August 14

Vigil of the Assumption

Feast of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe

Saint Maximilian Kolbe (d. 1941)

Our Lady offering him two crowns, white and red

The Virgin Mary appeared to Kolbe when he was a child and he would later recall:

"That night, I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both." -- Maximilian Kolbe

"From today on, the Church desires to address as "Saint" a man who was granted the grace of carrying out these words of the Redeemer in an absolutely literal manner. For towards the end of July, 1941, when the camp commander ordered the prisoners destined to die of starvation to fall in line, this man--Maximilian Maria Kolbe--spontaneously came forward and declared himself ready to go to death in the place of one of them. This readiness was accepted and, after more than two weeks of torment caused by starvation, Father Maximilian's life was ended with a lethal injection on August 14, 1941. All this happened in the concentration camp at Auschwitz where during the last war some four million people were put to death, including the Servant of God, Edith Stein (the Carmelite Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross). (...)

The inspiration of his whole life was the Immaculata. To her he entrusted his love for Christ and his desire for martyrdom. In the mystery of the Immaculate Conception there revealed itself before the eyes of his soul that marvelous and supernatural world of God's grace offered to man. The faith and works of the whole life of Father Maximilian show that he thought of his cooperation with divine grace as a warfare under the banner of the Immaculate Conception." Excerpts from the Homily at the Canonization of Saint Maximilian Kolbe By His Holiness Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982

See this video about St. Kolbe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H0sngymHag

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"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

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Consecrate yourself to Mary

Consecration Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe

O Immaculata, Queen of Heaven and earth, refuge of sinners and our most loving Mother, God has willed to entrust the entire order of mercy to thee. I, N___, a repentant sinner, cast myself at thy feet humbly imploring thee to take me with all that I am and have, wholly to thyself as thy possession and property. Please make of me, of all my powers of soul and body, of my whole life, death and eternity, whatever most pleases thee. If it pleases thee, use all that I am and have without reserve, wholly to accomplish what was said of thee: "She will crush your head," and, "Thou alone have destroyed all heresies in the whole world." Let me be a fit instrument in thine Immaculate and merciful hands for introducing and increasing the maximum in all the many strayed and indifferent souls, and thus help extend as far as possible the blessed Kingdom of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. For wherever thou enters, one obtains the grace of conversion and growth in holiness, since it is through thy hands that all graces come to us from the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. V. Allow me to praise thee O Sacred Virgin. R. Give me strength against thy enemies.

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Flower of the Day

Ground Veronica

Veronica Officinalis

Symbolizes Our Lady's Resting Place

Ave Maria!

August 13

Dormition of the Virgin

Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima

Byzantine painting of the Dormition

The "Dormition of the Virgin Mary" is her "falling asleep" at the end of her time on earth. It is not simply called the "Death of the Virgin" because of a tradition that soon after her soul left her body the two were reunited and taken up to Heaven in what is called the "Assumption." The feast of the Assumption is August 15.

Mary’s Heavenly Abode

The Mother, whose virginity was preserved without a stain during childbirth, must accordingly be entitled to having her body preserved without corruption, even after death. The Mother, who had carried the Creator like a child in her womb, must accordingly remain in holy tabernacles. The Spouse to whom the Father united Himself must accordingly be given a Heavenly abode. The Mother, who stood next to her Son on the Cross, must accordingly escape the sword’s pain by giving birth to Him. She had carried Him in her womb and would be with Him again next to the Father. The Mother of God must accordingly receive all that belongs to her Son and be honored by all creatures as the Mother of God and His servant. --- Saint John Damascene (d. circa 787) Homily on The Dormition

August 12 Our Lady of Rouen

"True holiness consists in doing God's will with a smile." Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Our Lady of the Smile

St. Therese of Lisieux and her sisters pray to Our Lady

St. Therese of Lisieux, France (also known as 'Little Flower') is the model for children in relation to gardens. She relied on the waters of God's grace, the sunlight of his illumination, and the breath of his Holy Spirit, as she grew to her full spiritual flowering. (John S. Stokes)

When she was a little girl, her family had a garden with a statue of Our Lady of Consolation. The statue is of Mary with her arms extended. At just ten years old she became gravely ill and the doctors were not able to diagnose her condition. She asked that the statue be brought to her room from the garden. After the statue arrived she looked at Our Lady and the statue smiled at Therese, she then miraculously began her recovery to full health.

That is why it is called Our Lady of the Smile!

Flower of the Day

Pansy Viola tricolor Symbolizes Our Lady's Delight

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Prayer to the Our Lady of the Smile

composed by Mother Adela, sctjm

Gentle Mother, smile in our hearts and heal us!

Your maternal smile heals because it is a reflection of your motherly and immaculate love.

Smile with the tender force of your maternal love and heal our hearts to know love, to receive love, to experience the fullness of love, to live in the path of love and to communicate freely the love we receive. Smile into the depth of our hearts and bring healing to our wounds!

Smile into our hearts and heal the brokenness in our humanity.

Smile and make us whole, with perfect communion of mind, heart, body and soul. Smile, Mother, and heal us with your love!

Smile toward us and cast out all our fears and anxieties.

Smile, Mother, and heal us from all that imprisons love in our hearts.

Smile to our minds and heal the memories that hurt the vision of love.

Smile to our hearts and heal the experiences that have hardened us and have made us run away from love.

Smile to us with your maternal love; and knowing that we are loved, heal us from the fears and hurts that impede us from generously and freely loving.

Smile, O, Mother, and with the radiance of your maternal countenance, heal our bodies from the lack of transparency in communicating the language of love.

Smile, Immaculate Mother, to our souls and heal us from all that is wounded in our communion of love with the Blessed Trinity. Smile, Mother, smile with your love in the deepest recesses of our hearts and heal us; so that, thus restored and freed, we may know the depth, the height, the width and the length of God’s love; so that we may live in perfect bonds of love with other hearts and so that we may ardently witness to love in the Heart of the Church. Smile, Blessed Mother… Smile at us, smile for us.

One smile from your Maternal Heart will heal our hearts.

Our Lady of the Smile, pray for us.

St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us.

Ave Maria!

August 11

Translation of two of Our Lady's robes to Aix-la-Chapelle (810, Germany) Feast of St Clare- Virgin Fransiscan

The Sanctuary built by Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), has the cloak of Our Lady and the swaddling clothes of the Infant Jesus. Charlemagne died here in A.D. 814. They were never exhibited before the fourteenth century and since then only infrequently. Great pilgrimages flock to Aachen to venerate these treasures in on the seventh of July every year, when they are on exhibition.

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Aix La Chapelle

Statue of Our Lady

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION

(which will be celebrated on Saturday, 15 August)

Lovely Lady dressed in Blue, Teach me how to pray! God was just your little Boy, Tell me what to say!

Did you lift Him up, sometimes, Gently, on your knee? Did you sing to Him the way Mother does to me? Did you hold His hand at night?

Did you ever try Telling stories of the world? O! And did He cry? Do you really think He cares

If I tell Him things - Little things that happen? And do the Angels' wings Make a noise?

And can He hear Me if I speak low? Does He understand me now? Tell me - for you know.

Lovely Lady dressed in blue, Teach me how to pray! God was just your little Boy. And you know the way.

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Flower of the Day

Morning Glory Ipomea Purporea

Symbolizing Our Lady's mantle

Ave Maria!

August 10

Feast of Notre Dame de Graces

(Cotignac, Provence France) 1519

The Religious Community founded in 1981

Come here in procession to receive the gifts that I wish to bestow! On the 10th of August, a woodcutter, John de la Baume, went up to the Verdaille hill. He was alone. As was his custom, he started his day in prayer. As he stood up, he saw a cloud and the Blessed Virgin then appeared with the Baby Jesus in her arms, surrounded by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Catherine the martyr, and Saint Michael the Archangel. Our Lady was standing with her feet on a crescent moon. She spoke to John in the following way, “I am the Blessed Virgin. Go and tell the clergy and the Consuls of Cotignac to build a church on this place in the name of Our Lady of Graces, and have the faithful come here in procession to receive the gifts that I wish to bestow!” Then the vision disappeared. Was it a hallucination? Whether he doubted or not, John kept the message to himself, which entitled him to a second apparition of the Mother of God! The following day, the 11th of August, standing at the same spot to finish his wood cutting, he had the same vision and received the same request. This time, he decided to obey and went down to the village immediately. John was known to be a sober man and the authorities and the villagers supported him unanimously. A chapel was erected at the site of the apparitions and has been witness to many graces and miraculous signs, most notably the miracle of the birth of King Louis XIV.

Below is the link to the official Notre Dame de Grace shrine - you can send your prayer request and as for Our Lady's intercession and order a CD http://www.nd-de-graces.com/en/website-home

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Flower of the Day

Mother of Thousands

Strawberry Geranium

Symbolizes the universality of Our Lady's mediation of graces

from the multitude of tiny new plants rooted where the many extending branches

of the parent plant touch the soil.

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Prayer for Graces

Reign over us, then, O Virgin Immaculate, with your Son Jesus Christ. May His Divine Heart and your most chaste Heart be ever enthroned and glorified among us. Use us, your children of America, as your instruments in brining peace among men and nations. Work your miracle of grace in us, so that we may be a glory to the Blessed Trinity, who created, redeemed and sanctifies us. Prayer to the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of America

Ave Maria!