our lady of compassion feast daybeverly baker paulding
2. In the spirit of loving confidence we have recourse to you. Today I am filled with joy at the thought that we are united with those first clients of yours, and in union with them we greet you, saying: O beauty of Carmel, glory of Libanus, purest of lilies, mystical rose in the flowering garden of the Church. Paul Haffner ( Inside the Vatican, September 2004) This feast is. But, if it is true that in the task of redemption you cooperated with Him in everything, in His joys and sorrows, in His winning our salvation then it is also true that you do the same in the dispensing of all the graces, material and spiritual, necessary for our salvation. He was preparing you for your final separation from Him at the foot of the cross. Mary, Mother of God, your sorrows are not merely the sorrows of an earthly mother grieving over the death of an only child. Let me never be influenced by temporal considerationswealth, honors and pleasuresthat I may always follow the counsel of Jesus: "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be given you besides" (Luke 12, 31). When His side was opened with a lance, a sword of anguish also pierced your Heart. Give me enthusiasm and joy in the knowledge, the love and the service of the Lord. Therefore, with childlike confidence I appeal to your motherly Heart for help. How often I do not know where to turn. You visited the house of Zachary to serve your cousin Elizabeth for three months. With greatest confidence in the mercy and kindness of Your Son, you left Him free to give assistance or withhold it, as He saw fit. The three Divine Persons declared you Queen of heaven and earth and assigned to you a place at the right hand of Jesus. At the same time your name brings before me your virtues, your merits, your beauty. 3. . You are our Mother, the Mother of all the living. As Mother of God you surpass, in an immeasurable degree, all other creatures, angels and men. He was endowed by God with all a father's tenderness and love for Him who was confided to him as his Child. The virtue of holy prudence guides man in his choice of purposes and in the best means to attain them. Since you had your place beside Jesus when there was question of ransoming us and meriting for us all the graces necessary for our salvation, you must in like manner have your place beside Him now, when there is question of securing for us by your prayers in heaven the graces prepared for us in view of the merits of Christ. Excerpted from Our Lady of Sorrows by Fr. You are indeed the most wonderful Mother that has ever walked this earth. They beheld the dwelling place prepared for the Son of God. Processions and Penitence In Malta, Spain, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, and the Philippines the Friday of Passion Weekthe Friday of Sorrows or Viernes de Dolores is celebrated with. In the hope that Life will triumph over death, from this moment and for ever more, we want to sing with you the glory of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. You saw clearly the agony you would feel at the crucifixion. Having carried within you Jesus Christ, the Son of God, you share, as no one else does, in your divine Son's holiness and purity. You love me with a Heart human like my owna Heart that can understand my sorrows and problems since you experienced all that I must bear; a Heart that can sympathize with me and befriend me in my hour of need. Thereby you sanctified all our afflictions and united them with those of Jesus. You were fully enlightened as to the greatness of the dignity of a Mother of God. A blessed feast of OUR LADY of the MIRACULOUS MEDAL to you. Filled with deep humility, and yet on fire with desire to unite yourself still more closely to God, you abandoned yourself entirely to the Divine will and answered, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word" (Luke 1, 38). The icon is now displayed in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, and the Russian calendar commemorates the feast of Our Lady of Vladimir on May 21. I thank God for the great glory He has bestowed upon you for which all generations shall call you blessed. The early Christians, all lovers of the Eucharist, who visited you frequently during your hidden life of adoration, must have taken away with them the spirit of your Eucharistic devotion. 3. I need you desperately. . How happy Jesus must have been to receive the homage that you paid Him! Thus you will be for me not only the Health of the Sick but also the Gate of Heaven. What a beautiful example for parents to imitate! How much more precious you were than any chalice of richest gold. Holiness is a complete separation from creatures and perfect union with God through love. In union with Him you also did the will of God perfectly as He exclaimed "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.". You were never under the power of the serpent, whose head you crushed in giving a Redeemer to the world. Mary, Mother of God, your Heart is a shrine of holiness, into which the demon of sin has never entered; whose sanctuary was never once defiled by the least touch of evil, whose altar was the chosen resting place of the Holy Spirit. At that moment God began to have an Adorer who was infinite, and the world a Mediator who was all-powerful. Who could tell the great joy which filled their hearts when they held you in their arms? Clothe me with your own humility. . read more. I am sure that you, who are all-powerful as my advocate, will not desert me but will bring to my poor afflicted soul grace and sanctification. How truly can the words of Holy Scripture be applied to you: "In me is all grace of the way and of the truth: in me is all hope of life and of virtue" (Ecclus 24, 25). Mary, Mother of God, I turn to you in all my pressing needs and difficulties as to a most sure refuge. He made His taking of the role of Mediator dependent on your consent, and it was your motherly care, shown toward Him through life, which made Him ready for the sacrifice that reconciled the world to God. As in Heaven the Divine Word is like the Father, so on earth the Son, according to the flesh, is like you His Mother. Only thus could you become one with Your God in the salvation of souls. Crush the evil which strives to destroy all that is Catholic, all that is Christian, all that is civilized. Only when I have understood your martyrdom, will I understand the greatness of the love of Jesus for you and the intensity of your love for your Son. Copyright 2023 Eternal Word Television Network, Inc. Irondale, Alabama. Mary, My Mother, give me a rich share in the graces merited for me by your Son. Mary, Mother of God, I thank you for being my companion in suffering. Mary, My Mother, you are Queen also because your are Co-Redemptrix. December 9 marks the feast day of Saint Juan Diego and December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. You rule over their minds, by making them understand better the teaching of Christ, over their hearts, by turning them to Jesus through the charm of your motherly affection, over their wills, by gently inclining them to observe all the commandments of your Son; over their bodies, by teaching men to subject their members to the law of God through the practice of temperance and chastity. Hence the Church sings of you: "You are all fair, O Mary, and the original stain is not in you.". Though a creature, you gave birth to the Creator. You add a degree of motherly sweetness to the joy of the angels and saints and to the blessed of the Church triumphant. I fix my gaze on that star and wish never to turn from it. Let my consecration of myself to God be made under your patronage and assisted by your intercession and in union with your merits. Mary, My Mother, your name means Star of the Sea. 2. How many afflicted hearts are consoled in you! As breathing is not only a sign but even a cause of life, so your name, which is constantly found on the lips of your servants, both proves that they are spiritually alive, and at the same time causes and preserves their life, and gives them every help in their needs. Make me a fervent apostle of the Eucharist. 55. . You receive all graces through Jesus Christ, because you pray and ask for them in the Name of Jesus Christ. If I confide my salvation to your loving care and faithfully imitate your virtues, I know you will keep me in your immaculate Heart both now and at the hour of my death. May each pain and disappointment of my life become a perfect act of love of God because I offer all to God through your immaculate hands. Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrates 491 years Robin Bradshaw , Hearst Dec. 12, 2022 Comments This is an image of a Spanish Baroque altar located inside of the Monastery of Santo. (2) You took part in this offering also by the consent which you gave to the whole plan of the Redemption, and by your union of will with that of your divine Son even to the point of His sacrifice on the cross. Mary, Mother of God, your name means "full of light" and "light-giving." You so loved the world as to give your only Son for our redemption. How many souls have still to be brought under the rule of Christ the King! For the sake of Jesus be mindful of me as you stand near Him who granted you the fullness of grace. You have such a desire to save sinners that you look for them in order to help them. He bestowed marvelous privileges upon you and loved you more than all other creatures together. Your blessedness was due to your unexcelled sanctity. 10/7/2009 (1 decade ago) Published in Living Faith. I want to turn to you in all my pressing needs and difficulties as to a most sure refuge, imploring the help of your protection, choosing you as my advocate, whole-heartedly entrusting my cause to you who are the Consoler of the Afflicted. But God turned the scheme of the evil one back upon its inventor. Let me find consolation and strength in your favorite devotionthe rosary. When you lived in this valley of tears, you were ever loving and merciful toward the afflicted. King Solomon described your beauty: "Thou art all fair my beloved, beautiful as the moon, brilliant as the sun.". As you are powerful to obtain and provide, you are merciful to pardon. Mary, Mother of God, your Immaculate Heart is the Hope of the world. Our Lady of Good Counsel, I beg you to teach me true heavenly wisdom which was the source of every good deed you performed. You love us as a mother loves her children. It is but a symbol of the endless victories which you are to win over him to the last day. How can I ever understand the great love that bound your hearts together! Mary, Mother of God, the glorious mysteries of the Holy Rosary remind me of the glory of your Son, Jesus Christ. You abandoned yourself to God's will with deep faith and confidence. You really had the right to offer Jesus to His Heavenly Father in this mystery. We praise your virginity and admire your humility; but because we are poor sinners, your mercy attracts us more and we embrace it more lovingly. Your heart was visited with seven swords of sorrow before you became the Comforter of the Afflicted and the Cause of our Joy. And yet, in the whole work of the redemption, your Son wanted to associate you with Himself. You possessed, according to the words of the Archangel, such a fullness of grace that you were worthy to become the Mother of God. You are kind and loving for you have a mother's heart, full of pity for the erring. HAPPY FEAST DAY! continue our lady of sorrows feast day. Eve was the mother of the dead, for all of us, her children, were doomed to enter this world under sentence of death, the slaves and children of Satan. Mary, My Mother, you are all beautifulbeautiful in mind, in body, in soul! I come to you with confidence, knowing that through you all glory, honor and holiness given to the human race from the first Adam to the last ages has been granted, is being granted and will be granted to apostles, prophets, martyrs and all the just. You know all our needsneeds of body and needs of soulinfinitely better than a mother. The seven sorrows are: The prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35) He willed that (1) you should be present at each stage of His mortal careerrenewing, continuing, completing what you had done at the Incarnation. Teach me to utter your most holy name that it may fill my heart with hope and burning love for you and that loving you I might reach the Light of the World. Help me to love Jesus with all my heart and to show my love for Him by loving you whom He has loved so dearly. These mysteries remind me also of your own glory, the Assumption of your soul and body into heaven and your crowning there as Queen of Heaven and Earth. Since suffering is the measure and the very law of love, I cannot imagine the greatness of your love for us, your children. Jesus purchased me at the cost of His own life, and you offered that life to God for me. You formed His Heart, to love us, and His Precious Blood, to shed for us and to be given to us for our drink. As formerly the shepherds and the magi found Jesus close to you, so now may all sinners, unbelievers and pagans find Jesus through you, His Mother. Mary, My Mother, your birth was awaited as the near sign of the deliverance of the human race. You abound in divine life for yourself; for us you abound in grace. Mary, Mother of God, since the United States was dedicated to your Immaculate Conception, be pleased to take our country under your special protection and grant that, guided by justice and nurtured by charity, it may serve God faithfully and be blessed with peace and prosperity. It was, therefore, befitting that you, His Immaculate Mother, destined to cooperate with Him in the work of Redemption, should teach the world, by your submission to the law of purification, this great truth, that humility is the beginning of our salvation, as pride has been the root of our ruin. Mercy proceeds from you as from an abundant, never-failing source. Led by divine inspiration to His house, you prepared yourself for your sublime dignity of Divine Motherhood in silence and solitude with God. The last beat of His Heart was to be one with yours just as the first had been. You beheld His arms and feet roughly extended on the hard wood of the cross. To you we owe the life of grace, without which there is no escape from the death of sin. Your apostolic workto snatch souls from Satan and from sin to make them live the supernatural lifeis the very reason for your motherhood. 1. I entrust to you all my anxieties and needs so that through the merits of your sorrows I may bear the trials and sufferings of life with the same love and resignation to God's Will with which you bore yours. Though it was out of sheer goodness that God decreed to give us His very Son in the Blessed Sacrament, I believe that your prayers had much to do with the carrying out of that plan; for you, too, must have prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread." In your six apparitions at Fatima you made repeated demands for penance and reparation. 2. God said to the serpent: "Because thou hast done this, I will place enmities between thee and the Woman, between thy seed and her Seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel" (Gen. 3.14). Mary, My Mother, you were never without grace. But that my devotion may be pleasing to you, help me to maintain my soul and body in the spotlessness of your purity, help me to try as best I can to walk in your footsteps, humbly seeking to be like you. She humbly exclaimed, "How have I deserved this happiness that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" "The altar was designed by Mr. W. J. Devlin and executed by the well-known firm of Boulton of Cheltenham. How much I worry about my physical health! Filled with grief, you saw how the disciples removed the nails from the Redeemer's hands and feet, extracted the thorns from His head, and took Him down from the cross. May I derive all the beneficial results the holy sacraments are to produce in my soul. Apart from your cooperation no grace descends to earth. The words of the prophet are applied to you: "O all you that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be sorrow like unto my sorrow.". You were willing to offer Him at this tender age, for the salvation of the world. After Almighty God and the Sacred Humanity of Jesus, there is no being so great as you. The Apostles, who had abandoned their Master informed you of your Son's betrayal by Judas and of His brutal capture after His agony. Hundreds of dancers, many in feathered headdresses and indigenous-style costume, dance vigorously for hours during the days leading up to the feast, and on the December 12 feast itself, in the vast plaza in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mary, Mother of God, in the Kingdom of Heaven you are continually employed in deeds of kindness and mercy, therefore you are truly the Mother of Divine Providence. God, having once given us Jesus Christ by you, Holy Virgin, does not change His way of blessing us with His gifts. He preserved you from original sin and the sway of the devil; He filled you with grace. In fallen man there is, as Saint John reminds us, "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2, 16). Your loving submission to the Divine Will could not dry your tears, but it quieted the agony of your mother-heart. Mary, Mother of God, you are the Virgin who was promised as the Mother of the Savior. In the past you have expressed your willingness to help and made your requests in your personal apparitions. She told Juan to have a church built in her honor. Mary, My Mother, during all eternity it will be one of our greatest joys to admire the infinite love of God for you whose Son He willed to be, just as He is in all truth the Son of the Father. You are ever active in procuring for each and every one of us, by fervent and ceaseless intercession all the heavenly gifts we need. You have given to the world the Savior whom the Apostles have proclaimed. Your motherly love contributed so much to our salvation in the Incarnation of the Son of God, who is the Universal Source of Grace, that you will eternally contribute as much to all the works of grace, which come to us because of the Incarnation. Mary, My Mother, your love for Jesus made this sacrifice very great in the eyes of God. During this long period of concealment in your womb, you perfected His bodily faculties for our benefit. DEC. 12 OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE. I feel myself consumed by original sin and its dread consequences. You found the cross very heavy during the three years of His public life, for then He had to leave your side that He might be "about His Father's business,"the sanctification and salvation of souls. No one is saved, except through you, no one comes to life, except through you. From your own flesh and blood you formed the body of your Son. Your soul was most beautiful, lovable and immaculate, rich in graces and virtues. All these souls were given to you by Jesus on the crossthey are your children. Mary, Mother of God, no stain of original sin ever defiled your pure soul. I did it not once or twice but numberless times. Like other men, I bear in my heart the original wound; that wound has opened other wounds which are hard to close and heal. Angels came to escort you. You conceived Jesus as the Head of regenerated mankind, the Head of a mystical body whose members we are. The suffering of Jesus in His dereliction was the most difficult test of your faith. You are indeed our Mother, and a mother can never forget her children. Feast, Saturday after the Feast of St. Augustine (Aug. 28) (Triduum, Wednesday nearest the feast of St. You did not shrink from the disgrace of being recognized as the Mother of one condemned to die a shameful death. Who can understand the joy you feel to be able to give happiness to the whole world? 1. When God pronounced doom against the evil one, He also announced His merciful plan of saving mankind from the effects of the guilt of our first parents. 3. Parting with your dying Son was the height of your sorrow. The Divine Son gave you a mother's heart, in which, as in a sanctuary, He wished to dwell. Mary, My Mother, I wish to recall this triumph and to share in your greatness and glory. (1) The seven founders of the Servite Order, in 1239, five years after they established themselves on Monte Senario, took up the sorrows of Mary, standing under the Cross, as the principal devotion of their order. Our Lady of Guadalupe, mystical rose, make intercession for holy Church, protect the Sovereign Pontiff, help all those who invoke thee in their necessities, and since thou art the ever Virgin Mary and Mother of the true God, obtain for us from thy most holy Son the grace of keeping our faith, sweet hope in the midst of the bitterness of life, burning charity and the precious gift of final perseverance. May I weigh well at what price you became the Mother of the human race, so that I may remember how much you love me and how eager you are to help me and all Christians. This is the very heart of your apostolate. Your action is above all one of intercession. 1. I give you my will by an absolute confidence in you, a confidence founded on your power and your goodness. Mary, Mother of God, yours is a queenship of goodness. Mary, Queen of the Apostles, pray for the triumph of God's Kingdom upon earth. It was a life of silence, and yet He is the Word of the Father, the expression of His glory, the teacher of the prophets. Evening Prayer to Our Blessed Mother 1. When you learned from the angel that your cousin Elizabeth was with child and needed your help, you set out to care for her. To you I entrust the preparation of my soul for the coming of my Savior on Christmas Day. Mary, Mother of God, help me to understand as clearly as God wishes to let me do so, the value of suffering and sickness. Our eyes are upraised to you in sorrow and in joy. From the knowledge of the Will of God you gathered the strength that was to uphold you at the foot of the Cross on which your Son hung, dying. Then for His sake, be our Help! He was with you in a manner more intimate, more perfect, and more divine than He ever was or will be with any other creature. At the same time you had to offer the most intense human suffering, in union with the Passion of your Son. In that moment the mystery of love and mercy, promised to mankind thousands of years earlier foretold by so many prophets, desired by so many saints, was accomplished upon earth. It is Mary's selfless act of letting her son be sacrificed for our salvation that makes her the Queen of martyrs. You did not go to a distance, but drew nearer to the crossthe hard bed on which Jesus had to die. The gift that God conferred upon you when He chose you to be the Mother of His Divine Son, and the grace that was in proportion to that gift, are beyond the understanding of men and even angels.