Mater Amabilis

 

"God is the Author...of all beauty. He has made the world so beautiful with its starry sky, its enchanting landscapes, lovely mountains and valleys, rivers and lakes, its flowers and birds. Surely He must have made her beautiful who was to be the Queen of all creation....Physical beauty is surpassed by the beauty of the soul....This divine beauty shines through man's mortal frame and explains why saints are so attractive, even though they may be of homely features. Yet among all angels and saints there is none that can compare in grace and holiness with the Blessed Mother of God." --Rev. A. Biskupek, S.V.D., Our Lady's Litany (1954)

 

Mater Amabilis

Lord Jesus, Thou hast known / A mother's tender love and tender care / And thou wilt hear while for my own mother most dear / I make this Sabbath prayer.

Protect her life, I pray / Who gave the gift of life to me / And may she know from day to day the deepening glow / Of joy that comes from Thee.

I cannot pay my debt / For all the love that she has given / But thou, love's Lord, wilt not forget her due reward / Bless her in earth and heaven. / Amen.

(Prayer: "Before You Leave the Chapel" from The Hymnal: Army and Navy, 1942)

Holy Oils

"For you go down into the water, bearing your sins, but the invocation of grace, having sealed your soul...you come up quickened to righteousness....And to you, after you had come up from the pool of the sacred streams, was given an unction...[T]his holy ointment is no more simple ointment...but is Christ's gift of grace and, by the advent of the Holy Spirit, made fit to impart his divine nature." --St. Cyril of Jerusalem, d. 386.   

"Wherefore we are called Christians, because we are anointed with the oil of God."--St. Theophilus of Antioch, second century A.D.

Olive tree.

Living Stones

The baptized have become 'living stones' to be 'built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood.' [1268] Having become a member of the Church, the person baptized belongs no longer to himself, but to him who died and rose for us. [1269] 'Reborn as sons of God, the baptized must profess before men the faith they have received from God through the Church' and participate in the apostolic and missionary activity of the People of God. [1270]--Cathechism of the Catholic Church.








 
         
          "Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness..." (Psalm 132)

Living Waters

 We thank you, Almighty God, for the
gift of water.Over it the Holy Spirit moved
in the beginning of creation.Through it
you led the children of Israel out of their
bondage in Egypt into the land of promise.
In it your Son Jesus received the baptism 
of John and was anointed by the Holy
Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead
us, through his death and resurrection, 
from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.
   --Rite of Baptism, Book of Common Prayer

Blessed

"Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

"The Risen One cannot be seen like a piece of wood or stone. He can be seen only by the person to whom he reveals himself....He does not reveal himself to curiosity but to love; love is the indispensable agent if we are to see and apprehend him." (Pope Benedict XVI)

Miracle

"There is nothing that God hath established in a constant course of nature, and which therefore is done every day, but would seeme a Miracle, and exercise our admiration, if it were done but once." --John Donne, sermon for Easter Day, 1627.