There is nothing like receiving Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Catholic Church. You will not find Him anywhere else. His Holy Spirit is present everywhere, but you will not find Christ super-substantially present in your midst, except in the Church that he founded through His Apostles and their successors.
So I woke up so happy to be able to begin my day with a prayer that was preserved by the Church. If you have never received this kind of grace yet in your life, then you are missing out. God has made a way that is fruitful. It is through his Church. I regret that I have only been Catholic for four years now. My life was full of lots of church-going and I was luckily finally baptized at 10 years old, which I felt some change and I do believe I felt the Holy Spirit enter into me when I stepped out in faith for the preacher that was giving us the invitation to be “born-again”. But this change was minimal compared to the changes that have been happening to me since I became Catholic.
I wish I had had the Sacraments of the Church my whole life. I would have to been able to combat more of the temptations and trials I had especially in my teen years and early twenties. There is this thing called grace. Grace is given to us freely, but when we do God’s will and frequent the sacraments of the Church, there is an overflow or outpouring of a real substantial, living, and active grace. I recall being at RCIA (Rite to Christian Initiation for Adults) when I was considering belonging to Christ’s Church. These Cradle Catholics as they call themselves, those that were born into the Church, were speaking of grace as this tangible thing. It was a grace that I could not grasp. I remember asking them about it. “What is this grace that you speak of?” “I have never heard in these terms.” “It’s almost like you are speaking of it as a verb and for me it’s not.” I could not even find the right words to explain it. They all looked at me with these blank stares on their faces. I laughed it off and hurried home after class to ask Jeff about this.
My whole life, I was at the time 42 years old, grace had a different meaning and we approached it so differently. Grace for me was an intangible item. I mean I could feel something from time-to-time that I assumed must be grace, but it was vague and just something way out there and I accepted that. But now when I approach Christ in the sacraments, like communion (the Eucharist), or at Confession, or in my husband, or in the homeless, there is a real response from Christ to me that conveys real love, a real peace, and a real joy like never before. Christ and I are one and one with the others in the Church. I am so grateful for this. We can really receive Christ and his supernatural powers from the Holy Spirit. I have to say thank you to Christ over and over now and I fall to my knees in thanksgiving every time I am before Him.
And I will repeat it:
There is nothing like receiving Christ, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Catholic Church. You will not find Him anywhere else. His Holy Spirit is present everywhere, but you will not find Christ super-substantially present in your midst, except in the Church that he founded through His Apostles and their successors.
Dare I speak of Christ’s mother! Oh, wow! Oh, wow! Although the Church does not require anyone to pray the Rosary, what a change she has made for me and the way I look at Christ. It is an act of the Holy Spirit. See she is what the Church calls espoused by the Holy Spirit. Inseparable with the Spirit. In her life the Spirit came and never left. In the New Testament she brings the Holy Spirit and introduces Jesus to people, she is the first disciple. She brings Jesus and the Holy Spirit to Elizabeth and John the Baptist starting in Luke 1:39. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit (vs. 41) and proclaims Mary blessed among women and her baby in her womb blessed. Mary invites us into a deeper union with Christ.
Mary is present at many major events in Christ life. She asks him to perform his first miracle at a wedding. Mary is given a prophecy at the dedication of Jesus in the temple, that her heart will also be pierced with a sword and that the hearts of many will be revealed to her (Luke 2:35). She is present when the disciples receive the Holy Spirit.
This is only a few of the events depicting Mary’s role in Christ’s life.
Mary, teach us to pray, as you taught Christ to pray.
As, I was a little reluctant to believe that Mary had any role to play in my life, I asked for guidance into this understanding of Mary that the Church had of her. I was given a rosary by Jeff and did not know what to do with it. I pleaded with Jesus to show me and I said a very bad first few “Hail, Mary’s”. The next morning I had a new set of eyes, figuratively speaking. I had already concluded that the Church had the truth and I had understood the authority given to the Church by Apostolic succession but this Mary philosophy what a hard one for me and for many people. But once I saw what the Rosary prayer consisted of, which is mostly the life of Christ and how we are to meditate on these events as we say the “Hail, Mary’s” (which Gabriel the Arch Angel said to her at the Annunciation), then I began to have a greater appreication for Christ.
I have lots more to write but I am out of time for now. I will add to this at a later date.
Okay! It’s later and I have been reading Pope Saint John Paul II’s letter on the Rosary. This fits good in this article.
Remembering Christ with Mary
13. Mary’s contemplation is above all a remembering. We need to understand this word in the biblical sense of remembrance (zakar) as a making present of the works brought about by God in the history of salvation. The Bible is an account of saving events culminating in Christ himself. These events not only belong to “yesterday”; they are also part of the “today” of salvation. This making present comes about above all in the Liturgy: what God accomplished centuries ago did not only affect the direct witnesses of those events; it continues to affect people in every age with its gift of grace. To some extent this is also true of every other devout approach to those events: to “remember” them in a spirit of faith and love is to be open to the grace which Christ won for us by the mysteries of his life, death and resurrection.
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/rosarium-virginis-mariae-8395
Espoused by the Holy Spirit
Announcement of the Birth of Jesus. 26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
I have never known anyone that was told by an Arch Angel that they were favoured by God until I started to understand the concept of being overshadowed. I have not known anyone to be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit as to conceive of a person! Especially and most importantly the Son of God! The Church states it as Mary being espoused by the Holy Spirit. A joining that is not ever undone. And that makes sense, since the Holy Spirit does not leave us either. When we accept this order of God’s creating, God’s work in Mary, then we will see the enormous role she plays in our lives, as brothers and sisters of Christ. This makes her our mother. She was given to us by Christ in his very last breaths on the cross.
25 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
We too are to take Mary into our home and our hearts.
Litany of Loreto
V. Lord, have mercy.
R. Christ have mercy.
V. Lord have mercy. Christ hear us.
R. Christ graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of Virgins, [etc.]
Mother of Christ,
Mother of divine grace,
Mother most pure,
Mother most chaste,
Mother inviolate,
Mother undefiled,
Mother most amiable,
Mother most admirable,
Mother of good Counsel,
Mother of our Creator,
Mother of our Savior,
Virgin most prudent,
Virgin most venerable,
Virgin most renowned,
Virgin most powerful,
Virgin most merciful,
Virgin most faithful,
Mirror of justice,
Seat of wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spiritual vessel,
Vessel of honor,
Singular vessel of devotion,
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star,
Health of the sick,
Refuge of sinners,
Comforter of the afflicted,
Help of Christians,
Queen of Angels,
Queen of Patriarchs,
Queen of Prophets,
Queen of Apostles,
Queen of Martyrs,
Queen of Confessors,
Queen of Virgins,
Queen of all Saints,
Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen assumed into heaven,
Queen of the most holy Rosary,
Queen of families,
Queen of peace,
V. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
R. Spare us, O Lord.
V. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
R. Graciously hear us, O Lord.
V. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray. Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord God, that we thy servants may enjoy perpetual health of mind and body, and by the glorious intercession of blessed Mary, ever Virgin, may we be freed from present sorrow, and rejoice in eternal happiness. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.
The versicle and prayer after the litany may be varied by season. Thus, during Advent (from the fourth Sunday before Christmas to Christmas Eve):
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Let us pray. O God, who hast willed that by the message of an Angel, thy Word should receive flesh from the womb of the Virgin Mary: grant unto thy suppliants, that we who believe that she is truly the Mother of God, may be assisted by her intercession before Thee. Through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen.
From Christmas to Candlemass (the Feast of the Presentation), that is through February 1:
V. Thou gavest birth without loss of thy virginity.
R. Intercede for us, O holy Mother of God.
Let us pray. O God, Who by the fruitful virginity of blessed Mary hast offered unto the human race the rewards of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech thee, that we may know the effects of her intercession, through whom we have deserved to receive the author of life, our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son. R. Amen.
From Candlemass to Easter (through Holy Week), AND from the day after Pentecost (or from Trinity Sunday, if Pentecost is celebrated with octave) to the beginning of Advent:
V. “Pray for us” and prayer “Grant unto thy servants,” as above:
During Eastertide (from Easter day through Pentecost, and throughout the octave of Pentecost if it is celebrated):
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. For the Lord is truely risen, alleluia.
Let us pray. O God, Who by the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, hast vouchsafed to make glad the whole world, grant, we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His mother, we may attain the joys of eternal life, through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen.
Looking Up 
Wow! Great article!
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