The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today's the Feast of the most beautiful presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Ah, very beautiful, this feast day and I thank Jesus and Mother Mary for everything today.

=) Deo volente, I hope everything will be alright.

and here's a beautiful representation of my heavenly patron, Saint Anne, bringing the Most Holy Virgin to the Temple. =)

As soon as she could walk, Mary was brought to the Temple by her holy parents, Joachim and Anne. With what an ecstasy of delight she must have entered into the Temple, crying out:

"How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts; my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord."

(Ps. LXXXIII. 2-3.)

-From the 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

How do I loathe the world, when I contemplate heaven!

(St. Ignatius Loyola.)

I thank Thee my dearest Lord for the most beautiful thing in this world - the Mass!

=) Ah, My Dearest Most Beautiful Lord, and He's yours too! =)

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis pecaata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

-------

Here's also a beautiful meditation written by Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri in his book, the Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ:

Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and behold King Solomon in his crown, wherewith his mother crowned him on the day of his espousals, and on the day of the joy of his heart. Cant. iii.II.

Go forth, ye souls redeemed, ye daughters of grace, go forth to see your gentle king, on the day of his death, the day of his joy, for thereon he made you his spouses, giving up his life upon the cross, crowned by the ungrateful synagogue, his mother, with a crown; not indeed one of honor, but one of suffering and shame: “Go forth,” says St. Bernard, “and behold your king in a crown of poverty and misery.”

O most beautiful of all mankind! O greatest of all monarchs! O most lovely of all spouses! To what a state do I see Thee reduced, covered with wounds and contempt! Thou art a spouse, but a spouse of blood: To me Thou art a spouse of blood. Exod. iv.25.; it being by means of Thy blood that Thou hast willed to espouse Thyself to our souls. Thou art a king, but a king of suffering and a king of love; it being by sufferings that Thou hast willed to gain our affections.

O most beloved spouse of my soul! Would that I were continually recalling to my mind how much Thou hast suffered for me, that so I might never cease to love and please Thee! Have compassion upon me, who have cost Thee so much. In requital for so many sufferings endured by Thee, Thou are content if I love Thee. Yes, I do love Thee, infinite loveliness, I love Thee above everything; yet it is but little that I love Thee. O my beloved Jesus! Give me more love, if Thou wouldst that I should love Thee more. I desire to have a very great love for Thee. So wretched a sinner as I am ought to have been burning in hell ever since the moment in which I first gravely offended Thee; but Thou hast borne with me even until this hour, because Thou dost not wish me to burn with that miserable fire, but with the blessed fire of Thy love. This thought, O God of my soul, sets me all in flame with the desire of doing all that I can to please Thee. Help me, O my Jesus; and since Thou hast done so much, complete the work, and make me wholly Thine.

-------

O Holy Virgin, My Mother, protect me, pray to Jesus for me.

Deo gratias et Mariae!

In manus tuas domine, commendo spiritum meum.

Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum cor tuum.

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee, Save Souls!