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Homily #120102k ( 07min) Play – Shedding our spiritual blood will lead us to the newness of the Nativity.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Sts Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen – Mem – Form: OF
Readings:

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Homily #110908 ( 10min) Play – Fr. Bonaventure preaches on the importance of the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary on earth.
Ave Maria!
Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Mass: OF
Readings: – Proper
1st: mic 5:1-4
R: psa 13:6, 6
Gsp: mat 1:1-16, 18-23

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Homily #101230 ( 12min) Play – In this homily Fr. Angelo defends the Virgin Birth of Our Lady in the face of some otherwise good Catholic apologists who mistakenly think that refuting the Virgin Birth is somehow needed to uphold natural motherhood and the pro-life cause.
Ave Maria! Mass: Sixth Day Octave of Christmas – Second Class – Form: EF, Puer Natus Est
Readings:
1st: tit 3:4-7
Gsp: luk 2:15-20

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Homily #101225s ( 18min) Play – On this day when we celebrate the birth of our dear Savior, Fr. Dominic preaches the Gospel message of the coming of Christ that is so well put in the broadest historical sense by St John the Evangelist. Father focuses on the mysterious truth of this coming. Mysterious because the most glorious all-mighty God comes to us as such a humble baby, laid in a manger, but nevertheless the stupendous truth that captures the eminent mercy and love or our God. This mercy and love is so fitting to God’s greatness that it silences all objections to this mystery.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Nativity of the Lord (Day) – Solemnity – Form: OF
Readings:
1st: isa 52:7-10
Resp: psa 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6
2nd: heb 1:1-6
Gsp: joh 1:1-18

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Fi News #84 – Newly Professed ( 04min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

Three young men–Friar Isaac Joseph Mary, Friar Joseph Paul Mary, and Friar Gabriel Marc Mary– make their first vows, giving their lives in total Consecration to Our Lady, in poverty, chastity, and obedience; a gift for God and for the Church — a gift from Mary, a gift for Mary.

Ave Maria!

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One Minute Meditation

It is only the Child lying in the manger who pos­sesses the true secret of life. For this reason he asks us to welcome him, to make room for him within us, in our hearts, in our homes, in our cities, and in our societies. The words of John’s Prologue echo in our minds and hearts: “To all who received him … he gave power’ to become children of God” (1: 12).

Let us endeavor to be among those who welcome him. Before him one cannot remain indifferent. We too, dear friends, must continuously take sides. What will our response be? With what attitude will we welcome him? The simplicity of the shepherds and the seeking of the Magi who scrutinized the signs of God by means of the star come to our help. The docility of Mary and the wise prudence of Joseph serve as an example to us …

The love that Jesus, born in Bethlehem, brought into the world binds to himself in a lasting relation­ship of friendship and brotherhood all who welcome him. Saint John of the Cross says: “In giving us all, that is, his Son, in him God has now said all. Fix your eyes on him alone … and you will find in addition more than you ask and desire.”

Pope Benedict XVI

Homily #091224 ( 04min) Play – On the Vigil of Christmas (Christmas Eve) Father gives the account of the arrival of the Holy Family in Bethlehem. He notes how they are poor, chaste, docile to the will of God and full of charity. Let us imitate them and contemplate these great events.
Ave Maria! Vigil of the Nativity of Our Lord – Mass: EF, Hodie Scietis – Readings: 1st: rom 1:1-6 – Gsp: mat 1:18-21

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MaryCast Specials #65 ( 10min) Play – Dr. Miravalle goes through scripture leading to the Nativity of Christ and how important a role Mary played and what this means in regard to preparing for Christmas, both for own and for loved ones,  and even for our whole society.

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

Ave Maria!

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One Minute Meditation

The Tradition of the Christmas Crib

Following a beautiful and firmly-rooted tradition, many families set up their crib immediately after the feast of the Immaculate Conception, as if to relive with Mary those days full of trepidation that preceded the birth of Jesus. Putting up the crib at home can be a simple but effective way of present­ing faith, to pass it on to one’s children. The crib helps us contemplate the mystery of God’s love that was revealed in the poverty and simplicity of the Bethlehem Grotto. Saint Francis of Assisi was so taken by the mystery of the Incarnation that he wanted to present it anew at Greccio in the living nativity scene, thus beginning an old, popular tra­dition that still retains its value for evangelization today. Indeed, the crib can help us understand the secret of the true Christmas because it speaks of the humility and merciful goodness of Christ, who “though he was rich he made himself poor” for us (2 Cor 8: 9). His poverty enriches those who embrace it and Christmas brings joy and peace to those who, like the shepherds in Bethlehem, accept the Angel’s words: “Let this be a sign to you: in a manger you will find an infant wrapped in swad­dling clothes” (Lk 2: 12). This is still the sign for us too, men and women of the third millennium. There is no other Christmas.

Pope Benedict XVI

Homily #091004 ( 23min) Play – Today is the Feast of St Francis of Assisi (New Advent), the Poverello, who is the founder of the Franciscan Orders and so his feast supersedes Sunday’s liturgy at our Franciscan friary. Fr. Bonaventure explains the importance of the love of poverty that was so central to St. Francis’ spirituality and how this relates to devotion to Christ and Mary and the importance of the incarnation and the bodily death of Christ and to the renewal of the Church in our materialistic times.
Ave Maria!

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Ave Maria Meditations

PRESENCE OF GOD:

O Mary, my Mother, teach me to live hidden with you in the shadow of God.

MEDITATION:

The liturgy enthusiastically celebrates Mary’s Nativity and makes it one of the most appealing feasts of Marian devotion. We sing in today’s Office: “Thy Nativity, O Virgin Mother of God, brings joy to the whole world, because from you came forth the Sun of Justice, Christ, our God.”

Mary’s birth is a prelude to the birth of Jesus because it is the initial point of the realization of the great mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God for the salvation of mankind. How could the birthday of the Mother of the Redeemer pass unnoticed in the hearts of the redeemed? The Mother proclaims the Son, making it known that He is about to come, that the divine promises, made centuries before, are to be fulfilled. The birth of Mary is the dawn of our redemption; her appearance projects a new light over all the human race: a light of innocence, of purity, of grace, a resplendent presage of the great light which will inundate the world when Christ, “lux mundi ” the Light of the World, appears.

Mary, preserved from sin in anticipation of Christ’s merits, not only announces that the Redemption is at hand, but she bears the first fruits of it within herself; she is the first one redeemed by her divine Son. Through her, all ­pure and full of grace, the Blessed Trinity at last fixes on earth a look of complacency, finding in her alone a creature in whom the infinite beauty of the Godhead can be reflected.

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The contemplation of the mysteries of Jesus will only produce such great fruit in us as we bring thereto certain dispositions which can be summed up into three: faith, reverence and love. Faith is the primordial disposition for placing us in vital contact with Christ. We celebrate mysteries, that is to say human and visible signs of a divine and hidden reality. To comprehend, to touch this reality, faith is needed. Christ appears as both man and God in each of these mysteries; often even, as in the Nativity and in the passion, the divinity is more than ordinarily hidden; in order to grasp it, to pierce the veil and reach to it, to see God in the child lying in the manger, or in the One who was “made a curse for us”, hanging on the gibbet of Calvary, or again in His Eucharistic appearances, faith is needed: Faith, for all defects supplying, where the feeble senses fail…

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Ave Maria Meditations

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” (Lk. 2:14)

MEDITATION

At Bethlehem the angels announced two things: Glory to God and peace to men; the one corresponds to the other. No one glorifies God as much as that little Babe lying on the straw. He alone, being the eternal Word, can give God the perfect, infinite praise that is worthy of Him. And no one more than Jesus, our Savior, brings peace to men; making reparation for sin, He reconciles man with his Creator and establishes a new covenant between them: the Creator will become Father, and man, will become a son.

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Ave Maria Mediations

September 8th: Nativity of Mary,

the CAUSE OF OUR JOY

Causa nostrae laetitiae, ora pro nobis

Silent Night Christmas Carol >>> Play

Ave Maria!

Silent Night Christmas carol is sung by the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate with animated slide show of Our Lady of Guadalupe Friary and Chapel at night. This is dedicated to Patrick Wroe December 16, 1986 – December 22, 2006 beloved son of Dave and Peggy Wroe who were so instrumental in getting Airmaria started.

Ave Maria!