Category Archives: Blessed Virgin Mary

August: The Immaculate Heart of Mary month!

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And so ends July, the Month dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus. Next up: August which is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

I am thinking of starting a new series; related to the Sacred Heart Friday posts I began in January, these will be “Immaculate Heart Saturday.” Each Saturday for as long as I am able I will post something related to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

Many of them will be about the First Saturday Devotions as well as posts related to Fatima. I will probably include a few more in the unfinished series on the Alliance of the Two Hearts. Oh, there’s lots I can do!

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Saint James the Greater

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I’m writing this as a way to distinguish between St. James the Greater and St. James the Less. One has a feast day which is today, July 25th. One wrote the Book of James in the New Testament. I know one of them is one of the sons of Zebedee and the brother of St. John the Evangelist and the one whose relics pilgrims who travel the Way of St. James in northwestern Spain visit. And the other isn’t. 

Okay, so I hit the Internet. I hear it’s a decent source for information on things.

St. James the Greater is the first of the Apostles to be martyred. Prior to that he evangelized Spain. Legend holds he wasn’t very good at it but he still loved the Spanish and after his martyrdom his disciples took his remains to Spain to be entombed there. There are numerous legends surrounding his relationship with Spain. Many modernist claim they’re all false. But that’s what modernists do. One of the legends is that the first Marian Apparition ever was to him. (Modernists really go on about denying that one!)

Tradition says that in the early day of the Church, Saint James the Greater was spreading the Gospel in Spain, but making very little progress. He was dejected and questioning his mission. About 44, the Virgin Mary, who was still living in Jerusalem at the time, bi-located and appeared to him in a vision to boost his morale. In it, she was atop a column or pillar, which was being carried by angels. That pillar is believed to be the same one venerated in Zaragoza, Spain today. Miraculous healings reported at the scene. 

From: CatholicSaints.Info » Blog Archive » Our Lady of the Pillar.

You can read a lot about St. James the Greater here: CatholicSaints.Info » Blog Archive » Saint James the Greater

There. I think I’ve finally gotten it down as to which one is which. (It helps me to remember things when I can attach the thing to another thing. So, the GREATER is attached to the blogpost.) St. James the Greater is the July 25th and Camino one. Watch me, I’ll still mix ‘em up. 

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The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 6

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It’s been a while since I did one of these on the union of there Two Hearts, and on this Sacred Heart Friday I will revisit the last post in the series: The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 5. In particular, this passage:

The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary began when Jesus dwelt within the womb of Mary. Like all children when they are living within their Momma’s womb, He shared the body of Mary and thus she became the tabernacle for the Ark of the New Covenant that is Him.

Mary’s Immaculate Heart pumped the Precious Blood that flowed through His veins and arteries; she powered His Sacred Heart.

July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus. This post clearly identifies that Mary is the source of His Precious Blood; inasmuch as He did not have a biological human father, all of His genetic material comes from Our Lady. 

Now, take a look at this earlier post: Three Drops of Blood: The Creation of the Sacred Heart. In this one I mention an approved private revelation to Ven. Maria de Jesus de Agreda as recorded in the epic biography of the Blessed Virgin Mary “The Mystical City of God.”

Three drops of blood from Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart gathered and deposited in her sacred womb. From this, Jesus drew His genetic material and His Sacred Humanity. 

The issuing of the blood from her heart symbolized her Sorrowful Heart, which was to suffer much as prophesied by Simeon. So, there in a connection between her Sorrowful Heart and His Sacred Heart. 

An image of the relevant page from “The Mystical City of God:”

Three Drops of Blood Passage

From these three drops of blood from Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart came the body of Our Lord; and obviously the Precious Blood which pumped through His veins and arteries and which was spilled for out redemption of the first Good Friday. 

So, Our Lady is the source and origin of His Most Precious Blood. Devotion to the Precious Blood is simultaneously a devotion to Our Lady. The two are united; for Catholics, where Jesus is, Mary is nearby. If you are practicing a devotion to Mary, you will ultimately be taken to Jesus.

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Another Our Lady of Perpetual Help Coincidence (and novena reminder)

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A while back I wrote about a series of coincidences involving Our Lady of Perpetual Help and yours truly. 

Well, she’s at it again! I was cleaning out the back of the garage to make room for a garden workbench I’m being given when I opened a box that was in the way. Curious, I rummaged through it and there was a stack of Our Lady of Perpetual Help prayer cards! This is what they look like, minus the wording at the bottom:

CultofPerpetualHelpVetusImagoMiraculisClaraVenerata.

So, what exactly is the coincidence? Well, today marks the beginning of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Novena! I didn’t need the reminder, so it is a curious thing or perhaps just a signal grace.

Anyway, if you want to pray this Novena, this post has links to three good ones to pick from.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 5

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It’s Sacred Heart Friday time and this week I’m getting all mystical.

The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary began when Jesus dwelt within the womb of Mary. Like all children when they are living within their Momma’s womb, He shared the body of Mary and thus she became the tabernacle for the Ark of the New Covenant that is Him.

Mary’s Immaculate Heart pumped the Precious Blood that flowed through His veins and arteries; she powered His Sacred Heart.

This union of the Two Hearts was far more intimate than any other. We all have heard of stories about pregnant women and how they marvel at the the movements of their unborn child; the kicks and wriggles and so forth. How much greater this must have been for Mary and Jesus. Mystical writings and approved private revelations tell that Jesus was fully aware from His conception in the womb. How? Unknown, but given that He is God and therefore would never have lost His Omniscience regardless of His form, He was fully in possession of His faculties. Some of the revelations also tell us that Jesus and Mary were in close communion with each other throughout her pregnancy. This makes sense. Jesus would obviously obey the Commandment to “Honor thy Father and thy Mother,” given His proximity to Mary while in her womb, it seems obvious that He would honor her in a way impossible for anyone else to do for their mother. He is God, omniscient, and in His mother’s womb. How do you think He would honor her? What feelings of love would He bestow upon Mary? What graces and blessings winkled He petition the Father to give her? 

Love returns love; what would Mary do for Him in return? She, who ‘kept all these things in her heart and pondered them’ could only return His love for her in kind. Mary, the daughter of God the Father, mother of God the Son, and Spouse of God the Holy Spirit….. what feelings of love and awe and wonder could she have given Him? 

It renders our attempts at worship and adoration paltry by comparison. This makes it reasonable for us to honor the recommendation of many saints, especially St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Louis de Montfort and others, to ‘go to Jesus through Mary.’ She can take our feeble and pathetic attempt to worship and adore Him and unite it to her own since her Heart is still united to His. 

The Union, or Alliance, of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary makes sense of all this. We can go directly to Jesus without Mary, but why would you in light of the above? There is much to ponder here; you cannot do it justice by rejecting ‘to Jesus through Mary’ out of hand when you realize the possibilities of their history together and the obvious truths entailed. 

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Sacred Heart of Jesus Novena begins June 7th

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The Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus begins June 7th this year so as to end on the day before the Feast day, which is June 16th this year. On the day of the Feast it is customary to consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart. The following is a popular prayer that can be used for a novena – it is even recommended to be said every day (which I do.) 

Efficacious Novena
 to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

This novena prayer was recited every day by Padre Pio for all those who asked for prayers.
The faithful are invited to recite it daily, so as to be spiritually united with the prayer of Padre Pio.

I. O my Jesus, you have said: “Truly I say to you, ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.” Behold I knock, I seek and ask for the grace of [insert your intention.] 
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to the Father…Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

II. O my Jesus, you have said: “Truly I say to you, if you ask any thing of the Father in my name, He will give it to you.” Behold, in your name, I ask the Father for the grace of [insert your intention.] 
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to the Father…Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

III. O my Jesus, you have said: “Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away.” Encouraged by your infallible words I now ask for the grace of [insert your intention.] 
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to the Father…Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of you, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your tender mother and ours.

Say the Hail, Holy Queen and add: St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us.

Since I have been writing about the Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary as a part of my Sacred Heart Friday series, here are two novenas to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

Here is an EWTN Novena to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Here is another Novena to the Immaculate Heart of Mary from Pray More Novenas.

You can say it one day after the Sacred Heart. Some years I simplify things by saying the Sacred Heart Novena so that it ends on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, meaning it goes along day-for-day with the Immaculate Heart Novena. You can do whatever you wish. 

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The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 4

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For this Sacred Heart Friday I will relate another way the Two Heart of Jesus and Mary are allied.

They are allied at the Foot off the Cross.

Luke 2:34-35 And Simeon blessed them, and he said to his mother Mary: “Behold, this one has been set for the ruin and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and as a sign which will be contradicted.

 And a sword will pass through your own soul, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

John 19:25-27 And standing beside the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, and Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

 Therefore, when Jesus had seen his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son.”

 Next, he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother.” And from that hour, the disciple accepted her as his own.

John 19:34 Instead, one of the soldiers opened his side with a lance, and immediately there went out blood and water.

Source: Sacred Bible: Catholic Public Domain Version

 

Screenshot 2023 06 01 at 1 15 47 PM

Source: Diary of St. Faustina

Simeon prophesied that Mary’s heart will be piece by a sword; and she witnessed the emotional sword of seeing her Son on the Cross, tortured and dying. It must have been a final indignity to see Him pierced with a lance. What more could they do to Him? At that moment, the sacraments of mercy were made manifest as the blood and water represent Baptism and the Eucharist. 

There is a lot to meditate on in this post. If you’re doing First Saturday tomorrow, perhaps you can dwell on the sorrowful mysteries, keeping in mind Mary at the foot off the Cross, her heart pierced…

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The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 3

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For this Sacred Heart Friday post, I’m going to set aside what I had originally written for Part 3; mainly because I don’t like what I’ve got. So, I’m taking this opportunity to remind everyone of certain upcoming feasts that relate to both the Sacred Heart and the Heart of Mary. 

Aside from the Solemnity of Pentecost this Sunday (this birthday of the Church!) we have this Monday the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. This is a new feast day, instituted by Pope Frances just a few years ago. I like it! Any increase in liturgical observances to Mary is all right with me! Mary IS the Mother of the Church; her heart nurtured it in the Church’s early years, after Christ’s Ascension and Mary’s own Assumption. She knew that the Church was the creation her Son, and just as His Sacred Heart beats in the Sacraments, her Immaculate Heart lovingly guided and taught the Apostles and disciples just like she taught Him during His first 30 years. 

This an example of how the Two Hearts operate. They work in tandem for the salvation of souls. Christ’s love for humanity leaves behind the Church to instruct the faithful until He returns; Mary’s love for us helps build up the Church.

Another day coming up is the  Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Right after the Annunciation Mary made haste and went to the hill country of Judea and visited her cousin Elizabeth who was with child. Carrying St. John the Baptist in her womb, Elizabeth was the first human to acknowledge Mary’s Divine Maternity when she greeted her. Not only that, but the unborn child in the womb  also acknowledged the existence of another unborn child, Jesus. St. John the Baptist, upon hearing Mary’s voice and the referencing to the Lord, leapt in Elizabeth’s wombs as he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Another example of how the Two Hearts operate: Mary’s love for her cousin sends her off on a journey and the beating of the Sacred Heart in her womb signals to the Baptist. 

And that’s it for May. June begins next Thursday and that month is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus! I hope to finish up this series on he Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary as well as come up with some really great stuff. I may even post multiple Sacred Heart Fridays!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 2

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As I stated in Part 1 of today’s Sacred Heart Friday post from last week (this makes sense only you read the conversation I had with the voices in my head that was transcribed in the Part 1 post) an alliance is always serves as a means to an end. Political alliances bolster the political standing of each member on the world stage. Military alliances ensure the security of each member. So, what is the end of the Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary?

Our salvation, of course!

Like I said in the previous post, all authentic Marian devotion leads the soul to Jesus. “To Jesus Through Mary” is the theme of many saints’ writings; especially St. Louis deMontfort and St. Maximilian Kolbe. Even Our Lady said at Fatima that she desired devotion to not just her Immaculate Heart, but of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In Scripture, we’ve seen how Mary “kept all these things pondering them in her heart.” What things? What was being said about Jesus. Her heart was ever united to contemplating Him; she was His first disciple and greatest Apostle. Of course, neither role was mentioned in the Bible, but it stands to reason that she was. 

There is also another reason for the union of the Two Hearts: genetic. Jesus had no human father; He received all His humanity from Mary. What this actually means and its significance may be difficult to understand, but her heart was identical to His. Given His Sacred Humanity and Divinity and her Immaculate Conception, this must mean the union of the Two Hearts had to have supernatural implications.

Maybe we need to spend some time pondering these things in our hearts.

Now to the ‘our salvation’ part. Mary (our Mother and Jesus’) and Jesus (our brother) desire nothing less than we join them in Heaven. The devotion to the Hearts is geared towards that. The Immaculate Heart of Mary has suffered from the indifference of souls air not outright sacrilege and blasphemy. The Devotion of the Five First Saturdays is about reparation for the offenses against her Heart. Read about that here: Five First Saturday Devotions. Similarly, the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is about reparation for our sins and the sins of others. You can read about that here: Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Both are about reparation for sin. Who knows how many have been turned back from the path of perdition and now enjoy the blessedness of Heaven because of these?

Next week: “The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 3!” I think it will be on the history of the Alliance, the saints that promoted it and so forth. That might need to carry over into a Part 4. There might be a Part 5, and that might involve Catholic Prophecy!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 1

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Yes, I know this  Sacred Heart Friday post is late.

“What do you mean ‘late,’ Paulcoholic?”

“I mean that it was supposed to be published last Friday.”

“Oh, wow! That IS late! A whole week! What have you got to say for yourself?”

“I wasn’t feeling all that well last week and wasn’t confident of my writing and thinking skills and didn’t finish going over the post to publish it last Friday (it was written over the course of that past week, I just never finished it.) Then I had my laptop off most of the weekend and didn’t feel like editing it. And then the week started and… OK ‘stuff’ happened and I just never got to it. OK?”

“Um, yeah, OK! Just don’t let it happen again!”

“Oh, shut up.” Why do I let the voices in my head get access to the keyboard?

In this week-late Sacred Heart Friday post, I offer you the first of at least two on the union between the two hearts  of Jesus and Mary. It was to have been one long-ish post, but since I’m late enough as it is and I didn’t do much additional research for it this week, and I’m still not feeling all that well, it’s being split up in two. So here goes! And let’s hope that I can get Part 2 out by the end of today the 19th. If there’s a Part 3, that’ll be next week.

All authentic Marian devotion leads to Jesus. The basis for this fact is that Mary is our Mother. Because she loves us so much, she leads us to her Son. We are all her children (Jesus and us) and so she wants us all to be together. Our biological mother gave birth to us in our physical, temporal life and we were thus born into Original Sin. Mary, however, gave birth to us when we were baptized. Our baptism made us members of the Mystical Body of Christ; and as Mary is Christ’s Mother, she becomes ours as she is also the Mother of the Mystical Body. Original Sin was wiped away and we were born anew as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and children of God the Father. She can be said to be more our mother than our biological mother ever was and she loves us more than our Earthly mother ever could and by reason of her divine motherhood, enables us to gain eternity with Christ. 

It is love which unites the two. The Heart of Mary beats with a love for Jesus and for us; His Sacred Heart beats with love for His Mother and for us. Mary’s Heart has a maternal love for us and so yearns for us to belong to Jesus. His Heart, as I’ve said before in these Sacred Heart Fridays, loves us, since as God He loves His own creation. His love for us is so great that He suffered and died to free us from our sins.

This then, is the Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary. An alliance typically is a means to an end. What is the end of this Alliance?

I think I’ll answer that in Part 2, and whatever I was gonna come up with for Part 2 will be Part 3 next week!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)