DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR AUGUST 2009

+In this month of The Assumption of Our Lady, let us contemplate Her role in our Redemption+

Thou art all beautiful, Mary, and in thee is no stain. The Mother of God is a creature like ourselves, and like all other creatures she depends absolutely upon her Creator; but she, alone of all creatures, is without sin, for in all creation she stands alone as having, by the power of the Holy Ghost, communicated her flesh and blood to Him, Who when He became incarnate upon the earth still remained “separate from sinners” and elevated above all the heavens. Every Christian is called upon, as Saint Paul writes, to be a fellow worker with Christ. Every Christian, in this sense, co-operates with Christ in the work of the Redemption; but our Lady does so in a far higher, closer, deeper sense than any other of the members of His body, in virtue of that intimate union with Him and with His redeeming work. The Fathers of the Church assure us that our Lady conceived Christ in her heart by faith before she conceived Him actually in her womb. The Holy Virgin was even more closely united to her Son by grace than by nature, in order to fit her, so far as might be possible in a creature, for her sublime office. Her dignity as Mother of God, her intimate union with the Saviour of the world in His work of Redemption, should be regarded together. For her dignity and for her office she was prepared both spiritually and physically, in her soul and in her body. Christ alone redeemed us, yet he deigned to associate His Mother with his work of Redemption. Mary is the cause of our salvation, even as Eve was the cause of our ruin.  [Dr. George D. Smith in “The Teaching of the Catholic Church” 1948]
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Bishop Anthony writes: I remember a wise Greek Orthodox priest once saying at a Marian Festival at Saint Silas, Kentish Town, that when we eat the Body of Jesus in Holy Communion, we also receive the body of Mary. Our Lady, of course, does not give us her body and blood as spiritual nourishment! But she did give, by God’s Will and her own consent, her body and blood to house, to nourish and to sustain her Son, Who is GOD, our Living Redeemer! This is Mary’s role in our Redemption and this is why her pure and sinless body could not undergo the corruption of the grave but was taken body and soul into heavenly glory at the moment of her death. The Church teaches that when Christ spoke those seven utterances from the Cross, he was speaking as Redeemer of the world and not just because of the terrible agony of that moment. So His pardoning of Dysmas, the Good Thief, was pardon for us too; and his giving of Mary and Saint John to each other (“Woman, behold thy son” and to the disciple he specially loved: “Behold thy Mother) was when Christ gave us His own mother to be our mother also. Cardinal Newman once said that “The glories of Mary are for the sake of her Son” and we know that every praise we offer to Mary is returned immediately by her to Jesus. God willed from eternal ages that Mary should be the Mother of His Son and assist in our Redemption. As Christ is our brother, so she is our Mother and will aid us through our mortal life and assist us one day as we tremble before her Son when He stands in the role of our Judge.

Let us pray: Almighty, Everlasting God, Who didst assume the immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Thy Son, body and soul to the glory of heaven: grant, we beseech Thee, that being intent on things above, we may be worthy to be partakers of her glory. Through the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ. Amen
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And a Passing Thought
What a wondrous book is the Heart of Mary! Blessed are those who read with understanding what is written therein, for they will learn the science of Salvation.  [Saint John Eudes]
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BLESSED BE THE GLORIOUS ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY MARY!
BLESSED AND PRAISED BE THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN UNTO AGES OF AGES!
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, MOTHER AND MISTRESS, O BE OUR SALVATION!
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A great wonder appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.  [The Revelation of Saint John, Chapter 12]