Legion of Mary

Month of the Immaculate Conception ~ December 22nd The Approaching Day 1. When the sun is soon to appear above the horizon, the morning star, shining with a light derived indeed from him, but nevertheless shining bright and clear even before his coming, gives the signal of his approach. So the holy Mother of God, dawning upon the world with a grace and beauty which was the gift of her divine Son, anticipated His Incarnation and made the world more beautiful in God's sight than it had ever been before. Mary was more precious to God than all the rest of men, and this quite independently of her divine maternity. Consider why this was, and learn a lesson for yourself. ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Immaculate Conception ~ December 20th The Causes of Delay (continued) 2. Yet we can at least form some kind of conjecture as to the causes of delay. God works by natural means. In order that the religion of Jesus should spread all over the world by the ordinary working of the laws that govern the affairs of men, it was convenient that the world should be subject to one central power. This was never the case until, at the time of Christ's nativity, the Roman Empire was mistress of the world. Thus God prepares the way for His designs of mercy, and arranges the world's events according to His will, yet without forcing the wills of men. ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Immaculate Conception ~ December 19th The Causes of Delay 1. If the wickedness of the world in heathen times was so great, how was it that the coming of the Redeemer was so long delayed? To this question we can only give one answer with absolute certainty, that it was so decreed by Almighty God in His infinite wisdom. We cannot hope in this life to comprehend the mysteries of the providence of the Most High. We can only humbly bow our heads and say that the Redeemer came when God so willed, and that what God wills is necessarily the best. ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Immaculate Conception ~ December 17th The Golden Thread (continued) 2. So through all the centuries that have passed since the coming of Our Lord, the Catholic Church has been the golden thread of light amid the darkness of heresy and heathendom. What a bright and glorious thread! What a contrast to all around! How it has, through God's mercy, enlightened my life! How can I ever thank God sufficiently that, led by its divine light, I am travelling on in peace and safety to the heavenly Jerusalem! ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Immaculate Conception ~ December 16th The Golden Thread 1. All through the long ages that elapsed from the promise to the coming of the Redeemer, a golden thread of light from heaven ran athwart their darkness. In the chosen people of Israel there ever prevailed a strong conviction of the coming of a Saviour, Who was to deliver His people from all sin and evil. It was handed down from generation to generation, and was again and again renewed by the inspired declarations of the prophets of Israel. Thus God in His mercy never leaves Himself without a witness to reveal to men of good-will the message of hope. ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

HYMN - O Come, Divine Messiah 1. O come, Divine Messiah, The world in silence waits the day When hope shall sing its triumph And sadness flee away. Refrain: Sweet Savior, haste! Come, come to earth. Dispel the night and show Thy face, And bid us hail the dawn of grace; O come, Divine Messiah, The world in silence waits the day When hope shall sing of triumph And sadness flee away. 2. Thou’lt come in peace and meekness And lowly will Thy cradle be; All veiled in human weakness, Thy majesty we’ll see. [Refrain] 3. O Thou whom nations sighed for, Whom seer and prophet long foretold, Wilt break the captive's fetters, Redeem the long-lost fold. [Refrain] ~ as found in the De La Salle Hymnal (1923)

Month of the Immaculate Conception ~ December 15th Transient Gleams (continued) 3. So, too, many of the deeds of the heroes of antiquity appear worthy of the holy ones of God. Some may have been done from a supernatural motive, and may even have merited eternal life. But no act, however noble in the natural order, is of any value in the sight of God, unless it be done with some sort of conscious desire to please and serve Him. Do my ordinary actions possess this necessary characteristic? ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Saint John of the Cross December 14 St. John of the Cross, my glorious protector, in your lifetime you were the father of the poor, the consoler of the afflicted and the assured refuge of the suffering; you worked miracles of charity for all, miracles which you repeat even now by means of your holy images and relics. Deign also to be my consoler and my father; comfort me in my sorrows and aid me to see in every cross a pledge of divine mercy that, through the cross, I may gain heaven. Obtain for me, too, the special grace I ask through your intercession, if it be for the glory of God and for my salvation (make request). Amen Three Our Fathers, Hail Marys & Glory be

Month of the Immaculate Conception ~ December 14th Transient Gleams (continued) 2. There is something very beautiful in the sentiments of the old Greek and Roman poets. Their minstrelsy rings sweetly in our ears. Their poems proclaim them men of the highest genius. But they have no power to effect a change of heart, such as is wrought by the inspired words of some great saint or servant of God. God must speak through man's voice, if it is to avail to turn others to God. Do I pray God thus to rule and direct my words that they may do His work? ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Month of the Immaculate Conception ~ December 13th Transient Gleams 1. From time to time there broke through the thick darkness of heathendom a gleam of light that seemed to be a harbinger of the coming day. Some sage or poet sang of a golden age that soon would be at hand. But the flash of light soon disappeared, and only left the darkness even darker than before. So in the life of those who have hardened themselves against God there are sometimes moments when the devil seems to have forsaken his prey, and there seems a hope of better things. But if Jesus' coming is still far away, the improvement soon passes, and the evil seems to have even a more complete mastery than ever before. ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

Saint Lucy of Syracuse December 13 Saint Lucy, your beautiful name signifies light. By the light of faith which God bestowed upon you, increase and preserve this light in my soul so that I may avoid evil, be zealous in the performance of good works, and abhor nothing so much as the blindness and the darkness of evil and of sin. By your intercession with God, obtain for me perfect vision for my bodily eyes and the grace to use them for God’s greater honor and glory and the salvation of all men. Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr, hear my prayers and obtain my petitions. Amen.

Month of the Immaculate Conception ~ December 12th The Long Darkness (continued) 3. If I had lived then, what should I have been? Even with all my countless graces and advantages, what a poor specimen I am of one made by God, for God, and in the image of God! In heathen days should I not have been among the most depraved? Should I not have recklessly indulged my own inclinations, irrespective of the voice of God warning and reproaching me? What chance should I have had of saving my soul in those days of dark corruption and depravity? ~ Rev. Richard F. Clarke, S.J., The Devout Year (1893)

OUR LADY of GUADALUPE - 13 Within 10 years of Our Lady’s appearance, human sacrifice had ended in Mexico and 10 million Aztec people had converted to Catholicism. Thus the 5 million Europeans who had apostatized were more than replaced by this vibrant new flock, even as in heaven the fallen angels are replaced by the saints. The effect of the Reformation had been miraculously counteracted. In 1945, at the urging of U.S. and Canadian bishops, our Lady of Guadalupe was named Empress of the Americas by Pope Pius XII. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.

OUR LADY of GUADALUPE - 12 Afterwards The image of Guadalupe conveyed the exact message that the Native peoples needed in order to abandon their worship of idols and the bloody sacrifice of their families to those idols. This image of Our Lady caused millions of Indians to convert to the Catholic faith. Missionaries then took the message of the Faith, the good news of the Gospel, both north and south from Mexico. Our Blessed Mother's image, surrounded by luminous light, standing on the moon, and with stars on her mantle, reflects the description found in the Book of Revelation: "A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (12:1). In Christian iconography, the crescent moon under our Lady's feet also symbolizes perpetual virginity and is connected with her Immaculate Conception and Assumption.

OUR LADY of GUADALUPE - 11 • The pink color of her tunic symbolizes the earth, and the design on her rose-colored garment is a topographical map of the area in Mexico where the apparition occurred: she is also the ‘Queen of the Earth.’ • The angel holding both her mantle and tunic indicates that heaven and earth are united in her. She is the ‘Queen of Heaven and Earth’. • The four-petaled flower over her womb (jasmine) conveys that she is “The Mother of God". • The black cross on the brooch at her throat indicates that her God is the same as that of the Spanish missionaries: her Son is therefore Jesus Christ. • Her hands are joined in prayer and her eyes are lowered submissively. She prays to One Who is greater than she: her hands point to the cross at her throat.

OUR LADY of GUADALUPE - 10 What the Aztecs Saw The native Indian population interpreted the image of Our Lady as one would a hieroglyphic: their form of writing was pictorial. This is what they would have seen: • A beautiful lady standing in front of the sun, a sign that she is greater than their sun god, Huitzilopochtli. • The crescent moon is beneath her feet, showing her vanquishing of the moon god, Tezcatlipoca. • The stars, worshipped by the Aztecs, are strewn across her mantle: she is greater than the stars. • Her hairstyle conveys that she is a virgin. • The black ribbon over her womb, the Aztec maternity belt, conveys that she is with child. • The blue-green (or teal) color of her mantle, indicates that she is a queen, and is symbolic of heaven. She is the Queen of Heaven.

OUR LADY of GUADALUPE - 9 On April 24, 2007, immediately after the legalization of abortion in Mexico City, an unusual luminosity in the framed image of Mary at the Shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico City became visible, after a Mass which had been offered for aborted babies. Photos show an intense white light emanating from her abdomen creating a brilliant halo having the form and measurements of an embryo: the light appears to float within her abdomen. The image does not come from a reflection but originates from ‘inside’ Mary. The light is very white, pure and intense, different from the light produced by photographic flash.

OUR LADY of GUADALUPE - 8 More Miracles • Some say that Mary assumes a different ethnicity depending on one's vantage point, which could be considered miraculous: at one distance, she appears to be an indigenous native, but at another distance she appears of European descent, an effect that is achieved in nature when different colors change at different distances, and an effect which no human artist could produce. Other sources say that she appears as a mestiza, of mixed race, Aztec and European. • The image of Our Lady corresponds to the dimensions of an expectant mother at the end of gestation. Christmas, according to Gregorian calendar, was just a few days away.