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Homily #101127 ( 13min) Play – Today the FI’s celebrate the feast of the Miraculous Medal. We have the Gospel account of the Miracle at Cana performed by our Lord at the instigation of Mary, His mother. Fr. Bonaventure explains the historical background of the apparition of Rue de Bac, occurring in the anti-religious aftermath of the French Revolution. In the apparition, Our Lady asked for the Immaculate Conception Medal to be struck. This medal became associated with so many miracles that it soon became known as the Miraculous Medal. These miracles are preformed by God but through the prayers of Mary just as it happened in Cana two millennia ago, which resulted in the strengthening of the faith of the disciples. St Maximilian, one of the FI’s Patron Saints called these medals “bullets” because they were so good at bringing about conversions.
Ave Maria!
Mass: Miraculous Medal – Feast – Form: OF
Readings:
1st: rev 12:11, 5-6, 14-17
Resp: psa 45:11-12, 14-15, 16-17
Gsp: joh 2:1-11

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Homily #100908s ( 14min) Play – today on the feast of the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary we have our annual professions where our novices make first profession and those in temporary vows renew theirs. Fr. Angelo relates this generous sacrifice of their lives (to the service of God) to the calling mentioned by Paul in the first reading and the calling of Mary and Joseph to the exulted role of heading the Holy Family that is related in the Gospel. He also relates this to the sacrifices of St Maximilian (one of the patrons of our order) who pursued heroic efforts to spread the faith and how difficulties when conformed to Christ becomes effective to the conversion of others.

Ave Maria! – Mass: – Readings:
1: Rom 8:28-30
R: Ps 13:6
G: Mt 1:1-16,18-23

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Ave Maria! Linda Andrade Rodrigues of South Coast Today (online version of New Bedford’s Standard Times) published an article about us today, St. Maximilian Kolbe’s Feast Day. She had many kind words about us and Mother Teresa’s Order in New Bedford. We will have to explain to her,  though, that we are not quite ready for canonization. Thanks, Linda!

The saints who live among us | SouthCoastToday.com.

August 14, 2010 12:00 AM

NEW BEDFORD — Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton wrote, “Oh my God! You see what a barren and desolate place this world is —- send us saints!”

The answer to his prayers, our city is blessed by the good works of saints.

Walk along our streets, and you’ll see Mother Teresa’s nuns in their white and striped-blue habits, ministering in our neighborhoods.

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta sent her order, the Missionaries of Charity, to New Bedford, and on June 14, 1995, she visited the city, worshipped at the Church of St. Lawrence Martyr and touched the lives of countless SouthCoast residents.

Dressed in simple gray robes with sandaled feet, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate reach out to this city’s homeless and forgotten, and offer spiritual guidance to a constant stream of strangers who wander through the doors of Our Lady’s Chapel in downtown New Bedford. More …

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Homily #100814 ( 20min) Play – St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Martyr of Charity who gave up his life to save that of another in the Concentration Camp Auschwitz. This is after a life of dedicated service to God by spreading devotion to Mary through the most advanced mass media operation in Poland at the time and the largest such operation of a religious nature in Europe. Fr. Bonaventure explains how important his  ideals are to our modern world and especially for the Franciscans of the Immaculate who take St. Maximilian at their Patron. Catholic Online

Ave Maria! – St. Maximilian Kolbe Mass: OF

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Mary Vitamin for August 5th

Topic: The Woman of the Bible and Our Mother

Quote:

[Mary] is the real, physical Mother of the Messiah; she is the real mystical Mother of the Church, the new people of God. This is the thread, that, without a break in continuity, starts with Genesis and reaches to Revelation, passing through Cana and Calvary.

Father Stefano Manelli, FI, All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed, (Academy of the Immaculate: 1989), 356.

Meditation:

Fr. Stefano Manelli, FI

On this subject, a passage interesting and rich in insight, accurate as it is delicate, has been written by I. de La Potterie:

A very important insight of modern exegesis has brought to light how the mystery of Mary in some way forms a synthesis of all of the preceding revelation about the people of God, (more…)

Mary Vitamin for July 29th

Topic: Martha and Mary
Luke 10:38-42

Quote:
St.  Francis de Sales
The two women represent our Lady.
The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales on Our Lady, (Tan Books) 62.
Tan Books

Meditation:
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
John 11:5

Archbishop Alban Goodier, S.J.:
And the name of Martha comes first. He could not blame her zeal; He could not find fault with her self-sacrificing charity. Nevertheless (more…)

Homily #100614 ( 06min) Play – Fr. Bonaventure celebrates a votive Mass to St Maximilian Kolbe. In today’s Gospel Our Lord tells us to turn the other cheek and no longer seek the law of retaliation but the law of reparation as did Jesus on the Cross and St Maximilian at Auschwitz.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
1: 1 Kings 21:1-16
R: Ps 5:2-3,4-7
G: Mt 5:38-42

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Homily #090814s ( 12min) Play – On the feast of St Maximilian, Fr Ignatius explains the difference between true love and mere feelings. True love involves an act of the will, a sacrifice, and a willingness to fight for whom we love.
Ave Maria!

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Fr. Philip Neri Powell from Domine da mihi hanc aquam! has posted a very enlightened defense of Marian coredemption. In particular I would like to make note of his replies to the objections against the fifth Marian dogma. He says there are basically two objections: 1) “a declaration of the proposed dogma is unnecessary since Catholic theology already recognizes Mary’s unique role in God’s plan for human salvation”; 2) “the dogma is ecumenically dangerous in that it threatens good relations with other Christian ecclesial communities by seeming to elevate Mary to a level equal to that of Christ as sole Redeemer.” For a thorough response to these objections I send you directly to his post. What I am most interested in is his response to objection 2 which I think is brilliant:

Father Powell puts his finger on the fear of many Catholics to speak the truth in the face of Protestant objections: “That we would flinch from speaking the truth because some might misunderstand simply means that we fear a negative response from our ecumenical partners.” I find this very true, for example, when discussing the meaning of the term “coredemption.” Many of the Catholic objectors to the dogma say that “coredemption” is an inherently confusing term because of the various ways in which “co-” can be used as a prefix. In English it means generally, as Father Powell points out, “with” and “equal to,” which is not the case in Latin. The point is that, yes, the term needs to be explained, but so what? Why don’t we just explain it? (more…)

Roving Reporter #53 – Dawn Eden tells her tale  ( 27min) >>> Play

Ave Maria!

Dawn Eden author of “The Thrill of the Chaste” graciously gives the Roving Reporter an account of her journey from Judaism to Protestantism and then finally through the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe to Catholicism. And, of course, St. Maximilian led her to Our Blessed Virgin Mary who in turn gave her the inspiration for her book that teaches young adults and college students the importance of chastity. Listen to her amazing story.

Dawn Eden’s Blog: The Dawn Patrol

Her book: The Thrill of the Chaste

Ave Maria!

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Homily #081027 ( 08min) Play – 30th Mon Ordinary Time – Fr. Angelo preaches for this votive Mass to St Maximilian Kolbe who died as a martyr of charity. He relates this to the Gospel that says charity summarizes the entire law of God.
Ave Maria! Mass readings
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