Patrick Madrid - A Wealth of Links

Over the past 27 years, Patrick has published numerous popular articles on Scripture, Church history, patristics, and apologetics in Envoy Magazine, This Rock Magazine, and various other Catholic and Protestant periodicals. Here is a small selection of them:

• “Mary: Ark of the New Covenant” — December, 1991
• “Mormonism’s Gods” — July, 1992
• “In Search of the Great Apostasy” — September, 1992
• “Mormonism and the ‘Great Apostasy’ Theory” — 1998
• “Any Friend of God’s Is a Friend of Mine” — September, 1992
• “The White Mans Burden” — October, 1993
• “Sola Scriptura Debate with Douglas Jones” — 1996
• “How I Pray Now” — March, 1997
• “The Madrid/Jones Dialogue on Scripture and the Church” — October, 1997
• “More Vicarius Thrills” — September, 1998
• “The Heart of an Apostle” — 1998
• “Frank Sheed: The Prophet of Hyde Park” — March, 2002
• “What Do the Bible & the Catholic Church Teach About Divorce & Remarriage?” — 2003
• “The Five Most Pathetic Words” — October, 2009
• “You Can Keep Your Kids Catholic” — June, 2010
• Interview with Fathers for Good on “Keeping Your Kids Catholic” — June, 2010
• Interview with ZENIT News Service on “Turning the Table on Atheists” — Spring, 2011

Looking for more articles and essays by Patrick Madrid? Be sure to check out his recent book Envoy for Christ: 25 Years as a Catholic Apologist (Servant Books), which is a compendium of many of his writings collected into a single volume. (Also available as an audiobook.)

Source:  http://patrickmadrid.com/articles/ 

Intercession of Mary

Edgar Allen Poe's Hymn of Mary

Public Domain, Wikipedia / ChurchPOP

You probably know Edgar Allen Poe’s dark poetry (“The Raven“) and short stories (“The Tell-Tale Heart“), but did you know that he wrote a hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary?

The 12-line hymn to Our Lady was first published in 1835 within his short story Morella, sung by the title character. Ten years later it was published as a stand alone poem with the title “A Catholic Hymn.” In a collection he later sent to a friend, he removed “Catholic” from the title, leaving it to be titled simply “Hymn.”

There’s no indication Poe was Catholic, so what inspired him to write the poem? Onesource says he was walking on a the street when he heard a nearby church ring its bells at 12noon. Perplexed as to why the church was doing this, he entered the church, and a Jesuit inside explained that they rang the bells at 6am, 12noon, and 6pm to call people to pray the Angelus. The Angelus is a prayer reflection on Mary’s faith in assenting to God’s plan to have her conceive and bear Jesus. This apparently inspired him to write his hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Here is the full text of “Hymn”:

At morn – at noon – at twilight dim –
Maria! thou hast heard my hymn!
In joy and woe – in good and ill –
Mother of God, be with me still!
When the Hours flew brightly by,
And not a cloud obscured the sky,
My soul, lest it should truant be,
Thy grace did guide to thine and thee
Now, when storms of Fate o’ercast
Darkly my Present and my Past,
Let my future radiant shine
With sweet hopes of thee and thine.

Source:http://www.churchpop.com/2015/10/04/edgar-allen-poes-forgotten-hymn-to-our-lady/

Mary, The Ark of the Covenant

2 Sam 6:9   And David was afraid of the LORD that day; and he said, "How can the ark of the LORD come to me?"       

Luke 1:43   And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?     

The New Testament is concealed in the Old

& The Old Testament is revealed in the New

 

Exodus 40:34  Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Luke 1:35   The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

 Just as the glory of the Lord overshadowed and dwelt in the Ark, so does the glory of the Lord overshadow and dwell in the Blessed Virgin Mary.

 

Ten Great Women of the Bible (#7)

The Mom Series continues . . . .

7. Elizabeth (Luke 1)

Despite facing the challenge of infertility, Elizabeth lived a righteous and faithful life, receiving God’s promise of a child with hope and gratitude, recalling that mothers must persevere. And Elizabeth points us to Mary!

The Feast of the Visitation commemorates what is the second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: Our Lady's visit to her cousin, Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant with St. John the Baptist at the time. At the end of the Archangel Gabriel's Annunciation to Our Lady that she will conceive, he tells her that her cousin, Elizabeth, an older woman thought barren, will also conceive. The story as told in the first chapter of Luke (verses 37-47 of this chapter form the Gospel reading for today), the words in italics being the prayer known as "The Magnificat":

And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: Because no word shall be impossible with God.

And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah. And she entered into the house of Zachariah, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.

          And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him. He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy: As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

And Mary abode with her about three months; and she returned to her own house. Now Elizabeth's full time of being delivered was come, and she brought forth a son.

It was at the Visitation that St. John, along with his mother, were filled with the Holy Ghost, the cause of his being born without the stain of original sin. It is today that our Redeemer, Our Lady, and the one about whom Christ said "there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist" all came together, the three pure ones all born without sin after the Fall (of course, Christ and His mother were also conceived without sin).

But this Feast says something very profound about Mary and who she is. Compare how St. Luke describes Mary's visit with how David's visit to the Ark of the Covenant is described in II Kings (2 Samuel in some Bibles): 

II Kings 6:2 And David arose and went, with all the people that were with him of the men of Juda to fetch the ark of God, upon which the name of the Lord of hosts is invoked, who sitteth over it upon the cherubims.	Luke 1:39 And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda
II Kings l 6:9 And David was afraid of the Lord that day, saying: How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?	Luke 1:43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
II Kings 6:11 And the ark of the Lord abode in the house of Obededom the Gethite three months...	Luke 1:56 And Mary abode with her about three months; and she returned to her own house...
II Kings 6:16 And when the ark of the Lord was come into the city of David, Michol the daughter of Saul, looking out through a window, saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord [His Presence over the Ark]	Luke 1:41 And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb.

St. Luke clearly wants us to see Our Lady as the Ark of the New Covenant, the bearer the Word just as the Ark of the Old Covenant carried the tablets containing the ten words of God; the one who bore the Root of Jesse Who came back to life in three days, just as the Ark of the Old Covenant carried Aaron's rod which sprouted; the one who bore the Bread of Life just as the Ark of the Old Covenant carried some of the manna that sustained the children of Israel in the desert. St. John the Evangelist wrote of this same Truth when he described his Heavenly vision in Apocalypse 11:19-12:1-5:

And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake, and great hail. And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered. And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his head seven diadems: And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne.

These verses and the words of St. St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (a.k.a. Gregory of Neocaesarea, A.D. 213 - ca. 270) remind us who Mary is:

And thus she received the word, and in the due time of the fulfilment according to the body's course she brought forth the priceless pearl. Come, then, ye too, dearly beloved, and let us chant the melody which has been taught us by the inspired harp of David, and say, "Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest; Thou, and the ark of Thy sanctuary." For the holy Virgin is in truth an ark, wrought with gold both within and without, that has received the whole treasury of the sanctuary.

Pray the words of St. Athanasius and realize the depths of Mary's beauty! Turn to her to intercede for us with her Son:

O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all, O Ark of the Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which Divinity resides.

Turn to Our Lady!
See also the Queenship of Mary (31 May).
 
Footnote:
¹ This Feast was moved to May 31 on the Novus Ordo calendar, which is the date of Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the traditional calendar.  

SOURCE: Fisheaters

The 8th Day of Christmas - Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

January 1, Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, our Lady's greatest title.

This feast is the octave of Christmas. In the modern Roman Calendar only Christmas and Easter enjoy the privilege of an octave. According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the Solemnity of Circumcision of Our Lord.

"Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time. For the first time in the plan of salvation and because his Spirit had prepared her, the Father found the dwelling place where his Son and his Spirit could dwell among men. In this sense the Church's Tradition has often read the most beautiful texts on wisdom in relation to Mary. Mary is acclaimed and represented in the liturgy as the "Seat of Wisdom."
— Catechism of the Catholic Church 721

A plenary indulgence may be gained by reciting or singing the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus on the first day of the year. This hymn is traditionally sung for beginnings of things, calling on the Holy Spirit before endeavoring something new.

CatholicCulture.org