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Episode 16 – Seeking Truth with Sharon Doran, hosted by Bruce McGregor on his KVSS  program “The Ninth Hour”.   Ep 16 – The Virginity of the The Blessed Virgin Mary,

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

 

Episode 16 – Sharon and Bruce discuss the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  How is this possible? What is the significance of Mary’s silence after the annunciation? Why is the Virgin Birth so important?What do the Church Fathers have to say about this?  Where is all this found in Sacred Scripture?

 

“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

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

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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.

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From Vatican Radio:

While the rest of the world was seething with the war and its evils in a lonely corner of Europe 1917 three young children had a vision of Our Lady.That apparition sparked off the devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, an inspiration for millions to work and pray for peace.

Since that time not only have millions prayed the Rosary and done penance but have made the pilgrimage to Fatima.

Among these Blessed John Paul II who shortly after his visit there during the Jubilee Year, in the presence of the statue representing Our Lady of Fatima entrusted the third millennium to her immaculate heart.

Monsignor Philip Whitmore brings us the hymn the crowds sang on that occasion. One which tells the story of those three young shepherd children….

A programme produced by Veronica Scarisbrick.

Holy Mary

Holy Repentance

From Vatican Radio – It is a day to remember the Blessed Virgin’s “yes” to the Lord. On the Feast of the Annunciation, Catholics celebrate the angel Gabriel’s appearance to the Virgin Mary, announcing that she has been chosen to be the Mother of Our Lord. Usually celebrated on March 25^th, the feast can be transferred to another date if it falls on a Sunday in Lent. This year, it is celebrated on Monday March 26th.

In the following reflection, Sr. Toni Harris, Justice and Peace promoter for the Dominican Sisters International, tells us how we, like Mary, can become witnesses to Christ in our every day lives…[powerpress = “Vatican_Radio”]

“As a sheaf of grain is tied together in the middle and spreads out at either end, so Mary’s life is bound together by her assent” – from the beginning of “The Handmaid of the Lord” by the great 20th century wife, mother, physician and mystic Adrienne von Spyer.  It has become my absolute favorite book on the Blessed Virgin Mary.  It has transformed my understanding and deepened my love and appreciation for Mary, the Mother of God…Our Blessed Mother.

Mary’s assent to the Lord binds the whole of her life such that “From this assent her life receives its meaning and form and unfolds toward past and future”.  This assent, the great “Yes” to the will of God is the moment.

“This single, all-encompassing act accompanies her at every moment of her existence, illuminates every turning point of her life, bestows upon every situation its own particular meaning and in all situations gives May herself the grace of renewed understanding.  Her assent gives full meaning to every breath, every movement, every prayer of the Mother of God”

Everything that we understand Mary to be, do, and say finds her assent at its source.  But, the assent must be understood as one of freedom, “This is the nature of an assent: it binds the one who gives it, yet it allows him complete freedom in shaping its expression”.  Her assent binds her to the Lord, yet it frees her to express herself dramatically much like the sheaf is bound by the cord around its middle but the sheaf bursts freely outward from the binding cord.

“Mary’s meeting with the angel is like the summation of her entire preceding life of contemplation. It is the first thing we learn about her.  We do not know who she is, we do not know her past.  But when we learn that she saw the angel, the whole composition of her soul becomes visible.  The angel which appears is the fulfillment of her prayer – not in the sense that she had prayed for the appearance or prepared herself for it, but rather in the sense that she has held herself in readiness for a mission still unknown to her.  She has lived in an attitude of prayer, and in virtue of this life she is capable in the crucial moment of seeing and obeying the angel who comes to her.  Both vision and obedience flow from the same source in her; from the openness toward the mission which God may give her, when and in whatever way he likes.  Her obedience is the prototype of every future instance of Christian obedience, which draws its whole meaning from the life of prayer and the perception of God’s will.” [Adrienne von Speyr: Handmaid of the Lord. From the Chapter, “Mary and the Angel“, pg. 27]

Take a look at an excerpt from “Handmaid of the Lord”  you can purchase it from Igantius Press as a book or you may like to download the mp3 reading.  Check it out….

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us. Hail Mary . . .

Hail Mary . . .

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

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28)

“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb”
(Lk 1:42).

 

What is Marian Consecration?  What is the role the Blessed Virgin Mary in our lives?  How can this bring us even more fully into the heart of Divine Mercy? What a joy to talk with Fr. Michael Gaitley, who serves as director of the Association of Marian Helpers, about   “33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat in Preparation for Marian Consecration”.  He answers the above the questions above and so much more.

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The goal of the retreat contained in the book is to learn how to ponder more deeply in our hearts what it means to enter into Marian consecration.  With the help of not only St. Louis de Montfort, but also St. Maximilian Kolbe, Bl. John Paul II, and Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Fr. Gaitley reveals to us the great connection between the heart of Mary and beautiful depth of Divine Mercy…and the key to it all is…TRUST.

 

Find the book here

 

To learn more about the “All Hearts A Fire” parish programs that Fr. Michael spoke of  click here