August 05 2025 - St. Mary Major - Entrusting ourselves to Our Lady

 

Typically the Church’s Liturgical Calendar calls for the celebration of a holy person, but today we celebrate the dedication of a holy place: St. Mary Major, one of Rome’s four principal basilicas.  The others are St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul outside the Walls.

The basilica is the largest Marian church in the world.  It stands atop one of Rome’s seven hills, and despite many restorations, still has the character of an early Roman basilica, containing ancient mosaics and a breathtaking shrine containing the relics of the crib of Bethlehem.

The basilica is of particular importance to the Christians of Rome, for it contains the ancient and venerated image of Mary, the Salus Populi Romani, depicting the Blessed Virgin as the help and protectress of the Roman People.

According to legend, this image of Our Lady holding the Christ child, was painted by the St. Luke. The story goes that after the crucifixion, the pious women of Jerusalem urged St. Luke to visit Mary in the home of John the Apostle to memorialize her image. While he painted, the Mother of Jesus spoke of the life of her son. This explains how St. Luke’s Gospel contains the all those marvelous stories from prior to the birth of Jesus. St. Luke brought the painting back to Jerusalem where it remained until it was discovered by Saint Helen in the 4th century

Holy Father Pope Francis would visit this image of Our Lady before and after his apostolic journeys. In his last will and testament, the late Holy Father wrote, “I wish my last earthly journey to end at this very ancient Marian shrine where I would go to pray at the beginning and end of each apostolic journey to confidently entrust my intentions to the Immaculate Mother and to thank her for the docile and maternal care.” And so, according to his wishes, it is now where Francis’ remains are laid to rest.

Customarily, the pope celebrates Mass at Mary Major each year on the feast of the Assumption of Mary, Aug. 15. So Pope Leo will be celebrating at Mary Major on the upcoming Holy Day.

The Church universal calls upon our Lady today who we delight in honoring in statutes, shrines, churches, paintings, sculptures, medals, basilicas, and even naming our children after her. Like the late Holy Father, we do well to turn to her image or at least call upon her before and after our endeavors. In doing so, we give glory to God, we entrust ourselves to our spiritual Mother’s maternal care, and we seek her aid in living out our Christian duties, particular vocations, and apostolates, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church, our Holy Mother: That she may continue to nurture and guide the faithful through her teachings and sacraments, bearing Christ to the world in word and deed. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those who feel distant from the Church: That they may experience anew the maternal love of Mary and the Church, finding their way back to the family of faith. Let us pray to the Lord.

For vocations to the priesthood and religious life: That many may respond generously to God's call to serve as instruments of His love and mercy within Mother Church. Let us pray to the Lord.

That all government leaders may be awakened to the supreme dignity of every human life, and that all people of our nation may work together for an end to the culture of death.

That members of the Church may be attentive to the needs of those who suffer, and that sick and the poor may be open to the merciful grace of God.

For the deceased members of our families and parishes, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, and for N., for whom this Mass is offered.

We pray, O Lord our God, that the Virgin Mary, who merited to bear God and man in her chaste womb, may commend the prayers of your faithful in your sight. Through Christ our Lord.

 

 

August 5 2024 - Dedication of St. Mary Major Basilica - Holy Mother Church

 In the Gospel for this memorial of the dedication of St. Mary Basilica in Rome, a woman from the crowd cries out to Jesus saying "Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed."

This line can be interpreted in a number of ways. The literal interpretation of this verse refers to Mary, the mother of Jesus. It acknowledges her unique role in carrying and nurturing the Son of God. This blessing recognizes Mary's physical motherhood and her importance in the incarnation of Christ.

Christians, who are made brothers and sisters of Christ through baptism, have also received Mary as our Spiritual Mother. Our faith, in a sense, is born from her.

The verse can also be interpreted allegorically to refer to the Church. 

The Church is our Mother. Sancta Mater Ecclesia, Holy Mother Church. Christians are born from the womb of the Church, and she nurtures the faithful spiritually, just as Mary nurtured Jesus physically.

St. Cyprian of Carthage in the third century famously wrote, "No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother. Christians relationship with God is intrinsically linked to the Church—for it is by her Sacraments that we are reborn, strengthened, fed, healed, reconciled, and it is through her teaching that we are enlightened in how to remain in right relationship with God and come to the heavenly end for which God made us. At the breasts of Mother Church we receive spiritual nourishment, on her lap, we learn the lessons needed for eternal life. 

In another way, the Church is Mother. Just as Mary bore Christ in her womb, the Church "bears" Christ to the world through its teachings, sacraments, and the lives of the faithful. Mary is the theotokos—the God bearer—she bore Jesus to the world. So too each of us, as members of the Church are to bear Christ in our words and works and in bearing the life of the Trinity in our souls.

As we honor the dedication of the basilica of St. Mary Major, we consider how as sons and daughters of Mother Church and Mother Mary, we, like her are to hear the word of God and obey it, that we, like her, may bear Christ to the world, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church, our Holy Mother: That she may continue to nurture and guide the faithful through her teachings and sacraments, bearing Christ to the world in word and deed. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those who feel distant from the Church: That they may experience anew the maternal love of Mary and the Church, finding their way back to the family of faith. Let us pray to the Lord.

For vocations to the priesthood and religious life: That many may respond generously to God's call to serve as instruments of His love and mercy within Mother Church. Let us pray to the Lord.

That all government leaders may be awakened to the supreme dignity of every human life, and that all people of our nation may work together for an end to the culture of death. 

That members of the Church may be attentive to the needs of those who suffer, and that sick and the poor may be open to the merciful grace of God.

For the deceased members of our families and parishes, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, and for N., for whom this Mass is offered.

We pray, O Lord our God, that the Virgin Mary, who merited to bear God and man in her chaste womb, may commend the prayers of your faithful in your sight. Through Christ our Lord.

January 1 2024 - Mary Mother of God

 An octave of days have passed since the feast of the Lord’s Nativity.  Most of the world has already left the message of Christmas far behind. Some retail store, I’ve seen, have already begun to sell Valentine’s Day cards and candy. Even some Catholics looked at me quizzically when I wished them a Merry Christmas this weekend. 

Yet, the Church in her wisdom realizes that celebrating the birth of the Savior is too great an occasion to be contained in a single, 24-hour day. This eighth day of Christmas is celebrated with particular solemnity, as we adore Christ embraced by the arms of his Mother.

Among the most ancient and important catacombs in Rome are the catacombs of St. Priscilla on the Via Salaria, east-northeast of the Vatican.  Painted on the walls of these catacombs are numerous frescoes that throw light on the faith of the early Church.  One fresco depicts the Virgin Mary seated, with the infant Jesus at her breast.  Next to her stands a man pointing to a star directly above, the star being the ancient Jewish symbol for the Messiah. 

This Fresco, dating from the early 200s is the oldest known representation in art of Mary and Child.  This fresco evidences that from the very beginning the Church has placed Mary in a place of honor and devotion.

From the cross, Jesus commanded his disciples to “Behold your mother”. And so the church beholds her. The first thing we do every new calendar year, liturgically, is to behold our mother. We behold our mother by meditating upon those passages of scripture in which she is found, we depict her in art, we compose hymns to her, and erect shrines in her honor.

In the holy city of Rome is found the largest basilica dedicated to our Mother, the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, St. Mary Major. St. Mary Major stands atop one of Rome’s seven hills, the Esquiline Hill, mosaics from the 5th century, paintings by numerous master artists from across the century.

The basilica is of particular importance to the Christians of Rome, for it contains the ancient and venerated image of Mary, the Salus Populi Romani, depicting the Blessed Virgin as the help and protectress of the Roman People. She holds the Christ Child with the Greek Words “Mater Theou—Mother of God.”

According to legend, this image was painted by the Apostle Luke. The story goes that after the crucifixion, the pious women of Jerusalem urged St. Luke to visit Mary in the home of John the Apostle to memorialize her image. While he painted, the Mother of Jesus spoke of the life of her son. Which is why St. Luke’s Gospel contains all those marvelous stories from prior to the birth of Jesus. After it’s completion, St. Luke brought the painting back to Jerusalem where it remained until it was discovered by Saint Helen in the 4th century who brought it to Rome. 

The Christians of Rome gone to that image for centuries seeking our Mother’s intercession in times of war and plague and for assistance in all life’s trials and the mission of the Gospel.

Also contained in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is a shrine visited by pilgrims from all around the world—a shrine which contains the relics of the crib in which the Virgin Mother laid the Christ Child in Bethlehem. I’ve visited that shrine on a number of occasions. When I was there with Bishop Perez and a group of priests from Cleveland 4 years ago, we knelt in front of the shrine and sang “Silent Night” together.

Pope Francis has visited that crib a number of times, seeking the intercession of Mother Mary for himself and the church. On one occasion, after praying the rosary at the holy crib, Pope Francis spoke about Mary’s motherhood. He said, “A mother helps her children to grow and wants them to grow well; Our Lady does the same thing in us, she helps us to grow as human beings and in the faith, to be strong and not to give in to the temptation to be human and Christian in a superficial way, but to live with responsibility, to aim ever higher.”  

She helps us to not give in to the temptation to be human and Christian in a superficial way. Superficial. It means shallow or surface-level. Our Christian faith is meant to permeate all of our words and works. Our thoughts are to be Christian thoughts, are words are to be Christian words, our works are to be Christian works. 

In 2024 we must seek to be Christians of substance—of substantial faith—not mediocre or superficial faith. 

And the Holy Father explains, and I agree with him 100% on this, that Mother Mary helps us like no other, nurtures us and teaches us like no other, to live for Christ. She wants us to resemble Christ, she wants the very life of Christ to grow in us, and will help us, if we let her, if we go to her, if we behold her, as Christ himself commanded us from the Cross.

Behold your mother every day this year. Behold her faith, behold her tender love for Christ, behold her tender love for you. Behold her face in art, behold her virtues in poetry and song, behold her nearness with statues and art around your homes, consider wearing her miraculous medal near to your heart as a reminder of her closeness. Behold her by contemplating the mysteries of the rosary and in all those powerful marian devotions passed down to us through the centuries. Bring flowers to her statues and shrines, invoke her powerful intercession in your temptations and trials.

Behold your mother as Jesus commanded that your days may be blessed, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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In this time when the goodness and kindness of God our Savior have appeared, let us, dear brethren, humbly pour forth to him our prayers, trusting not in our own good works, but in his mercy.

That Mary’s maternal care and heavenly intercession will help us all to reach the moral greatness befitting true children of God.  

That through Immaculate Mary, Queen of Peace, Mother of the Lord and Mother of the Church—blessings of goodness and peace may be upon the world and the Church in this Year of Our Lord 2024.

For blessings on all expectant mothers, newborn infants, and young families. 

That from the moment of conception all children will be preserved from bodily harm; for the overturning of unjust laws that permit the destruction of innocent life; and that the minds of all may be enlightened to know the dignity of every human life.  

That the sick may draw strength, consolation, and healing by turning to Our Lady, who intercedes for us from her place in heaven. 

For all those who have died, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for all who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  

We pray, O Lord our God, that the Virgin Mary, who merited to bear God and man in her chaste womb, may commend the prayers of your faithful in your sight. Through Christ our Lord.

August 05 2020 - St. Mary Major - Salus Populi Romani

Typically the Church’s Liturgical Calendar calls for the celebration of a holy person, but today we celebrate the dedication of a holy place: St. Mary Major, one of Rome’s four principle basilicas.  The others are St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul outside the Walls. 

The basilica is the largest church in the world honoring God through Mary.  It stands atop one of Rome’s seven hills, and despite many restorations, still has the character of an early Roman basilica, containing ancient mosaics and a breathtaking shrine containing the relics of the crib of Bethlehem. 

What makes St. Mary Major a holy place? Well, it has been a place of pilgrimage for nearly 1500 years. Pilgrims have come from all around the world to honor the she in whose honor the basilica was erected: Our Lady. 

The basilica is of particular importance to the Christians of Rome, for it contains the ancient and venerated image of Mary, the Salus Populi Romani, depicting the Blessed Virgin as the help and protectress of the Roman People. She holds the Christ Child with the Greek Words “Mater Theou—Mother of God.”

According to legend, this image was painted by the Apostle Luke. The story goes that after the crucifixion, the pious women of Jerusalem (like the woman in the Goapel who cries out “Blessed is the womb who bore you”) urged St. Luke to visit Mary in the home of John the Apostle to memorialize her image. While he painted, the Mother of Jesus spoke of the life of her son. Which may explain why St Luke’s Gospel contains those wonderful infancy narratives and the stories prior to the Lord’s birth. Because Luke heard them right from the source! St. Luke brought the painting back to Jerusalem where it remained until it was discovered by Saint Helena in the 4th century

This is a wonderful legend emphasizing that even from the beginning of the Church, while it was still mostly centered in Jerusalem, there was a devotion to Our Lady, a desire to capture her image, that it may be venerated. Venerating images of the blessed mother, making statues, building churches to her honor, all goes back to the earliest generations of Christians.

Already in the year 593, Pope Gregory carried the image through Rome while praying for the end of the plague. We do well to invoke our sweet Lady and protectress, for an end to our current pandemic. Pope Francis has visited the image asking for deliverance as well.

I conclude with the words of Saint John Paul II, in his wonderful encyclical on the Mother of the Redeemer: “Let the entire body of the faithful pour forth persevering prayer to the Mother of God and Mother of mankind. Let them implore that she who aided the beginning of the Church by her prayers may now, exalted as she is in heaven above all the saints and angels, intercede with her Son in the fellowship of all the saints.” For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

That Our Lady may lead all people to the love of Christ, protect the Church from all evil, and aid us in the mission of the Gospel, and for deliverance from all plagues, diseases, especially the Coronavirus.

That all government leaders may be awakened to the supreme dignity of every human life, and that all people of our nation may work together for an end to the culture of death. 

That through Immaculate Mary, Queen of Peace, hatred, violence, and cruelty will cease in the world, especially today, we pray for the victims of violence and human trafficking.

That the sick may draw strength, consolation, and healing by turning to Our Lady, who

intercedes for us from her place in heaven. 

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

We pray, O Lord our God, that the Virgin Mary, who merited to bear God and man in her chaste womb, may commend the prayers of your faithful in your sight. Through Christ our Lord.

August 5 2019 - St. Mary Major Basilica - Christmas in August

My pilgrimage to Rome at the end of May took me to the beautiful basilica whose dedication we celebrate today. The present basilica of St. Mary Major was built in the fifth century, not long after the Council of Ephesus affirmed Mary’s title as “Mother of God.”  The basilica is the largest and oldest church in the world honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary.  It stands atop one of Rome’s seven hills, and despite many restorations, still has the character of an early Roman basilica, in fact, it inspired the architectural design of this Church of St. Ignatius in many ways.

For four hundred years today’s feast was called “Our Lady of the Snows”.  According to legend, the basilica was constructed on the site where the Mother of God produced a miraculous mid-summer snow fall and left her footprints as a sign.  The legend has been long celebrated by releasing a shower of white rose petals from the dome of the basilica every August 5.

Below the Basilica’s main altar are relics from the manger of Bethlehem, in which Mary laid the newborn Savior of the World.  At the Basilica, in a sense, it is Christmas every day as groups of pilgrims will approach the manger and sing the beautiful Christmas hymn “Silent Night”. And I can say that it was deeply moving to sing “silent night” in this roman basilica, with 25 other priests from the diocese of Cleveland and our Bishop, and to imagine that the Christ Child was laid in this very manger.

The Christmas Creche is such a powerful symbol of our faith. It’s a symbol that our Good God chose to be born in the poverty of our world, that his mother who embraced him with such tender love, embraces us as well, and teaches us how to embrace her son, as well. And then to be make pilgrimage to this ornate basilica, to see the Creche adorned with gold and jewels, is to share in the Church’s veneration throughout the centuries. Christians have made the basilica so immensely beautiful, they’ve adorned the Creche so beautifully, because our faith is beautiful, and that beauty leads us to love, it leads us to God.

At the beginning of the Holy Year of Mercy, Pope Francis opened the holy doors at St. Mary Major and said, “Let us allow Mary to lead us to the rediscovery of the beauty of an encounter with her Son Jesus.

May Our Lady help us live out our beautiful faith, lived in the poverty of the world, that it may lead many to an encounter with Christ the Savior, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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That Our Lady may lead all people to the love of Christ, protect the Church from all evil, and aid us in the mission of the Gospel.

That all government leaders may be awakened to the supreme dignity of every human life, and that all people of our nation may work together for an end to the culture of death.

That through Immaculate Mary, Queen of Peace, hatred, violence, and cruelty will cease in the world, especially today, we pray for the victims of the mass shootings around our country.

That the sick may draw strength, consolation, and healing by turning to Our Lady, who
intercedes for us from her place in heaven.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

We pray, O Lord our God, that the Virgin Mary, who merited to bear God and man in her chaste womb, may commend the prayers of your faithful in your sight. Through Christ our Lord.