The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

This my annual post about Our Lady of Guadalupe. I usually am not especially interested in one visitation of Mary more than another, but there is something about Our Lady of Guadalupe that captures my attention. It is all the concrete symbolism that can be seen. Be sure to check out all the links. There is some fantastic information in those places.

MEMORIAL

The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego on Tepayac hill near Mexico City on the 9th of December 1531 to ask for the construction of a church there in her honour. After the miraculous cure of his uncle, Bernardo, this Indian peasant brought to his Bishop some roses that he received from Our Lady as a sign of her request. As the flowers fell from his cloak to the ground before the astonished Prelate, the image of the blessed virgin, which is venerated in the Basilica of Guadalupe to this day, was miraculously impressed on the simple garment before their eyes.

In Conversation With God Vol 7: Feast Days, July-December

There is so much in that image that speaks to Catholic hearts through symbolism.

However, there is much more to Our Lady of Guadalupe's image than that. As with all good Catholic images there is abundant symbolism that was specifically designed to speak to the hearts of the people to whom she brought her message ... the Aztecs. I remember when our priest put out a flyer about this and I was just knocked out at how meaningful every single thing in the image is. I really like this explanation.

The miraculous image produced on the apron or tilma of Blessed Juan Diego is rich in symbolism. The aureole or luminous light surrounding the Lady is reminiscent of the "woman clothed with the sun" of Rev. 12:1. The light is also a sign of the power of God who has sanctified and blessed the one who appears. The rays of the sun would also be recognized by the native people as a symbol of their highest god, Huitzilopochtli. Thus, the lady comes forth hiding but not extinguishing the power of the sun. She is now going to announce the God who is greater than their sun god.

The Lady is standing upon the moon. Again, the symbolism is that of the woman of Rev. 12:1 who has the "moon under her feet". The moon for the Meso-Americans was the god of the night. By standing on the moon, she shows that she is more powerful than the god of darkness. However, in Christian iconography the crescent moon under the Madonna's feet is usually a symbol of her perpetual virginity, and sometimes it can refer to her Immaculate Conception or Assumption.

The eyes of Our lady of Guadalupe are looking down with humility and compassion. This was a sign to the native people that she was not a god since in their iconography the gods stare straight ahead with their eyes wide open. We can only imagine how tenderly her eyes looked upon Blessed Juan Diego when she said: " Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief -- Am I not here who am your Mother?"

The angel supporting the Lady testifies to her royalty. To the Meso-American Indians only kings, queens and other dignitaries would be carried on the shoulders of someone. The angel is transporting the Lady to the people as a sign that a new age has come.

The mantle of the Lady is blue-green or turquoise. To the native people, this was the color of the gods and of royalty. It was also the color of the natural forces of life and fecundity. In Christian art, blue is symbolic of eternity and immortality. In Judaism, it was the color of the robe of the high priest. The limbus or gold border of her mantle is another sign of nobility.

The stars on the Lady's mantle shows that she comes from heaven. She comes as the Queen of Heaven but with the eyes of a humble and loving mother. The stars also are a sign of the supernatural character of the image. The research of Fr. Mario Rojas Sanchez and Dr. Juan Homero Hernandez Illescas of Mexico (published in 1983) shows that the stars on the Lady's mantle in the image are exactly as the stars of the winter solstice appeared before dawn on the morning of December 12, 1531.

The color of the Madonna's dress is rose or pale-red. Some have interpreted this as the color of dawn symbolizing the beginning of a new era. Others point to the red as a sign of martyrdom for the faith and divine love.

The gold-encircled cross brooch under the neck of the Lady's robe is a symbol of sanctity.

The girdle or bow around her waist is a sign of her virginity, but it also has several other meanings. The bow appears as a four-petaled flower. To the native Indians this was the nahui ollin, the flower of the sun, a symbol of plenitude. The cross-shaped flower was also connected with the cross-sticks which produce fire. For them, this was the symbol of fecundity and new life. The high position of the bow and the slight swelling of the abdomen show that the Lady is "with child". According to Dr. Carlos Fernandez Del Castillo, a leading Mexican obstetrician, the Lady appears almost ready to give birth with the infant head down resting vertically. This would further solidify her identification with the woman of Rev. 12 who is about to give birth.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother and Patroness of the Unborn,
1999 Office of Respect Life – Diocese of Austin

Read about this apparition of Our Lady in more depth at Catholic Culture.

Here is yet another point about the symbolism in an article by Bishop Olmsted, which is sadly no longer available online from The Catholic Sun where it first appeared. I have never seen the symbolism mentioned anywhere else.

Nine heart-shaped flower blossoms decorate the tunic worn by Our Lady of Guadalupe, surrounding her hands, which are gently folded in prayer. This artistic technique told the Native peoples that the Virgin Mary was holding hearts in her maternal hands, protecting them from harm. This image mesmerized them as they gazed with awe and wonder at the sight. It filled them with new hope at a time when they teetered on the edge of despair. Why?

Hearts, they had thought, were what you offered to the gods in order to restore harmony in the world. In their own practice of human sacrifice, hearts were torn out of victims, usually enemies captured in battle, and then offered as a peace offering. But that effort to win peace with their “gods” had failed to save them from defeat by the Conquistadors. Worse, after the conquest, they no longer knew how to pray or even to whom to pray.

But then, Our Lady of Guadalupe came to them, gently holding their hearts in her hands. Harmony, they realized, was again possible! Her hands held their hearts just above the divine Child in her womb, the One whose Sacred Heart conquers violence and restores peace to the world.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Read about the structure in a wonderful post at Mexico Bob

Be sure also to check out this fantastic book Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love. It is chock full of good information about more symbolism and how Our Lady of Guadalupe relates to our lives today.

Feast of the Immaculate Conception - Holy Day of Obligation

This year, December 8 falls on a Sunday, so the Feast of the Immaculate Conception will fall on the following Monday. Which is today!

Luca Mombello (1518-1520/ 1588-1596)
Immacolata Concezione con Dio Padre / The Immaculate Conception with God the Father
via Idle Speculations where there is some fascinating information
about paintings of the Immaculate Conception with the Son included.

 Today we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Our Lady's preservation from all stain of original sin is an absolutely unique privilege. According to theologians, the fullness of grace in Mary's case was the principal ground and characteristic of her human nature. Every aspect of her being shone with the splendour of that harmony with which God had originally wanted to endow all humanity ... We understand clearly that God prepared with infinite love the one who was to become the Mother of his Son: How would we have acted if we could have chosen our own mother? I'm sure we would have chosen the one we have, adorning her with every possible grace. That is what Christ did. Being all-powerful, all-wise, Love itself (1 John 4:8), his power carried out his will. (St. Josemaria Escriva)

The life of the Immaculate Mother of God will always be a worthy ideal for us all to imitate, because she is a model of sanctity in ordinary life, of the kind of holiness that is accessible to everyone in everyday circumstances. It is a quiet dedication that often passes unnoticed.

In Conversation with God, Special Feasts: July - December

I do love those moments when modern science catches up to the Church. Today, believe it or not is one such day. This blew me away.

The gift of the Immaculate Conception was given contemporaneously with Mary's microscopic sparking to life. ... God chould choose His own mother and so logically chose a perfect one. As the author of creation, He crafted a pristine soul incapable of sin or moral disorder. ...

When she is just a fetus, a woman has as many eggs as she will ever have. The ovaries of a female fetus are saturated with eggs whose numbers will only decrease over time. So half of the genetic material necessary to form an embryo has waited, latent, inside of that embryo's mother since the time that mother was herself in utero. The unbroken chain of human life is unfathomably beautiful. Grandmother, mother, and grandchild are, in a certain sense, bound together, united, in every woman expecting a daughter. When Mary was conceived in the womb of Saint Anne, then, the DNA of Jesus of Nazareth was already present in the embryonic Mary. This is a biological fact, not a statement of faith. At the Annunciation, when Mary miraculously conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, that "Lord and Giver of Life" spoke through the words ofthe Archangel Gabriel and sparked Christ to first stir with humanity deep inside the body where His genes had long been waiting. ...

In Saint Anne, God was readying the fairest flower of Israel, her most modest daughter and humble rose, for Himself. Mary's virtues of humility and obedience would straighten the path twisted by Eve's sins of disobedience and pride.

Father Michael Black, Saints and Feasts of the Catholic Calendar, Vol IV

If you've been saying the Immaculate Conception novena, here's the final day's prayer.

Marianne Stokes, Madonna and Child, 1907-1908

via Wikimedia Commons

I discovered this image via Magnificat's cover years ago. Our Lady is so serene and loving looking that I wanted to include it here, despite the fact that it isn't specifically about the Immaculate Conception.

Immaculate Conception Novena - Day 8

Domenico Ghirlandaio, Birth Of Mary
(I like thinking about the practicalities as well as the theological at this moment.
Just like her son, Jesus, would do, Mary is a sign to us that God works in the material things —
the "matter" of our world.)

GATE OF HEAVEN

St. Alphonsus Liguori affirms that Mary is the Gate of Heaven, since in the way all befits a king confers first to pass through his palace gate, no grace comes down from heaven without first passing through the hands of Mary. Even during her earthly life we see how Our Lady was the dispenser of Divine grace. Precisely through her the unborn Jesus blesses the Precursor from his Mother's womb on the occasion when Mary has gone in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Jesus performs his first miracle by changing water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee -- at Mary's insistence. The disciples begin to put their faith wholly in Jesus from this very moment. The Church in history and in the nations of the world began on that day of Pentecost -- in the presence of Mary.

In Conversation With God :
Feast Days July - December(vol.7)

Here is the novena for the eighth day.

Immaculate Conception Novena - Day 7

Madonna of the Roses, William-Adolphe Bouguereau

 

REFUGE OF SINNERS

Cardinal Newman recommends that we do not think of God as a severe and harsh taskmaster. One who himself acts out of anger, with severity or harshness, or who is easily offended by others, is often led to perceive God in this light. Jesus, however, loves each one of us beyond our wildest imaginings. He seeks us out all the more earnestly the worse our situation may appear to us. Since God is forever kind and merciful, Our Lady's role is not to soften Divine justice, but to prepare our hearts to receive the countless graces the Lord has prepared for us.

In Conversation With God :
Feast Days July - December(vol.7)

Here is the novena for the seventh day.

The Black Madonna by Gaston de La Touche, 1908

Immaculate Conception Novena: Day 6

Mother of God Oumilenie
(Affectionate Tenderness), Russia, XVth Century
via Icons Explained

MOTHER MOST AMIABLE

Next to the Lord, when he is nailed to the Cross stands Mary, John the beloved disciple, and some holy women. At this climactic moment the Lord speaks to the Blessed Virgin with words that have particular meaning for each one of us. He says to her: "Woman, behold thy son." Then He says to the disciple, "Behold thy mother." (John 19:27) ... It is moving to see Jesus forgetful of his own sufferings and loneliness during the anguish of the Passion ... The immense love he shows for Mary, whom he does not want to leave on her own, still moves us today. There, next to Mary, John personifies every single one of us. Christ gave us his mother to be our own.

On this day of the novena we can consider our own personal relationship with her. Do we approach her trustingly as St. John would? Do we often remember that she is at our side? Do we seek her intercession frequently, saying with all our heart: Mother, O Mother of mine...

In Conversation With God :
Feast Days July - December(vol.7)

Here is the novena for the sixth day.

Immaculate Conception Novena: Day 5

Maternal Bond,* Timothy P. Schmalz

MYSTICAL ROSE

But Mary kept in mind all these things, pondering them in her heart. (Luke 2:19) And his mother kept all these things carefully in her heart. (Luke 2:51)

The Blessed Mother treasures in her heart the events she is privileged to witness. She ponders the great and small happenings of her ordinary life in the light of faith. Her considerations, full of affection, colour her entire attitude toward the various occurrences of her life as they unfold. Mary gives us a supreme example of interior recollection. Her insistent prayer rises to heaven like the sweet perfume of the rose...

The Blessed Virgin shows us how to ponder the truths of the Faith in our heart. We also come to perceive the events of our life in the light of God's presence. Apparent disaster and success, the birth of a child and the death of a loved one, the difficulties that arise at work and in family life and the experiences of our friendship, all these will take on their deepest meaning before our contemplative gaze. Like Mary our model, we can habitually seek the Lord in the intimacy of our soul in grace.

In Conversation With God :
Feast Days July - December(vol.7)

Here is the link for the fifth day of the novena.

*Note: you may order replicas of the statue at the artist's website. 

Immaculate Conception Novena: Day 4

Thirteenth century Madonna with Child in the Italo-Byzantine style

Lord our God, you were pleased to bring joy into the world through the Incarnation of your Son. Grant that we who honour his Mother, the cause of our joy, may always walk in the way of your commandments with our hearts set on true and lasting joy in you. (Prayer over the Gifts, Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

Christ is our principal reason for happiness. He removes every trace from sadness from our hearts. Our Lady is truly the Cause of our joy, since her cooperation in the economy of salvation makes it possible for Christ to enter into us.

...The Blessed Virgin can show us how to be the cause of joy for others in our family life, at our place of work and in all our social contacts, our most casual encounters with acquaintances, our interviews and business trips. The brief duration of our meeting with neighbors does not matter ... Our own original source of joy is God, to whom the Blessed Virgin leads us.

On this fourth day of the Novena in honour of the Immaculate Conception we can examine the quality of our joy. Can others find God through our cheerful disposition? Are we uplifting -- do we bear charm not harm for those with whom we come into contact every day? Today we can offer Our Lady a firm and sincere resolution: May we make the way lovable and easier for others, since life brings enough bitterness with it already. Our cordiality is a way of imitating the blessed Virgin, who smiles on us from heaven as we brighten up the way of holiness for our fellow men. She encourages us to discover her Son in others.

In Conversation With God :
Feast Days July - December(vol.7)

Here is the novena for the fourth day.

Immaculate Conception Novena - Day 3

Mary and Jesus Under a Palm Tree (Middle Eastern)

 

HANDMAID OF THE LORD

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; because He has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid (Entrance Antiphon, Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

...The Blessed Virgin gives us a perfect example of how to fulfill the Will of God by our complete availability. How unfortunate it would be if, in one way or another, we were to try to exercise our own caprice in the matter. We can best cooperate with the Lord through our complete dedication when we allow him free rein in our life.

In Conversation With God :
Feast Days July - December(vol.7)

Here is the novena for the third day.

 

Arabic Madonna and Child by Albert Aublet, 1898.

Immaculate Conception Novena: Day 2

Mary and Jesus (Chinese)

 

HOUSE OF GOLD

Before God made known his coming into the world in the fullness of time, He prepared Mary as the suitable creature within whom He would dwell for nine months, from the moment of his Incarnation until his birth in Bethlehem. Evidence of God's power and love show forth in his creation. Mary is the House of Gold, the new Temple of God, and is adorned with so great a beauty that no greater perfection is possible. The grace of her Immaculate Conception, including all the graces and gifts God has bestowed on her soul, are directed towards the fulfillment of her divine maternity.

St. Thomas Aquinas quoted in
In Conversation With God :
Feast Days July - December(vol.7)

Here is the novena for the second day.

Virgin and Child with angels by Le Pho

Immaculate Conception* Novena: Day 1

As has become tradition over the years, let's say the Immaculate Conception Novena together to get us in the proper frame of mind as we approach that feast day.

I always like to begin this novena with images that remind us about some of the happiest mother-child moments — tickling and giggling together.

Master of the Winking Eyes, Madonna and Child, ca. 1450

Mary's purpose is to show us her Son. She always points the way to Him. I have never known her to fail me whenever I have asked her to show me Jesus. I will be posting something each day as this is a very worthy Advent contemplation.

Mary constantly showers down graces and favours on the faithful, and so has won the prerogative all-powerful intercessor. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Christians know that they can reach God through his Mother. She is our shortcut — the most direct path to God for us. Our love for her is shown in our continually coming up with new ways of expressing affection for her. We begin the Novena leading to the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception by trying to offer Our Lady something special each day.

In Conversation With God :
Feast Days July - December(vol.7)

DAY 1: MORNING STAR

Our Lady's appearance is the first ray of dawn that shines forth in the world. She rises over the horizon and is the forerunner to the brilliant splendour of salvation that will enter the world through Jesus Christ.

Paul VI quoted in
In Conversation With God :
Feast Days July - December(vol.7)

Here is the novena for the first day.

An ivory carving ca. 1275–1300 from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

* The Immaculate Conception is a belief in the Catholic church, as well as some Protestant denominations, that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was protected by God from the original sin during her own conception. Since she subsequently lived a life completely free from sin, this makes her perfectly pure. The idea of the Immaculate Conception is often confused with the doctrine of the Incarnation and Virgin Birth of Christ. The Immaculate Conception was defined as dogma by Pope Pius IX in 1854 and consecrated by Pope Pius XII in 1942. However, this tradition had existed within the Catholic church for more than a millenium. Eastern Orthodox Christians do not believe in the Immaculate Conception, because they have a different view of the original sin from Catholics, and in their tradition, it would be unnecessary for Mary to require divine purification from this. The majority of Protestants reject the idea because it is not explicitly stated in the Bible.  (Description from Olga's Art Gallery.)

Memorial — Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Virgin Mary, Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato

If you were to ask me how the Most Holy Virgin spent the time of Her youth, I would answer that that is known to God Himself and the Archangel Gabriel, Her constant guardian. — St. Jerome

The quote above is found on tons of Eastern Orthodox sites, all within the same homily that has been copied from place to place — and with no attribution for St. Jerome's quote. So it is probably too apt to be something St. Jerome actually said. However, it does reflect my feelings about knowing details about the Virgin Mary's childhood which I discovered "everyone knows" after I became Catholic. The tale of her miraculous birth, "presentation" to the Temple, and similar details come from a 2nd century apocryphal book which has been rejected by the Church, The Protoevangelium of James.

Today's feast is associated with an event from the Protoevangelium that Mary's parents brought her as a child they brought her to the Temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God. Later versions say that Mary was taken to the Temple to live at around the age of three to fulfill a vow. 

Did that happen? Who knows? Despite  that, there is a good reason to care about this feast day.

St. Luke is notably diligent in examining all the sources that can offer personal information concerning the people he describes. In the case of Mary's childhood, however, he omits any mention of specific facts. Our Lady most probably never mentioned anything about her earliest years, since there would be very little in them of extraordinary interest ...

The feast we celebrate today does not have its origin in the Gospel, but in ancient tradition. The Church, however, does not accept the fictitious narrative that supposes Our Lady to have lived in the Temple under a vow of virginity from the time she was a young maiden. But the essential basis of today's feast is firm — the personal oblation that the Blessed Mother made to the Lord during her early youth. She was moved by the Holy Spirit to consecrate her life to God, who filled her with grace from the first moment of her conception. Mary's complete dedication was efficacious, and continued to grow as her life went on. Her example moves us not to withhold anything in our own life of dedication to the Lord. ...

Our Lady was moved by a special grace of the Holy Spirit to commit her entire life to God. Perhaps she made the decision just as she reached the age of reason, a mile-stone in any life and a moment that must have been particularly significant for a person as full of grace as Mary was. Maybe the Blessed Virgin naever mae a formal declaration of her commitment to God, but was simply accustomed from the beginning of her life to living her dedication in a natural way. ...

Today is a good opportunity — as every day is — to renew our own dedication  to the Lord in the midst of our daily duties, in the specific situation in which God has placed us.

Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God, Special Feasts: July-December

Feast of the Nativity of Mary

Via The Deacon's Bench

Responsory Prayer from today's readings

Let us celebrate today, with great devotion, the birth of Mary, the every-virgin Mother of God, whose virtues shed light upon the Church throughout the world.

Let us glorify Christ with heart and soul on this feast of Mary, the noble Mother of God, whose virtues shed light upon the Church throughout the world.

More about this feast day and the symbols, customs, and activities associated with it can be found at Catholic Culture.

The Birth of the Virgin Mary by Alessandro Turchi, c. 1631-1635
Via J.R.'s Art Place

Mary, Queen of Heaven

 

Coronation of Virgin, Giacomo di Mino, 1340-1350

From the earliest ages of the Catholic Church a Christian people, whether in time of triumph or more especially in time of crisis, has addressed prayers of petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven. And never has that hope wavered which they placed in the Mother of the Divine King, Jesus Christ; nor has that faith ever failed by which we are taught that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, reigns with a mother's solicitude over the entire world, just as she is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen.

Ad Caeli Reginam
His Holiness Pope Pius XII
Encyclical on Proclaiming the Queenship of Mary
Promulgated October 11, 1954

I remember the thing that made this feast day come into focus for me was learning about King Solomon's Queen Mother who brought cases before him for special attention. I tell you, typology really helps you get a mental grip on things.

Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary (with some modern science commentary)

It's a Holy Day of Obligation! Check local Mass times!

Adam and Eve with the Virgin Mary (detail), Correggio, Assumption of the Virgin
via Khan Academy

The Assumption is the oldest feast day of Our Lady, but we don't know how it first came to be celebrated. ...

On November 1, 1950, Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption. Thus he solemnly proclaimed that the belief whereby the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the close of her earthly life, was taken up, body and soul, into the glory of heaven, definitively forms part of the deposit of faith, received from the Apostles. To avoid all that is uncertain the Pope did not state either the manner or the circumstances of time and place in which the Assumption took place — only the fact of the Assumption of Mary, body and soul, into the glory of heaven, is the matter of the definition.

Catholic Culture, where there is a lot more info

Each year on the Assumption of Mary I like to revisit this from The Anchoress. Because it blows my mind. And the Assumption is a good time for mind-blowing. This was originally posted this at Patheos where the original post link no longer works:

When studying Anatomy and Physiology in college, the lesson that briefly discussed fetomaternal microchimerism, became instructive to me on a different level. Learning that every child leaves within his mother a microscopic bit of himself — and that it remains within her forever — the dogma of the Immaculate Conception instantly became both crystal clear and brilliant to me.

Mary, then, was indeed a tabernacle within which the Divinity did reside — not for a limited time, but for all of her life. Understanding this (and considering how the churches seemed to get it ‘way before microscopes told us anything) the Immaculate Conception made and makes perfect sense: God, who is All-Good is also completely Pure; the vessel in which He resides, then, must be pure, too, or it would not be able to sustain all of that “light in which we see light itself.”

Microchimerism also relates to the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, as well. In the psalms we read “you will not suffer your beloved to undergo corruption.” Christ’s divine body did not undergo corruption. It follows that his mother’s body, which contained a cellular component of the Divinity — and a particle of God is God, entire — would not be allowed to become corrupt, either.

I believed it anyway, but that made sense on several levels. Incredible.

Assumption of the Virgin, Correggio
where the above detail is included
Click through to the link to look at it enlarged.

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin

I love this celebration which always makes me meditate on the beauty of one good friend going to help another, carrying Christ with her to someone she loves. I also really love this icon below, which celebrates the unseen reality of this feast.

The Visitation of Virgin Mary to Elizabeth.
The photographer says: "14th century wall-painting in the Timios Stavros Church in Pelendri.
The unborn John the Baptist bows before the unborn Jesus. ..."

Today we learn once more that each encounter with Mary implies a new discovery of Jesus: If you seek Mary, you will find Jesus. And you will learn a bit more about what is in the heart of a God who humbles himself, who makes himself accessible in the midst of the routine of ordinary life. God's great gift to mankind whereby we can get to know and love Christ, had its beginning in Mary's faith, whose perfect fulfillment Elizabeth now openly reveals: The fullness of grace announced by the angel means the gift of God himself. Mary's faith, proclaimed by Elizabeth at the Visitation, indicates how the Virgin of Nazareth responded to this gift. The Virgin Mary, who had already pronounced her complete and unconditional fiat, presents herself at the threshold of Zachary's house as the Mother of the Son of God. This is Elizabeth's joyful discovery, *** and ours too; it is one we can never get used to.

In Conversation with God:
Special Feasts: January - June

* J. Escriva, Christ is Passing By
** John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater
*** cf ibid

Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

This is not a holy day of obligation, but the faithful are encouraged to observe this day in devotions or private prayer. I wrote this some time ago but find it works well for my own reflection on this day.

Bohemian Master, The Pentecost

Christmas and Pentecost, Springing from the Womb

Nine days before Pentecost Mary, the apostles, and disciples gathered in prayer for the coming of the Spirit. Art always pictures Mary, the mother of Jesus, as seated in the center of this holy gathering. The setting is one of prayer and contemplation. Mary is the principal contemplative, the woman wrapped in the silence of prayer. The contemplative dimension, with Mary at the center, prevailed.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended on those gathered in the Upper Room. The Spirit manifested and revealed the Church publicly. Now Peter became the visible leader, the Shepherd and Pastor and Rock. Pope John Paul II, reflecting on these scenes, taught that the Marian dimension of the Church precedes the Petrine one. The environment of prayer is the womb from which the Body of Christ is born. Because of this, prayer, contemplation, and the adoration of God have the primacy in the Church.

Fr. McBride's Guide to the Bible by Alfred McBride

Reading this, my focus was brought to the word "womb" as a description of the Upper Room. Never having had considered this imagery before, I couldn't let it go. Inevitably, perhaps, with the images of Mary and womb before me, I also began to think about the parallels between Pentecost and Christmas. Both were preceded by an enforced period of waiting, with Mary as a central figure, with a previously unimaginable power and light being unleashed on the world as the climax.

It made me suddenly look at Christ's coming anew, at how that tiny baby held power and light that we still have a hard time comprehending, made me have just a bit more understanding of how he flashed on the world like a fire. Likewise I looked at the Upper Room anew, seeing it truly as the womb which sheltered and fed the apostles despite their lack of comprehension at what they were being prepared to become.

This probably is nothing new, but it surely was for me. It set forth a direct connection between the two which I will always think about when either Christmas or Pentecost comes to mind. All facilitated by Mary's willingness. Which is something else to consider. Especially in connection with myself. No big conclusions here ... just pondering and turning over these points.

Jean II Restout, Pentecôte

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

Image from Chant Art

All the feasts of Our Lady are great events, because they are opportunities the church gives us to show with deeds that we love Mary. But if I had to choose one from among all her feasts, I would choose today's, the feast of the Divine Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin ...

When the Blessed Virgin said Yes, freely, to the plans revealed to her by the Creator, the divine Word assumed a human nature, with a rational soul and a body, formed in the most pure womb of Mary. The divine nature and the human were united in a single Person: Jesus Christ, true God and, thenceforth, true man: the only-begotten and Eternal Son of the Father and, from that moment on, as Man, the true son of Mary. This is why Our Lady is the Mother of the Incarnate Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, who has united our human nature to himself forever, without any confusion of the two natures. The greatest praise we can give to the Blessed Virgin is to address her loud and clear by the name that expresses her highest dignity: Mother of God.

St. Josemaria Escriva, Friends of God

Mary: As Marvelous as a Day in May

May is Mary's month and what better way to celebrate it than getting a better understanding of Our Blessed Mother? This excerpt from chapter 6 of Adventures in Orthodoxy discusses the common idea of "virgin" versus the real meaning as applied to "Virgin Mary." As a bonus, this explains something I always wondered: why didn't Mary and Jesus (and possibly Joseph) stand out as unusual? The comments in brackets are my own for clarification of points the author discussed earlier in the chapter.

"... born of the Virgin Mary"

...Mary, the mother of Jesus, is an icon of beauty and purity because she is a virgin. But I'm aware that this term, too, [like the term "purity"] has been misunderstood and maligned. We think of a virgin simply as a person who hasn't had sexual intercourse. This is the shallowest of definitions. Defining a "virgin" as someone who hasn't had sexual intercourse is like defining a person from Idaho as "a person who has never been to Paris." It may be true that most Idahoans haven't been to Paris, but to define an untraveled Idahoan by that simple negative definition is too small. Even the most stay-at-home fellow from Idaho is bigger than a negative definition.

What were the early Christians thinking when they honored the Virgin Mary? Was it simply their form of goddess worship? [as some nonbelievers would say] If so, why the emphasis on virginity? When you look at what they believed about Mary, it turns out that they were honoring her for far more than the biological fact that a maiden remained intact. For them the Virgin wasn't just an untouched woman. Her physical virginity was a sign of something far more. It was an indication of her whole character. In her they sensed a kind of virginity that was a positive and powerful virtue. Mary represented all that was natural, abundant, positive, and free. Mary was a virgin in the same way that we call a forest "virgin": she was fresh and natural, majestic and mysterious. Mary's virginity wasn't simply the natural beauty and innocence of a teenage girl. It held the primeval purity of Eden and the awesome innocence of Eve...

You might imagine that such total innocence and goodness would make Mary a sort of Galilean wonderwoman. It's true that her innocence was extraordinary, but it was also very ordinary. That is to say that while it was momentous, it didn't seem remarkable at the same time. There is a curious twist to real goodness. It's summed up by the observation that what is natural isn't unusual. If a person is really good, he is humble; and if he is humble, he is simply who he should be. There is nothing bizarre or egotistical or eccentric about him. There is therefore nothing about him that calls attention to him. Truly good people blend in. They are at home with themselves, and no one is out of place when they are at home. In the same way, Mary wasn't noticed in Nazareth. Because she was natural, she didn't stand out. Mary fit in because she was simply and wholly who she was created to be. Because she was perfectly natural, she was perfectly ordinary. Therefore, she was both as marvelous and as unremarkable as a morning in May.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905), The Madonna of the Roses
via Wikipedia

What's that? You haven't read Adventures in Orthodoxy? Tsk, tsk. It is simply a fantastic book that communicates the wonder and joy of the Faith in a way that is not often found. If you haven't read it then you're missing a real treat.

May is Mary's Month

William Bouguereau (1825-1905)
L'innocence [Innocence]

The May Magnificat

May is Mary's month, and I

Muse at that and wonder why:

Her feasts follow reason, Dated due to season --

Candlemas, Lady Day;

But the Lady Month, May,

Why fasten that upon her, With a feasting in her honour

Is it only its being brighter

Than the most are must delight her?

Is it opportunest And flowers finds soonest?

Ask of her, the mighty mother;

Her reply puts this other

Question: What is Spring? -- Growth in everything --

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather

Grass and green world all together;

Star-eyed strawberry breasted Throstle above her nested

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin

Forms and warms the life within;

And bird and blossom swell In sod or sheath or shell.

All things rising, all things sizing

Mary sees, sympathising

With that world of good Nature's motherhood.

Their magnifying of each its kind

With delight calls to mind

How she did in her stored Magnify the Lord

Well but there was more than this:

Spring's universal bliss

Much, had much to say To offering Mary May.

When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple

Bloom lights the orchard-apple

And thicket and thorp are merry With silver-surféd cherry

And azuring-over greybell makes

Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes

And magic cuckoo call Caps, clears, and clinches all --

This ecstasy all through mothering earth

Tells Mary her mirth till Christ's birth

To remember and exultation In God who was her salvation.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

The Form of Emptiness

Tomorrow begins the novena leading up to the solemnity of Mary's Immaculate Conception. This is a good place to begin.

That virginal quality which, for want of a better word, I call emptiness is at the beginning of this contemplation.

It is not a formless emptiness, a void without meaning; on the contrary it has a shape, a form given to it by the purpose for which it is intended.

It is emptiness like the hollow in the reed, the narrow riftless emptiness which can have only one destiny: to receive the piper's breath and to utter the song that is in his heart.

It is emptiness like the hollow in the cup, shaped to receive water or wine.

It is emptiness like that of the bird's nest, built in a round warm ring to receive the little bird.

The pre-Advent emptiness of Our Lady's purposeful virginity was indeed like those three things.

She was a reed through which the Eternal Love was to be piped as a shepherd's song.

She was the flowerlike chalice into which the purest water of humanity was to be poured, mingled with wine, changed to the crimson blood of love, and lifted up in sacrifice.

She was the warm nest rounded to the shape of humanity to receive the Divine Little Bird...

It is the purpose for which something is made that decides the material which is used.

The chalice is made of pure gold because it must contain the Blood of Christ.

The bird's nest is made of scraps of soft down, leaves and feathers and twigs, because it must be a strong warm home for the young birds...

The material which God has found apt for it is human nature: blood, flesh, bone, salt, water, will, intellect.

It is impossible to say too often or too strongly that human nature, body and soul together, is the material for God's will in us...

Think again of the three symbols I have used for the virginal emptiness of Mary. These are each made from material which must undergo some experience to be made ready for its purpose.

The reed grows by the streams. It is the simplest of things, but it must be cut by the sharp knife, hollowed out, and the stops must be cut in it; it must be shaped and pierced before it can utter the shepherd's song. It is the narrowest emptiness in the world, but the little reed utters infinite music.

The chalice does not grow like the flower it resembles. It is made of gold; gold must be gathered from the water and the mud and hewn from the rock, it must be beaten by countless little blows that give the chalice of sacrifice its fitting beauty.

The twigs and fluff and leaves of the bird's nest are brought from all sorts of places, from wherever the brave careful mother alights, with fluttering but daring heart, to fetch them, from the distances and explorations that only the spread wings of love know. It is the shape of her breast the moulds the nest to its inviting roundness.

Thus it is with us -- we may be formed by the knife, pared down, cut to the least, to the minimum of our own being; we may be marked indelibly by a succession of strokes, blown from the gold-beater's hammer; or we may be shaped for our destiny by the love and tender devotion of a devoted family.

Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God

I don't know why no one has ever mentioned Caryll Houselander among all the wonderful Catholic writers that are quoted so often. I have seen her mentioned only in Magnificat and every time that I have read an excerpt it has spoken right to my heart. If I had let myself go I could easily have put the entire book on this site. I had to stop myself from underlining practically everything in it. It is a wonderful contemplation of the Virgin Mary and, through her as always, we get a clearer and better look at her son, Jesus. The excerpt above says better than I can what sort of a writer and thinker she was. It is simple but provides many opportunities for our own contemplation.