Feast of the Immaculate Conception

The beautiful painting above is from Terry's blog Idle Speculations. Please take a moment to read what he has to say about this beautiful work of art depicting our Blessed Mother's Immaculate Conception.

St. Bonaventure's Marian Te Deum

We praise you, O Mother of God, we proclaim you Virgin and Mother!
The entire world venerates you as Spouse of the Eternal Father!
And to you all Angels, Archangels, Cherubims and Seraphim's sing unceasingly:

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Mother of God, Mary every Virgin!
Heaven and earth are filled with the majesty of your Son!
You are honored as Queen by the whole heavenly court!
You are invoked and praised as Mother of God by the entire world and by the holy Church.
You are the gate of Heaven, the ladder to the kingdom of Heaven and blessed glory!
You are Souse and Mother of the eternal King, the temple and sanctuary of the Holy Spirit; the altar of the Blessed Trinity.
You are the Mediatrix between Jesus Christ and men, the Advocate of the poor!
You are, after Jesus, our only hope, Mistress of the world, Queen of Heaven!
We bow to yo and salute you each day, O Mother of love!
Sweet and good Mary, in you we place all our hope, defend us for all eternity!
Amen.

Mary was in the mind of God from all eternity: "I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made." (Prov. 8:23).

"I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel" (Gen. 3:15).

"Behold a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel" (Isa. 7:14).

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root" (Isa. 11:1).

"I was exalted like a cedar in Lebanon, and as a cypress tree on Mount Sion. I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho. As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted. I gave a sweet small like cinnamon, and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh" (Ecchlus. 24:17:20).

"Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come. For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of the pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heart in our land." (Cant. 2:10-12).

"In dangers, in sorrows and in doubts, think of Mary, invoke Mary; may her name never cease to be on our lips, may she never depart from our hearts." - St. Bernard

"Blessed ins the man th at heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord" (Prov. 8:34-35).

The Immaculate Virgin was chose from all eternity; from the very beginning the Most High saw her and prepared her fro Himself alone. She was prefigured by the Patriarchs, and announced by the Prophets. - St. Bernard



"O Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, from the depths of my heart I praise and extol you as the purest, the fairest, the holiest creature of all God's handiwork. - St. Alphonsus di Liguori

Quotation source: Mary: Hope of the World by Rev. James Alberione, S.T.D., St. Paul Editions.
Last Reminder: Hour of Grace from noon to 1:00 PM today.