A Bits and Pieces Mary Monday

It’s hard for me to have a favorite apparition of Mary – as I went from marveling at the “basic Mary” (Mother of God, I suppose) when I first became Catholic, to hearing the different titles and stories associated with different areas, I found myself finding something special – something to relate with – in each one.

I don’t remember when I first learned about Our Lady of Guadalupe. Maybe it was when I became pregnant with my oldest daughter that it clicked that this image of Mary is pregnant. Maybe it was when our parish became home to one of a handful of images that had been touched to the original tilma of Juan Diego that I realized how this depiction of Mary seemed to look at me, to reach out to me, to embrace my fears and struggles.

Guadalupe shirt BlackWhite In honor of her feast day on Saturday, Becky, of the great new Cafe Press shop The Whole Wide Room, has offered to give away one of her Our Lady of Guadalupe shirts. This is a shirt that’s been on my wish list since I first saw it (and I think, working in a parish office, that I could wear it to work, don’t you?). You get to pick the color of the sleeves, the size, the shipping address.

You have until Saturday night to leave a comment here, and then we’ll pick a random winner.

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Share your favorite Marian apparition and/or title in the comments, while you’re there in the combox. I’m working on my writing schedules for next year, and I’d love to write about something YOU are interested in learning more about.

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I’d be remiss not to mention last week’s Catholic Moments podcast, where I share about Mary’s title “Cause of Our Joy” and Lisa shares great information about the great-looking new movie The 13th Day, which is about the Marian apparitions in Fatima, Portugal.

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This week is a heavily Marian week…tomorrow is the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and I’m reflecting on that over at Today’s Catholic Woman and at CatholicMom.com. They’re very different approaches to the title, and I hope they will help you, especially if, like me, you find yourself floundering a bit with this concept and title.

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With that, I encourage you to leave a comment to win one of Becky’s lovely shirts and enjoy this week of Mary!

Erin M.

One of my favorite Marian apparitions is Our Lady of Knock (maybe because it’s the only Marian shrine I’ve been visited!). I think I like this apparition so much because Mary just appeared; she didn’t have a spoken message. She was just there for three hours while 14 witnesses prayed near her. It’s a very simple, comforting apparition.
http://amongstlovelythings.blogspot.com Sarah @ Amongst Lovely Things

Our Lady of Guadalupe is my favorite feast day of the year- I just love it!
http://drawntocatholicism.com/blog/ Owen

Golly, can’t pass this up. Thanks. The Bishop is coming this week to our parish for the special mass – even though here in Canada, it is not solemnity.
http://www.youngliving.org/jlsantini Jodi Santini

Well written, as usual. You remain my inspiration!
Mark

Our Lady of Guadelupe is a favorite of mine for a number of reasons. First, our parish is expanding with more and more Hispanic members and they have brought a lively devotion to Mary in this imgae to our great benefit. Second, it is the only case where she has left us a picture of herself! How wonderful to have your mother’s picture to take with you. Thanks, Sarah!
Terri

I would gladly and humbly accept any gift with the image of the Mother of God on it.
http://colleenspiro.blogspot.com colleen

Sarah, thanks for this opportunity to possibly win such a gift. Our Lady of Guadalupe is my favorite. My second favorite (just in case you want to know) is Our Lady of Lourdes. God bless! And of I win, I am going to wear it to the parish office too!
http://catholicmommybrain.com Anne

I would love this! I’ve really gotten to know Mary this past year, and Our Lady of Guadalupe has become one of my favorite titles. We just visited the shrine in Wisconsin, and it is absolutely wonderful. Thanks for the chance!
Angelene Shewfelt

Wow the colors on the shirt are so life like. Thank you for your message it inspires young people like me!
http://acts17verse28.blogspot.com/ NCSue

Have you heard of Our Lady of the Chain? See http://acts17verse28.blogspot.com/2009/11/our-lady-of-chain.html. It’s a neat and little-known devotion.
http://catholicfire.blogspot.com/ Jean

Sarah,

OOOOOH! Yes, I love it! I have wanted one of these for such a long time. I pray daily for the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There are a zillion places I can see myself wearing this shirt, if my dh doesn’t steal it from me (ha!) — he’s a great fan of Our Lady of Guadalupe, too.

Thanks for offering this!

Happy feast day of The Immaculate Conception!

God bless you!
Robert Okraszewski

Being of Polish decent my devotion leans toward Our Lady of Czestochowa.
But if you really want to know of my favorite Marian Apparition it would be of Our Lady as she kneels at the foot of the altar of every mass celebrated each and everyday around the world.
At the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass where else would you expect the Mother of God to be but forever at the side of her Son as he gives Himself to us as Victum and Priest.
Just think of that…Mary appears at every mass you participate in whether you “see” her or not!!!
- http://battlebeads.com AncientSoul
  
  VERY nicely said My dear mother was 100% Polish and brought me up with a lively Faith, thank God
http://thankevann.com/homeschoolgoodies Evann

Yes indeed, Sarah, you know I love Our Lady of Guadalupe!
http://www.patriceegging.com Patrice

Hi Sarah. Our Diocese’s patron is Our Lady of Guadalupe. They have a beautiful chapel dedicated to her at the Cathedral in Dodge City.
http://romancatholicheroes.blogspot.com/ Dolorosa

I love all the approved apparitions of Our Blessed Mother and especially Our Lady of Fatima & Our Lady of Guadalupe. May Her Immaculate Heart triumph throughout the whole world!
Paty

As a child, my family lived in Mexico. My grandfather and my father were the proud owners of cotton farm. Every December 11-12, my father would hold a mass for our Lady at the cotton gin. His employees and my extended family always attended. Our Lady of Guadalupe has has an impact most of my life but most recently in the last years
Ever since I was a child her feast day has been special to me. It has reminded me of my roots, my father, my childhood. In 1990, I received as a gift from my God Mother a picture for my home of our Lady. I was so happy and I cherish that print in my home for many years (19 to be exact).
This year I decided to facilitate a Mom’s group at our church and on one of our last meetings we had a “special gifts exchange” . We had to give a gift from the heart. We could not go out and buy something but we had to bring something from our home that we would be willing to part and we were suppose to pray about it so that the Holy Spirit could guide us on what to give (we also did not know who would receive this gift). My first inclination was to give a beautiful Rosary that I had but something kept pointing at this special picture that I had received from years ago. I kept praying and praying for guidance and my prayers kept turning at my picture of the Blessed Mother. I ended up giving it away. It was hard to do because I was afraid that it might go to someone in the group who might not appreciate the sentimental value that this picture had, or that they might not appreciate the value of Our Blessed Mother. I wanted to keep it for my self but I knew it the right thing to do was to give it away. So I did, to my amazement the mom that ended up receiving my gift LOVED it and she had gone through RCIA in the last few years. She had been a little skeptical or intimated by the notion of the Blessed Mother but she had began praying the Rosary. She felt touched by the gift and she knew that it was a message (a sign) for her that she was on the right path. She was so happy with her new gift
As for me I did not mention any of this to my husband and a few months later my husband surprised me with gorgeous painting of the Blessed Mother of Guadalupe- It was then that I knew that our Blessed Mother knew all along and she had a plan for me. This was certainly a grace filled moment. As a Mother I feel she can certainly relate to me in so many way- I just LOVE her!
http://battlebeads.com AncientSoul

No matter the apparition, Our Lady is the most gentle, loving and compassionate human that walked the earth. 100% human that is … The way she heart broke for the couple at Cana that prompted Jesus to begin His ministry is my favorite story … VERY hard for me to pick an apparition. But with Guadalupe, I always felt it was so warm and loving of her to produce the flowers for the priest …. I can almost see her with the gentle smile, eyes full of love and a gently lilt of affectionate laughter as she watched his reaction. Our dear Mother is truly present with us and oh so human in her attempts to lead us in the right direction (towards Jesus always) and in her loving compassion for our needs. Our glorious Triune God has given us so very many gifts … how often we take them for granted, or worse yet, not recognize them!
http://http//new.catholicmom.com Lisa Hendey

Cool shirt dude – I’d love to win it! Honestly, my favorite Marian title is “Queen of Peace” – I invoke her in that capacity numerous times a day. But in so many ways, and especially on a day like today, she is “Mother”. Thank you for helping so many of us to draw closer to her through your gifts!