Faith

Looking Closer at the Hail Mary: MARY

May 22, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard Leave a Comment

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

A reflection on the word “WORD”

By Barb Szyszkiewicz

How many of the contributors to this wonderful “Hail Mary one word at a time” project have mentioned a woman’s influence in their own devotion–usually a mother or grandmother? I haven’t counted, but it seems like there have been quite a few. Guess what: there’s one more.

Growing up, I spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s house. I loved to visit her and even remember telling her that when I grew up, I was going to move in! There was no doubt that her home was a Catholic home. “My” chair in the kitchen faced a picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, an image that to this day makes me think of my grandmother. After she died, I put a holy card with this image on my kitchen windowsill so that my kitchen, too, would be graced by the Blessed Mother.

My grandmother’s kitchen was the heart of her home, and not just because she made the world’s best potato salad and roast chicken there. More importantly, she did her praying there.

Through her example, she showed me the importance of being dedicated to daily prayer. She had an envelope full of holy cards with prayers and novenas on the back and would work through the entire stack daily. It was part of her routine; it was integral to her life. When one of us kids would come into the kitchen bursting with a story or a riddle to tell, she’d listen a moment and then quietly remind us, “I’m saying my prayers,” and we’d wander off and try to silently raid the candy dish until she finished. She didn’t yell at us to stop interrupting, no matter how many times we did.

Those quiet witnesses in the kitchen really stuck with me. My grandmother wove prayer into her daily life. What an example to set for her family!

It is in my own kitchen, not surprisingly, that I feel closest to Mary. It is there that I serve my family–just as Mary once served hers. It’s a place of work and a place of prayer.

–

Barb Szyszkiewicz is a wife, mom of three, Secular Franciscan, homemaker, and freelance writer who blogs at Franciscan Mom and Mom’s Fridge. She’s been a “virtual but real-life” friend in my life for many years now, and it’s a joy and pleasure to have her as part of this series!

image credit: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, provided by the author

Filed Under: Faith, guest post, Inspired by the Virgin Mary, Looking Closer at the Hail Mary Tagged With: Barb Szyszkiewicz, Catholic, Faith, guest post, Hail Mary, prayer, Virgin Mary

Looking for the Hail Mary Series?

May 20, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard Leave a Comment

I thought I was being all clever, linking each word at the beginning of each post in the Looking Closer at the Hail Mary series, but as a service to you, dear reader, here is a round-up of what we’ve covered so far. When we’re finished, I’ll do a wrap-up post and link to everything again, too.

Click on the highlighted words to go to the associated post. As you can see, we’re just past the halfway mark. New posts go live on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 AM Eastern.

Filed Under: Looking Closer at the Hail Mary Tagged With: Faith, Hail Mary, Virgin Mary

Planting Seeds

May 17, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard Leave a Comment

I like to think I have some powers of persuasion, that I am good with words. But still, the fact remains: I have never succeeded in converting another person.

A few years ago, I nearly severed a close friendship in my enthusiasm and zeal over Theology of the Body and Church teaching on contraception.

Conversion isn’t something I have any power over. I have to remind myself, sometimes hourly, that my job is that of a farmer: I plant seeds. I sow prayers.

I continue to be terrified by the call to the New Evangelization. What good can I do? I wonder if God really picked an instrument that can do any good.

Join me over at New Evangelizers for the rest.

Filed Under: Faith, writing Tagged With: conversion, evangelization, Faith, New Evangelization, New Evangelizers

Looking Closer at the Hail Mary: HOLY

May 17, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard 1 Comment

A reflection on the word “HOLY”

By Karina Fabian

I have a lot of friends, especially through Facebook, the Catholic Writers Guild, and other groups, who don’t hesitate to ask for prayers for themselves or for those they know. And I have just as many who are glad to say prayers for me or my family and friends times of need.

Prayer does more than send a message to God; it gives us comfort, even if it’s just the comfort of knowing someone is laying our aching hearts in God’s tender hands.

Yet there is something special about asking Mary to pray for us, and it comes down to that word: Holy.

Mary was a woman like any woman and at the same time, something more. God chose her, and in her beautiful, holy sacrifice of bearing His son, she chose Him in a way no other woman can. She shares an ineffable closeness with the Trinity: handmaid of the Father, vessel of the Spirit, mother of the Son. Her being and her actions brought her to holiness.

When Mary prays for us, she is more than offering comfort or sending a message to our Lord. She is also holding our hearts in her hands, the same hands that caressed Jesus’ brow and comforted him as a baby. She is pressing them upon Him as a parent might give a child something precious and alive to hold. She loves with a heart big enough to embrace the world because becoming the Mother of God gave her that ability.

Mary is not god or a goddess, as some people claim we Catholics think. But she is something more than woman, more than a saint.

She is holy.

–

Karina Fabian is an acclaimed author of a number of books and can be found blogging at “Rocket Science for the Rest of Us” and at “Fabianspace.” She’s a founding member of the Catholic Writers Guild and to call me a fangirl is not an exaggeration. Karina is truly as awesome in person as the characters she crafts.

image credit: MorgueFile

Filed Under: Faith, guest post, Inspired by the Virgin Mary, Looking Closer at the Hail Mary Tagged With: Catholic, Faith, guest post, Hail Mary, Karina Fabian, prayer, Virgin Mary

Looking Closer at the Hail Mary: JESUS

May 15, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard 1 Comment

A reflection on the word “JESUS”

By Walt Staples

In reciting the “Hail Mary,” at the end of the second line, one comes to the Word which is the point of the whole exercise, “Jesus.”

This fruit of Mary’s womb smiles back at me from the arms of the Bavarian Virgin on my desk as she dances with her child, just as I’ve watched my wife dance with our children when they were babes.

But who is this Jesus?

Is He the Victorian Jesus who appears to say, “There, there,” and seems to be trying to reassure the comfortable? Is He the angry rebel Jesus of the the Jackson Browne song who appears to snarl at these same comfortable? Is He the confused, swept away Jesus of Anderew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s depiction on Broadway?

Is He the deeply-moved Jesus, with His arms thrown around one of the faithful who made it to that reward above all others, in the painting that draws sneers from the super cool? Is He the tired, smelly, wood shaving covered workman at the end of a long day as suggested by one thoughtful priest? Is He the friendly, fun to be around guest at the marriage feast as shown by the pen and ink drawing known as the “Laughing Christ?”

Is He the wise rabbi who is sharp with those who know better but gentle with those who don’t? Is He the agonized, bleeding man suffering because of the sins each of us commit with little thought, that is represented by a Spanish bust? Is He the baby smiling at me as His mother gayly dances barefoot with Him on my desk?

Perhaps He is all of these. Man is a finite creature attempting to get his or her head around the Infinite. We are only able to catch facets of this visible part of the Trinity at the best of times; not because He keeps Himself hidden from us but, rather, because of our own limitations.

H.G. Wells used the simile of a fox attempting to understand a steam locomotive in his book, War of the Worlds. We often seem in the same position in trying to understand the Infinite. But, unlike Wells’ fox, we have something going for us; we are God’s children—He tells us so quite often. And like children, we have the capacity to learn as we mature. This holds out the hope that when we each finally meet up with Jesus—some by direct route, most via Purgatory—we’ll understand a lot more.

–

Walt sent me this contribution shortly after I asked him if he would be interested in participating in this project. He passed away in mid-March, and I hope he has found his direct route to find the answer for himself as to which Jesus it is.

image credit: MorgueFile

Filed Under: Faith, guest post, Inspired by the Virgin Mary, Looking Closer at the Hail Mary Tagged With: Catholic, Faith, guest post, Hail Mary, prayer, Virgin Mary, Walt Staples

Looking Closer at the Hail Mary: WOMB

May 10, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard 2 Comments

A reflection on the word “WOMB”

By Kevin Lowry

Womb. What a great word. Of course, we don’t actually use the word much anymore. It’s a “uterus” or worse, an “oven” (as in, she’s got a bun in the oven).

What a happy absurdity for a guy to write a guest post on the word womb. Never had one, never will. Why would anyone, let alone Sarah’s scholarettes and esteemed blog followers, give a rip about what I have to say? The word womb itself has esoteric connotations… for a man, writing about the womb is like trying to write about the joys of shopping, or why crying can be a good thing, or why women go to the bathroom at the same time when they’re together at a restaurant. We don’t get it at all.

Yet here’s what impresses me about the womb in the context of the Hail Mary. In a very practical, concrete sense (that even a guy can grasp), Mary’s assent to the angel at the annunciation gave God a big thumbs-up to change her from within. Of course, this would be manifested externally soon enough, and Mary was certainly aware of the possible ramifications. But she said yes anyway.

In my conversion to the Church, the thing that first caught my attention was the teaching on artificial birth control. At the time, I was Presbyterian, and the topic was a non-issue. After questioning (at some length) what substances my classmates at Franciscan University were inhaling or otherwise ingesting, I had to listen. At least well enough to pass the class. Sex has something to do with babies? Actions have consequences? Responsibility? It was all quite appalling.

Later, some guy named Scott Hahn gave me a rosary. I had no idea what it was. But there I was, and I had the audacity and lack of judgment to use it. What was I thinking?

You know where this all leads – my wife and I faced the inevitable, and entered the Church. We have eight kids.

Wouldn’t you know it, twenty years later, I still don’t fully understand the Hail Mary – but it’s my favorite prayer. And I know one thing – without the women in my life who opened their wombs out of love, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Or I wouldn’t be at all.

I’m a rather obtuse guy, for sure, but also one who wants more than anything to give God a thumbs up to change me from within – not via a womb, of course, but in my interior, spiritual life. To be more like the next word in the Hail Mary – the Word Incarnate Himself. Jesus.

–

Kevin Lowry is an enthusiastic Catholic, husband, father, and serves as Chief Operating Officer of the Coming Home Network International. His first book, Faith at Work: Finding Purpose Beyond the Paycheck, was just released by Our Sunday Visitor. Kevin’s website and blog can be found at Grateful Convert. He’s also an Ohio resident, which makes him a rockin’ awesome guy.

image credit: MorgueFile

Filed Under: Faith, guest post, Inspired by the Virgin Mary, Looking Closer at the Hail Mary Tagged With: Catholic, Faith, guest post, Hail Mary, Kevin Lowry, prayer, Virgin Mary

Looking Closer at the Hail Mary: THY

May 8, 2012 By Sarah Reinhard 2 Comments

A reflection on the word “THY”

By Dorian Speed

What’s so special about Mary, huh?

That’s what “THY” provokes in me – a memory of myself as the pettiest of teacher’s pets, grousing in my room about why Mary gets all the attention. What about ME? I am in the green group for reading, and I can play three hymns on the piano, and I always get chosen to write names on the board when the teacher is out of the room. Why should Mary get all this attention?

I’m happy to report this memory dates back to 1981, but I must admit I still struggle with the same sins – pride, jealousy, selfishness. And though I’ve matured a bit since first grade, I do still find Mary a bit of a mystery. My affection for her has grown, particularly since becoming a mother myself. At the same time, I understand why some find Marian devotion baffling at best.

So what is so special about Mary? It comes down to two words - fiat and magnificat.

Fiat - “let it be done.” She lived her life in perfect unity with the will of God. This is so difficult for me to wrap my mind around – to imagine myself at the foot of the cross, not lashing out at the crowd, but offering up a heart pierced by a sword. I can’t understand her forgiveness, and I can’t understand her humility, but I can look to her as a model of both.

Magnificat - from Magnificat anima mea Dominum - “my soul declares the greatness of the Lord.” She held nothing back – no hidden corner of her soul where she kept her List of Grudges, no gloating over her perfection. And because she devoted her entire being to God, her life was a reflection of His glory.

Every once in a blue moon, I understand what this means – my soul rejoices in the glory of God. Triggers include: sweet baby kisses, tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes, a gap-toothed grin on a face full of freckles. And I see that my soul is proclaiming the glory of the Lord not because I did something super-amazing, but because I am allowing myself to cooperate fully with Him at that moment.

This, then, is what makes Mary unique, and if I can take my mind off myself long enough to contemplate her fullness of grace, perhaps I can bring a little more fiat and magnificat into my own life.

–

Dorian Speed is a writer and web designer who blogs about culture, family, faith and random craft projects at Scrutinies.net. She’s also the genius behind the design of my blog, so if you’re reading this in a feed reader, do take a moment to click through and admire her handiwork.

image credit: MorgueFile