Monday, September 8 : Saint Theodore the Studite

Nothing was ever as close to God as the blessed and all-wonderful Virgin Mary. What could be purer? What could be more blameless? She was so passionately loved by God, the supreme and infinitely pure light, that He mingled substantially with her through the influx of the Holy Spirit and was born of her, a perfect man, while retaining His own immutable and unadulterated nature. How marvelous! In His immense love for mankind, God did not blush to take as His mother the one who was His servant. What condescension! In His infinite goodness, He did not hesitate to become the child of the one who had Himself fashioned her. He was truly enamored of the most gracious of His creatures, and He seized the one who was worth more than the powers of heaven. It is to her that the words of the prophet Zechariah apply: “Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion, for behold, I come to dwell in your midst, says the Lord” (Zechariah 2:14). (…) “Rejoice, house of the Lord, land on which God has trodden. You who have contained in your flesh the one whose divinity overflows all places. From you, the One who is simplicity itself took on the complex nature of man; the Eternal One entered into time and infinity into limits. “Rejoice, full of grace” (Luke 1:28): your work and your name are more joyful than any joy. From you came immortal joy, Christ, the remedy for human sorrow. Rejoice, paradise happier than the Garden of Eden, where all virtue sprouted and the tree of Life grew.” and that all we need is a little good will to obtain it.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team