Merrry Christmas And A Happy And Holy New Year

Dear Friends in Jesus and Mary,

Greetings.

I would like to wish all the Readers of This Blog dedicated exclusively to Mother Mary a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Holy New Year.

 

Celebrating Christmas With Mother Mary

Mother Mary In My Humble Opinion is The "Yes Woman Of God". 

If It was not for Her Yes, We would never have a Benevolent Savior Namely Jesus Christ. 

“To celebrate Advent means: to become Marian, to enter into that communion with Mary’s ‘Yes,’ which, ever anew, is room for God’s birth, for the ‘fullness of time,’” said Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. 

Advent is a Marian time in many ways, from preparing for Jesus’ birth to celebrating Feasts such as the Immaculate Conception.


In his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (The Most Holy Rosary), St. John Paul II wrote, “Among creatures, no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better than his Mother.”


It’s inconceivable to celebrate Advent without the woman who makes it possible — the Mother.


“Our Lady in Advent goes to the whole root of what Advent is celebrating — the coming of Jesus,” 

“To quote St. Teresa of Calcutta: ‘No Mary, no Jesus.’”


Even though we’re so familiar with Mary being Jesus’ mother, It's “a wonderment of nature that a creature gave birth to her Creator. 

There still should be awe in the fact.” 

Quoting St. John Paul II, explaining, “It was God himself, the Eternal Father, who entrusted himself to the Virgin of Nazareth, giving her his own Son in the mystery of the Incarnation.”

“So who better to grace us with the ability to say once again the ‘Yes’ in our hearts for the coming of this Savior in the season of Advent.  

Credits : National Catholic Register 

The Lourdes of Germany

Altotting, called "the Heart of Bavaria," is one of the oldest and most popular of Marian Shrines in which Central and Eastern Europe abound.

Had records been kept of the number of pilgrims who came to it during the early ages it might even be proved that it has been one of the most frequented shrines in the whole world. For the origin of Altotting goes back to the eighth century, and for over twelve hundred years people of many races and nations have come to it in a steady, unceasing flow.

Other holy places have suffered destruction and temporary oblivion, but at the Shrine of Altotting little has changed save the dress of the generations who come and go.

Around the town the once thick German forests are thinner but they are there; the villages are more numerous, but they remain the humble, unimposing dwellings of the laborious peasants. Altotting and its devotion to the Madonna are the expression of the organic Christian life and living faith of the European peasantry, that massive force which maintained the unity of Europe despite feudal and national wars.

It was as if Our Lady wanted to preserve one place for the humble people of Europe harassed by armies. Once the pilgrim's eyes fall upon the Black Madonna of Altotting smiling at the Child she holds in her arms, he feels that the peace and simplicity of the shrine is due to her.

The face of the statue was not originally black but has been darkened by the ages and the millions of candles burned around it. When one's eyes become used to the half-light in the chapel, one sees the image's original medieval coloring and that parts of the walls are covered with solid silver, and the altar is of silver, too.

Altotting, oddly enough, is one of the richest shrines in the world in endowments and in treasure--but these riches, donated by rulers, princes and humble people as well, are hidden in a special treasury not often seen by the visitor.

Though many miracles have taken place in Altotting and the chapel is filled with emblems of gratitude for graces, healings, and help received, the greatest miracle perhaps is the continuous existence of the shrine itself.

Credits : The Shrine That Has Never Been Destroyed
                By Zsolt Aradi
                Catholic Culture 

Our Lady of the Pillar

Perhaps the oldest devotion to Our Lady in Europe is the Devotion to Our Lady of the Pillar.

In the year AD 36, while She was yet on earth, Our Lady appeared to Saint James on the banks of the river Ebro, near the city of Caesar-Augusta (now Zaragoza or Saragossa).

She appeared, accompanied by celestial music, on a six-foot Pillar of Jasper. Her purpose was to comfort and encourage St. James and his Disciples. Our Lady commanded that a chapel be built on the spot in Her honor and She promised Her assistance to those who invoke Her. The Apostle was quick to carry out the wishes of the Queen of Apostles.

The present church, built by Charles II in the late 1600s, is the last of several replacements and enlargements of the original edifice.

King Ferdinand VI, in 1753, commissioned an architect to build the special side chapel which houses Our Lady’s Pillar. On the Pillar, whose jasper cannot be matched anywhere in the world, is erected a fifteen-inch statue of Our Lady with the Child Jesus, Who holds a dove.

One tradition says that Our Lady Herself gave the statue to Saint James, while another states that Saint James commissioned it. Regardless of its origin, many miracles attest to Heaven’s predilection for the relic. Among its many prodigies is the fact that, in almost 2,000 years, the statue has never needed dusting.

No one is allowed to touch the statue, except for the four priests assigned to its care and clothing, and newly baptized infants who are lifted up so that the new children of God might touch the image of their Heavenly Mother.

The Pillar itself has been covered with silver and bronze, except for an opening where pilgrims may venerate it, and the spot is quite worn away from the millions of kisses it has received. The choirboys and acolytes who serve the chapel form a special group of boys, known as "Infantes". It is considered a great privilege for a family to have a son in the special uniform of the "Infantes".

In 1936, the Spanish Communists dropped bombs on the shrine, but the two that hit the church failed to detonate. This incident showed the Pure Evil at work of the Spanish Communists and the power of Our Lady’s protection.

Credits : Catholicism.Org 

Our Lady of the Golden Heart -- A Must See Shrine

Our Lady of Beauraing, also known as the Virgin of the Golden Heart, appeared to Fernande Voisin (15), Andree Degeimbre (14), Gilberte Voisin (13) Albert Voisin (11) and Gilberte Degeimbre (9) between November 29, 1932 and January 3, 1933.

 Beauraing is a quiet little village in the country of Belgium on the border with France.

It was there that on the evening of November 29, 1932 the Blessed Mother appeared to 3 Brothers -- Albert, Gilbert, and Ferdinanda Voisin and to two sisters Andreina and Gilberta.

It is difficult to attribute a particular message to the apparitions of Beauraing.

It could be said that the messages at Beauraing are a continuation of the messages given at Lourdes and Fatima.

The Blessed Mother, when she appeared in Beauraing showed her golden heart from which radiated rays of light.

She called upon people to come there in pilgrimage so that sinners could be converted.

In 1943, the Bishop of Namur permitted the cult of Our Lady of Beauraing. In 1945, He Blessed a Statue of the Madonna and in 1949 he recognized the supernatural character of the Apparitions.

In 1947, the construction of a Chapel commenced which led to the garden of the apparitions with specific Marian Motifs.

In 1968, a Huge Church was constructed which accommodates 5,000 people preserving the ambience of the place of the apparitions.

Beauraing, in recent years like nearby Banneux was established as one of the most important shrines in  Belgium, a place of pilgrimage for people from all over the world.

It has prayerful and sober celebrations allowing pilgrims to reflect deeply and pray fervently.

Credits and References :

The Virgin of the Golden Heart
By Don Mario Morra
Pages 28-29
Don Bosco's Madonna, Mumbai
November 2015
Vol- 17, N0-7 

Our Lady's Immaculate Heart

How do we know Mary best? As with anyone, her key is in her heart. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Mt 6:21). We know from the Magnificat that Mary’s treasure is her Son.

Mary referred to her heart several times at Fatima, including once when she told the oldest shepherd child to whom she appeared, Lucia, something integral to her messages: “I will never leave you; my Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.” It’s clear we need to pay attention to what defines her heart.

Scripture references Mary’s heart twice, both in the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel (verses 19 and 51). We learn that Mary “reflects” and “keeps” in her heart the mysterious events surrounding the Incarnation. Intertwined with her core identity is the identity of her Son and that of his mission as redeemer and savior. Mary’s fiat (“yes”) was the portal through which God chose to allow himself to begin his saving work. Mary’s fiat remedied Adam and Eve’s “no,” showing us the way to her Son, who is the remedy for all sin. The Virgin Mother is the channel through which God brings healing balm to humanity’s sinfulness, through whom we experience the fullness of grace. She who is “full of grace” presents to us and leads us to her Son.

 

The contents of her heart

It is the condition of Mary’s heart, then, that serves as a model for Christians in our quest to follow her Son. It is within her heart that God chose to come and find his initial dwelling among us. This is integral to the message of Fatima, the message that ultimately brings the peace for which humanity yearns. When we live like Mary, when we commit our whole selves to Christ and invite his word to dwell within our hearts, we prepare ourselves to be agents of peace.

With Mary as our guide, each of the baptized is to present and lead the world to her Son. As Pope Paul VI said in his 1974 Marian encyclical Marialis Cultus: “In the Virgin Mary everything is relative to Christ and dependent upon him” (No. 25).

This is what defines Mary’s holy, immaculate heart. The identity of her heart is what forms the themes of Fatima’s message: humble holiness, charity and undying obedience to and faith in God’s will. These qualities are what each of us must appropriate within our own hearts. This enables us to reflect upon and keep Christ in our hearts like Mary. These qualities are, indeed, the legend on the map directing us to God, as Mary identified her Immaculate Heart at Fatima. Each of us is called to make the defining characteristics of Mary’s heart the defining characteristics of our own hearts. The transformation to which each of us is called is made possible and accomplished in Mary.

 

‘Ad Jesum Per Mariam’

For this reason, devotion to Mary’s heart — her Immaculate Heart — has been proposed for emulation by saints and theologians for centuries. From the earliest Christian times, believers turned to Mary and sought “to imitate her in making their lives an act of worship of God and making their worship a commitment of their lives” (Marialis Cultus, No. 21).

From the fourth century, as Paul VI calls to our attention in his Marian encyclical, St. Ambrose hoped that his flock would adopt Mary’s heart. “May the heart of Mary be in each Christian to proclaim the greatness of the Lord; may her spirit be in everyone to exult in God,” St. Ambrose preached.


Roots of the devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart are particularly ingrained among the French. St. John Eudes was well-known for propagating the devotion through his 17th-century preaching and teaching. Several parishes in France took up a feast day to honor the Immaculate Heart at his behest, and he is credited with sparking universal interest in the devotion.

At Fatima the Blessed Mother reiterated the work of many preachers and saints. Mary’s words to Lucia indicate that she is indeed the clearest model for Christians who desire to follow her Son. As the prayer composed by French Sulpician Father Jean Jacques Olier said, we are to find “Jesus living in Mary.” There also is great wisdom in the motto of the French mariologist St. Louis de Montfort, who teaches: “Ad Jesum Per Mariam” (“To Jesus through Mary”). We should make the famous Monfortian prayer, from which John Paul II took his episcopal motto, our own: “Totus tuus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt. Accipio te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria” (“I belong entirely to you, and all that I have is yours. I take you for my all. O Mary, give me your heart”).

 

Mary gives to us her heart. But moreover, she exposed at Fatima a path for us to adopt her heart and place ourselves in her motherly embrace. Through the First Saturday devotion, the Blessed Mother shows us how to make holy, loving, obedient hearts from which peace emanates. In the July apparition at Fatima, Mary explained that, on five consecutive First Saturdays, participants of this devotion “shall confess, receive holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”

This devotion springs from a glimpse of hell that Mary showed the three Fatima visionaries, after which she said, “You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.”

Devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart received universal support from Venerable Pope Pius XII 25 years after the apparitions at Fatima. It seemed providential since he was ordained a bishop on May 13, 1917 — the day Mary first appeared at Fatima.

Not only did Pope Pius XII establish the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1942, but he also composed a prayer of consecration to her Immaculate Heart. In compliance with the wishes made known by the Blessed Mother at Fatima, and in subsequent apparitions to Lucia, Pope Pius consecrated the world (in the midst of World War II, 1942) and Russia (toward the start of the Cold War, 1952) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Russia’s consecration was explicitly desired by the Blessed Mother because of communism’s growth and anti-Christian agenda.

Credits : Our Sunday Visitor 

Mother Mary Leads Us To Her Son In The Holy Eucharist

Mother Mary devoted herself exclusively to the Eucharistic Glory of Jesus.  

She knew that it was the desire of the Eternal Father to make the Eucharist known, loved and served by all men; that need of Jesus’ Heart was to communicate to all men His gifts of grace and glory.  

She knew, too, that it was the mission of the Holy Spirit to extend and perfect in the hearts of men, the reign of Jesus Christ, and that the Church had been founded only to give Jesus to the world.
       
All Mary’s desire, then, was to make Him known in His Sacrament.  Her intense love for Jesus felt the need of expanding in this way, of consecrating itself — as a kind of relief, as it were — because of her own inability to glorify Him as much as she desired.
 
 Ever since Calvary, all men were her children.  She loved them with a Mother’s tenderness and longed for their supreme good as for her own; therefore, she was consumed with the desire to make Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament known to all, to inflame all hearts with His love, to see them enchained to His loving service.
   
To obtain this favor, Mary passed her time at the foot of the Most Adorable Sacrament, in prayer and penance.  There she treated the world’s salvation.  In her boundless zeal, she embraced the needs of the faithful everywhere, for all time to come, who would inherit the Holy Eucharist and be Its adorers... 
 
Her prayers converted countless souls, and as every conversion is the fruit of prayer, and since Mary’s prayer could meet no refusal, the Apostles had in this Mother of Mercy their most powerful helper.  “Blessed is he for whom Mary prays!”
 
Eucharistic adorers share Mary’s life and mission of prayer at the foot of the Most Blessed Sacrament.  It is the most beautiful of all missions, and it holds no perils.  It is the most holy, for in it all the virtues are practiced.  
 
It is, moreover, the most necessary to the Church, which has even more need of prayerful souls than of powerful preachers; of men of penance rather than men of eloquence.  Today more than ever  we need men who, by their self—immolation, disarm the anger of God inflamed by the ever increasing crimes of nations.  
 
We must have souls who reopen the treasures of grace which the indifference of the multitude has closed.  We must have true adorers; that is to say, men of fervor and of sacrifice.  
 
When there are many such souls around their Divine Chief, God will be glorified, Jesus will be loved, and society will once more become Christian, conquered for Jesus Christ by the Apostolate of Eucharistic prayer.

---

Prayer to Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament
O Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the glory of Christians, the joy of the universal Church, and the hope of the world, pray for us.  Kindle in all the faithful a lively devotion to the most Holy Eucharist, so that they may all be made worthy to receive Holy Communion every day.

Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, pray for us.

Let us with Mary Immaculate adore, thank, supplicate and console the most sacred and beloved Eucharistic Heart of Jesus!

Significance Of the Icon Of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

The Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is an example of the Western influence on Eastern art.

Still, for those who are accustomed to Western art, it isn’t always easy to appreciate the beauty of an icon without understanding more about this form of art.

In the Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, the Child Jesus is not portrayed with the physical proportions of an infant, but appears almost as an adult in miniature form.

This has been interpreted to indicate that He is God, having infinite knowledge. Yet He is human as well, for He clings to His Mother’s hand in fear, while gazing up toward the angel over His shoulder. One of His sandals has come loose, indicating the haste with which He had run to her.

Why is the Child Jesus so frightened? The angels in the picture are holding instruments of His Passion and Death, with the angel on the left bearing the gall, the lance and the reed, while the angel on the right holds the cross and nails. Their hands are covered with a cloth or veil, much like the veil that the priest holds when blessing with the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance at Benediction.

The face of Our Lady is grave and sorrowful, with her large eyes directed not at Jesus, but at us. One feels that she is pleading with us to avoid sin, which has caused her Son to suffer so much for us. Her gaze makes us a part of the picture and the pain it portrays. “Will you not love my Son, Who has loved you so much?” she seems to say.

Our Lady is clothed in the colors of royalty; her tunic is of dark red and her mantle is dark blue with a green lining. (According to another interpretation, the dark red is said to be the color worn by virgins at the time of Christ, while blue was the color worn by mothers in Palestine.)

The Child Jesus also wears the colors of royalty. Both Jesus and Mary have golden halos, but Christ’s halo is decorated with a cross as a sign of His Divinity. Jeweled crowns were placed on the heads of both Mother and Child of the original icon by order of the Vatican in 1867. (The crowns were removed when the icon underwent restoration in the 1990’s.)

The Greek initials next to the head of Our Lady identify her as “Mother of God,” while those next to the Child are the abbreviation for “Jesus Christ.” The letters over the angels’ heads indicate the one on the left as St. Michael and the one on the right as St. Gabriel.

The 8-pointed star on Our Lady’s veil tells us that she is the Star of the Sea, the Star that leads us to Jesus. The small ornate cross to the left of the star reinforces this concept.

Mary’s mouth is small to indicate her spirit of silence and prayer. Her eyes are large, for they see all of our troubles and needs, and are always turned toward us.

Christ’s hands, turned palms down into His Mother’s, indicate that He has placed the graces of the Redemption in her keeping. Our Lady’s hand does not clasp those of her Son, but remains open, inviting us to put our hands in hers along with those of Jesus.

As in other icons, the background of the painting is gold to symbolize Heaven, where Jesus and Mary now reign in glory. This light of Heaven shines through their clothing, illuminating not only the picture itself, but those who behold it.

This radiance speaks to us of God’s light and grace, strengthening and consoling us as we journey through life to our heavenly goal.

Finally, it is of no small significance that Our Blessed Mother herself referred to the icon by the title of “Holy Mary of Perpetual Help.” Surely this, along with the symbolism we see in the picture, should assure us of the loving concern and tenderness our Blessed Mother has for us, and her ardent desire to be a source of perpetual help to all who call upon her.

Credits : CMRI 

The Sorrowful Mother of Lichen Central Poland

The History of this Beautiful Marian Sanctuary dates back to 1813, when 'the battle of nations' took place near Leipzig.

Polish Soldiers were fighting under Napoleon, among them Tomas Klossowski who was seriously wounded. Facing death, he began to invoke Our Lady, begging her not to let him die in a foreign land.

Our Lady appeared to him in his injured state. 

Our Lady was wearing a beautiful Golden Dress with a Golden Crown in attendance.

She promised the Polish Soldier that She would save his life but He in return should find an Image similar to her appearance to him and have it installed in a fitting place to her.

Saint Pope John Paul 2 consecrated a Huge Marian Basilica in Lichen, Central Poland  a few years before his death when he was well and able that would seat 7,000 People and that has been modeled on the Lines of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

This is the Seventh Largest Church -Basilica in the World. 

Read all about its history here :

https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/o/our-lady-of-lichen.php

Our Lady Of Laus The Perfect Refuge of Sinners Unknown By Many

In May 2008, Bishop Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri, the Bishop of Gap in the French Alps, celebrated a special Mass to announce the Vatican’s approval of Marian Apparitions in that diocese that occurred between 1664 and 1718.

Although the location of the apparitions to Venerable Benôite (Benedicta) Rencurel and the shrine founded there have been drawing pilgrims since the late 17th century, Our Lady of Laus is relatively unknown outside of France.


Our Lady of Laus is known as the Refuge of Sinners.

As she appeared to Benôite Rencurel for more than half a century, she repeated a call for holiness and devotion among the laity and for faithfulness among priests and religious.

The Mother of God also promised miraculous healings for those anointed with holy oil if they had faith in her intercession.

Mary’s calls for repentance, warnings against unfaithfulness and scandal, and requests for a shrine to be built in Laus are all common attributes of the Marian apparitions recognized by the Church.

Read the whole article here :

https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/Story/TabId/2672/ArtMID/13567/ArticleID/14360/Who-Is-Our-Lady-of-Laus-.aspx

Also Read This : Our Lady of Laus Now on Par with Lourdes

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=8296

Church Approves French Marian Shrine

https://zenit.org/articles/church-approves-french-marian-shrine/

Our Lady of Hope -- The Apparitions at Pontmain France

The Feast Day of Our Lady of Pontmain is annually celebrated on the 17th of January every year.

 This is an excellent article on Our Lady of Pontmain also known as Our Lady of Hope.

In the 19th Century, The Province of Pontmain in France faced the risk of being completely ovrrun by a Huge Prussian Army that had already conquered some parts of Europe.

During this dark time for France Our Lady appeared to some simple peasant children inviting them to pray for Peace and for their Country.

Miraculously, Pontmain was not overun by the Prussian Army that outnumbered the numerically smaller French Army although they were at the gates of that province. They simply turned back and withdrew.

This is all due to the Miraculous Intercession and Prayers offered by the Virgin of Pontmain namely Mother Mary who cares for her Children in more ways than one as long as they have recourse to her.

Read the whole story here :

http://catholicexchange.com/mary-our-lady-of-hope

Honouring The Mother of God on the 1st of January

The Solemnity of Mary as the Mother of God, celebrated on January 1, is the celebration of the doctrine solemnly taught at the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. that the Word “united flesh to himself from his mother’s womb and is said to have undergone begetting in the flesh in order to take to himself flesh of his own”.

Mary, therefore, is truly, the Mother of God, “not certainly because the nature of the Word or his divinity had the origin of its being from the holy Virgin, but because from her was generated his holy body, animated by a rational soul, a body spiritually united to the Word; and thus it is said that [the Word] was begotten according to the flesh”.

The Solemnity of Mary as Mother of God highlights her “close and indissoluble bond” with Jesus in the history of salvation.

After the solemn definition of Mary as Birth-Giver of God at Ephesus in 431, a solemn feast celebrating Mary as Mother of God began in the East.

By the fifth century, the West celebrated the Feast in Rome on the Sunday before Christmas, though it was celebrated in Spain on Dec. 18 and in France on Jan. 18. In the Middle Ages, Jan. 1 became the feast of Jesus’ circumcision.

In 1751, Pope Benedict XIV established the Feast of Mary’s Divine Maternity for the first Sunday of May for Portugal and other counties. In 1914, the feast was moved to Oct. 11. In 1931, to commemorate the 15th centenary of the Council of Ephesus of 431, the feast was extended to the entire Latin rite.

In the liturgical reform of 1970, Pope Paul VI moved the feast back to the Octave of Christmas as it was originally celebrated in Rome. Its date was fixed for Jan. 1, and it was elevated to the highest liturgical rank of a solemnity.

The decision of Pope Paul VI to move the celebration of Mary’s Divine Maternity to the Octave of Christmas was a way to emphasize “the essential, vital, providential bond” that unites Mary to Jesus.

In honoring Mary as the Mother of God, we give glory to God who humbled himself to share our humanity, becoming incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Credits : Our Sunday Visitor 

Our Lady of Guadalupe -- Patroness of the Unborn and Patroness of the Americas

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated all over the world on December 12. 

I wonder if anybody has ever thought about this.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Blessed Person.

She is not only a Staunch Protector of the Unborn but also Protector of the People of the Americas.

In this time of uncertainty particularly because of the violence perpetrated by Lawless Forces -- What Better Advocate do we have in Heaven than Mother Mary herself.

When we see a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe she appears to be standing in the midst of glorious rays coming from the sun. In Fact, these rays are not coming from the rays of the sun in the sky, but rather the divine rays of the Son in the Blessed Sacrament.

The higher meaning of the "Woman clothed with the Sun" is Mary's perfect union with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. This is what is meant by the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary. These two hearts are perfectly united and now beat as one.

The meaning of Our Lady of Guadalupe is this. She is proclaiming the "Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament" giving witness to his healing rays, represented by the glorious rays surrounding her.

At the same time, she is announcing to the world the great "Eucharistic Miracle" to come when the divine rays of his mercy and love will shine out from the Blessed Sacrament in radiant splendour.

This "Eucharistic Miracle" will be brighter than the Sun and it will take place in every chapel of perpetual adoration where Jesus Christ is loved and adored day and night without pause.

The first thing that Saint Juan Diego saw was a brilliant light. Out of the light the Blessed Mother appeared.

It is the "considered opinion" of many associated with the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe that the light that Saint Juan Diego saw was a "Glorified Host" from which the Blessed Mother appeared.

Everything that this marvellous light touched was transformed. For Example, the rocks on the mountainside were transformed into precious stones. From the snow in the cold of winter, grew the loveliest roses Saint Juan Diego ever saw.

Conclusion :

When Saint Juan Diego took the roses to the Bishop as proof that he had a heavenly vision there was a great surprise. His clothing was transformed into the "Image" of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

This Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is known as "The Tilma".

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the "Patroness of the Americas".

Happy Feast to one and all.

FYI- Guadalupe is situated in Mexico City, Mexico. There is a magnificent Basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe there.

Credits and References :

"Our Lady of Guadalupe"
 Could you not watch one hour with me
 By Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament
Newsletter No-3
December 1997 

The Immaculate Conception Of Our Lady -- A Proud Moment for Catholics

Our Lady's Immaculate Conception reveals to us Mortals something deep and unfathomable.

Namely that the Queen of Heaven and Earth was born without Original Sin.

You may ask how could this have happened ??

This happened only because of "Supernatural Grace" that Our Lady was endowed with from the time of her birth. God wanted a Pure Tabernacle where His Son Could be born and this Pure Tabernacle was Our Lady. 

 In 2014, the Church celebrated the 160th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception which affirms that Mary was conceived without Original Sin.

For centuries, the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady was defended by Saints, Theologians and Laymen.

However, it took centuries of theological debate to establish a consensus in the Church. Only in 1854, did Pope Pius IX, after consulting with the bishops of the whole world, proclaimed this dogma, thus affirming as revealed truth that Our Lady was preserved from Original Sin from the very moment of her conception.

Many defended this position because they felt that the glory of the Most Holy Trinity would be tarnished if the Mother of the Word Incarnate were not the most perfect of all creatures. It would also be against God’s wisdom and mercy if the Savior’s Mother did not receive the highest gifts of nature and grace.

Credits : America Needs Fatima 

Mother Mary -- A Supernatural Mother

In May 2016, when I lost my Mother -- Mother Mary proved to be my "Consoler" to the nth degree. I realized I had a "Heavenly Mother" to whom I could go to 24-7-365 when my earthly mother was no more.

The Holy Rosary which is my favourite prayer has a "Secret Charm". It simplifies the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Joys, the Sorrows, and the Glories of his Mother Mary and not to forget the Public Ministry of Jesus Christ vis - a -vis his Mother Mary.

It is Mother Mary's View of Jesus Christ, Her Love of Him, and Worship of Him which the Holy Rosary brings before us.

All in All, it must be said that there is no intercessor like Mother Mary.

Introduction

This Catholic Blog is all about the most important person in my life namely, Mother Mary.

Mother Mary has been more than a Mother to me since the age of 5.

I distinctly remember reciting her Holy Rosary at the young age of 5 every night after Dinner with the Family.

Whenever I have been in trouble or have been in want of something good for my soul and body Mother Mary has been a "Benevolent Provider".

She has never refused me anything as long as it has been for my "Spiritual Good and Well Being".

While studying in School and after that in College as well as in Law College Mother Mary has been at my side like a outstanding advisor and guide all through my Academic Career.

Mother Mary has been that special someone in my life when I have looked back at my life and seen all the pitfalls that I have been through.

I will never forget Mother Mary as long as I live.