Newsletter #87 – Our Lady of Mount Carmel USA

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

We continue to see the series of the divine perfections of God the Son – His Purity and Sanctity, His Strength and Power and His Wisdom and Truth mirrored in the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

THE HEART OF GOD THE SON – THE SECOND FOUNDATION
OF THE DEVOTION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

I – Purity and Sanctity of God Mirrored in the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
The most pure and holy Heart of Our Lady is a living image of purity and sanctity. These two adorable perfections are one and the same, for St. Dionysius tells us that sanctity is perfect purity, (De divinis Nominibus, cap. 72, sec. 2) purity meaning freedom from the slightest imperfection.
Not only was her Immaculate Heart always far removed from every kind of sin, but it was entirely free from attachment to created things, and intimately united to God by its pure and holy love for Him together with the eminent practice of all the other virtues which Her Heart possessed in so high a degree. The Queen of Virtues is called by St. John Damascene “the abode and the sanctuary of all virtues.” (De fide orthodoxa, lib. 4, Cap. 15)
The Immaculate Heart of the Queen of all Saints had been so entirely filled with the purity and sanctity of God Himself, that Her being was transformed and submerged in divine purity and holiness, to the extent that her Heart merited to obtain the world’s salvation. As St. Anselm expresses it: “The pure sanctity and holy purity of Mary’s devout Heart, surpassing by far the purity and sanctity of all other creatures, merited for her the sublime dignity of becoming the Restorer of the world wrapped in perdition “(De excell. B. Virg. Cap. 9).
II – Strength and Power of God Mirrored in the Immaculate Heart of Mary: The principal and most common names given to God in Sacred Scripture are the words strong and mighty. He says of Himself: “I am the most mighty God” (Gen. 46, 3) and “I am God Almighty” (Ibid., 35, 11).

Let us consider the power which the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of the Almighty exerts over Him Who has chosen to obey her as His Mother: “And he was subject to them” (Luke 2, 51). The maternal authority and power God has given Mary over Himself will never be separated from her Divine Maternity.

If the Apostle St. Paul says that he can do all things “in him who strengtheneth me,” (Phil. 4, 13) what must be the power of the Immaculate Heart of the Queen of Apostles bearing eternally within itself Him who is called in Sacred Scripture, “Christ, the power of God?” (I Cor. 1, 24) Her Immaculate Heart is filled and animated by the power and strength of the Most High.

Hers is the Heart of the valiant woman which bore the sharpest pain and the most violent anguish with marvellous constancy and unshakeable fortitude. Her intrepid Heart crushed the infernal dragon’s head, that is, sin, prefigured by Holofernes, and the powers of hell fear the Immaculate Heart even as an army in battle array (Can. 6, 3) because Our Lady fought courageously against all God’s enemies and obtained a glorious victory.

History is filled with instances where Our Lady has shown her incomparable power on behalf of those who invoke her protection, manifesting publicly to armies and nations the strength that she also extends to each Christian in his own inner struggle against sin. But her strength is great for those who invoke, love, honor and venerate her Immaculate Heart.

III – Wisdom and Truth of God Mirrored in the Immaculate Heart of Mary

The Immaculate Heart of Mary is not merely the throne of Wisdom, but its living image, for it is the Heart of the Mother of Him whom Sacred Scripture calls “the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor. 1, 21-24)

Worldly prudence and the wisdom of the flesh never found admittance into her wise Heart, which was and still is an inexhaustible treasure and bottomless abyss of angelic prudence, holy science, heavenly light and wisdom divine, because her luminous Heart always was and ever shall be the abode of the Eternal Sun and of Uncreated Wisdom, Who has always dwelt therein. It is the city mentioned by the Prophet Isaias: “One shall be called the city of the Sun.” (Isa. 19, 18)

St. Bernardine of Siena expressly states that Our Lady was so completely filled with the light of Divine Wisdom from her mother’s womb that from the initial moment of her existence she possessed a perfect general, knowledge of the Creator and of all irrational, rational and intellectual creatures (Serm. 13 de Exalt. BY. in gloria)

As God is supremely the God of all truth and calls Himself the Holy and True One, (Apoc. 3, 7) so is the Heart of the Mother of God filled with truth. “The Heart of Mary is holy and truthful,” because it always conforms to God’s eternal decrees. “Whatever was done in her,” says St. Jerome, “was all purity and simplicity, sanctity and truth.” (Serm. de Assumpt. B. Mariae)

Finally, as all the actions and words of God are imbued with Truth itself, in like manner were the words and actions of God’s Mother always truthful, that is, they were always conformable to the holiness, perfection and truth of the deeds and words of God.

All these considerations make us understand that the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a living portrait of the wisdom and veracity of God, given to us that we may invoke her guidance against the folly, deceit and falsehood of the flesh and of the world.

Fr. Pancras Raja
Spiritual Director
October 12, 2022

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Consecration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to Immaculate Heart of Mary
http://ourladyofmountcarmelusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Consecration-to-Immaculate-Heart-by-Our-Lady-of-Mt.-Carmel-SSPX-Marian-Corps.pdf

Featured Sermon
Given By His Excellency Bishop Pfeiffer

Featured Sermon

Given By His Excellency Bishop Pfeiffer

Featured Sermon
Given By His Excellency Bishop Pfeiffer

Posted in Newsletters and tagged Father Pancras Raja