For Our Lady's birthday, I'm reading Pope St. Pius X's encyclical Ad Diem Illum. He wrote it in honor of the 50 year jubilee of the dogmatic declaration in 1854 of her Immaculate Conception. That dogma was declared by Pope Pius IX in his own encyclical, Ineffabilis Deus. If I finish reading the encylical by Pope Pius X, I will read the original declaration.
Our Lady is such a great gift to the Church and to the world. One of Satan's cleverest attacks on Protestants was to convince them that Mary is a rival to Jesus, that honoring her, somehow, takes away from worship of Jesus. While they claim to be Bible Christians, they ignore the signposts that point to Mary.
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| King Solomon by Gustav Doré (1832-1883) |
Solomon, a great king, who ruled with wisdom and blessed his people with the Pax Solomonica, the great peace, also named twelve officer to assist him. One among them served as the head. Hello! They prefigured the apostles with St. Peter as head.
Really, folks, this OT story points directly to Mary and the apostles. She is the Queen of Heaven and Earth honored by her Son. Solomon, like other figures in the OT this episode links directly to the New Testament. There are no coincidences or accidents about it!
Honor Our Lady, Ark of the Covenant, to please Jesus who treated her with the profoundest love and respect. She told Lucia of Fatima that Jesus wanted her to help spread devotion to her Immaculate Heart. Would that not please Jesus if we also respond to that call and honored Mary under her title of the Immaculate Conception?
Let us all honor Our Blessed Mother today by, at the very least, by praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.
Lord Jesus, Son of Mary, have mercy on us.
Our Lady, Queen of Heaven and Earth, pray for us.
St. Joseph, Spouse of Mary, Foster Father of Jesus, and Pillar of Families, pray for us.
“One of Satan's cleverest attacks on Protestants was to convince them that Mary is a rival to Jesus, that honoring her, somehow, takes away from worship of Jesus. While they claim to be Bible Christians, they ignore the signposts that point to Mary.”
ReplyDeleteI like to think of it in personal terms.
Does it anger me when my children honor their mother, my wife, on her birthday, her “Mothers’ Day”, any day? Does it detract from my “patriarchal honor” when they wake up in the morning and pile on top of her for love and hugs? Do I disown my children for giving to my wife that which should only go to me?
It’s not a perfect analogy, because God is God, and what we owe Him and only Him, is worship. But as you say … veneration is not worship.
“… all generations will call me blessed”. As a former Protestant, I recall putting that into the religious prism in which I was raised such that the words of the Magnificat were emptied of all practical meaning - even though I would never admit that such was the case. But what do the words mean, then? “Blessed”, throughout all time and eternity is what they mean. And it pleases God greatly that we venerate - on our knees in thanksgiving - the Queen Mother, God’s highest of all creation, as *blessed* … she who put the “Apple” back on the “Tree”.
"When I feel myself tossed about in the sea of this world amidst storms and tempests, I keep my eyes fixed on you, O Mary, shining star, lest I be swallowed up by the waves.
ReplyDelete"When the winds of temptation arise, when I dash against the reefs of tribulations, I raise my eyes to you and call upon you, O Mary. When I am agitated by the billows of pride, ambition, slander or jealousy, I look to you and I invoke you, O Mary; when anger or avarice or the seductions of the flesh rock the fragile little barque of my soul, I always look to you, O Mary.
And if I am troubled by the enormity of my sins, troubled in conscience, frightened at the severity of judgment, and if I should feel myself engulfed in sadness or drawn into the abyss of despair, again I raise my eyes to you, always calling on you, O Mary........if you support me I shall not fall, if you protect me I shall have nothing to fear, if you accompany me I shall not grow weary, if you look upon me with favor, I shall reach the port." (St. Bernard, 'Divine Intimacy).
So, help us God! Amen.