DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR FEBRUARY 2012
+
A further Marian Meditation in this month of Our Lady of Victories
+
The Pope [St. Celestine] summoned a General Council (the third ecumenical) to meet at Ephesus. It solemnly defined the truth that the title “Theotokos” should be given to our Lady, since, through the operation of the Holy Ghost, she had conceived and given birth to God when He assumed human nature in her virginal womb. The decree of Ephesus was confirmed by Pope Sixtus III, successor of St. Celestine. Thus was the Divine Motherhood of Mary, the safeguard of the belief in the unity of the Person of God made man, upon which the whole superstructure of our Religion depends, asserted for all time by the supreme authority of the Apostolic See and of the assembled bishops of Catholic Christendom. Our Lord glories in being the Son of Mary. This is the title He gives to Himself: “The Son of Man.” Not only is our Blessed Lady the Mother of God. She is the Virgin Mother of God. This union of virginity with motherhood is the crown of Mary's dignity. But she does not glory in herself, rather only in Him to Whom she has given birth. She glories in the Lord Who has made Himself her Son, and Who, having prepared a singular glory for His Mother in Heaven, willed also to endow her on earth with a singular grace whereby, in an ineffable manner, she might conceive and bring forth without prejudice to her virginity. For the only nativity worthy of God was that which made Him Son of the Virgin, as the only motherhood worthy of the Virgin was that which made her Mother of God. The Angel Gabriel was sent to a Virgin: that is, to one who was a virgin in body, a virgin in mind, a virgin who had sealed her virginity by a vow – to a virgin not newly discovered to be such, nor discovered by chance, but chosen from eternity, foreknown and prepared by the Most High for Himself, guarded by angels, canonised from afar by the prophets.
(“Mary, Mother of God” by Revd. O. R. Vassall-Phillips)
+
Bishop Anthony writes:
Mary was chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of our Redeemer – the Mother of God, no less. This is why The Church has declared that Mary was conceived immaculate in the womb of St. Anne, her mother. As Father Vassall-Phillips says, Mary was prepared by the Most High for Himself: to carry Him in her womb. The priest, when donning his stole before Mass, prays: “By the sin of our first parent we lost Thy friendship....” but, above all, humankind lost the sanctifying grace which God had given as a free gift. It was only the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary that would reconcile God with His creation. Mary alone was without original sin because she was chosen by God to help in the undoing of the rift between God and man. Gabriel hailed her as already Full of Grace. This divine Grace came to Mary with life itself. The Council of Trent further teaches us that Mary was not only free of original sin, through God's grace, but also free from even the smallest actual sin. Above all things, Mary's sinlessness is the direct consequence of her Divine Motherhood: that is to say, she was prepared from all eternity to be the Holy Mother of God. St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that our Lord was “holy, innocent, undefiled...” Christ is the All Holy God. How, then, could Mary not be without sin (Immaculate), for she brought God into the world and enjoyed an intimate relationship with Him throughout His entire earthly life, as she does still as Queen of Heaven.
+++
Let us pray:
O God, Who by the virgin child-bearing of blessed Mary hast bestowed upon mankind the rewards of eternal salvation: grant, we beseech Thee, that we may perceive her intercession for us, through whom we have been made worthy to receive the author of life, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost. World without end. Amen.
+
And a Passing Thought
Death is not the way out – it is the way in
(An old Scottish maxim)
+++
VOUCHSAFE THAT WE MIGHT EVER PRAISE THEE, O SACRED VIRGIN MARY!
MOTHER OF GOD! GRANT US STRENGTH AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF HOLY CHURCH!
IMMACULATE MARY! OUR LADY OF VICTORIES, OUR QUEEN, O BE OUR SALVATION!
+
Gracious Mother of our Redeemer, for ever abiding, Heaven's gateway and Star of ocean: O succour the people who, though falling, strive to rise again. Thou Maiden who bearest thy holy Creator, to the wonder of all nature; Ever Virgin, after, as before thou receivedst that Ave from the mouth of Gabriel: Have compassion upon us sinners, O Immaculate Lady!
+
