The Church celebrates this feast in memory of the martyrs in the persecution under Nero (~64 AD). Many Christians, people from all levels of society, were tortured and killed. This celebration reminds us that Christians should seek sanctity regardless of their social status, age, or skills. (Fr James Socias, et al [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1569)
Kindness and tenderness of the Heart of Jesus -- ‘Shown by his words and actions’
“Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you.” “It is I, fear not.” “Be of good heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” “I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd gives his life for his sheep.” “Be merciful.” “I will have mercy, not sacrifice.”
How tender are these words which came from the lips and the heart of Jesus! The whole life of our Lord was spent in ‘doing good’. He never saw suffering, bodily or mental, without healing or consoling it.
Let us take two instances out of a thousand others. Near the city of Naim, he met a widowed mother, inconsolable for the loss of her only son. And he was ‘moved with mercy’ for her, and raised her son to life.
On another occasion, when four-thousand men had followed him for three days in the desert, he said to the Apostles: ‘I have compassion on the multitude ...’ The expressions, ‘moved with mercy’, or ‘have compassion’, occur no less than eight times in the holy Gospels.
We, therefore, do a great injury to the Heart of Jesus when we doubt his mercy, or the pardon of our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. When we look upon his yoke as heavy and difficult to bear. When we exchange confidence for fear, and fear for discouragement, or even despair. Let us be most careful never to offer him an insult such as this.
Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp334-5
‘To Jesus Through Mary’
I was having difficulty in the seminary. Someone recommended I read “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary” by St Louis Marie de Montfort. As a member of the Sodality of Our Lady, the motto, ‘Ad Jesum per Mariam’ was very familiar to me.
St Louis Marie suggested an act of consecration of everything we do ‘To Jesus through Mary’. I thought: ‘What do I have to lose?’ Mary, as the Mother of God, was in life the perfect exemplar of doing God’s Will; and in heaven she is undoubtedly the first whose prayers we must seek to identify with ours to know and to do God’s Will in our lives.
I recall that on 8 December 1958, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I knelt before the statue of Our Lady in the chapel of the Immaculate Conception in St Charles Seminary in Philadelphia. In the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, I made an act of consecration of everything to Jesus through Mary.
From that moment, I have never had one doubt about my vocation; and I have found great consolation in two prayers, in particular. One is the ‘Memorare’, the great prayer of St Bernard of Clairvaux: “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who sought Thy help or asked Thy intercession was left unaided. ...” [complete prayer in 17 August, Volume 3, p251 of “To Jesus Daily Through Mary”, these compilations]
The other prayer is the ‘Morning Offering: O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, for the intentions of all our associates and, in particular, for the intentions of our Holy Father the Pope.’
This prayer is promoted by the ‘Apostleship of Prayer’ and the ‘League of the Sacred Heart’. Pope Paul VI particularly blessed with a plenary indulgence, a remission of all temporal punishment due to sin, for every day we sincerely offer everything to God.
A humble offering to God through the Mother of God of all that we have, all that we are and all that we do will also render us more open to the insights and promptings God gives us. We will be open to truth, ... to faith. In our admitted weakness and dependence, we will literally be given new courage, new heart -- the courage, the generosity, and the love of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Ref: Archbishop JP Foley in “Alliance of the Two Hearts”, 360-3
‘Ad Iesum per Mariam’
When greeting Mary, Elizabeth in no way separated Mother and Son. She associated them intimately by adding, “and blest is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:42). We, too must address ourselves to the Lord Jesus with the readiness of lively faith and force of ardent love. The expression ‘Ad Iesum per Mariam’, must be shown to be true for us, too ...
Let us reflect: What is the meaning of Mary’s presence in that house in the hill country of Judea? Was she there only through kindness and thoughtful concern for her kinswoman who had “conceived a son in her old age”? (Lk 1:36) Was it a purely human act of assistance?
No. That was a much more significant and spiritually fruitful presence, because Mary brought her cousin the incomparable gifts of grace, of joy and of light, associating the future Precursor with this bearing of gifts to his mother. The moment Mary’s greeting sounded in her ears, the old woman not only felt the child leap in her womb but was also filled with the Holy Spirit and felt strengthened, indeed enthusiastic, in her reply to the greeting.
Through illumination of that Spirit who had penetrated her, she above all acquired the superior capacity to see the very Mother of her Lord in her young cousin.
Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp178-9
Our Lady of Calais, built by the English while they possessed that city of which they were masters during 210 years; a magnificent chapel was added to it in the year 1631 by James de Bolloye, parish priest of Calais. — Davila, ii. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)
Our Lady of Calais (Built by the English in France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
Our Lady of Calais (France, 1347). (http://www.divinewill.org/feastofourlady.htm); (http://www.starharbor.com/santiago/m feasts.html); (MaryLinks Calendar.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
‘Notre Dame de Calais’. France. 1347. Built by Anglo-Normans when they controlled the north coast of France. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
Our Lady of the Rose -- Patroness of Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)
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