The Fifth Glorious Mystery: The Coronation

Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death (CCC, 966).

What should we envision when we think of Mary, “Queen over all things?” One might look to the book of Revelation for help: “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (12:1). Mary said “yes” to the will of God, and for her part in the history of salvation she was fully honored and glorified in heaven. She became our Queen, our Mother in Heaven, our Guardian in all things, and our Star of the New Evangelization.

While meditating on the crowning of Our Lady Queen of Heaven, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

It is the end of Mary’s month of May, and we have now come to the end of our Rosary. Conclude by reciting the Hail Holy Queen and by making a Sign of the Cross:
 
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.  To you we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.  Turn then, O most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement! O loving! O sweet Virgin Mary!

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Happy Feast of the Visitation!

"And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord" (Lk 1:45).

With this greeting, the elderly Elizabeth exalts her young kinswoman Mary, who has come, humble and modest, to help her. Under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, the mother of the Baptist is the first in the history of the Church to begin to proclaim the marvels that God has brought about in the girl from Nazareth, and sees fully realized in Mary the bliss of faith, because she has believed there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.

At the close of the Marian month, in this splendid Roman evening, at this place which reminds us of the Lourdes grotto, we must reflect, beloved Sisters and. Brothers, on what was the fundamental interior attitude of the Blessed Virgin with regard to God: her faith. Mary believed! She believed in the Lord's words, transmitted to her by the Angel Gabriel; at the Annunciation, her pure heart, already given entirely to God from her childhood, dilated in the generous and unconditional "Fiat" with which she agreed to become the Mother of the Messiah and Son of God. From that moment, taking her place more and more deeply in God's plan, she will let herself be led by the hand by mysterious Providence and for her whole life, rooted in faith, she will follow her Son spiritually, becoming his first and perfect "disciple" and carry-out in everyday life the requirements involved in following Jesus according to his own words: "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (Lk 14:27).

Homily of Blessed John Paul II, May 31 1979 

Mary Our Mother, on this special feast of the Visitation, we join with Pope Benedict XVI in asking you to be a guide to missionaries throughout the world.

Priests just keep getting younger…

‘Tis the season for ordinations, and what a season it has been! According to a survey from the Georgetown University-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, the “2012 priesthood ordination class continues a six-year trend towards younger priests.” Two-thirds of the men ordained this year are between the ages of 25 and 34!

When speaking to the priests, religious, and seminarians in Malawi in May 1989, Blessed John Paul II said:

In a special way I commend to you young men the closing words of this evening’s Gospel: “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Yes, the gift of a vocation to the priesthood is not something you seek for yourselves. It has nothing to do with status or privilege as the world understands these things. Your great privilege will be to lay down your lives with Christ the eternal priest if you are truly called to this vocation. May God help each of you to discern His will so that you too may “Go out to bear fruit, fruit that will last.”

Congratulations to all of our new priests, and thank you. We will keep you in our prayers here at the Blessed John Paul II Shrine. 

Holy Spirit leads us through personal conversions and dark nights

Pope Benedict XVI has had some inspiring things to say about a variety of topics this past week.

Last Thursday, the pontiff addressed a group of bishops from Italy, reminding them that personal holiness is the first step in re-converting Europe. This interior conversion builds the foundation for living the New Evangelization. He said:

The fundamental condition in order to be able to speak about God is to speak with God, increasingly to become men of God, nourished by an intense life of prayer and molded by his grace.

An intimate relationship with God is vital if we are to fight evil in this world, and so are “dark nights.” Earlier last week, Pope Benedict addressed those times in his life when things were not all joyful and wonderful, and he thanked God for the good that came out of them.

The Holy Spirit gives us these conversions and “dark nights,” and it is His love that gets us through. The Spirit also gives the Church unity, which is ever more important in this age of the New Evangelization. On Pentecost, Pope Benedict said:

…unity can only exist as a gift of God’s Spirit who will give us a new heart and a new language, a new ability to communicate.

Come Holy Spirit, then. Unite this Church in Christ’s love, and give us what we need to spread the Gospel throughout the world.

 

The Fourth Glorious Mystery: The Assumption

The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she already shares in the glory of her Son's Resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of his Body (CCC, 974).

Remember in the Gospel of Luke, when Mary exclaims, "Henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me" (1:48-49)? Mary is so pure, so blessed, so holy, so lovely—that every part of her was swept up into the Kingdom of Heaven when her life on earth was complete. She is now united with her Son, and every day she lovingly protects His Church as a shining example and powerful intercessor.

While meditating on Mary’s Assumption into Heaven, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

The Third Glorious Mystery: The Descent of the Holy Spirit

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).

On this day the Church celebrates Pentecost. This is the day when the Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles, giving them the gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They were given everything necessary in order to fulfill Jesus’ commands.

Blessed John Paul II reflected upon the descent of the Holy Spirit during his 1979 Mass at Victory Square in Poland:

The liturgy of the evening of Saturday the Vigil of Pentecost takes us to the Upper Room in Jerusalem, where the Apostles, gathered around Mary the Mother of Christ, were on the following day to receive the Holy Spirit. They were to receive the Spirit obtained for them by Christ through the Cross, in order that through the power of this Spirit they might fulfil his command: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you" (Mt 28:19-20). Before Christ the Lord left the world, he transmitted to the Apostles with these words his last recommendation, his "missionary mandate".

In the face of a Communist regime which worked tirelessly to take God out of the Poland’s past, present, and future, Blessed John Paul II then fearlessly called for a “second baptism”—a baptism that would change the history of the twentieth century and eventually lead to the fall of Communism:

St. Philip Neri, Pray for Us!

In his Wednesday Catechesis last week, Pope Benedict XVI addressed those who are struggling to pray. He said:

…prayer is above all the work of the Holy Spirit within our hearts, the fruit of God’s presence within us. The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, teaching us to pray to the Father through the Son. In the eighth chapter of the Letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that the Spirit intercedes for us, unites us to Christ and enables us to call God our Father. In our prayer, the Holy Spirit grants us the glorious freedom of the children of God, the hope and strength to remain faithful to the Lord amid our daily trials and tribulations, and a heart attentive to the working of God’s grace in others and in the world around us.

There are times in our lives when prayer becomes difficult, and usually these times are when we need God most. Simply asking the Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray is a strong prayer in itself, bound to bring us hope and strength.

St. Philip Neri, whose feast we celebrate today, often asked for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. One time in prayer, while he was earnestly seeking the Holy Spirit, a flame entered his mouth and took a place in his chest. His heart miraculously caught fire, and after bearing his breast to cool himself, St. Philip joyously felt his heart swell. Doctors later discovered that his heart dilated due to the sudden impulse of heavenly love.

The Holy Spirit gives us amazing gifts when we sincerely ask for them. As we prepare for Pentecost, let us ask the Holy Spirit for fruitful prayers and hearts ablaze with love for God and man.

St. Philip Neri, pray for us!