Tomás Luis de Victoria - Ave Maria for Your Meditation Today

Thoughts on The Immaculate Conception

Today, on this Feast of the Immaculate Conception, this psalm comes to my mind, as one of my favorite psalms relating to each one of us Christians. We are all called to forget our father's house, the old ways of the world, and choose Christ and His Church as our home.

However, in a mysterious way, these words can apply to Mary, Our Mother, who, as a Jewess, became the Mother of the Messiah, the King, the Savior of Israel.

Mary also became, and is the Mother of God, and the Mother of all Christians in a special manner. Many Christians forget that Jesus is a Jew, and that Mary is the bridge between the Old Testament worship and the New Testament. The Old Covenant finds fulfillment in Christ through Mary.

But, Mary had to leave Nazareth, her home, and go to Bethlehem, the place of Joseph's ancestor, David, the King who most likely wrote this psalm. Mary was called out of her own people to begin a new people, the Church, through Her Son Jesus Christ. Mary had to leave the house of Joachim and Anna and move into Bethlehem, the House of Bread, the House of the Bread of Life, Christ, Who we now share in the Eucharist. 

Mary's journey from the house of her earthly father to the House of the Bread of Life, is our journey as well, from earthly attachments to detachment, from human families, to the Family which is the Church. Mary, as Mother of the Church, as given to us by Christ on the Cross, is our Mother and Queen of our hearts.

Thus, she is the most beautiful, the pure one, the woman without any sin, clothed in gold, prepared from the moment of her existence as the Immaculate Conception.

She is the Queen Mother, who stands near Christ, who is the first woman re-born in grace, the new Eve. Her Son is the most beautiful of all men, the truly Begotten One of God the Father, from all ages King and God, sent to earth to bring us all in His train, in His court, to the Father.

Mary's Magnificat shows us that she does not forget her father's house, nor her Father's house. But, she moves beyond the Old Covenant by being the Mother of the New Covenant.

All of us who listen to the Word of God, follow Mary, who listened, and was holy from the beginning of her being. We must become as perfect as God has called us to be uniquely. 

Today, we "entreat" her, we pray to her as our intercessor, our Mediatrix, to ask Christ to have pity on us and lead us to perfection. She alone is the most perfect of all creatures. leading all to Christ through her purity and goodness.

We, too, are called to forget the houses of our fathers in the world and follow Mary to Christ, and, therefore, to God the Father.

Today, as we celebrate the Immaculate Conception, let us, like those in this psalm, rejoice that we have been called. This psalm is echoed in the Magnificat, as all generations call her blessed.

Praise God in all things.

Psalm 44 Douay-Rheims 

44 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the sons of Core, for understanding. A canticle for the Beloved.

2 My heart hath uttered a good word I speak my works to the king; My tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly.

3 Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever.

4 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty.

5 With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign. Because of truth and meekness and justice: and thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully.

6 Thy arrows are sharp: under thee shall people fall, into the hearts of the king's enemies.

7 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness.

8 Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

9 Myrrh and stacte and cassia perfume thy garments, from the ivory houses: out of which

10 The daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.

11 Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and forget thy people and thy father's house.

12 And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore.

13 And the daughters of Tyre with gifts, yea, all the rich among the people, shall entreat thy countenance.

14 All the glory of the king's daughter is within in golden borders,

15 Clothed round about with varieties. After her shall virgins be brought to the king: her neighbours shall be brought to thee.

16 They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be brought into the temple of the king.

17 Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.

18 They shall remember thy name throughout all generations. Therefore shall people praise thee for ever; yea, for ever and ever.

Feast of The Immaculata

Tomorrow, I am going to two special things in order to celebrate the National Holiday here, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

This feast is also the Patronal Feast of the United States. Too bad it is not a National Holiday in America.

I shall post later in the day on those two celebrations. Here are some brief words of mine from last year. Notice the call to perfection and purity of heart in this collect.

From the EF Collect of The Immaculate Conception

O God, who, by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, didst make her a worthy habitation for Thy Son, and didst, by His foreseen death, preserve her from all stain of sin; grant, we beseech Thee, that through her intercession we may be cleansed from sin and come with pure hearts to Thee; Through the same our Lord. 

The priest at Mass said that Mary's entire existence, from conception on, was one long YES to God.

Beautiful.

Happy Feast Day to Malta and to America.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia: and I leave the links in place...

The doctrine

In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854, Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin."

"The Blessed Virgin Mary..."

The subject of this immunity from original sin is the person of Mary at the moment of the creation of her soul and its infusion into her body.

"...in the first instance of her conception..."

The term conception does not mean the active or generative conception by her parents. Her body was formed in the womb of the mother, and the father had the usual share in its formation. The question does not concern the immaculateness of the generative activity of her parents. Neither does it concern the passive conception absolutely and simply (conceptio seminis carnis, inchoata), which, according to the order of nature, precedes the infusion of the rational soul. The person is truly conceived when the soul is created and infused into the body. Mary was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin at the first moment of her animation, and sanctifying grace was given to her before sin could have taken effect in her soul.

"...was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin..."

The formal active essence of original sin was not removed from her soul, as it is removed from others bybaptism; it was excluded, it never was in her soul. Simultaneously with the exclusion of sin. The state of original sanctity, innocence, and justice, as opposed to original sin, was conferred upon her, by which gift every stain and fault, all depraved emotions, passions, and debilities, essentially pertaining to original sin, were excluded. But she was not made exempt from the temporal penalties of Adam — from sorrow, bodily infirmities, and death.

"...by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race."

The immunity from original sin was given to Mary by a singular exemption from a universal law through the same merits of Christ, by which other men are cleansed from sin by baptism. Mary needed the redeeming Saviour to obtain this exemption, and to be delivered from the universal necessity and debt (debitum) of being subject to original sin. The person of Mary, in consequence of her origin from Adam, should have been subject to sin, but, being the new Eve who was to be the mother of the new Adam, she was, by the eternal counsel of God and by the merits of Christ, withdrawn from the general law of original sin. Her redemption was the very masterpiece of Christ's redeeming wisdom. He is a greater redeemer who pays the debt that it may not be incurred than he who pays after it has fallen on the debtor.
Such is the meaning of the term "Immaculate Conception."

The 54 Day Rosary Novena of Our Lady of Pompeii

Today, I started the 54 day rosary novena to Our Lady of Pompeii. A friend of mine just finished one on July 26th, the Feast of SS. Joachim and Anna, which inspired me to do this one.

If any one wants to join me in my intentions, please do. There is confusion as to the origin, but I shall go with the version in a little book of novenas which someone just sent me. Here is the first part, about Blessed Bartolo Longo, who had been involved in satanic worship as a priest of satan. He prayed to Mary when he was suicidal and was healed. He vowed to spread the devotion of the rosary for this deliverance.

Here is the the first part of the story.

In the autumn of 1872, Bartolo Longo (a lawyer who was born at Latiano in Brindisi, Italy, on February 11, 1841, and died at Pompeii on October 5, 1926) arrived at the plain of Pompeii to take care of the affairs of Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco. In that fertile agricultural region infested with robbers he also began to spread the Rosary among the sharecroppers of De Fusco and the farmers of the place.

(He married the Countess and they had a Josephite marriage.)

With his wife's help, he inaugurated a confraternity of the Rosary and he had need of a picture of the Blessed Virgin before which the Rosary could be recited every day. He obtained one as a gift from a religious of the Monastery of the Rosary at Porta Medina, Sister M. Concetta de Litala, who had been holding it for the Dominican priest Alberto Radente. The latter had acquired it from a junk-shop dealer in Naples for a very small sum. The painting was of modest artistic merit and in very poor condition. It portrayed Our Lady of the Rosary, with Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena.
Arriving at Naples on November 13, 1875, the picture was provisionally exposed in a small declining chapel. But in that same month, Bartolo Longo received permission from the Bishop of Nola to build a new church.
Miracles were reported and pilgrimages began to frequent the place. Hence, in 1883, when the sanctuary was completed (and would be consecrated on May 8, 1891), Bartolo Longo entrusted the architect Rispoli with the construction of the throne of the Virgin and directed an appeal to the faithful: "In this place selected for its prodigies, we wish to leave to present and future generations a monument to the Queen of Victories that will be less unworthy of her greatness but more worthy of our faith and love." Four years later saw the celebration of a threefold feast of the inauguration, the crowning, and the enthroning of the picture of Our Lady of the Rosary.
The picture, already summarily restored in 1875, was subjected in 1879 to a second and far more accurate retouching which stabilized the colors and the image. Finally, in 1965, at Rome, the cloth was renovated for a third time, at the hands of the Benedictine Monks. Moreover, before being returned to Pompeii (on April 25, 1965), the picture remained in the Vatican Basilica by express request of Paul VI.
During the homily (March 23, 1965), the Pope expressed the hope that "just as the image of the Virgin has been repaired and decorated .... so may the image of Mary that all Christians must have within themselves be restored, renovated, and enriched." At the end of the Mass, the Pope solemnly enthroned the Child and Madonna, placing on their heads two precious diadems that had been offered by the faithful.
Alongside the sanctuary of faith and Rosarian prayer, Bartolo Longo also caused to rise up in Pompeii a sanctuary of charity, with his multiple works and institutions (Orphanages, Sons of Prisoners, Daughters of Prisoners, Daughters of the Holy Rosary of Pompeii, and Dominican Tertiaries).
Most notable of all is the "Supplication to the Queen of Victories" which, begun at Pompeii on October 1883, is recited all over the world on May 8, and on the first Sunday in October.".
On October 21, 1979, John Paul II went on pilgrimage to Pompeii and gazed out from the very balcony from which Bartolo Longo (in an intuition of faith on May 5, 1901) had "seen gazing out" the white figure of the representative of Christ to bless the people calling for universal Peace."
On October 26, 1980, Bartolo Longo was beatified by John Paul II and termed the "man of the Madonna," and the "Apostle of the Rosary."
A. RUM.
[Taken from Dictionary of Mary, Catholic Book Publishing Co., NY, 1985]

The second part of the story has to do with the miraculous healing of Fortuna Agrelli. She was extremely ill and in pain for 13 months. Mary appeared to her in the same manner as the painting belonging to the shrine set up by Blessed Bartolo. Mary told Fortuna to pray the three rosaries in a row as a rosary novena. The girl was healed, and the devotion spread, being approved by Pope Leo XXIII.

On October 26, 1980, St. John Paul II canonized Blessed Bartolo, calling him the "Apostle of the Rosary"  More can be found here.
http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/pompeii/index.html

I am saying the version in the book by Michael Dubruiel, which one can buy here.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Churchs-Most-Powerful-Novenas/dp/159276097X