Category Archives: Blessed Virgin Mary

The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 4

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For this Sacred Heart Friday I will relate another way the Two Heart of Jesus and Mary are allied.

They are allied at the Foot off the Cross.

Luke 2:34-35 And Simeon blessed them, and he said to his mother Mary: “Behold, this one has been set for the ruin and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and as a sign which will be contradicted.

 And a sword will pass through your own soul, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

John 19:25-27 And standing beside the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, and Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

 Therefore, when Jesus had seen his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son.”

 Next, he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother.” And from that hour, the disciple accepted her as his own.

John 19:34 Instead, one of the soldiers opened his side with a lance, and immediately there went out blood and water.

Source: Sacred Bible: Catholic Public Domain Version

 

Screenshot 2023 06 01 at 1 15 47 PM

Source: Diary of St. Faustina

Simeon prophesied that Mary’s heart will be piece by a sword; and she witnessed the emotional sword of seeing her Son on the Cross, tortured and dying. It must have been a final indignity to see Him pierced with a lance. What more could they do to Him? At that moment, the sacraments of mercy were made manifest as the blood and water represent Baptism and the Eucharist. 

There is a lot to meditate on in this post. If you’re doing First Saturday tomorrow, perhaps you can dwell on the sorrowful mysteries, keeping in mind Mary at the foot off the Cross, her heart pierced…

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 3

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For this Sacred Heart Friday post, I’m going to set aside what I had originally written for Part 3; mainly because I don’t like what I’ve got. So, I’m taking this opportunity to remind everyone of certain upcoming feasts that relate to both the Sacred Heart and the Heart of Mary. 

Aside from the Solemnity of Pentecost this Sunday (this birthday of the Church!) we have this Monday the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. This is a new feast day, instituted by Pope Frances just a few years ago. I like it! Any increase in liturgical observances to Mary is all right with me! Mary IS the Mother of the Church; her heart nurtured it in the Church’s early years, after Christ’s Ascension and Mary’s own Assumption. She knew that the Church was the creation her Son, and just as His Sacred Heart beats in the Sacraments, her Immaculate Heart lovingly guided and taught the Apostles and disciples just like she taught Him during His first 30 years. 

This an example of how the Two Hearts operate. They work in tandem for the salvation of souls. Christ’s love for humanity leaves behind the Church to instruct the faithful until He returns; Mary’s love for us helps build up the Church.

Another day coming up is the  Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Right after the Annunciation Mary made haste and went to the hill country of Judea and visited her cousin Elizabeth who was with child. Carrying St. John the Baptist in her womb, Elizabeth was the first human to acknowledge Mary’s Divine Maternity when she greeted her. Not only that, but the unborn child in the womb  also acknowledged the existence of another unborn child, Jesus. St. John the Baptist, upon hearing Mary’s voice and the referencing to the Lord, leapt in Elizabeth’s wombs as he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Another example of how the Two Hearts operate: Mary’s love for her cousin sends her off on a journey and the beating of the Sacred Heart in her womb signals to the Baptist. 

And that’s it for May. June begins next Thursday and that month is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus! I hope to finish up this series on he Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary as well as come up with some really great stuff. I may even post multiple Sacred Heart Fridays!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 2

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As I stated in Part 1 of today’s Sacred Heart Friday post from last week (this makes sense only you read the conversation I had with the voices in my head that was transcribed in the Part 1 post) an alliance is always serves as a means to an end. Political alliances bolster the political standing of each member on the world stage. Military alliances ensure the security of each member. So, what is the end of the Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary?

Our salvation, of course!

Like I said in the previous post, all authentic Marian devotion leads the soul to Jesus. “To Jesus Through Mary” is the theme of many saints’ writings; especially St. Louis deMontfort and St. Maximilian Kolbe. Even Our Lady said at Fatima that she desired devotion to not just her Immaculate Heart, but of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In Scripture, we’ve seen how Mary “kept all these things pondering them in her heart.” What things? What was being said about Jesus. Her heart was ever united to contemplating Him; she was His first disciple and greatest Apostle. Of course, neither role was mentioned in the Bible, but it stands to reason that she was. 

There is also another reason for the union of the Two Hearts: genetic. Jesus had no human father; He received all His humanity from Mary. What this actually means and its significance may be difficult to understand, but her heart was identical to His. Given His Sacred Humanity and Divinity and her Immaculate Conception, this must mean the union of the Two Hearts had to have supernatural implications.

Maybe we need to spend some time pondering these things in our hearts.

Now to the ‘our salvation’ part. Mary (our Mother and Jesus’) and Jesus (our brother) desire nothing less than we join them in Heaven. The devotion to the Hearts is geared towards that. The Immaculate Heart of Mary has suffered from the indifference of souls air not outright sacrilege and blasphemy. The Devotion of the Five First Saturdays is about reparation for the offenses against her Heart. Read about that here: Five First Saturday Devotions. Similarly, the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is about reparation for our sins and the sins of others. You can read about that here: Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Both are about reparation for sin. Who knows how many have been turned back from the path of perdition and now enjoy the blessedness of Heaven because of these?

Next week: “The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 3!” I think it will be on the history of the Alliance, the saints that promoted it and so forth. That might need to carry over into a Part 4. There might be a Part 5, and that might involve Catholic Prophecy!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary! Part 1

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Yes, I know this  Sacred Heart Friday post is late.

“What do you mean ‘late,’ Paulcoholic?”

“I mean that it was supposed to be published last Friday.”

“Oh, wow! That IS late! A whole week! What have you got to say for yourself?”

“I wasn’t feeling all that well last week and wasn’t confident of my writing and thinking skills and didn’t finish going over the post to publish it last Friday (it was written over the course of that past week, I just never finished it.) Then I had my laptop off most of the weekend and didn’t feel like editing it. And then the week started and… OK ‘stuff’ happened and I just never got to it. OK?”

“Um, yeah, OK! Just don’t let it happen again!”

“Oh, shut up.” Why do I let the voices in my head get access to the keyboard?

In this week-late Sacred Heart Friday post, I offer you the first of at least two on the union between the two hearts  of Jesus and Mary. It was to have been one long-ish post, but since I’m late enough as it is and I didn’t do much additional research for it this week, and I’m still not feeling all that well, it’s being split up in two. So here goes! And let’s hope that I can get Part 2 out by the end of today the 19th. If there’s a Part 3, that’ll be next week.

All authentic Marian devotion leads to Jesus. The basis for this fact is that Mary is our Mother. Because she loves us so much, she leads us to her Son. We are all her children (Jesus and us) and so she wants us all to be together. Our biological mother gave birth to us in our physical, temporal life and we were thus born into Original Sin. Mary, however, gave birth to us when we were baptized. Our baptism made us members of the Mystical Body of Christ; and as Mary is Christ’s Mother, she becomes ours as she is also the Mother of the Mystical Body. Original Sin was wiped away and we were born anew as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and children of God the Father. She can be said to be more our mother than our biological mother ever was and she loves us more than our Earthly mother ever could and by reason of her divine motherhood, enables us to gain eternity with Christ. 

It is love which unites the two. The Heart of Mary beats with a love for Jesus and for us; His Sacred Heart beats with love for His Mother and for us. Mary’s Heart has a maternal love for us and so yearns for us to belong to Jesus. His Heart, as I’ve said before in these Sacred Heart Fridays, loves us, since as God He loves His own creation. His love for us is so great that He suffered and died to free us from our sins.

This then, is the Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary. An alliance typically is a means to an end. What is the end of this Alliance?

I think I’ll answer that in Part 2, and whatever I was gonna come up with for Part 2 will be Part 3 next week!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

May, Mary, and the Sacred Heart

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For this Sacred Heart Friday, I bring to your attention the (perhaps unintended?) symbolism of May coming just before June, in the sense of who these months are dedicated to.

May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary; June to the Sacred Heart. The Church teaches that all authentic Marian devotion leads us to Jesus. Therefore, we can spend this month of Mary, with its holidays of Our Lady of Fatima (May 13th) Mary, Mother of the Church (right after Pentecost) and the Feast of the Visitation (May 31st) preparing for the Sacred Heart. We can focus on each of those days and meditate or reflect on their significance, all with a mind as to how they lead us to Jesus.

The message of Our Lady of Fatima is prayer, penance and reparation. War is punishment for sin; immodest fashions offend God; we must pray the Rosary every day for the conversion of Russia as well as the World. Mary said, ‘In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph!” This means the ultimate end of Satan’s free rein of terror and a period of peace before the Second Coming.

Mary, Mother of the Church :the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, therefore Mary is our Mother. The Church was established by Christ to facilitate our redemption. The Church has one job: to save souls. It was started out of love for us; without it, we would have no Shepherd and no way to authentically interpret Scripture. No Church and there would be the confusion and chaos as evidenced by the countless Protestant and Evangelical denominations. 

The Feast of the Visitation celebrates when Mary made haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was miraculously pregnant with St. John the Baptist. What lesson can we derive from this? Hospitality, for one. Make time in your life to come to the aid of your family, friends, kindred, tribe, clan, whatever. Your neighbor! Also, it is the declaration from Elizabeth that Mary IS the Mother of God, with Mary’s response that her should magnifies the Lord and her spirit rejoices in God, her saviour; as well as that all generations will call her blessed. Does your soul magnify the Lord? Are you grateful for all the things He has done for you? Do you call Mary ‘Blessed?’ 

Don’t forget! One if the ways to honor the Blessed Mother is doing the Five First Saturday Devotions.

Next Sacred Heart Friday: The Alliance of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Social Media May for Mary

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Today begins May, which is traditionally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In honor of that, I am instituting #SocialMediaMayforMary, wherein every day I post to this blog’s Facebook Page, LinkedIn Page, MeWe SoberCatholic Discussion Group, Telegram Channel, Mastodon and Twitter accounts videos on the Blessed Mother and her Rosary. These will not be posted to this blog. Not sure why, perhaps an experiment I’m conducting. 

PANIC EDIT: These are not MY videos; just stuff I find on YouTube and elsewhere I think you’d enjoy!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

33 day Consecration to Mary can begin this Friday!

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You can tell I’ve been reading St. Louis de Montfort.

I discovered that the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary still exists, and still is managed by the Dominicans just like back in the days of St. Dominic and Bl. Alan de la Roche! (Should I have known that?) This association was mentioned quite often in a book by St. Louis de Monfort I read this past week. (I’ll tell you which one at the end. Which “ones” actually.)

Because of this I may start another 33 day Montfortian consecration thingy this Friday April 28th. It’s de Montfort’s feast day. It’ll end just in time for May 31st which is the Feast of the Visitation on the new calendar 1970 calendar; it’s the Feast of the Queenship of Mary on the old 1962 calendar.

My wife and I already did it once before, leading up to our wedding day. We may do it again, together, as a renewal. 

Gabi of the GabiAfterHours YouTube Channel is also doing it beginning this Friday (just found that out.)

You can look into his effort here: Gabi After Hours Community posting on 33 day consecration to Mary.

I bring Gabi up because he’s uploaded several very important videos over the past few months or so.  He posted this one quite recently on several books that are must reads:

This one: 

…and this one:

…started me on saying the entire Rosary daily. Gabi got the idea from one of the de Montfort books he recommends in the first video above. Those are the one’s that I’ve read this week (numbers 1 and 2 on Gabi’s list.) “The Secret of Mary” and “The Secret of the Rosary.” They’re wonderful, inspiring reads. De Montfort writes in a style similar to that of St. Alphonse Liguori. (His “The Glories of Mary” is number 4 on Gabi’s list.)

This is a new one:

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Marian Consecration and the Guarantee of Eternal life

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Many saints have said that those who are consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary are never lost. Sts. Louis deMontfort, Alphonsus de Liguori, and Maximilian Kolbe have all declared at one time or another that those souls who become ‘the property’ of Our Lady will never suffer eternal damnation.

This may seem to some as a kind of overconfidence and even the mortal sin of presuming upon God’s Mercy. This post will try to explain why it is not.

I have many friends (or know of people online) who are consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, either through the method of Total Consecration by St. Louis deMontfort or that of St. Maximilian Kolbe. And yet I’ve heard them express some doubt as to their salvation! I know why they say this: they are fearful of presuming upon God’s Mercy or of acting with pride. They mean well, but I think they’re wrong.

Here’s why I think this way. If you believe that consecrating yourself to the Blessed Mother safeguards your soul from eternal damnation, then still being concerned over its final destiny, as if you could still be damned, is—I think—a sign of mistrust in Our Lady’s promises (as known in private revelations) and of the judgment of saints.

Now I’m not declaring that you should consecrate yourself to Our Lady and then think that you can just go ‘Lah-dih-dah!!!Look at me! I belong to Mary! I’m saved! I’m gonna now go drinkin’ and druggin’ and whorin’ and do all sorts of stuff because I won’t go to Hell!” That’s kind of like a Catholic variant of the ‘Once Saved; Always Saved’ heresy.

I liken it to a relationship. Let’s say you’re married. This means that your relationship with someone has gotten to the point where you cannot live without them and that you wish to dedicate your life to them. You have the conviction that This Person is The One and Only and so you forsake all others. You remain faithful and married for the rest of your life. You’ve grown in maturity and wisdom and realize this person is It and you get married.

Same with Marian Consecration. You’ve grown in holiness and spirituality and now you feel that as a Catholic you must take your relationship with Mary ‘to the next level.’ You’ve heard of Marian Consecration through all this and you go ahead and do it.

So, after that, you’re the same person as before? No! If you’ve reached this level in your relationship with Mary, and therefore, with Jesus (since all authentic Marian devotion leads to Him,) then you have little desire to offend them and the rupture the relationship!

It is not that you won’t sin. We are all sinners and we will still sin after Consecration. But I believe that Consecration enables us to become more sensitive to the state of our souls; that we rise up more easily after every fall and offer prayers of repentance and contrition (plus a resolution to go to Confession as soon as possible.) In fact, I think it is Consecration which makes it easier for me to go to Confession once a month or more.

So, that is what I believe: that when you do Total Consecration to Our Lady your relationship is at a deeper level of trust and love and while you won’t stop sinning, you’ll make yourself more available to the sacraments and other means of obtaining the grace of repentance and amendment. And quite possibly the Blessed Mother, who is the channel by which graces come to us from the Lord, will help you achieve these graces, and thus ensure your salvation. You still may spend time in Purgatory; that’s OK. It’s better than Hell.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Three Drops of Blood: The Creation of the Sacred Heart

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On this Sacred Heart Friday, I am relating to you something about the creation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is appropriate given that as this is posted, it is the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Annunciation.This comes from a private revelation, and thus is not binding on Catholics. However, my personal opinion regarding approved private revelations is that they are not binding on the faithful in much the same way that putting on a parachute is not binding on you when you jump out of a plane. You don’t have to wear one, but it’s a good idea anyway.

It comes from “The Mystical City of God,” by the Venerable Mary de Jesus de Agreda. Mary de Agreda was a Franciscan nun who served as abbess of a cloistered convent in Agreda, Spain, in the 17th Century. She experienced a series of visions during which the Blessed Mother communicated her life to the abbess. It’s the most complete biography of the Virgin Mary ever written and there are quite a lot of deep insights into theology and doctrine, as well as a host of mystical meditations and…. well, words don’t do it justice but the volumes are incredible and worth getting. “The Mystical City of God” comes in four volumes and is 2,700 pages long. Don’t let that intimidate you. If you read a lot, it’s like the equivalent of 8-10 books. You’re gonna read at least that many this year, ain’t you? Well, these are better! You can pace yourself, if needed. Eight pages a day will get you done in one year. One chapter a day (more sensible a task than 8 pages/day) will take you through it in seven months. They are available for sale through various publishers, as well as free PDFs online (the books are public domain.) I’ve read the four volume unabridged edition twice, and am embarking upon a third reread. (There is an abridged version.)

It happens immediately after Mary gave her consent for the Holy Spirit to overshadow her causing the Incarnation. Here is an image of the passage from “The Incarnation,” the volume from which it was taken (the “Incarnation,” the second of the four volumes.)

Three Drops of Blood Passage

Three drops of blood from Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart gathered and deposited in her sacred womb. From this, Jesus drew His genetic material and His Sacred Humanity. 

The issuing of the blood from her heart symbolized her Sorrowful Heart, which was to suffer much as prophesied by Simeon. So, there in a connection between her Sorrowful Heart and His Sacred Heart. This makes sense, given her sorrow was over His passion and death for the love of us that emanated from His Sacred Heart; and our devotion to the Sacred Heart serves as a reparation for sins committed against Him, and, by extension, Our Lady. When we make reparation to the Sacred heart, we are also consoling her.

The Solemnity of the Annunciation can be considered a celebration of the union of the Two Hearts – The Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Our Lady and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (There is a devotion to the Two Hearts (as well as prophecies), which I’ll look into and write about later (May/June?)

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Don’t forget: the “Triduum of Monthly Consecrations” begins today! 

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Don’t forget the “Triduum of Monthly Consecrations” begins today! 

 Also, a novena to St. Joseph begins today. (I’ll be making my intentions for employment.)

The Triduum post

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)