Blessed John Henry Newman’s love of Our Mother Mary..........

Before praying Wednesday’s midday Angelus, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the deep and filial devotion held by the newly Blessed John Henry Newman for Our Blessed Mother Mary. Our Pope spoke about how Blessed Cardinal Newman named his fist home in Birmingham “Maryvale” and how he dedicated his Oratory to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Let us join our Church’s new Blessed in meditating upon Mary’s holiness and perfection and her role in being chosen to be the Mother of God. Let us seek intimacy with Mary through the intercession of Blessed John Henry Newman as we join him reflection and prayer. He was moved to exclaim: “"Who can estimate the holiness and perfection of her, who was chosen to be the Mother of Christ? What must have been her gifts, who was chosen to be the only near earthly relative of the Son of God, the only one whom He was bound by nature to revere and look up to; the one appointed to train and educate Him, to instruct Him day by day, as He grew in wisdom and in stature?" (read full Zenit.org article here)

Blessed John Henry Newman, please pray that all the women of ENDOW, their families, friends and all souls may be drawn deep into the heart of Our Blessed Mother Mary, The Immaculate Conception. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

We are called to build a civilization of love.......The Pope asks for Our Blessed Mother’s intercession......

In the past two weeks the Church as celebrated two feasts of our Blessed Mother. The Assumption and the Queenship of Mary. Who better do we have as an example of perfect obedience to God’s will than our Mother Mary? Pope Benedict had this to say as reported in a recent article from the Catholic News Agency: “The ‘sovereignty of Mary’ is ‘completely relative to that of Christ,’ who was exalted by the Father above every creature, the Pope explained. ‘(B)y the design of grace, the Immaculate Mother was fully associated with the mystery of the Son … (She) shared with the Son not only the human aspects of this mystery, but, through the work of the Holy Spirit in her, also the profound intention, the divine will, in a way that all her existence, poor and humble, was elevated, transformed, glorified, passing through the 'narrow gate' that is Jesus himself.’ ‘Yes,’ said the Pope, ‘Mary was the first to pass through the open 'way' of Christ to enter into the Kingdom of God, a way accessible to all men.....’” ..read more.

Our Blessed Mother intercedes for us and helps us, God’s beloved children, pass through the narrow gate, the “open ‘way’ of Christ.” Find out about a terrific way to become more familiar with the role for Our Blessed Mother in God’s plan for his Kingdom by participating in ENDOW's study titled “Redemptoris Mater (Mary, Mother of the Redeemer)" click here for more information. This encyclical was written by Pope John Paul II in 1987. In this study, we come to see how Our Blessed Mother is surely a model for all of us today. Presently, Our Blessed Mother is active in loving us right into heaven. In this encyclical, Pope John Paul II says “‘She cooperated, as the Second Vatican Council teaches, with a maternal love. Here we perceive the real value of the words spoken by Jesus to his Mother at the hour of the Cross: ‘Woman, behold your son’ and to the disciple: ‘Behold your mother’ (Jn. 19:26-27). They are words which determine Mary's place in the life of Christ's disciples and they express-as I have already said-the new motherhood of the Mother of the Redeemer: a spiritual motherhood, born from the heart of the Paschal Mystery of the Redeemer of the world. It is a motherhood in the order of grace, for it implores the gift of the Spirit, who raises up the new children of God, redeems through the sacrifice of Christ that Spirit whom Mary too, together with the Church, received on the day of Pentecost.”

Let us pray today for Our Mother to intercede that we each come to know exactly how to help build a civilization of love and to do our parts in transforming society. On this day, the feast day of the faithful Apostle and martyr St. Bartholomew, let us also ask his intercession in bringing all of God's children into unity of mind and heart in building a culture of love.