Presentation of Blessed Virgin Mary

Scripture Reflection!

Zc 2, 14-17: Cant LC 46-55; Mt 12, 46-50

Dear brothers, today the Church celebrates the memorial of the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the temple. In the Eastern tradition the feast is known as the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. It is one of the three feasts of Mary:  Her birthday on September 8^th, Holy Name of Mary on Sept 12, and today Presentation of Mary in the temple (Nov 21). This corresponds to the first three feasts our Lord Jesus: His birth on Dec 25^th, The feast of Holy Name of Jesus on January 3^rd and Presentation of Jesus in the temple on Feb 2^nd.

The feast originated as a result of the dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary the New, built in 543 by the Byzantines under Emperor Justinian I near the site of the ruined Temple in Jerusalem. This feast celebrates Mary’s dedication to the temple from her infancy by the Holy Spirit whose grace has filled her ever since her immaculate conception. It signifies her total dedication to God in her readiness for her future vocation, as the mother of her incarnate God. According to the tradition, Mary was taken by her parents Joachim and Anna who presented her in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in her infancy up to her betrothal to St. Joseph. The same tradition tells us that Mary was solemnly accepted by the temple community.

She was lead to the Holy place to become holy of holies of God, the living temple and the sanctuary of God who will be born there. The Church sees this as the end of the physical temple of Jerusalem as Mary becomes the living temple where God dwells. In the gospel reading of today Jesus stresses that Mary is the one who received the Word of God and put it in practice that is to act according to the will of God. Thus Jesus says to all those who were around him to all the brothers, sisters and mothers that they can also be like Mary, to be his mother, or brother or a sister by living according to the will of God.

This feast anticipates the approaching season of Advent. Thus, what does this feast mean for us today? I believe that today is the day to remember our presentation in to the church by our parents and our godparents for our Baptism as a beginning of our preparation to become a disciple of Jesus. The offering by her parents is a response to the invitation to join our free choice to God's invitation. This exercise of freedom lies at the heart of discipleship, and is the inner core of every vocation, which is to cooperate with grace. And today we are called to become his brothers. How is it possible? It is simple, by living according to the will of God, by cooperating with the Grace of God. 

Perhaps this feast calls us to renew our Baptism promises and to renew our consecration as Marianist to present ourselves to God a new, asking the gifts we need to be fitting temple of him so that we can bring him to others as we have promised to cooperate in the mission of Mary, which is to bring Jesus to others and to make him known, loved and served. The honor shown to Mary, we are encouraged to look forward the incarnation of our savior as the advent season is approaching. Let us pray for the grace that we may able to prepare ourselves to welcome the Word of God into our lives that we may become living temples of God. Amen!

PRAYING BEFORE A STATUE OF MARY... Question Continues...

How can I explain that praying before a statue of Mary doesn't constitute idolatry?

Full Question

I took my Evangelical friend to Mass with me last weekend, and after Mass she noticed a woman praying before a statue of Mary. She took the woman's action as proof that Catholics worship idols. I've given her all the arguments in your tract "Do Catholics Worship Statues?," but she still doesn't buy it. How else can I respond?

Answer

Perhaps a little logic will help open some doors. Ask for her reaction to this comment from a Catholic: "While I was attending a Protestant service the other day I noticed a woman praying to the Bible!" What would she say about that characterization? Would she say the Catholic misconstrued what was going on, that the woman was not praying to the Bible which she held in her hands with her eyes closed and the Bible pressed to her heart as she prayed, but to the God who inspired the Bible?

No one would jump to the unwarranted conclusion that this woman is treating her Bible as an idol. So why would she jump to the unwarranted conclusion that the woman she saw treated the statue of Mary as an idol? The same goes for having a picture of a deceased relative on the mantelpiece of her home. Would any reasonable person accuse her of ancestor worship? Of course not, so encourage her to use the same logic when she watches Catholics pray.

You might want to read Patrick Madrid’s book, Search and Rescue: How to Bring Your Family and Friends Into, or Back Into, the Catholic Church.

-Catholic Answer-

CELEBRATION - MARIANIST WORLD DAY OF PRAYER

Members of the Family of Mary gathered at Nirmal Deep, Ranchi on the occasion of Marianists world day prayer. This was a great occasion for the members of the Family of Mary to gather together to pray and worship our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, become Son of Mary for the salvation of all. Mainly, Marianists Lay groups from Binda, Singhpur, Ranchi and Kolambi joined for this wonderful gathering. Marianist brothers, deacon and priests from Patna, Barh, Binda, Singhpur, Gyan deep and of course from Nirmal Deep were present. Marianist Sisters from Shanti Deep and Nazareth Nilaya along with their candidates, postulants and novices were the other participants. Bro. Dan Stupka SM from the Province of United States and Bro. Augustus Surin SM, the District Superior India enhanced the gathering with their presence. 

MLC Members after their Promises

It was a great day for the Marianists to gather as one family under the banner of Mary to pray for peace, unity and for Marianist vocations. On this occasion some of the Marianist Lay members made their promises. A cultural feast supplemented the gathering for the Marianist Wold Day of prayer. This gathering enriched mutual relationship and family spirit among the members of the Family of Mary.

Procession Towards the Chapel

MLC Members with Marianist Brothers

Dance Performance by the Postulants 

Novices Performing their Modern Dance

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FMI candidates showing their talents!

A Song by the Members of Lay Group and Marianist Brothers

Fellowship Meal

Dance...Dance...Dance!

  

Our Lady of Jharkhand, who was in the news last few months for wrong reasons! Our Lady of Jharkhand, Pray for us!

Thanks!
       By Fr. Birendra Kullu, SM

FESTA - OUR LADY OF PILLAR!

Our Lady of Pillar, Saragosa

The tradition tells us that seven years after the death of Jesus, on January 2, 40 A.D., The Apostle St. James the Elder, brother of St. John, sat tired and disappointed by the bank of the Ebro River in what is now Zaragoza, Spain. The people of the Roman province of Hispania (Spain/Iberian Peninsula) were not open and receptive to the Good News of Jesus and St. James was ready to give up his efforts to evangelize them. On that January day the Blessed Virgin Mary, still living in Palestine, appeared to James atop a column or pillar of stone. With encouraging words, she assured him that the people of Hispania would become Christians and that their faith would be as strong and durable as the pillar on which she stood. To remember the visit and promise of the Virgin Mary, the first Marian shrine was built around the pillar. And James began to convert the pagans of early Spain. (Excerpts from The Marian Page)

 

Inside the Basilica

MARIANIST CONNECTION

 View of the Basilica from the Ebro River

During the French Revolution Blessed William Joseph Chaminade was exiled in Spain in the city of Saragossa (Caesar Augustus) and he frequented the Church of Our Lady of the Pillar and prayed almost daily at the foot of her statue called Our Lady of the Pillar (Nuestra Senora del Pilar). This is the first sanctuary to have been dedicated to Mary.  There is a tradition that has been handed down that James the Greater, the brother of the Beloved Disciple, was in Saragossa but had few who responded to his preaching of the Gospel.  Only eight people surrounded him when Our Lady appeared on a pillar and told him to build a church there in her name.  She strengthened his faith and trust that people would enter the church and they did. They became strong in numbers and in their faith.  Blessed Chaminade some 1800 years later had a supernatural experience of being called by Mary to found the Marianist Family.  It is reported that he saw “in a twinkling of an eye” all who would become members of the Marianist Family.  St. John Vianney said about the Society of Mary that “it is a beautiful society and would last to the end of time and anyone who dies in it will be in heaven.”  John Vianney (1786-1859) was contemporaneous with Blessed Chaminade (1761-1850).  (taken from the homily of Fr.Bertrand Buby SM)

A moment of Prayer at the foot of Our Lady of Pillar

OUR LADY OF THE PILLAR

Feast day: October 12

Traditional date of apparition: January 2, 40 A.D.

Shrine church: This is the first church built in Mary's honor. The present basilica church was built between 1681 and 1961. The previous church was destroyed by fire in 1434. The frescoes were done by Francisco Goya in the early nineteenth century.

Statue: The statue atop the pillar of stone is about one foot in height and depicts the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus, who is holding a dove in his hand. The original statue was destroyed in the 1434 fire. The present statue dates from the mid-fifteenth century. Mantos are skirt-shaped cloaks that drape the pillar on which the statue stands. The use of mantos began in the early sixteenth century, and currently number about 300.

Significant miracle: During the Civil War of the 1930s, two aerial bombs were dropped on the shrine church, but neither exploded. Those bombs now hang on the shrine wall.

Patroness titles: Patroness of Spain, Patroness of All Hispanic Peoples--by declaration of Pope John Paul II in 1984.

Part of the Column that we can touch or kiss

(Excerpts from The Marian Page)

A street view of the Basilica

HAPPY FEAST DAY TO YOU ALL!

Compiled by Bro. Jinu Muthukattil SM