Enough said. It is no wonder that the church sees Joseph as the universal patron of the church.
Continue readingTag Archives: Blessed Virgin Mary
Our yesses proclaim God’s greatness, give him praise
And for all of the love that Mary receives from the church — and she receives an awful lot of love — me thinks that her own desire is most of all that we grow in our love for her Son.
Continue readingDo we, like Mary’s ‘fiat!’, say yes to God’s grace and blessings?
For after all, Paul tells us quite clearly that we, too, have been filled with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.
Continue readingAt first sight, Zacchaeus truly saw! Do we see?
Was Jesus really that good at seeing goodness, at seeing what nobody else could see?
Continue readingLike Mary, we are called
+ We are moving through narrative sections of the scriptures, and they do not present us with a lot of teaching through parables and other storytelling devices.
However, today is a most interesting passage from the very first verses of Matthew’s Gospel — the famous Genealogy of Jesus.
Also interestingly, for whatever reason, those who put together the scriptures that would be used in liturgy chose to leave out Verse 17 which actually is said to be largely artificial composition, arranging three sets of 14 generations — 42 in all.
It begins with Abraham and interestingly includes good and not so good peeps.
It also includes five women, which was a rarity.
And even rarer was that among those five women were prostitutes and gentiles.
Of course, Mary is also noted. All of this makes up the line of ancestors — the Davidic line — from which Jesus was born.
He, Emmanuel (God is with us), entered into humanity through the Virgin Mary.
The feast day is a big one in both the Eastern and Western churches, but more so in the East where it is a solemnity.
It falls on Sept. 8 (also artificially rather than historically) because Sept. 8 comes exactly nine months after the celebration of the Immaculate Conception, just as the Annunciation precedes the birth of Jesus by nine months (celebrated on March 25).
The thorough artificial listing of names is to root Jesus historically in time and to really show his human nature attached to people both good and not so good — family.
That’s the way it was, and that’s the way it is.
There is a choice for the first reading.
The Micah passage sets us up for the Davidic line that would be traced back to a tiny and insignificant place, and from this clan of insignificance would come a mighty ruler — the prediction of the messiah realized in our Gospel passage.
The other choice of readings from Paul’s letter to the Romans speaks of how we are called by God just as Mary herself was called: “and those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
Really, like Mary, we are CALLED.
And when we realize that deep within we are also invited to be “conformed to the image of his Son.”
Continue readingMuch is thrown up to our ceiling and against our wall
We rejoice in his complete openness through marital and parental near-catastrophes and rejoice in Joseph’s faithful response to God.
Continue readingShe is us
We esteem and honor Mary for the singular privilege given to her by the call to bring God in the person of Jesus into the world in the Feast of the Incarnation — Christmas!
Continue readingMother of healing and hope
Especially in this moment, we need to take to heart those words of healing and hope that she spoke to St. Juan Diego: “Do not fear any sickness or suffering. Am I not here, I who am your Mother? Are you not in my shadow, under my protection? Am I not your health?”
Continue readingThe rosary is a prayer of the heart
In the rhythms and repetitions of the rosary, we enter into a space of silence in which we open our hearts in the presence of God.
Continue readingTo bring the joy of Jesus
Let us say, “All for you, Mary,” as we try to bring the joy of Jesus into everything we do.
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