2. Song and Prayer:
Holy Spirit Come
Holy Spirit come
Make my ears to hear
Make my eyes to see
Make my mouth to speak
Make my heart to seek
And my hands to reach out
And touch the world withYour love
Friday, September 6, 13
4. • Total and Absolute - Faith in human knowledge
(limited, sometimes faulty); Faith in God is absolute
because God is limitless, all powerful, eternal.
• Trinitarian - We believe in one God but there are
3 persons in our God. (Creator, Redeemer,
Sanctifier)
• Loving and Missionary - Our faith is to love
because God is love.The full happiness of a person
is in loving God and therefore loving God means
wanting others to love Him, too, bec we know that
only in God will people find true and complete joy.
• Informed and Communitarian - We need to
know what we believe. Holy Spirit is in our Church.
Friday, September 6, 13
5. • True But Cannot be Known Completely - We
know it to be true by faith and reason. Science is limited
to what humans have discovered or can understand.
Science is not absolute but God is.
• Free, But We Must Follow - We have free will to
choose God or not but our choices have consequences
or eternal happiness or eternal death.
• An Act But Also a Process - A conversion and a
decision to follow God but we must realize it is a
continuous process of growth.
• A Gift, Yet Our Doing - Faith is a gift but we must
seek this gift.
• Personal But Ecclesial - We worship on our own but
we are also part of a whole, the Body of Christ.
Friday, September 6, 13
7. • Our Example of the Perfect Christian - Through
her “Yes” at the Annunciation, Mary became the model of
faith (CCC 148)
• In the Gospel accdg to St. Luke: St. Luke compared Mary’s
complete acceptance and belief of the angel’s message
that she would bear God’s child against Zachary’s unbelief
that his wife Elizabeth would bear a child in her old age.
• Accdg to JPII, Mary’s unquestioning belief is the key that
unlocks the truth about Mary being “full of grace”
• Perfect example of: Full submission of intellect
and will
• Perfect example of: Obedience that comes from
faith
Friday, September 6, 13
8. • Our Example of the Perfect Christian - Through
her “Yes” at the Annunciation, Mary became the model of
faith (CCC 148)
• In the Gospel accdg to St. Luke: St. Luke compared Mary’s
complete acceptance and belief of the angel’s message
that she would bear God’s child against Zachary’s unbelief
that his wife Elizabeth would bear a child in her old age.
• Accdg to JPII, Mary’s unquestioning belief is the key that
unlocks the truth about Mary being “full of grace”
• Perfect example of: Full submission of intellect
and will and Obedience that comes from faith
-- Mary fully cooperated with God’s grace which
helps our hearts understand even when our minds cannot
yet comprehend; Being completely open to the HS, HS
brought her faith to completion by His gifts.
Friday, September 6, 13
9. • Our Example of the Perfect Christian - Through
her “Yes” at the Annunciation, Mary became the model of
faith (CCC 148)
• In the Gospel accdg to St. Luke: St. Luke compared Mary’s
complete acceptance and belief of the angel’s message
that she would bear God’s child against Zachary’s unbelief
that his wife Elizabeth would bear a child in her old age.
• Accdg to JPII, Mary’s unquestioning belief is the key that
unlocks the truth about Mary being “full of grace”
• Perfect example of: Full submission of intellect
and will and Obedience that comes from faith
-- Mary fully cooperated with God’s grace which
helps our hearts understand even when our minds cannot
yet comprehend; Being completely open to the HS, HS
brought her faith to completion by His gifts.
Friday, September 6, 13
11. Profound Humility
• Humility is grounded in truth. Mary is truly
humble. She knew God gave her more graces that
any other person and she acknowledged it humbly.
• Because of her deep humility, she knew exactly who
she was before God, saw herself as nothing
compared to the infinite greatness and goodness of
God. (vs. Man’s pride in thinking he has outgrown
God, or is capable of living without God.)
• There is such a thing as false humility which does
not acknowledge the graces one receives from God.
Friday, September 6, 13
12. Love for God
• Saint Albert says that "where we find the
greatest chastity, there we find also the
greatest charity."
• The more pure a heart is and the more empty of
self, the more it is filled with love for God.
• Because Mary was thoroughly humble and
thoroughly unselfish, she was filled with divine love.
"Her love for God surpassed that of all men and
angels," writes Saint Bernardine. Saint Francis de
Sales beautifully calls her "the queen of love."
Friday, September 6, 13
13. Love for God, contd
• Divine love burned so ardently in her that no defect of any
kind could come close to her."
• Saint Bernard says: "Divine love penetrated and filled the
soul of Mary to such an extent that no part of her was left
untouched. She loved with her whole heart, with her
whole soul, with her whole strength, and she was full of
grace."
• St.Alphonsus: God, who is love, came to earth to kindle
the flame of his divine love in the hearts of all people. But
in no heart did he kindle so much love as in the heart of
his mother. Her heart was entirely free from all earthly
loves and fully prepared to burn with this precious flame.
Friday, September 6, 13
14. Love of God and Neighbor
• Love of God and love of neighbor are commanded
by God in the same law: Love God above all with all
your heart and all your strength, and others as
yourself.We love others because we loved God first.
• Mary aided her cousin Elizabeth, travelling far, even if
she herself was pregnant.
• Mary’s ardent love for others, as seen in the Wedding
at Cana (“They have no wine.” Jn 2:3) Mary asked
Jesus to perform a miracle even if it meant the
beginning of His passion and Hers.
• Best example: She offered her Son for our salvation.
Friday, September 6, 13
15. Lively Faith
• Eve’s unfaithfulness which brought death upon
mankind, was remedied by Mary’s faithfulness which
brought salvation to Mankind. (St. Irenaeus)
• Tertullian confirms this by saying that because Eve
believed the serpent against the warning she had
received from God, she brought death into the
world; but because Mary believed the angel at the
Annunciation she brought salvation into the world.
• Saint Augustine says: "It was Mary's faith that opened
heaven to men when she agreed to cooperate in the
Incarnation of the Eternal Word."
Friday, September 6, 13
16. Unswerving Hope
• Hope is born of faith. God enlightens us by faith to know
his goodness and the promises he has made.
• Hope is confidence in God in everything. Mary never
complained about anything, always trusting int he
providence of God.
• Our highest hope is to desire to possess God - Heaven,
Christian perfection, union with God
• Mary had the virtue of faith in the highest degree, and she
also had the virtue of hope in the same high degree.
• St.Alphonsus: Mary never relied either on others or on
her own merits but only on divine grace in which she had
the fullest confidence, she continually advanced in the love
of God.
Friday, September 6, 13
17. Chastity or Purity
• After the fall of Adam, man's senses became rebellious to
reason.As a consequence, chastity is the most difficult of
all the virtues to practice. - St.Alphonsus
• In Mary God gave us a shining example of this virtue.
"Mary is with good reason called theVirgin of virgins," says
Saint Albert the Great. "Without the advice or example of
others, she was the first to consecrate her virginity to
God."
• Chastity or Purity also pertains to purity of heart, a heart
without malice, a heart that always hopes for the best
interests of others, who rejoices in the good of others. A
pure heart never plots the downfall of others, never
rejoices in the misfortune of others. Mary’s heart is
immaculately clean and unstained by sin.
Friday, September 6, 13
18. Poverty of Spirit
• Total dependence on God’s providence; Detachment from
the World.
• Jesus chose to be poor on earth, so that we could learn
from him to despise worldly things. St. Paul:“Being rich he
became poor for your sake, that through his poverty you
might be rich (2 Cor 8:9). Jesus exhorts each one who
wishes to be his disciple: If thou will be perfect, go sell
what you have, and give to the poor...and come, follow me
(Mt 19:21).
• Mary imitated her Son’s example perfectly. Even if she
could have lived more comfortably on what her parents
left her, she chose to marry a poor carpenter. Mary also
donated all she had to the Temple and many authors
believe that she took a vow of poverty. (St.Alphonsus)
Friday, September 6, 13
19. Blind Obedience to God
• Mary’s will was totally conformed to the will of God that
she called herself merely a servant:“Behold the handmaid
of the Lord” (Lk 1:38;Angelus).
• Presentation at the Temple: Mary and Joseph offered a
sacrifice, in accordance with the Law: "a pair of
turtledoves, or two young pigeons" (Luke 2:24), to redeem
the Son of God,Who needed no redemption. "The Law is
made for man, not man for the Law," Christ Himself would
later say, yet here is the Holy Family fulfilling the Law even
though it does not apply to them.
• Mary showed humility in her obedience to the laws of
God.
Friday, September 6, 13
20. Patience
• Mary suffered patiently during the flight to Egypt, when she had to
flee without bringing to a life that was uncertain.
• She was a loving mother who despite their poor circumstances
put all her love into making a comfortable home for Jesus and her
husband, Joseph.
• She is the best example of how a mother and a woman should be.
• The best example of Mary’s patience was suffering quietly,
following the example of her Son, through Jesus’ passion and
death. She experienced many sorrows but she was with Jesus up
to the end. Mary’s heart was crucified along with her Son on the
cross.
• After the death of Jesus, Mary lived in a home in Ephesus in the
midst of Christian persecution, yet another example of her
patience.
Friday, September 6, 13
21. Mental Prayer
• Jesus taught that we must always pray, and not lose heart (Lk 18:1).
Saint Albert the Great asserts that, after Jesus Christ, our Blessed
Lady excelled beyond all souls in her spirit of prayer which was
unending and persevering. From the time she gained reason, she
began to pray.
• Mama Mary appeared to St. Elizabeth of Hungary and told her that
she lived in the Temple from when she was just three years old. In
addition to the other hours set aside for prayer she always rose at
midnight and went before the altar to offer her petitions to God.
• Later in life, she frequently visited the places of Our Lord's
nativity, passion, and burial, to meditate on the sufferings of her
Son.
• Mary loved to be alone with God in prayer. Saint Bernard claims
that it was Mary's love of prayer and solitude that prompted her "
to avoid the society of men and useless conversation with them."
Friday, September 6, 13
