Blogs
In the News: April 20, 2017
By Michael Duricy
Read recent items about Mary in both Catholic and secular news. Also see International Marian Research Institute news and updates.
Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute Features
Updates
Mary's Garden Displays
We are hosting a Mary's Garden exhibit through May 10,2017. However, this was not the first such exhibit. There was a similar one in 2011. Information about the previous exhibit is immediately below.
Louise Tessier exhibited art during the Moved by the Spirit show held at The Marian Library Gallery in 2012. This exhibit moved throughout North America from 2011-2015.
An illustrated edition of The Garden Way of the Cross by Father Thomas Stanley, S.M., is now available from Novalis Publishing Inc. in Canada. These meditations on the Stations of the Cross connect scriptural verses to symbolic flowers and plants. Father Stanley's meditations first appeared in the Prayer and Meditation section of the Mary's Gardens website and can still be seen on the website were they were first published in August 1993 and revised again in July, 1996 and March, 1997. Click here to find more information or order a copy.
These simple meditations served as the inspiration for the beautifully detailed full-color illustrations by Louise Tessier, who also wrote the prayers of petition that conclude each Station. Lauretta Santarossa wrote the foreword.
N.B. In honor of Father Thomas and his 73 years as a Priest in the Society of Mary (Marianists), a portion of the proceeds from art sales were donated to a Marian charity.
On a related note, please see a very comprehensive history of the Bell Tower and Mary's Garden in Woods Hole at the Woods Hole Museum website at http://woodsholemuseum.org
Mary in Media: Books, Films, Music, etc.
Marian Video Clip for Easter
This 2 1/2 minute Spanish language video from Gloria TV could give some idea of what the Virgin Mary could feel on being reunited with her son, the Risen Lord, Jesus.
From the Marian Treasure Chest
Brother John Samaha sent us the text below with the following comments: "This article was published in The Catholic Response, May-June 2017. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us."
Rosary Guidelines by Brother John Samaha, S.M.
Any expression of Christian spirituality gives prominent place to Mary, Mother of our Redeemer. Praying is at the heart of living the Gospel, and that normally includes praying her rosary. The rosary is a means of summarizing the Gospel. This enables us to live the rosary by entwining its prayers and mysteries into the very fabric of our lives. In praying the rosary we offer our Spiritual Mother a garland of roses, our heartfelt conversation.
In the rosary we find a unique synthesis of the entire Gospel, both Scripture and Tradition, in a beautifully Marian format that is easily remembered as we implore God's grace.
Pope St. John Paul II taught that praying the rosary is "a most effective way of fostering among the faithful that commitment to contemplation of the Christian mystery and a genuine training in holiness." He regarded the rosary as "an exquisitely contemplative prayer" and "a treasure to be rediscovered."
More than one hundred official documents of the papal magisterium attest to the efficacy of the rosary as a school of virtue and contemplation and a means of obtaining divine graces. The rosary succeeds in protecting our gift of faith from all kinds of sin because it is a gift from God, the weapon chosen for us by Our Lady. The Servant of God, Frank Duff, reminded us that the rosary is our "prime devotion" because it contains Mary. Barbara Kloss, a twentieth century mystic of Poland, was told by Our Lady, "I am wholly in the rosary. Seek me there ... find me there."
Archbishop Fulton Sheen once compared the rosary to the Eucharist: "What the Eucharist is in the order of the sacraments, the rosary is in the order of sacramentals." This means, he continues, "the rosary contains Mary."
For Maisie Ward, the noted British writer and publisher, the rosary is a guide to reality. If the rosary contains Mary, then it also contains the Holy Spirit, spouse of Mary and the Spirit of truth (Jn 16:13), the only true guide to reality.
Taking his cue from the Joyful Mysteries, Pope St. John Paul II tells how the rosary transports us to reality. "The rosary mystically transports us to Mary's side as she is busy watching over the human growth of Jesus in the home of Nazareth. This enables her to train us and mold us with the same care until Christ is 'fully formed' in us (Gal 4:19). By immersing us in the Redeemer's life, the rosary insures that what Jesus has done and what the liturgy makes present is profoundly assimilated and shapes our existence."
Since our objective is to live the Gospel, we are called to live the rosary, an epitome of the Gospel, all the time. This requires skillfully entwining its mysteries in our lives. By doing so we become divinized by incorporating the virtues of Jesus and Mary by praying always with Mary. Living the rosary continually requires a deep respect and real love for the rosary by recognizing at its core Jesus, love incarnate--"the way, the truth, and the life."
"Abide in me and I in you," says Jesus, because "without me you can do nothing."
Marian Events
Gardening with Native Mary Plants Workshop
All are welcome to attend the free Gardening with Native Mary Plants Workshop, 12:15 - 1:15 p.m., Friday, April 21 in the LTC Studio in Roesch Library on the campus of the University of Dayton. The staff of the Marianist Environmental Education Center (MEEC) will share about the native varieties of Mary flowers that can be incorporated into your garden plans. Pre-register on the website by Thursday.
Mary in the Catholic Press
Pope to Canonize Francisco and Jacinta Marto in Fatima on May 13 (Zenit) April 20, 2017
It’s official: the canonization of two of the little shepherds who witnessed the apparitions of Fatima will be on May 13, 2017, in the Portuguese sanctuary. Pope Francis made the announcement during the public consistory that took place today in the Vatican. Thus, Francisco and Jacinta Marto will be the youngest, non-martyr canonized saints in the history of the Catholic Church.
The three visionaries of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima were ten-year-old Lucía dos Santos, nine-year-old Francisco, and seven-year-old Jacinta. Lucía later became a Carmelite religious and died on February 13, 2005. The cause for her beatification has opened at the diocesan level.
Francis makes an apostolic visit to Fatima to commemorate the centenary of the Marian apparitions on May 12-13....
Click here to read the entire article.
Mary in the Secular Press
The director and editors of All About Mary under the auspices of the International Marian Research Institute do not necessarily endorse or agree with the events and ideas expressed in this feature. Our sole purpose is to report on items about Mary gleaned from a myriad of papers representing the secular press.
Virgin Mary Statue 'Cries' in Argentina (Coast to Coast) April 17, 2017
A Virgin Mary statue owned by a family in Argentina has created a firestorm among the faithful in the area after it began 'crying blood.'
News of the odd occurrence and video of the eerie event have led to hundreds of people traveling to the home of the family where the statue is kept.
In response to the frenzy, a Church official says that they plan to investigate the case to see if there is a reasonable explanation for the 'crying' before concluding that it is some kind of miraculous event.
Considering the season, the timing of the event is certainly curious, but, as with all stories surrounding religious icons seemingly sending a message, the source of the strangeness ultimately comes down to a matter of faith.
Click here to read the entire article.