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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Advent plans | Blessed Virgin Mary | mysteries of the rosary | pray the rosary
Saint John said that all things were created in the Word, and the Word was made flesh, and born into this world to be its King. If this plan depended on a King of flesh and blood, then He must be born of a perfect human mother, a perfect human Queen. Like all other human beings, she, Our Blessed Mother, was made free to love or not to love. So even God’s infinite love would have to depend on her freely choosing to receive it. When she said ‘yes’, even eternity held its breath to give thanks to Mary and the Son that her loving fiat would bring into the world to inaugurate a timeless and heavenly destiny for all who would receive Him.
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Blessed Virgin Mary | holy-family
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “This feast commemorates the dedication of the church of St. Mary, built in Jerusalem near the site of the Temple. Additionally, with Christians of the East, the Latin Church also remembers on this day the tradition according to which Mary as a small child, was presented to the Lord by her parents in the Temple” (The Liturgy of the Hours, Volume IV, p. 1572).
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Blessed Virgin Mary | Nativity of Mary | celebrating Marian feasts
Mary’s birth is not recorded in the Bible. What we celebrate on September 8th each year is not Mary’s birthday in the traditional sense, but we honor the blessing of her being born. The word nativity refers to the circumstance or occasion of one being born. We honor the Nativity of Jesus, celebrated on December 25th, the date nine months after the celebration of the visit of the angel, Gabriel at the Annunciation. In a similar way, we remember Mary´s nativity, coming exactly nine months following the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the December 8th Solemnity when we commemorate Mary’s gift of prevenient grace allowing her to be born without Original Sin.
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Assumption | Blessed Virgin Mary | celebrating Marian feasts
We kayaked across Yellowstone’s Lewis Lake, up the Lewis River and halfway across Shoshone Lake to the campsite. Stepping out, stepping back, a different perspective unfolded as we celebrated the Eucharist on the shore. This gaze opened into infinity, finding and awakening vision: the faculty to be able to see and to understand, where sometimes only nature can reawaken this sense. At the same time, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15, in a similar and complementary way awakens our vision, yet with even greater clarity and depth.
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Behold Your Mother | Blessed Virgin Mary | prayer
Family Rosary continues our May reflections on the motherly role that the Blessed Mother plays in our lives. Often times Catholics are questioned, "Why not go directly to God? Why do you go to Mary with your prayers?" Well, I propose a few reasons why we, as Catholics, turn to the Blessed Mother, gaze upon her beauty, and ask for her prayers.
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Blessed Virgin Mary | Marian devotion | To Jesus Through Mary
As a young girl, I felt very drawn to Mary. There was not necessarily a “reason” for this. I could hardly understand her Immaculate Conception, her Fiat, her suffering at the Foot of the Cross. Still, I would often find myself reaching out and touching her feet on prayer cards, taking in her blue mantle and the crown she wore on her head. I would often ask to light a candle or say a “Hail Mary” after Mass. There was a knowing then, a maternal feeling that radiated from her into my own heart. I felt a desire to be more like her.
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