Please click here to listen to Sister Mary Francisca  Eulogy

Eternal rest grant unto Sister Mary Francisca Klotz, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace! Amen.

LOVE ALONE MATTERS!
(by Sister Mary Francisca, RIP)

The blessed Cross has but one purpose and that is to empty our hearts of worldliness and self, that they may be filled to overflow with the Love of Jesus Christ!

Nothing else in life will have mattered, neither what we had nor what we became nor what we accomplished. If love is lacking, everything is for naught. Hell is hell because it contains no love. The devil is keenly aware that if he can seed hate in the hearts of men, LOVE will be driven out, and his victory is assured.

Suffering on a natural and human level causes narrowness, bitterness, self-centeredness and discontent; whereas suffering, elevated by grace to the supernatural level, unites us intimately with the sufferings in the Heart of our Crucified Savior, empties our own hearts of self, and fills us to overflowing with the pure substance of the Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ. This abundance of the Love of Christ will then overflow from our hearts to all souls.

We must beg Our Lady for the courage and grace to be transformed by these crosses and pains – to make us Better Not Bitter! We must have a living faith that realizes the Word of Christ applies to us now and forever: Christ loves me! Ponder often the Altar of Love, study your Crucifix. How very much we are loved! The devil gains a victory each time he can plant in our hearts and soul a doubt that the Love of God for us is unconditional and constant. He will then devour that soul. Even when we are sinful and unworthy, GOD LOVES US!

The only cure for doubt and hate is an intense awareness of being loved, both by God and Our Blessed Mother. Love is the only cure for HATE! Those who are most unlovable and the most filled with self, need this divine remedy more than all others. The Divine Physician sought out those who were most sick in mind, body and soul, and went out to them and poured upon them the medicine of His LOVE; that medicine which cures both the body and soul. And to the sickest, to the most unlovable, He poured out His healing remedy ever more abundantly and freely.

Therefore, let us give to each other all that we have, not counting the cost. Pray for one another without ceasing and beg from Jesus Crucified and the Immaculata, all the graces needed that our many trials, crosses and pains here below, will make of us “God- Bearers”. Like Mary, we will go forth and carry the adorable presence of Jesus Christ into the whole world.

Purify Me, O My Jesus, Strengthen Me!
Keep Me In Thy Holy Love, Now And Forever!

Dear Apostles of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

Our participation in the great Militia of the Immaculata during this most trying time in the course of history is the greatest privilege, most singular blessing and incredibly sobering responsibility. We are engaged in a battle with the powers of Hell and it is a fight to the death. In order to obtain victory for Our Queen, we must be generous, courageous and heroic in our efforts and we must keep in top spiritual fitness. The sacred fountain of the Sacrament of Penance pours out upon souls the Precious Blood of Jesus that we may be purified from all stain of sin and find the sweet peace of divine strength and a new ardor to go forward on the path of intimacy with Christ.

Through the embracing arms of God’s mercy, we are lifted up to merit salvation by the power of His Most Precious Blood. Our hearts are softened, bad habits weakened, dispositions changed, new habits are infused and entanglements are untied. How powerful to restore peace to the troubled soul is the Sacrament of Penance!

We must ask God to help us make a good Confession. The grace of this Sacrament obtains for us that absolute purity and delicacy of conscience so essential to our intimate union with Him. It is here that we consider those things which separate us from the Love of God: disobedience, detraction, resentment, contempt for others and harsh judgment of them.

Too late have I loved Thee, O Beauty Divine! O Eternal Charity,
I dedicate to Thee all my works; I consecrate to Thee all my labors,
I seek Thee in all, love Thee above all, And live united with Thee,
Who art my all in all!

“Go in peace, my son, and sin no more!” United with Mary, let us go forward and love, for Love Alone Matters!

Patti Melvin, ULRA Director

Please pray for me as I will pray for you all the days of my life!

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Dear Benefactors and Members of the ULRA,

In this special season of Holy Lent when the Catholic Church is reflecting on the suffering of Christ and His Redemption of mankind, I am writing to inform you that I have celebrated the Sacred Masses for your intentions, your health, protection from every evil, courage and perseverance in our Holy Faith. May God’s blessing be upon you!

Jesus Christ carried for us the Holy Cross and offered His Life for our salvation. May He protect you, give you peace of soul, full harmony of life, and may He preserve you from all dangers, physical and spiritual! We ask the Virgin Mary, Our Heavenly Queen, who is standing near the Cross of her Son, Jesus Christ, to help you overcome all sorrows, grief and tribulations and to shield you from all dangers.

During the Holy Season of Lent, I and many other priests of Ukraine will be celebrating additional Masses for you and your families, and your special intentions. Your personal commitment to the Living Rosary is an incredible help to us here and has allowed this beautiful work to spread faith, consolation and spiritual strength to all our members. Your assistance means so very much to us!

I will keep you, your most beloved family, and your health and intentions daily in my Holy Masses. I will remember every day your departed relatives. I wish you a very Holy and Joyful Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and blessings upon your labours, your family and your work every moment of your daily life. Really, your special intentions and needs are very dear to my heart!

May God reward you abundantly!

Fr. Ivan Kolodiy
Byzantine Rite, Greek-Catholic Church
Ukraine

Dear Patti,

We solely regard the Living Rosary as the mother of the Sudan! This is what is on the lips of everyone here. You must wonder why I was silent for over a week! By the time I come to town from deep down in the villages, I find everything in chaos! I am proclaiming, with humble force, the ULRA’s centre piece – the DECADE! Our Mission has, this time, been critical when the faithful are more in dire need than ever before!

From the depth of my heart, I thank you for your constant communication with me since I arrived here! Your precious encouragements have seen me through with successes during these trying times! The needs of this great missionary nation have been enormous and still remain so! You have been at my side and fully participated the most, with the indispensable contributions of Mother Mary’s message toward bringing peace to a population currently distressed with uncertainty and fear of the coming Elections’ threat of war!

I assure you, you have done your part; rest assured all that you have sent has been put to proper use! I will not be able to present your gorgeous gifts to the administrator of the diocese of Malakal because he has gone to Rome with other Sudanese bishops for the Ad Lamina! The Pope will have audience with them 11th April. You have equipped tens of thousands with the priceless protection shield of the Miraculous Medal and given hope to a population, ravaged by war. From April, we are to see chaos that will climax during January next year when a Referendum will decide whether the south will secede from the northern Islamists! Determination for this is underway but the poor Christian souls are the ones to bear the brunt!

I do accept, in principle, to go to Malakal, I will do it during the last week of my stay! I plan to even utilize that week of grace from 11th to 18th March when I will be in Malakal!

This time, dear Patti, I do consent fully that I have demanded a lot! This is because the forthcoming Elections have precipitated a call for preventive measures! As you know, prevention is better than cure! When we dress these poor souls, we are shielding them with Our Blessed Mother’s protection!

I am so overwhelmed by your responses; however, let me put it to you. I will go home unsettled for the people of Abyei (El Obeid diocese) and for Danga Severio in Dungu diocese who are in such great need and counting on our help.

Abyei is a vast area at the north/south border. Last year, 2000 people were killed in exchange of fire between Moslems in the north and Christians in the south! Then, we sent some Sacramentals to the nuns and found it effective! It is stipulated that this will be the nucleus of the next round of fighting!

You remember David who played a role in my coming to Sudan in 2003 when he was still a passive rebel in Uganda; he is currently based in Abyei, serving with an active north/south joint force that oversee no outbreak of war till the Referendum next year! He has told me that he will, by all means, send the oils and MM to those people who are dying like insects. He even phoned me last evening asking when we would deliver! He also told me that there is evidence that the few who have the MM and used the holy oil have healed wounds and chemical gun smoke that are affecting and blinding a large population is under control! What can we do! I have to sympathize with you surely, you are drained now!

Then, Severio in N.E. DR Congo is also crying; these are the people who were battered by Kony rebels on Christmas day in 2008! We happened to send him two boxes in January 2009! He now expects more from us! I am ashamed; he wrote me a note in poor English telling me that all their eyes are looking at us for possible arrival of more help!
OUR MISSION, THIS TIME, IS EDUCATION,
PROTECTION AND PREVENTION OF WAR!

If you say a big YES, I will go to Malakal and teach them the ULRA devotion and then leave to meet George! I am trying to do whatever I can while I am still here. The coming days are dark. People in Abyei and Dungu are crying for our help!

God bless you abundantly, Mother of the Sudanese!
Emmanuel Kitandwe, Ulra Liaison – Uganda

FATIMA and THE MORNING OFFERING

The Morning Offering – Our Most Important Act of the Day!

God has only one intention. He desires the salvation of all men. Through knowing Christ, man will come to know and love the Father. The modern world has a bitter need to see Christ in the streets. I am talking about the presence of Christ in Christians.

The Magdalens will come to adore Him in the Blessed Sacrament, but not before they have met Him in the streets. They must encounter the goodness of Him in the members of His Mystical Body. Every Christian has a missionary vocation. We are like the Mother of God, really. Our apostolic mission is to give Christ to the world. Our Lord complains to Margaret Mary, “Behold, this Heart which has so loved men, which has spared nothing, even to being exhausted and consumed, yet the greater part of men make me no return other than their ingratitude, coldness and forgetfulness. But, what is still more painful is those who are consecrated to Me treat Me thus.”

Spontaneous and whole-hearted consecration is the flower of real love. For the moment, we may not be called upon to pour forth our sweat and blood on the battlefields of apostleship, but we can PRAY! Our prayers, penances and good works are a power. Our prayerful army of penitent souls whose supplications and sacrifices daily ascend to God is a great strength to the Mystical Body of Christ. Before God, prayer is more powerful than an arm of steel. The salvation of another man’s soul may depend upon me. God gave to every man the command of loving his neighbor. On Golgotha, Christ looked down on His little flock, composed of the 3 Mary’s and St. John. Please God, give me the courage to keep vigil with them at the foot of the Cross.

Sanctifying Grace lifts man into the world of grace where the good he does and the evil he avoids, becomes infinitely meritorious.

By prayer we become, with Christ, the co-saviors of our brothers, helping God in the great work of Redemption without ever taking from Him one mite of glory. Prayer is a kind of priesthood without its responsibility. Through prayer, there is no limit to the number of souls we can reach. We cannot say one prayer for someone in need without receiving from the Hand of God a shower of graces for ourselves. Prayer is all embracing! It puts its arms around the whole world and draws all men closer to God.

Everyone who asks receives! Beneath the Cross, the Mother of God did what you do in the Morning Offering: She gave to God all that she had for the salvation of souls. Every sacrifice is an act of adoration and reparation. While the ritual of prayer is not the sacrifice, the offering of it is. In our prayer of adoration, we admit our dependence on God and God’s absolute rights over us. In the Morning Offering, we give our life over to God through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Sin is the assertion of our independence of God which directly contradicts
the fact of our creature-hood.

Every sin is a denial of adoration of God. Through the Morning Offering, we give to God the Lamb who was slain on the Cross. It is an act of adoration and contrition. Uniting our prayers, works, joys and sufferings with all the Holy Masses being offered in the whole world and all those participating in them, is a powerful act of adoration, reparation and love.

Because of the living union we enjoy with one another and with Christ, we are able to do by the omnipotence of prayer some of the things which God does on the strength of His perfection. The wounded Heart of Mary at the foot of the Cross beckons all who look at her to ponder the focus of her love, and its complete devotedness to the Heart of God. It does not say, Love Me; it says, Love Him! Mary and the Son of God surrender themselves to one another completely. By His Passion, the Word of God, made man, fathered the new mankind. By her compassion, by her close physical and spiritual union with the Crucified, Mary, as Mother, brought forth the new mankind. Mary is the Mediatrix of all Graces.

Christ is the Head of the Mystical Body; Mary is its Heart!

On the occasion of the Jubilee at Fatima, Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On December 8, he solemnly renewed the consecration in the Basilica of St. Peter, at Rome. The consecration is the prayer of the Pope to Mary Immaculate. In it, he asks that our Mother grant to us many things. He does not ask for them as an outright gift, something she might obtain for us with no effort on our part, as one might ask for a miracle. NO! The prayer is a dedication, a consecration! The peace for which the Father of Christendom asks is the victory to which the Vicar of Christ will lead his people after they have fought for it and merited the grace of it. The consecration is the knight’s vigil on the eve of battle. He comes to Mary’s altar because the morrow’s battle will be in her honor and for the Kingdom of her Son. The Son through the Mother, the Mediatrix of All Graces, will give strength to the warrior’s right arm. But the man will wield the sword, not some angel. When there are enough right arms, strong in grace, the Mystical Body will be an irresistible fighting unit, spiritually armed and operating as one, able to overcome all those forces in the world that the devil can muster against it.

What does Our Lady ask all those consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart to do? Daily make the Morning Offering, pray the Rosary, confess and receive Holy Communion on First Saturday in reparation, and offer up the sacrifice of Daily Duty for the salvation of poor sinners. The Mystical Body needs health to grow and defend itself. We speed the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth by devoting ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Mother and Son have always carried on the labor of Redemption together. Each morning, dedicate your day to Jesus through Mary.

Make faithfully and fervently your Morning Offering.
It is the most important ACT of your day!

We cannot separate the apostleship of prayer from the apostleship of suffering for, by it, we offer to God our prayers, works and sufferings through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our physical sufferings are nothing compared to the sufferings of our soul. Stand on any street comer, and look at the many sad faces, furrowed by worry and fear, masking the dark labyrinths of the mind where the soul wrestles with anxiety, loneliness, hurt, ingratitude and sorrow. When the Messiah came to us, He came as the Man of Sorrows. Because we are incorporated in Christ, none of man’s problems can be solved on the basis of individualism. No man is a being unto himself. He is everlastingly a part of the Body of Christ, who was the priest of His own sacrifice. Through suffering, we will have in our own body a Relic of the True Cross! The passion was everything that Divine Justice would demand from a sinful world as the price of those heavenly graces which would flood it and wash it clean. The work of pain is finished for Christ the Head. But His members still must suffer. The more we detest sin, the greater will be our efforts to destroy it – the better will be our prayer!

“To know Christ more intimately, to love Him more ardently, and to follow Him more closely!”

This is the mission of the Church and each one of us who love Jesus has an intimate part in it. Never fail to plunge into the Ocean of Grace offered to us, each day, through the Morning Offering. In doing this, we will with one voice, one heart and one soul, greatly hasten the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

O MY GOD, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus from all the Altars throughout the world, joining with It the offering of my every thought, word and action of this day. I desire to gain every indulgence and merit I can, offering them, together with myself, to Mary Immaculate whom Thou hast appointed the dispenser of the merits of Thy Precious Blood, especially by means of this Scapular (here kiss your Brown Scapular) that She may best apply them to the interests of Thy Most Sacred Heart. Amen.

One OUR FATHER, HAIL MARY and GLORY BE
(For the intentions of Holy Mother the Church)

Sweet Heart of Mary, Be My Salvation!
(300 days indulgence) ]]> http://www.philomena.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=10 0 http://www.philomena.org/blog/?p=4 http://www.philomena.org/blog/?p=4#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:39:17 +0000 admin http://www.philomena.org/blog/?p=4

By Thy Immaculate Conception, O Virgin Mary, Counsel, Protect and Defend Us!

Dear Apostles of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

It is with great sorrow, I share the sudden death of my little sister. This angel of mercy spent herself entirely. She helped everyone with everything, forever, without hesitation, and with never a thought of herself. She simply burned on and on, until she was totally burned out. She gave herself in love to all souls, generously and tirelessly, all for Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. May Sister Mary Francisca rest in eternal peace! I have traveled to Idaho for the funeral and to spend ten days with my dear mother who is blind. Please pray for my mother, Dorothy Klotz, who is absolutely devastated by this loss. Sister did everything for mom.

O Infinite Charity, enkindle in our wills a burning
Thirst for the Interior Life, penetrate our hearts with
Thy outpouring of Sweetness and Strength!

Only love can make a soul pleasing to God and nothing but love. All our words and works are nothing in His sight, unless we abide in Him and He in us. Prayer imparts to us His Spirit. Mary was the first living Pyx of Jesus Christ. In our godless world, full of ignorance and ambition, chaotic darkness enshrouds us and all is crumbling. The things and people in whom we have placed our trust have proved worthless reeds. Without God, we can do nothing! What is needed are many souls who will each be a true living Pyx in which Our Lord will find a home where He is cherished and loved, and from which He can emanate the sweet sunshine of His Adorable Presence. Mary’s children will be God-bearers bringing the Indwelling Presence of the Triune God into the world. Let us be that spiritual vessel united to Mary which brings Christ to a dying world. This can be accomplished only by the total immolation of self. United with Mary, Mediatrix of all Graces, we will carry His Love into the lives of others.

Three times, Satan met total defeat through the Immaculate Conception. In the great Heaven of creation, the brilliant archangel Lucifer was shown God’s plan for salvation, and he cried out, “I WILL NOT SERVE”; in the Garden of Eden, Lucifer temped and lied to Eve seducing her to believe she would know as much as God. He was driven from Paradise and the eternal curse was placed upon his head: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she will crush thy head and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” (Gen.3:15)

Now is the final battle for souls. Mary Mediatrix, the Immaculate Conception, and all those consecrated to her Immaculate Heart will be the heel which crushes the serpent’s head. The Miraculous Medal is a physical shield in this battle which proclaims her victory and each one who wears this Medal is protected by her powerful intercession. Let us sacrifice and labor to reach all souls with this precious gift of the Most Blessed Trinity: the Medal of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception.

Love watcheth and sleeping slumbereth not. When weary, it is not tired; when straightened, it is not constrained; when frightened, it is not disturbed, but like a vivid flame and a burning torch, it mounteth upward and securely passeth through all!

United with Mary, let us go forward and love, for Love Alone Matters!

Patti Melvin, ULRA Director

Please pray for me as I will pray for you all the days of my life!

Dear ULRA members,

Greetings from the Holy Land, the land made holy by the presence of the Prophets and Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Blessed Mother Mary, the Apostles and the countless faithful followers of Christ! Here the Eternal, Almighty and Merciful God became Man Himself. As a pilgrims’ guide, I have the privilege of visiting and praying in the different shrines where each of the Rosary Mysteries took place.

In the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass especially on Calvary and the Most Holy Tomb of Our Lord, I place the list of your names under the corporal to signify that I entrust to the merciful God all your pains and sufferings, your joys and hopes, your struggles and your good works. I do remember you in the monthly Novena of Masses and in my daily prayers of the Rosary. I unite all my prayers with your special intentions in these shrines. Through our prayers, we are actively helping those who are suffering profoundly through disaster, broken families and the plague of disease. We become our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper through prayer, apostle-ship and our generous moral and financial support to the ULRA. Pauline knew so well that it takes all three to have united Catholic families, a strong Church, and to bring souls back to God. Each one of us must do his part and, no matter how small it is, when we are united with the Body of Christ on earth, each prayer, penny and sacrifice has infinite value. Each one of you can make a difference. No one else can do what you can do, the way you can do it, in the plans that God has for making this world His Kingdom. This is the great power of prayer. Together, we can hasten the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and obtain world peace and the Reign of Christ the King on earth.

I was informed by our central office in Texas that we need to raise funds for the minting of the Miraculous Medals. We know this Medal to be an invaluable missionary tool. We cannot give everyone a Rosary, but up until now, we have been able to give everyone a MM. The doctor, who has donated them all, is no longer able to fund the project. However, each one of us can contribute generously for this important endeavor. Thus, Satan, who wants to stop the distribution of the Miraculous Medal throughout the world, would be defeated through the Immaculate Conception!

May God reward you abundantly for your generosity!

Prayerful best wishes,

Fr. Angelo Ison, ofm – Jerusalem

Conceived of the Holy Ghost,
Born Of the Virgin Mary!

The entire life of Our Lady from her Immaculate Conception to her glorious Assumption is a symbol of the whole life of the Church and of our own spiritual lives. The history of the Church begins in the womb of the Virgin. Mary and the Church are two, yet one single mother, two virgins, yet one. Each is virgin, each is mother. Both conceived of the same Holy Spirit, without human seed. Both bore to God the Father a Child unblemished. Both are the Mother of Christ, but neither can bring Him to birth without the other.

The Church in the development of Her piety is guided by the Holy Ghost, and devotion to Holy Mother the Church cannot possibly run counter to our devotion to the Mother of God. The whole mystery of the Church is inseparably bound up with the mystery of Mary. We need to learn to see Our Lady in the Church and the Church in Our Lady. Our Blessed Mother is the Bride of the Holy Spirit and the Church is the Bride of Christ. We must be spiritual men to comprehend the mystery of Mary in the Church. What is needed, today, is a return to the Heart of Mary, so that our love of the Church as our Mother may grow together with our love for the Mother of Jesus.

God’s first words of salvation spoken outside the locked gates of Paradise indicate a woman, “I will put enmities between thee and the Woman, and thy seed and her seed; she will crush thy head and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” (Gen.3:15) The Lord hath spoken it. Satan is cast out of Heaven. The mystery of the Immaculate Conception is not only a personal privilege granted to Mary who was to become the Mother of God but also, through it, Mary becomes a figure of the Church. The Church is, therefore, the Woman fulfilling both Eve and Mary; She is at war throughout history, and Hers is the victory at the end. The Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God is, in the deepest sense, the consummation and the reality of our own personal salvation. The final battle is still to come, for the serpent lies in wait for the Woman’s heel. Look well at the Woman in the sky clothed with the sun, crowned with twelve stars, and with the moon spread underneath her feet; yes, it is indeed she, our Mother, it is indeed the Church. We can certainly say that the Woman of the Apocalypse is Mary, because she is the Mother of the Church, having given birth to the Head of the Church, and herself being the Daughter of the Church, and the holiest of its members.

‘Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, for Thou alone hast destroyed all heresies in all the world!’

The virginity of the Church means that She preserves intact Her faith in Christ. Heresy means loss of that virginity; it is breaking off the betrothal to Christ. Early Christians said that the Church, like Mary, is ever virgin and can never fall into Eve’s unfaithfulness. This is no more and no less than we say today with our doctrine of the Church’s infallibility. Heresy is unchaste; it is adultery towards Christ. The mystery of the perpetual virginity of Mary is dogma: A chaste womb shelters Christ in His physical and in His mystical Body.

Every time, we proclaim our belief in the Church, we are paying honor to Mary; and every witness of our love for Mary is a witness of our belief in the Church, for in Mary the Church became the Virgin Mother of God. What happened with Mary through the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, is daily renewed mystically within the Church. The Church is in labor and travail, until Christ is formed in us and born of us. Whoever has childlike devotion to Mary, has found entrance to the deepest mystery of the Church. Mary is, indeed, the Mother of Christ’s members, that is, of ourselves. It is by her love that men have been born in the Church. It is through the mystery of the marriage, both human and divine at the incarnation, that our redemption began.

The deep significance of the marriage at Cana and the wedding feast is critical to our understanding of both Mary and the Church. Humanity is being changed into the wine of the life of grace while Mary is there. She is the Mother of all who are sanctified by their faith in coming to God. Whatever errors be taught in the false services of infidels, come from a denial of the incarnation which begins with a refusal to honor God’s holy Mother and, which continues with a rejection to honor the virginity of the Church. Where the mother of Jesus is not, there can be no marriage! Jesus at Cana spoke of His hour ‘which was to come,’ the hour of His Death on the Cross, when His Blood was poured out for man’s salvation.

On Calvary, the Church was given to Mary, “Woman, behold thy Son!”, and Mary was given to the Church, “Son, behold thy Mother!” Mary and the Church are one: The Woman at the foot of the Cross is the Woman of promise who would overcome Satan. Beneath the victorious Cross of the dying God stands the Woman who has won all of God’s battles, the holy Ecclesia! How lovable she is, this Mother of ours! Let us offer thanks to the Father and to Christ, Our Brother, that we have the privilege to be the Children of Mary, Our Mother, and of Holy Mother the Church. There can be no contradiction between a tender devotion to Mary and a deep love for the Church.

The Church is Mary in the world. In this journey through everyday life to the Cross, we find a new aspect of the mystery of Mary and the Church: the mystery of her inner strength amid ordinary life, unswerving faithfulness to Christ and powerful patience which enables her to go with Christ to Calvary and share in the joy of His Resurrection. Mary’s acceptance of the Incarnation was her acceptance of death. She gave her blood to Him, only that He might shed it for us. In Mary and in the Church, the destitute world becomes rich, and starving mankind is fed lavishly. Love is the fruit of our Baptism. It is by the spindle of true love in our every day tasks that we learn to meet Christ Crucified. Only on the Cross is found the true measure of our love.

Pentecost is the very pinnacle of our Redemption because the charity of God is poured into our hearts. Here, indeed, is fulfilled in all mankind what was begun in the heart of the Virgin at the Incarnation. The Heart of Mary is the beginning of the story; in her heart was performed in secret, what now at Pentecost, is open to the gaze of all mankind. The heart of Mary is the original upper room, where all redeemed mankind is gathered. Her heart is the vessel filled by the Holy Spirit. In her, we find all prophecies are fulfilled; in her begins the life of heavenly glory! Everything has its beginning in the Heart of Mary, and in her womb. The heart of the mystery of the Virgin Mary and the virgin Church, is the humble obedience of faith which opens itself in complete love and trust to the Holy Spirit Who overshadows her. In the midst of her heart, Eternity entered Time!

The Church’s history on earth is already a heavenly mystery: for She is always on the point of extinction. She is frequently persecuted and abides on the hill of Calvary. She is clothed with the sun in her heavenly glory and yet upon earth is always in the pains of childbirth. And, so it is true of the Christian who is in travail until Christ is formed in him and born of him. This new birth can happen only by dying to himself each day, that he may receive the life of God’s glory.

The final history of the body of the Woman who gave birth to God is the Assumption, the fulfilling in advance of what is promised to the whole Mystical Body of Christ. The prince of this world, the devil, was already defeated by the Woman, when the Word of God became the Fruit of her womb: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy Word. THE ETERNAL FIAT!” The final glory of Mary is the final glory of the Church. When the Church celebrates the Assumption, She is celebrating her own final glory. Jesus and Mary are preparing for us a new paradise, which is the Church in all Her glory. Mary is always present within the Church in her express title, “Mother of Grace”. In her painful pilgrimage here on earth and through her painful history and purification by persecution, Holy Mother the Church must become like to Mary, who without blemish gave birth to her Son. Only then, will the Church wash away every blemish in those she brings to birth through Baptism.

“We have, without hesitation, consecrated all mankind to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. May she, the most holy Mother of all the members of Christ, radiant now in body and soul in Heaven, and gloriously reigning with her Son, earnestly implore of Him, that mighty streams of grace may ceaselessly flow from the majestic Head upon all the members of the Mystical Body.”

Pope Pius XII, 1943 – Mystici Corporis