The Virgin Birth

As I knelt by the Crib of Our Lord at Bethlehem I saw a most beautiful Maiden, covered with a white mantle and a robe of fine texture. The time of her delivery seemed to be at hand. A venerable old man accompanied her. An ox and an ass were with them. When they had come into the cave, and the old man had tethered the ox and the ass to the manger, he went out and returned with a lighted torch which he fastened to the wall, and then he went out again so as not to be present at the birth of the child. Then Our Lady laid aside her white mantle, took off her shoes from her feet and the veil from her head so that she was clad only in her light robe. Her beautiful golden hair hung down over her shoulders. Then she took out two linen cloths and two woolen ones, very clean and white, to wrap the Child in as soon as It was born, and two smaller pieces of linen to swathe His head. When all things were prepared Our Lady knelt down with her back against the manger, her face uplifted and turned eastward. Her hands were raised, her eyes fixed above, her whole being absorbed in ecstatic contemplation, bathed in heavenly rapture. And in a moment as she prayed she had brought forth her Son, from Whom shone a light so great and so wonderful that the rays of the sun cannot be compared to it. The torch brought by Saint Joseph seemed to be extinguished, so far did that Divine light outshine all light which is of earth. The Infant was born so suddenly, so instantaneously, that I saw not how it happened. I only saw the Divine Child lying naked, white and shining on the ground. Then I heard the most wonderful singing of angels. When Our Lady, whose form was exceedingly delicate, slender, graceful, saw that her Child was born she bent her head, folded her hands, and adored the Infant with the deepest reverence and devotion. Then the Child began to weep and tremble with cold on the hard ground where He lay. He moved a little and stretched His tender limbs as though He desired the comfort of His Mother's caresses. The Mother took the Child in her arms, pressed It to her Heart and warmed It against her face and bosom with great gladness and tender motherly pity. Then she sat down on the ground, laid the Child on her lap, and began to swathe Him very carefully. First she wrapped Him in linen and then in the woolen cloths, binding His tender body and little arms with the swaddling bands which were sewn to the four corners of the outer woolen cloth. Then she wrapped and bound His head in the two smaller linen cloths which she had laid beside her. When all this was done the venerable old man came in again, and falling on his knees adored the Child with tears of joy. Then the Virgin rose with the infant in her arms, and she and Saint Joseph together laid Him in the manger and worshiped Him with great joy and gladness of heart. 
           
                                        -Saint Bridget of Sweden (+ 1373): Revelations, excerpt given in Fr. Reinhold's mystical anthology The Soul Afire, pp. 33, 34 (Pantheon Books, 1944).

A Christmas Meditation

Under the dim light of a lamp Mary most holy contemplated the newborn Infant. In him she noticed her own features and with trembling tenderness and love she placed on that face the first kiss. Over that Infant who was the Son of God, but also her son, she rejoiced as no other mother in the world ever has for the birth of her child. Enraptured, she must have adored and contemplated, unable to express her sentiments.

                                                - La Madonna nella Rivelazione, Father Pietrafesa

Historical Fruit of Devotion to Mary

The world is governed by its ideals, and seldom or never has there been one which has exercised a more salutary influence than the medieval conception of the Virgin. For the first time woman was elevated to her right position, and the sanctity of weakness was recognized, as well as the sanctity of sorrow. No longer the slave or toy of man, no longer associated only with ideas of degradation and of sensuality, woman rose, in the person of the Virgin Mother, into a new sphere, and became the object of reverential homage, of which antiquity had no conception…. A new type of character was called into being; a new kind of admiration was fostered. Into a harsh and ignorant and benighted age this ideal type infused a conception of gentleness and purity, unknown to the proudest civilization of the past. In the pages of living tenderness, which many a monkish writer has left in honor of his celestial patron; in the millions who, in many lands and many ages, have sought to mould their character into her image; in those holy maidens who for love of Mary have separated themselves from all the glories and pleasures of the world, to seek in fastings and vigils and humble charity to render themselves worthy of her benediction; in the new sense of honor, in the chivalrous respect, in the softening of manners, in the refinement of tastes displayed in all the walks of society; in these and in many other ways we detect its influence. All that was best in Europe clustered around it, and it is the origin of many of the purest elements of our civilization.

                                                              - William H. Lecky, History of Rationalism, vol. 1, p. 225
(It should be noted that William H. Lecky was a known unbeliever and rationalist but as a historian when examining the historical evidence and positive influence of the Holy Virgin upon nations and peoples even he had to admit in objective truth that the Virgin has had a real and positive influence upon history.)

Ave Maria!

A beautiful photo of Our Lady of Sorrow

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The Seven Sorrows Devotion

From the blogger: The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady is a powerful devotion and one particularly suited for the spiritual warfare of our times. The Church has honored our the Blessed Virgin Mary's sufferings under the following seven sufferings:

1) The Prophecy of St. Simeon

2) The Flight into Egypt 

3) The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple

4) Mary meets Jesus on the Way of the Cross

5) Mary stands at the foot of the Cross

6) The piercing of Jesus's side and the taking down of the body of Jesus from the Cross

7) The Burial of Jesus

This devotion can be practiced by either reciting 7 Hail Mary's in honor of the Sorrows or the recitation of the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows. I urge any Catholic reader of this blog to please institute this devotion in your life, it will purify from sin and especially any persistent sin you may have difficulty in overcoming. Our Lord promised four special graces for this devotion:

1) Those who invoke the Heavenly Mother through her sorrows will obtain true sorrow for their sins before death.

2) Our Savior will protect them in their tribulations, especially at the hour of death.

3) He will impress upon them the memory of His Passion, and will reward them for it in Heaven.

4) He will commit such devout servants to the hands of Mary, that she may dispose of them according to her pleasure, and obtain for them all the graces she desires.

Father Faber also enumerates a few more graces:

1) This devotion has a remarkable connection with great interior holiness.

2) It reveals the emptiness of worldly joys. Worldliness finds no soul harder to attack than one entrenched in the sorrows of our Blessed Lady. The world can graft itself upon nothing in this devotion.

3) It gives us a permanent share in the sorrow for sin which Jesus and Mary felt.

4) It keeps our thoughts close to Jesus Christ, and to Him Crucified.

5) It communicates to our souls the spirit of the Cross and gives us strength to endure our own sufferings with resignation to the Holy Will of God.

6) This devotion is wholly covered with the Precious Blood of Jesus and leads us directly into the depths of the Heart of our Savior.

7) Anyone who during his lifetime has cherished compassion for this afflicted Mother may consider this as a most assured sign of predestination.

Please pray to Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows!

The Weaver

The Virgin's festival incites our tongue today to herald her praise. Mary is the handmaid and Mother, Virgin and Heaven, the only bridge of God to men, the awful loom of the Incarnation, in which by some unspeakable way the garment of that union was woven, whereof the weaver is the Holy Ghost; and the spinner the overshadowing from on high; the wool the ancient fleece of Adam; the woof the undefiled flesh from the virgin; the weaver's shuttle the immense grace of Him Who brought it about; the artificer the Word gliding through the hearing.

                                                                          - Saint Proclus, Patriarch of Constantinople (+ 447): sermon preached in 429 at Ephesus

The Sorrowful Hail Mary composed and promulgated by Blessed Pope Pius IX

Hail Mary, full of sorrows, the Crucified is with thee; thou are pitiable among women, and pitiable is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus! Holy Mary, Mother of the Crucified, implore for us, the crucifiers of thy Son, tears of contrition, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

-An indulgence of 100 days for this prayer promulgated by Blessed Pope Pius IX.