"What was family life in Nazareth like? In the home of the Holy Family in Nazareth, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph sanctified their ordinary life, without doing anything spectacular or newsworthy. They led a life that was to all appearance the same as that of their neighbors, a life that was important, not because of the material things they did, but because of the love that they put into these things, in perfect union with the Will of God the Father." - St. Josemaria Escriva Hymn from Vespers of the feast of the Holy Family Blest light of all the heavenly hosts, Sole hope of them that well on earth, The purest love that ever graced A home, did smile upon thy birth. Mary, dear Mother, who but thee Was ever yet so rich in grace? Didst nourish Christ upon thy knee And fold him in a sweet embrace? And Joseph, chosen out to guard The Virgin with thy gentle might, The Infant Jesus smiled on thee And called thee father as by right. You, who to save a guilty race Were born of David’s noble line O hear the humble prayers of all Today, who gather round your shrine. The sun now wends his way to rest And earth is veiled in shadows gray; Yet hearts a-fire with joy and love Still bid us linger on to pray. O may the grace of that sweet home Which held the earthly Trinity. Be shed abroad upon the world And bless the Christian family. O Jesu, born of a Virgin bright, Immortal glory be to thee; Praise to the Father infinite And Holy Ghost eternally. Amen. Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we love Thee.
Save souls! "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 "In me is all grace of the way and of the truth;
in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Like a rose planted on the rivers I have borne fruit." - Offertory: Mass of the Most Holy Rosary of the B.V.M. “I gaze upon the children of men to see whether anyone feels compassion for me, and alas, I see but few! …Do not forget me. Consider how much I have suffered.” - Our Lady to St. Bridget In the 14th Century, Our Lady appeared to St. Bridget of Sweden revealing the seven promises for those who honor meditate on her Seven Sorrows: “I want My Church to…put the devotion to this Immaculate Heart beside the devotion to My Sacred Heart.” - Our Lord to Sr. Lucia "God began the work of our redemption in the Heart of Mary, given that it was through Her ‘fiat’ that the redemption began to come about. This Immaculate Heart must be for us a refuge and the way that leads to God ... We see that devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary must be established in the world by means of a true consecration, through conversion and self-giving. Christ began, with Mary, the work of our salvation. It was from Mary that Christ received the Body and Blood that are to be poured out and offered up for the salvation of the world. Hence, Mary, made one with Christ, is the co-Redemptrix of the human race.” - Sr. Lucia on devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Unlimited is the effectiveness of the God-Man’s Blood — just as unlimited as the love that impelled him to pour it out for us, first at his circumcision eight days after birth, and more profusely later on in his agony in the garden,[12] in his scourging and crowning with thorns, in his climb to Calvary and crucifixion, and finally from out that great wide wound in his side which symbolizes the divine Blood cascading down into all the Church’s sacraments. Such sur passing love suggests, nay demands, that everyone reborn in the torrents of that Blood adore it with grateful love." - Pope St. John XXIII on Promoting Devotion to the Most Precious Blood
How shall it be when we see her there,
With heavenlight radiant on her face Making a glow of her shining hair, Marking each fold of her garment’s grace? Breathless in awe shall the angels listen While we, the fallen, declare her ours Though all the stars of the morning glisten Around her circlet of skyey flowers? For only God and ourselves may claim This loveliest, spotless, and sinless on And call her “Mother”—O matchless name! Whose God and Creator is her Son. Who shall have words for that breathless hour When death’s dark slumber is past awhile, And heaven unfolds like a glowing flower That blooms forever in Mary’s smile? Mater Amabilis! Mother-my-own, How shall I wait all the long years through, Unsated with beauty, in exile lone, Searching the skies for a sight of you! “Mater Amabilis” from p. 43 of Our Lady of Springtime, by Sr. Mary Jean Dorcy, O.P. "The Church draws her life from the Eucharist.
This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways She joyfully experiences the constant fulfilment of the promise: 'Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age' (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity." - Pope St. John Paul II: Ecclesia de Eucharistia |
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