Coredemptrix E-Magazinehttp://www.marymediatrix.com/snews/Copyright Coredemptrix E-MagazinesNewsby Fr. Angelo M. Geiger, FI   The subject of the Madonna and Child has been used innumerable times in sacred art. From a doctrinal point of view, the image is a tangible sign of the reality of the Incarnation, the mystery upon which the Church is founded. Certainly the most common subject of the visual arts in religious matters has been the Madonna and Child. From a human and natural point of view the attraction is understandable. But from a doctrinal and spiritual perspective, its importance cannot be understated as it reflects the fundamental principle of our relationship with God. Most of us have heard the tradition that St. Luke was the first iconographer of the Madonna and Child. As the preeminent evangelist of the conception, birth and infancy of Jesus, it is understandable how he would have been the first inspired to record the memory of Our Lady in its ineffable aspect of beauty. In the ancient tradition of Eastern icons there is a prototype of St. Luke painting the Virgin. This tradition, which in a sense is an apologetic for the use of icons, passed into the sacred art of the West during the Middle Ages. The fifteenth century Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden has given us a fine ex ample of this composition in the Netherlandish style. The lesson to be learned here is that from the beginning, the deposit of faith has been handed on to us (tradition) not only verbally, but also graphically. In the eight and ninth centuries there was a terrible persecution of the Church from the Eastern Empire because of the use of holy images Iconoclasm (image breaking) as it was known, was inspired both from without the Church by Islamic doctrine, and from within by these remnants of the Nestorian heresy. A creeping and omnipresent contempt for matter, and the denial that God could actually have something to do with it underlay the heretical destruction of images of Christ, His Mother and the saints. Protestantism was in part a Neo-Iconoclasm, but whereas the old Iconoclasm was a breaking of the image of the incarnate Christ, the new brought a destruction of the visible Church. The problem here is that the Church and Christ go together like Madonna and Child.   Protestantism was in part a Neo-Iconoclasm, but whereas the old Iconoclasm was a breaking of the image of the incarnate Christ, the new brought a destruction of the visible Church. The problem here is that the Church and Christ go together like Madonna and Child. No matter how hard we try, Christians cannot escape the material world, save through death. Even so, in the end we will get our bodies back - and how. The Word was made flesh, the Church was made visible, and we will be raised bodily. Recently, Time magazine in the United States published a cover article on the growing devotion of Protestants to Our Lady. The author noted the apparent contradiction between an evangelical Church with a statue of Our Lady and a cross with no corpus. Perhaps Our Lady will help them put their feet back on the ground. The Church is terra firma. No wonder then, that the word "mother" (Latin = mater) comes from the word "matter" (materia). The relationship of Mother and Child in the mystery of the Incarnation and the representation of that reality through the visual arts testifies to that essential Catholic truth that God has chosen to bring us grace through the instrumentality of the visible Church and the visible world. And this means that not only do we have the seven Sacraments, and the sacramentals of the Church, like icons, but we have the number less material creatures as the vestiges (foot prints) of God. The work of the artist, sacred or pro fane, is to be an instrument of actual grace, a subcreator, who may "smuggle" the higher spiritual truths into the material and sometimes hostile world. The iconographer understands this role, and his subjects literally bridge heaven and earth. The secular artist may not understand, but his craft is itself a path through beauty to God. May the Madonna teach us to see her Child, and the world around us, with her eyes. About the AuthorFr. Angelo M. Geiger is a priest of the Franciscans of the Immaculate. He is a well sought retreat master and conference speaker in North America and has written numerous articles on Franciscan and Marian topics. He is currently serving as the regional superior of the Franciscans of the Immaculate. He is currently residing in our friary in Griswold, CT. Fri, 05 Jan 2007 10:42:44 +0000http://www.marymediatrix.com/snews/culture-and-art/madonna-and-child/http://www.marymediatrix.com/snews/culture-and-art/madonna-and-child/ Editorial by Fr. Martin M. Fonte, FI The cyberspace is becoming a busy communication highway in the modern technology of the internet and wireless communications. Considering all the advantages this means provide to a growing busy men ranging from "Googling" for important facts and information to sending emails in a second across the globe (postmen are getting laid off), it has a lot of disadvantages as well. As a matter of fact, the disadvantages on the moral and spiritual level are so prevalent that the Pontifical Council for Social Communications issued on February 22, 2002 a document entitled "Ethics in the Internet. The main concern that was recurring in this document is the tendency to depersonalize the very means which should uniquely characterize a human person--communication. This might sound an anachronistic claim when the majority in fact, would agree that there is a high volume of communications taking place in the cyberworld of the internet. That of course would be true if communication is reduced to "quantity" of communication but not "quality." Aristotle divided the species of the brute from human person from the lack of higher quality in the former than in the latter, although both of them have bodies. Brute makes noise, humans, talk. Communication is a property that flows from human nature. It involves union of persons for only a person can externalize what is interior to him and make it present in the interiority of another. The "verbalization" of one's thought is a means through which another thought can be united. It utilizes what is material (e.g. St. Thomas explains sounds by way of percussions in the air- Commentarius De Animae) and thus concept which is invisible becomes visible or audible when it makes use of anything material. In this regard, the material functions as medium through which the immaterial, namely the person can communicate. No wonder, that human intimacy between husband and wife is always compared to human knowledge. John Paul II in his Theology of the Body always see the human body not as sexual expressions but "personal" expressions of the interior man. The material in human person, therefore, has always an ethical content. In Mary, the divine communication in the Incarnate Word becomes personal, for it involves her freedom. It is characteristically maternal for it involves her motherhood. It certainly presupposes the reality of mediation, as all communication makes use of languages. All abuse of communication began in a moral choice. Adam and Eve shut down their capacity for true communication when they chose to disobey God. Eve, the woman became an object of lust and domination-a tragic reality which manifests in the proliferation of pornography in the cyberspace-the prostitution of the human person. It is precisely because man lost the originality of his innocence in space and in time, that God chose to restore and recreate human existence, also in space and in time. St. John knew that communication is the means through which we can be saved and thus began his great Prologue of his Gospel: "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." The Eternal God whose great plan for man was only known before through shadows (Old Testament), is now revealed to us when His Son became flesh (the Christ). Divine communication, therefore, is the primordial foundation whereby all communications must refer to if they are to be authentic and truly beneficial to man. Hence, it also took place in space and in time. Who is the key that unlocks this divine communication? St. Paul answers: "In the fullness time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law." (Gal. 4:4) Pope John Paul II says: "In Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, time becomes a dimension of God, who is himself eternal. (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, n. 10) How many bad languages and idle words have been spoken in the cyberspace? How many pages in the internet were viewed that lead to occasions of sins. Only in the perspective of eternity one can fully understand the moral consequences of the many "clicks" one made. In this regard, God wills to communicate to us in the Incarnation through a woman, i.e., through Mary. And He still continues to communicate to us through the Church whose type is Mary (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 53). In Mary, the divine communication in the Incarnate Word becomes personal, for it involves her freedom. It is characteristically maternal for it involves her motherhood. It certainly presupposes the reality of mediation, as all communication makes use of languages. As the mode of the Incarnation is essentially Marian, so the mode of divine communication whereby we are elevated to grace must also be Marian. A greeting of Mary to St. Elizabeth brought about transformation in her person and in the child in her womb. On the contrary, a lot of internet sites transform its visitors to something unworthy of God's grace. How many bad languages and idle words have been spoken in the cyberspace? How many pages in the internet were viewed that lead to occasions of sins. Only in the perspective of eternity one can fully understand the moral consequences of the many "clicks" one made. It is precisely, in view of this that we are re-launching the newly designed Coredemptrix E-magazine. It has typically Marian oriented articles ranging from her doctrines and devotion, spirituality and missions to the field of culture and arts. The conviction that cyberspace, like all spatial dimensions must be marianized in order to be fully constructive according to the divine design of communication, is the underpinning apostolic and theological principle of this site. If Mary, literally allowed herself to be God's instrument to make public (to "publicize") the divine revelation, we certainly derive from her the examples of what it means to communicate through cyberspace; for the greatest communication that will continue to inspire human hearts for all time is the divine utterance that God made through Mary: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" and we may add--THROUGH HER. God loves you. About the Author Fr. Martin M. Fonte, FI is a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. He is currently the Father Guardian of their community in New Bedford, MA. He is a part time teacher of philosophy and a spiritual assistant of the Third Order fraternity. He is, btw (by the way), the webmaster of this site. Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:41:14 +0000http://www.marymediatrix.com/snews/home/reclaiming-the-cyberspace-for-mary/http://www.marymediatrix.com/snews/home/reclaiming-the-cyberspace-for-mary/by Fr. Peter M. Fehlner, FI    A question is raised as whether the traditional concept of the Virgin Birth of Our Savior merely a pious belief, a "theologoumenon" which one is free to doubt or deny without sinning against faith? Or is it a part of the deposit of faith, which all who claim to believe in Jesus are obliged to confess? Definition of terms First, some definitions of terms.  Pious belief may connote a personal opinion in accord with faith and expressed devotionally, but not part of, or at least not explicitly proclaimed by the Magisterium of the Church as part of the deposit of faith, and so whose acceptance in faith is not binding on all believers.  Among theologians this is known as a "theologoumenon", a plausible opinion deduced from revealed truths, but itself not directly revealed and part of the deposit of faith. But pious belief may also denote some truth which the sensus fidelium or faith of all Catholics over a long period of time unanimously and spontaneously perceives as part of the deposit of faith.  Thus, before the solemn dogmatic definition of the Assumption of Our Lady in 1950 by Pope Pius XII that truth was one of those so recognized by the faithful. As such it was not permissible, despite objections of some scholars, to doubt it, but only to seek a fuller explicitation of its content. That spontaneous perception was a reliable key to the teaching of the ordinary Magisterium of the Church preceding a solemn definition of some truth. Some people think only solemn definitions by a Pope or ecumenical council are binding in faith.  This is simply not true, as was made perfectly clear in the clarification of the concept of heresy introduced into the Code of Canon Law some years ago by Pope John Paul II. State of the question In the case of the Virgin Birth two points must be considered: that 1) it is in some way miraculous as a birth (and not merely indirectly as consequent on a miraculous conception, miraculous because without seed of man); and that 2) such a miraculous birth consists primarily in the absence of corporal lesion of the mother as the child passes from within to without the womb and in the absence of physical pain and afterbirth. The sensus fidelium practically from Pentecost expressly witnesses this. Even today, ordinary Catholic believers spontaneously react in shock when they hear doubt or denial of this concept of the mystery. Hence, at the very least, this perception of faith is a clear indication that we are dealing with something more than a theologoumenon, and that on each count there is something obliging in faith, even if such faith needs clarification and direction on the part of the Magisterium. Intervention of the Magisterium Nor was this direction long in coming. One of the mysteries of faith most frequently denied from the beginnings of the Church was the virginal motherhood of Mary in reference to Jesus: at conception, at childbirth, and thereafter. For the thoroughly consistent heretic this is a necessary target, because the virginal maternity is the great sign, the ultimate guarantee of the credibility of the mystery of Christ and the mystery of the Church. If doubt in the credibility of the virginal motherhood of Mary cannot be generated, then the heresy cannot be launched. From the most ancient times of the Church, even during the lifetime of the Apostle, the attack of this mystery took two forms (each with many variations on the same theme): either 1) to deny the virginity by simply affirming the natural rather than miraculous character of Mary's motherhood (either by saying that the story of a virginal conception was merely a cover-up for an illicit affair, or by saying that Mary had other children naturally after bearing Jesus); or 2) to deny the motherhood by reducing the mystery of virginal motherhood to a purely spiritual reality without any corporal implications, even those of natural birth (whence the early docetist idea of Mary not as Mother of God who really conceives God, but merely as a body through which Jesus passes in coming from heaven to earth). First recorded explicit declarations about the Virgin Birth Starting point of magisterial statements concerning the virgin-birth as distinct from the virginal conception of Jesus is generally conceded to be the end of the 4th century with the decrees of the Roman Synod of 393 condemning the view of the heretic Jovinian who held that the virginal state was not superior to the married, precisely because there was nothing miraculous in the birth of Jesus. It was simply natural, like that of any other woman. For these views Jovinian leaned in part on some of the more unfortunate exaggerations of Tertullian (beginning of the 3rd century), who to defend the reality of Mary's motherhood denied the miraculous character of His birth (against the docetists and gnostics who denied the reality of Mary's motherhood so as to deny the reality of Christ's humanity and the possibility of creaturely cooperation in the work of salvation. What these (erroneous) theologians deny is that the content of that mystery was initially what pious believers today claim it to be, viz., that one is not necessarily a heretic in claiming that Mary underwent pain, or that her body was opened during the birth of Jesus. The decrees of this Roman Synod have been lost, but their content can be pieced together by a study of the works of Sts. Jerome and Ambrose, and by the decrees of the Synod of Capua of 392, which also condemned the position of Jovinian centered on a denial of the miraculous character of the birth (and not merely conception) of Jesus.  The miracle of the Virgin Birth consisted concretely in the absence of physical lesion, viz., maintenance of the integrity or incorruptibility of the body of the Mother of God.  This is why it is the great sign of the personal identity of the Child as Son of God in the proper sense, and why it is revelatory of His divine origin from the Father by eternal generation, leaving the divine essense undivided and so incorrupt.  In effect, the Virgin Birth in signalling the divine identity of the Child and the incorruptibility of His flesh even in death, so heralding His Resurrection, also signals the mystery of the Trinity.  Recently, in 1992, Pope John Paul II assisted in the celebration of the 1,600th anniversary of the Synod of Capua and commended its teaching on the integrity of Mary's Body during child-birth as the perenniel belief of the Church. A false premise which confuses the issue Some modern theologians, including a number who claim to be orthodox,assert that traditional notions of the Virgin Birth are a best merely a non-binding pious belief, since the concept of perpetual virginity only emerges as a conclusion from various attempts to define each aspect of Mary's virginity.  At best, they claim, that perpetual virginity can only be shown historically to be a purely spiritual virginity, since the birth of Jesus has never explicitly and solemnly been defined as miraculous and so different from that of other men.  These theologians do not deny that the Church has in some way held Mary to be a virgin.  What they deny is that the content of that mystery was initially what pious believers today claim it to be, viz., that one is not necessarily a heretic in claiming that Mary underwent pain, or that her body was opened during the birth of Jesus. This premise is historically false.  The faith of Catholics, and the teaching of the Magisterium from day one of the Church (Pentecost) was predicated on a quite different premise, viz., that Mary is a perpetual virgin from her Immaculate Conception, and that therefore in each moment of her motherhood: at the conception of Jesus, in HIs birth, and thereafter in her spiritual motherhood of the rest of His brethren, that virginity remains intact.  In giving birth, whether in the divine maternity or in the spiritual begetting of Christians, she does not lose that virginity which is corporal in nature and consists in the integrity of the body.  Without that feature it cannot be the sign of the incorruptibility or purity which characterizes the divine nature in the eternal birth of the Son from the Father, and which also must characterize His birth into the world. The development of doctrine in this case begins with an affirmation of Mary's perpetual virginity, and proceeds toward a more and more precise definition of that virginity in key moment's of Mary's life, such as the Incarnation at Nazareth, the Birth of the Savior at Bethlehem, and the spiritual maternity of Mary in the Church.  It is clear from such 4th century documentation as the so-called Creed of St. Epiphanius that "born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit" means born of the "ever-Virgin".  It is not the Magisterium in intervening which has innovated on the primitive tradition.  It is rather the heretics who innovated and then tried to present their innovations as plausible and historically the more ancient view, because it is so like what we are used to. This is to abscure the entire point of the Nativity of Jesus and the Virgin-Birth.  This is a mystery the like of which has never been seen nor will be seen again.  First the differences must be noted; then we can go on to discuss similarities. The reaction of the entire Church at the end of the 4th century to the outrageous, yet superficially plausible of the great sign or miracle which is the Virgin Birth, was swift.  What that miracle really is, is summed up in one phase, subsequently repeated over and over by the Magisterium: whom Mary virginally conceived, she bore or begot incorruptibly: incorrutibiter genuit. Because of this absence of lesion, Mary is the unopened door of the Temple, though which only the Lord enters and exits without opening it, either at His conception or at His birth.  Without this miraculous, corporal dimension of virginity of the Mother during birth, there is no more sign of divinity and salvation in this birth than in any other, and so we all remain in the fallen state of human nature: under the law, under the curse rather than children of adoption (cf. Gal 4: 4-7).  The conception is a true conception and the birth is a true birth, indeed both are the most perfect.  But precisely because each moment is miraculous, therefore it cannot be critiqued by the standards of biology, either ancient or modern.  We must humbly admit, if we believe, that human science cannot disprove, but neither can it explain miracles, above all this miracle of miracles with which in material matters only those of the Resurrection and Eucharist can be compared. Subsequent interventions With this in mind we can better appreciate the many reiterations of the essential teaching of the Roman Synod of 393 centered on the phrase: "incorruptibly" or "integrally" begot, that is without opening of the womb.  It is found in the "Tome to Flavian" of Pope St. Leo the Great (449): "she gave birth to Him preserving her virginity, just as she preserved her virginity in conceiving Him without seed".  Each moment of the virginal gestation is miraculous in a distinct way.   This document of Pope Leo is the basis for the teaching of the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon.  How the final moment or birth is distinct, is expressly articulated in a decision of Pope Hormisdas (521): "a birth without corruption.  Pope Pelagius in 557 elaborates on this: "preserving the integrity of her virginal maternity, so remaining a Virgin during child-birth, as she had during conception without seed." A solemn declaration binding on the entire Church What is considered a solemn definition by a majority of theologians is the declaration of the Lateran Synod of 649 in Rome under Pope Martin I, who in signing the decrees (in both Greek and Latin) of this Roman Synod extended their obligatory force to the entire Church. Here is the text of canon 3, in which anyone who denies the truth asserted in the canon is condemned: "If anyone does not confess that the holy and ever-Virgin and immaculate Mary did not conceive without seed by the power of the Holy Spirit the very Word of God, give birth to Him without corruption, thereafter that very virginity remaining ever integral, let him be anathema." The phrases: "without corruption" and "ever integral" concretely meant and still mean without the mother incurring corporal lesions from the child's exiting the maternal womb, therefore without pain and afterbirth.  Further, this definition of the Synod of 649 and the solemn proclamation of Pope St. Martin I, is but a paraphrase and authoritative explanation of the much earlier and popular: virgo concepit, virgo peperit, virgo post partum remansit. That is, this definition is an explanation of what perpetual virginity when combined with maternity means at conception, at child-birth and thereafter, and why, though true motherhood, miraculous motherhood, and so great sign of our salvation, on earth and in heaven (cf. Is. 7: 14). This explanation is also found in the Constitution of Pope Pius IV (1555: during the Council of Trent) against the Unitarians.  The denial of the virgin-birth in the sense defined has always been connected with unitarian or sabellian tendencies to deny the Trinity.  In fact the Lateran Synod of 649, like the Council of Chalcedon (451) had to deal respectively with monothelitite and monophysite tendencies reducing the virginity of Mary to a merely spiritual chastity, and so opening the door to denials of the Trinity as well as the integral humanity of Christ. In 1952, the Austrian theologian physician, Albert Mitterer, author of Dogma und Biologie der hl. Familie (Dogma and Biology of the Holy Family) reproposed some ancient notions long since condemned by the Church, viz., that at child-birth Mary's virginity consisted merely in spiritual virginity, that it did not involve any distinctively miraculous elements (like integrity, painlessness), and that before the fall every human birth would have been virginal in this sense. This opinion triggered lively discussion, first in scholarly circles, and then in popular journals toward the end of the 1950's, including its promotion as licit for Catholics. With this the Holy Office with the approval of Bl. Pope John XXIII intervened and in a monitum to Bishops and major superiors of religious orders forbade any such further promotion or public discussion. Conclusion From all this it should be clear, particularly taking account of the intervention of the Holy Office and of the 1992 address of Pope John Paul II that a Catholic cannot maintain doubts about the physical aspects of the Virgin Birth as traditionally and authoritatively defined, "without running afoul of defined doctrine". About the AuthorFr. Peter Damien Fehlner is a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. He is a doctor of dogmatic theology and professor of theology in various seminaries in North America and Europe. He wrote several books on Marian and Franciscan topics. His latest book in English was on St. Maximilian Kolbe. This article is taken from the video blog AIRMARIA maintained by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate in USAThu, 04 Jan 2007 22:16:20 +0000http://www.marymediatrix.com/snews/apologetics-and-catechetics/in-defense-of-the-virgin-birth/http://www.marymediatrix.com/snews/apologetics-and-catechetics/in-defense-of-the-virgin-birth/by Fr. Maximilian M. Zangheratti, FI The participation of a Christian in social and political life calls for a prudent evaluation of the moral character of the laws of the State. The objective criteria for evaluating them are the Ten Commandments and the demonstrable legitimacy of the legislating authority. Mary's attitude of humility and obedience toward the census at Bethlehem is an outstanding example for us, as is the respect she showed for Jewish ritual prescriptions. One day the Pharisees decided to put Our Lord in a difficult situation, looking for an accusation to use against Him before the Roman authorities and before His followers, who were increasingly hopeful that He was the Messiah and liberator of Israel. So they decided to present him with a trap in the form of an economic-political question, a topic to which many were sensitive back then, just as they are today. They asked him if it was just to pay Caesar the tribute which every conquered people had to send to Rome. Jesus' only answer was to ask for a coin and inquire whose image was stamped on it. The Pharisees replied, "Caesar's," and Jesus responded, "Render there fore to Caesar the things that are the Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (cf. Mt 22:15-22). This well-known episode has always been read by the Church as a basis for the legitimacy of civil power. This power should neither be confused with nor opposed to sacred power. St. Paul indicates that Christians must, according to justice, submit to the authorities (cf. Rom 13:1-7). But "submit" in this context is not to be understood in the way in which we often understand this term, where it connotes humiliation, but in the sense of a just respect, which is a manifestation of the respect (holy fear) due to God. The reason for this is that civil authorities are part of the plan of creation, in which man is willed as a social creature. Now wherever there is any kind of society there must be an authority which orders and coordinates the various parts of the society in such a way that it can achieve its proper end, namely the promotion of the common good. The duty to obey and to pray for the authorities (cf. 1 Pt 2:13-17; 1 Tm 2:1-2) is a con sequence of this. At this point an obvious question arises: what if the authorities are despots like Hitler and Stalin? We need to make some distinctions. The first thing to consider is whether or not the authority is legitimate, that is, whether or not the person invested with power came to office peacefully and in the manner generally accepted by the society for the attainment of that position. If so, then he already has a right to respect and obedience. If not, then the citizen--and still more so the Christian--is not, per se bound to obey him or to show him any sign of respect. Nevertheless, if failing to so would open the door to a state of anarchy more dangerous than the illegitimately held power, prudence dictates that the laws promulgated by such an authority should be followed until legitimate power can be restored. Of course, one is never obliged to obey unjust laws, contrary to the natural law or to the legitimate rights of the Church, even if they are promulgated by a legitimate authority. The history of Christianity offers us shining examples of such resistance-even when it meant death--in every age, from the martyrs of the first centuries to Catholics who suffered in Communist China. One is not always bound to obey even just laws promulgated by civil authority. You could be exempted by legitimate authority or by the special circum stances in which you find yourself. Nevertheless, one could still hold oneself to observance of the law in order to give good example, as a concrete sign of respect for authority, or for a greater good. Mary chose to follow St. Joseph when he went to Bethlehem, not only because the Messiah had to be born in the city of David and to fulfill her role as spouse by following her husband (cf. I Pt 3:1-6), but also to obey the emperor's decree, even though it came from an occupying authority and women were not obliged by this particular decree. In the same way she submitted to ritual purification after giving birth, even though the virginal mode of Jesus' birth exempted her from the rite (cf. Lev 12). Similarly, she also submitted, until Salvation had been won, to all the Jewish prescriptions regarding prayer and to the ritual precepts in a spirit of total self-offering to God. Christians, then, must al ways obey civil authority inasmuch as it truly represents God for the good of the society. The measure of this obedience is not left to mere personal opinion. Rather, it must be consonant with well-defined criteria, which can be summarized thus: the directives must come from legitimate authority or at least not be contrary to the Ten Commandments. As human directives, civil laws are limited and so may not be observable always and in every case. When such exceptions arise, they can be dispensed from. About the Author Fr. Maximilian M Zangheratti, FI is a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. He is a professor of Moral Theology and Ethics in the diocesan seminary of Benevento, Italy as well as the seminary of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in Rome. He served as the secretary general of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in the past. This article is taken from Missio Immaculatae vol. 3, March, 2006. The Missio Immaculatae is a monthly Marian magazine maintained by the Franciscans of the Immaculate. It is available both in English and Italian.Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:53:15 +0000http://www.marymediatrix.com/snews/morality-and-bioethics/mary-and-the-human-law/http://www.marymediatrix.com/snews/morality-and-bioethics/mary-and-the-human-law/by Fr. George M. Roth, FI   Loving God, notes Benedict XVI, inevitably opens a soul toward his neighbor. This is the special dynamic of Christian love, what makes it unique. In missionary life it reveals itself in very concrete actions, while at the same time its universal character is set in relief. "Jesus united into a single precept commandment of love for God and the commandment of love for neighbor found in the Book of Leviticus: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself' (19:18; cf. Mk 12:29-3 1). Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 in 4:10), love is now no longer a mere 'command'; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us" (Deus caritas est). In this sense the Church's orientation toward missionary activity is part of the divine plan framed within the Incarnation of the Word. This connection between the Incarnation and the missions makes of the labors of a missionary a spiritual art, a longing of the heart, requiring him to immerse himself in the world only so as to transform it from within by means of his own union with God. This is just what the Franciscans of the Immaculate (Friars and Sisters) propose to do. The missionary dimension is one of the fundamental characteristics of the charism of this religious family. This is a consequence of their Marian Vow, which has been called the "diamond of the Institute" and "the pearl of great price" (Mt 13:45), which enriches of the three classic religious vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity. The Franciscans of the Immaculate want "to achieve a love, utmost and passionate for Jesus and a love in Jesus for our brothers through community life of prayer, of poverty, of penance and through missionary zeal" (A Marian Plan of Franciscan Life, 2). In this way they imitate "God's passionate love for his people-for humanity-- is at the same time a forgiving love" (DC 10). But love for souls, a love which should burn in the heart of every Franciscan missionary of the Immaculate, wells up only as a result of the contemplation of the pierced side of Christ crucified. It is, in fact, right there on Calvary, at the foot of the Cross, that one finds the Mother of God, theCoredemptrix, who constitutes as it were the soul of the Church's missionary activity, according to the thought of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, through whom the Franciscans of the Immaculate draw their authentically Franciscan spirituality. These standard-bearers of the Immaculate have the precious and unmerited mission of converting and sanctifying souls, applying to them her maternal Mediation. Conversion and sanctification is the work of divine grace. And who distributes the treasures of redeeming grace more than the Immaculate? The presence of the Franciscans of the Immaculate throughout the world is sustained by this awareness of being "useful instruments" though fragile ones - in the hands of Our Lady, Who is omnipotent in her capacity as intercessor be fore her Son. The Institute's first missionary expedition took place nine years after its humble beginnings in August of 1970. On August 24, 1979, four friars were sent from Italy to the distant Philippine Is lands. The Immaculate blessed their work, and vocations and the apostolate flourished there as in Italy. The most notable fruit of the Filipino mission was the foundation of the second branch of the Institute, the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate. Today the Sisters are numerous, with 11 convents in the Philippines, 14 in Italy, 2 in each of Brazil, the Holy Land, Nigeria, Australia, and England, and 1 in each of France, Benin, the United States, and Kazakhstan. The number of friars has also grown rapidly. At present there are 6 friaries in the Philippines, 16 in Italy, 4 in the United States, 2 each in England and Australia, and 1 in each of prance, Austria, Brazil, Nigeria and Kazakhstan.Thus the Franciscans of the Immaculate, Friars and Sisters, go forward in the grace of God, confident of His blessing be cause incorporated into the living fabric of the Church as part of the vanguard in the evangelization of the nations. Besides the care of souls in the churches entrusted to them, they have developed an extensive Marian apostolate in various parts of the world, including periodicals that convey genuine Christian culture and which help to bring about a deeper knowledge of the mysteries of Mary, publishing houses, and radio and television stations to help people grow in their life of faith. Future articles will describe the development of these apostolates in the various missions. We should note that the missionary zeal of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, particularly in regard to the mass media, is a legacy of St. Maximilian, who longed to "wrap the globe in Marian publications." It might be surprising to discover that in a small Italian mountain-top town (Frigento, Avellino) there's a Marian press that produces and distributes hundreds of thousands of books and booklets, pamphlets and magazines, not only throughout Italy but also abroad. In 1992 another publishing house, "the Academy of the Immaculate," opened in the United States. Books published by these two publishing houses have been translated in various parts of the world into English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Filipino, Romanian, Korean, and still other languages, all with efficiency and professionalism, to the praise and glory of God and for the salvation of souls. May the Immaculate continue to sustain this apostolate, so that it may contribute to building up the faith of many, whose souls she Herself, the true dawn of salvation and Coredemptrix of the human race, illumines. On the highways and by ways of the world, the Family of the Franciscans of the Immaculate will go forth step-by-step until the end of time, God willing, fulfilling the mission be stowed upon them by the Holy Spirit, laboring for the salvation of all souls "through the Immaculate." To lead all souls to Heaven through the Immaculate: is not this just what St. Francis, St. Maximilian, and above all the Immaculate Herself, so earnestly desire? About the AuthorFr. George M. Roth, FI is a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. He was a professor of English literature in Brooklyn school. He is a popular preacher and retreat master. He is currently residing in our friary in London, England.   This article is taken from Missio Immaculatae vol. 3, March, 2006. The Missio Immaculatae is a monthly Marian magazine maintained by the Franciscans of the Immaculate. It is available both in English and Italian.Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:49:33 +0000http://www.marymediatrix.com/snews/missions-and-apostolate/the-worldwide-mission-of-the-franciscans-of-the-immaculate/http://www.marymediatrix.com/snews/missions-and-apostolate/the-worldwide-mission-of-the-franciscans-of-the-immaculate/