On 13 May 1917, around midday, Our Lady appeared to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, who were pasturing their sheep in a hollow, known locally as the “Cova da Iria”. (C Barthas, “The Virgin of Fatima”, Madrid, 1963) The Blessed Virgin asked the children to return there on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months.
Her message to them speaks of penance for sins, about saying the Rosary, and consecration of the world to her Immaculate Heart. Each time the beautiful Lady appeared to the children she asked them to say the Rosary every day.
She also taught them a prayer to say often in which they would offer God the events of their lives, especially many small mortifications: 'O Jesus, this is for love of you, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the offences made to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.'
“Mary came to awaken men’s consciences, illuminate the authentic meaning of life, call men to conversion from sin and to spiritual fervor. To inflame souls with the love for God and with charity towards their neighbor. Mary came to help us because many, unfortunately, do not wish to accept the invitation of the Son of God to return to their Father’s house.
“From her sanctuary at Fatima Mary renews even today her maternal and urgent petition: conversion to Truth and Grace; return to the life of the sacraments, especially Penance and the Eucharist; devotion to her Immaculate Heart, accompanied by a spirit of penance.” (John Paul II, “Angelus, 26 July 1987")
“The message of Fatima is, in its basic meaning, a call to conversion and repentance, as in the Gospel ... The Lady seems to have read with special insight the ‘signs of the times’, the signs of our age. The call to repentance is a motherly one; at the same time strong and decisive.” (cf Ibid, “Homily at Fatima”, 13 May 1982)
In the Gospel the words ‘repent’ and ‘penance’ (cf Mk 1:15) appear repeatedly. Jesus begins his mission asking for penance: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt 4:17) ‘Penance’ signifies conversion of the sinner, and stands for internal and external actions aimed at making reparation for sins committed. (cf L Bouyer, “Penitence” in “Dictionary of Theology”, Barcelona, 1983)
Mary reminds us that without penance man does not receive the Kingdom of her Son; without penance man is in the kingdom of sin. In Our Lord’s own words, without penance “all likewise perish” (Lk 13:3).
Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:221-4
Last appearance of Jesus before His Ascension
Jesus appeared to the eleven as they were at table and clearly demonstrates it was for the Apostles alone, whose number was reduced by the apostasy of Judas.
Jesus desired to share the last moments of his glorious life on earth, as he had done before his death. By sitting at table, the greatest sign of intimacy among friends, he gave on both events a proof of his love.
Why did he love them so? Because first, they were to aid him in the work of our salvation, his Father “... gave them” (Jn 17:6); second, they had “... left all things, and followed” (Mt 9:27) him; third, they were destined to labor and suffer more for him than the others.
The apostles and disciples will soon be forever deprived of their Divine Master’s sensible presence. This thought naturally made them sorrowful. To reassure and console them, Jesus declared, “Behold, I am with you all days, even to the end of the world” (Mt 28:20).
Jesus Christ is with us nowadays as God and Man: by his bodily presence in the Blessed Sacrament and more intimately than before his Ascension. He was only in one place at a time. Now he is everywhere, wherever there is a tabernacle. Then he could only communicate by entering men’s houses, sitting with them at table. Now he communicates by entering our hearts, becoming our food, and incorporating himself with us.
The apostles, fully aware of their ignorance and weakness were discouraged at the prospect of the difficulties ahead of them. To revive their fainting hearts, Jesus promised them a speedy outpouring of his Holy Spirit: "Stay in the city till you be endowed with power from on high." (Lk 24:49) They then became changed men.
It is good to be deeply conscious of our insufficiency; but we must never let this thought deject us. If we are tempted to discouragement we must instantly turn to Jesus, and confidently invoke the aid of the Holy Spirit. He will hasten to enlighten and strengthen us.
Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp266-8
` ` ` MAY DEVOTIONS ` ` `
Mary’s hidden life with Jesus
“I like to go back in my imagination to the years Jesus spent close to his Mother, almost the whole of his life on earth. ... as a little child, cared for by Mary who kisses him and plays with him. ... growing up before the loving eyes of his Mother and of Joseph ... What tenderness and care Mary and the Holy Patriarch must have shown towards Jesus, during his childhood, silently learning so much from him.
"Their souls would become more and more like the soul of that Son, who was both man and God. This is why his Mother, and after her, St Joseph, understand better than anyone the feelings of the heart of Christ, and the two of them are thus the best way, ... the only way, to reach the Saviour.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Friends of God”, 281)
Let us offer our Mother: ‘The effort of doing our ordinary work well, on time, with competence and finesse.’
Ref: Fr Charles Belmonte and Fr James Socias (Eds), “Handbook of Prayers”, 1988, p308
Assasination attempt on Pope John Paul II: On this day in 1981. (John Paul II, “Witness to Hope”, 440)
Dedication of Our Lady of Martyrs, called the Rotunda, at Rome by Boniface IV in the year 608. This temple was called the Pantheon, because it was dedicated to all the gods of paganism. — Beda, lib. ii„ History of England.) (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)
Our Lady of Martyrs. Rome; Lisbon. 608. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Our Lady of Martyrs (Lisbon, Portugal). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
Dedication of Our Lady of Martyrs, Rome (608). (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. (http://www.divinewill.org/feastofourlady.htm (http://www.starharbor.com/santiago/m feasts.html (MaryLinks Calendar.htm); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
Our Lady of Fatima. (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
Mary appears to Théresè of Lisieux. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
'Nossa Senhora' / Our Lady of Fatima. Portugal. 1917. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
[NB: Today, the fortieth day after Easter Sunday is Ascension Thursday according to the liturgical calendar and ten days later, the Feast of Pentecost. The feast of Ascension however, will be celebrated on Sunday, 16 May. Thus, the Devotion, Decenary to the Holy Spirit, begins today (cf F Fernandez, "In Conversation with God", II:518-9).]
Ten Day Devotion to the Holy Spirit
Introductory Prayer
Come, O Holy Spirit! Enlighten my understanding in order to know your commands; strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy; enkindle my will ... I have heard your voice, and I do not want to harden my heart and resist, saying, “Later ... tomorrow.” Nunc coepi! Right now! Lest there be no tomorrow for me.
O Spirit of truth and of wisdom, Spirit of understanding and of counsel, Spirit of joy and of peace! I want whatever you want; I want because you want; I want as you want; I want whenever you want ...
Ref: St Josemaria Escrivà, Prayer to the Holy Spirit. In Postulation for the Cause of Beatification and Canonization, Historical Registry of the Founder of Opus Dei 20172, p145.
Consideration (Please refer to meditation for the day.)
Concluding Prayer
Holy and divine Spirit! Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, your spouse, bring the fullness of your gifts into our hearts. Comforted and strengthened by you, may we live according to your Will and may we die praising your infinite mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ref: Fr James Socias, et al (Editors), "Daily Roman Missal", 1989, p2080
Decenary to the Holy Spirit: 1st Day
The First Novena
Immediately after the Ascension the Apostles returned to Jerusalem, and as commanded by their Divine Master, remained in the upper room with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and one hundred-twenty disciples.
They continued in prayer, expecting the coming of the Holy Spirit, during ‘nine’ days. From this was derived the practice of preparing for certain great feasts by a novena of prayers and good works.
The novena of Pentecost was first made by the Apostles, so that it is not only apostolic, but may even be called of divine institution, since the Apostles made it in obedience to a formal command of Jesus Christ. How excellent must it be then, and with what devotion we ought to observe it.
Why did Jesus command his Apostles to pray as such? That they might dispose and prepare themselves to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, without which they would have remained forever what they were then: nothing in themselves, useless to others, absolutely incapable of fulfilling their sublime vocation; but with these gifts all would become possible, even easy.
We make this novena with extraordinary fervor for the same reasons, for certainly we are not greater than the Apostles. We are not better able than they were to dispense with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and to fulfil the duties of our vocation; to achieve that degree of perfection required of us, and to save the souls of others both by word and work.
Jesus gave a third motive to encourage a more careful preparation for receiving the Holy Spirit -- the wickedness of the world, the miseries and snares in their midst, and the expected persecutions.
“In the world you shall have distress; you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake; they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten; they will lay their hands on you and persecute you.” (cf Luke, 21:12, 25; Mark, 13:9)
We, too live in days of tribulation and the rage of the wicked against the religion of Jesus Christ. Where shall we seek the supernatural courage and prudence to fight these threats? Only from the Spirit of counsel, fortitude, and piety!
Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp272-4
Mary and the Spirit
Meditating on the Holy Spirit implies looking at the woman who gave birth to Jesus through the Spirit. To conceive of Christ and the Church without the indispensable intervention of the Holy Spirit is impossible. Thus it is also impossible to think of Mary, the Mother of God, ‘type and outstanding model’ of the Church (Second Vatican Council, “Lumen Gentium”, 53), outside the context of the Spirit.
The profound action of the Holy Spirit in the history of salvation leads us to analyze ‘the hidden relationship between the Spirit of God and the Virgin of Nazareth, and show the influence they exert on the Church’ (Pope Paul VI, apostolic exhortation, “Marialis cultus”, 27).
Everything Mary became, with her free acceptance and collaboration, she owes to her Son Jesus and the action of the Holy Spirit. The Virgin is ‘all holy’ because from the first moment of her existence she was the ‘temple of the Holy Spirit’. (Second Vatican Council, op cit) ‘Full of grace’ means nothing but ‘full of the Holy Spirit’, because it is always the Spirit who brings about communion with the entire Trinity.
‘The Father predestined her but the sanctifying virtue of the Spirit visited her, purified her, made her holy and, so to say, immaculate.’ (St John Damascene, “Homily on the Dormition”, I, 3)
Mary’s transformation by the Spirit was so profound as to touch her very essence. ‘Mary from the beginning was united with the Spirit, author of life; everything that she experienced she shared with the Spirit so that her participation in the Spirit became a participation in being.’ (Theophanes of Nicea, “Discourse on the Mother of God”, 30) This is why Mary was ‘all holy’ from her conception.
The Spirit molded and made Mary into a new creature; but Mary’s original holiness was not passive, because from the moment she became conscious of this, she collaborated uniquely with the Spirit to nurture that intense and profound union with God.
Ref: cf Theological-Historical Commission, “The Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life”, 80-81, 1997
“Prayer to the Holy Spirit
“Come, Holy Spirit, enlighten with your truth our journey [toward the great Jubilee of the Year 2000]. Enable us to witness with ardent faith to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, who died and rose again for our sake.
“He is the One who always comes. He is the Gospel of God’s love for humanity of fraternal communion, and of unbounded love. He is the new shoot that has blossomed in the soil of history: he alone can bring about a genuine renewal of the Church and of society.
“Come, Holy Spirit, and renew the face of the earth!
“Come, Holy Spirit. Inflame us with the fire of your love, so we will be able to humbly and courageously discern the good and evil in society. Help us to listen to your words with the docile attitude of the disciples; to be ready, like Mary, the attentive Virgin, to make those words bear fruit in the form of holiness in our personal lives, in our families and in society. Make us receptive to Christ, who knocks on the door of our heart, and transform us into ardent dwelling places of God.
“Come, Holy Spirit. Pour out the power of your grace on the Pope and on his bishops, so that, with evangelical wisdom and apostolic courage, they will be able to show everyone how to respond to today’s challenges according to the plan of God. Bestow your seven gifts on all called to work in the Lord’s vineyard: priests, deacons, those consecrated to the service of witnessing your kingdom, Christian families, all the faithful. Work in us, so our lives might be a sign of a new humanity, reconciled in truth and love, to the praise and glory to the Father. Come, Holy Spirit, and renew the face of the earth!” -- Pope John Paul II
Ref: Pope Paul II in “Pray Always 2”, Pauline’s Publishing House
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