidelity to God she must look after Him. Her existence until the hour of His birth is one of composed expectancy; then in a life fully surrendered to service, she takes careful note of all words and signs which anticipate something of His future course. With all reverence for the divinity hidden in Him, she still maintains authority over Him when He is a child; in true perseverance, she participates in His work until His death and beyond it.

But before the annunciation of her election, this woman called to the most exalted maternity had not wanted marriage and motherhood for herself; and this was against every tradition of her people. She was determined to live free of marital obligations.

As handmaid of the Lord, she bore God’s Son and was mindful of the man placed at her side for the protection of her child and herself. She did not become one flesh with him; this marriage was not meant to propagate his heirs or to carry on the human race.

In Mary we meet the image of virginal purity. What else could have induced her decision to remain a virgin than her desire to be wholly the handmaid of the Lord, to belong only to Him and to be at His command? And how could such longing in a person be explained otherwise than through divine inspiration and vocation?

And thereby, as co-redeemer by the side of the Redeemer, she emerges from the natural order. Both mother and Son spring from the human race, and both embody human nature; yet, both are free from that relationship which makes possible the fulfillment of life’s meaning only in union with and through another person. Union with God replaces this relationship in both; in Christ through the hypostatic union, in Mary through the surrender of her whole being to the Lord’s service.

Saint Edith Stein

Problems of Women’s Education (excerpt)
Lectures at the German Institute of Scientific Pedagogy
Summer semester, 1932

Stein, E 2017, Essays On Woman, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Book 2, translated from the German by Oben, F, ICS Publications, Washington D.C.

Featured image: Giuseppe Sciuti, The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Four Evangelists, 1896, fresco. Basilica Maria Santissima dell’Elemosina, Catania, Italy. Image credit: Renáta Sedmáková / Adobe Stock, asset no. 264723922.

Quote of the day, 14 August: Silvio José Báez, ocd

“Nothing is impossible for God” (Lk 1:37). Nothing is impossible for Love. We must never think that everything depends exclusively on us. We need not live imprisoned by our capacities and our strengths. At times it seems that things are beyond repair, but beyond what we can see and understand, God is transforming everything for our good.

When we make room for his love and trust him, the impossible begins to become a reality. May we always count on the God of the impossible. When it seems that there is nothing that can be done, he is still there—God, for whom nothing is impossible.

Mary’s response to God is one of great simplicity: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Mary is the woman of “yes”. In her, we find God’s “yes” to humanity and humanity’s “yes” to God. The Virgin welcomes God without hesitation and procrastination. She does so with joy as well as decisiveness.

“Let it be done” translates the Greek verbal form, genoito, which indicates not the passive resignation of someone who has no other choice and lets things happen, but rather manifests the decision and responsibility of a person who actively commits herself. Our Lady accepts God’s plans as her own and welcomes the action of the Spirit in her heart and in her womb. In this way she becomes, as Benedict XVI called her, the “mother of the Word Incarnate” (Deus caritas est, 41).

God is still searching for men and women who, like Mary, will open up to him with infinite trust. He still needs people who are willing to collaborate with him in giving life to the world. He looks for men and women who are poor, who know how to hope and trust him, who take risks for others, and aren’t afraid to be docile to the action of the Spirit like Mary. God is still searching for people who listen to his word and believe in his promises like Mary.

Silvio Jose Baez, OCD

Auxiliary Bishop of Managua, 20 December 2020

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: The Assumption is an oil on canvas painting by an unidentified Cuzco artist that dates to the latter third of the 17th century. Like many other paintings in colonial Latin America, this artwork corresponds to an engraving from Europe; in this case, an engraving of the Assumption by Theodor Galle (Flemish, 1566–1638) that appeared in the Breviarium Romanum of 1614. Galle’s engraving is after a drawing by Peter Paul Rubens (Dutch, 1577–1540), which dates to c. 1613–1614 and is found in the collections of the Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Image credit: Almerindo Ojeda / Project for the Engraved Sources of Spanish Colonial Art (PESSCA) (Some rights reserved)

Quote of the day, 28 May: Silvio José Báez, ocd

From her personal experience of divine grace, Mary looks around and contemplates history. Having fixed her gaze upon God, she now looks in the very direction that He is looking. She sees history far beyond outward appearances and discerns the true depth of reality, discovering who, in the eyes of God, are exalted and who are brought low, who are filled and who are left empty, who are near and who are far off:

“He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts; he has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the humble; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away” (Luke 1:51–53).

“Going beyond the surface, Mary ‘sees’ the work of God in history with the eyes of faith. … Her Magnificat, at the distance of centuries and millennia, remains the truest and most profound interpretation of history, while the interpretations of so many of this world’s wise have been belied by events in the course of the centuries” (Benedict XVI, Recitation of the Rosary, Saint Peter’s Square, 31 May 2008).  

Let’s not forget the prophetic words of the Virgin Mary that have never been disproved by history: “He has put down the mighty from their thrones” (Lk 1:52).

Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d.

El Magnificat: Una Oración Para Tiempos Nuevos

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: This detail of a stained glass window featuring the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is located in the historic Church of Saint-Laurent in Paris, specifically in the chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Malades (Our Lady of the Sick). The stained glass artists were Antoine Lusson (fils) and Léon Lefèvre. This window was crafted in 1874 by Lusson and Lefèvre. Image credit: Mbzt / Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved).

Learn more about Lusson, his collaboration with the Carmel of Le Mans, and the Carmelite stained glass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in South Bend, Indiana.

Quote of the day, 8 January: Peter-Thomas Rohrbach, OCD

Peter Thomas was born in a small town in the province of Périgord in Aquitaine about the year 1305. His father was a farm laborer, and the family was wretchedly poor.

Assigned to the monastery in Paris for the purpose of acquiring a higher degree in theology, he encountered a vexing and shameful problem—a growing abuse in the Order, which we will discuss in the following chapter, required that the university student obtain for himself the money to finance his education, either from his preaching, or his tutoring, or, most often, from his own relatives.

Therefore, Carmelites who came from affluent families were easily able to get the required money, while students from poorer backgrounds had to struggle. Peter’s family was impecunious, and with the pressure of his religious duties and his studies, he felt for a time that he would have to discontinue his studies.

He later recounted to Mezières an episode which happened as he paced the cloister corridor late one night, worrying about his problem. The Blessed Virgin appeared to him, saying:

“My son, do not worry about your lack of money, for I will not forsake you. Work hard at your studies and so you will serve my son and me.”

The next morning, he received a large and unexpected donation with which he was able to continue his studies. He obtained his doctorate in theology and was assigned to the important monastery at Avignon, where the papal court was located.

At Avignon, there also occurred the celebrated vision of the Blessed Virgin’s promise concerning the Carmelite Order. Peter had apparently been praying to her—late at night again—in behalf of the Order when he heard these words from her:

“Have confidence, Peter, for the Carmelite Order will last until the end of the world. Elijah, its founder, obtained it a long time ago from my Son.”

Peter-Thomas Rohrbach, O.C.D.

Journey to Carith, Chapter II

Note: Philip de Mezières, a layman and aide to Peter of Lusignan, king of Cyprus, became a close personal friend of Peter Thomas and wrote his biography based on firsthand experience and the saint’s own recollections. Unusual for its time, the work is candid and restrained, largely free of the embellishments typical of medieval hagiography, and is regarded as a notable achievement of medieval literature.

Rohrbach, P 1966, 2015, Journey to Carith: The Sources and Story of the Discalced Carmelites, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Saint Peter Thomas, by Fray Juan del Santísimo Sacramento, 1666 oil on canvas. Image credit: Museo de Bellas Artes de Córdoba (Public Domain).

#anxiety #apparition #BlessedVirginMary #StPeterThomas #study

Marie du jour, 11 May: Brother Lawrence

From the beginning of his novitiate, he applied himself to the exercises of religious life with great fervor. He had singular affection for the Blessed Virgin Mary and was especially devoted to her.

He had a filial trust in her protection. She was his refuge in all the problems of his life, in the troubles and anxieties that disturbed his soul, and therefore, he would call her “his good mother.”

Joseph de Beaufort

Eulogy in Praise of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, No. 17

Lawrence of the Resurrection, B; De Meester, C 1994, Writings and Conversations on the Practice of the Presence of God,  translated from the French by Salvatore Sciurba, OCD, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How can I deepen my trust in Mary as one who lovingly protects and consoles my soul?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#anxiety #BlessedVirginMary #BrotherLawrenceOfTheResurrection #GoodMother #JosephDeBeaufort #novitiate #refuge #trust

In our live-stream, we're talking about the Blessed Virgin Mary and how even staunch Protestants can come to praise and even venerate her in their faith.

#Episcopal #Church #Bible #Christianity #BlessedVirginMary

https://www.youtube.com/live/8gGpvyXimcE

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Although not directly recorded in the Bible, early Christian writers describe her birth. The Protoevangelium of James outlines how Mary's parents, Joachim and Anne, prayed for a child and were blessed with her birth. They then dedicated her to God as a consecrated Virgin. This event is seen as significant and a prelude to the birth of Jesus Christ. #BlessedVirginMary #Christianity 🙏 https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/the-birth-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-357