"Ye Men of Galilee, why wonder you, looking up to heaven? Alleluia. He shall so come as you have seen Him going up into heaven, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!" (Acts 1:11) "Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.
Lights and Shadows
by a Marian Sister of Santa Rosa Mary and Joseph went up the temple to pray, And for the life of God’s newborn son to pay. A ransom from death for us sinners, unrepentant, Two turtle doves for His own life are there presented. Simeon sings of the swords that are yet to pierce The Heart of Our Lady—blades merciless and fierce. Anna proclaims, “The Messiah has come at last!” The blood shall be smeared on the doors of our souls That the destroyer may not our lives grasp. See the little turtle doves, innocent and sweet, Cooing and at being sold, turning the other cheek. Behold how their lives are twin tokens of Father’s love- As God the Father hands over to save our souls His dearest loves: His Son and His Jericho Rose—His purest doves. In Ramah soon, a cry will be heard, as never heard ‘fore nor since As Mary and Joseph make haste to protect the Blessed Sacrament. The light of the star that three Magi led from their treasures’ to paupers’ tent, To the Light of the Gentiles, heaven-sent (Hush…hear the rip of fabric—the veil of the Holy of Holies is rent…) Led too, did it not, to death of these Holy Innocents; And see now, foreshadowed, the tragedy high Of crucified Innocence. Let all mortal flesh be silent and stand in wondered loss For cast by the Light of Nations—lo! The shadow of the cross ... O Maria sine labe concepta, ora pro nobis! "'I will put enmities between thee and the woman.' In these words the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was announced to our first parents. It was to be the reversal of the friendship with the serpent contracted by Eve, when she listened to his voice and fell under his power. The second Eve was never to be under the power of the devil; the enmity between them was to admit of no possible exception. This involved the grace of being conceived immaculate. Mary's Immaculate Conception was the foundation of all her graces. The absence of any stain or spot of sin distinguished her from all the rest of mankind. It distinguished her from the holiest of the Saints, since they, one and all, were sinners. Her perfect sinlessness was the source of all her glory and all her majesty; it was this which opened the door to the unlimited graces that she received from God; it was this that qualified her for her divine maternity, and raised her to her throne as Queen of heaven." - Roman Missal 1962 on the Immaculate Conception
Holy Mother of God, Mary ever-Virgin, you are the temple of the Lord
and the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Beyond all others, you were pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ. Magnificat Antiphon for Vespers "Almighty and everlasting God, Who hast granted to honor in one solemn Feast
the merits of all Thy Saints: we beseech Thee, that through the multitude of intercessors, Thou wouldst bestow upon us the desired abundance of Thy atonement." - Collect: Solemnity of All Saints "Because the virgin Mary was raised to such a lofty dignity
as to be the mother of the King of kings, it is deservedly and by every right that the Church has honored her with the title of 'Queen.'" - St. Alphonsus Ligouri "It was fitting that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into her heart the sword of sorrow which she had escaped in the act of giving birth to him, should look upon him as he sits with the Father. It was fitting that God's Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God." - St. John Damascene
"While the face of Jesus shone as the sun, his garments became white as snow. Now these garments so snow-white, as St. Mark observes, that no fuller on earth could have bleached them so, are the just men, the royal ornament inseparable from the Man-God, the Church, the seamless robe woven by our sweet Queen for her Son out of the purest wool and most beautiful linen that the valiant woman could find. Although our Lord personally has now passed the torrent of suffering and entered forever into his glory, nevertheless the bright mystery of the Transfiguration will not be complete until the last of the elect, having passed through the laborious preparation at the hands of the Divine Fuller, and tasted death, has joined in the Resurrection of our adorable Head. O Face of our Savior that dost ravish the heavens, then will all glory, all beauty, all love shine forth from thee. Expressing God by the perfect resemblance of true Son by nature, thou wilt extend the good pleasure of the Father to that reflection of his Word, which constitutes the sons of adoption, and reaches in the Holy Ghost even to the lowest fringes of his garment which fills the temple below him."
- Dom Prosper Gueranger on the Transfiguration "Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth:
they shall remember Thy name, O Lord." - Graudal (Ps. 44:17) “Loving slaves of Jesus in Mary should hold in high esteem devotion to Jesus, the Word of God, in the great mystery of the Incarnation, [on] March 25th, which is the mystery proper to this devotion…” excerpt from St. Louis Marie de Montrfort's True Devotion in the Preparation for Total Consecration In the marvelous lilt of the Church’s song of fasting and feasting, it is with the joy of hearts made pure by the austerities of Lent that we rejoice to celebrate our patronal feast: the Solemnity of the Annunciation. In the 10th anniversary of our founding, we delight—like a child who has discovered in itself its parents beloved features—to unite with Our Lord’s dependence upon the Blessed Virgin Mary and Our Lady’s great “Fiat”, that made possible the marriage of heaven and earth by the union of the Divine Nature and Sacred Humanity of the Eternal Son in her blessed womb.
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