Blessed Virgin Mary Archives

BA-V10 Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary Pt 1 – Begin Again with Fr. Timothy Gallagher

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary Pt 1 – Begin Again /w Fr. Timothy Gallagher – Ep. 10 from Discerning Hearts on Vimeo.

In this episode, Fr. Timothy Gallagher discusses the deep devotion Ven. Bruno Lanteri had for the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was a deep relationship of love between Ven. Lanteri and Our Lady. Fr. Gallagher offers what a Marian devotion can bring to the spiritual life. He goes on to say that there is something safe about turning to the Blessed Mother in our struggles which is deeply rooted in our Catholic tradition.

For the other episodes in this series check out Fr. Timothy Gallagher’s “Discerning Hearts” page

You can obtain just the audio podcast if you would prefer

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:17 — 25.0MB) | Embed

For a copy of the Spiritual Counsels of Ven. Lanteri visit here:

ST12 – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – The Blessed Virgin Mary, “The Head-Crushing” Immaculately Conceived Handmaid of the Lord

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:15 — 30.4MB) | Embed

Episode 12 – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran, hosted by Bruce McGregor. Ep 12 – The Blessed Virgin Mary, “The Head-Crushing” Immaculately Conceived Handmaid of the Lord

Sharon Doran serves as the teaching director of “Seeking Truth.” An experienced Bible Study teacher, Sharon has a passion for scripture that will motivate and challenge you to immerse yourself in God’s Word and apply His message to your everyday life.

Episode 12 – Sharon and Bruce discuss the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary is the new Eve! The sin-free woman who will crush the head of the serpent. Sharon breaks open Genesis chapter 2, the Gospel of Luke, Revelation 12 and the Old Testament teachings on the two other woman who are “blessed” and how this shines a light on our understanding of Mary!

“Seeking Truth” is an in-depth Catholic Bible Study, commissioned by the Archdiocese of Omaha in response to John Paul II’s call to the New Evangelization as well as Pope Benedict XVI’s exhortation for all Catholics to study scripture. To learn more go to:www.seekingtruth.net

The Holy Rosary for Discerning Hearts – Our Lady’s Garden of Prayer – Mp3 Audio downloadable

Outside of the Sacramental prayers of the Church, there is no other prayer more important than the prayerful recitation of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Our late great Holy Father, St. John Paul II put it beautifully in His Apostolic Letter On the Rosary of the Virgin Mary:

“A path of contemplation”

“But the most important reason for strongly encouraging the practice of the Rosary is that it represents a most effective means of fostering among the faithful that commitment to the contemplation of the Christian mystery which I have proposed in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte as a genuine “training in holiness”: “What is needed is a Christian life distinguished above all in the heart of The Rosary belongs among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation. Developed in the West, it is a typically meditative prayer, corresponding in some way to the “prayer of the heart” or “Jesus prayer” which took root in the soil of the Christian East.”– His Apostolic Letter On the Rosary of the Virgin Mary

Please take some time to check out the Discerning Hearts “Holy Rosary Page”

Audio mp3 download/podcasts of the Holy Rosary

Joyful Mysteries

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:56 — 21.9MB) | Embed

Sorrowful Mysteries

Download (right click & choose “Save Link As”)

Luminous Mysteries

Download (right click & choose “Save Link As”)

Glorious Mysteries

Download (right click & choose “Save Link As”)

BKL#17 – Building a Kingdom of Love w/ Msgr. John Esseff – Our Lady of Sorrows

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:04 — 5.6MB) | Embed

Msgr. Esseff reflects on the meaning of Our Lady of Sorrows. How do we connect that with the suffering of Christ? All the suffering we endure is united with Jesus, and the Blessed Mother guides our way. She is our mother and the power of her love is incredible. Ask her to come to you in your suffering as she came to her Son. She is our Our Mother of Hope and Compassion. God conquers sorrow with hope!

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve;
to thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

℣ Pray for us O holy Mother of God,
℟ that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He was ordained on May 30th 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA. Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to St. Mother Teresa. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity around the world. Msgr. Esseff encountered St. Padre Pio, who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world, serving in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by St. Pope John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor. Msgr. Esseff assisted the founders of the Institute for Priestly Formation and continues to serve as a spiritual director for the Institute. He continues to serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Fr. Mark Cyza – Discerning Hearts

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:39 — 28.1MB) | Embed

Join Bruce and I as we discuss the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the wonderful Fr. Mark Cyza.

From Pope Benedict XVI 2005 found at vatican.va:

I am also thinking of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that we recently published, in which the Word of God is applied to our lives and the reality of our lives interpreted; it helps us enter into the great “temple” of God’s Word, to learn to love it and, like Mary, to be penetrated by this Word.

Thus, life becomes luminous and we have the basic criterion with which to judge; at the same time, we receive goodness and strength.

Mary is taken up body and soul into the glory of Heaven, and with God and in God she is Queen of Heaven and earth. And is she really so remote from us?

The contrary is true. Precisely because she is with God and in God, she is very close to each one of us.

While she lived on this earth she could only be close to a few people. Being in God, who is close to us, actually, “within” all of us, Mary shares in this closeness of God. Being in God and with God, she is close to each one of us, knows our hearts, can hear our prayers, can help us with her motherly kindness and has been given to us, as the Lord said, precisely as a “mother” to whom we can turn at every moment.

She always listens to us, she is always close to us, and being Mother of the Son, participates in the power of the Son and in his goodness. We can always entrust the whole of our lives to this Mother, who is not far from any one of us.

On this feast day, let us thank the Lord for the gift of the Mother, and let us pray to Mary to help us find the right path every day. Amen.

MM1 – A Marian Moment – Reflections on the Blessed Virgin Mary

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00 — 2.3MB) | Embed

From the writings of St. Peter Julian Eymard:

All Mary’s life—taken as a whole—may be summed up in this one word—adoration; for adoration is the perfect service of God, and it embraces all the duties of the creature toward the Creator. It was Mary who first adored the incarnate Word. He was in her womb, and no one on earth knew of it. Oh! How well was our Lord served in Mary’s virginal womb! Never has he found a ciborium, a golden vase more precious or purer than was Mary’s womb! . . .

Prayer: O Mary! Teach us the life of adoration. Teach us to see, as you did, all the mysteries and all the graces in the Eucharist.

Our Lady of Sorrows

The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:56 — 10.9MB) | Embed

The Virgin Mary, who believed in the word of the Lord, did not lose her faith in God when she saw her Son rejected, abused and crucified. Rather she remained beside Jesus, suffering and praying, until the end. And she saw the radiant dawn of His Resurrection. Let us learn from her to witness to our faith with a life of humble service, ready to personally pay the price of staying faithful to the Gospel of love and truth, certain that nothing that we do will be lost.

— Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus – September 13, 2009

Collect:

Father,
as Your Son was raised on the cross,
His mother Mary stood by Him, sharing His sufferings.
May Your Church be united with Christ
in His suffering and death
and so come to share in His rising to new life,
where He lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Devotion from the revelation to St. Bridget of Sweden:

For more prayers for Our Lady of Sorrows

USCCA12 – Mary: The Church’s First and Most Perfect Member – U. S. Catholic Catechism w/ Arch. George Lucas

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:18 — 45.3MB) | Embed

USCCA12- Episode 12- Mary: The Church’s First and Most Perfect Member

Archbishop Lucas offers insights on the US Catholic Catechism for Adults Chapter 12:

The Second Vatican Council remains us that Mary is a member of the Church who “occupies a place in the Church which is the highest after Christ and also closest to us” (LG, no. 54). She is the first and the greatest of all the disciples of Christ.

The Most Reverend George J. Lucas leads the Archdiocese of Omaha.

For other episodes in the visit our Archbishop George Lucas page

This programs is based on:

More information can be found here.

We wish to thank the USCCB for the permissions granted for use of relevant material used in this series.
Also we wish to thank Fr. Ryan Lewis for his vocal talents in this episode.

BKL#24 – The joy that flows from Mary’s simplicity – Building a Kingdom of Love w/ Msgr. John Esseff

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (47.0MB) | Embed

Evil is crushed by the lowly! The joy that flows from Mary’s simplicity.

Msgr. Esseff talks about the Blessed Virgin Mary and how a little girl named Marilee helped him come to a greater understanding of Our Lady. Our salvation came about because of obedience and humility; our Mother, Mary, was the exemplar of that submission. God has such a love for the humble and small. Msgr. Esseff recalls his past Christmas times with the poor in foreign lands and how they experienced such an extraordinary joy because of their simplicity. For us to experience that same type of simplicity and joy think of Mary. He looks at the Nativity scene in a the light of this simplicity and goodness.

Mother Teresa would say that those in prosperous lands are spiritually poor and those in third world lands are spiritual rich. Hopefully, our homes this Christmas will find our homes resplendent with the Christian virtues, especially those of humility and love.

From the USCCB Readings:

Reading 2 Heb 10:5-10

Brothers and sisters:
When Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
behold, I come to do your will, O God.'”First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings,
holocausts and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in.”
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.”
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this “will,” we have been consecrated
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Gospel Lk 1:39-45

Mary set out

and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”

Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He was ordained on May 30th 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA. Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to Blessed Mother Teresa. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity around the world. Msgr. Esseff encountered St. Padre Pio, who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world, serving in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by Bl. Pope John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor. Msgr. Esseff assisted the founders of the Institute for Priestly Formation and continues to serve as a spiritual director for the Institute. He continues to serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world.

To obtain a copy of Msgr. Esseff’s book by visiting here

Be sure to visit Msgr. Esseff’s website “Building a Kingdom of Love”

STSG4 – Preparation for the Coming of the Messiah (PART 2) – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran

Episode 4- Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran – Preparation for the Coming of the Messiah (PART 2)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (26.9MB) | Embed

Episode 4 –

This 2 part lecture is a “must listen to” as Sharon gives us the Biblical basis for the perpetual … (more info)virginity of Mary as well as for her Immaculate Conception. Drawing from both Old and New Testament scripture, Sharon shows us how Mary was filled with grace from the moment of her conception and remained sinless throughout her entire life.

We also learn that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary becomes Theotokos, God-Bearer, and is the Ark of the New Covenant. Like the Ark of the Old Covenant, Mary is not meant to be touched, and she remains perpetually virgin.

But wait! There’s more! Sharon also reveals to us the amazing fulfillment of Old Testament Messianic Prophecies through the birth of John the Baptist.

You won’t want to miss this foundational lecture.

“Seeking Truth” is an in depth Catholic Bible Study, commissioned by the Archdiocese of Omaha in response to John Paul II’s call to the New Evangelization as well as Pope Benedict XVI’s exhortation for all Catholics to study scripture. To learn more go to:www.seekingtruth.net