Blogs
Mary in the News: Jan. 2, 2018
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
Kayla Harris, the Marian Library's Librarian/Archivist, was published in VRA Bulletin this past fall. The article “Archives, Artwork, and a Garden: The John Stokes and Mary’s Gardens Collection at the University of Dayton” is now available in eCommons.
Mary in Media: Books, Films, Music, etc.
Invitation from Poland
Dear friends of the Catholic Film Association in Poland and the International Catholic Film and Multimedia Festival KSF Niepokalana!
We wish you a Holy and Merry Christmas and a lot of successes in the New Year 2018.
We are waiting your new films and programs: feature films, documentaries, television programs, radio and multimedia programs and video clips.
The deadline to send in the Entries for the next International Catholic Film and Multimedia Festival KSF Niepokalana 2018 is February 15, 2018. The Closing Ceremony is planned in Warsaw, May 2-28, 2018.
For details click into http://www.ksfniepokalana.pl/ or http://www.warszawa.mazowsze.pl/ksfniepokalana/.
From the Marian Treasure Chest
Brother John Samaha, S.M., sent us the text below with the following comments: "The attached article about Archbishop Fulton Sheen was published in Missio Immaculatae International, September/October 2017, page 31."
Archbishop Sheen and the Hour of Power by Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.
Archbishop Fulton John Sheen (1895-1979), was proclaimed "Venerable" by Pope Benedict XVI in the process for his canonization.
Venerable Fulton Sheen's message for us is a call to a daily period of personal prayer. As a seminarian he decided that he would observe a daily holy hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and he was faithful to that pledge during his entire life.
While not all may be able to spend an hour of prayer each day before the Blessed Sacrament, each of us can definitely make the effort to spend a small period of time daily in conversation with God. The Church calls us to a daily period of prayer, because prayer is the faith prayed.
Archbishop Sheen had determined that his daily holy hour was essential to his life as a priest, and likened it to "an oxygen tank that revived the breath of the Holy Spirit."
Born and educated in the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, he was a high school student of the Marianists at Spalding Institute, Peoria, Illinois, and this author was fortunate to be taught by one of the Brothers who taught this candidate for sainthood. Venerable Fulton Sheen went on to study for the priesthood and earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Louvain in Belgium.
After a brief term as a parish priest, he became a noted professor of philosophy at The Catholic University of America for a quarter century.
God blessed him with a special gift of preaching, a talent which he used most effectively to evangelize on radio's The Catholic Hour for twenty-five years and on television's Life Is Worth Living for five seasons. Some credit him as the originator of television evangelism.
Among the forty or more books he authored, one of the most popular is The World's First Love, which extols the Blessed Virgin Mary.
An avowed devotee of Mary since youth, he exhibited an avid interest in the connections between Our Lady of Fatima and Islam, and was a vigorous foe of communism. More than thirty times, Mary is mentioned in the Qur’an. Muslims believe in Mary's Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth of Christ. He boldly proclaimed, "I believe that the Blessed Virgin chose to be known as Our Lady of Fatima as a pledge and a sign of hope to the Muslim people, and as an assurance that they, who show her so much respect, will one day accept her divine Son, too. Mary is the portal for Muslims to accept Christ."
After becoming head of the Propagation of the Faith, he was made a bishop and served with distinction in raising the consciousness of American Catholics regarding the material and spiritual needs of the Church's missions. Over the years, he authored a number of popular books, and directed countless retreats, especially for priests. His reputation for leading converts, many of whom were prominent citizens, into the Church was exceptional. Following his death, he was buried in the crypt of New York City's St. Patrick Cathedral, where he had frequently preached.
How was Archbishop Sheen able to succeed in his pastoral ministry?
He attributed his achievements to the power of prayer, to "the hour that makes my day." In his autobiography he explains that "We become like that which we gaze upon. Looking into a sunset the face takes on a golden glow. Looking at the Eucharistic Lord … transforms the heart in a mysterious way."
Venerable Fulton John Sheen encouraged the practice of a daily period of prayer--before the Blessed Sacrament when possible. That heritage endures today in the lives of many and in parishes that have introduced adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The Holy Spirit, the teacher of prayer, is clearly present in the prayer life of the Church.
Prayer is the faith prayed.
Marian Events
Theme: Eya Concert
Location: Immaculate Conception Chapel, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio
Date: Thursday, January 25, 2018
Time: 7:00 p.m.
The Marian Library is kicking off its seventy-fifth anniversary year with the vocal ensemble Eya and a performance of medieval music interpreted for women’s voices. Please join us! The concert is free, but tickets are required.
Click here for more information.
Mary in the Catholic Press
Angelus Address: On the Solemnity of the Mother of God and the World Day of Peace (Zenit website) January 1, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!
On the first page of the calendar of the New Year, which the Lord gives us, the Church puts as stupendous miniature the liturgical solemnity of Mary Most Holy, Mother of God. On this first day of the solar year, let us fix our gaze on her, to take up again, under her maternal protection, the journey along the paths of time.
Today's Gospel (Cf. Luke 2:16-21) takes us back to the stable of Bethlehem. The shepherds arrive in haste and find Mary, Joseph, and the Child, and refer to the proclamation given to them by the Angels, namely, that that Newborn is the Savior. All are astonished, while "Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart." (v. 19) The Virgin makes us understand how the event of Christmas is to be received: not superficially but in the heart. She indicates the true way to receive God's gift: to keep it in the heart and ponder it. It's an invitation addressed to each one of us to pray, contemplating and enjoying this gift that is Jesus, Himself.
It's through Mary that the Son of God assumes corporeity. However, Mary's maternity isn't reduced to this: thanks to her faith, she is the first disciple of Jesus and this "dilates" her maternity. It was Mary's faith that at Cana caused the first miraculous "sign," which contributed to arouse the disciples' faith. Mary is present with the same faith at the foot of the cross and receives as son the Apostle John. And, finally, after the Resurrection, she becomes the praying Mother of the Church, on which the Holy Spirit descends powerfully on the Day of Pentecost....
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.
One Million Hungarians in Prayer (Mindszenty Foundation website) December 20, 2017
After the fall of communism, Cardinal Mindszenty's foundation launched a movement of prayer among Hungarians, thus following its Founder's will. The initiative was completed by the national year of expiation proclaimed for 2006 by the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference. On August 20, Cardinal Péter Erdő announced that the number of people praying for Hungary had reached and, what is more, significantly exceeded the one million mark: "As early as January, hope flared up that Cardinal Mindszenty's dream of one million Hungarians in prayer would be fulfilled. My predecessor, this confessor of the faith, had expressed this great vision of his several times. Now I am glad to announce that the number of Hungarians in prayer has reached one million! Their commitments are deposited here in Saint Stephen's Basilica in sealed folders. Together they form a big image of King Saint Stephen offering the country to Our Lady. The more than one million Hungarians pray for the country both in Hungary and beyond the borders, even in the Western world. This way, together, there can be enough Hungarians in prayer. This way, together, we place our nation's future under the patronage of Our Lady, Queen of Hungary." ...
Click here to read the article.