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Ave Maria Meditations
You have been the Victim of the envy of the high priests, of the mockery of Herod, of the weakness of Pilate, of the ingratitude of the people; but You will to die unavenged. Patiently You hang there on the open wounds of Your hands and feet, exhausted almost to death by the long stretch of the physical and mental suffering (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
Jesus and the Thieves –a painting by Michael O’Brien Artist Commentary: Jesus promises Paradise to the repentant thief. We tend to think that when severe trials come we will suffer with the same courage and love as Jesus did. Or, perhaps as the “good thief” did. Yet we often find ourselves reacting to trials in the manner of the unrepentant thief. Within our hearts is (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
On Corporal Mortification As a result of original sin, man no longer has complete dominion over his senses and his flesh; therefore he is filled with evil tendencies which try to push him toward what is base. St. Paul humbly admits: “I know that there dwelleth not in me, that is to say, in my flesh, that which is good…. For the good which I will, I do not; (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
The martyrdom of the Virgin is set forth both in the prophecy of Simeon and in the actual story of our Lord’s passion. The holy old man said of the infant Jesus: He has been established as a sign which will be contradicted. He went on to say to Mary: And your own heart will be pierced by a sword. Truly, O blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
“How much it cost You to have loved me.” Only love can explain why God chose to seek us out in our misery. +St. Alphonsus Liguori We had sinned, and our sins had alienated us from God, and exiled us from the joys of Heaven. Yet God, compelled by his own unspeakable goodness, chose to stoop down to us and share the poverty and misery that we had merited. He stripped himself of his glory and majesty, hiding all the outward signs of his Divinity, and took on a body like ours, capable of suffering and death. Moreover, He chose to live in the most humble and poor conditions: being born in a manger, then living as refugee wandering in the desert, and as a persecuted foreigner in far off Egypt, and laying his life down, finally, on the wood of the Cross to die. The human mind cannot comprehend this abyss of supernatural love, and only with the light of faith can we begin to penetrate into it. Fr. Gabriele M. Pellettieri, FI |
Ave Maria Meditations
When we read that the messenger addresses Mary as “full of grace,” the Gospel context, which mingles revelations and ancient promises, enables us to understand that among all the spiritual blessings in Christ, this is a special blessing. In the mystery of Christ she is (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
Unite me to Yourself, O adorable Victim, life-giving heavenly Bread, feed me, sanctify me, reign in me, transform me to Yourself – live in me, and let me live in You, let me adore You in your life-giving sacraments as my God – listen to you as to my Master – obey you as my King – imitate you as my Model – follow you as my Shepherd – love you as my Father – seek you as my Physician who will heal all the maladies of my soul – be indeed my Way, Truth, and Life, sustain me O heavenly Manna through the desert of this world, till I shall behold You unveiled in Your glory. +St. Elizabeth Ann Seton |
Ave Maria Meditations
The Graces of Saint Joseph There is a general rule concerning all special graces granted to any human being. Whenever the divine favor chooses someone to receive a special grace, or to accept a lofty vocation, God adorns the person with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task at hand. This general rote is especially verified in the case of Saint Joseph, the foster-father of Our Lord and the husband of the Queen of our world, enthroned above the angels. He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of his greatest treasures, namely, his divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s wife. He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity until at last God called him, saying: Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord. |
Ave Maria Meditations Isaiah said that Christ offered himself in this tremendous act of sacrifice because he willed to do so. But he forced his human will to accept that from which his humanity recoiled. When, on the cross, he was drinking to its bitter dregs the chalice of wormwood and gall that had so revolted his human nature in the garden, he was draining it because it was his Father’s will. He was saying to the last dread gasp: “Not my will, but thine be done.” Love is a union of wills. And the love of God is a union of man’s will with God’s. It is so easy to unite one’s will with God’s when what he wills is sweet and easy, when his will fits hand in glove with one’s natural inclinations. But if all our days were filled with completely satisfied natural desires-ideal living conditions, economic success, robust health-how could we ever know that it was God’s will, and not our own, that we were seeking? It is only when his will is opposed to what we would naturally choose, only when his will takes the form of a cross, and it is still embraced, that we can be sure that it is not our will, but God’s, that we want to see exalted. (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
It is easy to say, “I believe in God.” But to say that “I believe that God is in control” can be very hard really to give him the evidence of the heart, of the soul bowed down before him, sometimes in confusion at what he seems to be doing (and not doing) and sometimes in real anguish – and to believe. This is the evidence he is asking of us. We tend to think of faith as a lovely thing. Faith is not just a matter of speaking, (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
The maker of man, He was made man, so that the director of the stars might be a Babe at the breast; that Bread might be hungry, and the Fountain thirsty; that the Light might sleep, and the Way be weary from a journey; that the Truth might be accused by false witnesses, and the Judge of the living and the dead be judged by a mortal judge; (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations March 7: Saints Perpetua and Felicity With the lives of so many early martyrs shrouded in legend, we are fortunate to have the record of the courage of Perpetua and Felicity from the hand of Perpetua herself, her teacher Saturus, and others who knew them. This account, known as “The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity,” was so popular in the early centuries that (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
“He was amazed at their lack of faith” To understand what the spirit of faith really is, we must know that when a soul has given itself entirely to God, God first of all inspires that soul with the greatest confidence in him, the greatest faith in his words and promises, and the most utter resignation to his guidance; but afterwards God may please to try this confidence in every sort of way, by acting in a manner apparently contrary to all he has said and promised, and by (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
“The Heart of My Mother has a right to be called Sorrowful and I wish this title to be placed before that of Immaculate because she has won it herself. The Church has defined in the case of My Mother what I Myself had ordained—her Immaculate Conception. This right which My Mother has to a title of justice is now, according to My express wish, to be known and universally accepted. She has earned it by her identification with My sorrows, by her sufferings, by her sacrifices and by her immolation on Calvary, endured in perfect correspondence with My grace for the salvation of mankind. In her co-redemption lies the nobility of My Mother and for this reason I ask for the invocation which I have demanded be approved and spread throughout the whole Church. It has already obtained many graces; it will obtain yet more when the Church will be exalted and the world renewed through its consecration to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of My Mother.” ‘Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.’ Words given on Sept. 8, 1910 recorded in the book “The Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Messages of Berthe Petit, Franciscan Tertiary (1870-1943)” Nihil Obstat Daniel Duivesteijn, S.T.D.; Imprimatur Bernard Cardinal Griffin, Archiepus Westmonasterii.
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Ave Maria Meditations (Romans 8: 26) Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
The Desire of Your Heart Constitutes Your Prayer In the anguish of my heart I groaned aloud. There is a hidden anguish which is inaudible to men. Yet when a man’s heart is so taken up with some particular concern that the hurt inside finds vocal expression, one looks for the reason. And one will say to oneself: perhaps this is what causes his anguish, or perhaps such and such had happened to him. But who can be certain of the cause except God, who hears and sees his anguish? Therefore the psalmist says: In the anguish of my heart I groaned aloud. For if men hear at all, they usually hear only bodily groaning and know nothing of the anguish of the heart from which it issues. Who then knows the cause of man’s groaning? All my desire is before you. No, it is not open before other men, for they cannot understand the heart; but before you is all my desire. If your desire lies open to him who is your Father and who sees in secret, he will answer you. (more…) |
Jesus, Man of Sorrows, at last the dearest wish of Your life is granted: You are crucified.
