Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Chaplet of the Holy Will
Saturday, March 2, 2024
First Saturday Devotion
The History of the Five First Saturday’s of the Month
On the 13th May 1917, Our Lady first mentioned devotion to her Immaculate Heart to the children of Fatima saying “You have seen hell, where souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.”
On the 10th December 1925, Our Lady appeared to Lucia detailing how devotion to her Immaculate Heart was to be practiced. These words are from Sr Lucia’s own account:
“… by her side, elevated on a luminous cloud, was a child. The most holy Virgin rested her hand on her shoulder, and as she did so, she showed her a heart encircled by thorns, which she was holding in her other hand. At the same time, the Child said:
“Have compassion on the Heart of your most holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them.”
Then the most holy Virgin said: “Look, my daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
How to Practice the Five First Saturday’s Devotion
1) Confession: Make a good confession during the 8 days prior to the first Saturday with the intention of offering reparation for the offences against Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart.
2) Communion. You should attend Holy Mass and receive Holy Communion with the intention of offering reparation for the offences against Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart
3) The Communion should be received on the first Saturday of the month.
4) The confession must be repeated for 5 consecutive months, without interruption, otherwise you must recommence from the beginning.
5) Recite 5 decades of the Holy Rosary with the intention of making reparation to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart
6) 15 minutes meditation on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary. Accompany Our Lady by meditating on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary.
Accompany Our Lady by meditating on the mysteries of the Holy Rosary. This can be done by reading the biblical texts of the mysteries of the Holy Rosary slowly thinking of their content. You could meditate on one mystery for 15 minutes at the end of the prayer as Sr Lucia did. This meditation is in addition to the recitation of the Rosary.
7) Say the prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary to conclude the devotion.
Why five Saturdays?
Our Lord told Sr Lucia that the 5 Saturdays represent the offences against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
“My daughter, the reason is simple. There are five types of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
1. Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception;
2. Blasphemies against Her Virginity;
3. Blasphemies against Her Divine Maternity, in refusing at the same time to recognize Her as the Mother of men;
4. The blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children, indifference, or scorn or even hatred of this Immaculate Mother;
5. The offenses of those who outrage Her directly in Her holy images. Here, my daughter, is the reason why the Immaculate Heart of Mary inspired Me to ask for this little act of reparation. . (May 29,1930)
Confession
Sister Lucia clarified what should be done if confession cannot be made on the first Saturday of the month:
“My Jesus! Many souls find it difficult to confess on Saturday. Will Thou allow a confession within eight days to be valid He replied:
Yes. It can even be made later on, provided that the souls are in the state of grace when they receive Me on the First Saturday and that they had the intention of making reparation to the Sacred Heart of Mary. – My Jesus!
And those who forget to form this intention?
They can form it at the next confession, taking advantage of their first opportunity to go to confession. (February 15, 1926)”
Communion
Grace and Misericordia
During a revelation by Our Lord on the 29th May 1930, Sr Lucia clarified what one should do if all the conditions for the devotion, like the receipt of Holy Communion, could not be fulfilled on the first Saturday.
Our Lord said: “The practice of this devotion will be equally accepted on the Sunday following the first Saturday, when, for just reasons, My priests will allow it.”
Spiritual Attitude towards the devotion
Our Lady promised that She would “assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation” the souls who make the first five Saturdays. However, it is important that the desire to console Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart by making reparation and growing in holiness is the main motivation for the practice. To underline this fact, Our Lord told Sr Lucia:
“It is true, my daughter, that many souls begin the First Saturdays, but few finish them, and those who do complete them do so in order to receive the graces that are promised thereby. It would please me more if they did Five with fervour and with the intention of making reparation to the Heart of your heavenly Mother, than if they did Fifteen, in a tepid and indifferent manner…” (15th February 1926)
Friday, March 1, 2024
First Friday Devotion
“On Friday during Holy Communion, He said these words to His unworthy slave, if I mistake not: ‘I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that Its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they will not die under My displeasure or without receiving their sacraments, My divine Heart making Itself their assured refuge at the last moment.'”
First Friday Requirements: To meet the requirements for the First Friday Devotion a person must, on each First Friday for nine consecutive months:
1. Attend Holy Mass
2. Receive Communion
3. Go to Confession*
*Some Catholic resources on this devotion say that Confession is not strictly required unless you need the sacrament in order to receive a worthy Communion, in other words, you need to go to Confession so you can be in the state of grace before you can receive Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Other sources say you must go to Confession with in eight days before or after the Friday. Even if you are in the state of grace. If in doubt, consult your spiritual director. The more prevalent view prescribes the latter
The communicant should have the intention, at least implicitly, of making reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for all the sinfulness and ingratitude of men.
Our Lord made these promises to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque regarding those who practice the Nine First Fridays and have a deep devotion to His Sacred Heart. The Twelve Promises listed below includes the “Great Promise” (number 12).
1. I will give them all of the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. I will establish peace in their homes.
3. I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
4. I will be their strength during life and above all during death.
5. I will bestow a large blessing upon all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall grow fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
9. I will bless every place where a picture of my heart shall be set up and honored.
10. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be blotted out.
12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant all to those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving their sacraments; My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.
Friday, February 23, 2024
How did the Church begin?
God planned the gathering of His faithful people together into a single community from the beginning of human history (Catechism of the Catholic Church 759). We see this plan played out over the various stages of humanity in Scripture. For example, God’s Old Testament covenant with Abraham leads eventually to the establishment of the kingdom of Israel, a precursor to the Church as it exists today. As God more fully reveals Himself to mankind, and human knowledge about God grows, the stage becomes set for God to fully reveal Himself in Christ, Who finally establishes a single community of believers, God’s one true Church.
Jesus prepares His Church by appointing twelve apostles. The Catechism (CCC) explains: “Representing the twelve tribes of Israel, they are the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem. The Twelve and the other disciples share in Christ’s mission and his power, but also in his lot. By all his actions, Christ prepares and builds His Church” (765).
During his ministry on Earth, Jesus singles out the apostle Simon Bar-Jona to be the head of His new Church, which will exist to the end of time: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18; see also John 1:42). With these words, Jesus changes Simon’s name to Peter, which means “rock.” In Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, Simon’s new name is Kepha (or Cephas), which means a sizable rock usable as a building’s foundation. Kepha is translated into Greek as Petros, from which we get Peter in English.
Jesus goes on to give Peter special authority over His Church: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (CONFESSION) (Matt. 16:19). Peter and the other apostles who hear this proclamation understand these symbolic keys to be Jesus’ Own Authority over His Church in His absence. Such a handing on of kingly authority was known to the Jews and is imaged in the Old Testament foretelling of Eliakim being given authority as King Hezekiah’s royal steward over the kingdom of Israel (Isa. 22:20-22).
Just as God gives Eliakim the keys to the kingdom of Israel, Jesus gives Peter the keys to his kingdom. And just as Eliakim “shall be a father” to Israel (Isa. 22:21), Peter (and his successors) leads the Church as a spiritual father—as papa, or pope. The authority to “bind and loose” (“open and shut”) is given first to Peter and later to the apostles under him as well.
The Catechism explains:
The “power of the keys” designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this mandate after his Resurrection: “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17). The power to “bind and loose” connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgments, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the ministry of the apostles and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom (553).
Having established an authoritative hierarchy for His Church, Jesus demonstrates that He intends the Church to be a community of believers with a continual, visible hierarchy here on earth. For example, He outlines a procedure involving sinners in the Church:
If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the Church; and if he refuses to listen even to the Church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector (Matt. 18:15-17).
Clearly, Jesus founded the Church as a tight-knit community of disciples with tangible access to the authority of Peter and the apostles. Shortly after the Ascension, this all became manifest to the world: “When the work which the Father gave the Son to do on earth was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that he might continually sanctify the Church. Then the Church was openly displayed to the crowds and the spread of the gospel among the nations, through preaching, was begun” (CCC 767).
[TAKEN FROM - 20 ANSWERS: THE EARLY CHURCH]
Sunday, February 11, 2024
Our Lady of Lourdes February 11th & Day of the Sick
History of Our Lady of Lourdes:
The first apparition occurred February 11, 1858. There were eighteen in all; the last took place July 16, of the same year. Bernadette often fell into an ecstasy during these apparitions, as was witnessed by the hundreds who attended the later visions, though no one except Bernadette ever saw or heard the apparition.
The mysterious vision Bernadette saw in the hollow of the rock Massabielle, where she and friends had gone to gather firewood, was that of a young and beautiful lady. "Lovelier than I have ever seen" said the child. She described the Lady as clothed in white, with a blue ribbon sash and a Rosary hanging from her right arm. Now and then the apparition spoke to Bernadette.
One day, the Lady told the girl to drink of a mysterious fountain within the grotto itself, the existence of which was unknown, and of which there was no sign. But Bernadette scratched at the ground, and a spring immediately bubbled up and soon gushed forth. On another occasion the apparition bade Bernadette go and tell the priests she wished a chapel to be built on the spot and processions to be made to the grotto. At first the clergy were incredulous. The priest said he would not believe it unless the apparition gave Bernadette her name. After another apparition, Bernadette reported that the Lady told her, "I am the Immaculate Conception". Though the girl was unfamiliar with the term, the Pope had declared the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary in 1854.
Four years after Bernadette's visions, in 1862, the bishop of the diocese declared the faithful "justified in believing the reality of the apparition" of Our Lady. A basilica was built upon the rock of Massabielle by M. Peyramale, the parish priest. In 1873 the great "national" French pilgrimages were inaugurated. Three years later the basilica was consecrated and the statue solemnly crowned. In 1883 the foundation stone of another church was laid, as the first was no longer large enough. It was built at the foot of the basilica and was consecrated in 1901 and called the Church of the Rosary. Pope Leo XIII authorized a special office and a Mass, in commemoration of the apparition, and in 1907 Pius X extended the observance of this feast to the entire Church; it is now observed on February 11.
Miracles at Lourdes
Entrusting Oneself to the Merciful Jesus like Mary:
“Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5)
God of all goodness,
Look with mercy on all who suffer any kind of infirmity, sickness or injury,
that they may be comforted.
Let Your hand of healing and protection be upon them.God of compassion and comfort,
When they are fearful, ease their fear and anxieties.
When they are afraid, give them strength and courage.
When they feel alone, send them someone to listen and to care.
When they are confused, provide reassurance and direction.
When they are in pain, ease their suffering.
When they despair, give them hope.
May they experience Your healing presence
in the comfort of a caregiver's calm gaze and tender touch.
Help caregivers to see Your Face in the faces
of those who suffer illness, pain or infirmity.
May they reach out with compassionate hearts and capable hands.O Lord, enclose all who are sick and those who care for them in Your healing Embrace.
May they have the ability to calm those who are anxious.
May they be present to those who feel alone.
May they offer hope to those in despair.
May they bring comfort where there is pain.
May they provide reassurance amidst confusion and doubt.
We pray through the intercession of Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes.
Amen.
Monday, December 18, 2023
Arguing Catholics
The one thing that Jesus always prayed for is that we all be one as He is in the Father & the Father in Him. How arrogant is he who argues who is bad and who is good while disparaging their reputation and office? Whether true or false, is this not the sin of detraction?!
We all want to believe we're on the right track and the path that leads to heaven. And this is a valid concern, however, as St. Bernadette has said, our job is not to convince; but simply inform.
Should we not take the two most important sentences in the prayer that Jesus gave us and pray without ceasing: "THY KINGDOM COME. THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN."
Please stop the arguing over things that are God's alone. Nothing can happen unless Jesus permits it and if He does, it's either in His Plan or He'll bring about a greater good from it.
Arguing among ourselves and trying to change people's minds only fuels the devil's delight as he thoroughly enjoys all our contention for each other.
Did Jesus not promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church?
Trust God and surrender to His Holy Will in all things ... Be patient and wait upon the Lord. He will never fail us!
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Patroness of the Americas
Feast Day in the USA - December 12th
The opening of the New World brought with it both fortune-seekers and religious preachers desiring to convert the native populations to the Christian faith. One of the converts was a poor Aztec Indian named Juan Diego. On one of his trips to the chapel, Juan was walking through the Tepayac hill country in central Mexico. Near Tepayac Hill he encountered a beautiful woman surrounded by a ball of light as bright as the sun. Speaking in his native tongue, the beautiful lady identified herself:
"My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother's Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard."
Juan, age 57, and who had never been to Tenochtitlan, nonetheless immediately responded to Mary's request. He went to the palace of the Bishop-elect Fray Juan de Zumarraga and requested to meet immediately with the bishop. The bishop's servants, who were suspicious of the rural peasant, kept him waiting for hours. The bishop-elect told Juan that he would consider the request of the Lady and told him he could visit him again if he so desired. Juan was disappointed by the bishop's response and felt himself unworthy to persuade someone as important as a bishop. He returned to the hill where he had first met Mary and found her there waiting for him. Imploring her to send someone else, she responded:
"My little son, there are many I could send. But you are the one I have chosen."
She then told him to return the next day to the bishop and repeat the request. On Sunday, after again waiting for hours, Juan met with the bishop who, on re-hearing his story, asked him to ask the Lady to provide a sign as a proof of who she was. Juan dutifully returned to the hill and told Mary, who was again waiting for him there, of the bishop's request. Mary responded:
"My little son, am I not your Mother? Do not fear. The Bishop shall have his sign. Come back to this place tomorrow. Only peace, my little son."
While it was freezing on the hillside, Juan obeyed Mary's instructions and went to the top of the hill where he found a full bloom of Castilian roses. Removing his tilma, a poncho-like cape made of cactus fiber, he cut the roses and carried them back to Mary. She rearranged the roses and told him: "My little son, this is the sign I am sending to the Bishop. Tell him that with this sign I request his greatest efforts to complete the church I desire in this place. Show these flowers to no one else but the Bishop. You are my trusted ambassador. This time the Bishop will believe all you tell him."
It's believed that the word Guadalupe was actually a Spanish mis-translation of the local Aztec dialect. The word that Mary probably used was Coatlallope which means "one who treads on snakes"! Within six years of this apparition, six million Aztecs had converted to Catholicism. The tilma shows Mary as the God-bearer - she is pregnant with her Divine Son. Since the time the tilma was first impressed with a picture of the Mother of God, it has been subject to a variety of environmental hazards including smoke from fires and candles, water from floods and torrential downpours and, in 1921, a bomb which was planted by anti-clerical forces on an altar under it. There was also a cast-iron cross next to the tilma and when the bomb exploded, the cross was twisted out of shape, the marble altar rail was heavily damaged and the tilma was ... untouched! Indeed, no one was injured in the Church despite the damage that occurred to a lae part of the altar structure.
In 1977, the tilma was examined using infrared photography and digital enhancement techniques. Unlike any painting, the tilma shows no sketching or any sign of outline drawn to permit an artist to produce a painting. Further, the very method used to create the image is still unknown. The image is inexplicable in its longevity and method of production. It can be seen today in a large cathedral built to house up to ten thousand worshipers. It is, by far, the most popular religious pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere.
Friday, December 8, 2023
Special hour of Grace on the feast of the Immaculate Conception
The 8th of December is an important day - the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It is also the day on which in 1947 Our Blessed Mother gave us the Hour of Grace.
Our Lady said as follows: "It is my wish that every year, on 8th December, at noon, the HOUR OF GRACE FOR THE WORLD be celebrated. Many divine and bodily graces will be received through this devotion. Our Lord, my Divine Son Jesus, will send His overflowing mercy if good people will pray continuously for their sinful brother.... it is my wish that the HOUR OF GRACE FOR THE WORLD be made known and spread throughout the world. If anyone is unable to visit his church, yet will pray at home, he will also receive graces through me.... will find a secure heavenly ladder and receive protection and grace through my motherly heart."
Our Lady promised she will hear any prayer we make at this time.
THE REQUEST OF OUR BLESSED MOTHER FOR THE HOUR OF GRACE:
Day and time of the Hour of Grace: December 8th, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, to be started at 12:00 noon and continuing until 1:00 p.m. for one full hour of prayer.
During this hour, the person making the Hour of Grace either at home or at church must put away all distractions (do not answer the telephones, or answer any doors, or do anything but totally concentrate on your union with God during this special Hour of Grace).
Begin the Hour of Grace by praying three times the 51st Psalm with out-stretched arms. (Psalm 51 appears below).
The rest of the Hour of Grace may be spent in silent communication with God meditating upon the Passion of Jesus, saying the Holy Rosary, praising God in your own way, or by using favorite prayers, singing hymns, meditating upon other psalms, etc.
Please copy and distribute this message. Remember to pray for your country during this hour. The Blessed Virgin has requested that her important message be sent throughout the entire world. Please help her Mission: that all souls be drawn to God, and that Jesus will be loved in every heart. This is the perpetual song of her heart. Let it also be yours.
PSALM 51
Have mercy on on me, God, in Your goodness; in Your abundant compassion blot out my offense.
Wash away all my guilt; from my sin cleanse me. For I know my offense; my sin is always before me. Against You alone have I sinned; I have done such evil in Your sight that You are just in Your sentence, blameless when You condemn. True, I was born guilty, a sinner, even as my mother conceived me. Still, You insist on sincerity of heart; in my innermost being teach me wisdom. Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, make me whiter than snow. Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice. Turn away Your Face from my sins; blot out all my guilt. A clean heart create for me, God; renew in me a steadfast spirit. Do not drive me from Your Presence, nor take from me Your Holy Spirit. Restore my joy in your salvation; sustain in me a willing spirit. I will teach the wicked Your ways, that sinners may return to You. Rescue me from death, God, my saving God, that my tongue may praise Your healing power. Lord, open my lips; my mouth will proclaim Your praise. For You do not desire sacrifice; a burnt offering You would not accept. My sacrifice, God, is a broken spirit; God, do not spurn a broken, humbled heart. Make Zion prosper in Your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will be pleased with proper sacrifice, burnt offerings and holocausts; then bullocks will be offered on Your altar.
Conceived Without Sin
The Immaculate Conception refers to the condition that the Blessed Virgin Mary was free from Original Sin from the very moment of her conception in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne. We celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary—her birth—on September 8; nine months before that is December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.The Development of the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception
Fr. John Hardon, S.J., in his Modern Catholic Dictionary, notes that "Neither the Greek nor Latin Fathers explicitly taught the Immaculate Conception, but they professed it implicitly." It would take many centuries, though, for the Catholic Church to recognize the Immaculate Conception as a doctrine—as something which all Christians must believe—and many more before Pope Pius IX, on December 8, 1854, would declare it a dogma—that is, a doctrine that the Church teaches was revealed by God Himself.The Declaration of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception In the Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX wrote that "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."
As Father Hardon further writes, the Blessed Virgin's "freedom from sin was an unmerited gift of God or special grace, and an exception to the law, or privilege, which no other created person has received."
The Immaculate Conception Anticipates Christ's Redemption of All Mankind
Another misconception people have is that Mary's Immaculate Conception was necessary to ensure that Original Sin would not be passed on to Christ. This has never been a part of the teaching on the Immaculate Conception; rather, the Immaculate Conception represents Christ's saving grace operating in Mary in anticipation of His redemption of man and in God's foreknowledge of Mary's acceptance of His Will for her.In other words, the Immaculate Conception was not a precondition for Christ's act of redemption but the result of that act. It is the concrete expression of God's love for Mary, who gave herself fully, completely, and without hesitation to His service.
For more on the development of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, see the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
On November twenty-first the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast finds its origins as early as the second century according to apocryphal source, the Protoevangelium or the book of James. This feast was already commemorated in the East by the sixth century. Pope Gregory XI heard of this feast being kept in Greece in 1372 and introduced it at Avigon. In 1585 Pope Sixtus extended to the universal Church. This feast refers to Our Lady's presentation at the temple in Jerusalem as a small child. When she was only three years old, the Blessed Virgin Mary was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem by her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne. There she was taught, lived with other little girls and was cared for by pious women. The Blessed Virgin was happy to begin serving God in the Temple. Even as a little Child Mary's life was centered on God. She studied the Sacred Scriptures and awaited and hope for the coming of the Messiah. On this feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary let us ask Our Lady to help us to consecrate ourselves entirely to God.
"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." --St. Germanus, homily on the Presentation of the Mother of God