Our Lady of Sorrows

Blessed Pope John Paul II, in his (1984) Apostolic Letter, Savifici Doloris, wrote ( No. 25):

It is especially consoling to note—and also accurate in accordance with the Gospel and history—that at the side of Christ, in the first and most exalted place, there is always his Mother through the exemplary testimony that she bears by her whole life to this particular Gospel of suffering. In her, the many and intense sufferings were amassed in such an interconnected way that they were not only a proof of her unshakeable faith but also a contribution to the redemption of all. In reality, from the time of her secret conversation with the angel, she began to see in her mission as a mother her "destiny" to share, in a singular and unrepeatable way, in the very mission of her Son. And she very soon received a confirmation of this in the events that accompanied the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, and in the solemn words of the aged Simeon, when he spoke of a sharp sword that would pierce her heart. Yet a further confirmation was in the anxieties and privations of the hurried flight into Egypt, caused by the cruel decision of Herod.

And again, after the events of her Son's hidden and public life, events which she must have shared with acute sensitivity, it was on Calvary that Mary's suffering, beside the suffering of Jesus, reached an intensity which can hardly be imagined from a human point of view but which was mysterious and supernaturally fruitful for the redemption of the world. Her ascent of Calvary and her standing at the foot of the Cross together with the Beloved Disciple were a special sort of sharing in the redeeming death of her Son. And the words which she heard from his lips were a kind of solemn handing-over of this Gospel of suffering so that it could be proclaimed to the whole community of believers.

As a witness to her Son's Passion by her presence, and as a sharer in it by her compassion, Mary offered a unique contribution to the Gospel of suffering, by embodying in anticipation the expression of Saint Paul which was quoted at the beginning. She truly has a special title to be able to claim that she "completes in her flesh"—as already in her heart—"what is lacking in Christ's afflictions ".

In the light of the unmatchable example of Christ, reflected with singular clarity in the life of his Mother, the Gospel of suffering, through the experience and words of the Apostles, becomes an inexhaustible source for the ever new generations that succeed one another in the history of the Church. The Gospel of suffering signifies not only the presence of suffering in the Gospel, as one of the themes of the Good News, but also the revelation of the salvific power and salvific significance of suffering in Christ's messianic mission and, subsequently, in the mission and vocation of the Church.

70th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of St Maximilian Kolbe

Br Louis Mary OFMConv and a friar from Africa at the cemetery of Niepokalanow, Poland.
Outside the Basilica, before Holy Mass.
Mass at Niepokalanow, Poland, 15 August 2011, Feast of the Assumption, Cardinal of Warsaw.
Br Louis Mary OFMConv and pilgrims.
Br Louis Mary OFMConv and pilgrims.
Mass celebrated by the Archbishop of Krakow, Archbishop Dziwisz, former secretary to Bl Pope John Paul II.
Mass celebrated by the Archbishop of Krakow, Archbishop Dziwisz, former secretary to Bl Pope John Paul II.
Survivors of Auschwitz and part of the congregation at mass in Auschwitz camp, August, 2011.
Congregation at Mass in Auschwitz camp, August, 2011.
The General with the relic.
Reaching the gate of Auschwitz.
Procession, Poland, 14 August, 2011.
Some of the congregation, 14 August, 2011.
Some of the congregation, 14 August, 2011.
The General leading prayers Poland, 14 August, 2011.

St Maximilian Kolbe...We must place Our Lady in every soul.

(February 11, 1937, Rome.)

"Let us seek to penetrate the plan of God: The Immaculate, united to Her divine Son by ties of blood, is associated with Him in the mystery of salvation, in the struggle against evil, in the triumph of good; the new Adam, the new Eve, together in grace, together in suffering, together in glory, on Calvary as in heaven, always united, today as well as yesterday in the attacks of infidels. Against whom do the forces of evil and error rage? Against Christ, our Lady and the Pope. The atheistic, materialist, masonic press spreads errors against religion and the faith, combats the Church and the Pope, and aims at blotting from the face of the earth the very names of Christ and of our Lady. Every means is used: press, radio, cinema and entertainment to spread disbelief and to ridicule the faithful, organize blasphemous processions to denigrate the Holy Father. Where they can, they make use of authority and violence to level churches, crosses and every symbol of faith.

At Campo di Fiori, here in Rome, they chanted in honor of Giordano Bruno to show disrespect to the Pope, a prisoner in the Vatican, and beneath the Vatican carried banners and flags showing Lucifer vanquishing St. Michael. Are we merely to stand and watch? It is not enough to weep behind drawn blinds. We must pray and sacrifice for the conversion of the erring and of sinners, but if we are consecrated souls, if we are knights of the Immaculate, we must come out into the field and fight, organize all our forces to keep the virtuous faithful and lead the erring back into the way of faith, lead them back to the mercy of God, to the maternal goodness of the Immaculate, enlightening them concerning the eternal destiny awaiting them and for which we have been created, that ineffable peace which the Lord already gives in the present life. Every word of truth draws its efficacy from divine grace.

Precisely in order to combat such impious wickedness, the Pious Union of the Militia of Mary Immaculate, with the approval of ecclesiastical authority and of the Superiors of the Order, was established in 1917. Its nature is to place us in the hands of our Lady to work for the kingdom of God, certain of Mary’s victory over such great evils in the world, over hatred, the horrible carnage and smoldering ruins of the war of 1914-1918.

We, too, must make use of the press and other means of communication – let us be clear, even in the best of circumstances this will always be little, in contrast with what the atheistic and anti-religious world press disposes – and place these in the service of the Immaculate to combat error and impiety, for the glory of God, so that every man might know he has been redeemed by Jesus Christ and called to immortal glory. We cannot take rest as long as there is in the world one soul in danger, who does not yet know the Immaculate. Our human frailty, limited resources or any other worldly difficulty must not restrain us; let us confide in the Immaculate, let us place ourselves truly in Her hands and She will continue to win the battles of God, as at Lepanto, as at Vienna. We must place our Lady in every soul so that from every soul sin be expelled and Jesus introduced. Who finds the Immaculate, finds Jesus.

The Immaculate is the conqueress of the devil, is the Mother of God, always united to God, the full of grace, the masterpiece of grace with every holiness and perfection attainable by a human creature. The Immaculate is She who in Her unbounded and respectful love wills the glory of God, fights the battles of God for overcoming evil, for the triumph of good, crushes the head of hell’s monster and destroys all heresies in the whole world. Let us pray to the Immaculate, let us trust in the Immaculate, the conqueress, faithfully awaiting the day in which a knight of the Immaculate will raise high above the Kremlin in Moscow the white standard of the Immaculate.

I find myself before so many Professors, so many distinguished representatives of theological thought and ecclesiastical learning. When will there arise a Library of the Immaculate to chant and to perpetuate the glories of the Immaculate? How many are willing to undertake this laborious and glorious task? To collect, to organize and to pass on all which speaks of the Immaculate along the course of the centuries: Sacred Scripture, the Supreme Pontiffs, the Holy Fathers, the Doctors of the Church, the Theologians and Saints. To create a doctrinal and historical corpus where all can attain knowledge of the mystery of the Immaculate, can grow in devotion, admiration and love of the Immaculate – not only the clergy and religious, but also the simple faithful throughout the world: what a worthy monument to God who willed to give us the Immaculate; what a lighthouse for non-believers; what a bond of love to unite us evermore to the Immaculate! May all nourish themselves on this truth so as to enter into the thought of God who willed the Incarnation to give us much more than what we had lost in Adam, and who in the Incarnation willed the Immaculate to remind us of the innocent man created by God and of the vision of an innocent world, according to the plan of God.

To God all glory, to God our respectful love and our praise, who willed thus to exalt and glorify the Immaculate. Mother of this dismembered and sinful humanity, our Hope, always."

Ember Days

Ember days are special days of prayer and penance which correspond to the beginning of the four seasons. They were traditionally kept on a successive Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday in the appropriate season: after the Feast of St. Lucy (Summer), the week after Ash Wednesday (Autumn), after Pentecost Sunday (Winter), and after the Feast of the Holy Cross (Spring). Their dates were remembered by this old mnemonic:

Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia
Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.

Which means:

Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost,
are when the quarter holidays follow.

Their purpose, besides that of the discipline of prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. Four times a year, the Church sets aside three days to focus on God through His marvelous creation. They seem to have corresponded to pagan harvest festivals which were duly ‘christianised’ as an acknowledgment of God’s Lordship over all.

Ember Days were associated with different events in the life of the Church. They were days favored for priestly ordinations, prayer for priests, first Communions, almsgiving and other penitential and charitable acts. Because of the days’ focus on nature, they are also traditional times for women to pray for children and safe deliveries. Folklore also had its part. Again because of the focus on things natural, it was thought that the weather conditions of each of the three days of an Embertide foretold the weather of the next three months – and thus great importance was placed on praying for favourable weather for the forthcoming harvest.

While their observance has undoubtedly waned, if not disappeared in some places, since the liturgical reform following the Second Vatican Council, Ember Days remain an important part of the patrimony of the Church. Prayer and penance are always necessary in our struggle with sin, and with a growing awareness of our dependence on a fragile environment, we are encouraged to thank the Creator for His gift of creation, and to seek his help in caring for it. For this reason, the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference has in recent years decided that the Church here should observe the first Fridays in Autumn and Spring each year as special days of prayer and penance.

Pray the Magnificat!

The Holy Father, in his Angelus address on the Assumption of Our Lady:

"At the heart of the month of August, Christians of the East and West celebrate jointly the Feast of the Assumption to Heaven of Mary Most Holy. In the Catholic Church, the dogma of the Assumption -- as was noted -- was proclaimed during the Holy Year of 1950 by my venerable predecessor the Servant of God Pope Pius XII. This memorial, however, sinks its roots in the faith of the early centuries of the Church.

In the East, the feast is still called today the "Dormition of the Virgin." In an ancient mosaic of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, which is inspired precisely in the Eastern icon of the"Dormition," the Apostles are pictured. Alerted by the angels of the earthly end of the Mother of Jesus, they gather around the Virgin's bed. At the center is Jesus who holds a little girl in his arms: It is Mary, become "little" for the Kingdom, and led by the Lord to Heaven.

In the passage of St. Luke's Gospel for today's liturgy, we read that "in those days Mary rose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah" (Luke 1:39). In those days Mary went in haste from Galilee to a small city near Jerusalem, to go and meet her cousin Elizabeth. Today we contemplate her going up to the mountain of God and entering into the heavenly Jerusalem, "clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (Revelation 12:1).

The biblical passage of Revelation, which we read in the liturgy of this solemnity, speaks of a fight between the woman and the dragon, between good and evil. St. John seems to propose to us the very first pages of the Book of Genesis, which narrate the dark and dramatic event of Adam's and Eve's sin. Our forefathers were defeated by the Evil One; in the fullness of time, Jesus, the new Adam, and Mary, the new Eve, defeated the enemy definitively, and this is the joy of this day! With Jesus' victory over evil, interior and physical death was also
defeated. Mary was the first to take into her arms the Son of God, Jesus, who became a child; now she is the first to be next to him in the glory of Heaven.

That which we celebrate today is a great mystery, and above all a mystery of hope and of joy for all of us: In Mary we see the end toward which all those who know how to link their lives to that of Jesus are journeying, those who know how to follow him as Mary did. This feast, then, speaks of our future, it tells us that we also will be next to Jesus in the joy of God and it invites us to have courage, to believe that the power of the Resurrection of Christ can operate also in us and make us men and women who every day seek to live as risen ones, taking the light of goodness to the darkness of evil that is in the world.

[After the Angelus, the Holy Father greeted the crowd in several languages. In French, he said:]
On this day of the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, I joyfully greet the French-speaking pilgrims. “Today the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, was raised to the glory of heaven.” She thus opens to us the path of hope. On contemplating her face, let us not hesitate to repeat our unconditional "yes" to the Lord. Following her example, on happy days as well as on difficult days, let us pray the Magnificat. May the Virgin Mary watch over the Church and all families."

Prayer to Our Lady of the Assumption

O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God and Mother of Humanity, we believe with all the fervour of our faith in your triumphal Assumption both in body and in soul into heaven where you are acclaimed as Queen by all the choirs of angels and all the legions of saints; we unite with them to praise and bless the Lord who has exalted you above all other pure creatures and to offer you the tribute of our devotion and our love.

We know that your gaze, which on earth watched over the humble and suffering humanity of Jesus, in heaven is filled with the vision of that humanity glorified and with the vision of uncreated Wisdom, and that the joy of your soul in the direct contemplation of the adorable Trinity causes your heart to throb with overwhelming tenderness; and we, poor sinners whose body weights down the flight of the soul, beg you to purify our hearts so that, while we remain below, we may learn to see God and God alone in the beauties of his creatures.

We trust that your merciful eyes may deign to gaze down upon our miseries and anguish, upon our struggles and our weaknesses; that your countenance may smile upon our joys and our victories; that you may hear the voice of Jesus saying to you of each one of us, as He once said to you of His Beloved Disciple:

"Behold you son," and we who call upon you as our Mother, we, like John, take you as the guide, strength and consolation of our mortal life.

We are inspired by the certainty that your eyes, which wept over the earth crimsoned by the blood of Jesus, are yet turned toward this world racked by wars and persecutions, the oppression of the just and the weak. From the shadows of this vale of tears, we seek in your heavenly assistance, tender mercy, comfort for our aching hearts, and help in the trials of Church and country.

We believe finally that in the glory where you reign, clothed with the sun and crowned with stars, you are, after Jesus, the joy and gladness of all the angels and the saints, and from this earth, over which we tread as pilgrims, comforted by our faith in the future resurrection, we look to you our life, our sweetness, our hope; draw us onward with the sweetness of your voice, so that one day, after our exile, you may show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb.

O clement, O loving,
O sweet Virgin Mary.

Amen.

By Pope St Pius X

70th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of St Maximilian Kolbe

“St. Maximilian did not die, rather he gave his life…”
– Blessed John Paul II, 1982

On September 1, 1939, the Second World War began. Niepokalanów, the City of the Immaculate, founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe, was also bombed and sacked. The Friars had to abandon it. The buildings were used as the first place to receive refugees and soldiers.
On February 17, 1941, the Gestapo arrived at Niepokalanów, and Father Kolbe and 4 other confreres were arrested and incarcerated in the Pawiak prison in Warsaw. It was in this place that we have the famous moment of his heroic profession of faith, where he was beaten to the point of passing out, simply because he said he believes in Jesus Christ, whose image was attached to the rosary hanging on his cord.
On May 28 of that same year, he was deported to the Nazi Extermination Camp at Auschwitz, in the city of Oświęcim, in southern Poland. Here he was assigned the number 16670.
After the escape of a prisoner, the Commandant Fritsch, in retaliation, decided to choose ten men from the same block, condemning them to death by starvation in the underground death bunker.
To the surprise of all of the prisoners, and the Nazis as well, Friar Maximilian came forward from the line, and offered to substitute himself for one of the condemned, a young Polish Sergeant, Francis Gajowniczek.
In this unexpected way, the heroic Friar Maximilian descended, with the other nine, into the underground bunker, where, one after another, they died, consoled, assisted, and blessed by the Saint.
On August 14, 1941, Father Kolbe’s own life was ended by an injection of phenol acid.
The following day, his body was burnt in the crematory furnace, and his ashes were tossed to the wind.
On October 10, 1982, in St. Peter’s Square, John Paul II, declared Father Kolbe, a Saint.

The year 2011 is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Martyrdom of St Maximilian Kolbe.

Let us accept with fullness of heart, the Ideal – the Immaculate, so loved by him, and presented to us as the most secure way to the Lord – for us, and for this, we have been sent.