A Monk shares his story
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Beloved Young People and Dear Friends in Christ,
Today the Church finds herself, with Mary, on the threshold of the house of Zechariah in Ain–Karim. With new life stirring within her, the Virgin of Nazareth hastened there, immediately after the Fiat of the Annunciation, to be of help to her cousin Elizabeth.
It was Elizabeth who first recognized the “great things” which God was doing in Mary. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth marvelled that the mother of her Lord should come to her (Cfr. Luc 1,43). With deep insight into the mystery, she declared: “Blest is she who believed that the Lord’s words to her would be fulfilled” ( Luc 1,45). With her soul full of humble gratitude to God, Mary replied with a hymn of praise: ” God who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name” ( Luc 1,49).
On this Feast the Church celebrates the culmination of the “great things” which God has done in Mary: her glorious Assumption into Heaven. And throughout the Church the same hymn of thanksgiving, the “Magnificat”, rings out as it did for the first time at Ain–Karim: All generations call you blessed (Cfr. Luc 1,48).
The Liturgy presents you, Mary, as the Woman clothed with the sun (Cfr. Apoc 12,1). But you are even more splendidly clothed with that Divine Light which can become the Life of all those created in the image and likeness of God himself: “this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (Io 1,4-5).
O woman clothed with the sun, the youth of the world greet you with so much love … Your spirit rejoices, O Mary, and our spirit rejoices with you because the Mighty One has done great things for you and for us, – for all these young people gathered here in Denver, for all of us, for all the young people of the world, for all the young people, this generation, the future generation. The Mighty One has done great things for you, Mary, and for us. For you and for us, for us with you. The Mighty One – and holy is his name!
His mercy is from age to age.
From a Homily of Pope Saint John Paul II
.
Almighty, ever-living God,
you have taken the mother of your Son,
the immaculate Virgin Mary,
body and soul into the glory where you dwell.
Keep our hearts set on heaven
so that, with her, we may share in your glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,(one) God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
St Maximilian Kolbe
“No one in the world can change Truth.
What we can do and and should do is to seek truth
and to serve it when we have found it”
“The Immaculate will conquer, through us, the whole world and every single soul.”
“But grace, for ourselves and for others, is obtained by humble prayer, by mortification, and by fidelity in the accomplishment of our own ordinary duties, including the simplest ones.”
“For Jesus Christ I am prepared to suffer still more.”
St Maximilian Kolbe
Blessed McGivney
Holy Day on Thursday
St Clare of Assisi
Love Him totally, who gave Himself totally for you
Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! And transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation.
Our labor here is brief, but the reward is eternal. Do not be disturbed by the clamor of the world, which passes like a shadow. Do not let false delights of a deceptive world deceive you.
Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God’s compassionate love for others.
Saint Clare
Olympic Champion wins Gold
Saint Edith Stein
For by doing what God demands of us with total surrender of our innermost being, we cause the divine life to become our own inner life. Entering into ourselves, we find God in our own selves.
God Himself teaches us to go forward with our hand in His
by means of the Church’s liturgy.
“On the question of relating to our fellowman — our neighbor’s spiritual need transcends every commandment. Everything else we do is a means to an end. But love is an end already, since God is love.”
St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Saint Dominic
on Mount Tabor
A Heavenly Mystery Revealed
Upon Mount Tabor, Jesus revealed to his disciples a heavenly mystery. While living among them he had spoken of the kingdom and of his second coming in glory, but to banish from their hearts any possible doubt concerning the kingdom and to confirm their faith in what lay in the future by its prefiguration in the present, he gave them on Mount Tabor a wonderful vision of his glory, a foreshadowing of the kingdom of heaven.
These are the divine wonders we celebrate today; this is the saving revelation given us upon the mountain; this is the festival of Christ that has drawn us here. Let us listen, then, to the sacred voice of God so compellingly calling us from on high, from the summit of the mountain, so that with the Lord’s chosen disciples we may penetrate the deep meaning of these holy mysteries, so far beyond our capacity to express. Jesus goes before us to show us the way, both up the mountain and into heaven, and – I speak boldly – it is for us now to follow him with all speed, yearning for the heavenly vision that will give us a share in his radiance, renew our spiritual nature and transform us into his own likeness, making us for ever sharers in his Godhead and raising us to heights as yet undreamed of.
Let us run with confidence and joy to enter into the cloud like Moses and Elijah, or like James and John. Let us be caught up like Peter to behold the divine vision and to be transfigured by that glorious transfiguration. Let us retire from the world, stand aloof from the earth, rise above the body, detach ourselves from creatures and turn to the creator, to whom Peter in ecstasy exclaimed: Lord, it is good for us to be here.
Therefore, since each of us possesses God in his heart and is being transformed into his divine image, we also should cry out with joy: It is good for us to be here – here where all things shine with divine radiance, where there is joy and gladness and exultation; where there is nothing in our hearts but peace, serenity and stillness; where God is seen.