Marycast #123 ( 9min) Play – Dr. Mark Miravalle asks us if we are willing to defend Jesus Christ and so defend His Church. He refers to a recent pop star that claimed Jesus has the disordered inclination of homosexuality and other unfortunate incidents that are blasphemous and calls us to not be silent in these cases.

To ask questions regarding Mary, email Dr Mark Miravalle: marycast@airmaria.com

Ave Maria!

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Jesus, Man of Sorrows, those drops of Blood that flow down Your Face, those deep gashes caused by the thorns that cir­cle Your holy head, make You dearer to me than if Your forehead shone with pre­cious stones. Such signs remind me of the Divine love that burns in Your Heart for me. I love the noble, sorrowful maj­esty of Your holy Face. You reject the crown of gold and the rich robes of royal state, and accept instead a crown of thorns and the purple rags of mockery and scorn.

You consent to be a mock-king, a king of fools, only to be the real King of my soul. My thorn-crowned King,  I adore You as my very God.  I subject myself entirely to Your Divine Kingship of love. I would rather be a fool in the eyes of men for Your sake and have You reign over me, than be king of the world and be the slave of the prince of darkness.  I adore You as the Conqueror of hearts, whose Kingdom is not of this world, but of heav­en.

Fr. Lawrence Lovasik

MEDITATION:

Unless our life is one of intimacy with God and His Son Jesus, we cannot be His collaborators, docile instruments in His hands; unless we have an intense interior life, we cannot have the mind of Christ and be associated with His love and His work for the salvation of souls.

By means of prayer and the struggle against sin, by self-renunciation, and the practice of the virtues, the interior life progressively rids the soul of all that is defective, thus favoring in it the growth of grace and love, that is to say it vivifies the soul with divine life, since grace and love are a participation in the very life of God. It follows, therefore, that the more a soul cultivates the interior life, the nearer it will come to God and having become like Him by grace and love, will be able to live in intimacy with Him, enjoy His friendship, penetrate His mysteries and participate in them. Who, then, will be better able to understand the great mystery of the Redemption and contri­bute his share to it, than one who by means of a fervent interior life, lives in intimate friendship with God?

The first degree of friendship with God, which consists in the absence of serious sin, does not suffice to fulfill the purposes of the apostolate. A deeper friendship is required, one which creates such uniformity of will, desire and affection that the apostle is enabled to act according to God’s Heart; he is moved not by his own impulses, but by the impulse of grace, by God’s will, and the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. It is a very significant fact that Jesus made His apostles live for three years in intimacy with Him, treating them like dear friends, before sending them out to convert the world : ” I will not now call you servants … but I have called you friends” (Jn. 15:15)

In a single moment, the moment of our justification, God infused charity into us without any cooperation on our part, but He does not preserve this gift, much less increase it, unless we remain united to Him by living an interior life. The purpose of the struggle against our passions, the practice of the virtues, recollection, prayer, the practice of the presence of God, and frequent reception of the Sacraments, is to foster union with God and the growth of charity. The interior life is a secret hearth where a soul in contact with God is inflamed with His love, and precisely because it is inflamed and forged by love, it becomes a docile instrument which God can use to diffuse love into the hearts of others.

Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene OCD

Homily #100114 ( 06min) Play – St. Hilary of Poitiers fought the heresy of Arianism in his time. He did this by being true to the Magisterium. As the Catechism says:

Par 85 “The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.” This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.

This simple policy guarantees that we won’t fall into error of personal interpretation whether of scripture as the Protestants do or of Tradition as the ultra Traditionalists do.

Ave Maria! St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church – Mass: EF, In Medio Ecclesiae – Readings: 1st: 2ti 4:1-8 – Gsp: mat 5:13-19

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He chose his Mother … When we reflect upon the joy which it is to ourselves to think of Mary, to brood upon her supernatural loveliness, and to study the greatness of her gifts and the surpassing purity of her virtues, we shall get such faint idea, as lies within our compass, of the unspeakable gladness which it must have been to the Word to have chosen Mary, and to have created her through that very choice.

He must choose a Mother who shall be worthy of being the Mother of God, a Mother suitable to that tremendous mystery of the Hypostatic Union, a Mother fitted to minister that marvelous Body out of her own heart’s blood, and to be herself for months the tabernacle of that most heavenly Soul. All God’s works are in proportion. When he appoints to an office, his appointment is marked by extreme fitness. He ele­vates nature to the level of his own purposes. He enables it to compass the most supernatural destinies by fulfilling it with the most incredible graces. There was no accident about his choice of Mary.

She was not merely the holiest of living women on earth at the time when he resolved to come. She was not a mere tool, an instrument for the passing necessity of the hour, to be used, and flung aside, and lie indistinguishable in the crowd, when her use was gone. This is not God’s way. He does not deal thus with the least of his elect. His whole revelation of himself renders such a supposition as impossible as it would be profane. There is nothing accidental or of mere ornament in the works of the Most High. His operations have no excrescences, no extrinsic appendages. God does not use his creatures. They enter into his purposes, and are an integral part of them; and every part of a divine work is one of that work’s perfections. This is a characteristic of divine working, that every thing about it is a special perfection.

Mary thus lies high up in the very fountain-head of creation. She was the choice of God himself, and he chose her to be his Mother. She was the gate by which the Creator entered into his own creation. She ministered to him in a way and for an end unlike those of any other creature whatsoever. What then must have been her beauty, what her holiness, what her privileges, what her exaltation! To depreciate them is to depreciate the wisdom and the goodness of God!

When we have said that Mary was the Word’s eternal choice, we have said that which already involves all the doctrine of the Church about her, and all the homage of Christians to her. When we consider the Word’s desire to assume a created nature, when we ponder his choice of a human nature, when we reflect on his further choice of his Soul and Body, and add to all these con­siderations the remembrance of his immense love, we can see how his goodness would exult in the choice of his Mother, whom to love exceedingly was to become one of his chief graces, one of the greatest of all his human perfections. All possible creatures were before him, out of which to choose the creature that was to come nearest him, the creature that was to love him, and to have a natural right to love him, best of all, and the creature to whom duty as well as preference was to bind him to love with the in­tensest love. Then, out of all he chose Mary.

What more can be said? She fulfilled his idea, or rather she did not so much suit his idea, but she was herself the idea, and his idea of her was the cause of her creation. The whole theology of Mary lies in this eternal and efficacious choice of her in the Bosom of the Father.

Father Frederick William Faber “Bethlehem”

The priest’s mission seems hopelessly difficult. Has the world ever been as depraved as it is today? Have Satan’s cohorts ever been as numerous, as fierce, as cunning? Has the army of Christ ever been weaker compared to these powerful forces? A priest will lose confidence if he thinks about the enemy in comparison to himself. But it is Christ he should think about; Christ has given him his mission as the Father gave Christ His mission. (Jn. 20:21)

He is an ambassador of Christ (2 Cor 5:20) and Christ has declared, and He cannot be wrong:  “I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself (Jn 12:32). Now shall the ruler of this world be cast out (Jn 12:31). Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world ” (Jn 16:33).  Acting in the name of the Son of God, the priest is all powerful with the power of God. Acting in his own name, he  is as weak as the weakest of men. He is feeble when depending on himself alone; he is unbeatable when he acts with Jesus. When he acts in the Name of Jesus, his very weakness is an encouragement.

Recall how the great Apostle boasted of his weakness so that the power of Christ could be shown through him (2 Cor 12:9). Consider your call brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (1 Cor 1:26-9).

Jesus bequeathed His Mother to all men and women to bolster their confidence. It was to John, the priest, representing all priests, that she was directly given. Perhaps this was for the purpose of bolstering the confidence of priests most of all.

In his exhortation, Menti nostrae, Pope Pius XII counseled priests, “When you meet very serious difficulties in the path of holiness and in the exercise of your ministry, turn your eyes and your mind trustfully to her who is the Mother of the eternal Priest and therefore the loving Mother of Catholic priests. He made reference to some recent, wonderful events witnessed by many priests when they consecrated their flock to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and then concluded, “To the Beloved Mother of God, Mediatrix of heavenly graces, We entrust the priests of the whole world in order that, through her intercession, God will vouchsafe a generous outpouring of the Spirit which will move all ministers of the altar to holiness and, through their ministry, will spiritually renew the face of the earth.”

If priests follow the intent of the Holy Father and personally consecrate themselves to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, they will find in this total gift of themselves to Mary, a special motivation for complete confidence. Consider the following: they belong entirely to Mary; their efforts are her efforts; their success is her success; their failures are her failures if, following her desires, they should fail.

Mary wills their success:

- because it gives glory to God;

- because it promotes the mission of her Son;

- because it benefits the Church, born of Him and her on Calvary;

- because it benefits her children to whom she gave birth at the cost of great suffering and     of whom she seeks to make other Christs;

- because she desires this success more than they do: a sweeping, boundless success.

This success is certainly within her power. Is she not the Woman destined to crush the head of the serpent? Is she not the Distributrix of all graces of conversion and sanctification intended for all those confided to her priests? Before undertaking any endeavor, they should consult her to be sure it is her endeavor and not theirs. Then they can move ahead with complete confidence keeping in mind, as much as possible, that they are acting in her name. Without Mary they cannot succeed; with Mary they cannot fail!

Mary and the Priestly Ministry:  chapter 22

Fr. Emile Neubert SM

Homily #090913 ( 27min) Play – In today’s Gospel  Peter professes the divinity of Christ but then shows his weakness by not accepting the fact Jesus must suffer. Peter’s weakness points out the need to have on going catechisis to reinforce over and over again the profound truths of our Faith.
Ave Maria! Mass readings

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