Mother of the Forsaken

Seven Sorrows Of The Blessed Virgin Mary 2025
We should be familiar with all seven of the great sorrows of the Virgin Mary’s life.  In the devotion to the Sorrowful Mother, we see Our Lady in all her bravery and strength, yet still possessing the tender love of a mother.  She is Mother of Priests because, although she was not a priest herself, she teaches and guides all priests.  Our Lady is repelled by the empty sentimentality of those who favor the appearances of holiness over true sanctity.  From her Immaculate Conception, the Blessed Mother was filled with all grace and virtue.  She was so united with Christ in His sufferings that it was only by a miracle that her life was sustained through her Divine Son’s Passion.  She was capable of feeling pain far more profoundly because she loved more deeply than anyone else is capable.  Every time we pray the Hail Mary, we are asking the Blessed Mother to apply the merits of Our Lord’s Passion to us, so we may have final perseverance at the end of our lives.
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The First Fruit of the Redemption

Assumption Evening 2025
Judith of the Old Testament is a figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary who crushes the head of Satan and defeats sin.  In the Gospel, the Blessed Mother was early with child when she traveled to visit her cousin Elizabeth. With the infant Jesus only three days old in her womb, the Virgin Mary was affirmed by St. Elizabeth to be the Mother of God.  Tradition teaches us that when the Blessed Mother was near death, the Apostles were inspired to come to the place where she was to die.  Before the Apostles’ very eyes, she rose from the dead and was assumed into Heaven.  The Blessed Mother is the first fruit of the Redemption.  It was only in view of the coming Redemption that she was preserved from Original Sin.  Today is a true homecoming.  Heaven, not Earth, is our home, and we pray that Our Lady will lead us to that home one day.
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Hail Mary, Full of Love

Feast of the Assumption 2025
In the Epistle for today’s feast, the applied sense of Scripture is used to connect Judith’s conquest over the prince of the Hebrew’s enemies in the Old Testament to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s victory over the Prince of Darkness.  The passive word Assumption is used to express the direct action of the Trinity on Our Lady in bringing her, body and soul, into Heaven.  One can only imagine the great joy in Heaven at the entrance of its Queen.  In the Hail Mary we are meant to greet the Holy Virgin with fervor and love.  Divine Charity, which we possess in Sanctifying Grace, far surpasses the greatest and most noble of human love.  The intensity of this Divine Love in the Blessed Mother is unimaginable, and it transformed even her smallest works into actions warranting the greatest merit.  What our Savior desires most from us is that we love Him in return.
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The Best Gift for His Mother

First Friday, December 2024
Conference on Grace and The Immaculate ConceptionWhen we speak of perfect passive conception, we refer to the moment in which the product of active conception is infused with a soul and becomes a human person.  From this moment of perfect passive conception, the Virgin Mary was redeemed in a preservative, not a liberative, manner.  The Blessed Mother from this point possessed a greater union with God than all the angels and saints.  Our Lady was not only free from the guilt of Original Sin, but also the concupiscence of the flesh, of the eyes, and the pride of life.  By a divine ligature, she was unable to consent to even the slightest imperfections.

Sanctifying Grace is a created share in the supernatural life of God.  When God breathed human life into Adam, He breathed a share of divine life into him as well.  Grace must be valued above all things.  We must be willing to live and die to preserve it.  The Blessed Mother was given the plenitude of grace in preparation for her role as the Mother of God, as well as Mother to each one of us.
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A Fertile Ground for Prayer

Assumption Evening 2024
The Assumption is not an event recorded in Scripture, but we must remember faith does not come through reading but through hearing.  The Apostles learned everything by listening to the teachings of Our Lord.  Our bodies are destined to be with our souls in Heaven, not to remain in the world.  How could a person expect to be admitted into Heaven if he denies that Our Lord’s own Mother is there?  We must make up for that neglect shown to the Blessed Mother by our own fervor on this day. We must continue the fight for the Virgin Mary’s honor and our salvation.
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He Glorified His Ark

Feast Of The Assumption 2024
This is the greatest of the feast days in honor of the Blessed Mother.  This dogma, which has been passed down to us from the Apostles, is so critical that we cannot be saved without belief in it.  All the aspects of the Assumption call to mind the prerogatives of the Mother of God.  She is above all women, untouched by sin and death.  This Mass begins with the words of St. John, recalling his vision of the woman of the Apocalypse, and continues with the story of Judith, a type of the Blessed Mother.  We are her seed, and we follow the great Queen of Heaven in the battle with the seed of the devil.  Her body was the tabernacle of the Son of God and was so sanctified that it deserved its glorification.
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What She Has Done For Us

Assumption Evening 2023
The Holy Mother of God is Queen, even of the angels.  We cannot imagine the great rejoicing in Heaven on this day.  It is believed that Our Lord Himself came and took His Mother back to Heaven.  We may not have been present for the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Assumption but before long, we will join in the celebration of Heaven.  It is impossible for us to appreciate how much we owe Her for all that She has done for us, and we will never stop thanking Her.
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She Is The Joy of Heaven

Feast of the Assumption 2023
In Heaven, the Blessed Mother is second only to the Holy Trinity in honor.  She is called Co-redemptrix because everything that Our Lord won she won as well in a subordinate manner.  It was a miracle that she was sustained in life while her Divine Son died.  She was kept on Earth for the sake of helping the early Church.  Because the Virgin Mary shared so closely in Our Lord’s death, she shares in His triumph.  She offers the gifts of God as she pleases to her children here below.
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The Marks Of the Saints

All Saints Day 2021, Evening
It is natural for us to seek the help of our friends when trying to accomplish something.  This is what we do with our heavenly friends, the saints, as well. Today honors all the unknown saints with their own feast day. Our chapel has the Beatitudes intermingled with the statues of the saints because these are the marks of what a saint is.  Parents have a tremendous influence in raising their children to be saints.  Saints deserve to be on pedestals but we should never forget that they were people like us.  We can achieve the same by corresponding to grace as they did.  Avoid occasions of sin and follow the example of the saints like Mary Magdalen, Augustine and the Little Flower.
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Humility Of All The Saints

All Saints Day 2021
The Church always celebrated groups of saints and today’s feast includes all the saints.  In the seventh century the pagan Pantheon was consecrated to God and the relics of the saints in the catecombs were brought to this temple for veneration and honoring.  God gave this feast so we thank Him for the saints, we can imitate them, implore their intercession and make reparation for any dishonor shown them or the angels.  If worldlings work so hard following their pagan ideals why can’t Christians work as hard to love God as He deserves?  Humility is the secret of the saints and the law of mercy.
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