July 13, 2016

A papal prayer of consecration to Mary Venerable Pope Pius XII urged Catholics everywhere to consecrate themselves to Mary, so they could fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Most holy Virgin Mary, tender mother of all, to fulfill the desires of the Sacred Heart and the request of the vicar of your Son on earth, we consecrate ourselves and our families to your sorrowful and immaculate heart, O Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and we entrust... Read more

July 13, 2016

Review by Michele Craig Fr. Thomas F. Daily, O.S.F.S (Oblate of St. Francis de Sales) has taken St. Francis de Sales’s classic The Devout Life and made it user friendly!  I began reading The Devout Life about two years ago and struggled to apply it to my everyday life, but Fr. Thomas has mastered that task beautifully in Live Today Well: St. Francis de Sales’s Simple Approach to Holiness. To live well, Fr. Thomas explains: “…St. Francis de Sales considers... Read more

July 12, 2016

Prayer of total consecration to the Immaculata Several saints have urged us to make an act of total consecration to Mary. Here is the prayer of consecration to the Immaculata, “the Immaculate One,” composed by St. Maximillian Kolbe. O Immaculata, Queen of  Heaven and Earth, Refuge of  Sinners and our most loving mother: God has willed to entrust the entire order of mercy to you. I, a repentant sinner, cast myself at your feet, humbly imploring you to take me... Read more

July 11, 2016

Son of God, help me to praise your mother! If we feel inadequate to praise our Blessed Mother, says St. John of Damas- cus, then we should ask her Son to help us. Our Lady is the Mother of God, who alone is good and infinite in his condescension, who preferred to many splendid gifts the two copper coins of the widow in the temple. She will indeed receive us, who are paying off our debt through praise, and make... Read more

July 10, 2016

Mary will accept our meager praise St. John of Damascus recalls a story to illustrate that we should tell Mary our gratitude, even if we can’t adequately express it. Neither  human  tongue  nor  angelic  mind  can  worthily  praise her through whom it is given to us to look clearly upon the Lord’s glory. What then? Shall we be silent through fear of our insufficiency? Certainly not. Mingling fear with desire, and weaving them into one crown with reverent hand and... Read more

July 9, 2016

Mary, my greatest consolation St. Germanus recites the difficulties that may afflict us in this life, and turns to the Blessed Virgin as the remedy for each one. Most Holy Virgin! You are the greatest consolation that I receive from God. You are the heavenly dew that soothes all my pains. You are the light of my soul when it is surrounded by darkness. You are my guide in unfamiliar paths, the support of my weakness, my treasure in poverty,... Read more

July 8, 2016

Mary, be warmth to the world Caryll Houselander was an English Catholic spiritual writer, poet, and art- ist. In the concluding verses of a poem about Mary, whom she calls “The Reed” into which God breathed to make “infinite music,” she asks Our Lady to soothe our troubled world with her lullaby. Mary, Mother of God, we are the poor soil and the dry dust; we are hard with a cold frost. Be warmth to the world; be the thaw,... Read more

July 7, 2016

Could my sin be greater than Mary’s mercy? My sins may be great, St. William of Paris admits, but could they possibly greater than Mary’s mercy? Never let it be said! O Mother of God, I turn to you, and I call upon you not to reject me. For the whole congregation of the faithful calls you and proclaims you the Mother of Mercy. You are the one who is so dear to God that you are always graciously heard... Read more

July 6, 2016

Blessed are you, Mary The ancient poet Jacob of Sarug, known as “the flute of the Holy Spirit,” focuses on the intimacy of mother and Son, and the fruits of that intimacy in our lives. Blessed are you, Mary, and blessed is your holy soul, for your blessedness is beyond that of all the blessed. Blessed are you who have borne, held in your arms, and kissed as an Infant the One who upholds the ages in secret with his... Read more

July 5, 2016

Fair as the moon, bright as the sun St. Bernard compares Mary to the moon, radiantly reflecting the light of Jesus, the Sun of Justice, whom the Old Testament prophet Malachi said would one day “rise with healing in its wings” (Mal 4:2). Of  you, Mary, was the question asked, “Who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun?” (Sg 6:10). You came into the world, then, Mary, as a resplendent dawn,... Read more


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