Mantle of Grace

O Beautiful one
Full of Grace
I am pierced
By the sorrow
Of your Immaculate Heart
I grieve for my sins
Which nailed
Your beloved Son
Upon this Cross
You stood there crying
Intense your suffering
I tasted the bitterness
Of your tears
I covered my head
In my shame
You unclasped my hands
And covered me instead
With your Motherly Mantle

The Feast of the Queenship of Mary

My husband is a convert to Catholicism. Before he converted he attended a Baptist Church. One of His friends, who was also Baptist, was horrified when he learned that my husband was converting. He started sending us pamphlets and links to internet sites that claimed that Catholics worshipped Mary. Fortunately, my husband knew the difference between worship and reverence and wasn't too offended. He tried explaining this to his friend, but his ears were closed to any mention of Mary at all. He sent us a pamphlet comparing Mary with the Old Testament passage Jer. 7:18 which speaks about Ishtar, the queen of heaven [a goddess worshipped by many in Jeremiah's time]. Yes, folks, he actually compared Mary with this demon. Needless to say, I was highly offended. Insult me if you want, but do not insult the mother of my Lord and my mother, too. Next, he sent us something about praying to the dead. After that he sent us the passage in Matthew [Mt. 12:46-50] , part of which says " Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" By this time, I was steaming! Was he trying to insinuate that Mother Mary was in hell?!! In my head I was thinking;"Read your bible, buddy."

Number one, Mary is not Ishtar! Read Luke 1:26-38. This passage alone refutes this.
Or read Luke 1:39-56. How about John 19:25-27. Mary is the mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
One of the ten commandments says,"Honor Thy Mother And Father"; Jesus did this, He was without sin. Catholics do not pray to the dead. I assure you that Mary is alive and well in Heaven. She is the mother of " The King of Kings". The mother of a king is a queen. Mother Mary is the true , "Queen of Heaven"! I believe that Jesus is insulted when his mother is abused and pleased when she is honored. I do not get angry if someone asks about Catholicism with honest intentions. If someone sincerely asks me why I am Catholic I am happy to give my reasons. However, I do get angry when Mary is insulted.

HAIL, HOLY QUEEN!!

p.s. [Of course, I asked Mother Mary to intercede for Randy's friend :) ]

A biblical prayer

I was thinking of the " Hail Mary" this morning and meditating on the beauty of this prayer. What a biblical prayer this is:

When we say, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee" we are uniting our voices with the Archangel Gabriel, whose words came from the Lord, Himself.

" Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb" - Elizabeth, filled with the holy spirit, cried this out in a loud voice. We too, filled with the Holy Spirit, repeat her words.

" Jesus " Self explanatory. Second person of the Holy Trinity

"Holy, Mary, mother of God"
Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit calls Mary, "the mother of my Lord". To call Mary the mother of God is biblical. Jesus is God, who could say otherwise?

"Pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death" We simply are asking her to intercede for us. It is no different than asking our friends and family to pray for us [though her prayers are more powerful because she always lived in God's Will]. She is alive and well in heaven and was given to us on the cross by her dying son, "Behold your mother". All of Jesus' words from the cross have eternal significance.

"Amen" .... AMEN!

The Assumption

" A great sign appeared in the heavens, a woman clothed with the sun, the moon was under her feet,and upon her head was a crown of twelve stars."

Thank you , Mother Mary for your FIAT! You are my beautiful one.


Utterly Thine, O Lord! May it be done to me according to Thy word.

A Mystical Rose Tree

I came upon the book, "God Alone", while searching my room for another book. I cracked it open, took a peek and found this gem:

A mystical rose tree is Jesus and Mary in life, death and eternity.

"It's green leaves are the Joyful Mysteries, the thorns the Sorrowful ones, and the flowers the Glorious Mysteries of Jesus and Mary. The buds are the childhood of Jesus and Mary, and the open blooms show us both of them in their sufferings, and the full-blown roses symbolize Jesus and Mary in their triumph and glory."

" So please do not scorn this beautiful and heavenly tree, but plant it with your own hands in the garden of your soul, by making the resolution to say it every day."
St. Louis de Montfort

Rosary to be prayed on five continents

I will definitely do THIS! Here is the link. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16802 This link has the time and date, etc...

Randy and Mother Mary

Unlike many converts to Catholicism, Mother Mary was never a stumbling block for Randy. He took to the Rosary right away. I questioned him on why this was. He said, " One of the ten commandments is Honor thy mother and father; We know Jesus followed these commandments. If he can honor His mother then I should too."

He also instantly understood that when Jesus said,"Behold, your mother", that He was giving her to all of us because everything that Jesus spoke from the cross has eternal significance.

What treasures Our Lord will give to those with open hearts!

Randy

My husband is a convert to Catholicism, with a Baptist/Pentecostal background . What led him to the Church, after a considerable amount of prayer and fasting, was searching for the complete truth about what Jesus had taught and what he really meant in the Gospels. One of the bible passages that had the greatest impact on him was the "Bread of Life Discourse", especially John, 6:52-71. Randy said that Jesus never said, "Wait! Wait! Come back, I was just kidding." Rather, He let them walk away. The fact that Jesus watched them go without retracting His statement made him realize the complete sincerity and the profound truth of Our Lord's words. My husband didn't want to be one of those who walked away. Randy entered the Church ten years ago, absolutely convinced that this was where God wanted Him.

A funny dream

Many years ago when I first started praying the rosary regularly, I had a funny dream. In this dream I had a 7 story house . I was walking around this house when I came upon a lady with a broom and dustpan bustling around my house cleaning it. And good grief was it a mess! But she started on the top floor and was working her way down. The house had no stairways, it had an elevator and she was using it to get from floor to floor. I followed her and then she turned around and looked at me. It was Our Lady! When I woke up I had to laugh because I always ask Mother Mary to help clean me up so I will be spotless for Jesus.

O Mary

I suffered from infertility for years before my daughter was born. A couple years before she was born, I got pregnant. My husband and I were so happy. Until the day we found out it was an ectopic pregnancy [in one of the fallopian tubes]. I was utterly devastated . I cried so hard I couldn't catch my breath. I placed myself and this baby in the hands of Our Lady. She took my hand and held it during the three months I carried this baby in my tube. The doctor wanted to operate but I wouldn't let him. He was angry and thought I was placing myself at risk of the tube rupturing. Here was the thing; I believe God gives a baby a soul at the instant of conception. As long as the hCG [ a hormone that is made by the embryo soon after conception] levels were rising I felt the soul was still in the body so I didn't dare do anything. Mother Mary lead me to a beautiful Catholic woman from Birthright named Evelyn. This woman was wonderful and found me a committed Catholic doctor who helped guide me in this. Every night I prayed the rosary and received so much consolation through her intercession. The Lord called me to offer the suffering up in reparation for the sins against life in our world. The hCG numbers finally plunged but I still waited. I asked Mother Mary for a sign of when it would be okay for the doctor to operate. A few weeks later I had a dream that I was pushing a baby carriage and I came upon a tiny gravestone. In this dream I was shouting " O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee" and complete peace surrounded my soul. I knew my baby's soul had gone to be with the Lord. When the doctor finally went in there no sign of the ectopic pregnancy was found, just endometriosis which probably caused this to happen [blocked tubes]. Six months later I conceived my daughter .

Mother Mary,
Thank you for loving us as your own and your intercession for this world.

Evelyn,
I will never forget you. I have you tucked into my heart. Thank you for your kindness and caring. You were a ray of sunshine for me during this dark hour. May God bless you!

Pray, pray, pray

These are often Mother Mary's messages to the world. "Pray, pray, pray" and also " Pray for peace in this world."



Just a soft whisper
Let there be peace
Unheard by those thundering
Figureheads of society
Who bellow their war chants
Righteous, superior voices
Drowning out choices
Years spent fighting wars
Nobody can win
For land that
Nobody can own
Just borrowed soil
Lent to sons
Who die fighting for it