[Virgin of Carmel Saving Souls in Purgatory, Circle of Diego Quispe Tito, Peruvian (Cuzco), 1611-1681]

For the Souls in Purgatory

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
give eternal rest to the poor souls.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.

[From:  Favorite Prayers to Our Lady, by Anthony M. Buono]

In his book, “The Whole Truth about Fatima. Science and the Facts” (pgs. 293-303), Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité writes that while the crowd was watching the miraculous spectacle of the sun moving around in the sky, Lucy, Jacinta and Francisco were witnessing something else as well. 

The three seers were given a sequence of three pictures, and Lucy describes each one:

1. The Vision of the Holy Family: “After Our Lady had disappeared into the immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun.  St. Joseph and the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands.”
2. The Vision of Our Lady of Sorrows:  “When, a little later, this apparition disappeared, I saw Our Lord and Our Lady; it seemed to me that it was Our Lady of Sorrows.  Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner as St. Joseph had done.”
3. The Vision of Our Lady of Mount Carmel:  “This apparition also vanished, and I saw Our Lady once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Mount Carmel.”  

Now, it was on this day, October 13, 1917, that the Blessed Virgin first introduced herself as Our Lady of the Rosary.  Frère Michel makes a connection between the three apparitions noted above and the rosary; he writes that the three visions are “three living images of the mysteries of the rosary.”

He sees the vision of the Holy Family and the blessing being given as illustrative of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary; the second vision, of Our Lady of Sorrows (and as Lucy later informed a priest, the Lord in this vision was dressed in red, “no doubt to remind us of the purple mantle in which he was dressed in the pretorium, during the scene of the outrages and the crowning with thorns”) he relates to the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary; the third vision, of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, he connects with the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, because Mary was holding the scapular in her hand, offering it to the world. 

Isn’t it wonderful that Jesus and Mary leave nothing undone; they leave no loose ends.  As I was reading this interpretation by Frère Michel, of course the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary introduced by Pope John Paul II came to mind – and what would they correspond to on this special day of October 13, 1917?  Why, the main spectacle, of course – the Miracle of the Sun!

Mary has asked us over and over to pray the Rosary every day.

Isn’t it time, now? 

She asks so little of us, and she gives so much.

In my reference book, Dictionary of Mary, it states that the feast of Our Lady of Mercy (also known as Our Lady of Ransom), was linked to a devotion spread by the Order of Mercedarians.

The Mercedarians were a congregation of men founded in 1218 by St. Peter Nolasco. Along with caring for the sick in hospitals, they were also known for their efforts in rescuing Christian captives from the Moors. The New Advent online Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that Peter Nolasco was requested by the Blessed Virgin, in a vision, to found an order especially devoted to the ransom of captives.

Again, according to the Dictionary of Mary, because the feastday of Our Lady of Mercy was associated with the liberation of slaves, it was “deemed to be of lesser interest for the Universal Church today and so returned to particular calendars.”

In an article published by Zenit in 2006, the Mercedarians outline the state of affairs today in terms of slavery: Mercedarians Spotlight the New Slaveries. Read it and weep.

So I say thank you to the Mercedarians for their steadfast efforts in keeping the dreadful reality of slavery (human and spiritual bondage in all its many forms) before the eyes of the world, and for their continued invoking of Our Lady of Mercy’s intercession for all of humanity.

The image of our sorrowful Mother in the previous post is a “retablo” which I found while visiting the online art site at the New Mexico State University.

From the university’s website, we learn that “the word retablo, refers to sacred images painted on sheets of tin-coated iron which depict Jesus, the Virgin Mary, saints and religious figures. This artform flourished during the nineteenth-century Mexico. The University Collection of over 1,700 art works during the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries Mexico is now the largest collection of tin retablos and related materials held by any U.S. museum.”

To see the university’s beautiful collection of retablos, please visit NMSU – The Collection. It’s well worth the visit!

Excerpt from, “The Mother of the Saviour and Our Interior Life”, by Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. (pg. 189):

From the moment when Simeon foretold the Passion – already so clearly prophesied by Isaias – and her compassion, she offered and did not cease to offer Him Who would be Priest and Victim, and herself in union with Him. This painful oblation was renewed over years. Of old, an angel had descended to prevent Abraham’s immolation of his son Isaac. But no angel came to prevent the immolation of Jesus.

Yesterday was the feastday of The Holy Name of Mary.  I was reading St. Alphonsus Liguori’s Hail Holy Queen!, Chapter Ten of which is dedicated to the “sweetness of the name of Mary”. The chapter is filled with the thoughts of many saints and other holy people on this subject, and I share some of them here:

St. Peter Damian:  “The name of Mary came from the treasury of the divinity.”

St. Bernard:  “O most holy Virgin Mary!  Thy name is so sweet and amiable that it cannot be pronounced without inflaming those who do so with love towards thee and God.”

Richard of St. Laurence:  “Thy name, O Mary, is far better than riches, because it can better relieve poverty.”

St. Methodius:  “Thy name, O Mother of God, is filled with divine graces and blessings.”

St. Bonaventure:  “Thy name, O Mary, cannot be pronounced without bringing some grace to him who does so devoutly.”

St. Ambrose:  “Thy most sweet name, O Mary, is a precious ointment, which breathes forth the odor of divine grace.”

St. Germanus:  “…as breathing is a sign of life, so also is the frequent pronunciation of the name of Mary a sign either of the life of divine grace, or that it will soon come; for this powerful name has in it the virtue of obtaining help and life for him who invokes it devoutly.”

♥  M A R Y  ♥

The Lord gave her [St. Anne] to understand that she should treat her child exteriorly as a mother treats her daughter, but that she should preserve interiorly the respect due to her dignity. The Angels venerated her as their Queen, in the arms of her mother, and those who were appointed as her guardians rendered themselves visible to her eyes; this was the first time in which she beheld them under corporeal forms. One thousand were commissioned by God to defend her, from the very instant of her conception. After they had rendered their homage, God sent the Archangel Gabriel to announce the good tidings to the holy patriarchs in Limbo.

[From: The Divine Life of the Most Holy Virgin, by Ven. Mary of Agreda, pg. 17]

Sing, Sing, Ye Angel Bands

Sing, sing, ye Angel Bands,
All beautiful and bright;
For higher still and higher,
Thru fields of starry light,
Mary, your Queen, Ascends, Ascends,
Like the sweet moon at night.

Oh happy angels! look,
How beautiful she is!
See! Jesus bears her up,
Her hand is locked in His;
Oh, who can tell the height, the height,
Of that fair Mother’s bliss?

And shall I lose thee then,
Lose my sweet right to thee,
Ah no – the angels’ Queen
Man’s Mother still will be,
And thou upon thy throne
Wilt keep thy love for me.

On – through the countless stars
Proceeds the bright array,
And Love Divine comes forth
To light her on her way
Through the short gloom of night
Into celestial day.

Hark! hark! through highest heaven
What sounds of mystic mirth,
Mary by God proclaimed
Queen of Immaculate Birth,
And diademed with stars
The lowliest of the earth.

See, see, the Eternal Hands
Put on her radiant crown,
And the sweet Majesty
Of Mercy sitteth down
For ever and for ever
On her predestined throne.

[Rev. F.W. Faber] Traditional
Taken from the St. Basil’s Hymnal, 1953

Neil Babcox, before his conversion to the Catholic Church, had been a member of the Protestant clergy.  After reading Sam’s comment on my previous post (i.e., Sam of Contemplative Christian), I remembered hearing Neil’s testimony and wanted to share it here, not with conversion uppermost in my mind - but not without that possibility hovering around either – but with the knowledge of Mary’s love for all of her children, be they Catholic, Protestant or non-Christian.

In terms of conversion to the Catholic Church, Neil tells us that for many Protestants (he speaks of clergy, but I think it can be as readily said of most Protestants), “…the greatest stumbling block and the last obstacle to overcome is Catholic devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.”  His own experience, however, was the exact opposite.  For Neil, Mary was one of the “greatest draws and guides” into the Catholic Church. 

He speaks of two experiences which brought him closer to Mary:  one, a week-long retreat at a Trappist monastery and the other, one of his meditations while doing the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius.

Neil recounts his developing understanding of the “Hail Mary”, as well as a transformation in his reading of the Scriptures in light of Mary.  He speaks of a “lifting of the veil” (as I too did in my previous post); Neil’s was in reference to the intercession of Mary and the saints and how this had been lost to Protestant understanding since the Reformation.

Listen as Neil tells us of his discoveries through his reading of Marian theology, and of his love for the Rosary.

Neil, “wasn’t looking for Mary, and yet she came over the hills of my heart into my life.”   He says to his Protestant brothers and sisters:  “…love for Mary didn’t take me away from Jesus a single bit.  Love for Mary brought me closer to Jesus than I ever had been before.”  Amen, Neil.  To Jesus through Mary.