The Stained Glass Buffalo: mary

Showing posts with label mary. Show all posts

27 February 2008

27 January 2008

The phrase "Full of Grace" is in the passive: grace is something Mary has received. And the phrase is in the distant past, so it really means something like, "You have been loved for a very long time".

-Archbishop Carlo Maria Martini

(What a comforting thought! Could you imagine anything better than this to hear from God?)

21 December 2007

But how can this be?

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

-Walt Disney (1901 - 1966)

20 December 2007

It's coming....

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
‘Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine! O night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wise men from Orient land.

The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! For His reign shall never end.
Behold your King! For His reign shall never end.

Truly He taught us love for one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, the slave is now our brother,
And in his name all oppression shall cease.

Bold hymns of joy we raise in grateful chorus,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! Oh, praise His name forever!
Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, the Son of Man!
Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, and Son of Man!

13 December 2007

Am I not your health?

"Hear me and understand well, my son the least, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything." — Our Lady to Juan Diego

It is Jesus

“It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.

It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.”
--Pope John Paul II

Carlo Carretto:

How much I must criticize you, my church, and yet how much I love you! You have made me suffer more than anyone and yet I owe more to you than to anyone. I should like to see you destroyed and yet I need your presence. You have given me much scandal and yet you alone have made me understand holiness. Never in this world have I seen anything more compromised, more false, yet never have I touched anything more pure, more generous or more beautiful. Countless times I have felt like slamming the door of my soul in your face - and yet, every night, I have prayed that I might die in your sure arms! No, I cannot be free of you, for I am one with you, even if not completely you. Then too - where would I go? To build another church? But I could not build one without the same defects, for they are my defects. And again, if I were to build another church, it would be my church, not Christ's church. No, I am old enough, I know better.