The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin

"'All generations will call me blessed': The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship. The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored  with the title of 'Mother f God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs...This very special devotion...differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the Incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration. The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary ' (CCC # 9710).

Mary was necessary to God in the Incarnation of the Word

Words to ponder on the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord:

It was through Mary that God the Father gave His Only-begotten to the world. Whatever sighs the patriarchs may have sent forth, whatever prayers the prophets and the saints of the Old Law may have offered up to obtain this treasure for full four thousand years, it was only Mary who merited it and found grace before God (Luke 1:30) by the force of her prayers and the eminence of her virtues. The world was unworthy, says St. Augustine, to receive the Son of God directly from the Father's hands. He gave Him to Mary in order that the world might receive Him through her.

The Son of God became God for our salvation; but it was in Mary and by Mary. God the Holy Ghost formed Jesus Christ in Mary; but it was only after having asked her consent by one of the first ministers of His court. 

God the Father communicated to Mary His fruitfulness, inasmuch as a mere creature was capable of it, in order that He might give her the power to produce His Son and all the members of His Mystical Body.

God the Son descended into her virginal womb as the new Adam into His terrestrial paradise, to take His pleasure there, and to work in secret marvels of grace. 

God made man found His liberty in seeing Himself imprisoned in her womb. He made His omnipotence shine forth in letting Himself be carried by that humble maiden. He found His glory and His Father's in hiding Hs splendors from all creatures here below, and revealing them to Mary only. He glorified His independence and His majesty in depending on that sweet Virgin in His conception, in His birth, in His presentation in the temple, in His hidden life for thirty years, and even in His death, where she was to be present in order that He might make with her but one same sacrifice and be immolated to the Eternal Father by her consent, just as Isaac of old was offered by Abraham's consent to the will of God. It is she who nourished Him, supported Him, brought Him up and then sacrificed Him for us.

~St. Louis De Montfort, True Devotion to Mary 

Moved to a filial love of Mary...

"Let the faithful remember that true devotion consists neither in sterile or transitory affection, nor in a certain vain credulity, but proceeds from true faith, by which we are led to know the excellence of the mother of God, and are moved to a filial love towards our mother and the imitation of her virtues."~from The Constitution on the Church of Vatican Council II

Through Mary's intercession...

"Mary is the mediatrix of grace...whatever graces we receive, they come to us through her intercession."~St. Alphonsus Liguori

She mothered Jesus and really wants to mother us too!

"A faithful mother learns to call upon the Blessed Mother often. She mothered Jesus and really wants to mother us too! She was human like us and although she was the mother of Jesus, she also needed to be faithful with her prayer life. She experienced the joys and sorrows of motherhood like any other mother, so she knows about prayer and about the care of the family. She can teach us to find a balance between the two to bring us peace in our vocation. Mary can bring us closer to her Son, Jesus. Let's ask her!"~Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

From Grace Cafe: Serving Up Recipes for Faithful Mothering by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle

A sign of mercy and tenderness...

"The face of Christ's Mother will continue to be a sign of God's mercy and tenderness for humanity."~Bl. Pope John Paul II

The charity of the Virgin

"There is no one who prays that does not receive graces through the charity of the Virgin"~St. Bridget of Sweden

Her purpose it to unite us to Jesus

"The Blessed Virgin is the means used by Christ to come to us; and she is also the means we must use to go to Him...Her master purpose is to unite us with Jesus Christ her Son,"~St. Louis De Montfort

Jesus and Mary!

"The more the Holy Ghost finds Mary, His dear and inseparable spouse, in any soul, the more active and mighty He becomes in producing Jesus Christ in that soul, and that soul in Jesus Christ."~St. Louis De Montfort

The power of Mary!

"But the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay snares against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and her poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against him. They shall be little and poor in the world's esteem, and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But, in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity, superior to all other creatures by their lively zeal, and so well sustained with God's assistance that, with the humility of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to triumph."~St. Louis De Montfort, True Devotion to Mary

We go to Jesus through Mary

The more we honor the Blessed Virgin, the more we honor Jesus Christ, because we honor Mary only that we may the more perfectly honor Jesus, since we go to her only as the way by which we to find the end we are seeking, which is Jesus.~St. Louis De Montfort

Our Mediatrix!

Calling Mary a mediatrix might sound exotic and even daunting. But mediatrix simply means, according to the dictionary, a woman who is a mediator!

Throughout Christianity, Mary has placed herself between her son and humanity, advocating or mediating for her children's wants, needs, and sufferings.

Mary puts herself in the middle, and in that way acts as a mediatrix. And she does this not as an outsider, but as Mother. She knows that in her mothering she not only can point out the needs of humanity to her son, but in essence she has the right to do so!

from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Mary of Nazareth by Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda (Alpha Penguin)

"She was full of grace."

"How much we can learn from our Lady! She was so humble because she was all for God. She was full of grace. She made use of the almighty power that was in her: the grace of God." ~Bl. Teresa of Calcutta

Anniversary of Jacinta Marto's entrance into heaven!

Little Jacinta Marto, a Fatima visionary died on February 20, 1920, four days after Our Lady visited her for the last time here on earth. She told Jacinta that she would come to get her and bring her to Heaven soon where she would have no more pain.

Both Francesco, her brother and Jacinta were beatified at a solemn Mass in the shrine of the Cova da Iria by Pope John Paul I on May 13, 2000. Sister Lucia, their cousin (the third visionary) was present for the blessed event. She was a Carmelite nun in Coimbra, Portugal.

Let us invoke the intercession of the three visionaries and ask them to help us draw closer to Mother Mary.

"You can never love her enough."

"Do not be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her enough. And Jesus will be very happy, because the Blessed Virgin is His Mother."~St. Therese of Lisieux

Saturday in honor of Mary: We all need a mother's love.

"Even Jesus could not come, even Jesus could not be born, even Jesus could not grow without a mother's love. Who is our mother? When Jesus was dying, His last words were, 'Behold your Mother' and from that time Mary has appeared so many times, in so many places. Why do people go to Lourdes  and Fatima and Velankanni? Because we all need a mother's love."~ Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

[Velankanni is a shrine to Our Lady of Good Health located on the Bay of Bengal]

Mary dispenses all the graces we need

"After Jesus, who is the only Mediator, Mary is the mediatrix: as Jesus continually intercedes with the Father in heaven on our behalf, so Mary intercedes with Jesus for us; she obtains and dispenses to us all the graces we need."~Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. (A Beligian Carmelite priest, teacher, and spiritual director now deceased)

From Mary's hands to us.

Leo XIII says, "It may be affirmed that, according to God's will, nothing comes to us without going through Mary's hands. Just as no one can approach the Almighty Father except through the Son, so no one can approach Christ except through his Mother" (Encyclical Octobri Mense).

Mediatrix of all graces

The Church teaches us to invoke Mary as Mediatrix of all graces.

"By the communion of sorrows and of will between Christ and Mary," says St. Pius X, "she merited to become the dispenser of all the benefits which Jesus acquired for us by shedding his Blood" (Encyclical: Ad Diem Illum).

Hail, Holy Queen

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,

Our life, our sweetness and our hope!

To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve;

to you do we send up our sighs,

mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.

Turn, then, most gracious Advocate,

your eyes of mercy towards us, and after this, our exile,

show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

that we may be worthy of the

promises of Christ.