The Devil is Nothing If He Isn't Bold in Blasphemy! Marriage Bill Passes on Mary's Feast Day!

What an abomination took place today in Congress on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The House passed the Orwellian named "Respect for Marriage" act which enshrines into federal law same-sex marriage. The bill makes two men or two women sodomizing each other equivalent to the marital act blessed by God in the sacramental union of husband and wife. It now goes to the President who announced how happy he will be to sign it into law. 

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for Us!

There isn't a canonized saint in heaven who did not embrace devotion to Our Lady. One of the reasons they became saints is they faithfully walked in the footsteps of Our Queen. She escorted them straight to the King and taught these humble, little followers to bow before His Majesty! Even the great ones among them, had a humble servant's heart. On this Feast of the Immaculate Conception I offer a few golden nuggets from The Imitation of Mary. She is there to help us in all circumstances:

Nabi Sayeth: Celebrate Our Lady on her Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Nabi sayeth: We celebrate on December 8 the wonderful Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And what a beautiful and powerful feast it is. Though widely misunderstand by Catholics in the pew, the feast commemorates the conception of the Virgin Mary, not the conception of our Lord Jesus as the Gospel reading for the Feast leads many to believe. The feast is meant to celebrate the uniqueness and incredible holiness of Our Mother Mary. That Mary is “Blessed among women” is a Catholic belief which will make little sense to many in our egalitarian-obsessed culture. 

But the Catholic Church by celebrating this feast insists that Our Blessed Mother IS INDEED unique, special, most holy among all women, and men as well. She was chosen to be Our Lord’s Mother because she was conceived without sin and was, therefore, the most perfect “Vessel” to bear the Savior of the world.

Happy Feast Day, Blessed Mother!

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is the perfect day to remember and celebrate Humanae Vitae which will be 50 years old next summer. Most readers probably know I'm referring to Pope Paul's encyclical on the sanctity of human life and marriage that reiterated the Catholic doctrine that a couple, in exercising their marital privilege, must never attack the act by deliberately rendering it sterile. The gift God gave married couples in "knowing" each other and becoming almost literally "one flesh" must respect both of God's purposes -- to unite the couple in love and to be open to the blessing of a child to the union if it be God's will.

In Humanae Vitae Pope Paul VI warned of the dangers of setting aside God's purpose for married love and all the horrors he described have come to pass: abortion, loss of respect for women, government coercion, etc.

As we honor Mary today, I want to share a bit from a talk by Malcolm Muggeridge on Humane Vitae which he gave in 1979. Even then, the disasters of contraception already loomed clearly on the horizon:

"I am the Immaculate Conception"

Pray the rosary today in reparation for all the sins against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.

A great meditation today would be to watch the wonderful film, The Song of Bernadette. The book was written by Franz Werfel, a Jewish poet, playwright, and novelist, in thanksgiving to the Blessed Mother for the safe escape of his family from the Nazis to America during World War II. The Blessed Mother continues to work miracles for those who love and honor her.

Think I Will!

"Wear a Veil Day" on December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation. Shall we honor our Mother by wearing a veil like she did?

Why not?

If anyone asks, I'll just say it's a gift for my two moms. My heavenly mother wore a long veil and my earthly mom wore a chapel veil to every Mass until the day she died. She always carried it in her purse and put it on whenever she went into a church.

It brings a smile to my face to think of it. To honor you, Mom, I'll be veiled at Mass on Monday.

Immaculate Mary, Your Praises We Sing!

Happy Feast Day to our Blessed Lady. We are putting white lilies on our Jesse Tree in her honor today.

Queen conceived without original sin, pray for us. I invite you to pray with me the Litany of Our Lady.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Many Catholics confuse Mary's Immaculate Conception with the Incarnation of Jesus. One of my daughters had her sixth grade teacher (at a Catholic school no less) correct her when she said the Immaculate Conception happened when Mary was conceived without original sin in the womb of her mother Ann. Tara was absolutely right, but it took a handout from the Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to convince the teacher she was mistaken. Good for Tara for not backing down. And good for the teacher who correctly instructed her students about the feast.

Just goes to show, you are never too old to learn and that we need to study the doctrines of our faith.

All of us are conceived with original sin. Why? Because Adam and Eve couldn't give us what they didn't have.

Think of it this way.

Before original sin, Adam and Eve's DNA was perfect. They would never die, they were totally physically and mentally integrated: no defective genes, no sensitivity to physical ailments or mental illness. In other words, they were perfect, both physically and emotionally.

Then they listened to the devil, a murderer and liar from the beginning and a quack who sold them a big dose of snake oil. He injected them with a genetic fault that infected every one of their cells, one that destroyed their original integrity (their "hard drive" in computer lingo) and destroyed their ability to pass on their original perfection. So, instead of that, they gave all their children the defective gene, one that inclined them toward sin and weakness.

Mary however, was saved from this genetic catastrophe by the great physician who corrected the fault in the egg cell of her mother, Ann, and the sperm cell of her father, Joachim. So, when she was conceived, she received the same perfection given to Adam and Eve at the beginning, which is why she's called the "New Eve."

Today is a great feast day, one that is so important the Church makes it one of the few "holy days of obligation" that require Catholics to attend Mass as if it were Sunday. Who could object to honoring this so glorious mother, especially in the holy season of advent when we focus on the perfection of her Son? Note that the feast occurs nine months before the date when Catholics traditionally celebrate Mary's birthday, September 8th.

So enjoy the feast. Have a special treat with the family and praise the Holy Mother of God! "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."

Happy feast day!

Immaculate Mary, Your Praises We Sing

December 8, Feast of the Immaculate Conception

As we get ready for Christmas the Church gives us a beautiful reminder that God Himself prepared in the days before He sent His Son. He gifted the Blessed Mother with her Immaculate Conception, saving her from the effects of original sin at the very moment she was conceived in the womb of her mother, Ann. That preparation is a reminder to us. God didn't start out by choosing apostles, teaching them, and sending them out to the world. No, He began at the very beginning preparing the hearts and minds of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. St. Joseph himself revealed to Blessed Catherine Emmerich that he was saved from original sin immediately after his conception. So God prepared a holy home for His Son before Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb.

I think the message for Christians is that we need to be saved personally before we can evangelize others. How can we help to "remove the beam of sin" from the eyes of others, if we haven't repented of our own sins and sought God's forgiveness, especially in the Sacrament of Confession. How many of us are out saving the world while we ignore evil and faults in our own lives?

We are called to be witnesses to the world, but our witness begins with giving an example of repentance. In Advent especially we should listen to the call of St. John the Baptist, "Reform your lives." We cannot hear the good news if our own ears are ringing with the world's noise. We can't hear the angels' hosannas while we listen to the siren song of the evil one. We can't help others to see the truth if our own eyes are filled with images of heterosexual lust from the catalogues of Victoria's Secret and homosexual lust from the catalogues of Abercrombie and Fitch. In today's world protecting our eyes is more important than ever because evil is mainstreamed in mall windows, grocery store magazine racks, and on the Internet.

We need to pray constantly for protection and conversion. A good model for us is St. Augustine whose mother, St. Monica, pursued him literally and in prayer until he finally succumbed to the Hound of Heaven.

Pray the conversion prayer of St. Augustine today to prepare yourself to be a soldier in the army of Christ.