Mary's Catholics

C - is for Christ Jesus who was born in Bethlehem. H -   is for the Holy Family - Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  Let our families imitate them. R - is for the Redemption of sinners, the reason of the birth of the infant King. I  - is for Isaiah, the prophet who foretold the birth of Jesus from a virgin. cc  photo by A. Strakey on flickr S  - is for the Star that guides the Three Wise Men to Jesus from afar. T  - is for the Twenty-fifth of December, Christendom's most unforgettable date in the calendar. M  - is for Myrrh, frankincense and gold, the Magi's gift to the redeemer. A  - is for the Angel, God's most faithful messenger. S  - is for the Shepherds, who first saw the holy infant who will rule over Satan forever. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."                      ...

cc  photo by   Wonderlane  on  flickr On the dawn of December 9, 1531, while on his way to church to attend a holy mass, Juan Diego - a poor Indian - saw a beautiful Lady on top of Tepeyac hill. The Lady told him of her desire that a church be built in her honor. Juan Diego immediately reported to Bishop Zummaraga the Lady's message, but the bishop didn't believe him.  On his way home, he saw again Our Lady at Tepeyac Hill, and he begged her to entrust the task instead to an important and noble person so that the bishop will believe her message, but the Lady told Juan Diego to tell the bishop that it was she, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God who sent him.   Juan Diego went again to the bishop.  This time, the bishop asked him for a tangible sign.   Juan Diego told the Lady of the bishop's request for a tangible sign. The Lady told him to come back the following day at the hill to get the sign the bishop was requesting for. ...

The Miraculous Medal cc photo by Tetraktys on Wikimedia Commons On November 27, 1830, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared for the second time to St. Catherine Laboure.  She was standing on a globe.  Her arms were outstretched downwards.   An oval frame formed around her on which were written the words "O Mar y, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."  Then Mary instructed Catherine to have a medal struck after this model. Countless extraordinary blessings were attributed to the medal after its propagation in 1832 that in 1834, people began calling it the miraculous medal.  Immaculate Conception cc   photo by MyBiggestFan on flickr Largely because of the widespread use of Mary's miraculous medal, and the countless debates on the issue of Mary "as conceived without sin," on December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX solemnly declared Mary's Immaculate Conception as a dogma in his encyclical Ineffabilis Deus .   ...