MyCatholicSource.com ™ Newsletter - August, 2015
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MyCatholicSource.com Newsletter - August, 2015
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IN THIS ISSUE:
* Greetings
* MCS News & Notes
* The Month of August: Dedicated to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary
* How Great is the Love of Our Mother For
Us
*
Short Reflection on Devotion to the Immaculate Heart
* Liturgical Feasts in August
*
'Catholic Trivia'
* Defending the Faith: "Apologetics Brief"
- Do You Reject the Catholic Church's Teaching that Jesus' Mother Mary
Was Conceived Immaculately and Remained Sinless?
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Dear Friend,
Greetings & blessings to you! We hope
you are having an enjoyable and holy summer.
We send our thanks to all subscribers who have signed up for our
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"My soul doth magnify the Lord: And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
Savior. Because He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaid: for,
behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." (From
the Magnificat / Canticle of Our Lady, cf. Lk.
1:46-55)
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MCS News & Notes
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The Month of August: Dedicated to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary
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"And [Jesus] went down with them and came
to Nazareth and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words
in her heart." (Lk. 2:51)
"Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee"
(Cant. 4:7 / Song. 4:7)
"[Thy] patronage, O Mary, is more powerful
and loving than anything of which we can ever form an idea." (St.
Germanus)
"Tell everybody that God gives graces through the Immaculate Heart of
Mary. Tell them to ask graces from her, and that the Heart of Jesus
wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Ask
them to plead for peace from the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the Lord
has confided the peace of the world to her." (Bl. Jacinta of Fatima)
+ + +
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"[Mary] is gentle, exquisite in tenderness, and of a limitless love
and kindness. As such God gave her to us. Mother of his only begotten
Son, he taught her all a mother's feelings that breathe pardon and
love." (Pope Leo XIII)
"Although she was never subject to the
frailty and perversity of our nature, Mary well knows its condition and
is the best and most solicitous of mothers. How willingly will she
hasten to our aid when we need her; with what love will she refresh us,
and with what strength sustain us." (Pope Leo XIII, "Magnae Dei Matris",
1892 A.D.)
"Thus the Faithful of every age, both in public misfortune and in
private need, turn in supplication to Mary...so that she may come to
their aid and grant help and remedy against sorrows of body and soul.
And never was her most powerful aid hoped for in vain by those who
besought it with pious and trustful prayer." (Pope Pius XI, "Ingravescentibus
Malis", 1937 A.D.)
"Who can ever comprehend the solicitude with which Mary constantly
stands before God on our behalf? 'She is never weary of defending us,'
says St. Germanus; and the remark is beautiful meaning that so great is
the compassion excited in Mary by our misery, and such is the love that
she bears us, that she prays constantly, and relaxes not her efforts in
our behalf: that by her prayers she may effectually defend us from evil,
and obtain for us sufficient graces." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of
the Church)
"But should there by chance be a sinner
who, though not doubting her power, might doubt the compassion of Mary,
fearing perhaps that she might be unwilling to help him on account of
the greatness of his sins, let him take courage from the words of St.
Bonaventure. 'The great, the special privilege of Mary is, that she is
all-powerful with her son.' 'But,' adds the saint, 'to what purpose
would Mary have so great power if she cared not for us?' 'No,' he
concludes, 'let us not doubt, but be certain, and let us always thank
Our Lord and His divine Mother for it, that in proportion as her power
with God exceeds that of all the saints, so is she in the same
proportion our most loving advocate, and the one who is the most
solicitous for our welfare." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the
Church)
"When we have recourse to Mary in
prayer, we are having recourse to the Mother of mercy, who is so well
disposed toward us that, whatever the necessity that presses upon us
especially in attaining eternal life, she is instantly at our side of
her own accord, even though she has not been invoked. She dispenses
grace with a generous hand from that treasure with which from the
beginning she was divinely endowed in fullest abundance that she might
be worthy to be the Mother of God. By the fullness of grace which
confers on her the most illustrious of her many titles, the Blessed
Virgin is infinitely superior to all the hierarchies of men and angels,
the one creature who is closest of all to Christ." (Pope Leo XIII,
"Magnae Dei Matris", 1892 A.D.)
Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary: "O Virgin Immaculate, Mother
of God and my Mother, from thy sublime height turn upon me thine eyes of
pity. Filled with confidence in thy goodness and knowing full well thy
power, I beseech thee to extend to me thine assistance in the journey of
life, which is so full of dangers for my soul. And in order that I may
never be the slave of the devil through sin, but may ever live with my
heart humble and pure, I entrust myself wholly to thee. I consecrate my
heart to thee for ever, my only desire being to love thy divine Son
Jesus. Mary, none of thy devout servants has ever perished; may I too be
saved. Amen." (Raccolta)
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How Great is the Love of Our Mother For Us
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The following is taken from a 19th century edition of 'The Glories of
Mary' by St. Alphonsus Liguori. The original work has ecclesiastical
approval. [Please Note: We have made some changes to the text below
(e.g. capitalization, spelling & punctuation changes,
shortening/separating/combining paragraphs).]
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If, then, Mary is our mother, let us consider how much she loves us.
The love of parents for their children is a necessary love, and for this
reason, as St. Thomas observes, children are commanded in the divine
law to love their parents; but there is no command, on the other hand,
given to parents to love their children, for love towards one's own
offspring is a love so deeply planted in the heart by nature herself,
that even the wild beasts, as St. Ambrose says, never fail to love their
young, It is said that even tigers, hearing the cry of their
whelps...will plunge into the sea to swim after [their endangered
offspring]. If, then, says our most loving mother Mary, even tigers
cannot forget their young, how can I forget to love you, my children?
And, she adds, even if it should happen that a mother could forget her
child, it is not possible that I can forget a soul which is my child
(Isa. 49:15).
Mary is our mother, not according to the flesh, but by love: "I am
the mother of fair love." (Ecclus. 24:24) Hence she becomes our mother only on account
of the love she bears us; and she glories, says a certain author, in
being the mother of love; because, having taken us for her children, she
is all love towards us. Who can describe the love of Mary for us
miserable creatures?...
But let us consider the reasons of this love, for thus we shall
better understand how this good mother loves us. The first reason of the
great love that Mary bears to men is the great love she bears to God.
Love to God and man is contained in the same precept, as St. John has
written: "This commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God,
love also his brother" (1 Jn. 4:21); so that one increases as the other increases.
Hence what have the saints not done for love of the neighbor, because
they have loved God so much? They have gone so far as to expose and lose
liberty and even life for his salvation. Let us read what St. Francis
Xavier did in India, where, for the sake of the souls of those
barbarians, he climbed mountains, and exposed himself to innumerable
dangers to find those wretched beings, in the caverns where they dwelt
like wild beasts, and to lead them to God. St. Francis de Sales, to
convert the heretics of the province of Chablais, risked his life by
crossing a river every day for a year, on his hands and knees, upon a
frozen beam, that he might go to the other side to preach to those
stubborn men. St. Paulinus became a slave, to obtain liberty for the son
of a poor widow. St. Fidelis, to bring the heretics of a certain place
back to God, willingly consented, in preaching to them, to lose his
life. The saints, then, because they have loved God so much, have done
much for love of the neighbor. But who has loved God more than Mary? She
loved God more, in the first moment of her life, than all the saints and
angels have loved him in the whole course of theirs...
Therefore, as
there is none among the blessed spirits who loves God more than Mary; so
there is, and can be none, except God, who loves us more than this our
most loving mother. If the love of all mothers for their children, of
all husbands for their wives, and of all saints and angels for their
devoted servants, were united, it would not be so great as the love that
Mary bears to one soul alone. Father Nierembergh says that the love
which all mothers have borne to their children is a shadow when compared
with the love which Mary bears to any one of us. Truly she alone loves
us more, he adds, than all the angels and saints united. Moreover, our
mother loves us much, because we have been commended to her as children
by
her beloved Jesus, when, before expiring, he said to her: "Woman, behold
thy son" (Jn. 19:26); signifying by the person of John, all men... These were the last words of her Son to her. The last
remembrances left by beloved friends at the moment of their death are
greatly valued, and the memory of them is never lost. Moreover, we are
children extremely dear to Mary, because we cost her so much suffering.
Those children are much dearer to a mother whose lives she has preserved: we are those children, for whom, that we may have the life of grace,
Mary suffered the pain of sacrificing the dear life of her Jesus;
submitting, for our sake, to see him die before her eyes in cruel
torments. By this great offering of Mary we were then born to the life
of divine grace. So, then, we are children very dear to her, because we
were redeemed at such a cost of suffering. Accordingly, as we read of
the love which the eternal Father has manifested for men by giving his
own Son to death for us, "God so loved the world as to give his
only-begotten Son" (Jn. 3:16) as St. Bonaventure remarks, it may be said of Mary
also, that she so loved us as to give her only-begotten Son...
And from this follows another reason why we are so much beloved by
Mary: because she knows that we have been purchased by the death of
Jesus Christ. If a mother should see a servant redeemed by a beloved son
of hers, by twenty years of imprisonment and suffering, for this reason
alone how much would she esteem that servant! Mary well knows that her
Son came upon earth solely to save us miserable sinners, as he himself
declared: "I have come to save what was lost." (Lk. 19:10) And to save us he has
consented to lay down his life for us: "Becoming obedient unto death."
(Phil. 2:8)
If Mary, then, had little love for us, she would slightly value the
blood of her Son, which was the price of our salvation... Now, how
much more certainly must we believe that she loves us, after she has
seen us so greatly prized by her Son, that he deigned to purchase us at
such a cost!...
It is certain that she is concerned for the whole human race, as St.
Bernard affirms; hence the practice of some devout servants of Mary
is very useful, who, as Cornelius a Lapide relates, have the habit of
praying our Lord to grant them those graces which the blessed Virgin is
seeking for them, using these words: "Oh Lord, give me what the most
holy Virgin Mary is asking for me." And this is well, as [he] adds,
for our mother desires greater things for us than we think of asking for
ourselves. The devout Bernardine de Bustis says that Mary is more
desirous to do us good, and bestow favors upon us, than we are to
receive them. Therefore blessed Albertus Magnus applies to Mary the
words of wisdom: "She preventeth them that covet her, so that she first
showeth herself unto them." (Wis. 6:14) So great is the love, says
Richard of St. Laurence, which this good mother bears us, that when she
perceives our necessities, she comes to relieve them. She hastens before
she is invoked.
If Mary, then, is so good to all, even to the ungrateful and
negligent, who have but little love for her, and seldom have recourse to
her, how much more loving must she not be to those who love her and
often invoke her! "She is easily seen by them that love her."
(Wis. 6:13) Oh, how
easy it is, exclaims the same blessed Albertus, for those who love Mary
to find her, and find her full of love and pity! "I love them that love
me" (Prov. 8:17) she assures us, and declares that she cannot but love those who
love her. And although our most loving lady loves all men as her
children, yet, says St. Bernard, she recognizes and loves especially
those who most tenderly love her. Those happy [persons who love] Mary...
are not only loved, but served by her.
Leonard the Dominican, as we read in the chronicles of his order, who
was accustomed to recommend himself two hundred times a day to this
mother of mercy, when he was on his death-bed, saw one beautiful as a
queen by his side, who said to him: "Leonard, do you wish to die and
come to my Son and me?" "Who are you?" answered the religious. "I am the
mother of mercy," replied the Virgin; "you have many times invoked me,
and now I come to take you: let us go to paradise." On that same day
Leonard died, and we hope that he followed her to the kingdom of the
blessed.
"Ah, most sweet Mary, blessed is he who loves you!" the venerable
brother John Berchmans, of the Society of Jesus, used to say: "If I love
Mary, I am sure of perseverance, and I shall obtain from God whatsoever
I wish." And this devout youth was never satisfied with renewing his
intention, and often repeated to himself: "I will love Mary, I will love
Mary."
Oh, how much this our good mother exceeds all her children in
affection, even if they love her to the extent of their power! "Mary is
always more loving than [those that love her]," says St. Ignatius,
martyr. Let us love her as much as St. Stanislas Kostka, who loved
this his dear mother so tenderly, that when he spoke of her, every one
who heard him desired to love her also; he invented new titles by which
he honored her name; he never commenced an action without first turning
to her image and asking her blessing; when he recited her office, her
rosary, and other prayers, he repeated them with such affectionate
earnestness, that he seemed speaking face to face with Mary; when he
heard the Salve Regina sung, his soul and even his countenance was all
on fire; when asked one day by a father of the society, as they were
going together to visit an altar of the blessed Virgin, how much he
loved her, "Father," he answered, "what can I say more than that she is
my mother?" And that father tells us how the holy youth spoke these
words with such tender emotion of voice, countenance, and heart, that he
appeared not a man, but an angel discoursing of the love of Mary...
If, then, [those who love Mary] imitate, as much as possible,
those [devotees] who endeavor to make known their affection to the person
beloved, they can never love her so much as she loves them. I know, oh
Lady, said St. Peter Damian, how loving thou art, and that thou lovest
us with unconquerable love. The venerable Alphonso Rodriguez, of the
Society of Jesus, was once standing before an image of Mary; and there
burning with love for the most holy Virgin, broke forth into these
words: "My most amiable mother, I know that thou lovest me, but thou
dost not love me so much as I love thee." Then Mary, as if wounded in
her love, spoke to him from that image and said: "What dost thou
say -- what dost thou say, oh Alphonso? Oh, how much greater is the love I
bear thee than the love thou bearest me! Know that the distance from
heaven to earth is not so great as from my love to thine."
With how much reason, then, did St. Bonaventure exclaim: Blessed are
those whose lot it is to be faithful servants and [to love] this most
loving mother. For this most grateful queen is never surpassed in
love by her devoted servants. Mary, in this respect, imitating
our loving Redeemer Jesus Christ, makes by her favors a twofold return
to him who loves her, I will exclaim, then, with the enamored St. Anselm:
May my heart languish, may my soul melt with your never-failing love.
May my heart always burn and my soul be consumed with love for you, oh
Jesus, my beloved Savior, oh my dear mother Mary. Grant then, oh Jesus
and Mary, since without [God's grace] I cannot love you, grant to my soul,
not through my merits, but through yours, that I may love you as you
deserve.
+ + +
For more reflections, please visit
http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/qt/reflections_categorized.htm
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Short Reflection on Devotion to the Immaculate Heart
+ + +
The following is taken from a 19th century publication entitled 'St.
Vincent's Manual: Containing a Selection of Prayers and Devotional
Exercises'. The original work was published with approbation. [Please
Note: We have made some changes to the text below (e.g. capitalization &
punctuation changes)]
+ + +
As the adorable Heart of Jesus was formed in the chaste womb of the
Blessed Virgin, and of her blood and substance, so we cannot in a more
proper and agreeable manner show our devotion to the Sacred Heart of the
Son, than by directing some part of the said devotion to the ever pure
heart of the Mother. For you have two hearts here united in the most
strict alliance and tender conformity of sentiments; so that it is not
in nature to please the one, without making yourself agreeable to the
other, and acceptable to both. Go then, devout client, go to the Heart
of Jesus; but let your way be through the Heart of Mary, The sword of
grief which pierced her soul, opens you a passage: enter by the wound
love has made; advance to the Heart of Jesus, and rest there even till
death itself. Presume not to separate and divide two objects so
intimately united together; but ask for aid in all your exigencies from
the Heart of Jesus, and ask this favor through the Heart of Mary.
+ + +
For more reflections, please visit
http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/qt/reflections_categorized.htm
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Liturgical Feasts in August
The following is a listing of all liturgical feast dates for
August as
they appear at
http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/pc/saints/feasts.htm
Note: (T) = Traditional, (N) = New (Novus Ordo)
Reminder: Feasts may be superseded / transferred / etc.
+ + +
August 1 - St. Paul (T)
August 1 - St. Peter's Chains (T)
August 1 - The Holy Machabees (T)
August 1 - St. Alphonsus Liguori (N)
August 2 - St. Alphonsus Liguori (T)
August 2 - St. Stephen I, pope (T)
August 2 - St. Eusebius of Vercelli (N)
August 2 - St. Peter Julian Eymard (N)
August 3 - Finding of St. Stephen (T)
August 4 - St. Dominic (T)
August 4 - St. John Vianney (Cure of Ars)
(N)
August 5 - Dedication of Our Lady of the
Snow (T)
August 5 - Dedication of the Basilica of
St. Mary Major in Rome (N)
August 6 - Sts. Sixtus II (Xystus) (pope),
Felicissimus & Agapitus (T)
August 6 - Transfiguration of Our Lord (T)
August 6 - Transfiguration of the Lord (N)
August 7 - St. Cajetan (T)
August 7 - St. Donatus (T)
August 7 - St. Cajetan (N)
August 7 - St. Sixtus II (pope) &
companions (N)
August 8 - Sts. Cyriacus, Largus &
Smaragdus (T)
August 8 - The 14 Holy Helpers (T)
August 8 - St. Dominic (N)
August 9 - St. Emidius (T)
August 9 - St. John Vianney (Cure of Ars)
(T)
August 9 - St. Romanus (T)
August 9 - St. Teresa Benedicta of the
Cross (Edith Stein) (N)
August 10 - St. Laurence (Lawrence) (T)
August 10 - St. Lawrence (N)
August 11 - St. Philomena (T)
August 11 - Sts. Tiburtius & Susanna (T)
August 11 - St. Clare of Assisi (N)
August 12 - St. Clare of Assisi (T)
August 13 - Sts. Hippolytus & Cassian (T)
August 13 - Sts. Pontian (pope) &
Hippolytus (N)
August 14 - St. Eusebius (T)
August 14 - Vigil of the Assumption (T)
August 14 - St. Maximilian Kolbe (N)
August 15 - Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary (T) *
August 15 - The Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary (N) *
August 16 - St. Joachim, Father of the
Blessed Virgin Mary (T)
August 16 - St. Stephen of Hungary (N)
August 17 - St. Hyacinth (T)
August 18 - St. Agapitus (T)
August 18 - St. Helena (T)
August 18 - St. Jane Frances de Chantal (N)
August 19 - St. John Eudes (T)
August 19 - St. John Eudes (N)
August 20 - St. Bernard of Clairvaux (T)
August 20 - St. Bernard of Clairvaux (N)
August 21 - St. Jane Frances de Chantal (T)
August 21 - St. Pius X, pope (N)
August 22 - Sts. Timothy, Hippolytus &
Symphorianus (T)
August 22 - The Immaculate Heart of the
Blessed Virgin Mary (T)
August 22 - The Queenship of the Blessed
Virgin Mary (N)
August 23 - St. Philip Benizi (T)
August 23 - St. Rose of Lima (N)
August 24 - St. Bartholomew, apostle (T)
August 24 - St. Bartholomew, apostle (N)
August 25 - St. Louis IX, king of France
(T)
August 25 - St. Joseph Calasanz (N)
August 25 - St. Louis IX of France (N)
August 26 - St. Zephyrinus, pope (T)
August 27 - St. Joseph Calasanctius (T)
August 27 - St. Monica (N)
August 28 - St. Augustine of Hippo (T)
August 28 - St. Hermes (T)
August 28 - St. Augustine of Hippo (N)
August 29 - Martyrdom of St. John the
Baptist (T)
August 29 - St. Sabina (T)
August 29 - Martyrdom of St. John the
Baptist (N)
August 30 - St. Rose of Lima (T)
August 30 - Sts. Felix & Adauctus (T)
August 31 - St. Raymund Nonnatus (T)
Please Note: Above may exclude moveable feasts. For moveable feasts,
try here:
http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/pc/latin_mass_and_tradition/traditional_liturgical_calendar.htm
. For other feasts, try the MCS Daily Digest each day at
http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/cg/mcs_daily_digest.asp
* Holy Day of Obligation, unless abrogated (Contact your diocese for
info.)
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'Catholic Trivia'
1. When was the first ecumenical council held?
2. What industry does Pope Pius XI say became "more pernicious and
deadly" as it progressed? What occurred in the United States in 1930
which was supposed to curb such degradation?
3. St. Francis of Assisi is credited with saving the life of which saint
when he was a child?
4. When did the confiscation of the papal states occur?
5. According to St. Jerome, what holds the primacy of all virtues in
woman?
6. When does St. Augustine say that the spirit of Christian charity
lives not within a person?
7. What are three elements of certitude?
8. When was the term "Catholic Church" first written?
9. According to scripture, what man is a slave, in disgrace and shame?
10. Is it true that the deuterocanonical books were added to scripture
by the Council of Trent?
---
Answers:
1. The first ecumenical council (Niacea I) was held in 325 A.D.
2. As Pope Pius XI states, "Now then, it is a certainty which can
readily be verified that the more marvelous the progress of the motion
picture art and industry, the more pernicious and deadly has it shown
itself to morality and to religion and even to the very decencies of
human society. The directors of the industry in the United States
recognized this fact themselves when they confessed that the
responsibility before the people and the world was their very own. In an
agreement entered into by common accord in March, 1930, and solemnly
sealed, signed, and published in the Press, they formally pledged
themselves to safeguard for the future the moral welfare of the patrons
of the cinema. It is promised in this agreement that no film which
lowers the moral standard of the spectators, which casts discredit upon
natural or human law or arouses sympathy for their violation, will be
produced." (Pope Pius XI, "Vigilanti Cura", 1936 A.D.)
3. St. Francis of Assisi is credited with saving the life of St.
Bonaventure when he was a child.
4. The confiscation of the papal states occurred in 1870.
5. "It is the saying of a very learned man, that chastity must be
preserved at all costs, and that when it is lost all virtue falls to the
ground. This holds the primacy of all virtues in woman." (St. Jerome,
Doctor of the Church)
6. "The spirit of Christian charity lives not within you, if you lament
the body from which the soul has departed, but lament not the soul from
which God has departed." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
7. Three elements of certitude are: metaphysical (when the opposite is
inconceivable), physical (opposite is conceivable but not to be due to
the laws of nature), and moral (ought not to be otherwise).
8. The first known written use of the term "Catholic Church" has been
considered to be that of St. Ignatius of Antioch, around 110 A.D. It
should be noted that St. Ignatius was a hearer of the Apostle St. John,
and the third bishop of Antioch.
9. "The man is a slave, in disgrace and shame, when a wife supports her
husband." (Sirach 25:21)
10. No. This is an error propagated by Protestants. It is easily
disproved by pointing to the Church's official lists of inspired books
of the Bible dating back from the fourth century A.D. The Council of
Trent did list the deuterocanonical books, however, it was merely
affirming / confirming the same list that the Catholic Church
established in fourth century (and had maintained since then). Unbiased
research should prove beyond doubt that the Catholic Church accepted
these books from the beginning (when she first listed the books which
comprise Scripture). In fact, she is known to have enumerated all of the
books of the Bible - including the deuterocanonical books - as early as
382 A.D. [see the "Decree of (Pope St) Damasus" from the acts of the
Roman Synod, 382 A.D.] and has done so consistently since then.
---
For more information concerning the topics above, try our General A-Z
Index at
http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/help.htm
Like trivia? You might enjoy our crossword puzzles located at
http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/pc/catholic_activities/catholic_fun_crossword_puzzles.htm
You might also be interested in the Q & A and historical information
which may be found each day on the MCS Daily Digest at
http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/cg/mcs_daily_digest.asp
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Defending the Faith: "Apologetics Brief"
- Do You Reject the Catholic Church's Teaching that Jesus' Mother
Mary Was Conceived Immaculately and Remained Sinless?
It is good for Catholics to be able to defend their faith against
attacks (or even simple questions) from those outside the Church. We
therefore hope you may find the following "apologetics brief" helpful.
- - -
Note: Text below is taken from
http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/nc/non_catholics__Marian.htm
The following may be used as discussion points when discoursing with
those outside the Church (or even among Catholics).
Topic: Do You Reject the Catholic
Church's Teaching that Jesus' Mother Mary Was Conceived Immaculately and
Remained Sinless? (Note: Topic is directed at
Protestants)
Consider:
* Do you suppose that
God instructed that the Ark be covered inside and outside with pure gold
(see Ex. 25:11), but He would fail to fashion His own mother - whom He
took His own flesh from - in a similar manner?
* Do you suppose that
the "entire temple [a mere building] was overlaid with gold" (1 Kgs.
6:22), yet Christ would fail to prepare his own Mother - from whom He
took His own flesh - in a comparable fashion?
* Considering that
Christ is the "living temple", and considering that in the Old Testament
God selected master craftsmen to help build His temple, how can you
imagine that He wouldn't craft His own mother masterfully - as perfect
as a human being can get?
* How could Mary be
greeted by the angel as "full of grace" (Lk. 1:28) if she was not
immaculate?
* Since we see from Rv.
21:27 that nothing unclean will enter the Lord's kingdom, how do you
imagine that God could have entered Mary's womb if Mary wasn't fully
pure?
* How is it you would
make the mother of Christ a sinner? Do you not realize that if you
propose that Jesus' mother Mary ever - even once - committed a sin, you
make her a slave to the devil (cf. 1 Jn. 3:8, Jn. 8:34, Rom. 6:16)? How
could the one who was foretold in Gen 3:15 crush the head of Satan if
she had even once been under his control? How could she be always at
enmity with the devil if she was once under his power?
* The fact that Mary
calls God her savior (see Lk. 1:47) in no way contradicts the doctrine
of her Immaculate Conception. To use an analogy, a parent may be said to
save a child's life by pulling him back from a certain fall at the edge
of a cliff (e.g. preventing him from falling) or by giving him
life-saving medical care after he has already fallen. In both cases, the
parent has saved the child, but in one instance the child didn't
actually fall. In like manner, God is Mary's savior by giving her
special graces (in view of Christ's merits) so that she may not "fall".
* Since Adam and Eve
came from the hands of God "immaculate", why is it so difficult for you
to believe that Christ would likewise create His own mother immaculate -
the very woman that He Himself would take His flesh from?
* Do you argue against
Mary's perpetual sinlessness based on Romans 3:23 ("all have sinned")?
Do you also dare (God forbid!) to imply that Jesus sinned? Clearly, this
passage does not mean to imply that Jesus sinned. Therefore, the passage
also does not exclude the possibility (the fact!) that His mother also
never sinned.
* How is it that you
can regard Jesus' mother Mary as a sinner, but the early Christians and
most brilliant theologians wouldn't dare consider - much less utter -
such blasphemy?
* Do you reject the
Immaculate Conception because you think it means that Mary was born of a
virgin? You should know that the Church certainly does not teach that -
rather she teaches 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". She was
otherwise conceived and born as any other human being.
- - -
"Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee."
[Cant. 4:7 (Song. 4:7)]
"The second Eve is to be worthy of the second Adam, conquering and
not to be conquered." (Dom Gueranger)
"You alone and your Mother are more beautiful than any others; For
there is no blemish in you, nor any stains upon your Mother. Who of my
children can compare in beauty to these?" (St. Ephraim, c. 370 A.D.)
"It was fitting that Jesus Christ should have such a mother as would
be worthy of Him as far as possible; and she would not have been worthy,
if, contaminated by the hereditary stain even for the first moment only
of her conception, she had been subject to the abominable power of
Satan." (Pope Pius XII, "Fulgens Corona", 1953 A.D.)
"Come, then, and search out Your sheep, not through Your servants or
hired men, but do it Yourself. Lift me up bodily and in the flesh, which
is fallen in Adam. Lift me up not from Sara but from Mary, a Virgin not
only undefiled but a Virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free from
every stain of sin." (St. Ambrose of Milan, Doctor of the Church, c. 387
A.D.)
"Believe in the Son of God, the Word before the ages, who was
begotten of the Father apart from time and incorporeally, who in these
last days was, for your sake, made Son of Man, both of the Virgin Mary
in an indescribable and stainless way - for there is no stain where God
is and whence salvation comes - whom man at the same time God also" (St.
Gregory of Nazianz, Doctor of the Church, c. 381 A.D.)
"I consider that the blessing of a fuller sanctification descended
upon her, so as not only to sanctify her birth, but also to keep her
life pure from all sin; which gift is believed to have been bestowed
upon none other born of woman. This singular privilege of sanctity, to
lead her life without any sin, entirely benefited the queen of virgins,
who should bear the Destroyer of sin and death, who should obtain the
gift of life and righteousness for all." (St. Bernard)
"If any one does not, in accord with the Holy Fathers, acknowledge
the holy and ever-virgin and Immaculate Mary as truly the Mother of God,
inasmuch as she, in the fullness of time, and without seed, conceived by
the Holy Spirit God the Word Himself, who before all time was born
[begotten] of God the Father, and without loss of integrity brought him
forth, and after His birth preserved her virginity inviolate, let him be
condemned." (Pope St. Martin I, 649 A.D.)
"It was due to His own infinite sanctity that God should suspend, in
this instance, the law which His divine justice had passed upon all the
children of Adam. The relations which Mary was to bear to the Divinity,
could not be reconciled with her undergoing the humiliation of this
punishment [of being stained by original sin]. She was not only daughter
of the eternal Father; she was destined also to become the very Mother
of the Son, and the veritable bride of the Holy Ghost. Nothing defiled
could be permitted to enter, even for an instant of time, into the
creature that was thus predestined to contract such close relations with
the adorable Trinity: not a speck could be permitted to tarnish in Mary
that perfect purity which the infinitely holy God requires even in those
who are one day to be admitted to enjoy the sight of His divine majesty
in heaven" (Dom Gueranger)
"Having excepted the Holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, on account of
the honor of the Lord, I wish to have absolutely no question when
treating of sins - for how do we know what abundance of grace for the
total overcoming of sin was conferred upon her, who merited to conceive
and bear Him in whom there was no sin? - so, I say, with the exception
of the Virgin, if we could have gathered together all those holy men and
women, when they were living here, and had asked them whether they were
without sin, what do we suppose would have been their answer?... I ask
you, however excellent their holiness might have been when in the body,
if they had been so questioned, would they not have declared in a single
voice: 'If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us!'?" (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, c. 415 A.D.)
"If anyone desires a confirmation of this it may easily be found in
the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. For leaving aside
tradition which, as well as Scripture, is a source of truth, how has
this persuasion of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin appeared so
conformed to the Catholic mind and feeling that it has been held as
being one, and as it were inborn in the soul of the faithful? 'We shrink
from saying,' is the answer of Dionysius of Chartreux, 'of this woman
who was to crush the head of the serpent that had been crushed by him
and that Mother of God that she had ever been a daughter of the Evil
One' (Sent. d. 3, q. 1). No, to the Christian intelligence the idea is
unthinkable that the flesh of Christ, holy, stainless, innocent, was
formed in the womb of Mary of a flesh which had ever, if only for the
briefest moment, contracted any stain. And why so, but because an
infinite opposition separates God from sin? There certainly we have the
origin of the conviction common to all Christians that Jesus Christ
before, clothed in human nature, He cleansed us from our sins in His
blood, accorded Mary the grace and special privilege of being preserved
and exempted, from the first moment of her conception, from all stain of
original sin." (Pope St. Pius X, "Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum", 1904 A.D.)
"The Immaculate Conception does not imply that Mary needed no
Redemption. She needed it as much as you and I do. She was redeemed in
advance, by way of prevention, in both body and soul, in the first
instant of conception. We receive the fruits of redemption in our soul
at Baptism. The whole human race needs redemption. But Mary was
solidarized and separated from that sin-laden humanity as a result of
the merits of Our Lord's Cross being offered to her at the moment of her
conception. If we exempted her from the need of redemption, we would
also have to exempt her from membership in humanity. The Immaculate
Conception, therefore, in no way implies that she needed no redemption.
She did! Mary is the first effect of redemption, in the sense that it
was applied to her at the moment of her conception and to us in another
and diminished fashion only after our birth. She had this privilege, not
for her sake, but for His sake. That is why those who do not believe in
the Divinity of Christ can see no reason for the special privilege
accorded to Mary. If I did not believe in the Divinity of Our Lord -
which God avert - I should see nothing but nonsense in any special
reverence given to Mary above the other women on earth! But if she is
the Mother of God, Who became Man, then she is unique, and then she
stands out as the new Eve of Humanity - as He is the new Adam. There had
to be some such creature as Mary - otherwise God would have found no one
in whom He could fittingly have taken his human origin. An honest
politician seeking civic reforms looks about for honest assistants. The
Son of God beginning a new creation searched from some of that goodness
which existed before sin took over. There would have been, in some
minds, a doubt about the power of God if He had not shown a special
favor to the woman who was to be His Mother. Certainly what God gave to
Eve, He would not refuse to His Own Mother." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
- - -
For more apologetics resources, please visit
http://www.mycatholicsource.com/mcs/non-catholics.htm
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In Closing...
"Great indeed is Our trust in Mary. The resplendent glory of her
merits, far exceeding all the choirs of angels, elevates her to the very
steps of the throne of God. Her foot has crushed the head of Satan." (Bl.
Pope Pius IX, "Ubi Primum", 1849 A.D.)
"Just as Mary surpassed in grace all others on earth, so also in
heaven is her glory unique. If eye has not seen or ear heard or the
human heart conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him (1
Cor. 2:9), who can express what He has prepared for the woman who gave
Him birth and who loved Him, as everyone knows, more than anyone else?"
(St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church)
"[Mary] is by nature so good and so
merciful that inclined to aid spontaneously those who suffer, she is
absolutely incapable of refusing her help to those who invoke her."
(Pope Benedict XV)
"Ancient and modern history and the more
sacred annals of the Church bear witness to public and private
supplications addressed to the Mother of God, to the help she has
granted in return, and to the peace and tranquility which she had
obtained from God. Hence her illustrious titles of helper, consoler,
mighty in war, victorious, and peace-giver." (Pope Leo XIII, "Supremi
Apostolatus Officio", 1883 A.D.)
"Hail thou star of the ocean God's own
mother blest, Ever sinless Virgin, Gate of heavenly rest. Oh! By
Gabriel's Ave, Uttered long ago, Eva's name reversing 'Stablish peace
below. Break the captive's fetters, Light on blindness pour; All our
ills expelling, Every bliss implore. Show thyself a Mother; may the Word
divine, Born for us thine Infant, Hear our prayers through thine. Virgin
all excelling, Mildest of the mild; Freed from guilt preserve us meek
and undefiled. Keep our life all spotless, Make our way secure, Till we
find in Jesus, Joy for evermore. Through the highest Heaven to the
almighty Three, Father, Son and Spirit One same glory be. Amen." (Latin:
Ave maris stella, Dei Mater alma, Atque semper Virgo, Felix caeli porta.
Sumens illud Ave Gabrielis ore, Funda nos in pace Mutans Hevae nomen.
Solve vincla reis, Profer lumen caecis, Mala nostra pelle, Bona cuncta
posce. Monstra te esse matrem, Sumat per te preces Qui pro nobis natus
Tulit esse tuus. Virgo singularis, Inter omnes mitis, Nos culpis
solutos, Mites fac et castos. Vitam praesta puram, Iter para tutum, Ut
videntes Iesum Semper collaetemur. Sit laus Deo Patri, Summo Christo
decus, Spiritui Sancto Tribus honor unus. Amen.) [Ave Maris Stella]
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