#blessedvirginmary — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 12 September: St. Thérèse

Why I Love You, O Mary!

Oh! I would like to sing, Mary, why I love you,
Why your sweet name thrills my heart,
And why the thought of your supreme greatness
Could not bring fear to my soul.
If I gazed on you in your sublime glory,
Surpassing the splendor of all the blessed,
I could not believe that I am your child.
0xs Mary, before you I would lower my eyes!…

If a child is to cherish his mother,
She has to cry with him and share his sorrows.
O my dearest Mother, on this foreign shore
How many tears you shed to draw me to you!….
In pondering your life in the holy Gospels,
1 dare look at you and come near you.
It’s not difficult for me to believe I’m your child,
For I see you human and suffering like me….

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus

PN 54: Pourquoi je t’aime, ô Marie !
Stanzas 1–2

Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Kinney, D 1995, The Poetry of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Maria! September 12th is the feast of the Holy Name of Mary. Mosaic detail from Westminster Cathedral. Image credit: Lawrence Lew, OP / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

Quote of the day, 22 August: Blessed Marie-Eugène

The Blessed Virgin Mary left this earth in both body and soul. We might have imagined that, from then on, lost in the glory of God, she would be wholly absorbed in the vision of God.…

The Virgin Mary remains forever alive. And what lives within her? Love, always. Her love remains alive, now enlarged to the dimensions of the Most Holy Trinity in whom she lives: maternal love for her Son, and maternal love in all its fullness for every soul united to her Son.

Yes, the Virgin Mary’s charity remains forever alive. And in heaven, more than ever, this love burns with a mother’s love for the whole Mystical Body of Christ and for each one of our souls.

Let us keep this love before our eyes. May it give us reason to hope along every path we must follow. May this love, living in the Virgin Mary, be our light, our hope, and our strength.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

22 August 1964

Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus 2017, Assidus à la prière avec Marie: Méditations sur les mystères du Rosaire, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Featured image: Pedro de Calabria (ca. 1680–1730), The Coronation of the Virgin, ca. 1685–1715, oil on canvas. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. © Archivo Fotográfico Museo Nacional del Prado. Used for limited non-commercial, educational, and personal purposes.

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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 12 August: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Devotion to Mary

93. There are three principal devotions to Mary: the scapular, pictures, the rosary.

• A) The scapular is the livery of Mary. A soul who wears it and who, of course, makes every effort to work out his own salvation cannot be cast into hell, it is impossible. Never take off your scapular.
  
• B) Pictures. We love to have pictures of our loved ones in our homes, a portrait of those whom we love. Why not have one everywhere of our heavenly Mother?
  
• C) The rosary. It is the chain that unites us to Mary. Through the practice of this pious recitation, we accumulate a number of graces and Mary takes us by the hand, Mary directs our frail skiff on the fury of the waves and, with her as our guide, we are sure of our eternal salvation; she cannot let us perish, that is impossible!…

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

From her journal, 93

Note: On this day we recall Blessed Isidore Bakanja, the Congolese martyr who was tortured by his employer for refusing to remove his brown scapular.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S, de Meester, C, Lonchampt, J, 1980, Oeuvres Complètes, Les Editions du Cerf, Paris.

de Meester, C 2017, Rien moins que Dieu: sainte Elisabeth de la Trinité, Presses de la Renaissance, Paris.

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

Featured image: Detail of photographic portrait of Blessed Isidore Bakanja. Image credit: The Carmelites.

Quote of the day, 23 July: St. Paul VI

It is also important to note how the Church expresses in various effective attitudes of devotion the many relationships that bind her to Mary: in profound veneration, when she reflects on the singular dignity of the Virgin who, through the action of the Holy Spirit has become Mother of the Incarnate Word; in burning love, when she considers the spiritual motherhood of Mary towards all members of the Mystical Body; in trusting invocation; when she experiences the intercession of her advocate and helper (Lumen Gentium, 62); in loving service, when she sees in the humble handmaid of the Lord the queen of mercy and the mother of grace; in zealots imitation, when she contemplates the holiness and virtues of her who is “full of grace” (Lk. 1:28); in profound wonder, when she sees in her, “as in a faultless model, that which she herself wholly desires and hopes to be”(Sacrosanctum Concilium, 103); in attentive study, when she recognizes in the associate of the Redeemer, who already shares fully in the fruits of the Paschal Mystery, the prophetic fulfillment of her own future, until the day on which, when she has been purified of every spot and wrinkle (cf. Eph. 5:27), she will become like a bride arrayed for the bridegroom, Jesus Christ (cf. Rev. 21:2).

Therefore, venerable Brothers, as we consider the piety that the liturgical Tradition of the universal Church and the renewed Roman Rite expresses towards the holy Mother of God, and as we remember that the liturgy through its pre-eminent value as worship constitutes the golden norm for Christian piety, and finally as we observe how the Church when she celebrates the sacred mysteries assumes an attitude of faith and love similar to that of the Virgin, we realize the rightness of the exhortation that the Second Vatican Council addresses to all the children of the Church, namely “that the cult, especially the liturgical cult, of the Blessed Virgin be generously fostered” (Lumen Gentium, 67). This is an exhortation that we would like to see accepted everywhere without reservation and put into zealous practice.

Saint Paul VI

Marialis Cultus, 22–23
The Blessed Virgin as the Model of the Church in Divine Worship

Paul VI 1974, Marialis Cultus, The Holy See, viewed 21 July 2026, https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19740202_marialis-cultus.html.

Featured image: Detail of the Annunciation from a beautiful stained glass window by Christopher Webb, created about 1939 in St Alban’s Cathedral, England. Image credit: Lawrence Lew, OP (Some rights reserved).

Quote of the day, 16 July: St. John Paul II

“Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother: ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (Jn. 19:25–27).1

Undoubtedly, we find here an expression of the Son’s particular solicitude for his Mother, whom he is leaving in such great sorrow. And yet the “testament of Christ’s Cross” says more. Jesus highlights a new relationship between Mother and Son, the whole truth and reality of which he solemnly confirms…. The Mother of Christ, who stands at the very center of this mystery—a mystery which embraces each individual and all humanity—is given as mother to every single individual and all mankind. The man at the foot of the Cross is John, “the disciple whom he loved.”2 

But it is not he alone. Following tradition, the Council does not hesitate to call Mary “the Mother of Christ and mother of mankind”: since she “belongs to the offspring of Adam she is one with all human beings…. Indeed she is ‘clearly the mother of the members of Christ…since she cooperated out of love so that there might be born in the Church the faithful.'”3

And so this “new motherhood of Mary,” generated by faith, is the fruit of the “new” love which came to definitive maturity in her at the foot of the Cross, through her sharing in the redemptive love of her Son.

By his redemptive death, Jesus Christ conquers the evil of sin and death at its very roots. It is significant that, as he speaks to his mother from the Cross, he calls her “woman” and says to her: “Woman, behold your son!” Moreover, he had addressed her by the same term at Cana too (cf. Jn. 2:4).

How can one doubt that, especially now, on Golgotha, this expression goes to the very heart of the mystery of Mary, and indicates the unique place which she occupies in the whole economy of salvation?

The words uttered by Jesus from the Cross signify that the motherhood of her who bore Christ finds a “new” continuation in the Church and through the Church, symbolized and represented by John…. In accordance with the eternal plan of Providence, Mary’s divine motherhood is to be poured out upon the Church, as indicated by statements of Tradition, according to which Mary’s “motherhood” of the Church is the reflection and extension of her motherhood of the Son of God.4

Thus she who is present in the mystery of Christ as Mother becomes—by the will of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit—present in the mystery of the Church. In the Church, too, she continues to be a maternal presence, as is shown by the words spoken from the Cross: “Woman, behold your son!”; “Behold, your mother.”

Saint John Paul II

Redemptoris Mater, 23–24 (excerpts)

Notes:

1. Gospel reading for the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 16 July. ↩︎
2. There is a well-known passage of Origen on the presence of Mary and John on Calvary: “The Gospels are the first fruits of all Scripture and the Gospel of John is the first of the Gospels: no one can grasp its meaning without having leaned his head on Jesus’ breast and having received from Jesus Mary as Mother”: Comm. in loan., I, 6: PG 14, 31; cf. Saint Ambrose, Expos. Evang. sec. Lucam, X, 129-131: CSEL 32/4, 504f. ↩︎
3. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 54 and 53; the latter text quotes Saint Augustine, De Sancta Virginitate, VI, 6: PL 40, 399. ↩︎
4. Cf. Saint Leo the Great, Tractatus 26, de natale Domini, 2: CCL 138, 126. ↩︎

John Paul II 1987, Redemptoris Mater: on the Blessed Virgin Mary in the life of the pilgrim Church, The Holy See, viewed 14 July 2026, https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater.html.

Featured image: Statue of Our Lady and the Child Jesus in Stella Maris Basilica, Haifa, Israel. Photograph by Harvey Sapir. Image credit: Harvey Sapir Photography, PikiWiki Israel, (CC BY 2.5).

7 & 23 July: Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Divine Grace

July 23
In the Provinces of Europe, July 7
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY,
MOTHER OF DIVINE GRACE

Memorial

‘The Blessed Virgin Mary was eternally predestined, in the context of the Incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. As decreed by divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving Mother of the divine Redeemer, His associate, uniquely generous, and the Lord’s humble servant. She conceived, bore, and nourished Christ; presented Him to the Father in the Temple; and was united with Him in His suffering as He died on the cross. In a completely unparalleled way she cooperated, by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity, with our Savior’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason, she is Mother to us all in the order of grace’ (Lumen Gentium, the Constitution on the Church, 61).

From the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary, except the following:

Office of Readings

The Second Reading
Hom. 4

From the homily of St. Cyril of Alexandria preached at the Council of Ephesus

Our access to the fountainhead of grace is through Mary

Hail Mary, Mother of God, august treasury of the whole world, unquenchable torch, crown of virginity, scepter of orthodoxy, temple indestructible, and place of the uncontainable, mother and virgin. Through you is named blessed in the holy gospel He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hail Mary! You contained the uncontainable in your holy virginal womb. Through you the Trinity is glorified; through you is the cross named precious, and adored throughout the whole world; through you heaven exults; through you angels and archangels rejoice; through you demons are put to flight; through you the devil, the tempter, fell from heaven; through you the fallen creature is taken up to heaven; through you the whole created world, gripped in the madness of idolatry, come to a recognition of the truth; through you comes about holy baptism for believers; through you the oil of gladness; through you churches have been founded through the whole world; through you nations are led to repentance.

What need is there to speak at length? Through you the only Son of God shone His light for those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death; through you prophets foretold what was to come; through you apostles preach salvation to the nations; through you the dead are raised to life; through you kings reign, through the Holy Trinity.

What man can sing adequately the praise of Mary? She is both virgin and mother! The wonder astounds me. Shall the Builder be forbidden to inhabit the temple He has built? Shall He be despised who chose His handmaid for His mother?

See then, all things rejoice. May it be ours to fear and bow before the unity of the Trinity, to worship and tremble in awe before the indivisible Trinity, as we sing praises of the ever-virgin Mary, that is the holy Church, and of her Son and immaculate spouse; for to Him is glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Responsory

R/. With confidence let us draw near to the throne of grace, * so that we may receive mercy, and find grace when we are in need of help.
V/. To you do we cry, blessed Virgin, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears, * so that we may receive mercy, and find grace when we are in need of help.

Morning Prayer

Canticle of Zechariah

Ant. It is I who give birth to all noble loving and the holy gift of hope. From me comes every grace of faithful observance; from me all promise of life and vigor.

Prayer

God of eternal wisdom,
in your providence, you willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary
should bring forth the Author of Grace,
and take part with him
in the mystery of man’s redemption.
May she obtain for us grace in abundance
and bring us to the haven of everlasting salvation.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Evening Prayer

Canticle of Mary

Ant. Our salvation is in your hands, O Mother; smile upon us, and we shall be happy in our service of the Lord our King.

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.

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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 25 May: St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi

The ecstasy [Saint Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi] had on the 17th of September of the same year, 1587, was very wonderful and effective.

Being fiercely attacked in the virtue of chastity, as was related, and forbidden by her confessor and her mother prioress from again throwing herself among thorns, or doing any other injury to her body, she, by way of compensation, gave herself up to prayer with redoubled fervor, imploring above all the assistance of the Queen of virgins.

On the same day, it happened that, having withdrawn to a remote chamber, by prayers of a most suppliant devotion and by most touching tears, she turned to the most pure Mother of God, that she might obtain for her such a victory over the impure temptations, that her virginity would not be stained in the least thereby.

Having just made the request, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her in the form of a noble and tender mother, and, consoling her, told her to be calm, as in all such temptations she had never offended God; nay, by her courageous fight with the impure spirit, she had come out completely victorious, and, as a reward therefore, the Blessed Virgin put on her a pure white veil, and told her, moreover, that in the future she would not again have to suffer the temptations or suggestions of impurity.

At this moment, Mary Magdalen interiorly felt as if all appetite of carnal concupiscence was being reduced, and that all the disordered fire of sensuality had been extinguished in an ineffable manner.

In fact, during all her life, this angelic soul was not again molested by a desire of the flesh, nor even by any imagination or the least thought contrary to holy purity.

The Rev. Father Placido Fabrini

Chapter XIV

Note: Father Fabrini’s biography is based on the 1611 biography of St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi, which was written by her spiritual director, Fr. Vincenzio Puccini.

Fabrini, P. & De’ Pazzi, M.M. 1900, The life of St. Mary Magdalen De-Pazzi: Florentine noble, sacred Carmelite virgin, translated from the Italian by Isoleri A., [publisher not identified] Philadelphia.

Featured image: This detail of a portrait of Saint Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi receiving the white veil from the Virgin Mary was painted by Bernard de Bailliu (Flemish, 1641–1694) and another unidentified artist; it is an oil paint illumination of an engraving attached to a panel (17th or 18th c.). The work is part of the collection in the Museo del Convento de Santa Teresa, Arequipa, Peru. Photo: Franz Grupp / PESSCA 2921B Image credit: Ojeda, A 2005–2023, Project for the Engraved Sources of Spanish Colonial Art (PESSCA), PESSCA, viewed 25 April 2019, https://colonialart.org/.

Quote of the day, 8 May: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

“Virgo fidelis”: that is, Faithful Virgin, “who kept all these things in her heart.” [Lk. 2:19] She remained so little, so recollected in God’s presence, in the seclusion of the temple, that she drew down upon herself the delight of the Holy Trinity: “Because He has looked upon the lowliness of His servant, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed!” [Lk. 1:48]

The Father, bending down to this beautiful creature, who was so unaware of her own beauty, willed that she be the Mother in time of Him whose Father He is in eternity.

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Heaven in Faith, 39

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2014, I Have Found God, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity Volume 1: Major spiritual writings, translated from the French by Kane, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple (detail), Pierre Mignard (French, 1612–1695), oil on canvas, 1635. Image credit: Private collection / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).

Poland: Motherhood is Meant for Every Woman

Paul Suski – This Feast of Mary, Queen of Poland, observed on May 3 and a national holiday…
#Poland #Polska #PL #Europe #Europa #EU #BlessedVirginMary #FeastofMary #SaintJohnPaulII #SaintMotherTeresaofCalcutta #TheVenerableArchbishopFultonSheen
https://www.europesays.com/poland/4470/

Quote of the day, 19 April: St. Teresa of Avila

We always find that those who walked closest to Christ Our Lord were those who had to bear the greatest trials.

Consider the trials suffered by His glorious Mother and by the glorious Apostles. How do you suppose Saint Paul could endure such terrible trials? We can see in his life the effects of genuine visions and of contemplation coming from Our Lord and not from human imagination or from the deceit of the devil. Do you imagine that he shut himself up with his visions so as to enjoy those Divine favours and pursue no other occupation? You know very well that, so far as we can learn, he took not a day’s rest, nor can he have rested by night, since it was then that he had to earn his living [cf. 1 Thess 2:9].

I am very fond of the story of how, when Saint Peter was fleeing from prison, Our Lord appeared to him and told him to go back to Rome and be crucified. We never recite the Office on his festival, in which this story is found, without my deriving a special consolation from it. How did Saint Peter feel after receiving this favour from the Lord? And what did he do? He went straight to his death; and the Lord showed him no small mercy in providing someone to kill him.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Interior Castle, VII.4

Note: In the old Carmelite Breviary, which St. Teresa would have used, the Antiphon of the Magnificat at First Vespers on June 29 runs: “The Blessed Apostle Peter saw Christ coming to meet him. Adoring Him, he said: ‘Lord, whither goest Thou?’ ‘I am going to Rome to be crucified afresh.'” The story has it that St. Peter returned to Rome and was crucified.

John of the Cross, St; de Santa Teresa, S; Peers, E 1934–1935, The complete works of Saint John of the Cross, doctor of the Church, translated from the Spanish by Peers, E, Burns Oates & Washbourne, London.

Featured image: The Domine Quo Vadis window in Saint Alban’s Cathedral, Hertfordshire. Image credit: Father James Bradley / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

Quote of the day, 28 March: Blessed Marie-Eugène

Mary… on the Way to Calvary

“The people followed him in great numbers.”

We had sought her, and we had not found her. And now—here she is: Mary, on the way to Calvary. She must be there.

Dark rumors had spread through the night about her Son—they said he had been arrested, brought before the Sanhedrin. She had come, accompanied by the holy women. She heard the cries: “Crucify him!” … They said he was to be crucified.

And here she is on the way to Calvary.

She wants to see her Son, and the holy women who accompany her make a way for her through the crowd—at a crossing, at a turn—so that she might be very near.

Jesus passes. Their eyes meet.

What happens in that gaze? All their love.

And the Virgin Mary looks at her Son. She looks upon that face, bruised and swollen. Oh, that gaze of a mother—what does it see? The Word is hidden. She is accustomed to mystery; yet she does not know this suffering. She does not yet know this form of the mystery presented to her.

She enters into it by faith. She accepts it in love.

Jesus, you look upon your Mother—and in that gaze, what a meeting! Your two loves, your two missions, your two offerings—united in the one will of God laid upon you: a shared acceptance of God’s design for each of you, a shared offering of your love for all humanity.

Mary, teach me to read, as you did, this living book that is Jesus on the way to Calvary.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Mary, for your love.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

Assidus à la prière avec Marie, Fourth Sorrowful Mystery (excerpt)

Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus. Assidus à la prière avec Marie: Méditations sur les mystères du Rosaire. Toulouse: Éditions du Carmel, 2017.

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

Featured image: Detail from Mater Dolorosa and Christ of Sorrows by Simon Marmion (French, 1420-1489). Oil on wood panel, ca. 1460, from the Museum of Fine Arts, Strasbourg. Image credit: jean louis mazieres / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

Quote of the day, 25 March: Blessed Marie-Eugène

Before the Annunciation, Mary was the daughter of God in prayer. Certainly, she didn’t yet know about her divine motherhood. She was aware of her grace, the treasure she possessed, the abundance of this grace; yet she remained unaware of herself in the sense that she didn’t recognize the superiority of this grace over ordinary and common grace.

The Virgin was concerned only with uniting herself to God. It was this self-forgetfulness, this purity, that allowed God to pour Himself into her. She continually sought Him, going to find Him in the Temple, and orienting herself toward Him like a child to her Father.

Let us not think that simplicity implies limited horizons. From a human perspective, Mary surely does not seek satisfaction for her faculties; no, she turns solely toward God, practicing in her external actions—required by this simple orientation—the virtue of obedience, like a child who does what is asked without seeking anything beyond it, without even becoming attached to the work itself.

We, on the other hand, are restless in our faculties; Mary is not. She finds this peace in faith. Everything else would be an unnecessary distraction, diverting her from her contact with God. For her, this contact is entirely simple, without ecstasies or raptures, for her faculties are flexible enough to receive and endure—without leaving a trace in her senses—the brilliance and anointing of the Divinity present within her.

What matters, in fact, is not strength but flexibility. The strong are inevitably broken; the flexible bend and endure. In the Virgin, simplicity and flexibility reach perfection. Nothing externalizes itself in her. “She is so simple that I fear she will not be recognized,” they said about Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. The same can be said of the Virgin at that moment.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

La Vierge Marie toute Mère (The Virgin Mary, All Mother)
Présence Maternelle: La prière de Marie (Maternal presence, Mary’s prayer)

de l’Enfant-Jésus, M 2019, La Vierge Marie Toute Mère, edited by Institut Notre-Dame de Vie, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

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

Featured Image: This detail from The Annunciation by the Italian artist Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563–1639) is an oil on canvas painting executed in 1623 for Charles Emmanuel I, the Duke of Savoy. It is one of the masterpieces found in the collections of the Musei Reali di Torino. Image credit: Adobe Stock (stock photo)

Quote of the day, 26 February: Madame Acarie

O most glorious Virgin Mary,
most gentle Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ,
my good Advocate,
have pity upon me,
a poor and wretched sinner.

O most excellent Lily
of the radiant and admirable Trinity,
I beseech thee, pray for me,
that through thine intercession
I may embrace with a perfect love
thy dear Son, Jesus Christ,
and that I may be made
a soul according to His Heart.

Blessed Mary of the Incarnation, “Madame Acarie”

Vrais Exercises

Carmes de Paris 2020, S1 – Avent 2020–1, retraites.carmes-paris.org, viewed 24 February 2026, https://retraites.carmes-paris.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/S1-Avent-2020-1.pdf.

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

Featured image: The Madonna and Child appearing to Blessed Marie of the Incarnation is an oil on canvas painting attributed to Pierre Delestres, ca. 1750. It is part of the collection of artworks at the Discalced Carmelite monastery of Pontoise that depicts Madame Acarie. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission).

Quote of the day, 4 February: Blessed Marie-Eugène

The contemplative is an explorer of realms that begin at the outer limits of human understanding and extend into the infinity of God. Having reached God, how could such a soul not also one day discover Mary—the one through whom every divine gift passes? In these mysterious expanses, the contemplative advances by the light of living faith: “The Lord lives, in whose presence I stand” [1 Kgs 17:1].

It is the living presence of God that the contemplative seeks; why, then, should that same gaze not also seek the living presence of Mary?

The contemplative discovery of the Blessed Virgin closely resembles the contemplative discovery of God Himself. It is of the same nature and unfolds under the same conditions. Both rest upon a presence within the soul of the living realities they are called to encounter.

God is present within us because He continually sustains our existence by His action and because He communicates to us grace, a participation in His own life. To this active and sustaining presence is added a new mode of presence brought about by grace itself. By drawing us, as children, into the movement of Trinitarian life, grace enables us to enter into relationship with God and to know Him directly and immediately as an object of knowledge and love. It is for this reason that this new mode of divine presence, created by these relationships, is called an objective presence.

With regard to the Blessed Virgin, we may affirm that there is a certain mode of presence, which we deliberately refrain from defining. We leave this task to theologians, so as not to tie truths that transcend all schools of thought to any single theological opinion… Mary could not communicate supernatural riches to us unless she were in real contact with us.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

Heureuse Celle qui a Cru: Découvrir Marie (1943)

de l’Enfant-Jésus, M 2017, Heureuse Celle qui a Cru, edited by Institut Notre-Dame de Vie, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

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

Featured image: Detail from Madonna and Child, an undated oil on wood painting attributed to Bernardino Luini. Image credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum (Public domain).

#BlessedMarieEugeneOfTheChildJesus #BlessedVirginMary #grace #presenceOfGod #relationship

Quote of the day, 2 February: Blessed Marie-Eugène

“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word;
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation
which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to thy people Israel.”
(Lk 2:29–32)

Turning toward the Virgin, Simeon makes a mysterious prediction: this rising light will be “a sign that is spoken against” (Lk 2:34). Jesus will always be a sign of contradiction because He is hidden, and only loving faith can discover Him. At the same time, He will be a cause of salvation for many. And Simeon announces to the Virgin: “A sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Lk 2:35).

This is the first time the Virgin hears such a confirmation of the message of the angel Gabriel, now accompanied by new details that illumine her path. How she must have been deeply moved by this announcement, which clarified the angel’s message.

Mary understands that she must bear the weight of this Divine Child by sharing in His mission. Yes, suffering will mark her life. This word will be inscribed not only in her soul, but in all her future horizons. She will walk in hope.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

Assidus à la prière avec Marie, Fourth Joyful Mystery (excerpt)

Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus. Assidus à la prière avec Marie: Méditations sur les mystères du Rosaire. Toulouse: Éditions du Carmel, 2017.

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

Featured image: The Presentation of Christ in the Temple is color on poplar wood painting by Italian artist Fra Bartolomeo (1472–1517), the famous Dominican from Florence. It comes from the collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

#BlessedMarieEugeneOfTheChildJesus #BlessedVirginMary #FeastOfThePresentation #hope #suffering

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

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

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

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

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

Quote of the day, 1 January: Jessica Powers

There was nothing in the Virgin’s soul
that belonged to the Virgin—
no word, no thought, no image, no intent.
She was a pure, transparent pool reflecting
God, only God.
She held His burnished day; she held His night
of planet-glow or shade inscrutable.
God was her sky and she who mirrored Him
became His firmament.

When I so much as turn my thoughts toward her
my spirit is enisled in her repose.
And when I gaze into her selfless depths
an anguish in me grows
to hold such blueness and to hold such fire.
I pray to hollow out my earth and be
filled with these waters of transparency.
I think that one could die of this desire,
seeing oneself dry earth or stubborn sod.
Oh, to become a pure pool like the Virgin,
water that lost the semblances of water
and was a sky like God.

Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, ocd (Jessica Powers)

The Pool of God (1950; 1984)

Powers, J 1999, The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, Siegfried, R & Morneau, RF (eds.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: French photographer Yoann Boyer captures this image of infinity from La Réunion. Image credit: Yoann Boyer / Unsplash (Stock photo)

#BlessedVirginMary #God #JessicaPowers #poetry #water

Quote of the day, 31 December: St. Titus Brandsma

In his Explanation of “The Living Flame of Love”, St. John of the Cross draws the Holy Mother of God as clearly as possible into the circle of his metaphor clarifying the mystical life.

Speaking of the shining of the Lamps of God in us and our intake of the divine Light, which means as much as participating in God’s characteristics and works, he says that this bears still another name, i.e. “to overshadow”.

And in connection to this, he reminds (us) that also the Archangel Gabriel called the exquisite privilege of Mary to conceive God’s Son, an overshadowing of the Holy Spirit [Cf. Lk 1:35]. 

If one wants to understand, the Saint thus follows, what is meant by that spreading of God’s shadow or that overshadowing or that shining, for all these expressions have an equal meaning, then one should remember that every creature evokes a shadow according to its own nature and capacity. A dark opaque object gives an obscure shadow: a bright translucent object a clear and transparent shadow.

Thus, the shadow of something dark will call forth a different darkness, darker to the extent that its cause is also darker, while the shadow of something bright will be light according to the nature of the original light.

Therefore, the shadow brought forth by the lamp of God’s beauty will be a different beauty, the shadow by the lamp of strength a different strength, etc. or better said, all these shadows will be the beauty itself, the strength itself of God, but in shadow, because the soul here on earth cannot perfectly understand or take God into itself.

Over Mary, the Holy Spirit came in all his fullness, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her in the most perfect way [Cf. The Living Flame of Love, III, 12].

Saint Titus Brandsma

Mary’s motherhood of God, leading idea in the mystical life (excerpt), Carmelrozen 20 (May 1931), pp. 11–15

Brandsma, T. 1931, Mary’s motherhood of God, leading idea in the mystical life (excerpt), Carmelrozen, vol. 20, May, pp. 11–15. English translation by the Titus Brandsma Instituut, Nijmegen, available at: https://www.titusbrandsmateksten.nl/marys-motherhood-of-god/

Featured image: The Virgin and Child (detail), after Raphael (1483–1520), oil on canvas. Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery (public domain).

#BlessedVirginMary #MotherOfGod #overshadow #StJohnOfTheCross #StTitusBrandsma

Quote of the day, 24 November: St. Teresa of Avila

I remember that when my mother died, I was twelve years old or a little less. When I began to understand what I had lost, I went, afflicted, before an image of our Lady and besought her with many tears to be my mother. It seems to me that although I did this in simplicity, it helped me. For I have found favor with this sovereign Virgin in everything I have asked of her, and in the end she has drawn me to herself.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Book of Her Life, Chap. 1, no. 7

On 24 November 1528, St. Teresa’s mother, Doña Beatriz Ahumada made her last will and testament. Scholars such as Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, and Joseph Pérez indicate that it is believed she expired soon after she made and signed her will, dying in her palace at Gotarrendura, Avila. From there, her body was taken to the city with all due ceremony, where she received a burial with honors in the Church of San Juan in Avila.

Spanish Wikipedia has a small biography for Doña Beatriz that draws upon the research of Pérez and others; it also consults the Cepeda genealogy from her husband’s side of the family.

Father Kavanaugh discusses the “image of our Lady” in his footnotes to Chapter 1 of St. Teresa’s autobiography, The Book of Her Life:

According to an old tradition, she is referring to a statue of Our Lady of Charity that was venerated in the hermitage of St. Lazarus, outside the walls of the city, near the river Adaja. After the destruction of the hermitage in the nineteenth century, the statue was moved to the cathedral, where it is venerated today.

This statue of Our Lady of Charity is found in the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows (Capilla de la virgen de la piedad o de los dolores) in the Cathedral of Avila. You can learn more about the chapel on the cathedral website and see a better photo of the chapel on Wikimedia Commons, which includes the statue of Our Lady of Charity.

Teresa of Avila, St 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: In this stock photo of the city of Avila at night, the Cathedral of Avila rises above the old city in the center of the horizon.

#blessedVirginMary #death #donaBeatrizDeAhumada #grief #stTeresaOfAvila

Quote of the day, 19 November: St. Raphael Kalinowski

Just as there is nothing greater than God, says Saint Thomas, so none can attain a higher dignity than the Mother of God. Mary, with her Maternity, is like a book in which the world can read the Eternal Word, Jesus, the Lord.

What can one say of the fullness of grace God bestowed on the Most Holy Virgin, to the limits of his power, giving her a dignity surpassing our capacity to understand? When a wise man was asked, “Who is God?” he answered, “If I could define who God is, either God would not exist or I myself would be God.”

Likewise, to the question “What is it to be the Mother of God?” one can only give a similar answer. “If anyone could comprehend this dignity, either Mary would not be the Mother of God, or the one claiming to understand such greatness would be superior to her whose dignity is immeasurable.”

Saint Raphael Kalinowski

Mother of God, Hope of the World, 6

Praskiewicz OCD, S 2016, Saint Raphael Kalinowski: An Introduction to his Life and Spirituality, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Virgin and Child is an oil on wood painting by Anthony Van Dyck (Flemish, 1599–1641) executed around 1620. It comes from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Public domain).

#blessedVirginMary #jesusChrist #motherOfGod #stRaphaelKalinowski #understanding

Quote of the day, 7 November: Blessed Francis Palau

That same night, when I withdrew to my cave, I saw a shadow at my side; and the shadow had a form, and it represented a reality. The form was all illuminated like the light of the moon. And the shadow spoke to me, and said:

[The shadow:] “Am I the one you seek and call?”

[Francis:] “Ah, I cannot be content with forms and shadows.”

[The shadow:] “Yes, it is true,” she replied, “but reality comes to you represented through shadows, enigmas, images and forms; without them, it cannot come to you, nor can you see it while your eyes are of mortal flesh.”

[Francis:] “What a miserable condition!”

[The shadow:] “Yes, accept it.”

[Francis:] “Who are you?”

[The shadow:] “I am your Beloved.”

[Francis:] “A shadow! A form?”

[The shadow:] “Yes, the form of your Beloved.”

[Francis:] “Without reality?”

[The shadow:] “Do you believe in me?”

[Francis:] “Yes, I believe in you.”

[The shadow:] “If you believe in me, behind the shadow you will always see the reality; in the form, the thing represented; in the idea, the being; in the image and likeness, the immense beauty that has stolen all the affections of your heart. Faith in me is a light that, radiating upon your understanding, will reveal to you more and more, behind the shadows, ideas, forms and images of a woman ever-virgin, who I am, and my love for you.”

[Francis:] “Are you a woman?”

[The shadow:] “Yes, I am a woman appearing as a shadow, formed in your understanding. In your understanding I exist as the idea of woman; in your imagination, as a form; in heaven, as a reality.”

[Francis:] “You are a young woman, beautiful, without blemish or wrinkle, always chaste, always pure, always virgin. And are you in heaven?”

[The shadow:] “Yes, in body and soul, in glorified flesh.”

[Francis:] “What is your name?”

[The shadow:] “I am Mary, the Mother of God.”

Blessed Francis Palau y Quer

Mis relaciones con la Iglesia
Autograph manuscript, 14 April 1864

Note: Blessed Francis Palau y Quer was born to José Palau y Antonia Quer on 29 December 1811 in Aytona (Lerida) Spain. Founder of the “School of Virtue”—which was a model of catechetical teaching—at Barcelona, he suffered much during his life and ministry. While in exile at Ibiza in the Balearic Islands, often Blessed Palau would row to the rugged island of Es Vedra and pray in the solitude of a cave. He began to write his autobiographical journal, Mis relaciones con la Iglesia (My relations with the Church) in that solitude.

Palau y Quer, F 1977, Mis relaciones con la Iglesia, Carmelitas Misioneras, Rome, viewed 5 November 2025, https://www.carmelitasmisioneras.org/download/mis-relaciones-con-la-iglesia/#.

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

Featured image: Sister Vanesa Guerrero of the Purity of Mary Sisters looks out over the Balearic Sea at Valldemosa, Mallorca. Image credit: Vanesa Guerrero, rpm / Cathopic

#BlessedFrancisPalauYQuer #BlessedVirginMary #journal #MotherOfGod #mysticalExperience

Quote of the day, 22 October: St. John Paul II

Contemplation of the Virgin presents her to us as a loving Mother who sees her Son growing up in Nazareth (cf. Lk 2: 40, 52), follows him on the roads of Palestine, helps him at the wedding at Cana (cf. Jn 2: 5) and, at the foot of the Cross, becomes the Mother associated with his offering and given to all people when Jesus himself entrusts her to his beloved disciple (cf. Jn 19: 26).

As Mother of the Church, the Blessed Virgin is one with the disciples in “constant prayer” (Acts 1: 14); as the new Woman who anticipates in herself what will one day come to pass for us all in the full enjoyment of Trinitarian life, she is taken up into heaven from where she spreads the protective mantle of her mercy over her children on their pilgrimage to the holy mountain of glory.

Such a contemplative attitude of mind and heart prompts admiration for the Virgin’s experience of faith and love; she already lives in herself all that every believer desires and hopes to attain in the mystery of Christ and the Church (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 103; Lumen gentium, n. 53).

Therefore, Carmelites have chosen Mary as their Patroness and spiritual Mother and always keep before the eyes of their heart the Most Pure Virgin who guides everyone to the perfect knowledge and imitation of Christ.

Thus, an intimacy of spiritual relations has blossomed, leading to an ever-increasing communion with Christ and Mary. For the members of the Carmelite Family, Mary, the Virgin Mother of God and mankind, is not only a model to imitate but also the sweet presence of a Mother and Sister in whom to confide.

St Teresa of Jesus rightly urged her sisters:  “Imitate Our Lady and consider how great she must be and what a good thing it is that we have her for our Patroness” (Interior Castle, III, 1, 3).

Saint John Paul II

Message to the Carmelite Family, 3
25 March 2001

John Paul II, Pope 2001, Message of John Paul II to the Carmelite family, Vatican, Vatican City, viewed 20 October 2025, https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2001/march/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20010326_ordine-carmelo.html.

Featured image: Ukrainian photographer Oleg D. captures this statue of St. John Paul II in front of the Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Truskavets, a resort town near Lviv, Ukraine. Image credit: OlegD / Adobe Stock

#BlessedVirginMary #Carmelite #contemplation #spirituality #StJohnPaulII

Quote of the day, 8 September: Jessica Powers

The Virgin Mary cannot enter into
my soul for an indwelling. God alone
has sealed this land as secretly His own;
but being mother and implored, she comes
to stand along my eastern sky and be
a drift of sunrise over God and me.

God is a light and genitor of light.
Yet for our weakness and our punishment
He hides Himself in midnights that prevent
all save the least awarenesses of Him.
We strain with dimmed eyes inward and perceive
no stir of what we clamored to believe.
Yet I say: God (if one may jest with God),
Your hiding has not reckoned with Our Lady
who holds my east horizon and whose glow
lights up my inner landscape, high and low.
All my soul’s acres shine and shine with her!
You are discovered, God; awake, rise
out of the dark of Your Divine surprise!
Your own reflection has revealed Your place,
for she is utter light by Your own grace.
And in her light I find You hid within me,
and in her morning I can see Your Face.

Sister Miriam of the Holy Spirit, OCD (Jessica Powers)

And in Her Morning (1945; 1946)

Powers, J 1999, The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, Siegfried, R & Morneau, RF (eds.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Rose Window depicting ‘Eight Titles of Mary’ by Margaret Edith Aldrich Rope at St Mary’s, Bourne Street, Chelsea (1952). Image credit: Amanda Slater / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#BlessedVirginMary #FaceOfGod #God #JessicaPowers #poetry

Quote of the day, 15 August: Joachim Smet, O.Carm.

No painter ever caught the magic of her going;
This was a matter of an inward growing,
Simple and imperceptible as thought.
It was no pageant wrought
Of sounding splendor, welter of gold bars
Of molten day, mad stars,
Flurry of quick angel’s winging,
Bursts of their laughter ringing
In wild bliss.
The single simple fact is this:
Love conquered at long last.
Her eager soul fled fast
With a great gladness like a song
Unto her Spouse above,
And her pure flesh would not be parted long
For sheer love.

Father Joachim Smet, O.Carm.

The Assumption

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.

Featured image: Manuscript Leaf with the Assumption of the Virgin in an Initial V, from an Antiphonary by Niccolò di ser Sozzo, ca. 1340. Image credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Louis L. Lorillard, 1896, transferred from the Library (96.32.12).

#Assumption #BlessedVirginMary #JoachimSmetOCarm_ #love #poetry

Quote of the day, 23 July: Blessed Marie-Eugène

The Holy Church has established a feast to praise and thank God for the marvel of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. The Immaculate Conception is, indeed, an exception to this law of misery and privation that strikes all humanity coming into this world since the fall of our first parents.

Through their fault, our first parents lost for themselves and for all their descendants the privileges of preternatural gifts as well as supernatural gifts. God reacts with his mercy. He had already foreseen this fall, this fault: it was directed toward new outpourings of his mercy.

What will these new outpourings be? They are the great mysteries of the Incarnation, of the Redemption, and of the Church, mysteries that will ensure the salvation of humanity, its return to God.

Before accomplishing these mysteries, God wanted to prepare his work. He caused to spring forth a marvel of purity and integrity from this mud in which humanity was plunged (so to speak). This is the Virgin Mary. The sun will rise: it is the Word who becomes incarnate, the God-Man.

We do not see the infinity proper to God in this prodigy, only that which is created in the Virgin. But this creation exists in all its fullness and beauty: it is the integrity of her body, her human nature in which there is no stain or shadow.

We find a fullness of created grace in this resplendent human nature. It is already a marvel for the angels of heaven, and for all those who contemplate her directly with the power of vision of the lumen gloriae [light of glory]. Only this power, which allows them to penetrate the depths of the Holy Trinity, can uncover all the Virgin’s beauty. Also, the angel will come as if in ecstasy, admiring, to greet the Virgin and say to her, “You are full of grace.” She is full of human grace and full of divine grace.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

Merveille de la Miséricorde

Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus, B & Centre Notre-Dame de Vie 1988, La Vierge Marie Toute Mère, Editions du Carmel, Toulouse.

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

Featured image: Detail from Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, The Immaculate Conception, 1767–1769, oil on canvas, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado. Image credit: © Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado (used by permission).

#BlessedMarieEugeneOfTheChildJesus #BlessedVirginMary #ImmaculateConception #mercy #MotherOfDivineGrace

7 & 23 July: Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Divine Grace

July 23
In the Provinces of Europe, July 7
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY,
MOTHER OF DIVINE GRACE

Memorial

‘The Blessed Virgin Mary was eternally predestined, in the context of the Incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. As decreed by divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving Mother of the divine Redeemer, His associate, uniquely generous, and the Lord’s humble servant. She conceived, bore, and nourished Christ; presented Him to the Father in the Temple; and was united with Him in His suffering as He died on the cross. In a completely unparalleled way she cooperated, by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity, with our Savior’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason, she is Mother to us all in the order of grace’ (Lumen Gentium, the Constitution on the Church, 61).

From the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary, except the following:

Office of Readings

The Second Reading
Hom. 4

From the homily of St. Cyril of Alexandria preached at the Council of Ephesus

Our access to the fountainhead of grace is through Mary

Hail Mary, Mother of God, august treasury of the whole world, unquenchable torch, crown of virginity, scepter of orthodoxy, temple indestructible, and place of the uncontainable, mother and virgin. Through you is named blessed in the holy gospel He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hail Mary! You contained the uncontainable in your holy virginal womb. Through you the Trinity is glorified; through you is the cross named precious, and adored throughout the whole world; through you heaven exults; through you angels and archangels rejoice; through you demons are put to flight; through you the devil, the tempter, fell from heaven; through you the fallen creature is taken up to heaven; through you the whole created world, gripped in the madness of idolatry, come to a recognition of the truth; through you comes about holy baptism for believers; through you the oil of gladness; through you churches have been founded through the whole world; through you nations are led to repentance.

What need is there to speak at length? Through you the only Son of God shone His light for those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death; through you prophets foretold what was to come; through you apostles preach salvation to the nations; through you the dead are raised to life; through you kings reign, through the Holy Trinity.

What man can sing adequately the praise of Mary? She is both virgin and mother! The wonder astounds me. Shall the Builder be forbidden to inhabit the temple He has built? Shall He be despised who chose His handmaid for His mother?

See then, all things rejoice. May it be ours to fear and bow before the unity of the Trinity, to worship and tremble in awe before the indivisible Trinity, as we sing praises of the ever-virgin Mary, that is the holy Church, and of her Son and immaculate spouse; for to Him is glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Responsory

R/. With confidence let us draw near to the throne of grace, * so that we may receive mercy, and find grace when we are in need of help.
V/. To you do we cry, blessed Virgin, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears, * so that we may receive mercy, and find grace when we are in need of help.

Morning Prayer

Canticle of Zechariah

Ant. It is I who give birth to all noble loving and the holy gift of hope. From me comes every grace of faithful observance; from me all promise of life and vigor.

Prayer

God of eternal wisdom,
in your providence, you willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary
should bring forth the Author of Grace,
and take part with him
in the mystery of man’s redemption.
May she obtain for us grace in abundance
and bring us to the haven of everlasting salvation.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

Evening Prayer

Canticle of Mary

Ant. Our salvation is in your hands, O Mother; smile upon us, and we shall be happy in our service of the Lord our King.

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.

#BlessedVirginMary #DiscalcedCarmelite #LiturgyOfTheHours #Memorial #MotherOfDivineGrace

The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

Today’s readings

Today, the Church celebrates the relatively new memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. This memorial occurs each year on the day after Pentecost. Pope Francis, of blessed memory, extended this feast to the Universal Church in 2018. Before that, it had a long history in Poland, and it was Saint John Paul II who commissioned a mosaic of Mary, Mother of the Church, at Saint Peter’s Basilica.

The image of Mary, Mother of the Church, has its origins in the Gospels, and in Sacred Tradition. At the foot of the Cross, Jesus commended Saint John to Mary as his mother, and her to Saint John as her son. The Church has seen this as Mary welcoming all members of the Church in the person of Saint John, and relating to them as mother. This gives strength to the Tradition that since Mary is the Mother of Jesus, the head of the Body, so she is also the mother of the members of that same Body.

Mary also prayed with the disciples in the Upper Room for the coming of the Holy Spirit, as we saw in our first reading this evening from the Acts of the Apostles, and as the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, she became the mother of the Church as it came into being. Mary is the one who guides the Church as Mother by interceding for the Church in our need, by pointing us to the leadership of her son Jesus Christ, and by giving us comfort and encouragement in times of need and crisis. Mary is indeed our Mother and because of that grace and comfort, we are truly blessed.

And so today, we pray with Holy Church, that Mary would continue to intercede for us and bring us to her Son, Jesus. We strive to follow her example of faith and love, to serve the people God puts in our lives. We give witness by our actions that the Gospel is a valid way of life for all people, and that our Lord continues to act in our world for the good of all.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.

#BlessedVirginMary #MaryMotherOfTheChurch

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

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

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

Quote of the day, 24 December: Bishop Silvio José Báez, ocd

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace for those he favours” (Lk 2:14). These words conclude tonight’s Gospel reading for this holy night of Christmas. They are the joyful proclamation of the angels who praise God at the birth of Jesus, the Savior. Heaven lifts up its voice. The interpretation of what was unfolding that night in the humble inn of Bethlehem could only come from on high. Only God himself, through his angels, could lead us into the grandeur of this mystery of love and tenderness: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace for those he favours.”

The birth of the Child is a manifestation of God’s glory. In Scripture, God’s glory is his loving and saving power poured out for humanity. It is not vanity, not a self-centered display of greatness, nor a boastful show of power. God reveals his glory by loving us and giving us life. He revealed his glory in creating the universe for humanity’s sake, as the psalmist says: “The heavens declare the glory of God, the vault of heaven proclaims his handiwork” (Ps 19:1). Similarly, the Lord “covered himself in glory” when he liberated the Israelites from Pharaoh’s power, leading them through the sea on their way to the land of freedom (cf. Ex 15:1). God is glorified when he creates and when he saves. His glory is revealed in the universe and in history. He shows his glory by giving us space and time to live, but also by delivering us from every form of slavery so that we may live as free men and women.

The space of his glory is not only the heavens but, above all, a humble manger in the village of Bethlehem. His birth is not a resounding event like the Israelites crossing the sea. Yet tonight, from the modest inn of Bethlehem, God’s glory is revealed. This is the great mystery we celebrate at Christmas: the Almighty has made himself little; the Eternal has become mortal; the Omnipotent has become weak; the Holy One has become the friend of sinners; the Invisible has made himself visible. From the night of Bethlehem onward, God is not only present among us but he is one of us: sharing in our humanity, the brother of every human being in the world.

In the Child, we contemplate God’s glory—not the glory of a strong, powerful, and demanding God, but the glory of a God who is small, weak, vulnerable, and in need. He has come with great simplicity, humility, and meekness. God does not impose himself or dominate us. “He makes himself small, he becomes a child, so as to attract us with love, to touch our hearts with his humble goodness; to unsettle, with his poverty, those who scramble to accumulate the false treasures of this world” (Pope Francis, December 18, 2015).

God was born fragile, like us, in Bethlehem, to understand us and stand by our side, consoling us and filling us with joy. He was born full of tenderness to give us his forgiveness and to set us free from all our enslavements. He was born as our brother so that we might love our humanity and recognize that every human being is a brother or sister to be welcomed and loved, not a rival or enemy to be defeated and subdued. He was born bringing light to the night, instilling the hope that the injustice prevailing in our society today will not last forever. He was born poor so that we might welcome God in the poor, in those who weep, who are lonely, and those deprived of freedom and dignity. In them, God comes to meet us. For this reason alone, Christmas comes to us only if we are in solidarity with the most marginalized and forgotten people, the victims of injustice and the wickedness of worldly powers.

On the night of Bethlehem, the glory of the Lord shone brightly. We are no longer lost in immense solitude or submerged in total darkness. God has entered history to share our life. With him, we can be reborn; his presence rekindles joy, hope, and fellowship. Only the Child of Bethlehem, from his birth to his death, speaks to us of God and reveals God to us through his life, words, actions, and acts of tenderness. With his hands embracing and healing, with his body offered and surrendered to humanity, on the cross he became a victim of the unjust powers of this world. The Child of Bethlehem is the same Christ who was crucified on Calvary and rose in glory, conquering the world’s injustice, violence, and sin! This is why the night of Bethlehem points us to another night, the night of Easter. In both, God says the same thing: “Be not afraid.” He doesn’t want us to be afraid; he wants us to have no fear. In Bethlehem, the Child smiles at us, conveying his tenderness; at Easter, the Risen One looks at us with mercy, freeing us from despair, evil, and sin.

Let’s experience this Eucharist with the same gaze as the Virgin Mary, who—filled with wonder—contemplated the mystery and, with her heart overflowing with joy, embraced the child of her womb. May she, who “was able to turn a stable into a home for Jesus with poor swaddling clothes and an abundance of love” (Evangelii Gaudium 286), help us to welcome the glory of the Lord manifested in the Child of Bethlehem. He is “the Savior,” the only one in whom we can place our ultimate hope. May his glory enlighten our hearts and guide our steps.

Silvio José Báez, o.c.d.

Auxiliary Bishop of Managua
Homily, The Nativity of the Lord
Christmas 2018, Mass during the Night

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

Featured image: This icon of the Nativity comes from St. Paul Orthodox Church in Dayton, Ohio. The iconographer is Dmitry Shkolnik. Image credit: Fr. Ted Bobosh / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#Bethlehem #BishopSilvioJoséBáez #BlessedVirginMary #Christmas #God #humanity #humility #invisible #nativity #poverty #resurrectionOfChrist

Total Virgin

“She was a virgin even of herself.”
Père François de Sainte-Marie, O.C.D.

In a house of mirrors that coveted her image
she never walked
with her own beauty
nor made a feast of her goodness,
inviting friends from the far and wide.
She never sat down with her own innocence
to dialogue together,
nor called a stranger in
to sit at her hearth and be glorified.

She was a maiden promised to one lover
whom she was always seeking.
Though he hid in her heartbeat and settled himself
behind her breath,
he was distance, too. Journeys dwindled to places
beside her own, and miles melted beneath
her steps of wanting. She could by-pass all
meadows that trap us with their poisonous flower
and their soliciting pools
and winding lanes that skirt the only death.

She was out on a road alone, hastening onward,
gathering all as a gift, the small and great
fragments of mystery and reality.
Everything was for Him, even her own being.
Since love marks neither measurement or weight
she carried all, without touching or tasting.

Life which comes as a virgin to us all,
most safely came to her.
Time, when she passed, remained inviolate.

Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, O.C.D. (Jessica Powers)

Total Virgin (1976; 1984)

Powers, J 1999, The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: This detail of a manuscript leaf with the Assumption of the Virgin in an Initial V comes from an Italian antiphonary. The illumination by Niccolò di ser Sozzo (Italian, active ca. 1334, died 1363) was executed ca. 1340 in Siena; the materials are tempera, ink, and gold on parchment. This work comes from the Manuscripts and Illuminations Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The museum notes the following: The Assumption of the Virgin, celebrated on August 15, is an especially important holiday in Siena. Niccolò di ser Sozzo, one of the city’s renowned fourteenth-century illuminators, painted it on numerous occasions. The Virgin Mary, in a diaphanous gown, rises effortlessly as choirs of angels guide her path. Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/14/jessica-totalvirgin/

#AssumptionOfTheBlessedVirginMary #beauty #BlessedVirginMary #inspiration #JessicaPowers #journey #love #MarianDevotion #poetry #SrMiriamOfTheHolySpirit

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

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

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 is the solemnity of the Nativity of the #BlessedVirginMary. It's also the feast of the Madonna del #Tindari, one of the most celebrated shrines to Mary in #Sicily.
📷🇮🇹https://flic.kr/p/2gH3SYB

#photography
#religion
#travel
#Catholic

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

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

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

Today is the fountainhead of our salvation and the manifestation of the mystery which was from eternity. The Son of God becometh the Virgin's Son and Gabriel announceth the good tidings of grace; Therefore, let us cry to the Mother of God with the Angel: Rejoice, O woman, full of grace; the Lord is with thee! #TheAnnunciationOfTheVirginMary #Theotokos #BlessedVirginMary #VirginMary #MotherOfGod #MaterDei

“My Lady is beautiful - beautiful beyond compare. So beautiful, that when one has seen Her once, one would willingly die so as to see Her again.” - #SaintBernadetteSoubirous

#Catholic #Catholicism #Christian #Christianity #BlessedVirginMary #VirginMary