The Life our Holy Queen by Tess

The Life our Holy Queen by Tess

    Today while I was working on my blog it finally hit me that we are in the month of May, my how time fly’s! All you good Catholic boys and girl know what that means? (I hope you do other wise we have some other issues). It is the month of Our Virgin Mary! I spent a good bit of time trying to think of ways that share this beautiful month with all of you. I started to do some research on her and our faith. I came to the decision that I want to have a special blog about her. Who she is, where she came from. I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to my faith. So please you smart people out there do not jump down my throat if I make a mistake. This is all new to me and I am sharing it with all of you. Thank you and I hope you all enjoy it!

Joachim, Anne, and Mary

  I am going to begin with Anne and Joachim, Mary’s mom and dad.  I could not find very much information about Anne’s life up until her marriage to Joachim, but I did find more information on him.  In the Epistle of James, he described as a rich man of the house of David.  Who was very charitable and always giving to the temple at Sepphoris.During this time of there marriage, Joachim and his wife Anne were often looked down upon with divine displeasure by the high priest whom often rejected Joachim and his sacrifice. Mostly to the fact that Anne was unable to conceive a child. He consequently withdrew to the desert where he fasted and did penance for forty days (sound familiar? Like grandfather like grandson) making a promise to God that if a child were conceived they would dedicate his or her life to him. In the Epistles of James  it says that an angel then came to Anne and her husband, letting them know God has heard there cries, and promising them a child. Mary was thus conceived and her life as promised would be dedicated to God. The exact date of Mary’s birth is unknown, but it is assumed to be around September 8th.

Mary and Joseph

  Now fast forward a few years and Mary is now is living with her parents in the city of Nazareth in Galilee. She is betrothed to Joseph of the house of David. During this time, an angel by the name of Gabriel comes to Mary (I love this part!) telling her “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the son of GOD”-Luke 1:35. In those days being pregnant without being married was a horrible crime, and punishable by death. Joseph afraid thinks twice about continuing with the marriage, until one night an angel comes to him in a dream. “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus (which means, “God is with us” in case you didn’t know) because he will save his people from their sins” When Joseph woke up he did what he was told and took Mary in to his home as his wife. At this point, I am going to back track a little bit before I continue, When Mary had a visit from the angel Gabriel, he told her that her cousin Elizabeth, who was unable to bare children for many years, was to have a child (John the Baptist). When Mary was a few months pregnant, she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was in fact expecting and was very excited! (I would be too if I could not have a baby for a very long time). After spending 3 or so months with Elizabeth she returned home to find a decree by the Roman emperor Augustus that call all “males” with their families to return to there home land for census. So Joseph and Mary, who was soon to deliver, returned to Bethlehem, Joseph’s home city and during this time Mary goes in to labor. We being good Catholics know what happens next right? Joseph is unable to find any room in any of the inns and is forced to take Mary to a manger filled with animals.  Here she gives birth to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Alleluia!!!!!!!).

The Birth of Christ

     During and shortly after the birth of Jesus, the Magi came to visit King Herod to inquire the whereabouts of the child who is to be “king of the Jews”; Now Herod being king thought of him self as “king of the Jews” and was pretty angry at the idea of some new born child taking his throne. So now, he sends the Magi to Bethlehem to find the child so that he himself can pay homage. We know this is not what he really has in mind. The night that the Magi find the young family, they all had a dream of an angel warns them not to report to Herod because he wishes to harm the child. Now, being a smart man and knowing that he has been out smarted by the Maji, Herod orders all his soldiers to kill all boys under the age of two in Bethlehem and surrounding towns. This same night Joseph has also had a visit from the angel "When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." (Matthew 2:13). Herod’s death might be in 1 or 4 BC, it was never stated clearly, but he was said to be around 70. Now, This part of the story always confuses me. I’ve heard both sides,they went to Egypt,or they went to Nazarene, and as I said earlier, you might argue about it all you would like, but I’m a simpleton, just leave me out of it! The point being Jesus was safe! I do not know exactly how many years have passed, and now an angel has come to Joseph telling him “Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child” Matthew 2:20. Being careful to avoid any part of the kingdom that is now ruled by King Archelaus like the town of Judea, they settled in to a part of Galilee, known as Nazareth.

A mother’s devotion to her child 

    I have looked all over the net for some information on Mary’s life, when Jesus child, but there is not very much that has been written. I am sure she was a homemaker, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of her child. Teaching Jesus how to read and write, explaining the Holy Scriptures. Devoted to her child just as any mother would be, loving and nurturing. The few things I did find were that when Jesus was around 12 he was separated from his parents on a journey home from a Passover celebration in Jerusalem. Mary who though he was walking with the children could not find him, she panicked as any mother would do. She and Joseph had to walk all the way back to Jerusalem to look for Jesus. He was eventually found in the temple with the teachers. Luke 2:41-52  Now After Jesus baptism by John the Baptist and his temptation of the devil in the desert for 40 days ( like grandfather, like grandson) Jesus was with his mother at a wedding in Cana where she asked him to turn the water in to wine, "They have no more wine," and Jesus replied, "Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come." Jesus' mother then said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:3-5.) At this point of my research I could not find thing else on her years up until she meets him on his journey to be crucified. Here is the link to my stations of the cross page, here you will find under station 4 where Mary meets him

 Mary at the Foot of the Cross

    “Standing by the foot of the Cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother ‘Woman, behold your son.’ Then he said to his disciple, ‘Behold your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home” (Jn 19:25). I think this quote proves that Mary is our mother (as if I had any doubts), and our Lord know she would love us just as she loved him. He is basically giving her to us, to love to know. “The Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the Cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, grieving exceedingly with her only begotten Son, uniting herself with a maternal heart with His sacrifice, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this Victim which she Herself had brought forth” (Lumen Gentium, 58). It is in Mary’s faith in Our Lord, that the Catholic Church has grown, and in  her faith in humanity, In God, the Love that God bares us. We has human have no connection to our faith, without her. She is apart of who we are just as she was apart of Jesus’ life. Our Mother, who protect us from evil of the devil, “Mary, until the end of time, will always uncover the evil of the infernal serpent and of his infernal plots; she will make his diabolical counsels vanish and will free his loyal servants from his cruel clutches.  The power of Mary over all the demons will shine particularly in the end times, when Satan will strike at her heel, that is to say, on the humble slaves and poor children of Mary, who are called to battle against the gates of hell”. She keeps peace in the world, never allowing us to to wallow in our anger or hate for one another, But a chance to seek forgiveness, “Tell all the world that great graces come through the Immaculate Heart of Mary” and “that God has entrusted to the Immaculate Heart the peace and conversion of the world!”  (Words of the Virgin Mary in Fatima to Jacinta). Mary our Mother has giving to us her only Son, The love of her life, Her Lord and Savior, so that our sin may be forgiven. "Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me." And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you" Luke 22 When I think about the suffering she went through to watch her child suffer as much as our Lord did, the pain it caused her. I always tear up. She is very a strong woman. To bare a child and watch the child, selflessly give his life up, for our sins. I could never imagine feeling as much pain as she has. To feel my heart breaking knowing I could not protect my child the way I had his whole life. I thank GOD that I know her and love her the way I do, and I thank God that I am able to pray to her, for her prayers for me. Without her on my side, I would be lost. I am sure she stood by him throughout his teaching and loved him with all her heart. Learned from him as we all have, and continued to preach what he has taught us until the end. Now with that said and being catholic I am going to quote a website and let you come to your own concussions about the rest of her life after the death and resurrection of our Lord "the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life. The Catholic Church teaches as dogma that Mary, "having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." I personally believe that, But there are some people who would enjoy a long debate on how was could not possibly happen. That being said, I shall continue on my very interesting journey on the life of Mary.

Different names. One Mother

    Mary has so many names, I personally call her Mama Mary, but she is the same. She is our mother, the mother of our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ. She has come to us many times, with different names, and looks. To show us she loves us, and reminds us to pray for one another. Lucia of Fatima was told by Mary that these words are to be added to the Rosary, after the Gloria Patri prayer: "O my Jesus, pardon us, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need."  Mary is always here for us, in one way or another, her light always shining, her love always to comfort us. We are her children. Of course, we make mistakes (only God knows how many I have made) but she asks for our forgiveness, not quick to punish or anger at us, but to correct us and love us unconditionally.

 
Our Lady of Guadalupe

    I mentioned earlier that she has come to us in many ways. For instance Our Lady of Guadalupe, (I have grown up with her as our “Virgin” coming from a Hispanic house) who appeared On December 12th 1531 to a poor Indian in the middle of Mexico named Juan Diego (Now Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, his feast day is Dec 9th) She came to him, with brown hair, eyes and darker skin tone then you normally (well what I normally see) of her. She resembled him, showing that she loves all her children, not matter what race we are. She asked him to build a church so her children could come pray to her. When he told the bishops, they laugh at him. Juan was turned away many times by the bishops. One day during her visit, she told Juan to go collect some roses and head back to the bishops. Now in the middle of winter in Mexico, I doubt there would be roses (her favorite flower btw), But there were, and Juan did as he was told. He gathered them up in his cloak and went back to the bishops. He was about to be sent away for the 3rd time but instead he opened up his cloak and out rolled all of the rose peddles and a picture of the Virgin. Her Feast day is Dec 12 and there are many celebrations on this day in Mexico and throughout the world, The Basilica of Guadalupe is her church in Mexico.

Our Lady of Lourdes 

    She has also come to us as Our Lady of Lourdes.  In 1858 Saint Bernadette was a 14-year-old shepherd girl who lived near the town of Lourdes in France. One day she reported a vision of a miraculous Lady who identified herself as "the Immaculate Conception" in many visions. She had 18 visions overall. According to Saint Bernadette, the Lady held a string of Rosary beads and led Saint Bernadette to the discovery of a buried spring, also requesting that the local priests build a chapel at the site of the visions and lead holy processions there. The spring that came up is believed to have Holy Water coming out of it. This water has cured many people.  If that is not a miracle then what is?

Our Lady of Knock

     Today while I was writing, and reading some more about Our Lady, a friend of mine from Ireland, told a story about Our Lady Of Knock. The Virgin Mary appeared in Knock, Ireland in 1879 to 18 or so people, ages ranging from children to elderly, female and males. The witnesses claim she appeared with St Joseph and St John the Evangelist at the south gable end of a small parish church. Behind them to the left was a plain alter, but on the alter was a cross and the Lamb of God, with angel around him. The Blessed Virgin was described as being very beautiful in a white cloak, with a divine crown of golden brightness on her head. Our lady was described as being deep in prayer with her eyes raised to heaven, her hands raised to the shoulders, and palms inclined slightly. St Joseph was said to also be wearing a white robe, and stood to the right hand of the Virgin, with his hands bent forward towards her in respect. St John the Evangelist stood to her left, he was also in a white rope and wore a mitre, and he appeared to be preaching and held a large book in his hands. The people who witnessed the event stood in the rain for 2 hours, reciting the Rosary. It was said that the rain pouring around them soaked the ground, except around Our Virgin, who was dry.

Our Lady of Einsiedeln

    Early in the ninth century, A Benedictine Monk named Meinrad, was passing through the city of Zurich on his way to become a teacher at a small monastery of Bollingen, and was gifted a statue of the Mother of God holding the Child Jesus by Abbess-Princess Hildegarde. After a few years of living in the monastery, Father Meinrad, dreamed of becoming a hermit living alone in constant prayer, medication and penance in the local woods. Having obtained his superior’s permission, one day in the year of 828 he took his statue of the Virgin and set out to live in the Dark Woods of Mount Etzel. Soon after settling in to his solitary retreat, he found a nest with two young ravens that he gladly adopted and tamed. Living happily in solitude, expect for the fact that more and more pilgrims were coming to visit him for advice and prayers. After more then twenty years of prayer and penance while he was saying Mass in his little chapel on the morning of January 21, 861, the feast of the Martyr St. Agnes, Meinrad learn by divine revelation that this was to be his last Mass. With perfect resignation to the will of God, he devoutly received Holy Communion as if it were Holy Vaiticum.  During this time, he gave up his soul to God and thanked the Virgin for his safety for all those years, never being hurt or injured by the wild animals that inhabit the local woods. After finishing Mass, he heard the noise of two men, coming up to his chapel, expecting to see many precious gifts and rich treasures that said to be hidden away in his lonely hermitage. He opened the door and greeted them with heavenly joy and kindness, setting before them bread and wine.  When the men demanded that he show them the treasures, he led them to the chapel and pointed to the plain wooden statue of Mary and said, “I have no other treasure”. Angered by this the two men beat and killed Father Meinrad with heavy clubs while his friends the ravens pecked at their heads.  They dragged the Saints body to his couch and started to hunt for the golden treasured they assumed he was hiding, to find nothing but two candles that had some how been lit without a human hand. The Two assassins fled in terror all the way to Zurich, but the accusing finger of God, Meinrad two ravens persistently followed and attacked the murderers until they were arrested and confessed to the crime. The body of the holy martyr was taken by his others to the Abbey of Reichenau near Constance. In the years that followed the pilgrims kept coming to the abandoned little chapel in the Dark Woods, and a few hermit monks settled there. In the year 906, St. Benno of Strasbourg because to restore and protect the chapel. When the work was completed in the year 948 Eberhard, having become the first Abbot of Einsiedeln, invited St Conrad, the Bishop of Constance to consecrate and dedicate the chapel of Our Lady of Hermits. Now, what occurred at the Shrine of Our Lady in Einsiedeln is the most glorious event of all the history of the Catholic Church. At this point, the Bishop of Constance went to his room early in order to get plenty of rest for the next day. However, despite his fatigue, he did not fail to get up, as he was custom to before midnight and to go with several people to pray in the chapel he was to consecrate the next morning. St. Conrad and those with him begin to hear the sounds of many harmonious voices changing a beautiful sound. When he looked up, he saw that the chapel had filled with light resembling the afternoon sun. Then he saw coming down from Heaven a magnificent procession of angels under the leadership of St. Michael the Archangel. After the angels, came St Peter with a crozier in his hand, followed by St. Matthew, St Mark, St Luke, and St. John who carried the great Doctors of the Church. St Gregory, St Augustine, St Ambrose. Then came as deacon and sub deacon, the Martyr Saint Lawrence and Stephen. Finally, as high priest, Arrayed in pontifical vestments, and wearing a violet chasuble, there appeared in all the splendor of His Divinity, Our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ. Just before God the Son, began Mass to consecrate this holy shrine for His Immaculate Mother, Mary herself took place above the alter of her chapel, radiant with dazzling glory and attended by her train of angelic spirits. Within an hour of this happening, Our Lord and his most Holy Company of Saints and angels vanished in to Heaven and the Virgin Mary before she retuned to heaven left a statue of herself behind.
Later on after a full investigation of these extraordinary events was undertaken by the highest civil and ecclesiastical authorities, and in the year of 964, in the presence of the Emperor Otto, and of St Conrad. His Holiness Pope Leo VIII issued a bull confirming the miraculous dedication. To this day, the Chapel of Our Lady of the Hermits is one of the worlds most visited shrines.

    I can go on and on about how many times our Mother has come to us, to show us her Glory and love. I will list a few saints who have seen her and allow you to continue research: St. Gertrude the Great, St. Francis, St. Bridget, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross.
    This is a list of Roman Catholic approved apparitions.
 Our Lady of Laus
 Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
 Our Lady of La Salette
 Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Pontmain
Our Lady of Fátima
 Our Lady of Beauraing
 Our Lady of Banneux
 Our Lady of Akita

Our Lady of the Rosary

         As Catholics, we have been given a very powerful gift from Our Lady, The Holy Rosary! The Rosary consist of repeated sequences of the Lord's Prayer followed by ten the Hail Mary and a single praying of "Glory Be to the Father" and is sometimes accompanied by the Fatima Prayer each of these sequences is known as a decade. The praying of each decade is accompanied by meditation on one of the Mysteries of the Rosary (Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious), which are events in the lives of Jesus Christ and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.  I once over heard a conversation between some friends of mine, and the question “Why do you need the Rosary to pray to God.” was brought up. My friend who answered it has the best answer and I wanted to share it with you people. She said that it isn’t the physical possession of the Rosary, But the meaning behind it. Each bead is a way to keep track of the prayer, an easy way to meditate without breaking concentration. It was such a straightforward simple answer that makes complete sense. Mary wants us to meditate and pray to her constantly. Her love for us is so strong, a mother to her child. She wants to be with her in Heaven.





    In conclusion to my long blog (wow I am surprised I had this much to say), I hope I have shared a little wisdom with you, made or smile, or even brightened your day. Maybe you learned something you did not know, or even just a nice reminder of how much our mom loves us. I hope you enjoy the rest of your month of May, Our Lady Peace’s month, and enjoy the flowers, just buy some allergy medication, because I do not know about you but mine are driving me nuts!

"Mary has the authority over the angels and the blessed in heaven. As a reward for her great humility, God gave her the power and mission of assigning to saints the thrones made vacant by the apostate angels who fell away through pride. Such is the will of the almighty God who exalts the humble, that the powers of heaven, earth and hell, willingly or unwillingly, must obey the commands of the humble Virgin Mary. For God has made her queen of heaven and earth, leader of his armies, keeper of his treasure, dispenser of his graces, mediatrix on behalf of men, destroyer of his enemies, and faithful associate in his great works and triumphs."
-Saint Louis Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin: Part 28

Go Forth and God Bless,
Tess