At the Visitation, Elizabeth greets Mary, as “Mother of my Lord” and “Blessed are you among women!” Why did God choose to reveal Mary’s motherhood of the Savior to Elizabeth?
Mary has many roles and titles: Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, Mother of Humanity, Refuge of Sinners. Do these roles complement or contradict each other? How so?
What are some forms of Marian devotion which we can practice in May?
May 4 2014, 7:32 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Tonight we will focus on devotion to Our Blessed Mother
Al: I would say devotion to Mary is at the top of my prayer list
Sister Susan Marie: Beautiful. Do you honor Mary under any of her specific titles?
Al: actually I usually call Her Mother
Sister Susan Marie: That’s the tenderest
Al: I feel that is who she is to me
Sister Susan Marie: Last year I had an interesting experience
Al: really?
Sister Susan Marie: Yes. I saw this book in the library- Our Lady of Good Counsel. Knew nothing about this
Sister Susan Marie: So I took it to read and discovered the miracle of this painting and the fact that our Brooklyn Monastery had had a special devotion to Mary under this aspect
Sister Susan Marie: When I asked the older Sisters about it they all remembered having a copy of this painting in their rooms
Sister Susan Marie: I found them, then, in the attic in a trunk!
Al: wow!
Sister Susan Marie: I felt Our Lady was asking me to pray to her for wisdom with the novitiate
Sister Susan Marie: So I put one in the novitiate and found the special prayer on line
Sister Susan Marie: Right now for May I am reading about Our Lady’s apparitions at Lourdes to St Bernadette:
Al there is a lot to read out there about Mary
Sister Susan Marie: Yes! Hello Guest 908
Al: I wonder if you all have heard of Mary undoer of Knots?
Guest908 (guest): She is close to me. Very real. I have the Marian book of hours.
Sister Susan Marie: Oh! We used to pray that but switched to the Divine Office
Sister Susan Marie: Yes Undoer of Knoyts- I have been praying that for my cousin
Al: I just heard of it
May 4 2014, 7:43 PM
Sister Susan Marie: The Holy Father’s favorite devotion, or one of them, is to Mary Undoer of Knots
Guest908 (guest): Yes it has the hours of the day but Its focus is Mary. It was complied by W Story
Guest908 (guest): You can get it at amazon.
Al: Sister, is it a novena? daily prayer?
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: thanks
Sister Susan Marie: Someone gave us prayer cards of that devotion- it is a daily prayer
Al: I see. i saw it unline and in a catholic magazine
Sister Susan Marie: I think it is said as a novena
Sister Susan Marie: http://www.theholyrosary.org/maryundoerknots
The Unfailing Novena of Mary Undoer of Knots
May 4 2014, 7:46 PM
Sister Susan Marie: You can find it there
Al: i always feel Mary answers my prayers and thank you for the link
Sister Susan Marie: Mary is truly our Mother- she never fails us
Sister Susan Marie: We always say in the Visitation that Mary makes a secret visitation to the heart of a woman called to be a Visitandine
Al: as a child I was closest to my earthly mother and now to Mary
7:48 PM
Guest908 (guest): She embraces us with a warmth and love that can not be described in human words
Al thats beautiful
Sister Susan Marie: Yes, you have spoken from experience,
Sister Susan Marie: I will never forget that in 1987 before I entered I really felt called by our Mother to go to Medjugorje, which I did
Al: thats wonderful
Sister Susan Marie: I so felt Blessed Mother’s presence and inspirations then
Guest908 (guest): Obedience to your call
Al: I always turn to her
May 4 2014, 7:52 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Some people follow the True Devotion to Mary consecration by St Louis de Montfort
Guest908 (guest): Sister SM your words and description are like magnets attesting to the truth of Mary’s love
Sister Susan Marie: She never lets us go! One of the most intimate relationships a postulant ever expressed to me was one she had with the Blessed Mother- so close that the postulant understood Mary to say that she was to say the word Mother in hebrew- something like Ima
PM
Al that is so awesome!
May 4 2014, 7:54 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Yes and it went straight to my heart when she would say that word Ima
Guest908 (guest): Humbling.
Sister Susan Marie: Do you honor Mary in a special way in May?
Sister Susan Marie: At the Monastery we have the May crowning with the children; many parishes used to do that- do they still?
Alt: i always think about it being Marys month but other than the rosary and an outdoor mass in her honor , i cant think of something special
I used to do it in Catholic school and we have done it with the religious ed kids here once,
Sister Susan Marie: I think it’s good for adults to ponder our Blessed Mother’s role in salvation history because it gives us a greater understanding of all she has done in cooperating with her Son Jesus
Sister Susan Marie: He would not be among us without her Yes
Al: thats the part that i love. I wish we knew more about her life with Jesus
Sister Susan Marie: Read Bl Catherine Emmerich’s works, very detailed
Al oh good! thank you
May 4 2014, 8:03 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Private revelation but seemingly accurate; thru them Mary’s House in Ephesus was discovered!
Sister Susan Marie: That’s a great book- I think it’s called Mary’sHouse- part religious, part archaeology
May 4 2014, 8:04 PM
Al: wow
J: she was some stunning end times prophecies also doesn’t she?
Sister Susan Marie: And some religious singer even wrote a song about it
Sister Susan Marie: Yes I believe there are prophecies by her- do you remember any?
Al: in the same book?
J: can’t remember exactly..just some real scary type stuff I think
Sister Susan Marie: http://www.catholictradition.org/Assumption/ephesus1.htm
Sister Susan Marie: That’s the discovery part I think
Sister Susan Marie: This is by way of prelude and background to the story of the finding of Mary’s House in modern times. This magnificent story would have to wait for the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich, who was the impetus to its finding. Before she died in 1824 the German poet, Clemens von Brentano, sat at her bedside over the course of her illness and recorded Anne Emmerich’s visions. But they would wait for another fifty years to be published. In fact, it was not until 1880 when a copy of Brentano’s work caught the attention of the French abbot, Fr. Julien Gouyet, who traveled to Ephesus by way of Smyrna, to find Our Lady’s house, which he did
Al: are there pictures?
Sister Susan Marie: [Link removed because website has been indicated to have malicious content, possibly do to a security breach. -editor]
Sister Susan Marie: tHOSE ARE SOME PROPHECIES. yES THERE ARE PICS TOO
Sister Susan Marie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLvGYLOTQwk
James Kilbane – Mary’s House, Our Lady of Ephesus. EWTN. – YouTube
Sister Susan Marie: That;s the touching song
May 4 2014, 8:11 PM
Al: Sister, you are speedy with the info! Thanks!
Sister Susan Marie: this one might have pics
Sister Susan Marie: Yes it does!
Alice Lewis-Eckardt: good! I need to see
Sister Susan Marie: Yes watch that version- you’ll see the location etc
Sister Susan Marie: Popes have gone there
Al: Hi Am. Great chat! Glad you are here
Sister Susan Marie: The other amazing story that I began with earlier was about Our Lady of Good Counsel- an icon that they say floated over the Mediterranean to land in generano Italy- I think I mentioned that once before too
Sister Susan Marie: Genezano
Sister Susan Marie: What local or regional shrines do you all know of for Our Blessed Mother? Here in NY, Long Island is Our Lady of the Island
Sister Susan Marie: Going to one is another way of Honoring Blessed Mother in May
Al: Our Lady of the Lakes here in Rangeley Lakes maine
May 4 2014, 8:19 PM
Sister Susan Marie: http://ourladyoftheisland.org/
Shrine of Our Lady of the Island > Home > Welcome
Am: Hi, I think I have heard of Our Lady of good counsel. By the way, where did Mary assume into heaven, Ephesus or Jerusalem? I know the Church of the dormition is in Jerusalem, but someone once told me if her house was in Ephesus, that’s probably where she died.
Sister Susan Marie: That is a bone of contention but the opinion is leaning toward Ephesus
14, 8:21 PM
J: Our Lady of Lebanon here
Am: Ah, I know, I had a little conversation about that with an Orthodox monk. I guess it’s believed that she got a vision that her death was nearing and went to Jerusalem. Gethsamane, actually,I think
Sister Susan Marie: Until Ephesus was discovered I think all thought it was Jerusalem. WE may never truly know!
Am: I guess we can ask when we see her one day
Al: i hope so Am
Sister Susan Marie: Has anyone ever been to Lourdes?
Am: not yet
Sister Susan Marie: Or Fatima?
Al: not i
Am: my parents went to both. My father loved Lourdes
Guest908 (guest): I look at the pictures and that carries me there.
Sister Susan Marie: I sent it a petition to Lourdes today for a Sister of ours who was diagnosed with cancer. That’s who called last Sunday when I was on chat and left. I visited her this week. She has a deep devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes
Ali: I think someone gave me a bottle of holy water from Lourdes
Sister Susan Marie: Last year one of our Georgetown Sisters went to Lourdes and saw miracles before her yes, conversions too
Sister Susan Marie: eyes
J: can you share a miracle she saw Sister?
Sister Susan Marie: http://visitationspirit.org/2013/05/visitandines-in-lourdes/
Visitandines in Lourdes | Visitation Spirit
May 4 2014, 8:28 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Yes, she saw a woman from her plane trip who could not walk able to walk, andan atheist husband who came to faith
Sister Susan Marie: http://visitationspirit.org/2013/05/visitandines-in-lourdes/
Visitandines in Lourdes | Visitation Spirit
Al: imagine that husband seeing a miracle
Sister Susan Marie: Here’s the Visitation in Lourdes: http://visitationspirit.org/2014/02/lourdes-and-the-visitation/
Lourdes and the Visitation | Visitation Spirit
Am: and how could one not love Bernadette. she’s incorrupt
Sister Susan Marie: Yes and we always show the movie to our children
Sister Susan Marie: Sr M Roberta is visiting her mom today; she is 95 years old! So she could not make the chat
Am: wonderful, 95! wow
Guest908 (guest): Goo night all and have a blessed week..
Sister Susan Marie: J we probably talked about this before but what distinguishes Our Lady of Lebanon shrine?
PM
J: It’s my local Shrine…Eastern Rite Catholic…Maronite…but mostly Roman Rite people visit there for most part. I love the place. Like crossing into heaven when I cross from the parking lot to the Shrine grounds8:34 PM
Sister Susan Marie: So there is a supernatural ambience?
J: absolutely Sister…I sometimes feel my soul lifted to heaven while there…latest being last Sunday…Special Divine Mercy feast there
Sister Susan Marie: Oh how blessed to be there!
Sister Susan Marie: They did the chaplet
J: I often HATE to leave the place…once I cross back into the parking lot to head home..I feel a let down knowing I am entering back into the world of the flesh where I am weak
Jim I: Confessions…Special speaker…Special DM Mass…Chaplet…Benediction…relic of Saint Faustina
May 4 2014, 8:37 PM
Sister Susan Marie: No overnight retreats there though I guess?
J: other than priestly type overnight retreats mostly day events
Sister Susan Marie: Seems to me Our Blessed Mother invites you there to strengthen you
J: The Assumption Feast is huge there. I love it…three day event..so kind of overnight retreat. Lebanese people come from all over country. Stay in hotels
May 4 2014, 8:38 PM
Sister Susan Marie: She can help you grow beyond your weakness and in any case loves you no matter what
May 4 2014, 8:39 PM
Sister Susan Marie: Wow! Sounds great Assumption is very special to me, birthday and Profession day!
J: yes…I often feel called to visit there..and usually leave with a high level of grace…palpable sense of it…it’s just that I always quickly resort back after a day or two
J it’s remarkable the difference inside when there and when not…always tells me I somehow need to have that environment around me more often
May 4 2014, 8:41 PM
Sister Susan Marie: That’s how Blessed Mother draws you back!
J: yes
J: it’s like I am two different people
J: while there I can’t imagine sinning the same way again
J: I actually lived there for a week but got spooked at night…some sort of anxiety…and moved out
Sister Susan Marie: It’s the battle of good vs evil
J: yes
Sister Susan Marie: If you were with someone who could have kept you there despite your fear- that would have been good- but sometimes we don’t have a friend like that
J: yeah, I often think that if I had stuck it out longer my life would have went in a much different way
May 4 2014, 8:44 PM
Sister Susan Marie: No regrets- God has His plans and believe me we have a hard time knowing them