The one whom every man loves

She (Mary) is the one whom every man loves when he loves a woman- whether he knows it or not.  She is what every woman wants to be, when she looks at herself.

The Worlds First Love
Bishop Fulton Sheen

Fiat

There are mothers who yearn for children, but they have to wait on the processes subject to nature. In Mary alone, a child waited not on nature, but on her acceptance of the Divine Will.  All she had to say was fiat, and she conceived.

The Worlds First Love
Bishop Fulton Sheen

St. Louis de Montfort's Way of Total Consecration

Today starts the first day of St. Louis de Monfort's Way of Total Consecration to Mary.  This is an amazing opportunity to know Christ in a beautiful and intimiate way.  I found a great website that explains how to do it.  Go here.  And if you have any questions please feel free to email me.

The Immaculate Conception

Why does the Catholic Church have a devotion to Mary?

After I wrote this one I realized that this is a BIG topic to cover.  So I will do my best to provide concise information that will be helpful to the family or friend who really doesn't understand why we love Mary so much.  It will be broken up into a few different posts.  I decided to start with a few beliefs that a lot of non Catholics struggle with.

Mary is the Immaculate Conception:

Mary was not born with original sin.  Consequently, her Son, who had no human father, could not inherit original sin.

Jesus was also immaculately conceived but his conception is a little easier on most people of other religions.  

Immaculate means: without stain

When discussing the Immaculate Conception, an implicit reference may be found in the angel’s greeting to Mary. The angel Gabriel said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28). The phrase "full of grace" is a translation of the Greek word kecharitomene. It therefore expresses a characteristic quality of Mary (taken from www.catholic.com)

CCC 491 Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God was redeemed from the moment of her conception.   

            
                                
Pope Pius IX Ineffeabilis Deus in 1854 said:  The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.

Fundamentalist Objections:

Romans 3:23 "all have sinned"- The author of this article from http://www.catholic.com/ says that this statement obviously excludes Jesus and a later Scripture reference Romans 9:11 stating that when Jacob and Esau were unborn babies they had done neither good nor bad.  So unborn babies are excluding from Romans 3:23 as well. 

This would indicate that the New Adam, Jesus, is excluded from this verse.  And consequently the New Eve, Mary could also be excluded from this verse.

So if Mary is without Sin is she equal to God?

No, and we only have to look at Adam, Eve and all the angels to know that although they were without sin they were not equal to God.  Being sinless does not equate being a human being.  More so it is when we strive to be sinless that we are fulfilling what God desires of us.  www.catholic.com



Two fantastic books to read if you want to learn more about Mary:  Introduction to Mary or Meet Mary: Getting to Know the Mother of God by Dr. Mark Miravelle.  Dr. Miravalle is a Mariologist.

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It is of importance to note that Catholics believe in Scripture and Tradition regarding our faith. This means that we are not 'sola scriptura'. Our belief in the Immaculate Conception has evolved through Scripture references and Sacred Tradition.   Vatican II issued the following statement about the Bible:

The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation:
"Since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation".

We acknowledge that the apostles were directed to preach the Gospel and to communicate the gifts of God to all men (CCC 75).

The apostolic preaching was handed down:

- orally:  by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves have received- whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

-writing:  by those apostles and other men who associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation in writing.  (CCC 76)

Of course this subject is a huge post in itself but I thought I would provide some background.

Stella Mariae

I had the privilege of attending a ten year reunion for my household (Christian sorority) 'Stella Mariae'. Latin for 'Star of Mary' Stella was formed in 1999 through the prayers of 15 women. The idea is that we are all stars of Mary striving to shine with Christ's love in a darkened world. Through the love of Jesus and Mary we are able to truly enter into a beautiful relationship with our Father in Heaven and one another. We try to exemplify the ten virtues of Mary (by St. Loius de Monfort):

Profound Humility
Continuous Prayer
Universal Mortification
Blind Obedience
Burning Charity
Divine Wisdom
Lively Faith
Angelic Sweetness
Heroic Patience
Divine Purity


We ususally pray for each specific virtue with a Hail Mary. We believe that by imitating the virtues of Mary we will truly be lights of Christ!

We created a covenant to the Lord and one another. It is still one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. Seeing the women from our household this weekend truly cemented the fact that those relationships that are formed with Christ as the center seem to last forever!

One of my girlfriends began talking to a friend with whom she had lost contact. Their lives are totally different and the one friend doesn't have Internet. After they had caught up the girl turned to my friend and said, ' I know that we aren't able to talk much but I do know that one day I will see you again in Heaven.' THAT is what is all about!



Although many things have transpired since I graduated college I am comforted by the fact that I have over 180 women praying for me daily. When crisis rears its head I have instant prayers. I may not keep in touch with many of the women but my heart is forever connected to them in the Eucharist. THAT is FRIENDSHIP.



Our Covenant with One Another:

Christ has called us into a special bond of spiritual sisterhood with one another. By this sisterhood, Christ calls us to LOVE (1 Cor. 13:1-13) Him first and then His Mother. Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment, love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-5)





By striving to truly love Jesus and Mary, we will learn how to love each other. Our love for each other is manifested as we serve, respect, encourage, protect and challenge one another toward holiness. We fight as women warriors, moving in unison with one another. Our battle is one for the triumph of Christ's love in our hearts and in the world. We are here to support each other in the battle, so that when one of us falls, the other women are present to help and protect the one who has fallen.





We call each other to holiness, to imitating the Blessed Mother, in the way we dress, act, and speak, in what we choose to see and hear. We help each other make decisions for the good. In this way we set our lives apart so that we will be used to bring Christ's Light and Love into this world of darkness. In giving our lives and ourselves to Jesus and Mary through interior and communal prayer, we are urged to go forth to evangelize and serve others in the different places God will place us.

The World's First Love

Fulton J. Sheen writes:

"Mary is the one whom every man loves when he loves a woman- whether he knows it or not."

"She is what every woman wants to be, when she looks at herself."

"She is the woman whom every man marries in ideal when he takes a spouse;

She is the secret desire every woman has to be honored and fostered;

She is the way every woman wants to command respect and love because of the beauty of her goodness of body and soul,

And this blueprint love, whom God loved before the world was made; this Dream woman before women were, is the one of whom every heart can say in its depth of depths; 'She is the woman I love!'."

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The World's First Love is a beautifully written book about Mary.

Honestly, it is BEAUTIFUL! Definitely wordy, not a quick read. You may want to buy your own copy so you can highlight and underline what moves you. Written in the 1950's it becomes evident that the Bishop was ahead of his time......

For the Catholic who loves Mary, this book will only lead you deeper in love with the Mother of God. It is inspiring and challenging. It makes you stop, go back and reread sentences that speak to your soul. For those who may not understand her role this book will help to clarify many misconceptions and potentially lead one into a much deeper relationship with our beautiful Mother.

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

This morning I read a great post over at Shower of Roses she has pulled together a wonderful list of ways to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. I plan on using the beautiful immaculate conception coloring page from Waltzing Matilda to make a grotto page with my daughters. I plan on mounting the picture and decorating it somehow, I am excited to do this with my daughters. Another great idea for a simple grotto is this one using a cake pan from By Sun and Candlelight Now I am not sure I am ambitious enough but this cupcake rosary at Catholic Cuisine is a fantastic idea! Be sure to check out all of the great ideas over at Shower of Roses what a blessing this resource is to those of us new to celebrating feast days and holy days with young children.