Mary's Catholics

Luke 2:41-49 tells us that Jesus, at the age of 12, went to Jerusalem with his parents for the feast of the Passover.  But after the feast, as they were returning home, Jesus remained behind without the knowledge of his parents.  After three days of searching, they found him in the temple of Jerusalem. Ephesians 5:23 - "For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. If Jesus, the head of the church was searched by Mary when he was lost for three days, then undoubtedly, Mary is also search ing for those members of the church which is the body of Christ, who had gone astray and are still lost until now. Let us pray for our lost brothers and sisters that they will return to the head of the church, Jesus Christ. - Mary June D.

Today, March 25th is the feast of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38). The Annunciation was the beginning of a vast and wonderful repair work to be done by God on the destruction caused by Adam and Eve. A woman caused the downfall of the human race; a woman will raise man back to God. A devil approached Eve; an angel appeared to Mary.  The devil tempted Eve to disobey and cast down the human race; an angel appeared to Mary to receive her obedience and raise up the human race.  The devil urged infidelity; the angel fidelity to God's will. The first woman believed the tempter; Mary believed her Maker. Eve brought destruction; Mary salvation. Mary was deserving to receive God the Son physically in her womb because she has first received Him spiritually in her heart. - St. Peter Chrysologus _____________________________________________ - Excerpted from St. Peter Chrysologus Sermo. 140 on Luke 1:26-29. Source:  Winnowing Fan, Vol. XI, No. 1, January 1994

Matthew traces the genealogy of Jesus from Joseph and refers to him as the husband of Mary.  But he does not allow us to have misconceptions about Christ's birth by immediately narrating the unusual manner in which Christ was born. Mary, being espoused or betrothed to Joseph was living in the bridegroom's house for her protection.  It was the practice of the ancients.  The practice being such, Joseph was going to be very certain that nothing amiss could take place. We, too, must live our lives in such a way so no one can attribute wrongdoing to us. Finding Mary with child, he who should be jealous and suspicious, he who should degrade her, in fact cherished her. So convinced was he that what was done was done by God. Though how it was done exactly, he was not sure until confirmed, not explained, by the angel. So instead of setting her aside, he kept her with him after he was assured and he ministered to her.  St. Joseph said to himself, this was done by ...

I'm a Marian devotee, meaning, a Catholic who has a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  But in spite of my devotion to her, I still can't fathom the depth of her life and her mysteries, probably because of my sinfulness.  The simplest and the immediate knowledge I have of her is that she is my beloved spiritual mother, and the mother of God. I know that there's more to her than what I read about her from the bible or from books written by the saints and Marian scholars. Far from being an obstacle to Jesus, the fact is, where it not for the Blessed Virgin Mary, I would still see God as someone who is "high up there," someone who's strict and authoritative just because He is God. But the Blessed Virgin Mary changed all that. Because of my devotion to her, I now see God in a totally different light.  Mary brought me closer to Jesus in a way that I can't explain.  All I can describe is that, the more I pray to her, the more I love praying ...

Priests need prayers.  Even if they are consecrated to God, they still need prayers.  Even if they pray every day, they still need prayers. Why they need prayers? 1.  Priests are also humans. 2.  Priests are not perfect. 3.  Priests also have their weaknesses. 4.  Priests are the primary targets of satan's attacks. That's why they need prayers.   The saints were very much aware of the need to pray for priests, that's why they include the priests in their prayers or composed special prayers for the priests. Here are some of the prayers from the saints. A PRAYER FOR PRIESTS St. Charles Borromeo O Holy Mother of God, pray for the priests Your Son has chosen to serve the Church.  Help them by your intercession, to be holy, zealous, and chaste.  Make them models of virtue in the service of God's people. Help them to be pious in meditation, efficacious in preaching, and zealous in the daily offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Help th...

 St. Claude de la Colombiere It is usually the case that other people can see better than we can ourselves what is good for us.  It would be foolish to think that we can see better than God Himself, who is not subject to any of the passions that blind us, knows the future and can foresee all events and the consequences of every action. Experience shows that even the gravest misfortunes can have good results and the greatest successes can end in disaster.  A rule also that God usually follows is to attain His ends by ways that are the opposite to those human prudence would normally choose. Joseph was sold into slavery and thrown into prison.  If he had felt aggrieved at these apparent misfortunes, he would really have been feeling aggrieved at his happiness for they were the steps to the throne of Egypt.  Saul loses his father's assess and has to go on a long vain hunt for them.  But if he had felt annoyed at the great waste of time and energy it ca...

I have a twitter account.  I opened an account last year so I can follow my favorite dance crew.  I followed them for months.  I send them tweets, but I never receive a single reply from them. They replied to their friends' tweets and to celebrities' tweets but not to my tweets.  I also send tweets to other celebrities as well, and again I don't receive any reply from them.  I kept asking myself, "Have they seen my tweets?" or "Is there something wrong with my tweets?" They can see their friends' tweets or the tweets of their fellow celebrities but why can't they see my tweets?  I was hurt that I stopped following them.  I was thinking, maybe they don't reply to ordinary or unknown people like me. Maybe if I'm Oprah Winfrey, I would surely get replies from these celebrities.  Do they know that a single simple reply is worth more than a million bucks to their fans? They don't have to spend a single dime for this, it only requires thei...