Wonderful Post Today at Non Veni Pacem Honoring the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary!

Featured at Non Veni Pacem

Today is the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary. Blessed be her Holy Name!

Following is a condensed version of the Miraculous Medal story, followed by a little advice:

Catherine rose, knelt beside the Blessed Mother and rested her hands in the Virgin’s lap. Mary said: “God wishes to charge you with a mission. You will be contradicted, but do not fear; you will have the grace to do what is necessary. Tell your spiritual director all that passes within you. Times are evil in France and in the world.” (Continued here.)

Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

Our Lady of Ransom with St. Raymong and St. Peter

The Pastor's Corner article from St. Raymond of Penafort this week is so good I just had to post it! It's a history lesson on the conflict between Muslims and Christians. Thanks, Fr. De Celles!

And let us follow his advice and pray to Our Lady of Ransom/Mercy for the conversion of our Muslim neighbors. The best way to defeat an enemy is to make him your brother or sister in Christ! And even if he isn't, treat him with the same respect.

The feast of Our Lady of Ransom/Mercy is this week on September 24th. This has special meaning for me because I attended Gwynedd Mercy Academy in Gwynedd Valley, PA which was named for Our Lady of Mercy.

The Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross

As we celebrate the Feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross we recall with deep compassion Our Lord Jesus’ suffering on the Cross out of love for us, for our salvation and for our sins. In that light, we cannot help but call to mind the many Christians who are now being persecuted for the sake of their love of Christ and His Cross. This persecution has descended to new depths of depravity at the hands of the army calling itself the “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria” (ISIS), who are going so far as to torture Christians to death by hanging them on crosses.

Most Muslims today oppose this kind of violent persecution of Christians. Nevertheless, violence against non-Muslims is very much a part of Islamic teaching and history. After all, almost immediately after founding Islam in 610 AD Muhammad himself took up the sword and led armies to force his Arab neighbors to convert to Islam: “submit or die.” By the time of his death in 632 he had conquered, by violence or threat of violence, a good part of western Arabia, and by 711 the armies of his successors had conquered not only all of northern Africa but also almost all of the Iberian Peninsula—Spain and Portugal. Their march into Western Europe was finally stopped by the armies of Charles Martel (“The Hammer”) in 732. Attempted invasions of Eastern Europe and Italy continued over the centuries, including the defeat of the Byzantine Empire and the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. Persecution of Christians in Muslim countries also continued throughout this period.

Violence against non-Muslims continued in lesser ways more or less continuously until the 20th century, (Read more....)

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!