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Mary of Nazareth - Moments With Mary

March 13, 2007 - John Stokes to Elizabeth Conquer

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This is to express thanks to you and the Mary of Nazareth
Association for the daily e-mail "A Moment with Mary" Postings"
offered through Zenit.

Especially valued is having in digital form excerpts from the
Marian classics and also from other particular treasures - "to
discover each day a new aspect of the Mother of God".

Noting that your selections have been primarily of popular Marian
devotion and of personal Marian intercessions, revelations,
miracles and healings, this is a suggestion that you also include
some responses to Our Lady's beseechings for daily personal
penances of reparation, per Fatima and Akita - viz. the offering of
all our daily duties, works, adversities and sufferings for and
with Jesus, through her Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart, in penance
and reparation for the temporal effects of sin of the world, for
Peace and Kingdom.

It's only since the establishment of "one world" of electronic
communications, air transportation and technology generally that we
are able to envisage the building and coming, according to God's
will, of God's Kingdom concretely in the world, "on earth as it is
in heaven", as well as interiorly in souls.

In anticipation of this, Our Lady, at Fatima in 1917 requested the
consecration of the whole world of nations to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus through her Immaculate Heart - as subsequently performed by
Popes Pius XII and Pope John Paul II . . . followed by John Paul
II's introduction of the luminous mysteries of the Rosary, with
their envisioning of God's earthly Kingdom, and its ultimate
transfiguration.

Foreseeing also at Fatima that the same technological development
making possible the world Kingdom of nations also introduced the
possibility of massive international urban destruction, Our Lady
beseeched the wide undertaking of the aforementioned daily penances
to achieve Kingdom more peaceably.

It is believed that the 20th century penances undertaken, following
the 1917 request - especially through the circulation of Fatima
Pilgrim Virgin statues to parishes world-wide - contributed to the
Marshall Plan just settlements with the Axis nations following WW
II (as opposed to the Versailles Treaty following WW I); and then
to the peaceful resolution of the Cold War - following Our Lady's
second major beseeching of penances at Akita in 1973.

Now, with 21st century violence and continued proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction, the need for reparations for peace is
even more urgent; and to this end Pope John Paul in 2000 made
public for the first time, after 83 years of withholding until
circumstances warranted it, the 1917 Third Secret of Fatima; in
conjunction with which he re-consecrated the nations of the world
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. At that time Pope Benedict XVI
(then Cardinal Ratzinger) counseled that the massive urban
destruction so vividly depicted in the Third Secret was not a
prophecy, but a worst case scenario of what can happen if the
widespread personal penances beseeched by Our Lady are not widely
undertaken voluntarily, of free will.

Notwithstanding Cardinal Ratzinger's call for such penances, their
urgency for peace and Kingdom, as beseeched by Our Lady. "into
whose hands the peace of the world has been placed" (Angel of
Fatima), is hardly mentioned in current religious press reports.
Rather, it is proposed in various ways that peace is to be achieved
by a reaching out to the violent with greater love, forgiveness,
reconciliation, justice and mercy: viz.the non-violent way of the
Sermon on the Mount without the reparation of the Crucifixion; the
Our Father without "and deliver us from evil".

It appears not understood that a positive response to a reaching
out in love for peace can only come if the temporal effects of sin
disposing the violent are dissolved by reparational graces
generated through penitential union of the faithful with Christ'
sacrifice, so that the innate goodness with which the violent, like
all persons, are created, will be freed for dialog, compromise and
cooperation.

It seems to be overlooked that God created the world to show forth
and share the the divine goodness and action, and that this sharing
is not a dependent petitioning, but a loving participation, as
members of Christ's Mystical Body, and branches of his vine, in the
divine action of both loving outreach in building the Peaceable
Kingdom; and loving joining in his redemption of the world for this
building - through the reparational deliverance from evil of the
unloving, the unjust and the violent,

While the devastation envisaged in Our Lady's Third Secret of
Fatima is a worst case scenario of God's love for the world,
reflection on it as indeed God's last loving resort for the sure
building of his Kingdom - the purpose of Creation - can be a
motivation for the alternative of daily lives of personal penance
and reparation. In such reflection we consider the demonstration
of innate, created love as shown by neighbors when the prevalent
alienations of society are momentarily dissolved by a natural
disaster, or even just a crippling snowstorm.

An U.S. congressman and his wife were astounded and awed by the
overwhelming love poured out on them, on a visit immediately after
last year's cease fire, by survivors of utterly devastated Southern
Lebanon - even though these survivors knew, for example, of the
"made in U.S.A." imprinted on cluster bomb fragments. The
destruction was so great that no one could be blamed for it in
anger (no political or business leaders, bureaucrats, insurance
companies, contractors, etc., as in lesser disasters) - so what
emerged was their remaining innate love. One can see from this how
even the worst case disaster envisaged in the Third Fatima Secret
could lead to the building of Kingdom in love on a world scale.
An author wrote in a locutionary poem (from "Inside the Divine
Garden" by Laura Stein, The Publishing Group, Ltd., P.O. 42,
Powell, Ohio 43065, USA)

COME TO ME

When mankind denies Me
he denies himself of My heavenly wealth.
My charity, My spirit.
My mercy and justice are intertwined,
recognize them as My sign.
The hurricanes, the earthquakes, the floods, fires
and so much more will continue until all nations
knock at my heavenly door.
Seek my forgiveness and love,
follow My commandments,
My law that will lead to heaven above.

All nations large and small,
come to Me with contrite hearts.
I AM your Father who gives you Life.
Humble and unite yourselves in My Holy Sight.

I have sent My Son who redeemed you
by dying on the Cross for souls not to be lost.
He is the King of Peace,
through Him all war will cease.

While individuals of other religions may sacrifice and perfect
themselves to attain a transcendent Paradise, Nirvana, Tao, the
Supreme Identity, or improved Reincarnation in this world, etc., in
Christianity we seek, through actions of revelation and grace, to
build God's Peaceable Kingdom in this world for eternal
transfiguration - on its culmination - into the Eternal New Heaven
and New Earth, with the General Resurrection of bodies to rejoin
souls from the first created "old" heaven and purgatory - for
eternal joyous, glorified communion with God for all eternity, in
mutual divine/human contemplation of the transfigured divine
goodness of Kingdom-culminated Creation, and of the infinity of
loved and mourned persons, objects, and acts through the sacred
history of the "old" world, as recorded in the eternal, heavenly
Book of Life. "Charity endures forever".

But for this to take place, for Kingdom to be culminated, the
fallen world needs, as we pray in the "Our Father", to be delivered
from evil - viz from the accumulated evil effects of sin
transmitted from generation to generation in the environment values
of the fallen world, forming, conditioning and tempting individuals
- and particularly national and world leaders, dissidents and
insurgents - to act exploitively, possessively oppressively,
violently, and for "the survival of the fittest", per the Seven
Capital Sins and violation of the Ten Commandments.

What seems to be inadequately emphasized and exhorted in the
present day, as mentioned, is God's will for our cooperative
sharing in the reparational sacrifice of Christ - "making up what
is wanting in the Sacrifice of Christ" (Col., i, 24) - just as our
sharing is desired in the building of God's Peaceable Kingdom in
grace. It is this very fullness of sharing, in love, in all God's
actions - redemptive as well as creative - that, preserved in the
Book of Life, will provide the basis for the fullness of
divine/human contemplative, rapturous union in the Eternal New
Heaven and New Earth.

Through his reparational sacrifice Christ saved the world
virtually, but its full, actual reparation awaits the fullness of
our loving penitential participation in his redemption. This
participation is possible in that through his incarnational union
with all humanity Christ takes upon himself all the duties, acts,
adversities, sorrows and sufferings of all of us - his members and
"branches" - as his own, so that we indeed join with him in
undertaking these as both ours and his.

Being thus in union with Christ, we also offer his sacrifice as
ours, as he offers ours as his - as in the prayer of the Angel of
Fatima . . . for the intention of the reparation of the effects of
sin disposing world leaders in particular power struggles and
violence, of which we know through experience and the news. In
this way even the least acts and sufferings of a confined or
otherwise isolated person can contribute to the reparation of major
world events.

The import of making reparations for others is that through their
freeing from the temporal effects of sin disposing them to
violence, etc., they, as said, in their their quickened inherent,
created goodness may be disposed to cooperate responsively with
graces, traditions and initiatives of love, forgiveness,
reconciliation, peace, truth, justice, renewal and Kingdom.

The undertaking, after confession and absolution, of assigned
penances for the purging of one's own effects of sin, vices or
imperfections is routinely taught, understood and practiced, as are
voluntary mortifications for perfection, and the offering of masses
for the heavenly rest of souls of the deceased in purgatory.

Less understood is the undertaking of penances for the liberation
of others from the effects of sin, of which the Catholic
Encyclopedia states:

"As the object of (actual) graces is, according to their
nature, the spread of the Kingdom of God on earth and
the sanctification of men, their possession in itself
does not exclude personal unholiness. . . .

"Actual grace is that unmerited interior assistance
which God, in virtue of the merits of Christ, confers
upon fallen man in order to strengthen...his infirmity
resulting from sin"

and Thomas Aquinas:

"by virtue of the Communion of the Saints, the oneness and
solidarity of the mystical Body of Christ, we can... make
satisfaction and reparation for the sins of others.

Thus, as Christians take initiatives for loving dialog and
cooperation etc., the accompanying penances of the broader
Christian community can free those reached out to from their
temporal effects of sin, that they may act through their inherent
personal goodness, the goodness of their own religious or secular
traditions, and the promptings of grace.

All this is by way of "making my case" for proposed "Moments of
Mary" expressing these truths more clearly in the words of the
Church fathers, saints, theologians and devotees.

What needs to be set forth in respect to Mary is that her
participation in Christ's Sacrifice as Co-Redemptrix - made
possible through the fullness of divine union into which she was
brought and entered into through her Divine Maternity, at the
Annunciation, and celebrated in the Magnificat - is her
demonstration, and example for each and every one of us, for our
emulation of her personal fullness of the human participation in
Christ's reparation desired by God.

In her fullness of co-rededemption with Christ - made possible by
the spiritual sword of sorrow piercing her soul revealing to her
the "many thoughts" of all the sufferings of the world taken upon
himself by Christ in his reparational, redemptive sacrifice of the
Passion and Cross - Mary serves to demonstrate the potential
redemptive efficacy of all our acts and diminishments through our
undertaking of them for and with Christ.

A prayer we have used - first part or all - in offering
reparationally each action taken and diminishment experienced
through each day is:

"All for and with you, my Jesus, through the Immaculate and
Sorrowful Heart of Mary, in reparation for the temporal
effects of sin in the world.

" . . . that freed from their evil, the hearts and minds of
all, and especially national and world leaders, dissidents
and insurgents, may be freed to respond ever increasingly,
in their innate, created goodness, to the graces, traditions
and initiatives of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace,
truth, justice, freedom, renewal and Kingdom beseeched in the
prayers of the Holy Father and the faithful."

While contemplation of Mary's contributive, co-redemptive sharing
in Christ's sacrificial graced reparation of the effects of sin of
the world which block peace and Kingdom is the loving model for our
imitation and emulation in bringing our own lives into like
penitential union with Christ's sacrifice - per her beseeching at
Fatima and Akita - the doctrine of Mary's Co-redemption, as Pope
Pius XII said of her Mediation at the time of his promulgation of
the dogma of the Assumption in 1950, is "not yet ripe in the mind
of the Church."

Its ripening will be furthered through the inclusion of quotes re.
her co-redemption with more familiar quotes of popular piety. From
Medieval flower symbols of Mary's Co-redemption we know that there
was such inclusion in that earlier period.

Thanks again for your work.

Blessings,

John Stokes

Mary's Gardens

www.mgardens.org
marysgardens@mgardens.org

March 26, 2007 - Elizabeth Conquer to John Stokes

Thank you for your interest in the Mary of Nazareth Project. I
would love to use some of your information for texts for A Moment
with Mary. What I need is a short (or longer) text, signed by
somebody so I can publish it. For instance your prayers, stories,
etc. can I sign your name? I could also add your website link.

I will await your response.

In Jesus and Mary,

April 2, 2007 - John to Elizabeth

Thank you for your message of 26 Mar and your offer to use some of
our Mary's Gardens texts for "A Moment with Mary" postings.

Actually, I myself have been seeking texts clarifying the
application of Marian doctrine to present-day world circumstances.

Most classic Marian quotes have to do with the "old" Marian
praises, personal Marian devotion and prayerful petitioning, and
not with the "new" additional call - per Mary's beseechings of
Fatima, Amsterdam and Akita - for widespread undertaking by the
faithful of lives of daily personal penance, in co-redemptive union
with her and Jesus' sacrifice, in reparational dissolution of the
temporal effects of sin in the world environment of values
disposing so many national and world leaders to oppression, power
struggles and violence.

Publication of the 1917 revealed Third Secret of Fatima was
withheld for 83 years until 2000, and seemingly neglected since
then, if Zenit press reporting is any measure; and the re-enforcing
1973 Third Message of Akita has been subject to protest and
suppression in Japan (with hardly any worldwide mention) -
evidently from widespread non-response to their prophecies of
potential massive world destruction precipitated by accumulated
unrepaired effects of sin - as the "worst case (karma)alternative"
for clearing the way for God's Peaceable Kingdom if the beseeched
widespread daily reparational penances are not freely undertaken in
peace.

Those pressing for the "final" dogmatic doctrinal proclamation of
Mary's Co-Redemption, Advocacy and Mediation evidently do not
understand Pope Pius XII's observation in 1960 at the time of the
proclamation of the Assumption - in regard to her Mediation, but
applicable to all three - that it was "not yet ripe in the mind of
the Church".

This "ripening" apparently has to do with gaining understanding of
and responding to Mary's pivotal role in the building of God's
Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven in our modern, technological
one world - in addition to our practicing of "local" personal
devotion and prayerful recourse to her, as emphasized in the past.
Specifically it has to do with our understanding of and response to
her call for widespread lives of daily personal reparational
penance, in world perspective - with recourse to her co-redemption,
advocacy and mediation, now that Popes Pius XII and John Paul II
responded to her initial call to consecrate all the nations of the
world to her Immaculate Heart.

Perhaps a specific example will clarify my point.

In your AMWM Tears III posting of 31 March, Bloy's superlatives in
describing Mary's tears serve only to heighten the "old" Marian
devotion and worship - in emulation of Mary at the foot of the
Cross:

"When Mary weeps over us, her Tears are indeed a universal
out-flowing of heavenly Blood, of which she is the sovereign
Dispenser, and this outpouring is at the same time the most
perfect of oblations, for, through grace, she is the only
mother who has the power to lead her countless other children
to worship by dint of her tears."

and with reference to St. Bernardine of Sienna:

"The grief of the Blessed Virgin was so great...so greatly
illumined with the Holy Spirit..that if it were divided and
shared among all creatures capable of suffering, they would
die in an instant"

A present day interpretation would see Mary's tears as signifying
more specifically the intensity of her grief from the "thoughts of
many hearts" - viz., of the sins of all the world taken upon
himself by Jesus - revealed to her through sword of sorrow of the
Holy Spirit penetrating her soul, that she might truly join with
Jesus as Co-redemptix in offering them with him sacrificially for
the redemption of the world.

And it would be pointed our further that Mary's co-redemptive
joining with Jesus in his sacrificial offering demonstrates the
human sharing in the divine action, not just dependent petitioning,
and redemptive as well as missionary and kingdomal, for which God
created the world - "goodness likes to share itself" - and in which
each of us is called and enabled to participate sharingly, "making
up what is wanting in the sufferings of Christ", by virtue that
Jesus in his incarnational infinity takes upon himself as his own
each and every suffering and other diminishment of each of us, his
"members" and "branches", so that as each of our diminishments
occurs through the day we can offer it, with and through Mary's
Immaculate, Sorrowful and Advocative Heart, sacrificially in union
with his offering in all the masses celebrated throughout the world
at that moment.

In other words, I seek texts which, in this instance, inspire
emulation of Mary's co-redemptive reparational action and not just
the intensity of worshiping with her in her devotion at the foot of
the Cross.

Teilhard de Chardin points out that doctrines which may take a lot
of language to spell out, as attempted above, can be condensed into
a prayer.

Such a condensation which I use sacrificially through the day -
first part or all - is:

"All for and with you, my Jesus, through the Immaculate and
Sorrowful Heart of Mary, in reparation for the temporal
effects of sin in the world.

" . . . that freed from their evil, the hearts and minds of
all, and especially national and world leaders, dissidents and
insurgents, may be freed to respond ever increasingly, in
their innate, created goodness, to the graces, teachings and
initiatives of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace,
dialog, truth, justice, freedom, compromise, renewal and
Kingdom beseeched in the prayers of the Holy Father and the
faithful."

The postings to our website mostly relate to medieval flower
symbols of Our Lady, but if you find anything you would like to
use, please do so with a simple personal credit and our website
address. We are voluntary, spare time, not for profit, "out of
pocket", with no memberships, budgets etc.

Holy Week Blessings,

April 3, 2007 - Elizabeth to John

I have had a good look at your message, which I find very
interesting. You asked me what we use for translating and I have
used Alta Vista but looking now at Google, I prefer Google. Thank
you for the tip.

I would like to publish something from you in May - Could you not
condense this text and send me about 20 lines about Mary, flowers
and Mary's co-redemptive joinging with Jesus? This would be a big
help to me, I don't dare adapt your text myself. Then I will add
your link and hopefully you will have lots of new visitors in the
Month of Mary! If your answer is "yes" please send the article asap
- we work a month in advance at�A Moment with Mary.

God bless you and thank you for your consideration.

Blessed Holy Week to you,

April 5, 2007 - John to Elizabeth

Yes, I will be pleased write a MWM size posting for May. This will
be a bit of a challenge since May altars in schools and May
crowning processions in parishes have largely been discontinued in
the U.S. since the Feast of Mary's Queenship was moved, following
Vatican II, from 31 May to 22 Aug; and the Marian devotional focus
has been transferred secularly, as it were, to Mothers Day on the
second Sunday of the month.

22 Aug is a far more appropriate liturgical cycle and theological
positioning for the Queenship, with the marvelous Liturgy of the
Hours reading from Augustin of Mary's moving mystically, while
still on earth, back and forth between heaven and earth -
anticipating, as it were our Rosary movement with the Luminous
Mysteries "back down" for the building of the earthly Kingdom,
rather than "stopping" with the heavenly Queenship at the end of
the Glorious Mysteries.

Also, the use of flowers to adorn and crown Mary's image employs
the beauty of cut blooms, and the flowers of August (in the north
temperate climates of Europe and the U.S.) have a greater fullness
of growth, bloom and harvesting about them . . . although schools
are out in August, and the weather is a bit hot for processions.

With the devotional crowning transferred to devotional spiritual
Mother veneration, the challenge (especially for the U.S.) is to
motivate perception of the rejuvenation of nature as symbol of the
rejuvenation of grace in the world through Mary.

Gerard Manley Hopkins anticipated this "new" May devotion with his
poem, "The May Magnificat"; and the transfer of the "old" crowning
devotion to Mothers Day as it were opens the way for the "new" -
which actually is a restoration of medieval devotions, which were
based on the spring bourgeoning of nature.

Good Friday blessings,

April 6, 2007 - Elizabeth to John

Thank you John for your interesting message. I know absolutely
nothing about flowers and I find your ideas new and refreshing. I
had no idea about Mary's Queenship being transfered to August. In
France, May is the month of Mary, there's no doubt about
that.�Assumption is also a national holiday although many people
have no idea what the Church is celebrating on that day. We talk
much less about the Feast of Mary's Queenship here. I don't know
why. Maybe because everybody in on vacation!

Please do write a lovely article for us, why not call it Flowers
for Mary? I'll be more than happy to publish it. Sorry for the
moment, we can't use photos!

Good Friday blessings to you,

April 8, 2007 - John to Elizabeth

Thank you for your message of 6 April.

I haven't noticed any popular celebration here of Our Lady's
Queenship on August 22. Just commented on by those attending or
following daily masses, or reading the Daily Book of Hours (from
which I recall from daily readings some years ago).

The Dogma of Our Lady's Assumption (which was proclaimed by Pope
Pius XII in the Fall of 1950 just as we were first considering
starting with Mary's Gardens for the following Spring) was
important because it supported credence in Our Lady's appearances.

I have written a lot about Our Lady's flowers, but some further
thoughts have been distilling in my mind and I would be pleased to
rite a new article.

Re. your website. I note you only provide for access of AMWM
postings for the latest 3 months. Are the older ones (when did
they start?) still on the website no longer announced, and if so
can they be accessed with a /NNN code?

Re. photos, and generally: when we put up our website in 1995 there
was none of the sophisticated html posting software available -
just simple html "tags" programs for posting text files and
inserting photos and links.

We continue to use the long discontinued, in its simpler form, HTML
WebWeaver 2.5, for the old Macintosh "Classic" (OS 9 and earlier),
which doesn't have sophisticated page layout, columns and multiple
graphics placement, but does enable you to put up a text file by
simple adding Pre-format tags at the beginning and end, and
changing the filename suffix from .txt to .html (which can be done
manually with a text editor).

Other tags can be added to your text file for changing text to
headline size or bold, etc.. and graphics files are inserted
positioned in the text by simply selecting a point and entering the
filename (in the software) of associated graphics file (just as you
can with e-mail software).

The beauty of this is that you can change text by opening the html
file in a text editor. With our 1,250+ files a simple click-list
index is a simplicity welcomed by those accessing the website
directly; and specific files can be accessed through Google without
opening our home page (we get 1,000+ Google search accesses a day).

Just in case you have to do something with simplicity in a hurry
some day.

Easter Blessings,

April 9, 2007 - John to Elizabeth

Here's an example of why I would hope to have access to archival "A
Moment With Mary" postings - this excerpt from the April 8 -
Jacques-Benigne Bossuet "The Compassion of the Blessed Virgin (IV)"
quote:

"(Mary) has never ceased to sacrifice (Christ) since Simeon
foretold of the strange contradictions that He was to suffer.
From that time forward...she gave Him up at every moment of
her life, her oblation coming to an end at the cross."

This serves to amplify the legend associated with English Daisies
(Bellis perennis), known in Germany, among other religious
folk-names, as "Mary-Loves" (Massliebchen) and "Mother of God's
Flower" (Muttergottes-Bluh), that:

When Mary first saw Christ's blood, from a hand prick while
he was playing as a child in yard of the Nazareth home of the
Holy Family, Simeon's prophecy came to her mind with a rush of
sorrow, upon which some of the previously all white daisies
turned red, as they have ever since.

This is an example of how the visual symbolism of a flower can
bring to mind for reflection and meditation over and over (all
spring) truths expressed more abstractly and temporarily by words,
as one reads them.

Half-hardy biennial flowers, English Daisies, like Pansies
("Trinity Flowers" and "Our Lady's Delights" - from their 3 colors
in nature - "Viola tricolor" botanically, and "Pensees" in French)
are widely planted as Mary Garden border plants as soon as the soil
warms up in spring (in North Temperate climates - usually around
April 1st in Philadelphia)

Then, one forms one's own associations. For example, "St. Simeon's
Flower" (Musk Flower, Malva moschata) - so named because it was
used by medieval herbalists as a relief for blindness) was seen by
me as "Many Hearts Flower" in association with St. Simeon's
prophecy to Mary, before I learned from research of the blindness
association. And this reflection and meditation quickening
association has remained in my mind ever since.

I give these details mindful of your statement, "I know absolutely
nothing about flowers and I find your ideas new and refreshing".
One starts from learning the symbolism, experiencing it from
photos, and then from actual cultivation if one has a garden.

Then one bears in mind that before the 16th century there was no
general printing and literacy, and the peoples of the countryside
turned to nature symbols for oral tradition reflection and
teaching.

Not too many people in the countrysides would have known how to
read, or had access Jacques-Benigne Bossuet's quote when he wrote
it in the 17th century; but many would know the legend of the
English Daisies (applicable to other white and red flowers) from
the wandering minstrels, itinerant poets, etc. who circulated and
supported oral religious traditions - and seen them growing in the
wild, had them collected by the children, etc,

Blessings,

April 25, 2007 - John to Elizabeth

Per your suggestion, I have composed and selected some Mary's month
of May text, appended below, for possible "A Moment with Mary"
postings or maybe a Marie de Nazareth website article.

In setting about this, I was challenged by the decrease in the
"Flowers for the Fairest" May Altars and queenly crowning
processions in the U.S. - as mentioned in my message of 5 April.

In your message of 6 April you suggest that in view of this I
write, rather, on "Flowers For Mary" generally; but since you say,
"In France, May is the month of Mary, there's no doubt about that,"
and as I am personally attuned to the more traditional May
devotions, I am challenged to write about these.

As a background starting point, here is a description of the
present U.S. situation from the "The Complete Idiot's Guide to
Understanding Catholicism", p. 69 ff.(There are "Idiot's Guide"
books on just about everything in the U.S.):

"Several practices once considered an integral part of
Catholic faith and ritual either have been eliminated or
their importance has been diminished....

"May Day - On a spring day in May near the end of the
school year, everyone gathered for the May day ceremony.
The boys wore white pants, shirts and white ties. The
girls dressed in beautiful white dresses with veils. One
girl would be selected to climb the ladder and place a
crown of flowers on a statue of Mary while the entire
congregation sang, "Oh, Mary we crown you with blossoms,
today. Queen of Angels, Queen of the May..."

and (p. 169):

"In a Catholic schoolroom during the month of May you might
still find a May altar. A few years ago, it would have been
a sure thing to find one. May altars were built in
classrooms and in the homes of Catholics as part of the May
devotions to Mary. May altars featured a statue or picture
of Mary prominently displayed...and surrounded by fresh
flowers."

For an understanding of this falling off we have to go back to
Paragraph 67 of the Vatican II Constitution on the Church that:

"This Synod earnestly exhorts theologians and priests
of the Divine Word that in treating of the unique dignity
of the Mother of God, they carefully . . . avoid the
falsity of exaggeration . . . .

"Let them painstakingly guard against any word or deed
which could lead separated brethren or anyone else into
error regarding the doctrine of the Church. Let the
faithful remember moreover that true devotion consists
neither in fruitless and passing emotions, nor in a
certain vain credulity,"

An initial reaction to this in the U.S. was to go even so far
as to discourage the praying of the Rosary in some instances - for
example in the diocesan weekly paper of my late partner, Bonnie
Roberson, whose taking on of responsibility for carrying forward
the work of Mary's Gardens included the period immediately
following Vatican II. Seven religious articles wholesalers on
Berkley Street in New York City, from whom we used to obtain garden
statuary, all went out of business. When Bonnie contacted me upset
about all this, I taped to her a number of letters setting forth
the grounding of Mary's Gardens in true Marian doctrine and
emphasis - on the basis of which she was re-assured to carry on
with our work. (Edited transcriptions of these tapes are posted to
our website as /DC-BR-1965-66.html - and indexed as:

ARCHIVAL
Developmental Correspondence
Vatican II Marian Devotional Update 1965-1966)

From this she was encouraged to carry on with our work, while
Marian magazines were folding right and left; and even her bishop,
who had visited with her in her herb Mary Garden (of which we have
a tape of their conversation) became critical of her work, as
"exaggerated" devotion. A Canadian priest wrote a magazine article
describing Bonnie as "a voice in the wilderness" in publicly
promoting Marian devotion at that time. (Happily, when Marian
devotion "bounced back" in the '70's, her bishop, in passing
through her river town on a fishing expedition, showed up at her
door in his fishing boots, to request the keys to the town chapel -
they had no parish church - so he could say Mass - which was
attended by her and her sister - at the Communion of which he said,
"Body of Christ, Bonnie" in such a way that without any subsequent
conversation on the subject, she knew that they had become
reconciled regarding her Marian devotion and work; and her diocesan
paper subsequently published a series of her illustrated articles
on dish Mary Gardens and her Mary's Solar Greenhouse)

However, May altar and crowning devotions did not survive as well,
as described in the above quote; and with the Church's transfer of
the feast of Mary's Queenship from 31 May to August, and
diminishment of the celebration of the feast of Universal
Mediation, Mary's May Queenship devotion became transfered
"secularly" to Mothers' Day, the second Sunday of May in the U.S.

This wasn't all that clear to me when I wrote the 1996 website
article, "Mary's Month of May", or the Apr 19, 2002 CHAT posting,
"Mother's Day". So the following text is an endeavor to extract
and re-state the original basis of May devotions. And this is in
general keeping with the objective of Mary's Gardens to further the
meditative emulation of Mary and recourse to her prerogatives of
divine union, for the furtherance of God's Creational and
Redemptive will for the fullness of sharing the divine goodness and
action in the culmination of the earthly Kingdom, and in its
ultimate transfiguring into the eternal New Heaven and New Earth
(as now emphasized in the Rosary Luminous mysteries) - rather than
endlessly restating her praises and reciting her miracles.

Blessings,

o O o

Appendage

Mary's month of May

Isaiah's prophecy of the virgin birth of the Redeemer as blossoming Rod of Jesse was understood as miraculous by the people of his time in that the grape vine normally blossoms not from a rod or shoot growing up from the ground, but from new shoots emerging from upper points of further growth or pruning.

From the Rod of Jesse the Church Fathers came to see all
plants and their burgeoning as signatures and symbols of Mary -
applying to her the scriptural titles of Rose of Sharon, Lily of
the Valleys and Lily Among the Thorns. The Medieval Church saw her
as "the Rose wherein the Divine Word was made incarnate" (Dante);
erected cathedral Rose Windows in her honor; in her Litany gave her
the title of Mystical Rose; and honored her with the Christmas
carol, "Lo a Rose 'ere Blooming".

An old capitol in the ancient Abbey of Cluny bears in the
middle of its aureole, the figure of the Blessed Virgin, around
which one reads this gracious hexameter, 'Ver primos flores adducit
honores' (Springtime's first flowers give thee honors.')
Then, with the 18th century re-bourgeoning of devotion to
Mary, the Church dedicated to her the entire springtime budding and
flowering of plants of the month of May, applying to her the
passage,

"Arise, my love, my dove, my beautiful one and
come. For the winter is past, the rains are over and done,
the flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning
has come and the voice of the turtle dove is heard."

(Canticles)

Mary, on her trip to visit Elizabeth with the Child Jesus
maturing in her womb, was seen as mirrored by the budding flowers
of the countryside through which she passed; and according to
popular legend, flowers, ladyslippers, were seen to spring up
around her steps "most beauteous".

In the total union with God into which Mary was brought and
entered at the Annunciation for the Divine Motherhood, the
spiritual formation of Christ in her womb was paralleled by his
formation in her heart, mind and soul - to be emulated by us all,
as through his infinite human incarnation we all are to become his
members, branches of his vine, temples of the Holy Spirit, and
adopted sons and daughters of the Father.

"He that is mighty has done great things unto me, and holy is
his name, and his mercy is from generation unto generation."

St. Augustine observed:

"Mary heard God's word and kept it, and so she is blessed.
She gave birth to Christ in her heart before giving birth
to him in the flesh. She kept God's truth in her mind, a
nobler thing than carrying his body in her womb. The truth
and the body were both Christ...but what is kept in the mind
is of a higher order than what is carried in the womb."

(Lesson, Liturgy of the Hours, the Presentation of Mary)

Our interior mystical growth in union with Christ, in
emulation of Mary, the Mystical Rose, has been discerned as
sustained by the budding and blooming of a subtle spiritual flower
in our heart and soul - to which we are called in the the Communion
verse of the original liturgy for the feast of the Rosary in the
Roman Rite:

"Send forth flowers as the Lily,
and yield a fragrance,
And bring forth leaves in grace,
and praise with canticles,
And bless the Lord in his works."

Accordingly, St. Francis affirmed that the burgeoning of the
spiritual leaves, flowers and fruits of our interior rising of soul
are inspired by our meditative perception of the leafing and
flowering of nature.

"Into love's furnace I am cast"

"The tree of love its roots hath spread
Deep in my heart, and rears its head;
Rich are its fruits: they joy dispense;
Transport the heart, and ravish sense.
In love's sweet swoon to thee I cleave,
Bless'd source of love . . . .

"All creatures love aloud proclaim;
Heav'ns, earth and sea increase my flame;
Whate're I see, as mirror bright
Reflects my lover to my sight;
My heart all objects to him raise;
Are steps to the Creator's praise . . . ."

Viewed thus spiritually, the burgeoning flowers of May call us
to emulate in our lives Mary's growing union with the heart, mind
and soul of the incarnating Son of God in her womb.

This was expressed poetically by Frances Thompson's in his
"May Magnificat":

...

"Ask of her, that mighty mother:
... What is Spring? -
Growth in every thing -

"All things rising, all things sizing
Mary sees, sympathizing
With that world of good,
Nature's motherhood.

"Their magnifying of each its kind
With delight calls to mind
How she did in her stored
Magnify the Lord.

"Well but there was more than this:
Spring's universal bliss
Much, had much to say
To offering Mary May.

With the extension in Europe of flower symbolism of Mary to the
fullness of her life and mysteries - for meditative recourse to
which the Flowers of Our Lady are cultivated in "Mary Gardens" today - parish devotions were held with an illuminative sermon on
a different Flower of Our Lady for each of the 31 days of May - as
preserved, for example, with poems, in

FLOWERS OF MARY, Addresses in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Delivered in May 1858 by Louis Gemminger, Pastor of St. Peter's
Church, Munich

(translated in English from the Fourth German Edition in 1894).

In keeping with the celebration of May's budding flowers as
symbolic of the burgeoning Christ Child in Mary's womb, the Church,
in the revisions following Vatican II, transferred the Feast of the
Visitation to May 31st, replacing that of her Queenship.

Of the Visitation Pope Benedict XVI has observed:

"We can say that (Mary's) trip was...the first Eucharistic
procession in history.... To receive Jesus and to take him
to others is the true joy of the Christian! Let us follow
and imitate Mary, profoundly Eucharistic soul, and our whole
life will become a Magnificat."

(Feast of the Visitation 2005, Zenit)

April 26, 2007 - Elizabeth to John

I could use your texts over four days from May 28 to May 31. That
means in four parts. Your text would be on our website then.

I'll will do come cutting a pasting and send you the proofs for
approval. Tell me how I should sign it too.

John Stokes, 2007 See Mary's Gardens
www.mgardens.org/

Otherwise let me know.

Blessings,

April 26, 2007 - Elizabeth to John

I did my best cutting and pasting, I had to cut out a short piece
because it was just too long for our messages. If you want to
change anything, just write your amendments in red and I do what I
can and send it back to you again for your approval. Thank you so
much.

Your friend in Jesus and Mary,

April 28, 2007 - John to Elizabeth

I'm pleased you are able to use my May Magnificat text for A Moment
with Mary postings.

Everything is OK as divided for the four postings.

Since my message to you of 8 April I had an opportunity to browse
your Marie de Nazareth website a bit to check further the
accessibility of archived back "A Moment with Mary" postings.

First I noticed in my browsing that the three months of archival
messages listed on your website for access - in addition to current
messages - are from mid March to mid May 2004. Why just this
particular date grouping? Is there access to more by date and
title listing? These postings are invaluable to me, Elizabeth -
not having time to search books any more - and I will proceed to
download them all, and any more you can help me access. You are
doing a great service here. How far back does your website go?

What has become key with me is the "top down" view of God's
creation of the world to show forth and share with us the divine
goodness and action - made possible through our human creation in
the divine image and likeness; and accomplished to the fullest in
Mary, through her immaculate purity, utter humility and fiat,
whereby she was brought, and entered, into the fullness of union
with God of her Divine Maternity; which then made possible for God
the further unique divine/human sharing. through her Co-Redemption,
Advocacy, Universal Mediation, Healing, Counsel, Protection, etc.

In this all Mary's love and actions are seen to be the sublime
enabling of God's Creation-desired "top down" sharing and showing
forth of the divine love and action - through and with her . . .
rather than God's action for us from a pleasing of him through a
"bottom-up" appeal to him through her "virtues" - which are
actually not "hers" to appeal through, but God's attributes shining
through her, infused in her through the openness of her basic
purity, humility and fidelity, which we are to emulate. Each time
we pray to Mary for God's action, our openness to receive it
enables God further to share his love, mercy and justice through
her as well as with us. (Not too well expressed; working at it).

This is visually symbolized by the revealed guiding (rather than
petitioning) hands of Our Lady of Knock, sharingly channeling all
our petitions up to God, through angels, for God's providential and
graced response, through her as Queen of Angels and Mediatrix of
All Grace.

Blessings,

John

April 28. 2007 - Elizabeth to John

We have been doing AMM since March 2006 in English and we should
have all the archives available to readers.

At times our boss, Olivier Bonnassies wrote or chose very long
articles but we have now decided to do about three paragraphs max.
for each day. Just a "moment" or a "minute" with Mary.

No I don't think I wrote much between April 8th and now. I'll look,
but I don't think any of my messages were lost. And yes we do get
lots of spam. It's aggravating.

Please let me know if you are still unable to find the archives for
the past year in a week's time. Christian the webmaster should be
able to do something.

I'm glad our website is a service to you.

Blessings,

April 28, 2007 - Elizabeth to John

The webmaster proposes these links:

recent texts : www.mariedenazareth.com/3558.0.html?L=1

archive 2007 : www.mariedenazareth.com/7102.0.html?L=1

archive 2006 : www.mariedenazareth.com/3555.0.html?L=1

Blessings,

April 28, 2007 - John to Elizabeth

Thanks for your website index page addresses from your Webmaster
for all the shorter AMM postings - from March 16, 2006 beginning to
date.

I'm sending copies of this message exchange to our Associates, so
they an access them.

Blessings.

May 4, 2007 - John to Elizabeth

Mary's Gardens is all volunteers - spare time with wide
geographical distributionand e-mail coordination of about 10 more
and 10 less active volunteers.

I'm the only surviving founding partner, of 2, from 1950, and I was
away from it altogether, with no spare time 1968...to 1980, when I
retired professionally (industrial engineering, corporate
management, communications consulting) at 60, and was then able to
put in 40 hrs a week, taking on full coordination when another
partner (added in 1962) died in 1983 and computers entered the
picture. Website in 1995.

Now, at 86 I'm pretty much housebound due to weak legs, and
actually put more time into MG now than any time previously.

Our position with our Archdiocesan Chancery Office (after an
investigation for possible pious fraud 56 years ago) was described
for us as official tolerance of independent lay initiative in
religious folklore. This allows for wider theological and
devotional initiatives than being institutionally locked into, say,
Catholic schools. We had 42,169 accesses in 2006 to our

HOME & SCHOOLS EDUCATION
Background Reference/Index for Teachers

... and 22,146 file "hits" generally, from France. (My wife and I
and one son, fluent in French, had two 1 week vacation trips to
Paris - in 1973 and 1982. Visited the botanical garden on the west
side in August 1982, where I saw a massive bed of Assumption Lilies
in bloom in August 1982, where I saw a massive bed of Assumption
Lilies (named from bloom around Feast of the Assumption time in in
August.)

We have 2 priests and 2 religious in our group, and for years I had
a priest spiritual director from our seminary. Our institutional
link is with The Marian Library (who claim to be the largest such
in the world) of the Univer