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Ave Maria Meditations

She found in the Catholic faith what her soul had been hungry for since she was a little girl – the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist While with these Catholic families, she began to see the beauty of the Catholic faith, and to question her own faith. One day she witnessed a procession of the Blessed Sacrament and her heart cried out. If Jesus was truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, then she MUST become a Catholic!  She prayed ‘ If I am right, Thy grace impart still in the right to say. If I am wrong, Oh, teach my heart to find the better way.’ She began to long to receive Jesus in the Eucharist.

It was a time of persecution against the Roman Catholics and the good Bishop was deliberating whether to institute the 40 Hours of devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, considering the dangers that might occur:

One night, he was working very late at his desk and fell asleep in his chair. The candle on the desk burnt down and charred some of the papers, but they were still readable. He awoke, surprised and thankful that a fire had not ignited. He fell on his knees to give thanks to God for protection, and heard His voice saying, “As the flames are burning here without consuming or injuring the writing, so shall I pour out my grace in the Blessed Sacrament without prejudice to My honor. Fear no profanation, therefore; hesitate no longer to carry out your design for my glory.”  (Therefore) he introduced the practice of 40 Hours Devotion in his diocese.

Ave Maria Meditations

The Spiritual Maternity of Mary 

The first basis of filial piety towards Mary is evidently her spiritual motherhood to Christians. Nothing is more common than the name of Mother given to the Blessed Virgin. And nothing is rarer, one could almost say, than a perfect understanding of the meaning of this title. How many souls, even those devoted to the Virgin, only hold erroneous or, in either case, very incomplete ideas about the spiritual maternity of Mary! It is, therefore, necessary to establish first of all the true basis of that maternity. We have tried to do this elsewhere. Here it will suffice to recall the most indispensable ideas. 

Some of the faithful imagine that we call Mary by this name of Mother because she loves us with an incomparable love-every mother loves, but every person who loves is not a mother. Or because she incessantly nourishes our souls with graces, but is a simple wet-nurse a mother? Or again, because Jesus, before dying, said to each one of us in the person of John: “Behold your mother”; but if the maternity of Mary depends on that word alone, it is an adoptive maternity-not a real one. 

For Mary to be truly our Mother, she must have given us our supernatural life. And that is precisely what she did. Our supernatural life is the life of Jesus within us. “For me to live is Christ,” says St. Paul. Mary has given us Christ; she gave Him to us precisely in order to enable us to live His life. She is, therefore, our Mother.  (more…)

One Minute Meditation:

Christus Vincit, Christus Regnat, Christus Imperat

Almighty and everlasting God, Who has willed to renew all things through Your beloved son, the King of the Universe, grant in Your kindness that all the families of the nations, divided by the wound of sin, may submit to Your most gentle authority. Through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.

Ave Maria Mediations

HOLY COMMUNION WITH MARY

 (Meditating on the Hail Mary)  

by Fr. Stefano Manelli, FI

O holy Virgin, I am about to receive your Jesus. I wish my heart were like yours when you became Mother of the Savior at the time of the Annunciation of the Angel.

Hail Mary:

I greet you, good Mother. Allow me to unite my­self with you to adore Jesus. lend me your affections, your sentiments. Moreover I ask you, in fact, to adore Him for me. Hail, O true Body of Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary: I believe, and I adore You.

Full of grace:

You, Mary, were worthy to receive the all-holy God, for you were full of grace from the first moment of your life. But I am poor and sinful. My evil ways make me unfit to go to Communion. O my Mother, cover me with your merits and lead me to Jesus.

The Lord is with Thee:

The Lord is with thee, O most Holy Virgin. By your ardent longing you drew Him down from Heaven into your heart. Instill also in my heart an ardent longing and an insatiable hunger for Jesus, so that I can truly say, “Come, O my Jesus, I long for You with the heart of Mary, Your Mother and mine”.

Blessed art thou among women:

Blessed art thou, O Mary, who have never known the remorse that comes from committing sin; for you are free of every kind of sin and imperfection. But I know I have sinned, and I am not sure that I have been sufficiently sorry. Make me understand the evil of my sins and the goodness of God whom I have offended. I weep for my sins. Present me thus penitent to your Jesus.    

And blessed is the Fruit of thy womb:

Ah, good Mother! What a great gift you have given us in giving us our Savior, Jesus! And behold, He wants to come to me to make me an especially be­loved child of your heart. I go with confidence to receive Him, and I say to Him: “My Jesus, I abandon myself to You. Come to give me strength to serve You faithfully, and the hope of enjoying You forever with Your Mother in Heaven.”

Jesus:

Grant, O Mother, that I experience those senti­ments that you experienced as you lived in Jesus’ company, as you called Him by name. I am now about to receive Him. Allow me to be able to say to Him: “Come, O my Jesus. You will find in me the same welcome that You had from Your Mother on earth”.  I hope that through Her intercession You will welcome me into Heaven.   (more…)

THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH:

This Saturday perhaps we can consider our Lady’s great faith, a virtue in which she excels every other creature. Even before the angel announced to her that she was to be the Mother of God, Mary would meditate on the Scriptures; she would discover their deepest meaning as no one had ever done before. Her understanding, free from the effects of sin, was enlightened by faith and by the fullness of God’s grace. In this light, and with the help of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, our Lady was able to fathom the depths of the Messianic prophecies. She longed for the Savior’s coming, and her insistent prayer was an echo of the constant petition of all the Patriarchs and the people of Israel throughout its history. But her prayer was more pleasing to God than theirs, for it came from a heart free from sin and full of faith and hope. With her earnest petition Mary gave glory to God more fully than did all the rest of creation.

The Blessed Trinity looked upon Mary with a special fondness. When the fullness of time came, with the angels of heaven looking on, God’s messenger salutes her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Saint Luke recounts that Mary, when she heard the angelic greeting, was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. Mary did not resist or place any limitations on the fulfillment of God’s Will. She left herself totally open to whatever God might want from her. God had prepared the Blessed Virgin for her special mission, filling her with his grace. Now, with the revelation of her special calling, the seed sown by God on such good ground began to bear fruit through Mary’s acquiescence. (more…)

One Minute Meditation

Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on.
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till the night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I
Have loved long since, and lost awhile!

Meantime, along the narrow rugged path, Thyself hast trod,
Lead, Savior, lead me home in childlike faith, home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife
In the calm light of everlasting life.

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman

Ave Maria Meditations

GET A LIFE! 

“Get a life!”  An angry shout from a passing care reached our ears.  And again, a little later, came the same cry from another car: “Get a life!”

Irony of ironies.

For this is exactly what we hope to do: get a life (saved).

Now “Get a life!” is certainly not the worst thing that someone hears as they pray in front of a Planned Parenthood or abortion mill.  Much worse remarks are flung at us. Yet I am struck by this irony.  Can it be that they do not realize that these places deal in death?  Some have said we are ‘blocking freedom’. Freedom from what?  Is freedom the same as liberty?  Can we have liberty without life?  Isn’t life the first right of an American?  Is there a difference between freedom and license?  Does anyone know this?

“It’s not your body”, is hollered at us. No, it is not. Nor is it the body of the woman that is being sacrificed on the altar of abortion.  It is not her body either.  She may well, in most cases, have had a choice prior to this moment. But now there should be no “choice” which is a word perverted to mean abortion. (more…)

Ave Maria Meditations

PRESENCE OF GOD – O Lord, increase my confidence in Your help and grant that in this confidence, I may always find courage to begin again.

MEDITATION

What most distresses souls of good will who are seriously trying to live a spiritual life, is to find themselves falling so many times, despite their continual and sincere resolutions. When they begin a program of asceticism, they are usually very brave and have no doubts concerning their success; but being still inexperienced, and not having yet faced the demands of more advanced virtue, they know nothing of the struggles that await them on this way. And herein lies the danger: meeting with new difficulties, they fall; they rise and fall again; again they rise, and shortly after, find themselves prostrate once more until they are at a certain point, attacked by that most dangerous temptation:  to give up the undertaking which henceforth seems impossible. How many souls have fervently begun the ascent of the mount of perfection, but discouraged by their continual falls,  have stopped halfway up or even turned back, because they lacked the courage to begin anew every day and every moment.

Humility is needed for the exercise of courage; (more…)

Ave Maria Meditations

The Eucharistic sacrifice and the ordinary life of the Christian.

The Second Vatican Council reminds us that the sacrifice of the Cross and its sacramental renewal in the Mass are, apart from the difference in the manner of offering, one and the same sacrifice of praise, of thanksgiving, of propitiation and of satisfaction. The ends which Our Savior gave to His sacrifice on the Cross are usually summed up in these four.

The four ends of the Mass are achieved in different ways and to a different extent. The ends that refer directly to God, namely, adoration, praise and thanksgiving, are always produced infallibly and with all their infinite value, independently of our collaboration.  This is true even when the Mass is celebrated without the presence of a single member of the faithful, or, if there is one, if he assists in a distracted way. God, our Lord is praised infinitely every time the Eucharistic Sacrifice is celebrated, and thanksgiving is offered up which satisfies God fully. This oblation, says Saint Thomas, pleases God more than all the sins of the world offend him, since Christ himself is the actual Priest who offers, as well as being the actual victim who is offered in every Mass.

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Ave Maria Meditations

With all the many things that could be said about the Apostle of Divine Mercy, St. Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament, let us look at this beautiful litany of love to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament composed by the Saint.

Prayer of St. Faustina While in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament:

O Blessed Host, in whom is contained the testament of God’s mercy for us, and especially for poor sinners.

O Blessed Host, in whom is contained the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus as proof of infinite mercy for us, and especially to poor sinners.

O Blessed Host, in whom is contained life eternal and of infinite mercy, dispensed in abundance to us and especially to poor sinners.

O Blessed Host, in whom is contained the mercy of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit toward us, and especially toward poor sinners.

O Blessed Host, in whom is contained the infinite price of mercy which will compensate for all our debts, and especially those of poor sinners.

O Blessed Host, in whom is contained the fountain of living water which springs from infinite mercy for us, and especially for poor sinners.

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Ave Maria Meditations

Today many grandparents are raising their grandchildren. How prayers to the parents of Our Lady and the grandparents of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, are needed! Saint Anne and Saint Joachim , Parents of Mary Feast Day: July 26 Patronage of: Anne - of Canada, women in childbirth, Christian mothers, Joachim - of fathers Patrons for Grandparents Joachim and Anne were the parents of Mary and the grandparents of Jesus. The name “Hannah” means grace. In Galilee, where she lived, Mary’s mother was probably called “Hannah” even though we know her as Saint Anne. So, if you are named “Hannah” or “Anne” you are named after the mother of Our Blessed Mother. It was in the womb of Saint Anne that Mary was immaculately conceived. From the first instant of her life, she was in a state of grace and free from all stain of Original Sin. It was her parents, Anne and Joachim that raised her to be faithful to God’s word and remain free of sin. Tradition has it that the couple offered their little daughter to God in the Temple. As a young girl, she spent time in service to the Temple. working and learning with other girls. But it was probably her parents who taught her to read, and certainly Joachim and Anne who taught her to love and follow God’s word and to know and understand the Scriptures. Anne is the patron of Christian mothers, and Joachim the patron of fathers. They were given the great honor and responsibility of raising Mary to be the Mother of God, and can help mothers and fathers today to raise their children to love and follow God too. (more…)

A worthy encore:
Ave Maria Meditations
July 17th,Martyrs of Compiegne: “Song from the Scaffold”

Blessed Teresa of Sf. Augustine and Companions (1794)

Blessed Teresa and fifteen other Carmelite nuns were guillotined during the “Reign of Terror” of the French Revolution. Two years earlier they had made an Act of Consecration by which they offered themselves as a holocaust to bring peace to the Church and the country.

When they were arrested Sister Henriette exclaimed, “Let us rejoice in the joy of the Lord, that we shall die for our Holy Religion.” As each Sister ascended the guillotine, her companions sang the Veni Creator Spiritus. The normally noisy crowd was strangely silent, and a witness remarked, “They looked as if they were going to their wedding.” Within ten days of their death, the Reign of Terror ended.

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