Mary Month Calendar September

Saturday Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This morning we had the Saturday Mass of Mary, I was reminded of the mid-week memorials of Our Lady of Walsingham and OL of Ransom. In fact, on every day of the year there are memorials, dedications, shrines, named of Our Lady. For the Saturday Mass of BVM, it is usually put among the Commons at the back of the Missal.

Even more appropriate is the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Volume 1 Sacramentary and Volune II Lectionary.

With such an abundance of Marian memorials we celebrate this Saturday Mass in the spirit and help of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Saturday Vigil READING ABOUT OUR LADY

by Bishop Kallistos Ware.

In her recognition and acceptance of' her vocation, in her attitude of' receptivity, Mary stands before us supremely as the one who listens obediently in faith. Faith is the essence of Mary's response at the Annunciation, and faith presupposes listening. When we think of her obedience, it is important to give the word "obedience” its true and literal sense; both in Latin and in Greek it signifies 'to hear'. 'Let it be done to me according to your word', Mary replies to the angel. The Mother of God listens to God's word. The Gospel reading appointed for most feasts in her honour includes Christ's reply to the woman in the crowd: 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word, of God and keep it.' This answer from a superficial point of view might seem to belittle the Holy Virgin, in reality indicates what is her true glory. She is blessed not merely by the physical fact of her child-bearing, but also and more fundamentally by the spiritual depth of her inner faith and attentiveness to God's word. Had she not first learnt to hear the word off God in her heart, she could never have born the Word Incarnate in her body.

Repeatedly the Gospels insist upon this characteristic of Mary as the one who listens. After the adoration of the shepherds, it is said that ‘Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart' Similar words after her discovery of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple: 'his Mother kept all these things in her heart'. The importance of listening is evident in Mary's own words to the servants at the marriage feast at Cana of Galilee: 'Do whatever he tells, you; listen, wait on God’. Once more the relevance - of Mary's example in our present age is easily apparent. Ours is an era in which words' can be multiplied with extraordinary facility - on the radio and television, on tape recorders, photocopiers, and word processors - but we have forgotten the art of" listening.

The Mother of' God, the one who listens, by her own example can help us to rediscover the lost dimension of inner space. Byzantine spirituality sees in her the model hesychast, a living icon of what it means to practise hesychia, stillness of heart. The words of the Psalmist - 'Be still, and know I God' apply exactly to her.

Mary Links Calendar http://www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm#SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER Month of Our Lady of Sorrows 1. Collection of the all Feasts of Our Lady. Louvain, Belgium. Our Lady del Puche. Valencia, Spain. Our Lady of the Girdle. Tortoso, Spain. Our Lady of Remedios Near Mexico City. Our Lady of Solitude. Mexico City. 2. Our Lady of Helbron/Nettles. Franconia, Germany. 1441. 3. Mother of the Divine Shepherd. France. 5. Our Lady of Smolensk. Russia. 6. Our Lady of Guadalupe. Spain. Our Lady of the Fountain/Valenciennes. France. 7. Vigil of the Nativity of Our Lady. Instituted by Pope Gregory II. 722. Our Lady of Zyrowice. Poland. Madonna della Consolata. Turin, Italy. 8. Nativity of Mary. Feast of the Birth of Blessed Virgin Mary. 15 B.C. (Birth of Mary Murillo) Crowning of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Siluva. Lithuania. 1786. Our Lady of Charity. Nuestra Señora de Filermo. Malta. Celebrates the lifting of the Turkish siege in 1565. Our Lady of Good Health. Vailankannia, India. (Celebrated in other locations on Dec. 8.) Basilica in India, and story of 16th century apparition there. Known as the “Lourdes of the East." Shrine. This shrine also attracts Hindus, especially during the annual nine-day festival. Celebrated in Kuwait. Marian Institute. Known as "Our Lady's Tank". Pope John Paul II: "Vailankanny attracts not only Christian pilgrims but also many followers of other religions, especially Hindus, who see in Our Lady of Good Health the caring and compassionate Mother of suffering humanity. In a land of such ancient and deep religiosity like India, this Shrine dedicated to the Mother of God is truly a meeting-point for members of different religions, and an outstanding example of inter-religious harmony and exchange." Historical origins in Dutch persecution. Feast customs. At the National Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Washington. 9. Our Lady of the Puy/Le Puy. Velay, France. 221. Joachim and Anna, the parents of Mary (Orthodox). 10. Our Lady of Trut. Cologne, Germany. Shrine built by St. Heribert. 10th century. 11. Our Lady of Hildesheim. Brunswick, Germany. 11th century. 12. Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary. St. Alphonsus de Liguori essay. Long essay from Catholic Family News. History: The feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain in 1513 and in 1671 was extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. In 1683, John Sobieski, king of Poland, brought an army to the outskirts of Vienna to stop the advance of Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV in Constantinople. After Sobieski entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated the Muslims. Pope Innocent XI extended this feast to the entire Church. Our Lady of Healing. Lower Normandy, France. 13. Maria Zell/Our Lady of Zell. Austria. Our Lady of Guadalupe/Guadelupa. Spain. 14. Our Lady of Fontevrault. France. Our Lady of Einsiedeln. Switzerland. 15. The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady of Aranzazir/de las Augustias. Granada, Spain 16. Our Lady of Good News. Orleans, France; Sicily, Italy. (See also Nov. 19, Dec. 12). Our Lady of the Rocks. Pasto, Columbia. Our Lady of Help. Socorro, Columbia. 17. Our Lady of the Candles. 15th century/ Placement of image of Our Lady of le Puy. Velay, France. Donated St. Louis IX. 18. Our Lady of Smelcem. Belgium. 19. Notre Dame de La Salette. France. 1846. Apparition. Our Lady of Healing. Mt. Leon, Gascogny, France. 20. Our Lady of the Silver Foot. Toul, Lorraine, France. 1284. 21. Our Lady of Pucha. Valencia, Spain. 22. An angel tells St. Anne to name her daughter "Mary." 23. Our Lady of Valvanere. Spain. 24. Our Lady of Mercy/Ransom/Nuestra Señora de Merced. The Order of Our Lady of Ransom (the Mercedarians) was founded in Spain in 1218 by St. Peter Nolasco. Created to redeem slaves and other captives, the Order was originally a Military Order, containing men who were both Knights and Monks. It also included non-knightly ordinary clerics. St. Peter Nolasco had fought on the side of Simon de Montfort, the great English baron who fought for the liberty of people of all classes, against some of the worst Plantagenet Kings of England/France. In the Order, which was approved by Pope Honorius III, Nolasco was given the rank of Commander-General. The groups eventually split due to internal dissensions, with the largest body of knights joining the military Order of Montesa in 1317. Several members sailed with Christopher Columbus, and the Order played a very active role in the evangelization of the New World. Monks and Nuns of the Order remain active in Europe and the Americas today. Notre Dame de Roc-Amadour. Cahors, Quercy, France. Our Lady of Walsingham. 25. Our Lady of Passer. Rhodes, Greece. Madonna, Divine Shepherdess. Spain. 1703 26. Our Lady of Victory. Tournay/Tourney, France. 27. Our Lady-of Happy Meeting/Assembly. Le Laus, France. 1664. 29. Apparition of the Madonna di Tirano to blessed Mario Omodei. Italy, 1504. Site of a basilica built the next year. 30. Notre Dame de Beaumont. Beaumont is a town in Auvergne, France. History: Built approximately 1060, the site of many pilgrimages and miracles. Gothic church. Pictures and story of the ancient chapel. Church contains a painting of Joan of Arc made during her lifetime. Notre Dame de Beaumont in the life of Saint Hervé. In the life of the Curé of Ars (same story in Norwegian). MOVABLE FEASTS Second Sunday. Our Lady of Constantinople. As celebrated by the Italian community in Pennsylvania. Third Thursday. Our Lady of Consolation, Malta. See also June 20. Thursday after the Nativity of Mary: The Amiable Mother of Starkenburg (Missouri, U.S.)

Small is Beautiful

Resonances from the words of Fritz Schumacher, Small is Beautiful, sounded in our Vigil Reading this morning.
Climate change and poverty are the issues Schumacher voiced so powerfully are carried forward in some striking ways.
This weekend, the Cardinal from Edinburgh is to lead a Church Delegation to the United Nations in New York. He said, 'The issue of climate is one that is too important to be sacrificed for national short-term interests."

THURSDAY 24th September Vigils Second Reading From Small is Beautiful by Fritz Schumacher In the excitement over the unfolding of their scientific and technical powers, people of today have built a system of pro­duction that ravishes nature and a type of society that mutilates human beings. If only there were more and more wealth, everything else, it is thought, would fall into place. Money is considered to be all-powerful; if it could not actually buy non-material values, such as justice, harmony, beauty or even health, it could circumvent the need for them or compensate for their loss. The development of production and the acquisition of wealth have thus become the highest goals of the modern world in relation to which all other goals, no matter how much lip-service may still be paid to them, have come to take second place. The highest goals require no justification; all secondary goals have finally to justify themselves in terms of the service their attainment renders to the attainment of the highest. This is the philosophy of materialism, and it is this philoso­phy - or metaphysics - which is now being challenged by events. There has never been a time, in any society in any part of the world, without its sages and teachers to challenge mate­rialism and plead for a different order of priorities. The lan­guages have differed, the symbols have varied, yet the message has always been the same: seek first the kingdom of God, and these things (the material things which you also need) shall be added unto you. They shall be added, we are told, here on earth where we need them, not simply in an after-life beyond our imagina­tion. Today, however, this message reaches us not solely from the sages and saints but from the actual course of physical events. It speaks to us in the language of terrorism, genocide, breakdown. pollution, exhaustion. We live, it seems, in a unique period of convergence. It is becoming apparent that there is not only a promise but also a threat in those astonishing words about the kingdom of God - the threat that "unless you seek first the kingdom, these other things, which you also need, will cease to be available to you." We shrink back from the truth if we believe that the destructive forces of the modern world can be "brought under control" simply by mobilizing more resources - of wealth, education, and research - to fight pollution, to preserve wildlife, to dis­cover new sources of energy, and to arrive at more effective agreements on peaceful coexistence. Needless to say, wealth, education, research, and many other things are needed for any civilization, but what is most needed today is a revision of the ends which these means are meant to serve. And this implies, above all else, the development of a life-style which accords to material things their proper, legitimate place, which is secondary and not primary.

St Aloysius College in Glasgow

St Aloysius' College's senior and junior pupils with Cardinal Keith O'Brien and Bishop Peter Moran at the school's 150th anniversary celebrations PlC: PAUL McSHERRY

SUPPORT YOUR NATIONAL CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER SCOTI1SH CATHOLIC OBSERVER Friday September 18 2009 By Martin Dunlop 150 not out for St Aloysius' College MASS and a civic reception have been held to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of St Aloysius College in Glasgow. The college, founded in 1859 by the Society of Jesus, was originally situated in the Bridgeton area of the city before moving to its current location in the city's Hill Street. As a Jesuit school, St Aloysius' College shares in a tradition of educational excellence which is almost 500 -years-old and is part of a worldwide network of schools and universities whose mission, in the words of St Ignatius Loyola, is 'the improvement in living and learning for the greater glory of God and the common good.' The year of celebrations began on June 21 with an anniversary Mass being celebrated by Bishop Peter Moran, of Aberdeen Diocese, a former pupil of St Aloysius College. Last week's celebrations began with Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow celebrating Mass for the Junior School on Thursday September 10. The following morn­ng the Senior School began a day of events with Mass concelebrated by Cardinal Keith O'Brien and Bishop Moran and the Jesuit Provincial Fr Michael Holman, SJ. The liturgy featured two original musical works, including Serenity specially composed by James MacMillan and Let all the People Praise Thee, O Lord by college music director Liam Devlin. In his blessing Cardinal O'Brien said that the 'whole people of Scotland join in thanksgiving for the college,' saying that the name of the college and those associated with it are revered throughout the country. Reflecting on the leadership role that the school has played over the past 150 years, he asked pupils and staff to 'continue to look out to the world around them and to those who are poor and afflicted.' In his homily, Fr Holman spoke of the college 'not merely as a good or fine school, but as an outstanding school.' He emphasised his pride in the 'energy, enterprise and foresight' of the Society of Jesus in establishing St Aloysius' College which has con­tributed so much to the society of the West of Scotland. Mass was followed by pupils, staff and parents gathering at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall for the annual prize giving where an address was given by the Right Hon Lord Gill, Lord Justice Clerk, a past pupil of the college. In his address, John Stoer, head master of St Aloysius, noted that the college had had a very successful year academically, with the best A-C pass rate at Higher of all the independent schools in Glasgow. He went on to note that while academic success is important, 'the aesthetic, emotional, social and spiritual development of pupils is key to developing the God given potential of each individual.' A civic reception for the college was hosted by Glasgow City Council at the City Chambers on Saturday. In his welcome Baillie Gordon Matheson, on behalf of the Lord Provost, looked at the contribution that the college has made to Glasgow and the West of Scotland, noting the commitment of the Society of Jesus to provide the academic and spiritual benefits of education through both the best and worst of times over the past 150 years. Mr Mathieson spoke of 'looking forward to a bright and confident future in St Mungo's city and a renewed partnership between Glasgow City Council and tangibly closer links with the college.' martin@scottishcatholicobseNer.org.uk

Jesus and the Children

20th Sept 2009 25th Mass and the Gospel is from: Mark –the 9th Chapter – all part on the Instructions to the Disciples by Jesus – in Harmony with Matthew and Luke.

The Mass Introduction, & Blessing of Holy Water, could do no harm with a shock. An Holy Ghost father said, “we begin our celebration with the sign of the cross.”
The Cross as an emblem was once News and horrific, “as if one were wearing an electric chair.”
“The Cross is a summery of Mark’s Gospel and is shocking teaching.”

On the other hand the words, in this section, also include,
“35 Jesus took a little child, and gave it a place in the midst of them; and he took it in his arms, and said to them:
36 Whoever welcomes such each as this in my name, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcome not me, but him that sent me.”
And Saint Leo the Great knits these words of ‘one child such as this in my name’, can be the Child of the Nativity of Christ.
The Birth of Christ is the source of life for all Christian people.
True it is that each individual called takes his place in his own prper order, and appears at different periods of time.
The celebration of the Blessing of Water at the beginning of this Mass, reminding of our Baptism, Christ Nativity,
each of us is crucified with Christ in Passion,
raised in his Resurrection,
and placed at the Father in his Ascension.
Saint Leo the Great (?-c.461), Pope and Doctor of the Church
6th sermon for Christmas, comments with words that surpass our facility:
"Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me"

The infancy that God's majesty did not disdain reached mature manhood through his advance in years. Then, when the triumph of his passion and resurrection were completed, all the actions of his lowly state, which he adopted for love of us, became a thing of the past. Nevertheless, the feast of his nativity renews for us Jesus' first moments, born of the Virgin Mary, and when we adore the birth of the Savior we find we are celebrating the origin of our own life.
For the birth of Christ is the source of life for all Christian people and the birthday of the Head is the birthday of the body. True, each individual who is called takes his place in his own proper order and the Church's offspring appear at different periods of time. But just as the entire body of the faithful, born in the font of baptism, is crucified with Christ in his passion, raised again in his resurrection, and placed at the Father's right hand in his ascension, so they are born with him in his nativity.

Any believer, from any part of the world, who is born again in Christ, having abandoned the sinful ways retained from his first beginnings, becomes a new person through his second birth. No longer does he belong to his father's ancestry according to the flesh but to our Savior's race. For he became Son of man that we might become sons of God.

Knox Harmony §52. Instruction to the Disciples

MATTHEW 18: 1-4 1 The disciples came to Jesus at this time and said, Tell us, who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 Whereupon Jesus called to his side a little child, to whom he gave a place in the midst of them, and said, 3 Believe me, unless you become like little children again, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 He is greatest in the kingdom of heaven who will abase himself like this little child. He who gives welcome to such a child as this in my name, gives welcome to me.

MARK 9: 29-49 29 Then they left those parts, and passed straight through Galilee, and he would not 30 let anyone know of his passage; he spent the time teaching his disciples. The Son of Man, he said, is to be given up into the hands of men. They will put him to death, and he will rise again on the third day. 31 But they could not understand his meaning, and were afraid to ask him. So they came to Capharnaum, and there, when they were in the house, he asked them, 32 What was the dispute you were holding on the way? 33 They said nothing, for they had been disputing among themselves which should be the greatest of them. 34 Then he sat down, and called the twelve to him, and said, If anyone has a mind to be the greatest, he must be the last of all, and the servant of all. 35 And he took a little child, and gave it a place in the midst of them; and he took it in his arms, and said to them: 36 Whoever welcomes such each as this in my name, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcome not me, but him that sent me.

LUKE 9:46-48 46 And a question arose among them, which of them was the greatest. 47 Jesus, who saw what was occupying their thoughts, took hold of a little child and gave it a place beside him, and said to them, 48 He who welcomes this child in my name, welcomes me; and he who welcomes me welcomes him that sent me. He who is least in all your company is the greatest.

The Gospel speaks on about the Cross often but it also does so on the mystery on the childhood. Too much about the quarreling of the disciples can be misleading.

Jesus has a constructive view of such rivalry.

The Reading of our Vigil Reading see a more positive approach. The author may not be well known. (It was rather understanding in the theologian, Theophylact, known as tutor to the imperial heir presumptive and author of Education of Monarchs).

From a commentary on Saint Mark's gospel by Saint Theophylact (PG 123, 588-589)

Two of the many paradoxes of Christianity are seen in this simple gospel commentary. Death leads to resurrection, humility to exaltation.

As he was teaching his disciples the Lord said to them: "The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will put him to death, but after his death, on the third day, he will rise again."

The Lord always alternated prophecies of his passion with the performance of miracles, so that he would not be thought to have suffered through lack of power. Therefore, after imparting the grievous news that men would kill him, he added the joyful tidings that on the third day he would rise again. This was to teach us that joy always follows sorrow, and that we should not be uselessly distressed by painful events, but should rather have hope that better times will come.

He came to Capernaum, and after entering the house he questioned the disciples:

"What were you arguing about on the way?" Now the disciples still saw things from a very human point of view, and they had been quarrelling amongst themselves about which of them was the greatest and the most esteemed by Christ. Yet the Lord did not restrain their desire for preeminent honor; indeed he wishes us to aspire to the most exalted rank He does not however wish us to seize the first place, but rather to win the highest honor by humility.

He stood a child among them because he wants us to become childlike. A child has no desire for honor; it is not jealous, and it does not remember injuries. And he said: "If you become like that, you will receive a great reward, and if, moreover, for my sake, you honor others who are like that, you will receive the kingdom of heaven; for you will be receiving me, and in receiving me you receive the one who sent me."

You see then what great things humility, together with simplicity and guilelessness, can accomplish. It causes both the Son and the Father to dwell in us, and with them of course comes the Holy Spirit also.

24th Week 2009, 13th. September Mass

The reflection of the Gospel for Sunday Mass seemed to knit together the anticipations of Jesus to the Agony in Gethsemane and the Passion and Death.

PRAYER TO JESUS, AGONISING ON THE

MOUNT OF OLIVES

My soul is sorrowful even unto death. Stay here and watch. (St. Mark 16-34)

PROMISES TO DEVOTEES OF THE AGONY OF JESUS ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES

Finally, and in order to prove to you that I want to break open a dam of My Heart so as to let flow a flood of My Graces, I promise those who spread this devotion to My agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the following three graces:

Total and final victory over the worst temptation to which they are subjected;

Direct power to save poor souls from purgatory;

Great enlightenment and strength to fulfil My Will.

All of these, My precious gifts, I will definitely give to those who carry what I had said, and who, therefore, remember and venerate with love and sympathy. My great, incomprehensible Agony on the Mount of Olives.

(San Giovanni Rotondo – 1965).

The Sunday Gospel of Mark 8: 27-23 gives a vivid reminder of the mind of Jesus so oblivious of the disciples, again at St. Mark 16:34.

KNOX Harmony Matthew, Mark and Luke, Confession of Peter

Matthew 16: 13-28 21 From that time onwards Jesus began to make it known to his disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem, and there, with much ill usage from the chief priests and elders and scribes, must be put to death, and rise again 22 on the third day. Whereupon Peter, drawing him to his side, began remonstrating with him; Never, Lord, he said; no such thing 23 shall befall thee. At which he turned round and said to Peter, Back, Satan; thou art a stone in my path; for these thoughts of thine 24 are man's, not God's.

Mark 8: 27-33. 31 And now he began to make it known to them that the Son of Man must be much ill-used, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be put to death, 32 and rise again after three days.

Luke 9: 18-27. 22 The Son of Man, he said, is to be much ill-used, and rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be put to death, and 23 rise again on the third day.

The Homilist, Fr. Hugh, had question about the Confession of Peter. He had reassurances for the problems on faith and quotes from one of the Abbots, Bl. Guerric of Igny, Advent Sermon V.

“However for you to journey along it, the way is always waiting to be prepared, so that you must start afresh from the place you have reached and advance along what lies ahead. You are led to do so because at every stage you must meet the Lord, for whose coming you are preparing the way, and each time you see him in a completely new way and as a much greater figure than you met before.”

“The longer I live the more I look forward to the future.” Dick Ranolph S.J. wrote this in his Memooirs which he wrote in his 80s. He died last October at the age of 92.