The Blessed Virgin Mary told Saint Dominic "One day, through the Rosary and [Brown] Scapular I will save the world"
Thursday, April 26, 2007
I received this message in an email yesterday. I did not write this. I am just passing it on to my readers. Catholic information on Mary can be found at my post on the Blessed Virgin Mary:
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.
Millions of Catholics often say the Hail Mary. Some repeat it hastily not even thinking on the words they are saying. These following words may help some say it more thoughtfully. They can give God's Mother great joy and obtain for themselves graces that she wishes to give them.
One Hail Mary well said fills the heart of Our Lady with delight and obtains for us indescribably great graces. One Hail Mary well said gives us more graces than a thousand thoughtlessly said.
The Hail Mary is like a mine of gold that we can always take from but never exhaust. Is it hard to say the Hail Mary well? All we have to do is to know its value and understand its meaning.
St. Jerome tells us that "the truths contained in the Hail Mary are so sublime, so wonderful that no man or Angel could fully understand them."
St. Thomas Aquinas, the Prince of Theologians, "the wisest of Saints and holiest of wise men," as Leo XIII called him, preached for 40 days in Rome on the Hail Mary, filling his hearers with rapture.
Father F. Suarez, the holy and learned Jesuit, declared when dying that he would willingly give all the many learned books he wrote, all his life's labors, for the merit of one Hail Mary prayerfully and devoutly said.
St. Mechtilde, who loved our Lady very much, was one day striving to compose a beautiful prayer in her honor. Our Lady appeared to her, with the golden letters on her breast of: "Hail Mary full of grace." She said to her: "Desist, dear child, from your labor for no prayer you could possibly compose would give me the joy and delight of the Hail Mary."
A certain man found joy in saying slowly the Hail Mary. The Blessed Virgin in return appeared to him smiling and announced to him the day and hour that he should die, granting him a most holy and happy death. After death a beautiful white lily grew from his mouth having written on its petals: "Hail Mary."
Cesarius recounts a similar incident. A humble and holy monk lived in the monastery. His poor mind and memory were so weak that he could only repeat one prayer which was the "Hail Mary." After death a tree grew over his grave and on all its leaves was written: "Hail Mary."
These beautiful legends show us how much devotion to Our Lady was valued, and the power attributed to the Hail Mary devoutly prayed.
Each time that we say the Hail Mary we are repeating the very same words with which St. Gabriel the Archangel saluted Mary on the day of the Annunciation, when she was made Mother of the Son of God. Many graces and joys filled the soul of Mary at that moment.
Now when we say the Hail Mary we offer anew all these graces and joys to Our Lady and she accepts them with Immense delight. In return she gives us a share in these joys.
Once Our Lord asked St. Francis Assisi to give Him something. The Saint replied: "Dear Lord, I can give You nothing for I have already given you all, all my love." Jesus smiled and said: "Francis, give Me it all again and again, it will give Me the same pleasure."
So with our dearest Mother, she accepts from us each time we say the Hail Mary the joys and delight she received from the words of St.Gabriel.
Almighty God gave His Blessed Mother all the dignity, greatness and holiness necessary to make her His own most perfect Mother. But He also gave her all the sweetness, love, tenderness and affection necessary to make her our most loving Mother. Mary is truly and really our Mother. As children when in trouble run to their mothers for help, so ought we to run at once with unbounded confidence to Mary.
St. Bernard and many Saints said that it was never, never heard at anytime or in any place that Mary refused to hear the prayers of her children on earth. Why do we not realize this most consoling truth? Why refuse the love and consolation that God's Sweet Mother is offering us?
Is it our lamentable ignorance which deprives us of such help and consolation. To love and trust Mary is to be happy on earth now and afterwards to be happy in Heaven.
Dr. Hugh Lammer was a staunch Protestant, with strong prejudices against the Catholic Church. One day he found an explanation of the Hail Mary and read it. He was so charmed with it that he began to say it daily. Insensibly all his anti-Catholic animosity began to disappear. He became a Catholic, a holy priest and a professor of Catholic Theology in Breslau.
A priest was called to the bedside of a man who was dying in despair because of his sins. Yet he refused obstinately to go to confession. As a last recourse the priest asked him to say at least the Hail Mary after which the poor man made a sincere confession and died a holy death.
In England, a parish priest was asked to go and see a Protestant lady who was gravely ill, and who wished to become a Catholic. Asked if she had ever gone to a Catholic Church, or, if she had spoken to Catholics,or if she had read Catholic books? She replied, "No, no." All she could remember was that------when a child------she had learned from a little Catholic neighbor girl the Hail Mary, which she said every night. She was Baptized and before dying had the happiness of seeing her husband and children Baptized.
St. Gertrude tells us in her book, "Revelations" that when we thank God for the graces He has given to any Saint, we get a great share of those particular graces. What graces, then, do we not receive when we say the Hail Mary while thanking God for all the unspeakable graces He has given His Blessed Mother?
FROM ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT:
"If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins 'you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory.' Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practise black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and will save your soul, if-- and mark well what I say-- if you say the Holy Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins."
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Last Day of Pompeii by Karl Pavlovich Bryulo, 1833
What are Rogation Days?
"Rogation Days are the four days set apart to bless the fields and invoke God's mercy on all of creation. The 4 days are April 25, which is called the Major Rogation (and is only coincidentally the same day as the Feast of St. Mark); and the three days preceding Ascension Thursday, which are called the Minor Rogations. Traditionally, on these days, the congregation marches the boundaries of the parish, blessing every tree and stone, while chanting or reciting a Litany of Mercy, usually a Litany of the Saints"
Continue reading more...
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
After thinking about it, I have decided to change the display name on my blog. Since I am a Roman Catholic Seminarian I do not feel it looks appropriate to use my previous screenname of "Moneybags". The idea for my screenname was a result of Monopoly. I love the boardgame, so I planned on calling myself "Pennybags". However, since I like to be original, I changed it to "Moneybags". Also, when I was very young I enjoyed playing the video game Spyro. And one of the characters on the game was named Moneybags. That was what caused me to take my original idea of Pennybags and turn it into Moneybags.However, I do not think it looks appropriate since I am now an official seminarian. Most people won't know the reason for my original display name, and they might assume it deals with greed. From now on, my display name will be Matthew, named after St. Matthew the Apostle and writer of the Gospel according to St. Matthew.
Update (May 2009): I am no longer a seminarian.
I am very excited to offer the following news since I will be living in the Archdiocese of St. Paul - Minneapolis.VATICAN CITY, APR 24, 2007 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:
Bishop John Clayton Nienstedt of New Ulm, U.S.A., as coadjutor archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis (area 17,225, population 3,027,000, Catholics 837,000, priests 514, permanent deacons 221, religious 1,206), U.S.A. The archbishop-elect was born in Detroit, U.S.A., in 1947, he was ordained a priest in 1974, and consecrated a bishop in 1996. Current Archbishop Harry Flynn remains the ordinary.
Here's a Diocesen biography of the new Coadjutor Archbishop: http://www.dnu.org/bishop/
The following excerpt is From the Pioneer Press:
Roman Catholic Bishop John Nienstedt of New Ulm, Minn., a theological conservative who has taken on Hollywood, stem-cell research and people who make too much noise in church, was named Tuesday to succeed Archbishop Harry Flynn.
The announcement by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis that Nienstedt, 60, had been named "coadjutor archbishop" ended months of speculation over who would succeed Flynn, who will step down when he turns 75 next year.
...
But Nienstedt's time as bishop of the Diocese of New Ulm has not been without controversy. While Flynn and others lauded him as an able administrator and liturgist, some of his actions have rankled his own priests and parishioners in the diocese he has led since August 2001.
Soon after being named bishop in New Ulm, he condemned some of the theological views of the man who had held the post before him for 25 years, Bishop Raymond Lucker, a noted progressive clergyman who died in 2001. Denouncing his predecessor's views was an "extraordinary step," the National Catholic Reporter noted in an article on the incident.
As bishop in New Ulm, Nienstedt prohibited cohabitating couples from being married in Catholic churches. He barred female pastoral administrators from leading prayers at a semiannual Advertisement leadership event. He once disciplined a priest for holding joint ecumenical services with a Lutheran congregation after the Catholic church had been destroyed by a tornado.
Kenneth Irrgang, a retired priest who clashed with Nienstedt when he was bishop in New Ulm, predicted that Nienstedt will meet resistance among the 654 active priests in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
"I expect disaster there. I don't think those priests are going to accept him," said Irrgang (haha nomen est omen - Irrgang means walking around, not knowing where one is or where one is going), who now lives in St. Cloud. "He's a micromanager. He has to control everything. He hews the line from the Vatican without any question whatsoever. He's not a very good people person."
But the Rev. Philip M. Schotzko of the Church of St. Peter in St. Peter, Minn., praised Nienstedt's abilities.
"Bishop Nienstedt is a consummate man of the church," said Schotzko. "He thinks with, prays with and loves the church with everything he's got. He just follows very carefully the teachings and all aspects of church theology and moral teachings. You'll get a very committed man in that way."
He said Nienstedt is "gifted in many ways as a liturgist" and considers him "a good organizer and planner and administrator."
Monday, April 23, 2007
I would like to direct all of my readers to the post entitled Pro-death group in Ecclesiastical building in São Paulo Situation unchanged despite Pope's visit over on Rorate Caeli. I also ask that my readers send in emails calling for immediate action.
"A man who fails to love the Mass fails to love Christ. We must make an effort to "live" the Mass with calm and serenity, with devotion and affection. And this is why I have always suspected that those who want the Mass to be over with quickly show, with this insensitive attitude, that they have not yet realized what the sacrifice of the altar means" (St. Josemaría Escriva)Remember, the Mass is the Sacrifice of Calvary.
Blogging has been light because of several reasons. In addition to trying to answer Catholic questions on Yahoo Answers, I have embarked on a new project. Inspired by the desire to correct liturgical abuses, I have searched the Internet using the terms "Eucharistic Minister" and "Minister of the Eucharist". I have emailed parishes that use those terms to refer to laypeople.
Why did I do this? Well, by definition, the only Ministers of the Eucharist are the bishops, priests, and deacons. The term "Extraordinary minister of Holy Communion" is to be used as opposed to the term "Minister of the Eucharist" or "Eucharistic Minister" as stated in the Vatican document Redemptionis Sacramentum in paragraphs 154-156. I am hoping to correct a common liturgical error.
Also, I attended a 50th Wedding Anniversary Party last weekend, and I spent most of the weekend working on the party.
Tomorrow, I have my final meeting, where I will receive my official acceptance as a seminarian for my diocese. I ask for your prayers for this last meeting - the most important of them all.
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Why did I do this? Well, by definition, the only Ministers of the Eucharist are the bishops, priests, and deacons. The term "Extraordinary minister of Holy Communion" is to be used as opposed to the term "Minister of the Eucharist" or "Eucharistic Minister" as stated in the Vatican document Redemptionis Sacramentum in paragraphs 154-156. I am hoping to correct a common liturgical error.
Also, I attended a 50th Wedding Anniversary Party last weekend, and I spent most of the weekend working on the party.
Tomorrow, I have my final meeting, where I will receive my official acceptance as a seminarian for my diocese. I ask for your prayers for this last meeting - the most important of them all.
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