FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY: PREPARING TO BECOME THE MOTHER OF GOD | MEMORIAL OF BLESSED MARIA FRANCISZKA SIEDLISKA, RELIGIOUS – FEAST DAY ~ NOVEMBER 21ST: Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this special feast day, we humbly pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are mentally and physically ill, strokes, heart diseases, and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and we pray for all widows and widowers. We pray for torture victims, the poor, the needy and the most vulnerable in our communities and around the world. We pray for all parents and children, for peace, love, justice and unity in our marriages, our families and our world.
THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY: PREPARING TO BECOME THE MOTHER OF GOD: Today, we commemorate the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple of Jerusalem. According to tradition, there was a religious custom among the Jews, in former times, of promising to dedicate children to God’s service in the Temple, even before the children were born. The child, before its fifth year had passed, was taken to the Temple at Jerusalem and committed to the care of the priest who offered it to Lord, and, sometimes, the child remained in the Temple to be educated and trained to serve the sanctuary and sacred ministers by making vestments and ornaments, assisting at the services, and contributing to the worship of God in the various liturgical offices. Following this tradition, Our Lady was solemnly consecrated to God as an infant in the temple of the Lord. The blessed Virgin Mary’s total offering of herself throughout her young life prepared her to become the Theotokos, the Mother of God.
Our Blessed Virgin Mary was presented as a child by her parents, Joachim and Anne in the Temple in Jerusalem. Before Mary’s birth, her parents received a heavenly message that they would bear a child. In thanksgiving for the God’s gift of Mary’s birth, they brought her to the Temple to consecrate their only daughter to The Lord. The celebration of the Feast is first documented in the 11th century within the Byzantine Catholic Church. It was introduced into the Roman Catholic Church in the 15th century by Pope Gregory XI, then removed from the calendar by Pope Pius V in the mid 16th century. Pope Sixtus V later reestablished the feast in 1585, and it is still celebrated today, commemorating the faith of her parents, Joachim and Anne, and the purity of Mary. Our Mother Mary was taken to the temple in Jerusalem when she was 3-years-old and dedicated to God. What we celebrate on this day is the fact that God chose to dwell in Mary in a very special way. In response, Mary placed her whole self at the service of God. Every moment since our Baptism, God invites us to be open to His grace and dedicate ourself to Him, as Mary did. This offering and dedication of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Church commemorates the feast of the Presentation on November 21. In some religious communities the day is observed with special devotion as a patronal feast.
PRAYER FOR THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY: As we venerate the glorious memory of the most holy Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, O Lord, through her intercession, that we, too, may merit to receive the fullness of your grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever… Amen🙏
Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death… Amen.🙏 ~ Matthew 11:28-30
MEMORIAL OF BLESSED MARIA FRANCISZKA SIEDLISKA, RELIGIOUS
On this special feast day, we also celebrate the Memorial of Blessed Maria Franciszka Siedliska, Religious.
BLESSED MARIA FRANCISZKA SIEDLISKA, RELIGIOUS: Bl. Maria Franciszka Siedliska (1842-1902) was born to a noble and wealthy family in Warsaw, Poland. When a Capuchin friar prepared her for her First Holy Communion, she began to desire the religious life and made a private act of consecration to God. Her father was greatly opposed and said he would rather see her dead than lost to the cloister. Her vocation was not deterred, and she went to Rome to obtain the Pope’s blessing for founding an active apostolic Order modeled on the hidden virtues of the Holy Family. The Congregation of Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth was formed in 1875, and she took the name Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd. In 1885 the Nazareth Sisters arrived in New York, eventually settling near Chicago where they made their first foundation in the U.S.A. She was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1989. Her feast day is November 21st.