October 7th: Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary

Today marks a feast day in the Catholic Church in honor of the Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. Numerous popes and saints have written about the efficacy of the Holy Rosary. Pope Leo XII wrote:

O Venerable Brethren, We desire that, this year, this prayer should be offered with such greater fervor of heart as is demanded by the increased urgency of the need. We well know the Rosary's powerful efficacy to obtain the maternal aid of the Virgin. By no means is there only one way to pray to obtain this aid. However, We consider the Holy Rosary the most convenient and most fruitful means, as is clearly suggested by the very origin of this practice, heavenly rather than human, and by its nature. What prayers are better adapted and more beautiful than the Lord's prayer and the angelic salutation, which are the flowers with which this mystical crown is formed? With meditation of the Sacred Mysteries added to the vocal prayers, there emerges another very great advantage, so that all, even the most simple and least educated, have in this a prompt and easy way to nourish and preserve their own faith.

Also of interest this day is the reason that feast day was set. In the late 1500's the Battle of Lepanto was fought. The details of the battle from a historic standpoint are something of interest. The victory came by the intersession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through the use of the Rosary... thus the reason for the feast day being set.

The Battle of Vienna should also be of interest. Again, the success of the battle is attributed to our Blessed Mother, and by it the feast of the Holy Name of Mary was set. The Polish King and leader of the Hussars sought the intercession of Our Lady of Czestochowa before entering into battle. The dates of the battle should look familiar, as they tie into a modern day retaliatory attack. (I do not believe the date similarity to be coincidental.)

If you regretfully have no devotion or very little devotion to the Holy Rosary, I encourage you to persevere.

I also advise you to become familiar with these two historic battles. Without the success of Christendom in these battles, historians believe that our world would look very different today. Western Civilization would have stagnated while the Ottoman Empire went on to rule the world.

As usual Audio Sancto has a few sermons on these topics that should be of great interest:
There Is No Problem That Cannot Be Overcome By The Rosary
Why Can the Muslims Take Over Europe?
Our Lady of Czestochowa and How To Get The Most Grace From The Rosary

The Incarnation of Our Lord

Luke Chapter 1
To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: Because no word shall be impossible with God.
And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Catholic Encyclopedia: The Feast of the Annunciation
All Christian antiquity (against all astronomical possibility) recognized the 25th of March as the actual day of Our Lord's death. The opinion that the Incarnation also took place on that date is found in the pseudo-Cyprianic work "De Pascha Computus", c. 240. It argues that the coming of Our Lord and His death must have coincided with the creation and fall of Adam. And since the world was created in spring, the Saviour was also conceived and died shortly after the equinox of spring. Similar fanciful calculations are found in the early and later Middle Ages, and to them, no doubt, the dates of the feast of the Annunciation and of Christmas owe their origin.

Candlemas Day

Christmas is officially over.

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Candlemas Day, and 40 days after Christmas.

Forty days after the birth of Christ Mary complied with this precept of the law, she redeemed her first-born from the temple (Numbers 18:15), and was purified by the prayer of Simeon the just, in the presence of Anna the prophetess (Luke 2:22).
...
From Jerusalem the feast of the fortieth day spread over the entire Church and later on was kept on the 2nd of February, since within the last twenty-five years of the fourth century the Roman feast of Christ's nativity (25 December) was introduced.

Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces

Though not a formally declared a Dogma of the Church, the teaching of Mary as the channel through which Jesus chooses to bestow graces upon us is a teaching of the Church through Sacred Tradition. Her mediation on our behalf began with the Incarnation, and continued throughout Jesus' earthly life, from the Wedding Feast at Cana ("Do whatever He tells you") to His passion and death ("Here is your mother; there, your son"). Mary's mediation continues still, and will for all eternity, flowing out of her love for her Son, and for us, her children.

Quoting from the VII document Lumen Gentium, Pope John Paul II said in his encyclical Redemptoris Mater,

...Mary 'by her maternal charity, cares for the brethren of her Son who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led to their happy homeland.' In this way Mary's motherhood continues unceasingly in the Church as the mediation which intercedes, and the Church expresses her faith in this truth by invoking Mary 'under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix and Mediatrix.'

Pope Leo XIII says of Mary in Octobri Mense,

The Eternal Son of God, about to take upon Him our nature for the saving and ennobling of man, and about to consummate thus a mystical union between Himself and all mankind, did not accomplish His design without adding there the free consent of the elect Mother, who represented in some sort all human kind, according to the illustrious and just opinion of St. Thomas, who says that the Annunciation was effected with the consent of the Virgin standing in the place of humanity.(5) With equal truth may it be also affirmed that, by the will of God, Mary is the intermediary through whom is distributed unto us this immense treasure of mercies gathered by God, for mercy and truth were created by Jesus Christ.(6) Thus as no man goeth to the Father but by the Son, so no man goeth to Christ but by His Mother.

Pope St. Pius X, in Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum:

13. It cannot, of course, be denied that the dispensation of these treasures is the particular and peculiar right of Jesus Christ, for they are the exclusive fruit of His Death, who by His nature is the mediator between God and man. Nevertheless, by this companionship in sorrow and suffering already mentioned between the Mother and the Son, it has been allowed to the august Virgin to be the most powerful mediatrix and advocate of the whole world with her Divine Son (Pius IX. Ineffabilis). The source, then, is Jesus Christ "of whose fullness we have all received" (John i., 16), "from whom the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined together by what every joint supplieth, according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in charity" (Ephesians iv., 16). But Mary, as St. Bernard justly remarks, is the channel (Serm. de temp on the Nativ. B. V. De Aquaeductu n. 4); or, if you will, the connecting portion the function of which is to join the body to the head and to transmit to the body the influences and volitions of the head - We mean the neck. Yes, says St. Bernardine of Sienna, "she is the neck of Our Head, by which He communicates to His mystical body all spiritual gifts" (Quadrag. de Evangel. aetern. Serm. x., a. 3, c. iii.).

I have always found the works of St. Louis Marie de Montfort on the subject of Mary to be particularly moving and helpful, especially his books True Devotion to Mary and The Secret of Mary. From The Secret of Mary:

10. (4) In the new dispensation of grace to the world through Christ, God also chose Mary to be the treasurer, the administrator and the dispenser of all his graces. The sanctifying grace which brings about our spiritual adoption as children of God, passes to us through her soul as through a crystal clear channel. Thus, everyone who is a member of the mystical Body of Christ is spiritually born both of God and of Mary - just as Jesus was. Through Christ, the salvation and grace of God is available to all men. Man's personal response of faith establishes his spiritual adoption and life in God. But, the sanctifying of graces of God gained by the sacrifice of Christ, come to us through the spiritual mediation of Mary. This is why the Church calls her the 'Mediatrix of Grace.'

September 15th: Our Lady of Sorrows

Today is the feast for our Lady of Sorrows. Our Blessed Mother's sorrows remind us of the bond she has with her Son. Mary suffered and shared the passion of our Lord. The feast is a call to reflect on Our Blessed Mother's personal suffering, and her compassion. Today, please consider praying and meditating on the Stabat Mater, The Seven Sorrows, and the Litany of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows.

Other links of interest:
-Our Lady of Sorrows
-The Seven Sorrows Devotion
-Devotion to the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary

On the Catholic Calendar: Sept. 13th

On the new liturgical calendar (as of 1970) in the Catholic Church the feast of St. John Chrysostom is celebrated. In the Church these days there are many people who either "dissent" from Church teaching or have a lax view of it. So let's consider three quotes of St. Chrysostom for today:

1. The majority of adult Christians damn themselves. That's right: a majority of people who are in the Church of Christ, the true religion, go to hell (and it goes without saying that heretics -- eg: everyone who adheres to the spirit of the protestant revolt of the 16th century -- apostates, and pagans go to hell as well, but I digress). St. Chrysostom is joined in this statement by the following Saints: Gregory the Great, Jerome, Basil, Ephrem, Thomas Aquinas, Robert Bellarmine, Francis de Sales, and others.
2. He who neglects the service of the Blessed Virgin will die in his sins. Saints Alphonsus, Bernard, Hilary, Augustine of Hippo, Cyril of Jerusalem, Anselm, Albert the Great, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas and others also agree with St. Chrysostom on this point. Lest we forget, on both the new and old Calendars, yesterday was the feast of the Holy Name of Mary. Did you talk with your Mother yesterday?
3. It is impossible for a client of Mary who is faithful in honoring and recommending himself to her to be lost. Again, St. Chrysostom is joined by Saints Alphonsus, Bernard, Ephrem, Hilary, Augustine, Bonaventure, John Damascene, Anselm, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas and more.

I encourage you to re-read those three points and who is endorsing them. Even the most strident of "dissenters" should take pause and re-evaluate their position if they see that a great number of Fathers and Doctors of the Church hold an opinion opposed to their own.

Our Lady, refuge of sinners, pray for us!

Flower of Carmel

Flos Carmeli,
Vitis florigera,
Splendor coeli,
Virgo puerpera,
Singularis.
Mater mitis,
Sed virinescia,
Carmelitis esto propitia
Stella Maris. (Alleluia.)

In English...

Flower of Carmel
Flowering vine,
Splendor of Heaven,
Child-bearing Virgin
Singular.
Gentle Mother,
But unknown to man,
To the Carmelites
Be favorable,
Star of the sea.