They Realized They Were No longer in Rome

The following essay was first posted in 2015 and again in 2017. It’s worth revisiting and I offer it today in hopes you may find it of value. At the time I wrote it, in 2015, we had no idea how bad the Church’s situation would become under the usurpers so busily dismantling the Church,  but the storm-clouds were definitely looming and several other traditional Catholics were also sharing their forebodings. I won’t name them here, as I am not worthy to link myself to them, but each of them is now gone and as is evident, I’m well past my own expiry date.

When I first read St. John Bosco’s  prophecy, it impressed me with its coherence with the other prophecies for these times, especially those of the Apocalypse.

For so long now, the faith has suffered assault after assault, and still the awful humiliation and degradation of the Church continues unabated.  And yet we know that this is the providence of our Dear Lord, who endures these sufferings to allow us the extra time for penance, and for the conversion of sinners.

Think a moment, aren’t you much more aware of Our Lady’s message than you were ten years ago? Don’t you know of people who have begun to awaken to the terrible crisis? We must remember that Our Lord is suffering far, far more than we are, and He is  doing it, as He always does, for the salvation of souls. Let us not forsake Him now when He needs us so much, but renew our penances, prayers, fasts and alms so that many souls may be saved in the midst of this satanic onslaught.

Continue reading “They Realized They Were No longer in Rome”

Saint John Bosco’s Feast Day, 2023

previously posted January 31, 2020 by evensong

Today is the feast day of good Saint John Bosco, a favorite of mine and so we have a few of his prophecies which are quite apt for this especial time. To introduce them, another brief quote, this time from Apocalypse (Chapter 6, 9-14).

“When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord (holy and true) dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

“And white robes were given to every one of them one; and it was said to them, that they should rest for a little time, till their fellow servants, and their brethren, who are to be slain, even as they, should be filled up.

“And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair: and the whole moon became as blood: And the stars from heaven fell upon the earth, as the fig tree casteth its green figs when it is shaken by a great wind: And the heaven departed as a book folded up: and every mountain, and the islands were moved out of their places.”

The above is something to think about. For more than 10 years I have written about it but few give heed. And now for St. John Bosco; first, his Dream (vision) of the Two Pillars.
Continue reading “Saint John Bosco’s Feast Day, 2023”

The Immaculate Conception of Mary, 2022

edited and updated 11:00 am, December 8, 2022 by evensong.

The Divine Word has for His Mother a love infinitely greater than that which He bears to all His other creatures. Mary’s honour is infinitely dear to Him, because she is His Mother.

Now, correlate that absolute truth with the reality of the past more than 100 years. What honour has the institutional Church shown to the Mother of God, who came to show us the way to return to God?  What honour has the Church shown to Mary in the past century?  What Pope has obeyed her?  In this horrible chastisement which is building, the remedy is Mary Immaculate. If we spurn her, there is no other.

The post below is long, and contains much that you already know, and Dom Gueranger’s language is that of the “triumphalist” faithful so despised by our current humble Pope and his church leaders. Dom Gueranger belongs to the past. We have progressed so far beyond that now, haven’t we? The following is from Dom Prosper Gueranger, Vol. 1, The Liturgical Year, available from www.archive.org.

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF MARY

“At length, on the distant horizon, rises, with a soft and radiant light, the aurora of the Sun which has been so long desired. The happy Mother of the Messias was to be born before the Messias Himself; and this is the day of the Conception of Mary. The earth already possesses a first pledge of the Divine mercy; the Son of Man is near at hand. Two true Israelites, Joachim and Anne, noble branches of the family of David, find their union, after a long barrenness, made fruitful by the Divine omnipotence. Glory be to God, Who has been mindful of His promises, and Who deigns to announce, from the high heavens, the end of the deluge of iniquity, by sending upon the earth the sweet white dove that bears the tidings of peace!

The Feast of the Blessed Virgin’s Immaculate Conception is the most solemn of all those which the Church celebrates during the holy time of Advent; and if the first part of the cycle had to offer us the commemoration of some one of the mysteries of Mary, there was none whose object could better harmonize with the spirit of the Church in this mystic season of expectation. Let us, then, celebrate this solemnity with joy; for the Conception of Mary tells us that the Birth of Jesus is not far off. Continue reading “The Immaculate Conception of Mary, 2022”

Padre Pio and the Immaculate Conception of Mary, 2022

St. Pio of Pietrelcina’s loving meditation on the Immaculate Conception of Mary and his prayer to her:

“From all eternity, Almighty God took delight in what was to be the most perfect work of His hands, and anticipated this wonderful plan with an outpouring of His grace. Man, created innocent, fell by disobeying Him; the mark of original sin remained engraved on his forehead and that of his progeny who will bear its consequences until the end of time.

A woman brought ruin, and a woman was to bring salvation. The one, being tempted by a serpent, stamped the mark of sin on the human race; the other was to rise, through grace, pure and immaculate. She would crush the head of the serpent who was helpless before her and who struggled in vain under her heel; for she was conceived without sin and through her came grace to mankind.

Protected by grace by Him Who was to be the Savior of mankind that had fallen into sin, she escaped all shadow of evil. She sprang from the mind of God as a pure ray of light, and will shine like a morning star over the human race that turns to her. She will be the sure guide who will direct our steps toward the Divine Sun which is Jesus Christ. He makes her radiant with divine splendor and points to her as our model of purity and sanctity. No creature surpasses her, but all creation defers to her through the grace of Him Who made her Immaculate. He Whom she was to carry in her womb was the Son of God participating with the Father and the Holy Ghost in the glory of her conception.

Clothed in light from the moment of her conception, she grew in grace and comeliness. After Almighty God, she is the most perfect of creatures; more pure than the angels; God is indeed well pleased in her, since she most resembles Him and is the only worthy repository of His secrets.

In the natural order she preceded her Divine Child, Our Lord, but in the divine order Jesus, the Divine Sun, arose before her, and she received from Him all grace, all purity, all beauty. All is darkness compared to the pure light that renews all creation through Him Whom she bore in her womb, as the dew on the rose.

The Immaculate Conception is the first step in our salvation. Through this singular and unique gift Mary received a profusion of Divine Grace, and through her cooperation she became worthy of absorbing infinitely more.

The three Divine persons imbue this sublime creature with all her privileges, her favors and her graces, and with all her holiness.

The Eternal Father created her pure and Immaculate and is well pleased in her for she is the worthy dwelling of His only Son. Through the generating of His Son in His bosom from all eternity, He forecasts the generation of His Son as Man in the pure womb of this Mother and He clothed her from her conception in the radiant snowy garment of grace and of most perfect sanctity; she participates in His perfection.

The Son Who chose her for His Mother poured His wisdom into her from that very beginning, by infused knowledge she knew her God. She loved and served Him in the most perfect manner as He had never been loved and served on this earth.

The Holy Ghost poured His love into her; she was the only creature worthy or capable of receiving this love in unlimited measure because no other had sufficient purity to come so near to God; and being near to Him could know and love Him ever more. She was the only creature capable of containing the stream of love which poured into her from on high. She alone was worthy to return to Him from Whom came that love. This very love prepared her for that “Fiat” which delivered the world from the tyranny of the infernal enemy and overshadowed her, the purest of doves, making her pregnant with the Son of God.

St. Pio’s Prayer to the Immaculata

My most pure Mother, my soul so poor, all stained with wretchedness and sin cries out to thy maternal heart. In thy goodness deign, I beseech thee, to pour out on me at least a little of the grace that flowed into thee with such infinite profusion from the Heart of God. Strengthened and supported by this grace, may I succeed in better loving and serving Almighty God Who filled thy heart completely, and Who created the temple of thy body from the moment of thine Immaculate Conception.

Oh, my Mother, how ashamed I feel in thy presence, weighed down as I am with faults! Thou art most pure and immaculate from the moment of thy conception, indeed, from the moment in eternity when thou wert conceived in the mind of God.

Have pity on me! May one compassionate look of thine eyes revive me, purify me and lift me up to God; raising me from the filth of this world so that I may go to Him Who created me, Who regenerated me in Holy Baptism, giving me back my white robe of innocence that original sin had so defiled. Dear Mother, make me love Him! Pour into my heart that love which burns in thine for Him. Even though I be clothed in misery, I revere the mystery of thine Immaculate Conception, and I ardently wish that through it, thou may purify my heart so that I may love thy God and my God. Cleanse my mind that it may reach up to Him and contemplate Him and adore Him in spirit and in truth. Purify my body that I too may be a tabernacle for Him and be less unworthy of possessing Him when He deigns to come to me in Holy Communion. Amen.

Whenever I read  St. Pio’s meditation on the Immaculata, it fills me with peace and hope.  And now I pray that you too are blessed! Take heart, for we are her children after all, and she assures us “I will never forsake you!”

Remember – Our Lady needs us to obey:  First Saturdays of Reparation, daily rosary, at least 5 mysteries, wear her brown scapular and live your Total Consecration to her Immaculate Heart, offering daily duties in reparation and for the conversion of poor sinners.

†  St. Padre Pio, pray for our priests, pray for the Church!

†  Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.

†  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done!

†  St. Joseph, guardian of the Holy Family, protect our families, protect our priests!

†  St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle!

~ by evensong for love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!

Novena in Honor of the Immaculate Conception

In order to prepare for the great feast day ofour Most Blessed Mother’s  Immaculate Conception,  we offer a Novena composed by Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Begin this Novena tomorrow, November 29, in order to complete it on December 7, the Eve of her feast day.

If you are looking for our usual. Rosary Novena, the link is here.

NOVENA IN HONOR OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

By St. Maximilian Kolbe

Opening prayer to the Immaculata

I greet you, ever-blessed Virgin, Mother of God throne of grace, miracle of almighty power! I greet you, sanctuary of the most Holy Trinity and Queen of the universe, Mother of mercy and refuge of sinners! Most loving Mother, attracted by your beauty and sweetness and by your tender compassion, I confidently turn to you, and beg of you to obtain for me of your dear Son the favor I request in this novena (here mention you request).

Continue reading “Novena in Honor of the Immaculate Conception”

October 1, 2021

posted on : october 1, 2021 posted by : evensong

SHE

   … To Whom the Victory Has Been Given

Now, in the month of October, the month of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, the powers of darkness are gathering force over the Vatican. Their victory seems inevitable but we know to whom victory has been given and that is what gives this October, this month of the Holy Rosary, such a poignancy.

It is through her holy Rosary that Our Lady of Fatima chooses to lead us to victory. As the Church has recognised for centuries, the Blessed Virgin Mary protects her Church (for she is Mother of the Church!) by means of her Holy Rosary. Our time with her each day, as the beads slip quietly through our fingers and we murmur our loving prayers, is the time she nourishes our souls with the graces Our Lord desires for us to have in order to know Him, and to increase in His love.

In our writings here at Return to Fatima, we see the Rosary as an intimate conversation between Mother and child, a loving exchange wherein such a deep union occurs as cannot be expressed in mere words. Continue reading “October 1, 2021”

St. Andrew of Crete on the Immaculate Conception of Mary

The following is a lovely article from SSPX News.

I offer it to enrich our devotions for Our Lady’s birthday and there is no need for me to comment on it, as it is a perfect gem most beautiful to adorn her day! May it be fruitful for your meditations as well!

Born in Damascus, the future Andrew of Crete remained mute for the first seven years of his life, gaining the power of speech at age seven after the reception of his first Holy Communion. At fifteen he entered the Monastery of Saint Sava. In 681, he was sent, still an archdeacon, to the Sixth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, where he stood out for his zeal and his eloquence. He was later appointed Archbishop of Crete. He died around 740.

Homily on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary

Now Adam offers from us and for us elements unto God, the most worthy fruit of mankind: Mary, in Whom the new Adam is rendered Bread for the restoration of the human race.

Now is opened the great bosom of virginity, and the Church, in the matrimonial manner, places upon it a pure, truly spotless pearl.

Now human worthiness accepts the gift of the first creation and returns to its former condition; the majesty darkened by formless sin, through the conjoining by His Mother by birth “of Him Beauteous by Goodness,” man receives beauty in a most excellent and God-seemly visage. And this creating is done truly by the creation, and recreation by theosis, and theosis by a return to the original perfection!

Now a barren one has become a mother beyond expectation, and the Theotokos has given birth without knowing man, and She sanctifies natural birth.

Now the majestic color of the Divine purple is readied and impoverished human nature is clothed in royal worthiness.

Now, according to prophecy, sprouts forth the Offshoot of David, Who, having eternally become the green-sprouting Staff of Aaron, has blossomed forth for us with the Staff of Power: Christ.

Now from Judah and David is descended a Virgin Maiden, rendering of Herself the royal and priestly worthiness of Him Who has taken on the priesthood of Aaron according to the order of Melchizedek (Heb 7:15).

Now, grace purifying the mystical principle of the divine priesthood, weaving symbolically the garment of the Levitical seed, and God dyed the royal purple with the blood of David.

Now the renewal of our nature is begun, and the world responding, assuming a God-seemly form, receives the principle of a second Divine creation. Amen.

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin

Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; Hail, O instrument of our joy, by whom the sentence of our condemnation has been revoked and changed into a judgment of blessing.

Hail, O temple of the glory of God, sacred abode of the King of heaven. You are the reconciliation of God with men.

Hail, O Mother of our joy: in truth you are blessed, since you alone, among all women, have been found worthy to be the Mother of our Creator. All nations call you blessed. O Mary, if I put my trust in you, I will be saved; if I am under your protection I have nothing to fear, because to be your servant is to have the invincible weapons of salvation that God grants only to those He wants to save.

O Mother of mercy, appease your Son: when you were on earth you occupied only a small part of it, but today that you are raised to the highest heavens, the whole world considers you as the common mercy seat of all nations.

We therefore beg you, O Blessed Virgin, to grant us the help of your prayers with God; prayers which have for us more value and worth than all the treasures of the earth; prayers which make God propitious to our sins, and obtain for us a great abundance of graces to receive the forgiveness of these same sins and to practice virtue; prayers which arrest our enemies, confuse their designs, and triumph over their efforts. Amen.

St. Andrew of Crete on the Immaculate Conception of Mary

The following is a lovely article from SSPX News.

I offer it to enrich our devotions for Our Lady’s birthday and there is no need for me to comment on it, as it is a perfect gem most beautiful to adorn her day! May it be fruitful for your meditations as well!

Born in Damascus, the future Andrew of Crete remained mute for the first seven years of his life, gaining the power of speech at age seven after the reception of his first Holy Communion. At fifteen he entered the Monastery of Saint Sava. In 681, he was sent, still an archdeacon, to the Sixth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, where he stood out for his zeal and his eloquence. He was later appointed Archbishop of Crete. He died around 740.

Homily on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary

Now Adam offers from us and for us elements unto God, the most worthy fruit of mankind: Mary, in Whom the new Adam is rendered Bread for the restoration of the human race.

Now is opened the great bosom of virginity, and the Church, in the matrimonial manner, places upon it a pure, truly spotless pearl.

Now human worthiness accepts the gift of the first creation and returns to its former condition; the majesty darkened by formless sin, through the conjoining by His Mother by birth “of Him Beauteous by Goodness,” man receives beauty in a most excellent and God-seemly visage. And this creating is done truly by the creation, and recreation by theosis, and theosis by a return to the original perfection!

Now a barren one has become a mother beyond expectation, and the Theotokos has given birth without knowing man, and She sanctifies natural birth.

Now the majestic color of the Divine purple is readied and impoverished human nature is clothed in royal worthiness.

Now, according to prophecy, sprouts forth the Offshoot of David, Who, having eternally become the green-sprouting Staff of Aaron, has blossomed forth for us with the Staff of Power: Christ.

Now from Judah and David is descended a Virgin Maiden, rendering of Herself the royal and priestly worthiness of Him Who has taken on the priesthood of Aaron according to the order of Melchizedek (Heb 7:15).

Now, grace purifying the mystical principle of the divine priesthood, weaving symbolically the garment of the Levitical seed, and God dyed the royal purple with the blood of David.

Now the renewal of our nature is begun, and the world responding, assuming a God-seemly form, receives the principle of a second Divine creation. Amen.

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin

Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; Hail, O instrument of our joy, by whom the sentence of our condemnation has been revoked and changed into a judgment of blessing.

Hail, O temple of the glory of God, sacred abode of the King of heaven. You are the reconciliation of God with men.

Hail, O Mother of our joy: in truth you are blessed, since you alone, among all women, have been found worthy to be the Mother of our Creator. All nations call you blessed. O Mary, if I put my trust in you, I will be saved; if I am under your protection I have nothing to fear, because to be your servant is to have the invincible weapons of salvation that God grants only to those He wants to save.

O Mother of mercy, appease your Son: when you were on earth you occupied only a small part of it, but today that you are raised to the highest heavens, the whole world considers you as the common mercy seat of all nations.

We therefore beg you, O Blessed Virgin, to grant us the help of your prayers with God; prayers which have for us more value and worth than all the treasures of the earth; prayers which make God propitious to our sins, and obtain for us a great abundance of graces to receive the forgiveness of these same sins and to practice virtue; prayers which arrest our enemies, confuse their designs, and triumph over their efforts. Amen.

The Immaculate Conception of Mary, 2021

The Divine Word has for His Mother a love infinitely greater than that which He bears to all His other creatures. Mary’s honour is infinitely dear to Him, because she is His Mother.

Now, correlate that absolute truth with the reality of the past nearly 100 years. What honour has the institutional Church shown to the Mother of God, who came to show us the way to return to God?  What honour has the Church shown to Mary in the past century?  What Pope has obeyed her?  In this horrible chastisement which is building, the remedy is Mary Immaculate. If we spurn her, there is no other.

The post below is long, and contains much that you already know, and Dom Gueranger’s language is that of the “triumphalist” faithful so despised by our current humble Pope and his church leaders. Dom Gueranger belongs to the past. We have progressed so far beyond that now, haven’t we? The following is from Dom Prosper Gueranger, Vol. 1, The Liturgical Year, available from www.archive.org.

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF MARY

At length, on the distant horizon, rises, with a soft and radiant light, the aurora of the Sun which has been so long desired. The happy Mother of the Messias was to be born before the Messias Himself; and this is the day of the Conception of Mary. The earth already possesses a first pledge of the Divine mercy; the Son of Man is near at hand. Two true Israelites, Joachim and Anne, noble branches of the family of David, find their union, after a long barrenness, made fruitful by the Divine omnipotence. Glory be to God, Who has been mindful of His promises, and Who deigns to announce, from the high heavens, the end of the deluge of iniquity, by sending upon the earth the sweet white dove that bears the tidings of peace!

The Feast of the Blessed Virgin’s Immaculate Conception is the most solemn of all those which the Church celebrates during the holy time of Advent; and if the first part of the cycle had to offer us the commemoration of some one of the mysteries of Mary, there was none whose object could better harmonize with the spirit of the Church in this mystic season of expectation. Let us, then, celebrate this solemnity with joy; for the Conception of Mary tells us that the Birth of Jesus is not far off.

The intention of the Church in this Feast, is not only to celebrate the anniversary of the happy moment in which began, in the womb of the pious Anne, the life of the ever-glorious Virgin Mary; but also to honour the sublime privilege, by which Mary was preserved from the Original Stain, which, by a sovereign and universal decree, is contracted by all the children of Adam the very moment they are conceived in their mother’s womb.

The faith of the Catholic Church on the subject of the Conception of Mary is this: that at the very instant when God united the soul of Mary, which He had created, to the body which it was to animate, this ever-blessed soul did not only not contract the stain, which at that same instant defiles every human soul, but was filled with an immeasurable grace which rendered her, from that moment, the mirror of the sanctity of God Himself, as far as this is possible to a creature.

The Church with her infallible authority, declared by the lips of Pius IX, that this article of her faith had been revealed by God Himself. The Definition was received with enthusiasm by the whole of Christendom, and the eighth of December of the year 1854 was thus made one of the most memorable days of the Church’s history.

…  The close ties which were to unite the Son of God with Mary, and which would elicit from Him the tenderest love and the most filial reverence for her, had been present to the Divine thought from all eternity: and the conclusion forces itself upon us that therefore the Divine Word had for this His future Mother a love infinitely greater than that which He bore to all His other creatures. Mary’s honour was infinitely dear to Him, because she was to be His Mother, chosen to be so by His eternal and merciful decrees.

The Son’s love protected the Mother. She, indeed, in her sublime humility willingly submitted to whatever the rest of God’s creatures had brought on themselves, and obeyed every tittle of those laws which were never meant for her; but that humiliating barrier, which confronts every child of Adam at the first moment of his existence, and keeps him from light and grace until he shall have been regenerated by a new birth. Oh! this could not be permitted to stand in Mary’s way, her Son forbade it.

The eternal Father would not do less for the second Eve than He had done for the first, who was created, as was also the first Adam, in the state of original justice, which she afterwards forfeited by sin. The Son of God would not permit that the woman, from whom He was to take the nature of Man, should be deprived of that gift which He had given even to her who was the mother of sin. The Holy Ghost, Who was to overshadow Mary and produce Jesus within her by His Divine operation, would not permit that foul stain, in which we are all conceived, to rest, even for an instant, on this His Bride.

Was it not this grand exemption which God Himself foretold, when the guilty pair, whose children we all are, appeared before Him in the garden of Eden? In the anathema which fell upon the serpent, there was included a promise of mercy to us. ‘I will put enmities,’ said the Lord, ‘between thee and the Woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head.’ (Gen. 3, 15) Thus was salvation promised the human race under the form of a victory over Satan; and this victory is to be gained by the Woman, and she will gain it for us also. … The human race is one day to be avenged not only by God made Man, but also by the Woman miraculously exempted from every stain of sin, in whom the primeval creation, which was in justice and holiness, (Eph. iv. 24) will thus reappear, just as though the Original Sin had never been committed. …

The second Eve is created; and from her own blood (which, with the exception of the element of sin, is the same as that which makes you to be the children of Adam), she is shortly to give you the God-Man, Who proceeds from her according to the flesh, as He proceeds from the Father according to the eternal generation.

And how can we do less than admire and love the incomparable purity of Mary in her Immaculate Conception, when we hear even God, Who thus prepared her to become His Mother, saying to her, in the Divine Canticle, these words of love: ‘Thou art all fair, O My love, and there is not a spot in thee! (Cant. 4, 7) It is the God of all holiness that here speaks; that eye, which sees all things, finds not a vestige, not a shadow of sin; therefore does He delight in her, and admire in her that gift of His Own condescending munificence. We cannot be surprised after this, that Gabriel, when he came down from Heaven to announce the Incarnation to her, should be full of admiration at the sight of that purity, whose beginning was so glorious and whose progress was immeasurable; and that this blessed spirit should bow down profoundly before this young Maid of Nazareth, and salute her with, ‘Hail, O full of grace!’ (Luke 1, 28) …

This truth of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, which was revealed to the Apostles by the Divine Son of Mary, inherited by the Church, taught by the holy fathers, believed by each generation of the Christian people with an ever increasing explicitness, was implied in the very notion of a Mother of God. To believe that Mary was Mother of God, was implicitly to believe that she, on whom this sublime dignity was conferred, had never been defiled with the slightest stain of sin, and that God had bestowed upon her an absolute exemption from sin. …

The Symbol of our faith has therefore received not a new truth, but a new light on a truth which was previously the object of the universal belief. On that great day of the definition, the infernal serpent was again crushed beneath the victorious foot of the Virgin Mother, and the Lord graciously gave us the strongest pledge of His mercy. He still loves this guilty earth, since He has deigned to enlighten it with one of the brightest rays of His Mother’s glory. How this earth of ours exulted! …”

Sadly, there is no exultation in our Church today over the immaculate purity of Mary. That is because the Immaculate Conception is an unwelcome reminder of how much God hates sin. Thus, it is anathema to the Modernists who control the institutional church. The Immaculate Conception and the Passion of Christ, both of which are exemplified in devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, are largely ignored today; a sign of contradiction to the whole “who am I to judge” crowd of moral relativists.

Our hearts too, need to relearn devotion to the purity of Mary, to strengthen us to withstand the constant tide of cheap sleaze that inundates everything today. That is part of the purpose of the Total Consecration to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tomorrow we make – or renew – our Consecrations. I hope you will be able to offer Mass and receive our Lord in Holy Communion on Our Lady’s feast day.

Today, on Our Lady’s beautiful feast day, the Pope will initiate his “Year of Mercy” in which he aims to admit those who wilfully remain in a state of mortal sin to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion. This sacrilege is how he “honours” the Immaculate Conception! Thus, the Pope demonstrates his rejection of God’s abhorrence for sin and affirms himself as more merciful than God.  What do you think God’s response will be?

And now, a prayer from St. Maximilian Kolbe taken from Father Stehlin’s “Who Are You, O Immaculata?”

O IMMACULATA!

I adore You, Our Father in Heaven, because You have placed Your only-begotten Son in her most-pure womb.
I adore You, Son of God, because You have deigned to descend into her most pure womb
and become her true, real Son.
I adore You, Holy Ghost, because You have deigned to form the body of God’s Son in her immaculate womb.
I adore You, Most Holy Trinity, O God in Three persons, for so divinely exalting the Immaculata.
And I will never cease worshipping You, every day upon wakening from sleep, in profound humility, with head bowed to the ground, O Triune God, saying three times,
“Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen”
Allow me to praise you, O most Blessed Virgin.
Allow me to praise you at the expense of my strength.
Allow me to live, work and suffer for you and for you alone, to spend myself and die for you.
Allow me to place the world at your feet.
Allow me to contribute to your greater – indeed your greatest – possible glorification.
Allow me to be surpassed by others in their zeal for your glorification, so that I may then, as though in a noble contest, promote devotion to you ever more deeply, swiftly, splendidly, as desired by Him who exalted you so ineffably over all other creatures.
In you alone was God glorified incomparably more than He was by all His saints.
For you, God created the world. For you God also called me into being.
Who am I that I should have such good fortune!
O, allow me to praise you, O Most Holy Virgin!

To which we add, most fervently, “Give me strength against thine enemies!” Amen!

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO JESUS THROUGH MARY

O ETERNAL and incarnate Wisdom! O sweetest and most adorable Jesus! True God and true man, only Son of the Eternal Father, and of Mary, always virgin! I adore Thee profoundly in the bosom and splendors of Thy Father during eternity; and I adore Thee also in the virginal bosom of Mary, Thy most worthy Mother, in the time of Thine incarnation.

I give Thee thanks for that Thou hast annihilated Thyself, taking the form of a slave in order to rescue me from the cruel slavery of the devil. I praise and glorify Thee for that Thou hast been pleased to submit Thyself to Mary, Thy holy Mother, in all things, in order to make me Thy faithful slave through her. But, alas! Ungrateful and faithless as I have been, I have not kept the promises which I made so solemnly to Thee in my Baptism; I have not fulfilled my obligations; I do not deserve to be called Thy child, nor yet Thy slave; and as there is nothing in me which does not merit Thine anger and Thy repulse, I dare not come by myself before Thy most holy and august Majesty. It is on this account that I have recourse to the intercession of Thy most holy Mother, whom Thou hast given me for a mediatrix with Thee. It is through her that I hope to obtain of Thee contrition, the pardon of my sins, and the acquisition and preservation of wisdom.

Hail, then, O Immaculate Mary, living tabernacle of the Divinity, where the Eternal Wisdom willed to be hidden and to be adored by angels and by men! Hail, O Queen of Heaven and earth, to whose empire everything is subject which is under God. Hail, O sure refuge of sinners, whose mercy fails no one. Hear the desires which I have of the Divine Wisdom; and for that end receive the vows and offerings which in my lowliness I present to thee.

I, ________________, a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in thy hands the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before. In the presence of all the heavenly court I choose thee this day for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God in time and in eternity.

Receive, O most blessed Virgin, this little offering of my slavery, in honor of, and in union with, that subjection which the Eternal Wisdom deigned to have to thy maternity; in homage to the power which both of you have over this poor sinner, and in thanksgiving for the privileges with which the Holy Trinity has favored thee. I declare that I wish henceforth, as thy true slave, to seek thy honor and to obey thee in all things.

O admirable Mother, present me to thy dear Son as His eternal slave, so that as He has redeemed me by thee, by thee He may also receive me! O Mother of mercy, grant me the grace to obtain the true Wisdom of God; and for that end receive me among those whom thou lovest, teachest, and protectest as thy children and thy slaves.

O faithful Virgin, make me in all things so perfect a disciple, imitator and slave of the Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ thy Son, that I may attain, by thine intercession and by thine example, to the fullness of His age on earth and of His glory in Heaven. Amen. (St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Monfort, “True Devotion to Mary, with Preparation for Total Consecration”, by Catholic Way, Kindle Edition).

A SIMPLE DAILY CONSECRATION TO MARY IMMACULATE

Simple Daily Consecration

“I choose thee this day, O Mary, in the presence of the whole court of Heaven, as my Mother and Queen. I give and consecrate to you as your slave my body and my soul, my interior and exterior possessions, and even the value of my past, present and future good actions, allowing you the full right to dispose of me and of all that belongs to me, without any exception whatever, according to your good pleasure, for the greater glory of God, in time and in eternity. Amen”

Remember – Our Lady needs us to obey:  First Saturdays of Reparation, daily rosary, at least 5 mysteries, wear her brown scapular and live your Total Consecration to her Immaculate Heart, offering daily duties in reparation and for the conversion of poor sinners.

Open your hearts to the Lord and serve Him only: and He will free you from the hands of your enemies. With all your heart return to Him, and take away from your midst any strange gods” (I Kings 7:3)

 ✝︎  Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.
✝︎ Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come! Viva Cristo Rey!
✝︎ St. Joseph, protect us, protect our families, protect our priests.
✝︎ St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.

~ by evensong for love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, King.
Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!

Padre Pio and the Immaculate Conception of Mary, 2021

St. Pio of Pietrelcina’s loving meditation on the Immaculate Conception of Mary and his prayer to her:

“From all eternity, Almighty God took delight in what was to be the most perfect work of His hands, and anticipated this wonderful plan with an outpouring of His grace. Man, created innocent, fell by disobeying Him; the mark of original sin remained engraved on his forehead and that of his progeny who will bear its consequences until the end of time.

A woman brought ruin, and a woman was to bring salvation. The one, being tempted by a serpent, stamped the mark of sin on the human race; the other was to rise, through grace, pure and immaculate. She would crush the head of the serpent who was helpless before her and who struggled in vain under her heel; for she was conceived without sin and through her came grace to mankind.

Protected by grace by Him Who was to be the Savior of mankind that had fallen into sin, she escaped all shadow of evil. She sprang from the mind of God as a pure ray of light, and will shine like a morning star over the human race that turns to her. She will be the sure guide who will direct our steps toward the Divine Sun which is Jesus Christ. He makes her radiant with divine splendor and points to her as our model of purity and sanctity. No creature surpasses her, but all creation defers to her through the grace of Him Who made her Immaculate. He Whom she was to carry in her womb was the Son of God participating with the Father and the Holy Ghost in the glory of her conception.

Clothed in light from the moment of her conception, she grew in grace and comeliness. After Almighty God, she is the most perfect of creatures; more pure than the angels; God is indeed well pleased in her, since she most resembles Him and is the only worthy repository of His secrets.

In the natural order she preceded her Divine Child, Our Lord, but in the divine order Jesus, the Divine Sun, arose before her, and she received from Him all grace, all purity, all beauty. All is darkness compared to the pure light that renews all creation through Him Whom she bore in her womb, as the dew on the rose.

The Immaculate Conception is the first step in our salvation. Through this singular and unique gift Mary received a profusion of Divine Grace, and through her cooperation she became worthy of absorbing infinitely more.

The three Divine persons imbue this sublime creature with all her privileges, her favors and her graces, and with all her holiness.

The Eternal Father created her pure and Immaculate and is well pleased in her for she is the worthy dwelling of His only Son. Through the generating of His Son in His bosom from all eternity, He forecasts the generation of His Son as Man in the pure womb of this Mother and He clothed her from her conception in the radiant snowy garment of grace and of most perfect sanctity; she participates in His perfection.

The Son Who chose her for His Mother poured His wisdom into her from that very beginning, by infused knowledge she knew her God. She loved and served Him in the most perfect manner as He had never been loved and served on this earth.

The Holy Ghost poured His love into her; she was the only creature worthy or capable of receiving this love in unlimited measure because no other had sufficient purity to come so near to God; and being near to Him could know and love Him ever more. She was the only creature capable of containing the stream of love which poured into her from on high. She alone was worthy to return to Him from Whom came that love. This very love prepared her for that “Fiat” which delivered the world from the tyranny of the infernal enemy and overshadowed her, the purest of doves, making her pregnant with the Son of God.

St. Pio’s Prayer to the Immaculata

My most pure Mother, my soul so poor, all stained with wretchedness and sin cries out to thy maternal heart. In thy goodness deign, I beseech thee, to pour out on me at least a little of the grace that flowed into thee with such infinite profusion from the Heart of God. Strengthened and supported by this grace, may I succeed in better loving and serving Almighty God Who filled thy heart completely, and Who created the temple of thy body from the moment of thine Immaculate Conception.

Oh, my Mother, how ashamed I feel in thy presence, weighed down as I am with faults! Thou art most pure and immaculate from the moment of thy conception, indeed, from the moment in eternity when thou wert conceived in the mind of God.

Have pity on me! May one compassionate look of thine eyes revive me, purify me and lift me up to God; raising me from the filth of this world so that I may go to Him Who created me, Who regenerated me in Holy Baptism, giving me back my white robe of innocence that original sin had so defiled. Dear Mother, make me love Him! Pour into my heart that love which burns in thine for Him. Even though I be clothed in misery, I revere the mystery of thine Immaculate Conception, and I ardently wish that through it, thou may purify my heart so that I may love thy God and my God. Cleanse my mind that it may reach up to Him and contemplate Him and adore Him in spirit and in truth. Purify my body that I too may be a tabernacle for Him and be less unworthy of possessing Him when He deigns to come to me in Holy Communion. Amen.

Whenever I read  St. Pio’s meditation on the Immaculata, it fills me with peace and hope.  And now I pray that you too are blessed! Take heart, for we are her children after all, and she assures us “I will never forsake you!”

Remember – Our Lady needs us to obey:  First Saturdays of Reparation, daily rosary, at least 5 mysteries, wear her brown scapular and live your Total Consecration to her Immaculate Heart, offering daily duties in reparation and for the conversion of poor sinners.

†  St. Padre Pio, pray for our priests, pray for the Church!

†  Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.

†  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done!

†  St. Joseph, guardian of the Holy Family, protect our families, protect our priests!

†  St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle!

~ by evensong for love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O Sacred Virgin! Give me strength against thine enemies!