Walsingham Associates – September 8th 2016

September 8th, 2016
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Friends:

Greetings as we celebrate with joy the “birthday” of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the One chosen by God to be the Mother of His Incarnate Son. After Jesus Himself, His Mother the Virgin Mary has been the focus of Christian prayer from the beginning with the oldest surviving prayer seeking her help and intercession, the Sub Tuum Praesidium, still in use today, coming to us from the early third century;

We fly to thy protection, O holy Mother of God;
despise not our petitions in our necessities,
but deliver us always from all dangers, O
glorious and blessed Virgin. AMEN.

“Mary is revered for the awesome responsibility of her role in the Incarnation and for the personal holiness which equipped her for that unique task…and her supreme dignity as the most glorious of all God’s creatures and as the Mother given to believers….To venerate the Mother of God is not merely to venerate the noblest of human beings as a miracle of God’s grace, but to celebrate God’s mercy and love in taking human flesh in the Incarnation….and to celebrate the destiny of redeemed humanity, which will one day be glorified as Mary is glorified.” (Eamon Duffy)

Rejoice on this the day of Mary’s birth for from her has been born a Savior.

This coming Sunday, September 11th, marks the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attack on New York City with the destruction of the World Trade Towers which once dominated that city’s skyline. May it be a part of your Mass intentions to remember those whose lives were taken in this act of hatred and madness along with those who continue to grieve such loss. Call upon Mary under her titles of “Queen of Peace” and “Help of Christians” requesting her intercession for all who suffer innocently being caught up in the violence that continues to rage in the Middle-East, those whose lives are taken for bearing the Name of Her Son, and for the welfare of the Christian community struggling in the midst of such hatred. Pray for those who have not heard or received the Gospel of Christ that they might be brought into the Light and Mercy of Him who is their Savior and ours that they may be converted and live.

Fr. Lutz

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