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Ave Maria Meditations

      What is resurrection? It does not form part of our experience, and so the message often remains to some degree beyond our understanding … The Church tries to help us understand it by expressing this mysterious event in the language of symbols in which we can somehow contemplate this astonishing event.

First of all, there is light … Where there is light, life  is born, chaos can be transformed into cosmos. The resurrection of Jesus is an eruption of light. With the resurrection, the Lord’s day enters the nights of history … This Light alone – Jesus Christ – is the true light, something more than the physical phe­nomenon of light. He is pure Light: God himself, who causes a new creation to be born in the midst of the old, transforming chaos into cosmos … Let us pray to the Lord that the fragile flame of the candle he has lit in us, the delicate light of his word and his love amid the confusions of this age, will not be extinguished in us, but will become ever stronger and brighter, so that we, with him, can be people of the day, bright stars lighting up our time. (more…)

Homily #120412 ( 10min) Play – On Easter Sunday Jesus appeared to the disciples and they thought that they were seeing a ghost because they did not understand and trust Our Lord’s words that He would rise again. Jesus helps them by eating in front of them and showing them his wounds to let them know that He completely overcame the power of death, letting them apprehend the magnitude of His victory when the clouds of doubt and defeat where weighing upon the early Church. Let us remember this Easter joy when we witness the many tribulations and seeming defeats for the Church that will inevitably come.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Thursday of Easter Week – Wkdy – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: act 3:11-26
Resp: psa 8:2, 5, 6-7, 8-9
Gsp: luk 24:35-48

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Homily #120411 ( 06min) Play – Fr. Ignatius preaches on the Resurrection and how Christ is preparing the disciples for the radical faith needed to carry out the mission for which He has destined them. So too we are given a share in His mission of evangelizing the world and must make good use of the graces He gives us for this.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Wednesday of Easter Week – Wkdy – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: act 3:1-10
Resp: psa 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
Gsp: luk 24:13-35

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Homily #120410 ( 10min) Play – Our Lord is called a Rabbi, Teacher, by both His enemies and His friends. He spoke openly for the truth and died for the truth. But, Fr. Angelo preaches on how He was more than a teacher because He spoke with an authority beyond the scribes and Pharisees because He embodied, or really incarnated, the truth in Himself and the resurrection of this body is therefore His greatest teaching moment. By listening to His words of truth we too will rise from bodily death to eternal life to be with Him and His Father.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Tuesday of Easter Week – Wkdy – Form: OF
Readings: 
1st: act 2:36-41
Resp: psa 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22
Gsp: joh 20:11-18
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Ave Maria Meditations

Through the tender mercy of our God when the day shall dawn upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness…(Lk 1:78-79)

Lauds II

The darkness flees, and dew-kissed earth Sings welcome to the waking day;

Hope holds to Christ the mirror high To catch the Dayspring’s healing ray!

You fill with light this sacred time, Give tears as well to purify;

Give flames of love to purge our hearts; In us your mercy magnify.

The hidden wound whence flow our sins, Wash clean by bathing in the tide;

Remove the things that, of ourselves, We cannot reach, or put aside.

The Day draws near when all re-blooms — Your Day, O Christ, life-giving Lord!

We too will joy, by your right hand From death’s dark tomb to joy restored.

To God, the loving Trinity, Let earth and sky adoring bend;

And evermore from hearts renewed Let songs fresh sprung of praise ascend. Amen.

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Sorry, Computer Failure, Homily was not captured - Jesus said that He was going to be handed over to His enemies to be crucified. But He also said that he would rise again. Today we celebrate the joy of His Resurrection that after the sadness of the crucifixion and the seeming finality of that, the finality of death, and yet He breaks free from the grip of death and gives us the hope of doing the same. Fr. Angelo exhorts us to seek peace  by having faith in Christ’s promises.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil) – Solemnity – Form: OF
Readings:
First: Genesis 1:1–2:2
Resp: Psalms 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 13-14, 24, 35
Second: Genesis 22:1-18
Resp: Psalms 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11
Third: Exodus 14:15–15:1
Resp: Exodus 15:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 17-18
Fourth: Isaiah 54:5-14
Resp: Psalms 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13
Fifth: Isaiah 55:1-11
Resp: Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6
Sixth: Baruch 3:9-15, 32–4:4
Resp: Psalms 19:8, 9, 10, 11
Seventh: Ezekiel 36:16-28
Resp: Psalms 42:3, 5; 43:3, 4
Epistle: Romans 6:3-11
Resp: Psalms 118:1-2, 16, 17, 22-23
Gospel: Mark 16:1-8

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Homily #110425 ( 07min) Play – It is only in the Name of Jesus you will be healed and find salvation.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Monday of Easter Week – Ordinary Form
Readings:
1st Reading: Acts 2:14, 22-33
Responsorial Psalm: 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
Gospel: Matthew 28:8-15

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Homily #110424 ( 17min) Play – Jesus Christ is Risen – Alleluia!
Ave Maria!
Mass: Easter Sunday (Option 1) – Ordinary Form
Readings:
1st Reading: Acts 10:34, 37-43
Responsorial Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23
2nd Reading: Colossians 3:1-4
Gospel: John 20:1-9

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Homily #110306 ( 09min) Play – Quinquagesima Sunday is the last Sunday before Lent and is a preparation for it. In today’s Gospel Our Lord tries to prepare His disciples for the scandal of the crucifixion by warning them before hand that it is coming as well as to give them the hope of the following resurrection.  Father likens this hope to an enlightenment as exemplified in the receiving of sight of the blind man later in the same Gospel.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Quinquagesima Sunday – Form: EF, Esto Mihi
Readings:
1st: 1co 13:1-13
Gsp: luk 18:31-43

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Homily #101124 ( 07min) Play – Fr. Bonaventure relates today’s Gospel to the Martyrdom of  St. Andre Dung Lac and his companions where “And you shall be hated by all men for my name’s sake. ” They suffered these persecutions but also the hope of resurrection “But a hair of your head shall not perish.”
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Andre Dung Lac and his companions – Memorial – Form: OF
Readings: Wednesday in the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
1st: rev 15:1-4
Resp: psa 98:1, 2-3, 7-8, 9
Gsp: luk 21:12-19

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Homily #101011 ( 05min) Play – Fr. Bonaventure explains the sign of Jonah that Jesus refers to in today’s Gospel to foretell his death and resurrection which is a sign of his divinity that all nations will accept.
Ave Maria! Bl. John XXIII – Mass: OF, – Readings:
1st: gal 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1
Resp: psa 113:1-2, 3-4, 5, 6-7
Gsp: luk 11:29-32

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Mary Vitamin for August 23rd

Topic: Our Lady’s Joy in the Resurrection of Her Son

(The sixth mystery in the Franciscan Crown — Feast August 26)

Quote:

St. Teresa of Avila

One day after receiving Communion, it seemed most clear to me that Our Lord sat beside me; He told me that immediately after His resurrection He went to see our Lady because she then had great need and that the pain she experienced so absorbed and transpierced her soul that she did not return immediately to herself to rejoice in that joy. By this I understood how different was this other transpiercing, the one of my soul. But what must have been that transpiercing of the blessed Virgin’s soul! He also said that He had remained a long time with her because it was necessary in order to console her.

St. Teresa of Avila, Spiritual Testimonies, (ICS Publications: 1985), 390-91.

Quote used in Mary Vitamin #153

Meditation:

Imagine after days of painfully placing herself in God’s presence in prayer, with the agony of the Cross fresh before her mind’s eye, what a joy it was for our Lady to see the Lord in glory, alive and well and to speak with Him with no effort on her part.

I Peter 1:6-9

There is cause for rejoicing here. You may for a time have to suffer the distress of many trials; but this is so that your faith, which is more precious than the passing splendor of fire-tried gold, may by its genuineness lead t0 praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ appears.

When Our Lord appeared to Our Lady and “remained a long time with her because it was necessary to console her” did Our Lady ask about her holy spouse and parents? Did she receive “news” from the Lord about the happiness experienced by her beloved family members? Was this a part of Our Lady’s joy in the Resurrection? She saw her Son’s victory over death and the consequences for those she loved.

Resolution:

Today before beginning my usual prayers, I will call to mind the visit of Our Lord to Our Lady after the Resurrection. I will try to enter prayer with the joy of Our Lady and remember that it took her a long time with the Lord before she experienced the joy of the Resurrection.

Marian Vow:

Father Gabriel Allegra, O.F.M.

Precisely here is the essence of consecration: always to look carefully at the Immaculate Mother. Her mere look will indicate her wishes, will help one to put them into practice. And thus we will generously and easily do the will of the Father.

Mary’s Immaculate Heart, A Way to God, (Franciscan Herald Press: 1985), 76.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate

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Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

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Mary Vitamin for July 22nd
Feast of St. Mary Magdalen

Topic: Gaining the affection of Mary by practicing courtesy

Quote:
St. Alphonsus di Liguori
Saint Gregory Nazianzen assures us that there is nothing by which we can with
greater certainty gain the affection of Mary then by charity towards our
neighbor.
St. Alphonsus di Liguori, The Glories of Mary, (Tan Books), 479.

Meditation:
The charity and courtesy of St. Mary Magdalen

Why was St. Mary Magdalene unable to recognize the risen Christ? Why did she not
recognize the Messiah after the Resurrection if she was one of the few that
recognized the Messiah when “there was no beauty”? Was the Lord testing St. Mary
Magdalene’s charity? Did He want to leave a testimony of her great love? She
treated someone to whom she thought stole the body of her Lord with great
respect. After she spoke, Jesus revealed His identity to her.

But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into
the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at
the feet where the body of Jesus had been.
And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have
taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know
it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you
looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you
carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,”
which means Teacher.
John 20:11-17

Resolution:
Today, I will work to win the affection of the Blessed Virgin Mary by speaking
with courtesy.

Marian Vow:
St. Claude de la Colombiere
We have no reason to despise anyone. A humble man sees only his own faults. It
is a sign of little virtue to notice the imperfections of others. A person may
be imperfect today who in a little while, recognizing this, may rise to great
sanctity.
Mother M. Philip, I.B.V.M., arr. & ed. The Spiritual Direction of Saint Claude
de la Colombiere,(

Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate

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Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

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Homily #100717 ( 06min) Play – Today Fr. Angelo celebrates a votive Mass to the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday and he preaches on how Saturday is held special for Our Lady where we wait in expectation with her for the glorious Resurrection of her Son on Sunday.
Ave Maria! Saturday, Votive Mass of Our Lady – Mass: EF, Salve Sancta Parens – Readings:
1st: sir 24:14-16
Gsp: luk 11:27-28

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Homily #100705 ( 04min) Play – Sorry, only half of this homily got captured. Nobody had ever known of anyone being raised from the dead until the time of our Lord. He brings hope to us in the life that is to come in the resurrection of the dead.
Ave Maria! Mass readings

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