FELIZ ANO NOVO! HAPPY NEW YEAR! OUR LADY, MOTHER OF GOD, PRAY FOR US!
ETERNAL WISDOM: BY BENEDICT XVI
… [Y]ou must not “grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Th 4:13).Here too we see as a distinguishing mark of Christians the fact that they have a future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness. Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well.1
1. « SPE SALVI facti sumus » – é na esperança que fomos salvos: diz São Paulo aos Romanos e a nós também (Rm 8,24). A « redenção », a salvação, segundo a fé cristã, não é um simples dado de facto. A redenção é-nos oferecida no sentido que nos foi dada a esperança, uma esperança fidedigna, graças à qual podemos enfrentar o nosso tempo presente: o presente, ainda que custoso, pode ser vivido e aceite, se levar a uma meta e se pudermos estar seguros desta meta, se esta meta for tão grande que justifique a canseira do caminho. E imediatamente se levanta a questão: mas de que género é uma tal esperança para poder justificar a afirmação segundo a qual a partir dela, e simplesmente porque ela existe, nós fomos redimidos? E de que tipo de certeza se trata?
… “Holy Mary, Mother of God, our Mother, teach us to believe, to hope, to love with you. Show us the way to his Kingdom! Star of the Sea, shine upon us and guide us on our way!” ("Spei Salvi")
THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST NEWSLETTER [1 janeiro / 1 January 2023]
NOSSA SENHORA MADRE DE DEUS: OUR LADY, THE MOTHER OF GOD2
In today’s 1 January 2023 sermon in Rome, Italy, Pope Francis reminds us of the enthusiasm of Christians in 431 AD and the joy we can repeat today when we say the words, “Holy Mother of God!”3:
Holy Mother of God! This was the joyful acclamation of the holy People of God echoing in the streets of Ephesus in the year 431, when the Council Fathers proclaimed Mary the Mother of God. This truth is a fundamental datum of faith, but above all, it is a marvellous fact. God has a Mother and is thus bound forever to our humanity, like a child to its mother, to the point that our humanity is his humanity. It is an amazing and consoling truth, so much so that the most recent Council, which met here in Saint Peter’s, stated that, “by his incarnation, the Son of God has in a certain way united himself with each individual. He worked with human hands, he thought with a human mind, he acted with a human will, and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, he truly became one of us, like us in all things except sin” (Gaudium et Spes, 22). That is what God did by being born of Mary: he showed his concrete love for our humanity, embracing it truly and fully. Brothers and sisters, God does not love us in words but in deeds; not from “on high”, but “up close”, precisely from “within” our flesh, because in Mary the Word became flesh, because Christ continues to have a heart of flesh that beats for each and every of us!
REMEMBERING ‘SPEI SALVI’:
PORTUGUESE: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/pt/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi.html
Today, on the 8th day of Christmas upon the Solemnity of Our Lady — Mary, the Mother of God — THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST TEAM invites you to reflect on the two concluding paragraphs of Benedict XVI’s Encyclical — “SPEI SALVI” in the section he entitles:
“Mary, Star of Hope”
49. With a hymn composed in the eighth or ninth century, thus for over a thousand years, the Church has greeted Mary, the Mother of God, as “Star of the Sea”: Ave maris stella.4 Human life is a journey. Towards what destination? How do we find the way? Life is like a voyage on the sea of history, often dark and stormy, a voyage in which we watch for the stars that indicate the route. The true stars of our life are the people who have lived good lives. They are lights of hope. Certainly, Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the shadows of history. But to reach him we also need lights close by—people who shine with his light and so guide us along our way. Who more than Mary could be a star of hope for us? With her “yes” she opened the door of our world to God himself; she became the living Ark of the Covenant, in whom God took flesh, became one of us, and pitched his tent among us (cf. Jn 1:14).
50. So we cry to her: Holy Mary, you belonged to the humble and great souls of Israel who, like Simeon, were “looking for the consolation of Israel” (Lk 2:25) and hoping, like Anna, “for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Lk 2:38).
… From the Cross you received a new mission. From the Cross you became a mother in a new way: the mother of all those who believe in your Son Jesus and wish to follow him. The sword of sorrow pierced your heart. Did hope die? Did the world remain definitively without light, and life without purpose? At that moment, deep down, you probably listened again to the word spoken by the angel in answer to your fear at the time of the Annunciation: “Do not be afraid, Mary!” (Lk 1:30). How many times had the Lord, your Son, said the same thing to his disciples: do not be afraid! In your heart, you heard this word again during the night of Golgotha. Before the hour of his betrayal he had said to his disciples: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (Jn 14:27). “Do not be afraid, Mary!” In that hour at Nazareth the angel had also said to you: “Of his kingdom there will be no end” (Lk 1:33). Could it have ended before it began? No, at the foot of the Cross, on the strength of Jesus's own word, you became the mother of believers. In this faith, which even in the darkness of Holy Saturday bore the certitude of hope, you made your way towards Easter morning. The joy of the Resurrection touched your heart and united you in a new way to the disciples, destined to become the family of Jesus through faith. In this way you were in the midst of the community of believers, who in the days following the Ascension prayed with one voice for the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14) and then received that gift on the day of Pentecost. The “Kingdom” of Jesus was not as might have been imagined. It began in that hour, and of this “Kingdom” there will be no end. Thus you remain in the midst of the disciples as their Mother, as the Mother of hope. Holy Mary, Mother of God, our Mother, teach us to believe, to hope, to love with you. Show us the way to his Kingdom! Star of the Sea, shine upon us and guide us on our way!
Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 30 November, the Feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle, in the year 2007, the third of my Pontificate. BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
~ EXCERPT FROM THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER (”SPE SALVI”) BY THE LATE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI
THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST ON PILGRIMAGE: 1 JAN 2023 (ROME)
Today, Executive Producer of the Rosary Hour Podcast, Karen Rocha, began her pilgrimage to Rome, Italy & she assisted at the Holy Mass at Santa Maria Maggiore for today’s Solemn Feast and we invite you to send intentions to this substack comment page so others can pray for you as well:
01/01/23 NEWS from CHILDRENSROSARY.ORG: CONNECTICUT, USA
TODAY’S GUEST AUTHOR: DR. BLYTHE KAUFMAN, FOUNDER OF CHILDREN’S ROSARY®
On January 1st, 2023 a new shipment of Rosaries leaves for Tanzania.
“We have been busy packing two barrels. They are ready for pick up. The destination is Tanzania.
Contents included 18,758 handmade rosaries, 200 Children's Rosary books, 20 Child Consecration books plus welcome letters.”
These were packed two days ago, and we had expected them to be picked up. Delays caused the pick-up to shift to Our Lady's Feast: today!
It is a wonderful way to usher in the New Year.
A special thank you to those who made these Rosaries with love. If you would like to contribute to shipping costs for future barrels, this would help tremendously. To make a donation click HERE.
~ Dr. Blythe Kaufman, Founder of ChildrensRosary.org Prayer Group Movement
p.s. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Patiently Waiting campaign.
SAVE-THE-DATE: A GLOBAL INVITATION FROM DR. BLYTHE KAUFMAN, FOUNDER OF CHILDREN’S ROSARY® to JOIN IN PRAYER:
Pray with members of ChildrensRosary.org on January 14, 2023 - 3 PM CENTRAL / 4 PM EASTERN on RADIOMARIA.US.
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
STILL TIME TO BEGIN YOUR 33-day ROSARY & CONSECRATION TO JESUS THROUGH MARY TODAY:
Pray with the full text online:
DAYS #1-12 are located here: [CLICK TO PRAY]
Consecration Goal for 2023:
mass, confession, Rosary & signed consecration goal: Feb. 2, 2023.
Download the ROSARY HOUR PODCAST’S FREE “Digital Toolkit for Rosary Leaders” to invite someone new to Pray the Rosary in 2023. (Easy to follow scripts included for any age, as used monthly for childrensrosary.org Radio Maria live radio broadcasts in the USA).
For children, please visit childconsecration.com or pray with Bishop Keenan who teaches the Rosary through story:
PODCAST VIDEO CONTRIBUTORS:
DR. JOSEPHINE LOMBARDI (ST. AUGUSTINE’S SEMINARY, CANADA). Visit her website here: https://josephinelombardi.com/;
ZOSIA, RADIO MARIA USA ROSARY LEADER for CHILDRENSROSARY.ORG (from CANADA). Join Zosia in prayer of the Rosary on January 14, 2023.
KAREN ROCHA: FOOTAGE FROM ROME, ITALY (JAN. 1, 2023)
FULL EXCERPT: Faith is Hope
2. Before turning our attention to these timely questions, we must listen a little more closely to the Bible's testimony on hope. “Hope”, in fact, is a key word in Biblical faith—so much so that in several passages the words “faith” and “hope” seem interchangeable. Thus the Letter to the Hebrews closely links the “fullness of faith” (10:22) to “the confession of our hope without wavering” (10:23). Likewise, when the First Letter of Peter exhorts Christians to be always ready to give an answer concerning the logos—the meaning and the reason—of their hope (cf. 3:15), “hope” is equivalent to “faith”. We see how decisively the self-understanding of the early Christians was shaped by their having received the gift of a trustworthy hope, when we compare the Christian life with life prior to faith, or with the situation of the followers of other religions. Paul reminds the Ephesians that before their encounter with Christ they were “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). Of course he knew they had had gods, he knew they had had a religion, but their gods had proved questionable, and no hope emerged from their contradictory myths. Notwithstanding their gods, they were “without God” and consequently found themselves in a dark world, facing a dark future. In nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidimus (How quickly we fall back from nothing to nothing)[1]: so says an epitaph of that period. In this phrase we see in no uncertain terms the point Paul was making. In the same vein he says to the Thessalonians: you must not “grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Th 4:13). Here too we see as a distinguishing mark of Christians the fact that they have a future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness. Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well. So now we can say: Christianity was not only “good news”—the communication of a hitherto unknown content. In our language we would say: the Christian message was not only “informative” but “performative”. That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known—it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.
This citation links to the following intro in GAUDIUM ET SPES:
“The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men. United in Christ, they are led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the Kingdom of their Father and they have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for every man. That is why this community realizes that it is truly linked with mankind and its history by the deepest of bonds.” (GAUDIUM ET SPES)
How can Mary be the Mother of God?
VIDEO DESCRIPTION: “Mary is an integral part of God's plan of Salvation. How so? Can we actually call her the "Mother of God" and why is this January 1 Solemnity of the Mother of God a Holy Day of Obligation? What about Co-Mediatrix and Co-Remptrix? What do those titles mean? Join Fr. Chris Alar as he explains the critical role in knowing who Jesus is and growing closer to him.”
In this talk, entitled “Mary: Mother of God, Co-Redemptix, Co-Mediatrix?” and he tackles the objectives to this idea that Mary is the Mother of God, attempting to address these objectives.
This very popular lecture series, sometimes with 1 million hits on YouTube, features Fr. Chris’s explanations of the Faith every Saturday from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy [CLICK HERE - https://thedivinemercy.org]. Every First Saturday, Fr. Chris talks about Our Lady & Marian Apparitions.
Fr. Chris generously took the time out of his schedule to introduce The Rosary: A Mini Series for our podcast and to introduce Fr. Anthony Gramlich, the first guest in our ongoing series of videos created to complement the Digital Toolkit for Rosary Leaders and invite others to the School of Mary to deepen the “Why” behind our prayers.
Returning guest, Keith Nester talks about Mary, Mother of God here.
We invite you to watch the HOLY MASS ON THE SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD on the 54th WORLD DAY OF PEACE and/or to read the full transcript of the HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
St Peter’s Basilica - Sunday, 1st January 2023
LINK TO THE FULL HOMILY HERE:
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2023/documents/20230101_omelia-madredidio-pace.html - Pray the Rosary Every Day.
SEE LYRICS HERE: https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/ave-maris-stella.html
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI's "Spei Salvi" concludes w/ reflection on Our Lady: Mary, Star of Hope ~ “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn 16: 33). Homily of His Holiness (1 jan, 2023, links).