Mary, Mother of God, Save our children with the flame of Love of Thy Immaculate Heart~to be said over and over again.

This week: Sunday the 9th: Grandparents Day; Tuesday the 11th: Patriot’s Day; Wednesday the 12th: The Most Holy Name of the Virgin Mary; Thursday the 13th; Rosh Hashanah 5768; Friday the 14th The Exaltation of the Cross; Saturday the 15th Our Lady of Sorrows.

I am a grandmother. I wish to tell you what happened to me last Sunday at Mass. The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

I arrived at church early so that I could say my Rosary. The church was fairly empty. A few of we elderly were already seated and praying

Five minutes before Mass the church filled up quickly; and by the time the priest came down the isle; the church was filled to capacity. Except for the pew directly in front of me.

A family of 6 came into that pew with a clatter and a screech!

THE FOUR BOYS RANGING FROM BABY TO 9 YEARS OF AGE COULD NOT SIT STILL OR CONTAIN THEIR URGE TO BELLOW, GROWL, HOLLER, AND SHOUT! They did that throughout the entire Mass.

I know that today’s definition of that kind of behavior is called and labeled Attention Deficit Disorder. But, I know it was something other. The three year old howled during choir singing and the entrance song louder than a grown man. ‘YOR, YOR, YOR, YOR,YOOOOOOR! The Baby kept reaching out for it’s siblings to pinch and scowl and growl at them at the same time…trying to put out its mother’s eyes; the other two older boys were very quiet and extremely passive to this demonstration. Sometimes giggling in embarrassment. Mom and Dad were very busy trying to give the children love, quiet admonition, patience and good example.

At one point during Transubstantiation, I reached across the pew to stop baby from falling into the aisle he was trying to get to. The father had just left with the three year old to give peace to the people around.

Baby had to hang onto the back of my front pew where I was kneeling; he could not walk without holding on. We came face to face.

The child had beautiful red hair and pristine blue eyes. He growled at me and lowered his little baby face ; his blue eyes turned dark and full of rage as he pulled them back into his little head. He lowered his head further down to his chin; and kept reinforcing his stance…I was looking at something I had never seen before. I reached over to him and put my hand on him and said: “You are a beautiful little boy, do nice’; His mother reached out to hold him steady and he clung to her. This time he didn’t try to bite her mouth. He lifted his head and became a child and reached out to give me five…he did that 11 times and threw me a kiss. We went up to receive the Eucharist and when it was time to go I did “bye bye” and so did he. Much more had transpired during mass with the father; and the mother, and their children; and I must add the celebrant, the altar boy and the entire congregation. All were mesmerized with the little children that had managed to disrupt the entire mass for all who were there! I believe that those that were seated close around us were in shock.

What do I think? “We need to pray to Heaven to save our children from the evil one.! “

Mary, Mother of Sorrow, save our children from the wicked snares of the devil. Cast out the evil one , throw Thy mantle across the families of America and of the whole world! Petition Thy beloved Son in His Holy and Merciful Justice to forgive our sinfulness, heal our brokenness and to make us one with Him in the Holy Spirit and in the Glory of God the Father. Amen.

I also advise families to ask the pastors of their churches to provide Holy Water and Fonts so that families may bless themselves upon going out into the world; and upon entering their homes going back in from the world.

Am I an old prude? I don’t think so. I have five children of my own…all within 11 to 13 months apart. I had ten pregnancies. I so love children .I offer up to the Divine Will of the Creator, the innocence of the little ones in reparation for the sins of their parents. I wish to glorify Him by offering the beauty of his little creatures to Him always and forever to thank Him for the gift of their life and innocence. We must all enter into His kingdom as children…are we not? Pray…pray….pray. Use the rosary as your weapon of holiness. Arm yourselves with prayer.

Wear His Cross; say the rosary of Our Lady of Sorrows; Call out Our Mother’s Name…Mary, Mother of God, your children need you. From Adela Maria, BSP

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Feast DaySeptember 14th

Holy Cross - San Clemente, Rome
(Detail of Apse mosaic, 12th Century)

Adoramus te, christe, et benedicimus tibi,
quia per crucem tuam redemisti mundum.
We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee,
for by thy cross thou hast redeemed the world.
+ + +
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life.

- John 3:16 (Douay)
Introduction | Prayer, Scripture | Suggestions for Family Celebration
________________________________________

On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (or Triumph of the Cross) we honor the Holy Cross by which Christ redeemed the world. The public veneration of the Cross of Christ originated in the fourth century, according to early accounts, beginning with the miraculous discovery of the cross on September 14, 326, by Saint Helen, mother of Constantine, while she was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem — the same day that two churches built at the site of Calvary by Constantine were dedicated.
The observance of the Feast of the Exaltation (probably from a Greek word meaning “bringing to light”) of the Cross has been celebrated by Christians on September 14 ever since. In the Western Church, the feast came into prominence in the seventh century, apparently inspired by the recovery of a portion of the Cross, said to have been taken from Jerusalem the Persians, by the Roman emperor Heraclius in 629.
Christians “exalt” the Cross of Christ as the instrument of our salvation. Adoration of the Cross is, thus, adoration of Jesus Christ, the God Man, who suffered and died on this Roman instrument of torture for our redemption from sin and death. The cross represents the One Sacrifice by which Jesus, obedient even unto death, accomplished our salvation. The cross is a symbolic summary of the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ — all in one image.
The Cross — because of what it represents — is the most potent and universal symbol of the Christian faith. It has inspired both liturgical and private devotions: for example, the Sign of the Cross, which is an invocation of the Holy Trinity; the “little” Sign of the Cross on head, lips and heart at the reading of the Gospel; praying the Stations (or Way) of the Cross; and the Veneration of the Cross by the faithful on Good Friday by kissing the feet of the image of Our Savior crucified.
Placing a crucifix (the cross with an image of Christ’s body upon it) in churches and homes, in classrooms of Catholic schools and in other Catholic institutions, or wearing this image on our persons, is a constant reminder — and witness — of Christ’s ultimate triumph, His victory over sin and death through His suffering and dying on the Cross.
We remember Our Lord’s words, “He who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake shall find it.” (Mt 10:38,39). Meditating on these words we unite ourselves — our souls and bodies — with His obedience and His sacrifice; and we rejoice in this inestimable gift through which we have the hope of salvation and the glory.
Dying, you destroyed our death; rising you restored our life.
Save us by your cross, Christ our Redeemer.
(Antiphon for Afternoon prayer)

Prayer, Scripture

Collect:
God our Father,
in obedience to you your only Son accepted death on the Cross for the salvation of mankind.
We acknowledge the mystery of the Cross on earth. May we receive the gift of redemption in heaven.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
-
First Reading: Numbers 21: 4b-9
The people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
Second Reading:Philippians 2:6-11
Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Gospel Reading:John 3:13-17
No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
+ + +

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
He who believes in Him is not condemned; He who does not believe is condemned already, because He has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
— John 3:16-18
+ + +
In [God ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. For He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things to Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
— Ephesians 1:7-8
+ + +
Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likenes of men. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
— Philippians 2:5-11
+ + +
You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. Through Him you have confidence in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
— I Peter:18,19,21
(Scripture passages from the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition)
+ + +
Jesus dies upon the Cross
Meditation on the Twelfth Station by John Henry Cardinal Newman
“Consummatum est.” It is completed — it has come to a full end. The mystery of God’s love toward us is acomplished. The price is paid, and we are redeemed. The Eternal Father determined not to pardon us without a price, in order to show us especial favor. He condescended to make us valuable to Him. What we buy we put a value on. He might have saved us without a price — by the mere fiat of His will. But to show His love for us He took a price, which, if there was to be a price set upon us at all, if there was any ransom at all to be taken for the guilt of our sins, could be nothing short of the death of His Son in our nature. O my God and Father, Thou hast valued us so much as to pay the highest of all possible prices for our sinful souls — and shall we not love and choose Thee above all things as the one necessary and one only good?

Suggestions for family activities

If possible attend Mass together. Consider taking your family to a church that has especially fine Stations of the Cross. Look at the images and explain their meaning. At each Station pray, “We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee, for by thy Cross thou hast redeemed the world”. At the end, have the children kneel before the Blessed Sacrament and say a Hail Mary, an Our Father, and a Glory be.
Make the evening meal today more festive than ordinary — light candles on the table or use the good dishes.
Read one or more of the prayers or scripture readings for the day before the evening meal. Older children could take turns doing the readings.
Begin teaching even the very youngest members of the family to make the Sign of the Cross at the end of the mealtime prayers. (Older brothers and sisters usually will be very glad to help the baby with this.)
Explain to children the meaning of the Sign of the Cross that we make before meals, and point out how this action is intended to unite every one of us with Jesus’ sacrifice for us — His crucifixion and His resurrection from the dead.
Make a point of mentioning how great is God’s loves for us. Encourage children to memorize John 3:16. This is a key verse about the triumph of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross, and encourages children to revere and respect God’s word in the Bible. Give a small reward or privilege to each child who memorizes the verse. Have them recite it for you when they say their bedtime prayers.
Two suggestions:

— Have grade-school-age children write the verse in their fanciest writing and illustrate it with a drawing of Jesus on the Cross. Even little people think a lot when they are drawing something. Maybe you could set a crucifix on the table for them to look at when they draw it. (Don’t forget to display the results on the refrigerator — or maybe send it to grandma.)

— Frost a sheet cake with white icing, and make a large Cross on the cake with red icing, and pipe “John 3:16″ on the Cross. Let the children help decorate the cake further by sprinkling it with silver dragees or colored sprinkles.
If there are crucifixes in the children’s rooms, make sure to call attention to it at bedtime prayers. If not, today would be a very good time to get them.

From: Women for Faith and Family

Madonna by Carlo Dolci from EWTN

Encyclical of Pope Pius X on the Immaculate Conception, 2 February 1904.
Mary, Mother of God and Men: sections 10-14

For is not Mary the Mother of Christ? Then she is our Mother also. And we must in truth hold that Christ, the Word made Flesh, is also the Savior of mankind. He had a physical body like that of any other man: and again as Savior of the human family, he had a spiritual and mystical body, the society, namely, of those who believe in Christ. “We are many, but one sole body in Christ” (Rom. xii., 5). Now the Blessed Virgin did not conceive the Eternal Son of God merely in order that He might be made man taking His human nature from her, but also in order that by means of the nature assumed from her He might be the Redeemer of men. For which reason the Angel said to the Shepherds: “To-day there is born to you a Savior who is Christ the Lord” (Luke ii., 11).

Wherefore in the same holy bosom of his most chaste Mother Christ took to Himself flesh, and united to Himself the spiritual body formed by those who were to believe in Him. Hence Mary, carrying the Savior within her, may be said to have also carried all those whose life was contained in the life of the Savior. Therefore all we who are united to Christ, and as the Apostle says are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones (Ephes. v., 30), have issued from the womb of Mary like a body united to its head. Hence, though in a spiritual and mystical fashion, we are all children of Mary, and she is Mother of us all. Mother, spiritually indeed, but truly Mother of the members of Christ, who are we (S. Aug., L. de S. Virginitate, c. 6).

If then the most Blessed Virgin is the Mother at once of God and men, who can doubt that she will work with all diligence to procure that Christ, Head of the Body of the Church (Coloss. i., 18), may transfuse His gifts into us, His members, and above all that of knowing Him and living through Him (I John iv., 9)?

Moreover it was not only the prerogative of the Most Holy Mother to have furnished the material of His flesh to the Only Son of God, Who was to be born with human members (S. Bede Ven., L. iv. in Luc. xl.), of which material should be prepared the Victim for the salvation of men; but hers was also the office of tending and nourishing that Victim, and at the appointed time presenting Him for the sacrifice. Hence that uninterrupted community of life and labors of the Son and the Mother, so that of both might have been uttered the words of the Psalmist, “My life is consumed in sorrow and my years in groans” (Ps xxx., 11).

When the supreme hour of the Son came, beside the Cross of Jesus there stood Mary His Mother, not merely occupied in contemplating the cruel spectacle, but rejoicing that her Only Son was offered for the salvation of mankind, and so entirely participating in His Passion, that if it had been possible she would have gladly borne all the torments that her Son bore (S. Bonav., 1. Sent d. 48, ad Litt. dub. 4). And from this community of will and suffering between Christ and Mary she merited to become most worthily the Reparatrix of the lost world (Eadmeri Mon., De Excellentia Virg. Mariae, c. 9) and Dispensatrix of all the gifts that Our Savior purchased for us by His Death and by His Blood.
It cannot, of course, be denied that the dispensation of these treasures is the particular and peculiar right of Jesus Christ, for they are the exclusive fruit of His Death, who by His nature is the mediator between God and man. Nevertheless, by this companionship in sorrow and suffering already mentioned between the Mother and the Son, it has been allowed to the august Virgin to be the most powerful mediatrix and advocate of the whole world with her Divine Son (Pius IX, Ineffabilis).

The source, then, is Jesus Christ “of whose fullness we have all received” (John i., 16), “from whom the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined together by what every joint supplieth, according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in charity” (Ephesians iv., 16). But Mary, as St. Bernard justly remarks, is the channel (Serm. de temp on the Nativ. B. V. De Aquaeductu n. 4); or, if you will, the connecting portion the function of which is to join the body to the head and to transmit to the body the influences and volitions of the head–We mean the neck. Yes, says St. Bernardine of Sienna, “she is the neck of Our Head, by which He communicates to His mystical body all spiritual gifts” (Quadrag. de Evangel. aetern. Serm. x., a. 3, c. iii.).
We are then, it will be seen, very far from attributing to the Mother of God a productive power of grace–a power which belongs to God alone. Yet, since Mary carries it over all in holiness and union with Jesus Christ, and has been associated by Jesus Christ in the work of redemption, she merits for us de congruo, in the language of theologians, what Jesus Christ merits for us de condigno, and she is the supreme Minister of the distribution of graces. Jesus “sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high” (Hebrews i. 3.). Mary sitteth at the right hand of her Son–a refuge so secure and a help so trusty against all dangers that we have nothing to fear or to despair of under her guidance, her patronage, her protection. (Pius IX, in Bull Ineffabilis).
[
De congruo: It is in some way fitting that Mary’s action be rewarded by the redemption of mankind, but this gift of redemption surpasses the worth of her action; De condigno: Christ’s action is by itself worthy to be rewarded by the redemption of all men, and in fact far surpasses what was necessary to accomplish that redemption with complete justice.]

________________________________________

Our Sorrowful Mother: Miraculous Image

This picture, somewhat mysterious in its origin, was discovered at the time of the 1918 armistice in the cellar of the boarding school where Berthe Petit, a humble Franciscan Tertiary, had been educated. After the troops had departed one of the Bernardine nuns in putting things in order found a piece of cardboard on which was pasted a pornographic picture and she tore it off to consign it to flames. To her astonishment she found that it covered this beautiful representation of the Blessed Virgin! It seems to combine the art of both the Eastern and the Western Rites. The facial features resemble those of the well known Pieta. Prayer before this picture has brought signal favors.
Confided by Our Lord to Berthe Petit: “Teach souls to love the Heart of My Mother pierced by the very sorrow which pierced Mine.” [Dec. 25, 1909]

In Belgium of 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War a special baby girl was born, who was later to become a mystic. She was named Berthe Maria. Before she received any visions from Our Lord, she had received the invisible stigmata: in her humility she had begged that the marks not be made visible. The wounds were very painful for her, especially on Good Friday and other Fridays. She experienced the pains in her hands and feet and side. The worst pain of all was caused by the torment to her head which was like the pain of thorns pressing into her. This pain was so great and constant she slept but rarely.
It was not until she was 39 years old that the indication of her actual mission was made manifest: During Midnight Christmas Mass she saw the wounded Heart of Jesus and close by was the pierced Heart of His Mother. Then she heard these words:
“Cause My Mother’s Heart, transfixed by sorrows that rent Mine, to be loved.”
“The Heart of My Mother has the right to be called Sorrowful and I wish this title placed before that of Immaculate because she has won it herself. The Church has defined in the case of My Mother what I myself had ordained —- Her Immaculate Conception. This right which My Mother has to a title of justice, is now, according to My express wish, to be known and universally accepted. She has earned it by her identification with My sorrows; by her sufferings; by her sacrifices and her immolation in Calvary endured in perfect correspondence with My grace for the salvation of mankind . . . ” [Sept. 8, 1911]

“It is hearts that must be changed. This will be accomplished only by the Devotion proclaimed, explained, preached and recommended everywhere. Recourse to My Mother under this title I wish for her universally, is the last help I shall give before the end of time.” [July 2, 1940]

By Ven. Martin von Cochem
PRAYER BEFORE A PICTURE OF OUR SORROWFUL MOTHER

O most loving Mother of my Lord Jesus Christ, thou who dost never reject nor despise anyone who turns to thee with a contrite heart nor refuse to console the afflicted, behold, poor and sinful, I draw near to thy holy image with deep devotion, and beseech thee to obtain for me the grace to honor and love thee with all my strength.
O merciful Heart of Mary, let me obtain mercy from thee as so many sinners already have obtained it; for what is thy Heart, O Mary, but a Heart of mercy? How is it possible, then, that grace could be refused to anyone who implores it from this seat of mercy?
Most tender and compassionate Mother, thou knowest how much an afflicted heart is in want of compassion, because the intensity of thy sufferings was so great that all mankind together would have been incapable of supporting it.
Oh, what unutterable bitterness filled thy soul when thou didst contemplate the disfigured form of thy beloved Son, when thou didst receive His mangled and lifeless Body into thy virginal arms, and pressing It tenderly to thy maternal heart, didst embrace It countless times, didst bedew It with a stream of burning tears, and finally didst rest thy agonizing heart on the wounded brow of thy Jesus!
I recall to thy mind this thy inexpressible anguish, and beseech thee to obtain for me the pardon of my sins. O Mary, intercede for me with Jesus, whom thou didst bear in thy arms! O Jesus! O Mary! by your unutterable suffering, have pity on me, a miserable sinner. O dearest Jesus, show to Thy Heavenly Father all the wounds and anguish which Thou didst bear for me! O sweetest Virgin, show Him all the tears which thou didst shed for me! O Son! O Mother! show Him all the agony, all the anguish of heart which you endured for me.
O Mary , I beseech thee, through this most painful mystery of thy dolors, obtain mercy for me from God the Father, and taking the mangled and dead Body of thy beloved Son into thy maternal arms, offer Him to the Eternal Father in the same manner as thou didst once offer Him His pierced Side and thy own broken Heart, His bitter sufferings and thy painful compassion, His and thy burning tears, His and thy sighs, in a word, everything which Jesus and thou suffered upon earth, that, through these same sufferings, thou mayest obtain mercy and pardon for me.

http://www.catholictradition.org/Two-Hearts/sorrowful-mother.htm