Mater Christi, Mater Ecclesia, Ora pro nobis!!! |
“The recitation of the rosary allows us to fix our gaze and our hearts upon Jesus, just like his Mother, the supreme model of contemplation of the Son. Meditating upon the joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious mysteries as we pray our Hail Marys, let us reflect upon the interior mystery of Jesus, from the Incarnation, through the Cross, to the glory of the Resurrection; let us contemplate the intimate participation of Mary in the mystery of our life in Christ today, a life which is also made up of joy and sorrow, of darkness and light, of fear and hope. Grace invades our hearts, provoking a wish for an incisive and evangelical change of life so that we can say with Saint Paul: “For me to live is Christ” (Phil 1:21) in a communion of life and destiny with Christ”. (Pope Benedict XVI, Fatima, May 12, 2010)
The Philippines has always been termed as pueblo amante de María, a nation whose people has always been in
love with one of the loves of Jesus our Savior. It is one that we have
willingly received from the Spanish evangelizers, Spain being another land
deeply devoted to the Mother of God. Our childlike candor and ingenuity as a
people have made this devotion truly Filipino; all throughout the islands one
could see many representations of Mama Mary in her many titles, all expressing
the one love that we have for the Woman who humbly gave us the Word Incarnate.
This devotion is expressed in the most popular Marian devotion that we know of,
the Rosary. In this month of October, month of the Rosary of Our Lady and
Mother, we are invited once again to rediscover the richness that this
devotion, tested and tried by Tradition, encouraged by the Magisterium of the
Church and the example of the saints. We are reminded once again that, far from
being just a mere and tedious repetition of prayers and invocations, the Rosary
is an invitation to enter into the very contemplation of the very life of
Christ, seen through the eyes of His Mother, of our Mother. So let’s accompany
our Mother each day, starting today, being in October, as we relive in our
hearts, through the eyes and heart of
Mary of Nazareth, the life of Christ, so that receiving the graces that her
Son may give to us, through her intercession, we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church
In the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary we invoke her as the Mother of
Christ and Mother of the Church. Though they be separate invocations, as we pray the Litany we could see that there is an intimate connection
between the two. The divine maternity of Mary—that Mary is the Mother of Jesus
Christ, the only Begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true
God from True God, as the Nicene Creed would profess it—is at the very heart of
all of the privileges that she has received from the Lord. This is the very
reason why, as she herself has said, all
nations shall call me blessed (Lk. 1:48). This is what we call her all
throughout the Rosary: she is blessed among women, because blessed is the fruit
of her womb. She is the Mother of the Redeemer who, because of her humility,
conceived and gave birth in her womb the eternal Son of God.
But because of her vocation to be the Mother of God, she also becomes
the Mother of all who are begotten of God, in Jesus Christ, who give to all who
receive him and who have believed in his name the power to become children of
God (cfr. Jn 1:12). This motherhood became even more manifest on the Cross when
the Lord entrusted all of us in the person of His beloved Apostle to His beloved
Mother: “behold your Mother” (Jn 19:27). It was also on the Cross that the
Church was born, and over this new family of God, this Body of Christ, that
Mary exercise her maternity, for how could one be mother of the Head without
being Mother of the Body, the Church?
Let us ask Mary, the Mother of the Church, to grant us the grace and the
strength to be faithful to the charisms and the vocation that we have received within
the Church. We earnestly believe that each of us has a part to play in humbly
helping build up the Church, edified by Christ alone. We aid in this work of Christ
first and foremost by being FAITHFUL, serving the Church in the way she wants to
be served; and in serving the Church, we serve her head, who is Christ.
Please visit the website www.vaticancatholic.com. It has critical information for your salvation.
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