Mary loved God with her whole heart St. Alphonsus tells us that Mary perfectly fulfilled the greatest commandment: to love God with all her heart. St. Anselm says that “wherever there is the greatest purity, there is also the greatest charity.” The more a heart is pure, and empty of itself, the greater is the fullness of its love toward God. The most holy Mary, because she was all humility and had nothing of self in her, was filled with... Read more
The Son of God chose his own mother If you could choose your own mother, what kind of woman would you choose? The Son of God actually had such a choice, St. Alphonsus reminds us, and Mary had the qualities he was seeking. It was fitting that the Son of God should preserve Mary from sin, since she was his mother. No other man could choose his mother. But if such a thing could ever be granted to anyone, who would... Read more
Earlier this year Image Books announced they would no longer be taking new acquisitions. In other words, to the sadness of many, Image Books would no longer be publishing Catholic books after 2015. Here at The Catholic Book Blogger I decided to celebrate some of the great titles Image has released over the years. We are going to do that with this 10 book prize pack sponsored by Image Books. One lucky winner will receive on copy of each of... Read more
It was fitting for Mary never to be a slave to Satan If Mary was to crush Satan’s head, St. Alphonsus reasons, it was fitting that she would never have been first subject to him because of sin. Great indeed was the injury imposed on Adam and all his posterity by his accursed sin. At the same time that he, to his own great misfortune, lost grace, he also forfeited all the other precious gifts with which he had originally... Read more
A throne of divine mercy The Divine Mercy message didn’t begin with our Lord’s revelations to St. Faustina Kowalska in the twentieth century. Nearly seven centuries before, St. Alphonsus reports, St. Bonaventure wrote about Mary’s role in the Divine Mercy. “Who can there be in the world,” exclaims St. Bonaventure, “who refuses to love this most amiable queen? She is more beautiful than the sun, and sweeter than honey. She is a treasure of goodness, lovable and courteous to all.... Read more
The Choice of the Family: A Call to Wholeness, Abundant Life, and Enduring Happiness is a timely book leading up to The World Meeting of Families. The book is a collection of interviews with Bishop Jean Laffitte, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family. It is a wide ranging interview covering marriage, cohabitation, divorce and parenting and taken as a while is a true manifest on the importance of treating marriage as a genuine and beautiful sacrament of the Church.... Read more
The mother was like the Son St. Ignatius of Loyola reminds us that the Son and the mother bear a resem- blance, not just in body, but in soul. What creature was more like Jesus than Mary? The laws of nature ordain that the son should resemble the mother; the laws of grace ordained beforehand that the mother should possess all the characteristics suitable to the Son. Here recall with profound respect: First, her immaculate conception, which renders her a... Read more
Mary’s perpetual virginity In the fourth century, one Scripture interpreter cited a passage in the Gospel of Matthew to claim that Mary gave birth to other children after Jesus. In response, the great Bible scholar St. Jerome showed how the passage doesn’t contradict the Church’s ancient tradition that Jesus was Mary’s only Child. Joseph had no relations with Mary, the Gospel says, “until she had borne a son” (Mt 1:25). In this passage, some people insist, until implies a fixed... Read more
Mary’s special gifts help her witness to Christ Blessed John Henry Newman considers how Mary’s special gifts, and her special dignity in the Church, are necessary for her to bear proper witness to her Son. If the Mother of God is to bear witness to Emmanuel, she must be necessarily more than the Mother of God. For consider: A defense must be strong in order to be a defense; a tower must be, like that Tower of David (which is... Read more
This week Franciscan Media sponsors the giveaway. One lucky winner will receive one copy of Blessed Are You: Finding Inspiration from Our Sisters in Faith (you can read my review here). I use Rafflecopter to run my giveaways which makes it simple for you and me! Enter below. The contest starts at midnight tonight EST and will end 12 AM EST 9/04 with a winner being announced later that day. a Rafflecopter giveaway Read more
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