Reflection on the Blessed Virgin Mary

May and Mary differ by only one letter. Since May is traditionally the month dedicated to our Blessed Mother, maybe we should just call it “the month of Mary,” as in January, February, March, April, Mary, June. Well, it’s easier than somehow trying to derive “Rosary” from October, right?

May is a beautiful month. Along with October, it is a transitional month. It is in May that the annual cycle of nature, coming alive during Spring, reaches completion. It is generally a time of blue, sunny skies and generally mild temperatures. A time before the heat of summer begins.

May is a colorful month. A month when nature produces vivid colors: blue sky, green grass and trees, red, white, yellow, purple, and orange flowers. May also feature clear, rushing streams, the snow of winter melting into water. Most years, like this one, most of Mary's month falls during the sacred season of Easter.

It’s odd that the Blessed Virgin Mary has become a stumbling block to Christian unity. She has been venerated in a unique way since the beginning of the Church. An example of this is the Glorious Assumption, which is celebrated each year on 15 August by both Catholic and Orthodox Christians. The major Protestant Reformers- Luther, Calvin, and Cranmer- all continued to venerate our Blessed Mother.

Like praying for the dead, seeking the maternal assistance of holy Mary, Mother of God, is a fundamental Christian practice. How could the woman chosen to give birth to God’s only Begotten Son not somehow stand out? Just as the Son is consubstantial with the Father as to His divinity, through His Blessed Mother, He is consubstantial with us pertaining to His humanity.

Just like I can’t pass up the opportunity to use the words “penultimate” or “juxtapose,” I can’t do a reflection on our Blessed Mother without at least mentioning hyperdulia. It’s a cool word. One reason why some non-Catholic Christians question devotion to Mary is that they mistakenly believe that we worship her.

Commandment one bids us worship God and God alone. In Greek, this is called latria. Far from worshiping the saints, we venerate them. The Greek word for this is dulia. The Blessed Virgin Mary falls into her own special category, one that lands somewhere between latria and dulia. This category does not rise to the level of worship but remains higher than veneration: hyperdulia. The prefix hyper means over, beyond, or even excessive.

So, during the month of Mary, let us rely on her maternal care, asking her to intercede for us daily through her Holy Rosary, during Easter by reciting the Regina Caeli. And by frequent use of her Memorare:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help, or sought thy intercession,
was left unaided

"Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother"

As someone devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I would be remiss not to observe today's optional Memorial of the Holy Name of Mary in a public way, especially since I am unable to attend Mass. Besides, according to the Church, part of any authentic spirituality for a Catholic deacon is devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

As the Servant of God, Lucia dos Santos, one of the visionaries of Fatima insisted: "There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot solve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary." During her several apparitions, our Blessed Mother has begged those to whom she was made manifest to pray her Most Holy Rosary and exhort others to do so.

We live in uncertain time. It is tempting to fall into despair. In the face of the onslaught, we realize how little we control, how little power we have to influence thing. The greatest deception of social media is giving users a false sense of power and influence. The Blessed Virgin Mary can be our refuge, our advocate, our most effacacious intercessor. Let us render our Blessed Mother hyperdulia.

Saint Louis de Montfort insisted that one who prays the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary will never be led astray.

In the Divine Praises we say:

Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.

We end this section by praying Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother

Turn to Mary. Pray her Most Holy Rosary. Pray her Memorare often.

Our second traditio for today is a choral rendition of The Divine Praises:

Hail, Holy Queen

One week following the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Church observes the Memorial of the Queenship of Mary. The Assumption is the fourth Glorious Mystery of Our Lady's Holy Rosary and the her coronation as Queen of Heaven is the fifth and final of those mysteries. The fruit of the fifth Glorious mystery is trust in Mary's intercession.

While it is usual to pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary on Friday, because of today's memorial, I am going to pray the Glorious Mysteries. Our Blessed Mother is not only Queen of Heaven, she is Queen of Peace, Mother of the Prince of Peace. The Holy Father has asked the Church to observe today as a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Ukraine and in Gaza. Peace is a lovely Rosary intention. During his Wednesday General Audience, Pope Leo said:

As our world continues to be wounded by wars in the Holy Land, in Ukraine, and in other parts of the world, I invite all the faithful to live the day of Aug. 22 as a day of prayer and fasting, imploring the Lord to grant us peace and justice, and to wipe away the tears of those who suffer because of ongoing armed conflicts,” he said.

“May Mary, Queen of Peace, intercede so that peoples may find the path of peace”

And so we pray,

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour our death. Amen

Our traditio for this special Friday is Salve Regina.

Let us trust today and always in the intercession of Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of Heaven.

"A great sign appeared in heaven"

For those ofus who still abstain on Fridays, even in places where it is not obligatory, a Friday Solemnity is a nice thing. Even where Friday abstinence is obligatory (i.e., England and Wales, etc.), Friday solemnities abrogate that obligation. So, have a steak or cheeseburger and enjoy it today.

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is probably my favorite holy day. Called her "Dormition" ("going to sleep") in the East, this observance is a fairly ancient one. It is observed in West and the East on the same day. One issue about our Blessed Mother's being bodily assumed into heaven is whether she died and was then taken up or whether she was taken up without dying.

Assumption of Mary, Rubens, ca. 1626

Among Roman Catholics, the most supportable position is that the Blessed Virgin Mary died and was bodily assumed into heaven. As a result, her body did not decay. This is position is not a dogmatic one. In his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, promulgated 1 November 1950, in which he infallibly declared Mary's Assumption as a dogma of the faith, Pope Pius XII, while clearly leaning toward the position that she first died, does not make that de fide.

It also bears noting that since the First Vatican Council's definition of papal infallibility in 1870 with the Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus, there has only been one infallible declaration, a singluar extraordinary exercise of the papal magisterium, which is found in Munificentissimus Deus. Prior to Vatican I, Pope Pius IX infallibly declared the Blessed Virgin Mary's Immaculate Conception in 1854 with Ineffabilis Deus, .

In Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII, by "the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul," and on his own authority,

pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory (sec. 44)

Upon being so assumed, she was crowned as Queen of Heaven. Therefore, one week after the celebrating the solemnity of her assumption, the Church observes the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Our traditio for today's Solemnity is the Introit for the Mass of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Signum Magnum (i.e., "A Great Sign").

The temptation of "all this power and glory"

Reading: Luke 4:1-13

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15). I think perhaps the inspired author of the Letter to the Hebrews had our Gospel for today in mind when he penned this line. Indeed, during His earthly sojourn, the Lord was truly tempted, as any human being is. The big difference, as noted, is that He did not succumb to any temptation, He didn't fail any test.

You might say, "Sure, it's easy to resist temptation when you're God." Without ceasing to be God, Jesus became fully human. He's not half human and half divine. He is fully human and fully divine.

Christians, maybe especially Catholics, tend to get so hung up on Jesus' divinity that His humanity sometimes falls by the wayside. We know from the Gospels that Jesus experienced hunger, fatigue, anger, joy, sadness, the full range of human emotions and moods. You know what, from time-to-time, as He walked along the dusty roads of His native Galilee and later Judea, He had to step off the path go behind a bush. Shocking, I know!

The real question is, can someone be truly tempted if they simply do not find what s/he is tempted with in any way appealing? "Can I tempt you with a sriracha-covered apple?" In other words, if there is no possibility whatsover that said person could or would give in to the temptation, does that count as being tempted?

In light of this question, we must ask if there was any possibility that Jesus might've turned stones into bread to feed Himself, to seize worldly power to more effectively and efficiently establish the reign of God by coercive means through the state, or to hurl Himself, in a display of power putting His divine Sonship on full display, headlong off the parapet of the Temple, trusting the angels to catch Him before He hit the ground?

Sticking with the inspired author of Hebrews, I am going with there not only could've been, but must've been at least some attraction for Jesus in such temptations. Otherwise, these are not temptations, that is, tests. Are we simple spectators to a divine puppet show?

Since we're reading from Saint Luke's Gospel, the same goes for the Blessed Virgin Mary: she could've declined to bear God's Son, which, for her, was a risky proposition. It was her fiat, her "Be it done to me according to your word," her free consent that makes her so wonderfully special and worthy of our hyperdulia, our super-veneration. God desires this same emphatically loving response from each of us, a response so loving that it overcomes fear. Love is always a risk.

Getting back to the second of the temptations from our Gospel, it is a perversion of the Gospel to seek to impose the Lord's teaching by coercion through the state. This is the way of Caesar, not of God. Sometimes these are difficult to disentangle.

For several centuries beginning in the fourth century, the Church drank deeply from the well of the Roman imperium. We are still disentangling ourselves from it- Vatican II was a big step in that direction- but that is to digress. It seems a perennial temptation for Christians and even the Church at times to seek "all this power and glory," to fall for that with which the devil tempted our Lord.

This is not to argue against Christian involvement in politics. Far from it. Applied to political involvement, this has to do with the means to be used in service of achieving desired ends. Those things that are harmonious with the Gospel and that appropriately belong to politics must be argued for in a persuasive way and freely accepted by those who are governed and not simply imposed.

Integralism and so-called Christian nationalism are to be rejected on Christian grounds, rooted firmly in the teaching and example of Jesus Christ during His life and ministry. Like Christians of the earliest centuries and even many in recent centuries, we must be willing to live our faith not only in hostile situations but in situations of indifference towards what we believe. Doing the latter may ultimately prove more difficult.

Between Jesus' Ascension and His glorious return God's kingdom is only present in kernel form, here and there, wherever Jesus' teachings are freely lived out, motivated by love of God and neighbor, not fear of punishment. In fact, being motivated by love, agape, caritas, in many contexts means that love outweighs the very real fear of punishment. Wasn't this the case with Jesus Himself?

Candlemas: Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Readings: Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 24:7-10; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-20

For those of a more traditional mindset, 2 February marks the end of Christmas. The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is such an important Feast that it takes precedence over what would otherwise be the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. It's a special treat to celebrate this great feast on a Sunday.

Candlemas is another traditional term used to describe today's Feast. On this day, it is a traditional practice for the faithful to bring candles to Mass in order to have them blessed. Rather than stored, these blessed candles are to be used to bring light and warmth to our homes.

Christmas is the celebration of Jesus Christ as the Light of the world, that Light who enlightens everyone, the Light who shines in and is not overcome by the darkness, as the Gospel for Christmas, Mass During the Day, tells us (see John 1:5.9). Lighting candles blessed on Candlemas reminds us of this, reassures us about this, makes us joyful because our hope is Jesus Christ.

Mary and Joseph don't merely offer a couple of birds, which was the offering of the poor. Unbeknownst to anyone but Simeon and Anna, they offer the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. They offer the one who will do away with the need for Temple sacrifices. Considering the Lord in the Temple, let's not forget the tabernacle candle that perpetually burns in each Church, indicating the Lord's presence. The Lord is present there under the humble sign of bread, until He returns.

In this child both Anna and Simeon recognized not only their hope, not only the hope of Israel, but as Simeon's prayer, known by its Latin title, the Nunc Dimittis (the first two words), the hope of the world: "a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel" (Luke 2:32). This canticle is prayed each day as part of Night Prayer.

Jesus' Presentation in the Temple is the fourth Joyful Mystery of Our Lady's Rosary. Obedience is the fruit of this mystery.

This hope, as Simeon also intimated to Mary, would be realized through suffering. Such is often the case with true hope. This why hope should not be mistaken for optimism. Let's be honest, suffering makes obedience hard and beckons one to despair.

Quite often, when it comes to obedience, we want our reward. Thinking something like, "I've been good. God owes me." This is particularly true when it comes to matters with which you might struggle. Another thing to bear in mind, however, is that goodness is its own reward. Not to mention, to speak in worldly terms, it is quite often the case that no good deed goes unpunished.

We know that at the beginning of His passion Jesus asked the Father to spare Him this agony if it was in any way possible (see Luke 22:42). It is to this that our reading from the Letter to the Hebrews points. Therefore, as the inspired author states: "Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested" (Hebrews 2:18). Despite His own expressed desire, Jesus was obedient to the will of the Father.

Who or what else might the pleasing sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem, mentioned by Malachi, be other than Jesus, the Lord?

Jesus comes to His Temple as the infant child of a poor Galilean couple. As the introduction to this Feast found in the Roman Missal puts it:

Outwardly [Jesus] was fulfilling the Law,
but in reality he was coming to meet his believing people

At this point, in addition to (possibly) Mary and Joseph, His believing people are Anna and Simeon. The latter of whom was led to the Temple by the Spirit to see Him, the Christ, the Mashiach, the Messiah before dying. The former, a widow of many years, who spent her days in the Temple precincts praying, waiting, and hoping.

Seeing and recognizing the Lord is the fruit of obedience for Anna and Simeon. It is also the fruit of our obedience. As we ask in a petition from the Intercessions for Evening Prayer I of today's Feast: "lead all people to to recognize that you still come to them."

May you recognize the Lord as He presents Himself to you, May you see the Light in the darkness.

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

This is the first New Year's Day in several years that I haven't preached. In my homilies over the past few years for this Solemnity, I've encouraged those listening to commit to praying the Rosary everyday during the year. This means between today and 31 December praying 365 Rosaries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I renew that challenge today.

Lest this challenge amount to nothing more than the breath it takes to utter, it's a discipline I practice. I even go so far as to keep count of the number of Rosaries each year. For example, last year (2024), I recited 375. By "Rosary," I mean one complete set of mysteries (i.e. Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, Glorious), that is, 5 decades.

While I do at times pray the Rosary contemplatively (something I am going to strive to do more of this year), I usually pray it while walking. Most days, as I begin my recitation, I offer up several intentions. I pray from big to small, that is, for things in the world, an end to wars and violent conflicts, the safety of innocents caught in the hell that is war, for leaders, for my family, especially my children, for people who are sick, for those who are suffering, and certainly for those who ask me to pray for them for specific intentions.

I also say at least one Memorare each day. Usually, more than one. Besides, according to the Church, devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is an essential component of diaconal spirituality.

These devotions do not exhaust my prayer life. They do, however, enhance it greatly. Some days, in addition to Morning and Evening Prayer, these may well constitute my prayers. If so, that's just fine.

Photograph by Rev. Keith Littlejohn, Church of Saint Mary's, Goring-by-Sea, U.K.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is not merely Christotokos, she is Theotokos, not merely Christ-bearer, but God-bearer, the Mother of God. While the Son is consubtantial with the Father, He is also consubstantial with His mother and, through her, with us.

We venerate the saints, those men and women, varied as they are, who bear witness to Christ by their lives and now, in the presence of God, intercede for us. Seeking their intercession is an important part of our faith. As Fr. Tonino Lasconi, an Italian parish priest and author of numerous volumes on the renewal of catechesis, noted: "Without the saints, the faith vanishes."

Christians do not worship Mary. Worship, as the first commandment directs, is due to God and God alone. But we do not merely venerate our Blessed Mother either. In a similar way (since I've invoked the Decalogue), the fourth commandment that enjoins us to honor father and mother falls between the first three commandments about loving God and final six about loving our neighbor. You see, parents, even absent ones, occupy a unique place between God and other people. Just so, Mary, our Mother, occupies her own space between God and His saints.

While we do not worship Mary, we do pray to her. By so doing, we honor her in a fitting and unique way. I can think of no better way to start 2025 than assisting at Mass for this Solemnity and, yes, by praying the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

A Happy and Blessed New Year to you. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all God's Saints, may you have a healthy and prosperous 2025.

The Mystery of the Incarnation

Sunset marks the beginning of the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Tonight, we light all the candles! At the Easter Vigil, as the deacon enters the Church carrying the lit Paschal Candle, he sings three times, "The Light of Christ." The response to this is a sung, "Thanks be to God." Indeed, Christ is the Light of the world, the One who illuminates us. It's nice that we light up the Advent wreath this year on the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year.

Our Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Advent is the closing prayer for the Angelus. Maybe it's the other way around. Either way, this prayer is one many faithful Roman Catholics don't just say daily, but three times a day. During Easter, we recite or sing Regina Caeli instead of the Angelus.

Beginning as it does with "The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit," followed by a Hail Mary, which, in turn, is followed by our Blessed Mother's fiat: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word," the Angelus is all about the Incarnation. So is the Fourth Sunday of Advent.

For Year C of the Sunday lectionary, our Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent comes from the first chapter of Saint Luke's Gospel. It follows the stories about the previously barren Elizabeth conceiving John the Baptist and her kinswoman, Mary's, miraculous conception of Jesus. Known as "the Visitation," this Gospel episode is the Second Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary.

Love of neighbor is the fruit of the Joyful Mystery of the Visitation. These two women were happy for each other. Elizabeth also recognizes and honors the freedom with which Mary assented to God's plan. "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb" are also words with which we're very familiar. As Gabriel foretold about the Blessed Virgin, "all generations will call you blessed." This began with that very generation.

Life is a miracle. It seems we increasingly see it as a burden. Human beings are the point at which creation becomes conscious of itself. Only we ponder the mystery of life, its meaning and purpose. When observed, Advent is a time to reflect on these things, these big questions. In a real sense, history both before and even after Christ's coming is Advent. Life is an Advent, an expectant waiting.

The Visitation, by James B. Janknegt, 2016?

Chatting with a friend online earlier today, the subject of Advent came up. Agreeing that we both really enjoy this season and try to observe it, we noted the advent nature of life, and the subject of hope came up. Insisting, as is my wont, that hope and optimism aren't the same thing at all, my friend averred "sometimes I feel like my hope comes from my pessimism." This summarizes my relationship with hope very well- it comes pretty much exclusively from my pessimism.

In my view, pessimism is what differentiates hope from optimism. I revisited something today from an article by Anglican bishop David Welbourne that appeared in the Church Times back in 2020. He wrote about an interview playwright Dennis Potter gave to television journalist, author, and Member of Parliament Melvyn Bragg shortly before the former's death. Potter was a man of Christian faith and Bragg, who was not, asserted that faith was merely dressing on a wound. I guess he was referring to the wound of death, the awareness of the shortness of life, something like that. "No," replied Potter, "it is the wound, faith is the wound."

Jumping ahead chronologically is Luke and liturgically, the righteous old man Simeon tells the Galilean virgin that faith is wound by letting her know that her heart would be pierced. When praying the Rosary, I have little narratives for each Mystery. For this, the Fourth Joyful Mystery, the fruit of which is obedience, I use the phrase "hope through suffering."

As our reading from Hebrews tells us, in coming to do His Father's will, Jesus did away with the offerings and sacrifices that constituted the rituals Temple worship. Leaping all the way to the twenty-second chapter of the Gospel According to Saint Luke, we see what the Father’s will was. Praying, Jesus implores, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done." This is hard to comprehend, like a young woman from Nazareth agreeing to bear the Son of God.

I think this petition from the Intercessions for Evening Prayer I of the Fourth Sunday of Advent rounds this reflection off beautifully:

In your life on earth, you came to die as a man
   -save us from everlasting death

"by a singular grace and privilege"

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Of course, this does not refer to the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit, thus becoming "incarnate of the Virgin Mary." Rather, it is a celebration of the conception of our Blessed Mother herself by her mother, who tradition hands on was named Anne. Saint Anne's conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary happened in the normal way.

What the Immaculate Conception refers to is set forth very well in the dogmatic formula found in the Papal Bull Ineffabilis Deus, promulgated by Bl. Pope Pius IX in 1854:

We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful

It was not until four years after the promulgation of Ineffabilis Deus that the Blessed Virgin appeared to the peasant girl, Bernadette Soubrious, introducing herself to Bernadette as "the Immaculate Conception."

Since the dogma of papal infallibility was not formally defined until 1870, the apparitions of Our Lady at Lourdes, France served as a kind of proof of the truth of the dogma of this de fide belief. It's important to keep in mind that dogmas do not appear out of nowhere. They are tenets of the faith that have to be shown both to be a part of divine revelation and, even if in seed-like form, believed always, everywhere, and by all. While theological reflection, examination, and even disputation are vital for the Church, even with regard to dogmas of the faith, for faithful Catholics, belief or at least assent to dogmatic teaching is of the utmost importance.

The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables (Soult Madonna), by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1660-1665

It surprises many people that since the First Vatican defined the dogma of papal infallibility in the constitution Pastor Aeternus, which was promulgated by the same Pope Pius IX 1870, there has only been one exercise of papal infallibility. This occured in the Jubilee Year of 1950, when Bl. Pope Pius XII infallibly proclaimed the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven in Munificentissimus Deus.

Falling as it does during the season of Advent, today's Solemnity, which, this year, is moved to Monday because the Second Sunday of Advent takes precedence, also reminds us something very important: the Son of God, as it pertains to his humanity, is consubstantial with His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. And so, through Blessed Mother, who is also our Mother, is consubstantial with us.

To answer a popular song of yesteryear, "What If God Was One of Us?," through the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, He became one of us. Through His Holy Spirit he remains present not just among us but, if we let Him, in us. If He is in us, then we can make Him present to others. This the famous third advent of our Lord set forth by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in an Advent sermon a long time ago. Like the Gospel itself, while old, it is ever new.

Today, pray Our Lady's Rosary, say a Memorare or two, or three... Of course, observe this Holy Day of Obligation, this gift of the Church. Don't neglect to ask for the intercession of Saint Bernadette.

"Remember, O Blessed Virgin Mary..."

We had a nice, extended rain storm here today. We needed it! I am very grateful for it. I've developed the practice of praying a Memorare whenever I see clouds that look like they might produce rain. Of course, my specific intention is for rain. I can't claim 100% success. But, there's been an encouragingly high correlation. I must admit, we did have one storm blow completely over us with no rain where I live. Hey, it can't hurt, right?

Here along the Wasatch Front, we've entered that period of the year, which runs from about July 4th through about the third week of August. During this time it is hot and dry. So, rain today is a nice change, even the ~30% humidity following. I know, 30% humidity is not that much humidity. It is when you live in the desert. I hope we continue to receive rain at regular intervals. Heaven knows we need it.

Maybe I have some kind of reverse seasonal affective disorder. It's during this time that I really struggle with gloom. I also find the dry heat very draining. I finish most days exhausted. I am finally starting to see sunflowers! It's strange how happy seeing a sunflower makes me, particularly those that just pop up in strange places. Sometime I should write about why sunflowers make me so happy.

I am doing a pretty good job of sticking to my plan to make July a "slack" month. This means not taking on anything over and above my routine duties and responsibilities. I could grow accustomed to this!

It's kind of sad, but I haven't listened to much music lately. I have been listening to Phil Keaggy's 1993 album Crimson and Blue. It's an LP to which I keep returning. I remember buying it brand now on cassette tape. So, our traditio for today is a song from that album: "Everywhere I Look." Today, for me, that would be especially in the rain.

"Riding with Mary protecting immaculate love"

It's July, the seventh month of the year. How crazy is that? In June I more or less took a breather from blogging. Oddly enough, I remain doggedly committed to this ever-morphing medium. I am also currently taking a break from all social media. Instead of engaging on social media, I have been reading, listening, walking, praying, and resting.

One of the best things I've listened to recently was an interview with John Doe. Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot spoke with John for their Sound Opinions podcast. While Doe has an impressive and surprisingly long acting resume, he's best known as the bassist and driving force behind one of the best, most enigmatic punk bands- X. Doe was interviewed on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the release of X's third studio album: Under the Big Black Sun.

Under the Big Black Sun, which I have been listening to this week, remains a truly great record. A longtime friend, who is a professor of Philosophy, and a musician himself, insists that X was and remains (in 2020 they released their album Alphabetland) a very "Catholic" band. I saw X live on 2 August 2018 with another good friend who alerted me to this podcast.

In addition to Under the Big Black Sun, I've also been listening to Bach's Mass in B Minor. It is sublime in every aspect. At least to me, there is not now nor has there ever been any incongruence in my listening habits.

I've also been reading more (I always read- it's like breathing). I am finishing up a fascinating and well-written biography of Saint Ignatius of Loyola- Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Saint, by the Basque priest José Ignacio Tellechea Idígoras, translated from Spanish by Cornelius M. Buckley, S.J. I am also finishing Barbara Walter's How Civil Wars Start: and How to Stop Them. This book is a good companion to the Congressional Hearings on 6 January 2021. In a different vein, I am also reading Arthur Brooks' From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life.

Once I finish these I am going to re-read Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World and read Amanda Ripley's High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out.

Thinking of reading in the summertime, I am reminded of how unencumbered I was during summers growing up. It was during summers that I received a good deal of my education. I am more autodidactic than is probably good for me. This "education" consisted of simply reading a lot of books. During the summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school, I read 1984, Farenheit 451, and A Brave New World successively. This was 1982, the same year Under the Big Black Sun was released. The experience of reading those three books one after the other changed my life as much as any experience I've ever had. It was the beginning of my awareness.

Towards the end of my sophomore year, for English class, I read Orwell's short story A Hanging. Reading that was the effective cause of my opposition to the death penalty. Because this happened at a low ebb of my religious belief, while my opposition to the death penalty is certainly part of my religion, my opposition to it did have not its genesis in that.

In many ways, Orwell, most of whose works I've read (many I have re-read), remains something of my political lodestar. Another book I plan to read this summer is John Sutherland's Orwell's Nose: A Pathological Biography, which I acquired a few years ago from the University of Chicago Press, during their annual blowout sale.

If you haven't read it, I encourage you to read Jonathan Haidt's article for The Atlantic, "Why the Past 10 of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid." In an amazing chapter of her book, Walter demonstrates how our stupidity is exploited by and through social media. At end of his piece, Haidt makes some public policy proposals worth considering.

Since Easter, I've been working to ensure that July is what I've taken to calling a slack month. This means I have no commitments outside of my normal ones. I am learning to protect time, which is a way of protecting myself.

Unsurprisingly, our first song for the relaunched Friday traditio is from Under the Big Back Sun: "Riding With Mary."

Spirit of Christmas

My approach to today's readings is going to be quite casual. Among other reasons, I have a pretty heavy preaching schedule over Christmas. I want to note, again, that this year Advent is almost as long as it can possibly be. Therefore, if you haven't yet, set aside some time over the next few days to quietly contemplate the mystery of God-made-man-for-us. Who knows, perhaps what you find here may be useful for that.

Before coming to the readings, it seems significant to me that the Collect, or Opening Prayer, of the Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Advent is the same prayer we say at the end of the Angelus:

Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord,
your grace into our hearts,
that we to whom the incarnation of Christ your Son
was made known by the message of an Angel,
may by his Passion and Cross
be brought to the glory of his Resurrection

Apart from exempting the whole of his life (something that seems a constant in these matters), this is a pretty good summary of the Paschal Mystery, into which the liturgy seeks to immerse us. Noting this lacuna is what led Pope Saint John Paul II to promulgate the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary in his 2002 Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae.

Our Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent in Year C of the Sunday lectionary is a primer on the second mystery of the Joyful Mysteries of the Virgin Mary's Rosary. By way of reminder, this mystery is Mary's Visitation to her kinswoman, Elizabeth. The fruit of this mystery is love of neighbor. Of course, it is the Holy Spirit who is operative in the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth.

Because it comes from The Letter to the Hebrews and this letter, which many New Testament scholars believe is actually an extended sermon of sorts, is the longest "book" in our unquely Christian scriptures apart from Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans, and because it is a book I personally find fascinating, I want to focus on it.

Too often, Hebrews, as it is abbreviated, is dismissed as some kind of Platonistic anomaly. In fact, it is a great treatise on Christian life and discipleship, especially in adverse circumstances. In its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council, turned to the Letter to the Hebrews for its image of the Church as the Pilgrim People of God.

While, like the Collect, our reading from Hebrews seems to jump from birth to sacrificial death, skipping Jesus's life and ministry, I think there is significance in the opening lines from our passage: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me" (Heb 10:5). While a body is certainly a prerequiste for being nailed to the cross, at this point in the passage, the reason for being incarnated, as it were, is to do God's will (Heb 10:7). A body is necessary for enacting, incarnating, making concretely "real," the will of God.

We need to tread lightly when insisting it was the Father's will that his Son should suffer and die. If nothing else, this lets us off the hook far too easily. By his Incarnation, life, passion, and death, Christ accomplished in his own person what Israel, or any group of human beings, could not accomplish in/through its history: to fulfill the Law of God in letter and in spirit, thus accomplishing God's purpose in/through/for creation.

Christ fulfilled the Law, thus doing away with the need for "Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings" (Heb 10:8). A further effect of this is opening the one covenant God seeks to establish to all people. Hence, joining God's Pilgrim People is open to anyone who is up for the journey. As Michael Card so beautifully sings, "There Is a Joy In the Journey."

As Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (a most Christian story) reminds us year-after-year, Christmas is a time of conversion, a time to turn around and follow Jesus. May we, like Mr. Scrooge, come to realize the saving effects of the Incarnation in and through the circumstances of our own lives. I think this gives some reality to the petition asking God to "pour forth" his grace into our hearts. God's grace, as our Gospel shows, once poured into our hearts flows out to others. This is the "Spirit of Christmas."

Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Here in the United States, today is Memorial Day. In its essence, Memorial Day is the day we remember those who were died fighting on behalf of and at the behest of the United States of America. It is the trend, however, to conflate Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day, the Fourth of July, and Veteran's Day.

Personally, I think Memorial Day should be a sobering reminder of the cost of war. As a result, we should be committed to avoiding armed conflict. For people in the United States, Memorial Day also serves as a secular All Souls Day.

On the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, today is the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Today the Church commemorates the Blessed Virgin's visit to the house of her kinswoman, Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. Of course, Elizabeth, married to Zechariah, was barren until, in her older age, she conceived a son who would be the forerunner of the Messiah (see Luke 1:39-45).

On Luke's account, as the Blessed Virgin approached, bearing God in her womb, Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit. As a result of this filling with the Spirit, the child in Elizabeth's womb leaped. It was Elizabeth who uttered a portion of the Hail Mary: "blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb" (Luke 1:42).

The Visitation, as it is short-handedly known, is the second Mystery of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The fruit of this Mystery is the love of neighbor. The fruits of the Mysteries of the Blessed Virgin's Rosary are the "So whats?" These Mysteries constitute the answer to the question "Why pray the Rosary?"

As I get older, being a habitual scripture reader practically my entire life, I am struck more and more by the simplicity of the narratives found in the Sacred Scriptures. In this pericope, the young woman Mary, sometime after discovering she is pregnant, makes her way to the (relatively) distant home of some beloved relatives.

According to Luke, Mary goes in the knowledge that the previously barren Elizabeth "has also conceived a son in her old age" (Luke 1:36). While according to this narrative, Elizabeth conceived her son in the normal manner but her conception is also miraculous, or least very providential. This is indicated by the words spoken to the young Nazarene woman by the archangel Gabriel: "nothing will be impossible for God" (Luke 1:37). This simple story makes clear how happy the two women are for one another.

Today is the last day of May, a month Catholics traditionally devote to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Today take some time to pray the Rosary, reflect on the Joyful Mysteries. As the English Dominican, Father Vincent McNabb, who urged the faithful to pray the Rosary faithfully, exhorted:

The Incarnation is the centre of all our spiritual life. One of the means by which it is made so is the Holy Rosary. There is hardly any way of arriving at some realisation of this great mystery equal to that of saying the Rosary. Nothing will impress it so much on your mind as going apart to dwell in thought, a little space each day, in Bethlehem, on Golgotha, on the Mount of the Ascension (Michael Hennessy, “Fr. Vincent McNabb: A Voice of Contradiction,” Seattle Catholic, 29 April 2005)

A note for deacons as well as for aspirants and candidates for the permanent diaconate: "devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints" are essential elements of a truly diaconal spirituality (see National Directory for the Formation, Ministry, and Life of Permanent Deacons in the United States, sec. 113). In addition to the diaconal saints: Stephen, Philip, Lawrence, Francis of Assisi, Ephrem the Syrian, Vincent of Saragossa, etc., it seems that devotion to Saint Joseph is a necessary dimension of diaconal spirituality.

It's difficult for me to believe that today is the final day of the fifth month of 2021.

On cusp of May, the month of Mary

Friday! Today is the last day of April. Tomorrow is May Day, the international day of workers and, for us Roman Catholics, the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. An important aspect of Church Social Teaching has to do with workers. Sadly, in the U.S. the Church's long-time collaboration with labor unions is a thing of the past. We're all the worse off for it. Anyway, I don't look for that collaboration to be revived anytime soon.

While it begins with a feast in honor of her husband, May is the month of Mary, the month for May crowings. As of today, 120 days of 2021 have passed. Have you prayed 120 Rosaries? If not, don't worry. I urge you to pray 31 Rosaries in May.

The fundamental dogmas of the Christian faith are paradoxical: One in three, human and divine, etc. One of these, as we note whenever we say or sing the Divine Praises is "virgin and mother." Our Blessed Mother occupies a unique place: latria, dulia, hyperdulia. Loosely translated in order: worship, veneration, super-veneration that falls short of worship.

We worship God and only God. We venerate those holy women and men who are saints. Hyperdulia pertains to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Just as in the Ten Commandments the fourth commandment to honor your parents falls between the commandments about loving God and those concerning love of neighbor, Mary, as our Mother, occupies a unique space. Parents, even absent parents, occupy a unique space between God and other people.

Sung by a virtual 450 voice choir, our traditio for this final day of April is Salve Regina:

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

"And when the night is cloudy..."

Today is the Friday before Good Friday. It is the fifth and final Friday of Lent. I admit I am at a bit of a loss. I want to write about the role of faith in the novels of John Cheever, especially in Bullet Park and Falconer. During my silence this morning, as I looked at the candle I lit, it struck me that faith endures because the light shines in the darkness.

The light shines in the darkness because the darkness has not overcome it. Once this though came into my mind, prompted as it was by the chapter in Falconer in which the cardinal visits the prison, I immediately inserted the pronoun "my"- The light shines my darkness and my darkness has not overcome it. Jesus, [resent through the power his Spirit, is the inexhaustible candle shining in my darkness.

I don't think I could ever come close to describing my darkness. It's indescribable. I know there are some reading this who can relate. It's not a competition, Whose darkness it darker. We can agree that those of us who experience the darkness of depression experience more than enough darkness.

As typed the above, once again, my favorite song by The Beatles came to mind: Let It Be. When I was in diaconate formation, I wrote a short paper on what that song means to me. I am not sure I still have the paper but I remember writing it. I am fascinated by the various ways the three theological virtues pertain to each other. I am particularly interested in the various relationships that attain between faith and hope. It is never enough to view theological matters in a straight linear manner: faith-to hope-to love.

By now both of my readers are familiar with my tireless assertion that hope lies beyond optimism. One aspect of this is seeing that Jesus didn't die to "bless" me with a comfortable life of material abundance. Especially among Christians of all stripes in the U.S., this seems to be a core belief. "I am so blessed." On the contrary, Jesus constantly reminds us that wealth and material abundance are often the greatest obstacles to God's Kingdom!

What comes first, faith or hope? Does faith lead to/reinforce hope or does hope lead to/reinforce faith? The answer of course is both yes and no.

Given the above, it shouldn't be a great surprise that "Let It Be" is our last traditio for this Lent. I found this version by Alicia Keyes and John Legend that I found lovely to share. Besides, it's the day after the Solemnity of the Annunciation, which comes nine months to the day before the Lord's Nativity at Christmas:

"Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing..."

In Christian terms, the idea that the Virgin Mary is just a person who happened to conceive and give birth to the Son of God in the flesh is silly on the face of it. To be sure, Mary, or Miriam of Nazareth, was fully human and in no way divine. She was unique, exceptional among the human race.

In Catholic theology, one does not read too much about the concept of prevenient grace. In certain Protestant theologies, especially Calvinism and Arminianism, prevenient grace gets a workout. In certain Calvinistic renderings, prevenient grace is worked out to the point at which a deterministic world results. This, in turn, gives us such theological travesties as "double predestination," which is the idea that God creates certain people only to damn them.

What is prevenient grace? It is God's decision that precedes and overrides human decisions. According to certain modes of Calvinistic thinking, prevenient grace is often or even always irresistible. In other words, God's decrees his will and God's will cannot be overridden. Your cooperation, therefore, is not always, perhaps even usually, a conscious choice.

Any healthy theology cannot hold that God's will, at least concerning an individual's life and in specific circumstances, is irresistible. It is possible to resist God's will. In fact, we often resist it. We can say God's grace is tireless and inexhaustible. Think about the beauty of what Pope Francis said and repeated during the Jubilee of Mercy. You will tire of asking God for mercy long before God will tire of being merciful to you. His point was God will never tire of being merciful because the name of God is mercy (to use the title of a book by Pope Francis). No matter how far you might try to separate yourself from God, he is always there, not as a threatening or imposing presence but in a mode that you might most easily recognize him and respond.

In the Prayer over the Offerings for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the celebrant invokes these words: "... grant that, as we profess her, on account of your prevenient grace, to be untouched by any stain of sin, so, through her intercession, we may be delivered from all our faults" (Roman Missal).

Immaculate Conception, by Giuseppe Angeli, 1765

Citing an Apostolic Constitution promulgated by Pope Alexander VII in 1661, Pope Pius IX, in his encyclical Ineffabilius Deus, by which he dogmatically declared the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1854, noted:

Concerning the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, ancient indeed is that devotion of the faithful based on the belief that her soul, in the first instant of its creation and in the first instant of the soul’s infusion into the body, was, by a special grace and privilege of God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, her Son and the Redeemer of the human race, preserved free from all stain of original sin. And in this sense have the faithful ever solemnized and celebrated the Feast of the Conception

This preservation is what constitutes the prevenience of the grace. This also gets back into the collapsing of time that we're invited to experience during the season of Advent. Her preservation from sin was wrought through the merits of Christ's saving atonement, which is what makes it graciousness on God's part and not inherent to her being. Otherwise, we would have to revere Mary as divine.

The Gospel reading for today's solemnity is Luke's account of the Annunciation. It shows that grace, even prevenient grace, is not irresistible. After greeting this common young woman in an incomprehensibly grandiose manner, the Archangel Gabriel tells Mary that she is to conceive by the Holy Spirit and will give birth to the Son of God, Mary gives what Roman Catholics traditionally call her fiat. This comes from the Latin Vulgate (the Bible in Latin), which translates her words as fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum (i.e., "be it done to me according to your word"- Luke 1:38).

God does not force an unwanted pregnancy upon a young woman for whom such a condition might prove fatal. Her acceptance is vital.

This leads us into "Mary did you know" territory. It seems clear, if we take the Annunciation into account, that Mary perhaps grasped the what and the why of the life and mission of her son. Based on the presentation of Jesus in Temple, during which event she is said to have encountered Anna and Simeon, she may not have fully grasped precisely how he would accomplish his divine purposes in and for the world. Who knows, if she had known the precise manner in which her own heart would be pierced by a sword, it might've altered her decision? The decision to love, to really love, is always a risk. The choice between life and death.

Advent is about saying "Yes," saying to God either again or for the first time: "Be it done to me according to your word." Like our Blessed Mother, saying "Yes" to God entails a risk. I am convinced because choosing to love renders us vulnerable that God does not force our hand. God certainly never seeks to coerce your fiat. It is the nature of love that it cannot be forced. Love always requires a choice, a fiat. Love is the most courageous choice a person can ever make.

A Friday at the end of the world

And so, we arrive at the ultimate Friday of this Year of Grace. The end of time, as it were. It seems a good day to reflect on the Church. Needless to say, the Church, whether you conceive of it as the Catholic Church or, like me, much more broadly to include churches, denominations, and congregations of baptized Christians, is experiencing difficult days. Most, perhaps all, of the difficulties the Church is experiencing are self-inflicted. Rather than returning to our first love, Jesus Christ, much of the time we seem to want to double-down on what landed us here. Christendom is over and done. Thanks be to God!

Despite Christendom being a thing of the past, many Christians in the West, especially in the United States, confuse the loss of political hegemony as persecution. It surely is not. As I approach the end of Born From the Gaze of God: The Tibhirne Journal of a Martyr Monk (1993-1996), which is the published journal of Blessed Christoph LeBreton, OSCO, who is one of seven Cistercian martyrs of Tibhirine, Algeria, who were kidnapped and killed by Islamist forces in 1996, I read something that Bl. Christoph copied from another book.

The book from which he copied it was L'honneur de la liberté by one J. Sommet. Christoph copied these words into his journal by hand during Advent 1995, which proved to be his final Advent, his final period of waiting and preparation for the Lord. He even noted that the title of the chapter of the book: "Dachau...Typhus." Here are is the passage that I think relevant on this Friday at the end of the world:

There I assist at what I call the birth of the Church. It is more a matter of reconstituting a community that gives meaning to each individual's freedom, and that also remains an authentic source of that same freedom, because it does not accept being in a situation of power... This is what constitutes a true Church, a society of gratuity and powerlessness, a community without the means of physical or biological resistance, without hidden arms. These men jump in the fray with bare hands. Here we are before a Church that reinvents herself as a place of the heart and of the freedom of people together, each one existing by virtue of the others[...] Such a Church refuses to become a locus of power, of damnation, of constraint imposed on other groups (197)

I shudder to think where the Church would be today without the witness, ministry, and teaching of Pope Francis.

When Francis became pope, much was made of him perhaps being the first "post-secular" pontiff. What is meant by "post-secular"? Stated simply, maybe overly so, post-secular refers to the persistence or resurgence of religious beliefs or practices in the present. The "post" in post-secular, in this instance, refers to after the end of secularism. "Post-secular" goes hand-in-glove with "post-modern." For those who keep up with the magisterial teaching of the Holy Father, his body of teaching is a great guide for being Christian in our post-secular, post-modern world, a world in which institutions are in decline and held in suspicion by most people.

Being awake means not retreating into dreams of what once was intending to make it that way again. Kierkegaard was quite right in his unsparing criticism that insisted Christendom was the worst thing that ever happened to Christianity. Kirkegaard was adamant that Christendom was a betrayal of the Gospel because it robbed the teaching of Jesus of radicality.

Jesuit theologian Jon Sobrino, who is best known as one of the leading lights of liberation theology, in an essay entitled "The Kingdom of God and the Theological Dimension of the Poor" insisted "Forgetting the poor has gone hand in hand with forgetting the Kingdom of God." Circling back to Christendom, specifically to its origin in the Church's early conciliar period, Sobrino rightly notes: "By the time of the fourth-century conciliar debates it is clear that the Kingdom of God plays no role whatsoever in Christology" (essay in Who Do You Say That I Am?: Confessing the Mystery of Christ, 109-145).

One of the things I am going to do this holiday weekend is set aside time to listen to my favorite U2 album, The Unforgettable Fire, in its entirety. Therefore, it seems fitting, at the expense of too much U2, that our traditio for this ultimate Friday of the liturgical year be a cut off that album. I am going with one of the less well-known tunes: "Promenade."

In the short entry, written on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, that is, 8 December 1995, Bl. Christoph simply noted: "Guileless MARY, born free" (196).

To Christ through Mary

I am still making my way through Born From the Gaze of God: The Tibhirine Journal of a Martyr Monk (1993-1996). Right now, it is my morning spiritual reading. For this, I choose books I can read just bit from each day. Hence, it takes time for me to finish these books. It's a nice change of pace for someone who reads a lot of books. This book are the published journals of Blessed Christoph LeBreton, OCSO, who, along with six of his confreres, was murdered by Islamic insurgents in Algeria in 1997.

Our Lady of Sorrows, possibly by Carlo Dossi, 18th century

I just so happened that last Tuesday, 15 September, the observance of the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (one day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross), that in normal course of reading through Bl. Christoph's journal chronologically, I came upon his entry for 15 September 1994. It just so happened that in 1994 the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows fell on the same as the Jewish Day of Atonement- Yom Kippur:

Yom Kippur. Peace through the blood of the Cross...

        Today- Our Lady of Sorrows...
Mom [Mary] has given us a mission to fulfill: to offer up our lives that the world may be saved, that the Lord may do his will in... us, through Mom's hands

Doing Christ's will through Mary's intercession. The last words Mary speaks in the Gospels is at the Wedding Feast. What does she say? To the waiters at the wedding, with reference to Jesus, she says: "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5).

The Miracle at the Wedding Feast of Cana, which in Saint John's Gospel marks the beginning of Jesus's public ministry, is the second Luminous Mystery of Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary. The fruit of the this mystery is To Christ Through Mary. Being a model disciple, Our Blessed Mother always draws us to her Son, not to herself. Like her Son, she bids you take up your cross.

Liturgically, Saturdays are devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. As one of the intercessions for Morning Prayer in the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin May on Saturday asks:

Saviour of the World, your mother stood at the foot of your cross,
        -grant, through her intercession, that we may rejoice to share in your passion

If I may be permitted to indulge in a bit of sentimentality; this post reminds me of those spontaneous posts I used to compose in my early years of blogging.

Queenship of Mary

One week after the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Roman Catholics celebrate the Memorial of the Queenship of Mary. From a Catholic perspective, there are four major Church teachings about the Blessed Virgin: Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity, Assumption, Queenship. As the Virgin's Assumption is the fourth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary, Mary's Coronation as Queen of Heaven is the fifth and final Glorious mystery. The fruit of that mystery is trust in the Blessed Mother's intercession.

It's nice that this year that both Mary's Assumption and her Queenship fall on Saturdays. Traditionally, Saturdays are a day of the week devoted to Mary. And so, when not superseded by a mandatory memorial, feast, or solemnity, the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary can be prayed on Saturdays.

When one considers the multitude of factors that contribute to the decline of faith and religious practice, it's reasonable to see the decline in devotion to Mary as one factor. Practices like praying the Rosary daily and making frequent recourse to Mary by praying the Memorare are two of the most widespread Marian devotions.

Far from being a meek and unobtrusive figure, Mary should be seen as brave and bold, perhaps a bit brash. I am puzzled that whenever her Magnificat is the Gospel reading, the preaching rarely focuses on its prophetic message:

He has shown the strength of his arm.
He has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he has sent away empty

Mary is on the side of the lowly, the poor, the oppressed, the outcast. As a Jewish woman, one who turned up unexpectedly pregnant, in a conquered society, she understands, experientially, what this means.

Pope Francis's devotion to the Blessed Virgin reflects all this. Before and after each of his Apostolic trips, the Holy Father goes to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. There before Our Lady, Salus Populi Romani (i.e., Protectress of the Roman People), he asks her intercession for the success of his journey. After his trip, he returns to thank her, usually bringing her flowers. All Roman Catholics, along with all Christians in communion with Rome, constitute the Roman people.

So, beginning today, make recourse to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, trust her with your concerns and petitions. The easiest way to do this by praying the Rosary- start with the Glorious mysteries. Learn the Angelus and the Memorare.

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

It would seem strange not to post something for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Like yesterday, I don't have a distinct idea to communicate. So, this is a sort of free-form post- gonzo diaconal blogging.

Again, without bragging, I am one of those Catholics who prays the Rosary every day. I usually pray it during my morning walk. Since my wife often accompanies me on this morning excursions, we frequently pray it together, out loud, as we walk. Of course, living in Utah, this sometimes prompts odd glances from our fellow walkers.

Whenever someone asks me prayers, most often I immediately offer a Memorare for the specific intention. When warranted, I incorporate this intention into my Rosary intentions. In short, I find that entrusting these things to our Blessed Mother is a good way to go.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Guido Reni, 1637

I have my own order in which I pray the mysteries of the Blessed Virgin's Rosary throughout the week: Monday- Joyful; Tuesday- Luminous; Wednesday- Sorrowful; Thursday- Glorious; Friday- Sorrowful; Saturday- mysteries of my choosing; Sunday- Glorious. During the Octaves of Easter & Christmas, I pray the Glorious & Joyful mysteries respectively each day. On Saturdays of Advent & Christmas, I pray the Joyful mysteries. On the Saturdays of Lent, I go with the Sorrowful mysteries. Saturdays of Easter, I pray the Glorious mysteries. I also alter my routine to pray mysteries most suited to a particular solemnity or feast.

Today, for example, I will pray the Glorious mysteries. The fourth Glorious mystery is Mary's bodily assumption into heaven. The fruit of this mystery is the grace of a happy death.

When praying the Sorrowful mysteries by myself, I pray an Act Contrition before each Our Father. When praying the Glorious mysteries, I add a Memorare before the Our Father after the fifth mystery, which is the Blessed Virgin's coronation as Queen of Heaven, the fruit of which is trust in her intercession.

Mary's assumption is a glimpse of the glory God has in store for us, a result of Christ's resurrection. The Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary- known as her "Dormition" among many Eastern Christians- is one of those observances that pre-dates the Church's fracture. This makes it a day of Christian unity. As Mater ecclesiae, I am certain this makes her very happy.

Those Christians who do not hyper-venerate Mary are, well, peculiar. Even the major reformers (i.e., Luther, Calvin, and Cranmer) venerated the Blessed Virgin even while seeking t curb what they viewed as excesses in Marian devotion. Hyper-veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a hallmark of an Apostolic Church.