Rorate Coeli Desuper et Nubes Pluant Justum

The Rorate Mass is a special Advent devotion in honour of Our Blessed Lady and is especially traditional in Germany and Poland.  The title of this devotion is taken from the first word of the Introit for the Mass of Our Lady during Advent which is itself taken from the words of Isaiah the Prophet (see below).

 The Rorate Mass is traditionally celebrated by candlelight. Today, the Saturday of the second week of Advent, we celebrated a Rorate Mass on Stronsay.

Before Holy Mass.

 Rorate, caeli, desuper, et nubes pluant justum; aperiatur terra, et germinet Salvatorem.  Isa. 45:8

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour.

 "For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names: That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth." Phil. 2:10

Our Lady of Mercy

On the 24th of September we have the Feast to Our Lady of Mercy.  Beautiful and consoling title!  Our Lady and her Son are so great that we cannot possibly designate only one or two days in the liturgical year to Their honour.  Our Lady is Mother of Mercy, Mother of that Supreme and Perfect Mercy which is one with the Eternal Wisdom of God.  Having compassion on our fallen human race which was deserving of everlasting punishment, the move made by God through His Son to Redeem us was principally that of Mercy.

In that marvellous invention of becoming Man in the Virgin’s womb, Mercy became Incarnate and hence another of holy Mary’s glorious titles; ‘Our Lady of Mercy.’  She is full of mercy because the Source of all mercy dwelt within Her, lived with Her and obeyed Her.  As the Lord is with Her and as She is full of grace, so likewise She is also full of mercy and indeed ‘Mother of Mercy.’  This is certain in view of the fact that as Christ was animated by Divine Mercy and we might say, was the personification of Mercy, so His chosen Mother could not but otherwise be animated with the same spirit of mercy and tender commiseration for sinners.

Now as Christ intercedes for us with His Father, so Our Lady’s special office is to intercede for us with Christ.  When She pleads lovingly for mercy upon some soul, Christ Who is as Just as He is Merciful, quickly stoops to hear Her prayer and in order to honour Her, gives His Mother Her request.

Here we may remark the touching scene of the wedding at Canna as recorded in the Gospel.  The fact is that although Christ is Supreme Mercy, yet it often takes a request of intercession from His Mother to show an even greater excess of His Mercy to certain souls.  We have then in Our Lady, a powerful arm to raise us up when we find ourselves in need of grace and forgiveness.

Our Lady of Mercy, Pray for us!

No mother loves you more than Mary does!

During a long absence from our family it is usual to write home to let those we love know how we are doing, to tell them of our joys and sadness, of those things we have received and of those which we desire.  How happy our mothers are to receive such a letter, reading it over and over, looking for any requests of ours which they might be able to satisfy — mothers always like to do things for their children.  If this is so for our earthly mother, how much more must it be true for our heavenly mother?  The difference is that there is nothing that our heavenly mother cannot obtain for us from her Divine Son!  She only needs to be asked and what better way to ask her that by a letter?

Every Saturday on Papa Stronsay we make the Perpetual Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Succour.  During this devotion, letters, petitions and thanksgivings which have been written to Our Lady are read out and the community offers the prayers of the Novena the intentions included therein.  The petitions are then placed before the image of Our Mother of Perpetual Succour, enshrined above the altar, and there they stay for nine weeks.  Each of those nine weeks, the new petitions and thanksgivings are read out, and those of the previous weeks are included in the prayers.  You too can write to your Holy Mother in heaven, laying before Her your troubles and your wants, telling Her of your joys and thanking her for the graces she has bestowed upon you.  All you need to do is go to our Novena page here and write a letter to Her.  It is anonymous; there is no need to leave your name or contact information.  Write to Her today, and every week so that the Fathers and Brothers of our Congregation can pray for your intentions to Our Mother of Perpetual Succour!

 Petitions ready to be offered to Our Mother of Perpetual Succour.

During the Novena devotions the petitions and thanksgivings that are not marked as private are read out for the members of the community to pray for.

Following the prayers of the Novena comes Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Write your petition today and every week!

Come to Reign over us!

Today is the Feast of the Queenship of Our Blessed Lady

- before that it was the Feast of Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces - 

and the Processional Copy of Our Lady of Christchurch

 was enthroned before the holy altar in 

St Teresa's Church, Riccarton, Christchurch

 during the traditional sung Holy Mass. 

 

 Afterwards roses

 (which one can see arranged before Our Lady)

 were blessed and distributed in honour of

 Our Blessed Lady's Queenship

 of this City and the Universe.

 Providentially a faithful soul

 had also brought a single snapdragon flower to Mass

 - it is winter in Christchurch

 and the flowers are not common now - 

recalling that the medieval name for this flower was

 "Our Lady's Slipper".

 Most appropriately for today

 she showed us how they as children

 had been taught to open the flower

 and behold inside "Our Lady's Sceptre". 

May her sweet reign never cease!

Maryfest and Grand Procession in Honour of Our Lady of Christchurch

 
Christchurch Knights of the Southern Cross act as 

Our Lady's Sediarii
- taking their place at the front of the bier
carrying our replica of the statue of
Our Lady of Christchurch.

This Sunday our confreres in Christchurch, New Zealand,
participated in the annual Procession,
Consecration of the City and Diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
and Pontifical Benediction
which they had been asked to organise by the local ordinary,
His Lordship the Most Reverend Barry Jones, D.D.,
Bishop of Christchurch.

For the last few weeks we have been planning and advertising
this wonderful event throughout the Diocese,
primarily using this poster -
translated for other local communities into
Polish, Korean, Tagalog, Arabic and Greek.

Thanks be to God and Our Lady,
St Mary's pro-Cathedral was filled to capacity
as Bishop Jones, accompanied by
Bishop Emeritus Basil Meeking
with the Administrator of the pro-Cathedral, Fr Friel,
as well as more than a dozen priests
led around 500 faithful from the Diocese
in an Act of Homage
to our
Heavenly Queen.

Many of the faithful had made banners in the last weeks
and these were evident in the lateral isle on the Gospel side.
Representatives of the Legion of Mary,
the Catholic Women's League,
the Knights of the Southern Cross,
as well the Keralite, Filipino, Korean,
Polish, Vietnamese,
Maori, Coptic, Ethiopian and Samoan communities,
members of the Marist, the Marist Brothers,
the Community of St John
the Marist Sisters
the Sisters of Nazareth and of the Beatitudes
many schools and parishes
joined in with the Bishop
the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer
and of course our own traditional Catholics who had come from
all over South Island to be there.

The City of Christchurch Highland Pipe Band accompanied us
as we processed around the pro-Cathedral
and along Manchester Street.

The beautiful replica of Our Lady of Christchurch
which we carried in the procession.
The Queen of this City
crushes the old serpent
and extends her benign reign
over New Zealand!

At the end of the procession as the trumpet rang out
Our Lady of Christchurch
was crowned before His Lordship the Bishop
by little Esther
who had received Our Lord for the
first time that morning
in Our Mother of Perpetual Succour Oratory.

What a great grace to be able to see
the City and Diocese Consecrated again to
the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

Our very great thanks to all those who helped
in many and varied ways
to make the day most memorable
no less for its bright sunshine on a day
predicted to be overcast and awaiting snow!

To read more about the protecting image
of Our Lady of Christchurch
and to see more images please visit
Our Lady of Christchurch Facebook page.

The splendid photographs
for this blog were provided
by
Abi Wiseman Photography.

Because only She can help you! - We had better believe it!

This clip released last 7th May
was filmed before thousands of supporters of the now
President of Egypt
Dr. Mohamed Morsi Isa El-Ayyat
who assumed his office on 30 June.
Dr. Morsi (Mursi) is also present
and can be seen on stage here.



The content of this video
should motivate us to
pray the Holy Rosary with intensity.
The message of Our Lady of Fatima is a message for today:

“I want you ... to continue to
 pray the Rosary every day 
in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary, 
in order to obtain peace for the world 
and the end of the war, 
because only she can help you.”
(13 July, 1917).

Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady

It is part of our monastery devotions to recite one of our Lady's dolours everyday after the afternoon recreation. The image above was put together by one of the brothers.

St Alphonsus in the glories of Mary says that it was revealed to St. Elizabeth, that at the request of Our Lady, Our Lord promised four principal graces to those devoted to Her Sorrows:

1. That those who before death invoke the divine Mother in the name of Her Sorrows will obtain true repentance of all their sins;

2. That He will protect all who have this devotion in their tribulations, and will protect them especially at the hour of death;

3. That He will impress on their minds the remembrance of His Passion;

4. That He will place such devout servants in Mother Mary’s hands to do with them as She wishes and to obtain for them all the graces She desires.

In addition to these four graces there are also seven promises (revealed to St. Bridget) attached to the practice of daily praying seven Hail Mary’s while meditating on Our Lady’s Tears and Sorrows:

I will grant peace to their families.

They will be enlightened about the divine mysteries.

I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.

I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.

I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.

I will visibly help them at the moment of their death, they will see the face of their Mother.

I have obtained (This Grace) from my Divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and sorrows, will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.

Feast of the Holy Name of Mary

September 12th is the Feast day of the Most Holy Name of Mary. Countless graces have been obtained and victories been won over hell by the invocation of the Holy Name of Mary.  St. Alphonsus in the Glories of Mary tells us to listen to the beautiful advice from St. Bernard: "In danger of losing divine grace, in anguish, in doubtful things, think of Mary, call upon Mary. May the Name of Mary never disappear from your lips, nor ever disappear from your heart". Never separate the names of Jesus and Mary which are so sweet and powerful when invoked together, because these names will give us the strength and courage to never yield to temptations and to overcome them all. 

St. Bridget heard our Lord promise His Holy Mother three wonderful graces to those who have devotion to the Holy Name of Mary. Our Lord said: whoever invokes the name of Mary with confidence and intention of amendment, will receive these special graces:  first, that He would grant them perfect sorrow for their sins; secondly, that their crimes should be atoned for; and, thirdly, that He would give them strength to attain perfection, and at length the glory of paradise. Because, added the Our Holy Redeemer, your words are so dear and sweet to me, oh Mary, that I cannot deny whatever you request from me. 

Invocation: O Mary most pure!O Mary most Sweet! Let thy name henceforth be the breath of my life!

Around Her funeral couch.

Yesterday the meditation from St. Alphonsus was on 

the Death of Most Holy Mary.

By today the beautiful funeral couch of the Mother of God

had been erected with a pall overhanging Her figure.

Memoria mea in generationes saeculorum.

My memory is unto everlasting generations.

Beata es, Virgo Maria, 

quae omnium portasti Creatorem:

genuisti qui te fecit, 

et in aeternum permanes virgo.

Blessed art Thou, O Virgin Mary, 

Who didst bear the Creator of all things:

didst bring forth Him who made Thee,

and for ever remainest a virgin.

At the funeral couch of our Mother let us pray:

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

What Matilda won for her darling.

In preparation for the feast

of

The Assumption of Our Lady.

The holy death of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

+

How a mother prepared for the great feasts of Our Lady.

The Martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury

29 December, 1170.

From his cradle was St Thomas à Becket taught 

to have devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

His mother, Matilda, used in her hallowed playfulness of heart, 

to put her boy, whilst he was yet a child, into a scale, 

and bestow his weight in food, clothing and money, on the poor 

that she might thereby win for her darling 

the prayers and protection of the blessed Mary.

She taught her son

devotion to the Blessed Virgin

that his life and acts would be protected by Her

Whom he fervently invoked and

held as his hope after Christ.

Feast of the Diocese

Not every diocese can claim its own Marian feast, but we are lucky enough to live in one that can.  Today, 9th July, we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Aberdeen. The statue, which is now in Belgium, is known in that country as Our Lady of Good Succour.

The miraculous statue of Our Lady of Aberdeen.

The Holy Mass of Our Lady of Good Succour, celebrated before the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.

Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. - John 6:54

For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God? - Hebrews 9:13-14

Passiontide's Feast

The early morning of the
Feast of the Annunciation
Monday 26 March.

Expectation.
The sheep we pass on the way to meditation.

~Passiontide Waiting~
And I lay down my life for my sheep.
(Jn 10:15)

Morning Meditation.
~ The Feast of the Annunciation in Passiontide. ~
Since yesterday the images are veiled,
an atmosphere of shrouded sorrow tinges the feast.

Passiontide purple mixes with the flowers of the feast.
Since Adam's fall, the world, purpled in mournng
awaited the coming of salvation.
The Blessed Virgin Mary,
the only Lily of our vale,
is by a singular privilege raised up by God
to receive into Her spotless womb on this feast,
the Word
through Whom all things were made,
the Saviour of the World - Salvator Mundi.

It was a splendid morning as our boat left Papa Stronsay
for Mass on our neighbouring island.
Nature reflected the season and the feast.

The sea was calm,
the sun on the horizon
announced itself, majestically present indeed,

Yet, like the images on the altar,
it was present in the sky all veiled, restrained,
brilliant through a cover of haze.

Text of the letter prophesied to Father Hermann Cohen by the Curé of Ars.

Father Hermann Cohen's mother died
without receiving Holy Baptism.
In the eyes of the unwise
'she died as an unconverted Jewess'
in spite of the many prayers offered for her by her priestly son.

I have translated the following from his life
which will be of interest for all of us
who pray for souls that seem to live and die
without the grace of conversion.

Note that Fr. Hermann
had consecrated his mother to Our Lady
hundreds of times and offered many prayers for her salvation;
he never lost hope in his mother's cause.


Rev. Fr. Hermann Cohen, O.C.D.

The last moments for Mrs. Cohen arrived on 13 December 1855. Father Hermann was preaching Advent in Lyons at the time and he announced this sad news to his friend in these terms:

"God has struck a terrible blow to my heart. My poor mother is dead ... and I remain in incertitude! However we have so much prayed that we must hope that something has passed between her soul and God during these last moments that we cannot know about. ..."

We can easily imagine the pain of Father Hermann in learning of the death of his mother. He had so much prayed and so much had prayers said for her conversion, and she came to appear before the tribunal of God without having received holy Baptism! ...

" I also have a mother," would he write one day, "I have left her to follow Jesus Christ, she no longer calls me her 'good son'. Already her hair is silvered, already her brow is furrowed, and I am afraid to see her die. Oh! no I would not like to see her die before loving Jesus Christ, and already for many years I await for my mother that which Monica awaited for Augustine..."

God seemed to have despised all his prayers and rejected his loving and legitimate desires. His faith and his love were put through a harsh trial. Nevertheless, if his sorrow was deep, his hope in the infinite goodness of God would not allow itself to be struck down. ...

Saint Jean Marie Vianney
Curé of Ars

A short time later, he confided to the Curé of Ars his disquiet about the death of his poor mother who died without the grace of Baptism. "Hope!" replied the man of God, "hope; you will receive one day, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception a letter that will bring you great consolation."

Six years waiting.

These words were almost forgotten, when, on the 8th December 1861, six years after the death of his mother, a Father of the Company of Jesus handed to Father Hermann the following letter.

(The person who wrote this letter died in the odour of sanctity; she was well known in the religious and ascetical world by her written works on the Eucharist.)

The letter read:

On the 18th October, after Holy Communion, I found myself in one of those moments of intimate union with Our Lord, where he made me so feel his presence in the sacrament of His love that Faith seemed no longer necessary to believe him there.

After a short time, He had me hear His voice and He wanted to give me some explanations relative to a conversation that I had had the night before.

I remember that, in that conversation, one of my friends had manifested her surprise that Our Lord, who has promised to accord everything to prayer, had however remained deaf to those of Reverend Father Hermann who had so many times addressed Him to obtain the conversion of his mother; her surprise went almost as far as discontentment, and I had had difficulty in having her understand that we must adore the justice of God and not to seek to penetrate its secrets.

I dared to ask of my Jesus how it was that He, who was goodness itself, had been able to resist the prayers of Father Hermann, and not grant the conversion of his mother.

This was His (Our Lord's) response:

Why does Anna always want to sound the secrets of my justice and why does she seek to penetrate mysteries that she cannot comprehend?

Tell her that I do not owe my grace to anyone, that I give it to whom I please and that in acting in this way I do not cease to be just, and justice itself.

But that she may know that, rather than not keep the promises that I have made to prayer, I will upset heaven and earth, and that every prayer that has my glory and the salvation of souls for object is always heard when it is clothed in the necessary qualities.

He added: "And to prove to you this truth, I willingly make known that which passed at the moment of the death of the mother of Father Hermann".

My Jesus then enlightened me with a ray of His divine light and had me understand or rather to see in Him that which I want to try to relate.

At the moment where the mother of Father Hermann was on the point of rendering her last breath; at the moment that she seemed deprived of awareness, almost without life; Mary, our good Mother, presented Herself before Her Divine Son, and prostrate at His feet, She said to Him: "Pardon and mercy, o my Son! for this soul who is going to perish. Yet another instant and she will be lost, lost for eternity. I beseech you, do for the mother of my servant Hermann, that which you would like to be done for your own, if She was in her place and if you were in his. The soul of his mother is his most precious good; he has consecrated her to me a thousand times; he has consecrated her to the tenderness and solicitude of my heart. Could I suffer her to perish? No, no, this soul is mine; I will it, I claim it as an inheritance, as the price of your blood and of my sufferings at the foot of your Cross."

Hardly had the sacred suppliant ceased speaking, when a strong, powerful grace, came forth from the source of all graces, from the adorable Heart of our Jesus, and came to enlighten the soul of the poor dying Jewess; instantly triumphing over her stubbornness and resistances.

This soul immediately turned herself with loving confidence towards Him whose mercy had persued her as far as the arms of death and said to Him: "O Jesus, God of the Christians, God whom my son adores, I believe, I hope in Thee, have pity on me."

In this cry, heard by God alone and which came from the intimate depths of the heart of the dying woman, were enclosed the sincere sorrow for her obstination and for her sins, the desire of baptism, the express will to receive it and to live according to the rules and precepts of our holy religion, if she had been able to return to life.

This leap of faith and hope in Jesus was the last sentiment of that soul; it was made at the moment when she brought towards the throne of the divine mercy. Breaking away the weak bonds which held her to her mortal casing, she fell at the feet of Him who had been her Saviour (a moment) before being her Judge."

After having showed me all these things, Our Lord added:

"Make this known to Father Hermann; it is a consolation that I wish to accord to his long sorrows, so that he will bless, and have blessed everywhere, the goodness of the heart of my Mother and Her power over mine."

Totally unknown to Reverend Father Hermann, the poor invalid who has just now penned these lines is happy to think that she has perhaps spread a little consolation and balm on the still bleeding wound of the heart of this son and priest. She dares to ask the alms of his fervent prayers, and she likes to believe that he will not refuse to one, who, even though unknown to him, is united to him by the sacred bonds of the same faith and of the same hopes. ..."

What appears to add great authority to this letter, is that it had been announced six years in advance by the venerable Cure of Ars.

End of translation.

(pp. 126 - 129, Vie du R.P. Hermann, en religion Augustine-Marie du T.S. Sacrament, Carme Dechausse, par M. l'Abbe Charles Sylvain, Paris, 1883.
From the French life of Rev. Father Hermann, in religion Augustin-Marie of the Most Holy Sacrament, Discalced Carmelite, by Fr. Canon Charles Sylvain, Paris 1883.)

Publised with the approbation of and recommendation of His Grandeur Mgr. Gay, Bishop of D'Anthedon, Auxiliary of His Eminence Cardinal Pie, Bishop of Poitier, 4 Dec. 1880
and of His Grace Mgr. de la Bouillerie, the Archbishop of Perga, Coadjutor of Bordeaux, 23 July 1881
of His Lordship Mgr. Adolphe-Louis Perraud, Bishop of Autun and Member of the French Academy, 8 March, 1882
and of the Most Reverend Father Luc of St. John of the Cross, Father General of the Discalced Carmelites, 4 May, 1880)