Catholic Caucus: Mary, The Power of Her Name [The Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary]

Holy Wounds Apostolate ^ | unknown | Holy Wounds Apostolate

[Salvation]

The Holy Name of

Mary The Power of Her Name By St. Alphonsus de Liguori

	Richard of St. Laurence states "there is not such powerful help in any name, nor is there any other name given to men, after that of Jesus, from which so much salvation is poured forth upon men as from the name of Mary." He continues, "that the devout invocation of this sweet and holy name leads to the acquisition of superabundant graces in this life, and a very high degree of glory in the next."    After the most sacred name of Jesus, the name of Mary is so rich in every good thing, that on earth and in heaven there is no other from which devout souls receive so much grace, hope, and sweetness.    Hence Richard of St. Laurence encourages sinners to have recourse to this great name," because it alone will suffice to cure them of all their evils; and "there is no disorder, however malignant, that does not immediately yield to the power of the name of Mary." The Blessed Raymond Jordano says, "that however hardened and diffident a heart may be, the name of this most Blessed Virgin has such efficacy, that if it is only pronounced that heart will be wonderfully softened." Moreover, it is well known, and is daily experienced by the clients of Mary, that her powerful name gives the particular strength necessary to overcome temptations against purity.    In fine, "thy name, 0 Mother of God, is filled with divine graces and blessings," as St. Methodius says. So much so, that St. Bonaventure declares, "that thy name, 0 Mary, cannot be pronounced without bringing some grace to him who does so devoutly.". . grant, 0 Lady, that we may often remember to name thee with love and confidence; for this practice either shows the possession of divine grace, or else is a pledge that we shall soon recover it.    On the other hand, Thomas a Kempis affirms "that the devils fear the Queen of heaven to such a degree, that only on hearing her great name pronounced, they fly from him who does so as from a burning fire." The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget "that there is not on earth a sinner, however devoid he may be of the love of God, from whom the devil is not obliged immediately to fly, if he invokes her holy name with a determination to repent." On another occasion she repeated the same thing to the saint, saying, "that all the devils venerate and fear her name to such a degree, that on hearing it they immediately loosen the claws with which they hold the soul captive." Our Blessed Lady also told St. Bridget, "that in the same way as the rebel angels fly from sinners who invoke the name of Mary, so also do the good angels approach nearer to just souls who pronounce her name with devotion." Promises    Consoling indeed are the promises of help made by Jesus Christ to those who have devotion to the name of Mary; for one day in the hearing of St. Bridget, He promised His most holy Mother that He would grant three special graces to those who invoke that holy name with confidence: first, that He would grant them perfect sorrow for their sins; secondly, that their crimes should be atoned for; and, thirdly, that He would give them strength to attain perfection, and at length the glory of paradise. And then our Divine Savior added: "For thy words, 0 My Mother, are so sweet and agreeable to Me, that I cannot deny what thou askest."    St. Ephrem goes so far as to say, "that the name of Mary is the key of the gates of heaven," in the hands of those who devoutly invoke it. And thus it is not without reason that St. Bonaventure says "that Mary is the salvation of all who call upon her." "0 most sweet name! 0 Mary, what must thou thyself be, since thy name alone is thus amiable and gracious," exclaims Blessed Henry Suso.    Let us, therefore, always take advantage of the beautiful advice given us by St. Bernard, in these words: "In dangers, in perplexities, in doubtful cases, think of Mary, call on Mary; let her not leave thy lips; let her not depart from thy heart." Names of Jesus and Mary    In every danger of forfeiting divine grace, we should think of Mary, and invoke her name, together with that of Jesus; FOR THESE TWO NAMES ALWAYS GO TOGETHER. 0, then, never let us permit these two most sweet names to leave our hearts, or be off our lips; for they will give us strength not only not to yield, but to conquer all our temptations.    "The invocation of the sacred names of Jesus and Mary," says Thomas a Kempis, "is a short prayer which is as sweet to the mind, and as powerful to protect those who use it against the enemies of their salvation, as it is easy to remember." Hour of Death    Thus we see that the most holy name of Mary is sweet indeed to her clients during life, on account of the very great graces that she obtains for them. But sweeter still will it be to them in death, on account of the tranquil and holy end that it will insure them.    Let us then, 0 devout reader, beg God to grant us, that at death the name of Mary may be the last word on our lips. This was the prayer of St. Germanus: "May the last movement of my tongue be to pronounce the name of the Mother of God;" 0 sweet, 0 safe is that death which is accompanied and protected by so saying a name; for God only grants the grace of invoking it to those whom He is about to save.    Father Sertorius Caputo, of the Society of Jesus, exhorted all who assist the dying frequently to pronounce the name of Mary; for this name of life and hope, when repeated at the hour of death, suffices to put the devils to flight, and to comfort such persons in their sufferings.    "Blessed is the man who loves thy name, 0 Mary" exclaims St. Bonaventure. "Yes, truly blessed is he who loves thy sweet name, 0 Mother of God! for," he continues, "thy name is so glorious and admirable, that no one who remembers it has any fears at the hour of death." Such is its power, that none of those who invoke it at the hour of death fear the assaults of their enemies.    St. Camillus de Lellis urged the members of his community to remind the dying often to utter the holy names of Jesus and Mary. Such was his custom when assisting people in their last hour.    Oh, that we may end our lives as did the Capuchin Father, Fulgentius of Ascoli, who expired singing, "0 Mary, 0 Mary, the most beautiful of creatures! let us depart together."     Let us conclude with the tender prayer of St. Bonaventure:    "I ask thee, 0 Mary, for the glory of thy name, to come and meet my soul when it is departing from this world, and to take it in thine arms." Copies of “MARY THE POWER OF HER NAME” available in leaflet form from: Holy Wounds Apostolate, Inc.

[murphE]

Still, loving my neighbor does not mean I have to love his gods.

No one suggested that you should. This is a straw man.

[NormB]

And why should I love Mary more than you, as a fellow believer? Unless she is a goddess, she's not here, and you are. As is my own aging mother. You still haven't dealt with the demonism surrounding the cult of the BVM.

Great point. In order to define whether or not RCC worships Mary we need to establish a definition for worship, and I think the point you made above sets the framework of it. This idead that somehow you Love Mary more than what, say your own mother? Do you venerate her more than your own mother? Is it a sin to love your mother more than mary? We are told that we need to love God above all others, that makes him God in our lives, but do we really need to love Mary anymore than our own loved ones?

[NormB]

I have a world of respect for the woman Mary -- and condign loathing for the demon who masquerades as Mary from time to time to lead folks away from God.

Interesting how Christ made it clear that God didn't play favorites. Mary being just another person who obeyed God. As for the visions of Mary, they are definately satanic. Anybody who doesn't see that is totally deceived.

[murphE]

Interesting how Christ made it clear that God didn't play favorites.

Interesting how some people who place the word "clear" before a statement think that automatically makes their statement true.

As for the visions of Mary, they are definately satanic.

Which specific visions of Mary do you mean? The Church dose not claim that all of them are supernatural, which by default would mean that some may be preternatural or human hoaxes.

And again like using the word "clear" using "definitely" assumes some sort of authority or infallibility in the speaker of the statement.

[murphE]

In order to define whether or not RCC worships Mary we need to establish a definition for worship

Ah, some wisdom here. Define worship.

[Claud]

Could you comment on my observations regarding Joseph?

There are degrees of veneration. The Virgin deserves the highest dulia--not St. Joseph--because St. Joseph did not bear God within him. Our Lady housed the divine Lord, the creator of heaven and earth in her womb for 9 months. Also, Christ took nothing from Joseph in the flesh because he was not Christ's biological father. But Mary was Christ's biological mother. Scripturally as well, we don't see anything like Revelation 12 that could be applied to Joseph. And historically/liturgically, it has always been the case in the Church of East and West since the early centuries that the Theotokos "the Godbearer" was regarded as the new Eve, the Ark of the Covenant, and her feast days were held in higher estimation than those of her earthly spouse.

[Claud]

I'm not Catholic (Southern Baptist) but I did have several years of classical and medieval Latin and can confirm Claud is basically correct.

Salve, Heatseeker! Thanks for the clarification.

I don't mind clarifying a theological position, even if it is frustrating sometimes. But you're right, when "under God" is being struck out of our Pledge, time to close ranks and fight the real Enemy, the liar and murderer from the beginning.

Laudate Dominum Omnes Gentes, Laudate eum Omnes Populi

[annalex]

Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.

Inability to honor and venerate Blessed Mary is a serious spiritual defect in you, particularly as men. Not only does it turn you away from her Son, it makes you worse husbands and sons in the world. My sincere recommendation to you three is to spend some time in prayer and worry less how other, better advanced through the merits of their infallible Catholic Church, Christians praise God and His creation.

If you have a question on how to become better men, please ask.

[Claud]

Up to the point where the dragon pursues the woman ... and so on ..., a case can be made for the vision being one of Mary. However, the first portion of the vision can also represent Israel (the twelve crowns representing the twelve tribes), ... which birthed the Christ. And the latter portion of the vision is much more attuned to the persecution which has been Israel's. Mary had nothing in her life which corelates with the latter part of the vision.

A fair comment. This passage, like many in Revelation, eludes easy identification. Some Catholic commentaries I have expressly deny that it even refers to Mary (although I think their reason for doing so isn't quite accurate). So there's room for opinion here.

For my purposes here, it's enough to say that Rev 12 is a fairly clear reference to Israel/Church as a heavenly queen, and insofar as that heavenly queen gave birth to Christ, it could invite identification with Mary. How does that sound?

[biblewonk]

Inability to honor and venerate Blessed Mary is a serious spiritual defect in you, particularly as men.

Because you say so? It certainly doesn't say or imply that in the bible.

Not only does it turn you away from her Son, it makes you worse husbands and sons in the world.

Because you say so? It certainly doesn't say anything like this in the bible. You are into pure rationalization mode here. You might as well start dissing the bible because it disses women in so many ways.

[Claud]

I can only love her as a fellow sister in Christ. She is not my spiritual mother as she was not Christ's spiritual mother, she had no spiritual authority over Christ

Christ was God. Christ didn't need a spiritual mother. His humanity needed an earthly mother. You, on the other hand, are not God. You, and I, could use a spiritual mother. And who did Christ give his mother to at the foot of the Cross? Was he named? No. But what was he called? "The disciple." Are you not a disciple?

There is not one of us worthy of God, no, not one...not even mary

On that you're right in one sense. But there's two ways to be saved from the pit of sin, my friend. There's the common way, which is to be pulled out of the hole. And then there's the less common way, which is to be stopped from ever falling in.

It is patently obvious, and Biblical, that Mary needed a redeemer like we all did. However, Mary's redemption was effected differently. The angel hailed her (when does an angel hail anyone?) and called her "full of grace". Do you have any idea what "full of grace" means? What that long Greek word in the Aorist--signifiying a completed, finished action of God's grace in the soul--what that means in terms of a soul?

[TomSmedley]

Inability to honor and venerate Blessed Mary is a serious spiritual defect in you, particularly as men. Not only does it turn you away from her Son, it makes you worse husbands and sons in the world.

My undiluted, unadulterated, undistracted love for God is a spiritual defect? My refusal to be a spiritual momma's boy makes me less of a man? Why is it, then, that the places where the cult of the BVM is strongest are also the places where sex roles are distorted? Latin American Machismo, for example, lets the man get away with all kinds of childish and abusive behavior, while the woman holds the purse strings. Don't you understand that your efforts to move a supplemental deity into the part of my consciousness reserved for God is sin?

[NormB]

Worship of another God than the most high is a serious spiritual defect in you. Not only does it turn you away from his son, it makes you a worse husband and son in the world. My sincere recommendation to you is to spend some time in prayer to God and worry less how other, better advanced through the merits of Christ's singular work of atonement, Christians praise God INSTEAD of his creation.

If you have a question on how to become a true Christian and not a Cult of Mary apostate, please ask.

[Pyro7480]

If you have a question on how to become a true Christian and not a Cult of Mary apostate, please ask

That's awfully presumptious of you.

[NormB]

More sarcasm, friend, read annalex's message I was responding to. He is the presumptuous one I was mocking.

If he thinks bold arrogance will help his vain arguments he is a fool.

[Pyro7480]

I hadn't seen his post when I posted my response.

[annalex]

Understand that in order to learn to love you need to love more, not less. If it so happens that your love for your mother takes away from your love for Christ, you need to pratice Christian love.

This is a simple spiritual exercise for you three. Get a Crucifix, -- not an empty cross, a Cricifix, -- and put it in your bedroom. Every now and then, look at it.

This will put you at the foot of the Cross, and in the same position Mary and John stood.

This is an icon that explains the relationship very well:

[ScubieNuc]

The angel hailed her (when does an angel hail anyone?) and called her "full of grace". Do you have any idea what "full of grace" means?

The only verse that I find that has the phrase "full of grace", is John 1:14

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

I think the verse you want is this:

Luk 1:28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, [thou that art] highly favoured, the Lord [is] with thee: blessed [art] thou among women.

There is a big difference between the two!

[Pyro7480]

Luk 1:28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, [thou that art] highly favoured

Bad translation!