B loving mary what pope francis says sample

Loving Mary What Pope Francis Says

by Rev Nick Donnelly

All booklets are published thanks to the generous support of the members of the Catholic Truth Society

CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY publishers to the holy see

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Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Why does Pope Francis love the Blessed Virgin Mary so much? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Treasuring Jesus with Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Mary’s three lessons for a happy life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Rosary is medicine for the heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Mary, Mother of Mercy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

This booklet draws on talks given at Our Lady of Furness’s Parish Retreat in 2015. Thanks to my fellow parishioners for their encouragement, and the Bernardine sisters for their welcome. Grateful thanks to Martina, my wife, for her advice and support. This book is dedicated to Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue, mentor and friend.

All rights reserved. First published 2016 by The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 40-46 Harleyford Road London SE11 5AY Tel: 020 7640 0042 Fax: 020 7640 0046. © 2016 The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society.

Images: Page 6: Pope Francis at the basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome. May 4, 2013 © Stefano Spaziani; Page17: Mary Untier of Knots, 1700, Schmidtner, Johann Georg Melchior / St. Peter am Perlach or Perlach-Church, Augsburg, Germany / Artothek / Bridgeman Images; Page 56: Our Lady of Pompeii, Basilica of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Pompeii.

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Preface Pope Francis often expresses great love for Our Lady, not only venerating statues and icons with incense but also often touching and kissing them. When visiting churches the first thing Pope Francis does is present a bouquet of flowers to Our Lady. The Holy Father has explained his actions saying simply: “She’s my mamma.” The Holy Father is showing a son’s love for his mother who he knows, without hesitation, loves us with a mother’s love, and who wants our happiness and wellbeing. To know that you are loved by your mother is one of the greatest feelings in the world. To know that you are loved by the Mother of God is an experience that transforms your life. As Pope Francis puts it: Mary is the mother, and a mother worries above all about the health of her children, she knows how to care for them always with great and tender love. Our Lady guards our health. What does this mean: Our Lady guards our health? I think above all of three things: she helps us grow, to confront life, to be free.1 The Pope’s simple gestures of love and words of tenderness towards the Blessed Virgin Mary are very familiar to me and millions of Catholics throughout the world who share

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his love of our mother Mary. We feel a strong desire, at times an irresistible need, to bring our joys and our sorrows to Mary. By doing so we live the reality of Jesus’s words from the Cross: “‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’” (Jn 19:26-27).

Pope Francis’s very physical, tactile expressions of love for Our Lady makes total sense to me. When Martina and I wanted to pledge our love for each other as young people we spent a whole afternoon searching for a church that was open so we could make our promise before Our Lady. On the anniversary of our pledge we placed a small bouquet of flowers before her statue. A couple of years later we choose the birthday of Our Lady to be officially engaged.

Looking back it was natural for us to want Mary to bless and protect our love for each other, in the same way that we wanted the blessing of our parents.

Since becoming married Mary has continued to be a loving presence in our lives together. In the grounds of a former convent near our home is a deserted grotto with a beautiful statue of Our Lady. On a number of occasions during May we have crowned Our Lady with flowers from our garden. There is also a ruined medieval Lady Chapel belonging to Our Lady of Furness Abbey near our home.

In the summer we go there to pray the Rosary and sing the Salve Regina.

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On reflection, what these actions have in common with the devotions of Pope Francis is the need to be physically close to Our Lady, and to make a special effort to express our love for her. These simple acts of devotion to Our Lady shouldn’t come as a surprise because watching young children they often want to show their love for their mother by making or doing something special.

Learning from Pope Francis’s devotion to Our Lady will help us attain the unselfconscious love of a child which is so necessary for our lives as Christians seeking to enter the Kingdom of God: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 18:3).

Deacon Nick Donnelly, Our Lady of Furness, Barrow, Cumbria

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