Happy New Year! - 2014 - Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God - Resolutions

Our Lady of the Unborn - Blue Army Shrine, Washington, NJ

Today is the first day of the new year!  Attending Mass on a day dedicated to the Holy Mother of God is a beautiful way to start the new year!  We can also start anew not only with the New Year's resolutions most of us have already made but with daily resolutions we can make.  These daily resolutions will be easier to keep because it expires at the end of the day.  Then at night, when we make our examination of conscience, we can see the areas we need improving and it will facilitate making our resolution for the next day.

As always, we must rely on God for His help and guidance.  Alone we will surely fall and become discouraged.  So, make a resolution, pray for the grace to keep it and trust in God. Remember also to invoke the help our our dear Blessed Mother.  She will not let us down.  If we fail to keep our resolutions, let us not become discouraged and give up but focus instead on the Lord and resolve to try harder the next day.

May our Lord and Lady grant you and your families a very blessed new year.

Mary, Queen and Mother and the Second Vatican Council

Above picture courtesy of Pinterest.

The following was written in May, 1979 by +John Cardinal Krol, Archbishop of Philaldelphia as a forward to Mary, Queen and Mother : Marian Pastoral Reflections by John J. Cardinal Carberry.  As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council as well as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God this date, it is good to know what the Second Vatican Council really proclaimed regarding the most holy mother of God.

"Following the Second Vatican Council, some individuals and groups attributed to the Council things that were not said in or by the Council.  A classical example of misreading and misinterpreting the Council was provided by those who alleged that the role of Mary and devotion to Mary were somehow downgraded by the Council.

The fact is that never before in the history of the Church did any Ecumenical Council bring together in a single extensive body of doctrine, Mary's role in the mystery of Christ and His Church as fully as did the Second Vatican Council.  Pope John XXIII called for the the renewal of Christianity 'in a concentrated transport of Marian devotion.'  Practically all the significant dates of opening and closing of the Council sessions occurred on the feasts of the Blessed Virgin.  In the Council, Pope Paul VI proclaimed Mary as the Mother of the Church, expressing the 'trust that the Christian people will be sure to call upon the most Blessed Mother, with greater confidence and more fervent devotion.'

Faithful to the authentic teaching of the Council, the bishops of the United States on November 21, 1973, issued a pastoral letter on the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Behold Your Mother - Woman of Faith.  To enhance devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mother, Pope Paul VI issued on February 2, 1974, an Apostolic Exhortation for the Right Ordering and Development of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary..."

Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

"Madonna and Child" by Francesco Granacci, c. 1520

Picture source

Happy New Year dear friends!  May our Blessed Mother watch over you and your families and may she keep you  always close to her loving son, and our Savior, Jesus.

Solemnity - Mary, the Mother of God

"Christ was in all things and above all things, and at the same time He was existing in the womb of the Holy Mother of God, but He was there by the operation of the Incarnation. And so He was made flesh and took from her the first fruits of our clay, a body animated by a rational and intellectual soul, so that the very Person of God the Word was accounted to the flesh . . . And so we confess that even after the Incarnation He is the one Son of God, and we confess that the same is the Son of Man, one Christ, one Lord, the Only-begotten Son and Word of God, Jesus our Lord. And we venerate His two begettings
-----one from the Father before the ages and surpassing cause and reason and time and nature, and one in latter times for our own sake, after our own manner, and surpassing us."

- St. John Damascene

Quotation source

Prayer in Honor of Mary, Mother of God

Hail Mary, Mother of God,
venerable treasure of the whole universe,
lamp that is never extinguished,
crown of virginity,
support of the true faith,
indestructible temple,
dwelling of him whom no place can contain,
O Mother and Virgin!

Through you
all the holy Gospels call blessed
the one who comes in the name of the lord.

Hail, Mother of God;
you enclosed under your heart the infinite God
whom no space can contain.
Through you
the Most Holy Trinity is adored and glorified
the priceless cross is venerated
throughout the universe.

Through you
the heavens rejoice,
and the angels and archangels are filled with gladness.
Through you
the demons are banished,
and the tempter fell from heaven.
Through you
the fallen human race is admitted to heaven.

Hail, Mother of God;
through you
kings rule,
and the only=begotten Son of God
has become a star of light
to those who were sitting in darkness
and in the shadow of death.

- St. Cyril of Alexandria
Bishop and Doctor

- New Saint Joseph People Prayer Book, Catholic Book Publishing