CARMEL'S OWN: October 2009

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

End of OCTOBER Reflections

Church of Mary

May the Virgin Mary, so loved and venerated in every part of Italy, precede and guide us in our union with Christ. In her we meet, pure and undeformed, the true essence of the Church, and so through her, we learn to know and love the mystery of the Church that lives in history, we deeply feel a part of it, and in our turn we become "ecclesial souls," we learn to resist the "internal secularization" that threatens the Church of our time, a consequence of the secularization process that has profoundly marked European civilization.

Pope Benedict XVI, Address, October 19, 2006

MULTIMEDIA : Les riches heures du duc de Berry (Limbourg) Magnificat (Telemann)

Carried by the Virgin Mary

We are all until our death in the moment of being born. Even the greatest saints are carried, so to speak, in the Blessed Virgin Mary's womb.

Theology of the Apostolate By Mgr Suenens

MULTIMEDIA : Cantiga de Santa Maria 140 A Santa Maria dadas sejan loores onrradas

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death. Amen.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Let your Rosary Be Your Work Tool

Let your rosary be one of your work tools... Each « ave » whispered with love and faith is a pure seed that falls in the field of souls. So remember to love the beads between your fingers.

Clémence Ledoux Fraternity of Mary the Immaculate Queen

MULTIMEDIA : Buna Vestire

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death. Amen.

THE SUN AT FATIMA

The Miracle of the Sun

On October 13, when the crowds saw the ball of fire leave its orbit and race down towards them, their reaction was immediate. They didn't go into a subtle exegesis to convince themselves that this « sign in the sky» was purely symbolic. Instead, they realized that this fire, if it approached only a second longer, would annihilate them.

Just as the people of Israel had seen the fire from heaven race down over Elijah as its holocaust and consume him in the blink of an eye, these people fell on their knees and cried out: « My God, I believe in you! » And they asked for forgiveness, pity and mercy. In their own way they were saying anew: « It is Yahveh who is God! It is Yahveh who is God! » (1 Kings 18: 39).

Through their conversion and their supplication, they obtained that the chastisement be averted: the sun resumed its place in the sky. And they found, along with faith, the peace and the joy of being reconciled with God.

The miracle done for the entire population manifested what must be Mary's victory: the sun leaves its orbit, spins on itself like a wheel of fire, rushes down on the crowd and then finally regains its normal place and state.

Let us understand these three signs, or rather, the three moments of this sign. The sun that exhibits these disorderly movements means that the order of divine Wisdom has been disrupted in the cosmos by human sin. When it races down like a destructive fire upon humanity, it manifests the punishment chastisement that sin attracts from divine justice.

By stopping its deadly course, it shows that God wants to be merciful and not to destroy, and that this sign is a warning and a call (like the drought and famine sent to Israel by the prophet of Mt Carmel). In the end, for those who hear this message, mercy wins--the sun regains its proper place, humanity is spared, and after its conversion, order is restored.

The Virgin of Mt Carmel, by Joseph de Sainte Marie, Lethielleux, 1985

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

THE ROSARY

The Pedagogical Value of the Rosary

If one carefully reads the encyclicals of the Holy Pontiffs on the Rosary and, in particular, those of Leo XIII and his successors, one is struck by the insistence with which they like to emphasize the value of the Rosary for Christian formation. If, for them, the Rosary is an excellent prayer, a commendable devotion in many respects, it seems that its most eminent title in their eyes, the one which gives it exceptional value, is that it is not only a privileged prayer, nor even in the words of Pope Leo XII, the highest Marian devotion that seems to condense in itself all the cult we owe to Mary, but it is a true method of Christian initiation and formation, a school which trains the mind and manners, a divine method, a very efficient school of Christian life.

If we had to synthesize the thoughts of the popes in a concise manner on the remarkable pedagogical value of the Rosary, we could condense them this way: It is the role of the mother to form and educate her children. Now the chief mission of Mary is to be a mother, the Mother of Jesus Christ, but also the mother of mankind. The Rosary is precisely the privileged way by which Mary initiates and forms her children to the Christian life.

Benoit Thierry D'Argenlieu, The Theology of the Rosary in Maria, Etudes sur la Vierge Marie, Vol. V

October, Month of the Holy Rosary

Church tradition tells us that, in the year 1208, Saint Dominic had a vision of the Virgin Mary while praying in his church. The Blessed Mother reportedly taught him to pray the Rosary, telling him to use this weapon to defeat the heretics. Aflame with enthusiasm, St Dominic called on Catholics and heretics alike to pray the Rosary. By 1213, many Catholic crusaders had followed St Dominic's advice. Devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary spread like wildfire among them.

MULTIMEDIA : Fra Angelico

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death.