Making Sense of Mommy Mary

I got a letter from a reader this week:

"I am becoming interested in Catholicism. But this Mother Mary stuff just doesn't make any sense to me at all. Could you point me in the direction of some help understanding this?
Thank you,
Carrie"

Well as a little Carmelite, rather than point you to a book or a website, I'd rather point you to having a prayerful heart and rereading the Gospel of Luke.

Mary is a real person. She existed in a specific time and place. She is Christ's first and his best disciple! St. Peter messed up a few times. St. James, St. John,and St. Paul, all very good, inspiring men--but they had flaws that Scripture faithfully records.

Mary on the other hand, consistently hit the ball out of the park.

She said YES!

Again and again and again.

So lets just review a few highlights of Mary's discipleship career.

Angel Gabriel comes and announces an unexpected pregnancy for God. An event that may mean public ridicule, divorce, and potential death by stoning as an adulteress. Mary says Yes!

Early in her pregnancy (during the first trimester when I'm personally having trouble getting out of bed in the morning) Mary RUNS to visit her elder cousin Elizabeth in a far away community. Mary has great love for people as well as for God.

Being the Mother of God has such glory connected with it as giving birth in a filthy stable, fleeing from an Israeli king who is intent on killing your toddler, living as an alien in a foreign land for several years and "misplacing" the Holy Son of God for three days as a teenager in the Temple of Jerusalem.

All of this happens prior to the major heartache of watching your son die in a painful way in the midst of great cruelty and ridicule.

Mary was a purely human being, like us, who had a supernatural gift of grace (the Immaculate Conception, not like us). We don't have to be jealous that Mary got a unique gift from God. Instead, Mary does help us all accept that "goodness" is a gift from God himself. In our lives on earth, we won't ever be able to duplicate Mary's "home run" of faith. Jesus only came as a tiny baby once and none of us currently living women will ever be able to nourish him in our womb. But Mary will help us "give birth to Christ" in our soul. We can become more Christ-like. We can start to resemble our Savior's life more and more in our frail human form.

So when we pray to her, she responds. She's real. She helps us to see her working in our world.

Two common Catholic Prayers to Mary are the Hail Mary and the Memorare.

Hail Mary
Full of Grace
The Lord is With You (this is a quote from the Angel Gabriel's words in Luke)
Blessed Are You Among Women
And Blessed Is the Fruit of Your Womb, Jesus (This is a quote from St. Elizabeth also found in Luke)
Holy Mary, Mother of God
Pray for Us Sinners,
Now and at the Moment of Our Death (This is a saying of the entire Catholic Church who wants help from Mom right now, and at the most decisive moment in their Christian life--the moment of death)

Also, my husband suggested drawing closer to Mary by using his favorite Marian prayer, the Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection,
implored your help or sought your intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired with this confidence,
I fly to you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother;
to you do I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful.

O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in your mercy hear and answer me.

Amen.

Blessed Mother, pray for Carrie and pray for us!

Today is My Favorite Second Reading!!!!

Happy St. Martha Day!!!

Wow, does this zinger from St. Augustine always put me in a great mood:

"But you, Martha, if I may say so, are blessed for your good service, and for your labors you seek the reward of peace. Now you are much occupied in nourishing the body, admittedly a holy one. But when you come to the heavenly homeland will you find a traveller to welcome, someone hungry to feed, or thirsty to whom you may give drink, someone ill whom you could visit, or quarrelling whom you could reconcile, or dead whom you could bury?

No, there will be none of these tasks there. What you will find there is what Mary chose. There we shall not feed others, we ourselves shall be fed. Thus what Mary chose in this life will be realized there in all its fullness; she was gathering fragments from that rich banquet, the Word of God. Do you wish to know what we will have there? The Lord himself tells us when he says of his servants, Amen, I say to you, he will make them recline and passing he will serve them."

Pull Out the Hankies..."Let Yourself Be Loved"

Just a little sample to introduce you all to my new bff Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

(This is her goodbye note to her Mother Superior)

"You are uncommonly loved, loved by that love of preference that the Master had here below for some and which brought them so far. He does not say to you as to Peter: "Do you love Me more than these?" Mother, listen to what He tells you, "Let yourself be loved more than these! That is, without fearing that any obstacle will be a hindrance to it, for I am free to pour out My love on whom I wish! Let yourself be loved more than these is your vocation. It is in being faithful to it that you will make Me happy for you will magnify the power of My love. This love can rebuild what you have destroyed. Let yourself be loved more than these."....

"Mother, the fidelity that the Master asks of you is to remain in communion with Love, flow into, be rooted in this Love who wants to make your souls with the seal of His power and His grandeur. You will never be commonplace if you are vigilant in love! (vol 2, pg 179-180)

(I put in bold the lines that really jumped out at me)

This letter is so beautiful on so many levels, but it really helps overcome my "survivor guilt." I don't know why I was the one plucked out of my fame obsessed, sinful and totally selfish lifestyle as a college grad and placed in the middle of Catholicism, a sacramental marriage, abundant motherhood, and Carmel. I REALLY don't deserve it and I'm not doing a great job here on earth living up to my spiritual riches.

Yet there is my gentle buddy 'Sabeth coming to my aid. "Hey, Miss Abigail", she says gently. "Don't get frightened of those Carmel vows you'll be making in three months. Your job is to just let yourself be loved more than these. God's got a plan for everyone's salvation. Your part is to be the 'turned around' Mary Magdalene who gets the unexpected reward of seeing her Savior first on Easter morning. Just sit back, honey, and enjoy the ride!"

Bl Elizabeth of the Trinity

"Darling little sister, you must cross out the word "discouragement" from your dictionary of love; the more you feel your weakness, your difficulty in recollecting yourself, and the more hidden your Master seems, the more you must rejoice, for then you are giving to Him, and, when one loves, isn't it better to give than to receive?"
(The Complete Works, Vol 2., pg 305).

Meet the Saints- St. Bathild

I missed posting about a new favorite saint whose feast day was on January 30th. St. Bathild was a young English girl who was kidnapped by pirates around 630 AD and brought to France as a slave to an officer in the king's palace. In an amazing demonstration of virtue Butler's Lives of the Saints states: "(St) Bathild did not struggle against her circumstances but carefully learned to do the housekeeping chores required of her, while remaining polite and gentle"

King Clovis II MARRIED Bathild in 649. As Queen Bathild did much to advance the Christian faith in France. (Not surprisingly, she also took an active part in suppressing the slave trade.) After the Kings death, Bathild abandoned her crown and entered a convent. The only thing that set her apart as a nun was her "extraordinary humility and strict obedience to religious superiors."

So much to learn from this Saint--starting with "learning how to do my housekeeping chores while remaining polite and gentle."

I'm struck by how this real life fairy tale models the life of Our Blessed Mother, the humble Queen of Housekeeping eventually becomes Queen of France--while Mom becomes the Queen of Heaven and Earth.

I'm also amazed at how many saints started out as slaves: St. Patrick, Ven. Pierre Toussaint, and St. Josephine Bakhita. Anyone have other former slaves to add to the list?

Meet the Saints- St. Edmund Campion

Today is the feast day of one of my most favorite saints, St. Edmund Campion!

Imagine for a second that Catholicism is suddenly outlawed in Mexico. All the priests are arrested. All the nuns sent home and their convents turned into public parks and public schools. Overnight, it become illegal to attend Mass, to go to Confession or to baptize your child. What would you do?

Under King Henry VIII, that same situation happened to England. England use to be as Catholic as it's neighbor Ireland. (Remember St. Patrick was a Brit who actually converted the Irish Celts.) There were many, many famous English martyrs. Many devote Catholics in the land. Even King Henry himself got the title "defender of the Faith" from the Pope.

The serpent bit King Henry through the sin of adultery and world turned upside down for English Catholics. After years of bloody struggle, the Catholic faith was surpressed.

Enter St. Edmund Campion!

Edmund's family converted to Protestantism early, and he was raised as an Angelican Catholic. He had a brilliant career at Oxford. He was the darling student who was chosen to give a special welcome speech to King Henry's daughter, Queen Elizabeth I. She was amazed at his intelligence, charm and good looks. She told Edmund he could name his cabinet post in her church and her government.

But Edmund had a problem.

The more he studied the roots of English Protestantism, the more his soul became troubled. The more he studied the great Catholic doctors of the Church, the more he felt that the Roman Catholic Church of Rome was the true church of Christ.

What to do?

He consulted the best theological minds at Oxford. He asked one of his friends, "How can you be an expert in St. Ambrose and St. Augustine and still be an Anglican priest?" The friend answered "If I believed in these saints as well as I read them, I would indeed be in trouble. But since I don't, I'm fine!"

St. Edmund was not fine. He left Oxford. He left England. He handed his soul over to God and became a Jesuit priest. He was trained in special seminary overseas designed to train priests to help reconvert England to the Catholic faith.

After receiving Holy Orders, St. Edmund at once raced back to his homeland. His heart bleed for the Catholics who were suffering terrible pains of conscious under an oppressive ruler and who had no one to guide them. St. Edmund went from house to house in secrecy. He heard confession for hours. He soothed the fears of the few elderly priests who were still locked in jail. He celebrated Mass, baptized babies and regularized marriages.

He saved souls.

St. Edmund knew that he risked death. He demonstrated heroic courage. He wrote "a brag" to tell the Queen exactly why he was coming to England, not to have a political revolution, but a peaceful, moral revolution of the heart. He even said he hoped to convert his Queen's heart as well.

He truly loved his enemies. He says "If these my offers be refused, and my endeavours can take no place, and I, having run thousands of miles to do you good, shall be rewarded with rigour. I have no more to say but to recommend your case and mine to Almighty God, the Searcher of Hearts, who send us his grace, and see us at accord before the day of payment, to the end we may at last be friends in heaven, when all injuries shall be forgotten."

(Read his entire brag, it will make you cry!)

Queen Elizabeth was not pleased. After 2 years, St. Edmund was found. He was sentenced to death. As St. Edmund was being pulled to his execution spot, he saw one single statue of the Virgin Mary that the Protestants had not smashed to bits. He saluted Our Mother as he passed.

On December 1, 1581, St. Edmund was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, London, England and parts of his body were displayed at the city gates as a warning to other Catholics.

St. Edmund Campion, pray for us!

(For more information on this wonderful saint I highly recommend reading Eveyln Waugh's biography entitled Edmund Campion).

Meet the Saints- St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

St. Frances is an example of a dream gracefully deferred for the good of the Church.

As a little girl, St. Frances had a burning desire to be a missionary in China. She invited a game of sailing paper boats in a stream by her house. She gave up candy because "she probably couldn't enjoy candy in China."

After overcoming many obstacles to her vocation to religious life, St. Frances found herself face to face with the Pope. She asked for the Pope's blessing to start her new order of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to evangelize China. This was the moment she dreamed of as a child.

The Pope said No!

What?

The Pope said, "Go West, not East." With tears in his eyes, the Pope told St. Frances about all the suffering Italian immigrants faced in America. They didn't know the language. Because of racism, Italian immigrants had trouble finding work or even receiving the sacraments from the Irish dominated American Catholic clergy. "Our country men are in grave danger of losing their faith, it weighs heavily on my heart. Won't you go to America and help them?" the Pope asked.

St. Frances shoved her childhood dream in a drawer and a said YES!

Once she got in America, St. France had a chilly welcome. As soon as she got off the boat, the Archbishop of New York said "Why are you here? Didn't you get my letter telling you and your Sisters aren't needed. We have Nuns enough in New York already!"

St. Frances said determinedly "Your excellency, the Pope sent me here and here I must stay!"

Since no one in New York City wanted them, no preparations had been made for the Sisters. Her first night in America, St. Frances and her companions spent a night in such a seedy hotel that the rats came out and daringly chewed on this Sister's petticoats. St. Frances was forced to arrange for the Sisters to sleep in shifts to take turns chasing away the brazen rats with a burning oil lamp.

St. Frances didn't let this cool reception deter her. She started at once helping the poor and the sick. She built hospitals, and schools and orphanages all over the United States. Near death in 1917, she roused herself from sickness to make sure that the children in the Chicago hospital that she had founded had candy for their Christmas stockings.

She became the first American citizen to be named a Saint in 1946.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini pray for us!

St. Isidore the Farmer

Today is the Saint Day of one of my husband's favorite Saints, St. Isidore the Farmer. St. Isidore got in trouble for going to work a half an hour late each day after he attended Daily Mass. The saints employer was about to complain when he realized that there were angels doing St. Isidore's farm work for him! Because he went to Mass, St. Isidore was able to work twice as much as any of the other field hands!

Whenever Jon is overwhelmed by the shear multitude of tasks at his job, he prays for help from St. Isidore the Farmer. This Saint has been helping my husband make it reliably home each night at 6 PM for almost 5 years. Pray to him! He is great!


More info from "Saint of the Day" on Google
"This saint was born in 1070, in Madrid, Spain. His parents were deeply religious. They named their son after the great St. Isidore, archbishop of Seville, Spain. We celebrate his feast on April 4. Isidore's parents wanted to offer their son a first-rate education, but they could not afford it. They were tenant farmers. Their son would spend his life in the same occupation.

Isidore went to work for a rich land owner in Madrid. The man's name was John de Vargas. Isidore worked all his life for Mr. de Vargas. He married a good girl from a family as poor as his own. The couple loved each other very much. They had one child, a boy, who died as a baby. Isidore and his wife offered to Jesus their sadness over the child's death. They trusted their son was happy with God forever.

St. Isidore began each day at Mass. Then he would go to his job. He tried to work hard even if he didn't feel like it. He plowed and planted and prayed. He called on Mary, the saints and his guardian angel. They helped him turn ordinary days into special, joyful times. The world of faith became very real to St. Isidore, as real as Mr. de Vargas' fields. When he had a day off, Isidore made it a point to spend extra time adoring Jesus in church. Sometimes, on holidays, Isidore and his wife would visit a few neighboring parishes on a one day pilgrimage of prayer.

Once the parish had a dinner. Isidore arrived early and went into the church to pray. He arrived in the parish hall late. He didn't come in alone. He brought a group of beggars, too. The parishioners were upset. What if there wasn't enough food for all those beggars? But the more they filled up their plates, the more there was for everybody else. St. Isidore said kindly, "There is always enough for the poor of Jesus."

Stories of miracles began to circulate about this farm worker saint. Isidore was totally unselfish. He was a loving and compassionate human being. He is one of Spain's most popular saints. Isidore died on May 15, 1130. In March, 1622, Pope Gregory XV proclaimed five great saints together. They were St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Philip Neri and St. Isidore the Farmer.

Caring for the gifts that surround him marked the life of this saint. He let his faith in Jesus and the Church light up his whole life. Perhaps we can make an effort to share the gifts we have especially with the poor."