Our Faith

May 13, 2022 | catholicnewsherald.com

Blessed is the name of Mary

Multitude of titles expresses love for the Mother of God

SUEANN HOWELL SENIOR REPORTER

CHARLOTTE — A hallmark of Catholicism is love for Jesus’ mother, Mary.

Catholics love her, honor her and venerate her image in thanksgiving for her “yes” to God, for her role as the Theotokos (“God-bearer”) and as a powerful intercessor for all of God’s children. It is important to note that Catholics do not worship Mary, but revere her pivotal role in salvation history.

Mary is known by dozens of titles around the world – dogmatic titles, devotional titles and titles adopted by religious orders. There are also some titles that popes over the centuries have addressed in encyclicals and invocations, and titles expressing their filial affection for her during their papacies.

The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Litany of Loreto, invokes more than 50 titles of Our Lady. This supplication sprang from prayers for protection during the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, when Mary’s help was enlisted through the recitation of the rosary to defeat the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras. The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, or Our Lady of Victory, is still celebrated every Oct. 7.

Early titles in Church history besides “Our Lady” (“Notre Dame” in French and “Nuestra Señora” in Spanish) include: “The New Eve,” a title first mentioned by St. Justin Martyr in the early half of the first century and later expanded upon by St. Iraneaus; “Mary Help of Christians,” first used by St. John Chrysostom in 345 and also reverently used by St. John Bosco in the 1800s; and “Stella Maris” (Our Lady Star of the Sea), an ancient title that emphasized her role as a sign of hope and a guiding star for Christians. It is attributed to St. Jerome, who lived in the mid-second and early third centuries.

Four dogmatic titles for the Blessed Mother were declared by the Church: n “Mother of God” was decreed at the Council of Ephesus in 431, which acknowledged her as “Theotokos” because her son, Jesus Christ, is both God and man. This name was translated in the West as “Mater Dei” or Mother of God. From this derives the title “Blessed Mother.” n “Virgin Mary” rises from the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary, taught by the early Church Fathers and declared a dogma by the Lateran Council of 649. n “Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception” comes from the teaching that Mary was conceived without original sin, as defined in 1854 by Pope Pius IX’s apostolic constitution

“Ineffabilis Deus.” This also gave rise to the title “Queen Conceived Without Original Sin.” n “Our Lady of the Assumption” comes from the belief that Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven when her earthly life ended. The Assumption was declared a dogma in 1950 by Pope Pius XII in the apostolic constitution “Munificentissimus Deus.” The title “Queen Assumed Into Heaven” also derived from this. Some of her titles are associated with Church-approved apparitions: Our Lady of Guadalupe (1531), Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal (1830), Our Lady of Lourdes (1858), Our Lady of Knock (1879) and Our Lady of Fatima (1917). Religious orders under her patronage include: Carmelites, who look to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; the Marians of the Immaculate Conception; Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist; and the Daughters of the Virgin Mother (Diocese of Charlotte). Many devotional titles speak to the love of the faithful for Mary and confidence in her intercession: Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Mercy, Mother of Perpetual Help, Queen of the Apostles, Ark of the Covenant, Refuge of Sinners and Mary, Undoer of Knots. Some lesser known but equally beautiful titles for Mary are: Tower of Ivory; Our Lady of Solitude; Our Lady, Gate of the Dawn; Mirror of Justice; and Spiritual Vessel. St. Louis de Montfort said, “We never give more honor to Jesus than when we honor His mother, and we honor her “Madonna and Child” by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato simply and solely to honor Him (17th century) all the more perfectly.” So why not take some time during May, the month devoted to Mary, to cultivate a personal devotion to the Blessed Mother under a title that is meaningful to you in your faith journey? — www.wikipedia.org contributed. Churches under Mary’s patronage The Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey who came to North Carolina in 1876 built the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Belmont in 1892. In the Diocese of Charlotte there are now 23 more churches and missions that bear a name related to a title of Mary or her Immaculate Heart.

Daily Scripture readings

MAY 15-21

Sunday: Acts 14:21-27, Revelation 21:1-5a, John 13:31-33a, 34-35; Monday: Acts 14:5-18, John 14:21-26; Tuesday: Acts 14:19-28, John 14:27-31a; Wednesday (St. John I): Acts 15:1-6, John 15:1-8; Thursday: Acts 15:7-21, John 15:9-11; Friday (St. Bernardine of Siena): Acts 15:22-31, John 15:12-17; Saturday (St. Christopher Magallanes and Companions): Acts 16:1-10, John 15:18-21 MAY 22-28

Sunday: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29, Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23, John 14:23-29; Monday: Acts 16:11-15, John 15:26-16:4a; Tuesday: Acts 16:22-34, John 16:5-11; Wednesday (St. Bede the Venerable, St. Gregory VII, St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi): Acts 17:15, 22-18:1, John 16:12-15; Thursday (The Ascension of the Lord): Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 1:17-23, Luke 24:46-53; Friday (St. Augustine of Canterbury): Acts 18:918, John 16:20-23; Saturday: Acts 18:2328, John 16:23b-28 MAY 29-JUNE 4

Sunday: Acts 7:55-60, Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20, John 17:20-26; Monday: Acts 19:1-8, John 16:29-33; Tuesday (The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary): Zephaniah 3:14-18, Isaiah 12:2-6, Luke 1:39-56; Wednesday (St. Justin): Acts 20:28-38, John 17:11b-19; Thursday (Sts. Marcellinus and Peter): Acts 22:30, 23:6-11, John 17:20-26; Friday (St. Charles Lwanga and Companions): Acts 25:13b-21, John 21:15-19; Saturday: Acts 28:16-20, 30-31, John 21:20-25.

Our faith

CATHOLIC NEWS HERALDI 3

Pope Francis

Leave grandkids your legacy of wisdom

Pope Francis told older people to use retirement as a time to serve others and to sow the seeds of their wisdom.

When people retire, starting the new chapter in life requires “a creative attention, a new attention, a generous availability,” the pope said during his general audience May 11.

“The previous skills of active life lose their constraint and become resources to be given away: teaching, advising, building, caring, listening ... preferably in favor of the most disadvantaged who cannot afford any learning or who are abandoned in their loneliness,” he said. Communities, he said, must understand “how to benefit from the talents and charisms of so many elderly people who are already retired, but who are a wealth to be treasured.”

The pope continued his series of talks dedicated to the meaning and value of “old age,” reflecting on the biblical figure of Judith, a pious widow, who, as a young woman, “had won the esteem of the community with her courage” in killing the commander-in-chief of the threatening armies of Nebuchadnezzar.

With her heroism, she lived “to the fullest the mission the Lord had entrusted to her,” and then, as an older widow with no children, she saw “it was time for her to leave the good legacy of wisdom, tenderness and gifts for her family and her community.”

When people retire, they usually can expect to have many years ahead of them. They may wonder what they should do and ask, “how can I grow in authority, in holiness, in wisdom?”

If there are grandchildren, there will be “the task, joyful and tiring,” of looking after them. “The little ones learn the power of tenderness and respect for frailty” from their grandparents, and grandparents learn that “tenderness and frailty are not solely signs of decline: for young people, they are conditions that humanize the future.”

But sometimes family members live far apart, there are fewer children, and employment and housing conditions may be “unfavorable” to an intergenerational family. With so many new demands on today’s families, they must learn to “reshape the traditional connection between the generations.”

“When we think of a legacy, at times we think of goods, and not of the goodness that is done in old age, and that has been sown, that goodness that is the best legacy we can leave,” not just goods or assets.

The pope encouraged people to read the Book of Judith to be inspired by her example. “Judith is not a pensioner who lives the emptiness it brings melancholically: she is a passionate mature woman who fills the time God gives her with gifts.”

“This is how I would like all our grandmothers to be: courageous, wise and who bequeath to us not money, but the legacy of wisdom, sown in their grandchildren.”