All Generations will Call Me Blessed: The Feast of the Visitation

THE VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.
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"From this day 

all generations will call me blessed." 

- Luke 1:48b

On the Solemnity of the Annunciation we reflected on the FIAT of the Blessed Virgin Mary: her yes to the will of the Father, her obedience to the eternal design of God.

Today we shall reflect on her MAGNIFICAT: her song of praise for the Father who did wonderful things not only for her but also for her people, Israel. We shall focus our reflection on the words prophesying her being called blessed by all generations.

When Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, Elizabeth declared, 

"Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb" [Luke 1:42].

Elizabeth considered it as a great honor to be visited by Mary, the mother of her Lord [v43] and told her cousin that the baby in her womb leaped upon her hearing of Mary's voice [v44] and once again she told Mary how blessed is she for having received the fulfillment of God's promise [v45]. And what follows was Mary's song of praise, also called the Canticle of Mary, the MAGNIFICAT, the first word of the Latin translation of the first line of the song, and which means GREATNESS.

And who would not be moved to be truly and sincerely grateful for the greatness of God? Of being singularly chosen to become the earthly mother of the only-begotten Son of the Father? Who is co-eternal with God and from beginning was with God and though whom God has created everything? Surely, for having been accorded with such singular honor for her simplicity, humility and obedience, she truly deserves to be called BLESSED by all the generations!

So when we call Mary BLESSED, we are not only acknowledging her important role as Mother of the Savior, who is also God and so making her the Mother of God too. We are also praising God and ultimately recognizing Him for the wonders that He did through someone like this humble young girl. And whenever we call Mary BLESSED, she doesn't keep to herself the honor but returns the praise to God and says, MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD!

Like Mary, we are all blessed, because we received God's grace upon baptism. We are further blessed when we receive the other Sacraments along our pilgrimage particularly the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation. We are blessed because the Holy Spirit has made our bodies His dwelling place, His temple. We are blessed when we obey the will of God in our lives. And so like Mary we should also proclaim the greatness of the Lord, we ought to give Him glory, magnify Him in our lives: in everything we do, say and think.

By the way, many people, especially anti-Catholics, abhor our way of giving honor and praise to the Blessed Virgin Mary. But if they only listen to their own words when they proclaim the so-called Sola Scriptura and repeatedly say, IT'S IN THE BIBLE, IT'S IN THE BIBLE, then they will surely see and read it in the Bible: Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, calls Mary blessed [vv 43, 45] and the Blessed Virgin Mary, rejoicing in God her savior, gives praise to the Father and prophesies that all generations will call her Blessed [v48] and we must not forget, during the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel calls her full of grace [28] and that she had earned God's favor [v30]. Here's an inspiring story about a Protestant boy who became a Catholic priest later in life because of the Hail Mary, a prayer he heard from his Catholic friends. Initially prohibited by her mother from saying the prayer telling him that it's a superstitious prayer of Catholics and given the Holy Bible to read instead, he found out that said prayer was indeed IN THE BIBLE. 

We must also be true Catholics, Christians, in order to lead others to know more about the truths of our Faith, like the friends of this Protestant boy who recited the Hail Mary which moved the boy's soul to seek for the truth. For if we, Catholics, won't be faithful to the Blessed Virgin, how can we be exemplars to non-Catholics about giving her the proper honor in recognition of God's greatness? 

These people who doesn't understand how to properly honor her are afraid that she might take our attention off the Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man. In this case, rest assured that she doesn't take us away from the Lord; instead, she leads us to Him and tells us the right thing to do which is,

"Do whatever He tells you."

- John 2:5

Jesus, the Son of Mary

"This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, ..." 

- Mark 6:3

In Galatians 4:4, the Apostle Paul writes, "... when the completion of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, ..." In John 19: 26-27, the Lord Jesus Chris entrusts the Apostle John to Mary as his mother, and since John represented all Christians, as our Mother too, and in turn, the mother is entrusted to John and to all of us. Hence she was present with the Apostles who gathered with one heart in constant prayer in Jerusalem waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit [see Acts 1:14]. Since Jesus Christ our Lord, Mary's son, is also God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Mary is called Theotokos, God-bearer, and aptly considered Mother of God.

Would you accept Mary as a mother having been given that blessed role by the Father to become His only-begotten Son's earthly mother? Or would you rather close your mind to her particular role in salvation history because you cannot understand that role?

The Message of Peace at Fatima: Continuing Relevance

OUR LADY OF FATIMA.
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Without going into details about the apparitions and the entire message of Our Lady of Fatima which you could easily access through the Internet such as in this site and here, and many others, we are particularly concerned here about the significant message of peace in the world through the praying of the Holy Rosary and its continuing relevance in our time.

Right now our world is experiencing troubles almost everywhere. The war between the administration and the rebels in Syria has already caused the deaths of and serious injuries to millions; any time the tension between the two Koreas breaks out into full-scale war the world could go into another global war; Israel is continually threatened by her neighbors; tribal and sectarian fightings in Africa are also unabated; terrorism continue to threaten the free world; relativism, secularism and indifferentism cause misunderstanding among fellowmen and brethren; the fight for true rights and assumed rights cause division among peoples and countries also; economic uncertainties and extreme economic ideologies deprive millions of their rightful share in the produce of the world; many Christians are persecuted through various manners by those who cannot tolerate other religions, those who claim they practice the only true religion, and those who doesn't know religion at all; and many more.

Therefore the message of Fatima about the need to continue praying, especially the Holy Rosary, for peace is still very, very much relevant. Why the Rosary? For the Holy Rosary recounts the history of salvation, of the Lord's saving act from His incarnation to His glorification. It also gives humanity the greatest hope for one of its members, the Blessed Virgin Mary, has been given so much honor by the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for her being humble, simple and obedient. She is therefore an invaluable model, next to the Lord Jesus Christ, our dearest Friend and Master. Hence praying the Holy Rosary is remembering and proclaiming the Lord's life, passion, death, resurrection and glorification, and God's ever generous blessing to those who surrender to His will without reserve like the Blessed Virgin Mary.

As we commemorate the first of the many apparitions at Fatima today, let us offer our humble submission to the will of the Father and gratitude to Him, the Lord our God, for His great love, mercy and generosity. Surely, if we sustain our prayer for peace, we shall be helped by the Lord Jesus Christ, who has conquered the world through His humble obedience to the Father's will too.  

Let us include in our prayers the conversion of all those who do not yet know Christ, those who have known Him but still resist the call to follow Him, and those who have left the One Fold that they may retrace their steps back to Him. So that when everyone already belongs to the One Fold under One Shepherd, we shall already experience true peace in the world.

O Mary, our Mother Most Amiable, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Happy Mother's Day, Mother Most Amiable

MOTHER MOST AMIABLE.
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It's the month of May, the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also the month when we celebrate the special day for our mothers.

In John 19: 26-27, the Lord Jesus Christ, while hanging upon the cross, left His mother under the care of His Beloved Apostle, John, and on the other hand, He left John, who represented all Christians, under the care of His Blessed Mother. So the Blessed Virgin Mary is truly our mother. Aside from this, she really is our mother since the Lord Jesus Christ is our Brother for through Him we have gained sonship of the Father by faith, adoption and the Spirit [see Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:5; Romans 8:14; 2 Corinthians 6:18].

As our mother who is also the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ [who is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity thereby making her Mother of God or Theotokos], we owe her our highest respect and deserves to be honored by us. The Fourth Commandment orders us to honor our father and our mother [see Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:3; Matthew 15:4]. She is our mother therefore she is truly and fully worthy of our giving her honor. And why not? After all she is blessed by all generations [see Luke 1:38] - at least by us Catholics and many other non-Catholic Christians! For those who cannot accept or could not yet understand this, maybe this article could lead you into some enlightenment.

It's Mother's Day and I would like to greet all mothers who follow our Blog and like our Facebook Page. May God bless all the mothers in a special way today and also on their respective special days such as birthdays, anniversaries, and most especially during the birthdays of their children since these are the days when their motherhood is truly manifested.  

Let us also offer a special prayer for those women who rejected the blessing of motherhood by opting to abort their babies that they may repent and find consolation in the fact that God is a merciful and forgiving Father. 

Let us also offer special prayers for all mothers who have gone ahead of us and that at the appointed time may we be reunited with them in the Father's house.

May our Blessed Mother intercede and pray for us always. 

Mary, Mother most amiable, always pray for us.