The Presentation in the Temple

November 21 The Feast of the Presentation of Mary

Mary’s presentation was celebrated in Jerusalem in the sixth century. A church was built there in honor of this mystery. The Eastern Church was more interested in the feast, but it does appear in the West in the 11th century. Although the feast at times disappeared from the calendar, in the 16th century it became a feast of the universal Church.

As with Mary’s birth, we read of Mary’s presentation in the temple only in apocryphal literature. In what is recognized as an unhistorical account, the Protoevangelium of James tells us that Anna and Joachim offered Mary to God in the Temple when she was three years old. This was to carry out a promise made to God when Anna was still childless.

Though it cannot be proven historically, Mary’s presentation has an important theological purpose. It continues the impact of the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the birth of Mary. It emphasizes that the holiness conferred on Mary from the beginning of her life on earth continued through her early childhood and beyond. Comment:

It is sometimes difficult for modern Westerners to appreciate a feast like this. The Eastern Church, however, was quite open to this feast and even somewhat insistent about celebrating it. Even though the feast has only apocyphal basis it stresses an important truth about Mary: From the beginning of her life, she was dedicated to God. She herself became a greater temple than any made by hands. God came to dwell in her in a marvelous manner and sanctified her for her unique role in God's saving work. At the same time, the magnificence of Mary rebounds upon her children. They, too, are temples of God and sanctified in order that they might enjoy and share in God's saving work.

Quote:
"Hail, holy throne of God, divine sanctuary, house of glory, jewel most fair, chosen treasure house, and mercy seat for the whole world, heaven showing forth the glory of God. Purest Virgin, worthy of all praise, sanctuary dedicated to God and raised above all human condition, virgin soil, unplowed field, flourishing vine, fountain pouring out waters, virgin bearing a child, mother without knowing man, hidden treasure of innocence, ornament of sanctity, by your most acceptable prayers, strong with the authority of motherhood, to our Lord and God, Creator of all, your Son who was born of you without a father, steer the ship of the Church and bring it to a quiet harbor"
(adapted from a homily by St. Germanus on the Presentation of the Mother of God).

Our Lady of Zapopan

Wow, I did not know of this wonderful Madonna. Be sure and click on over to Father Steve's blog and read it all, and view the related YouTube videos he has up. Salve Regina!

QUOTE October 12th means Columbus Day to Americans, but to the good citizens of Mexico, October 12th is also the day the "Traveling Lady of Zapopan" comes "home" to spend the Autumn and Winter months in her stately basilica. UNQUOTE

The Rosary

St. Dominic de Guzman popularized the Marian Psalter in the form we have it today (150 Aves with a Pater after each 10) when Our Lady encouraged him to pray it that way in response to the Albigensian heresy. So associated with the Rosary is St. Dominic that the Rosary is often called the "Dominican Rosary."

Learn to pray the Rosary - it is a fine way to meditate upon the life of Christ, do intercessory prayer and draw close to the Holy Trinity.

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The Best Call You Can Make

From Spirit Daily

QUOTE And have no fear. God is your refuge. He will not fail you. Just do not fail Him. You can call Him any time you'd like.
The area code is "Jesus, I trust in You" -- and the number is "Mary, take over!" She has surprises in store for you. Fear not.
Jesus I trust in You. Mary take over.
It's the best "call" that you can make. UNQUOTE

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The Nativity of the Mother of God

"Your nativity, O Mother of God, heralded joy to the whole universe, for from you rose the Sun of Justice, Christ our God, taking away the curse, He imparted the blessings, and by abolishing death, He gave us everlasting life."

~ Melkite Catholic Troparion for Feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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"Hail, O Lady, unique gateway through whom the Lord alone has passed!"

~ taken from The Akathist hymn to the Mother of God

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"The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth" Proverbs 8:22-25
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"It is essential for us to confess that the holy Ever-Virgin Mary is actually Theotokos (Birth-giver of God: literally, God-Bearer), so as not to fall into blasphemy. For those who deny that the Holy Virgin is actually Theotokos are no longer believers, but disciples of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (St. Ephraim the Syrian, in letter "To John the Monk").
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Mary is the Seat of Wisdom
- Litany of Loreto, 11th century.

St. Augustine first to call Our Lady Seat of Wisdom
also Pope Pius IXSt.

Bernard called her Domus divinae Sapientiae (House of divine wisdom).
Odo (d.c.1200),

a Benedictine Abbot of Battle Abbey:
Philosophy is called the pursuit or love of wisdom. Mary is, therefore, the philosophy of Christians for whoever desires to find true Wisdom must direct his/her love and endeavor to Mary. (Theotokos, 368)
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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.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.

Benedicta tu in mulieribus,

et benedictus fructus ventris tui,

Iesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,ora pro nobis peccatoribus,

nunc,et in hora mortis nostrae.

Amen.

C C C C

Blessed Mother Mary, Untier of Knots

Holy Mary, full of the presence of God, during your life you accepted with great humility the holy will of the father and the legacy of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and evil never dared to entangle you with its confusion. Since then you have interceded for all of our difficulties as you did at the wedding feast of Cana. With all simplicity and with patience, you have given us an example of how to untangle the knots in our complicated lives. By being our mother forever you arrange and make clear the path that unites us to Our Lord.

Holy Mary, Mother of God and ours, with your maternal heart, untie the knots that upset our lives. We ask you to receive into your hands (here mention your prayer request) and deliver us from the chains and confusion that restrain us. Blessed Virgin Mary, through your grace, your intercession and by your example, deliver us from evil, and untie the knots that keep us from being united to God. So that free of all confusion and error, we may find him in all things, keep him in our hearts, and serve him always in our brothers and sisters.

Mother of Good Counsel pray for us.Amen.

Source: http://www.maryundoerofknots.com/

NOTE: origin of this view. In St. Irenaeus of Lyons' book Adversus haereses (Against Heresies)Book III, Chapter 22, he explains that "... the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith."

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Head Coverings Redux

Having received some attention to the recent post on Veiling the Sacred, I have been doing some more reading on the subject and found a personal account of Christian head covering over at the Orthodox Christian Information Center which rings very true to me. I mean, if covering one's head in church allows us to participate more fully in the life of The Theotokos and makes us more harmonious with our Guardian Angel, what's not to like? The author's experience rings true and resonates with my personal experience. Amen, Elisabet! Now, if wearing a beret could only make me look like the model above ~ wait; it does? At least a little bit? Ah ha! When women realize head coverings are gorgeous, the churches wil be full of them, say what? If purity doesn't do it perhaps vanity will...

Here is an exerpt, but please click on over and read the whole thing.

QUOTE In 1995 I was chrismated Orthodox and was surprised to find myself again the only woman wearing a head-covering in my parish. An Orthodox sister told me, with a nod to my scarf, "We don't have to wear that anymore." I smiled and said, "I know, but I want to." St. Paul had said "ought," not "must." It was my voluntary obedience, even if I didn't understand the "why's." By now I had no intention of giving up the benefits. I felt blessed and protected, feminine, and, paradoxically, confident and free—in the presence of guardian and ministering angels.
In Orthodox worship the angels were even more in evidence. The Divine Liturgy is full of references to the various ranks of angels, emphasizing our participation with them in the joyous worship of the Holy Trinity. St. John Chrysostom (d. A.D. 407), in a sermon at the Feast of the Ascension, spoke both of angels and the veiling of women: "The angels are present hereOpen the eyes of faith and look upon this sight. For if the very air is filled with angels, how much more so the Church! ...Hear the Apostle teaching this, when he bids the women to cover their heads with a veil because of the presence of the angels." UNQUOTE

Veiling The Sacred

One hears frequently that one is a reprobate female for wearing a veil in Church. Some veiled ladies visiting modernist churches have overheard a whisper that a "Muslim" was visiting (this when covered Melkite-style - I've been Christian all my life); others question the veiled woman's self-esteem, feminist credentials or orientation to the men in her life. I have, as recently as today, been refused, in a Novus Ordo Mass, the Sign of Peace, refused eye contact and refused conversation, I guess because the head covering makes people uncomortable.

For myself, I was told by Traditionalist friends that it was a good Catholic sacred tradition which had been tossed out, like baby with the bathwater, after Vatican II. I have gradually tried it out of respect for the Melkite and Latin parishes where I frequently visit, and now maintain the custom even when I visit modern (Novus Ordo) churches.

Here is a fantastic explanation of the veiling custom by Lincoln' s own Father Robert Fromageot, FSSP. I heard him give this homily at Saint Francis last autumn, and it is nice to find this except online at Stony Creek Digest.

Veiling the Sacred

QUOTE Among the many different ways in which the sense of the sacred is brought out during the liturgy, the use of veils is perhaps the most obvious one. Whatever contains or is meant to contain the Blessed Sacrament is usually veiled: the tabernacle, the chalice, the ciborium, the monstrance. And even when the veil is removed from the chalice, the liturgy provides other ways to veil it.

At each moment of the double consecration, when the celebrant pronounces the words that brings forth Our Lord upon the altar in the species of bread and wine, he bends over the bread and wine, and places his arms upon the altar, the symbol of Christ. Such a gesture is meant to show the priest’s union with Christ at that moment, while also helping the priest to focus his entire attention on the consecration. Physically speaking, however, the priest is literally covering the species, veiling them, as it were, and thus producing the same effect as any other veil: namely, he manifests the sacredness of the moment of Consecration. In this way, the ancient rite gently inculcates in the faithful a proper disposition towards Our Lord contained in the Blessed Sacrament.

Consider also, the function of those things which are ordinarily veiled: the tabernacle, the chalice, etc. All of these are vessels of the very Source of life, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Light and Life and of the World. It is because these vessels are designated to contain Christ Himself that they are sacred vessels; hence, they are used for no other purpose than to receive and contain the Blessed Sacrament. At one time, only bishops, priests, and deacons were permitted to open the tabernacle, handle the sacred vessels, and touch the Sacred Host with their hands. All of these vessels, moreover, but especially the chalice, are usually made with great care out of gold and silver, jewels and precious stones.

Finally, the chalice is the only vessel that is consecrated by a bishop and anointed with oil. Little wonder, then, that the chalice veil is invariably the most beautiful of all the veils found in the sanctuary.

Taking our cue from the use of veils in the sanctuary, we can say that every woman who embraces the ancient tradition of wearing a veil creates a wonderful harmony between herself as a vessel of life and the vessels that hold Life itself. Like Our Lord contained in the Blessed Sacrament, a woman shares with Him a certain vulnerability. For just as a person who does not respect the Body and Blood of Christ can have his way with the Lord by receiving Him unworthily, so too can a man who has no respect for the opposite sex easily overpower her and have his way with her. Moreover, just as Our Lord makes Himself vulnerable by being born anew upon our altars under the perishable species of bread and wine, so too a woman shares in the vulnerability of her newborn infant in the very act of giving birth to him, to say nothing of the extra help many women need when they are pregnant.

Women are also sacred, inasmuch as the rise or fall of civilizations depends largely on how men regard and treat them, and how women understand and treat themselves. Just as only those who have committed themselves to the Lord through a life of celibacy may justly touch the Holy Eucharist with their hands, so too only those men who have committed themselves to their wives through the bonds of holy matrimony may justly “touch” a woman in a way that may bring new life into the world. For women are vessels of new life, life made according to the image and likeness of God Himself, just as the tabernacle, chalice, and ciborium contain the Image of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Of all the sacred vessels, however, women are best likened to the chalice of the Precious Blood. For when a woman conceives and bears a child, it is through her blood that the life of the child is sustained and nourished. Similarly, the Bride of Christ, the Church, is said to sustain her members through the Blood of Christ. For just as Eve was taken from the side of Adam, the fathers of the Church see in the blood and water flowing from the side of Our Lord the birth of His Church: the New Eve, the Bride of Christ, which sustains and nourishes her members through the grace of the sacraments.

The leading lights of our age often claim to champion the rights of women, and in certain respects the claim is legitimate. At the same time, however, our age has clearly not sought to protect and foster the sacred dignity of women. On the contrary, society would have us remove our wedding garment, divest ourselves of Christ, and put on the “old man” and make ample provision for the flesh.

Men are practically encouraged to treat women as mere objects of pleasure, and women are encouraged to seek this degrading form of attention and accept it as normal and compatible with their dignity. Men and women, but especially women, have become desensitized to using contraceptives, choosing abortion, and embracing sterilization. In short, our society no longer respects or values the gift of fertility; society no longer honors the unique privilege of being a woman. Consequently, it no longer cultivates the responsibility that necessarily accompanies this gift, this privilege. This collective failure on the part of society has wreaked havoc, and it is far from certain that we shall recover and escape dissolution and destruction.

Sadly, some forty years ago millions of Catholics decided to put on the old man when they rejected the teaching of the Church concerning contraception. Around the same time, the ancient tradition of wearing veils or head coverings of any sort was likewise abandoned. Knowing what the veil stands for, it is difficult to not to regard that these two events — the rejection of the Church’s teaching on contraception on the one hand and the liturgical practice of wearing veils and head coverings on the other — as wholly unrelated. Indeed, many took both events as a step forward in the emancipation of women from so-called male dominance.

But as members of the Mystical Body of Christ, we should know better. We have all been called to the wedding banquet of the Lamb; we have received our wedding garment. Knowing, therefore, that many are called but few are chosen, let us cherish that garment and pray never to be without it. On the contrary, let us ever implore the divine assistance always to “put off the old man” with all of its deceitful lusts, and ever strive to be renewed in the spirit of our minds. Let us “put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh.” UNQUOTE

Rufina and Secunda, Strong Women, Holy Martyrs

Saints Rufina and Secunda (Italian - Sante Rufina e Seconda) (3rd century - 257 AD) were Roman martyrs and Christian saints. Their feast day is celebrated on July 10.

According to the legendary Acts, they suffered martyrdom for Christ in 257 during the persecution of Emperor Valerian. Their legend states that they were daughters of a Roman senator named Asterius. Their fiances, Armentarius and Verinus, were Christians, but renounced their faith when Valerian began his persecutions.

Escaping to Etruria, Rufina and Secunda were captured and brought before a prefect, who tortured and then beheaded them. Their bodies were buried on the Via Aurelia and the church of Sante Rufina e Secunda was built in their honor in Rome.

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One of the criticisms levelled at Traditional Catholics is the idea that our women are somehow weak, pasty holy cards of submissive and drab womanhood. But when one pays attention, you realize that the saints and martyrs were often such strong-minded tough cookies that we may have little experience of such folks in our actual life. But just imagine, these young ladies, from a patriarchal culture, in love with their betrothed and their whole life ahead of them. But these ladies did not capitulate, even under what we now call "enhanced interrogations". They were strong women who loved truth, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost more than their lovers, more than life itself. Our Lady herself is the strongest flower in God's Garden, enduring as she did the

agony on the Cross with Her Son, and participating mystically in the redemption of fallen humanity. She is called by the Church Co-Redemptrix for this reason. Before the year 200, the Church Father Irenaeus referred to Mary as "causa salutis" [cause of our salvation] given her "fiat" ("Be it done to me according to thy word.")

Pope Benedict XV first described the term in his own right in his Apostolic Letter, Inter Soldalica, issued on March 22, 1918: "As the Blessed Virgin Mary does not seem to participate in the public life of Jesus Christ, and then, suddenly appears at the stations of his cross, she is not there without divine intention. She suffers with her suffering and dying son, almost as if she would have died herself. For the salvation of mankind, she gave up her rights as the mother of her son and sacrificed him for the reconciliation of divine justice, as far as she was permitted to do. Therefore, one can say, she redeemed with Christ the human race."

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