The Transcendent Verticality of the Glorious Mysteries

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We can read Scripture and grow in our understanding and our living relationship with its messages, but we will always remain somewhat mystified by it because Scripture contains information and insights that are revealed to us. They are not of our own human creation.

We can become more familiar with Scripture as we deepen our reading of it. We might develop convictions of knowing it, but we are reading about things that will always exceed our understanding or explanation.

The Bible is the story of a search and rescue mission performed by our heavenly Father, after we fell into sin, sickness and death by falling for the deceit of the father of lies. From Genesis to Revelation, we are told of the myriads of ways in which God has communicated Himself to humans and guided us gently back into whole union with Him.

The grand story culminates in the Gospels, when God comes in the human and divine person of Jesus to complete the revelation, to offer a mystical structure, and a living body of knowledge that will endure until He comes once again. The Gospels confront us with situations and events that we seem to understand, and perhaps even take for granted, but that are actually unknowable and unexplainable, in simply human terms, and that must be fortified by reasoning and assented to by faith.

We are quite familiar with the story of Jesus rising up out of His grave, yet we do not know how such a thing is possible – because it is only possible for God. On each page of the four gospels, we encounter supernatural occurrences that we can recount yet cannot explain. On our own, we do not know how to dispel a demon, or walk on water, or calm a storm, or raise someone from the dead.

Praying the Glorious Mysteries of the rosary is a dizzying experience for me. The five Glorious Mysteries are the Resurrection, the Ascension of Jesus, the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Assumption of Mary, and the Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth.

We might be moved by profound love and gratitude simply by reading the list of those mysteries, yet there is not one that belongs to our human experiences. They each are a revelation of powers beyond our abilities or our grasp.

Praying the Glorious Mysteries involves supernatural vertical movements that cause a lurch in my stomach, like riding a rollercoaster. We are taken on upward and downward spiritual passages between realms we hear about and may partially experience, yet do not comprehend. Do we really know what it is like in the netherworld of death? Can we truly understand what actually occurs when Jesus rises up from that unknown place? These are not natural places or powers.

What actually happened when Jesus somehow changed from seen to unseen, from the natural world back to the supernatural reality from whence He came, at His ascension? Certainly, we cannot explain in natural or human terms what it means that the Holy Spirit of God descended in flames and empowered the apostles with new abilities, providing a mystical ecclesiastical body for us all.

We all pass from dust to dust, but not Mary. She alone was lifted bodily from earth to heaven, and was then crowned as Queen over all.

Each Glorious Mystery involves a sublime movement between natural and supernatural realities that bewilder us and elate us with their promises.

Rising up from the world of death to a new and different state of life!

Rising from this secondary created world to the original and eternal reality!

Descending from heaven to earth and bringing a new share in divine realities to all persons!

Raising our singular and universal mother to a bodily place in the blessed realm of Heaven!

Crowning Mary as the queen of angels and persons!

I sway as I prayerfully encounter these transcendently vertical supernatural experiences of the Glorious Mysteries of the rosary that elude our comprehension, yet which have been gifted to us as a living reality, and an open invitation to participate in them, now and forever.

copyright 2026 Tom Medlar

Pilgrim Tales: “Not All Who Wander”

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“The Dean at Tulane thinks I’m the guy who decapitated their statue of the Virgin Mary, and I don’t know how to prove I’m innocent.” — From “Not All Who Wander”

 

“Not All Who Wander” was originally written some 8-10 years ago, and has been reopened and re-shelved countless times over the last decade. At the end of each revision session, I would stare at it and think, Well, this was fun, but I don’t know who would actually publish you. You’re so weird and Catholic. And back to the “shelf” it would go.

Until one time in 2022, I took it back out. I don’t remember why now, probably some submission opportunity that made me wonder if its quirky Catholicness would be welcome. I was sitting at my usual spot at the library. I had reached a writer’s block. I kept staring at the page re-reading the part that described the vandalized Marian statue. It used to be a statue on Loyola’s campus where Char and his friends would trespass in these vandalizing bouts. I, all of a sudden, felt a severe nagging sensation and couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. 

Then the thought came to me: Not that statue.

I thought, What?

Again: Not that statue.

Again and again: Not that statue. 

I felt like it was Mary speaking to me – commanding me – to change the statue. Why would Mary care about what fictional statue I was using in this college-centered bizarre story? 

Unless … unless she doesn’t want the statue to be fictional at all…

I started Googling. And I confess, I don’t remember how long I sat in that chair at the library staring out the window trying to figure out if I had gone insane or if Mary was really telling me to change which statue of her was vandalized in this old short story I had written, but eventually I found it. The Our Lady of Fatima Pilgrimage Statue. The true story of how that statue cried actual human tears in New Orleans. 

And I heard her say, “Yes, this statue.” I thought, Wow! Okay, Mary. This statue.

I don’t remember how many days passed before I actually started working the Our Lady of Fatima statue into the story and tossing the fake Loyola statue out, but one morning I started to feel … nagged … again. I felt I needed to look at all the dates of when this statue had visited New Orleans. So, I did. And I found that it had visited New Orleans the same weekend I did back in the summer of 2021. I thought, Okay, Mary, that’s cool. Thanks. The nagging sensation continued. I started scrolling through pictures from that trip. This picture popped up. Of a statue … an Our Lady of Fatima statue … that I had taken. I thought, No. There’s no way.

Quick back story: when my husband and I go on a trip, we try to incorporate a day where the two of us go on small Catholic

The International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima on her visit to St. Patrick’s Church, New Orleans, July 2021.

pilgrimages throughout the city that the rest of our travel party might not particularly care about. This was my husband’s first trip to New Orleans. So, he requested to go to the cathedral where his grandparents wed. We had already found several “God winks” about this church that were special to us and our relationship and we thought, Wow, how special that this is the church where they wed. I remember snapping a picture of the Our Lady of Fatima statue thinking how beautifully it was placed on the altar but not remembering any signage or anything indicating why it was on the altar at that time.

When I find the picture, I call the church office. The receptionist answers. I say, “Hi. I have an odd request. Are you particularly busy at the moment?” She gets just as invested as me. She has no idea if that statue in my picture is the same pilgrimage statue but promises to go investigate. She calls back, sounding breathless, “Yes! It’s that pilgrimage statue. It was here on that day thatyou visited!”

I was speechless. How did I end up here? What does it all mean?

As usual with the Lord, His mother, and their humor, I still don’t know what it all means. I just know that I wrote this story, and it’s set in New Orleans, and the statue in the story is real. I’ve seen it on a pilgrimage myself.

I’d like to think Mary was saying, “If you’re going to have someone vandalize a statue of me fictionally, make it count.” Clearly, she’s used this statue to speak to the people of New Orleans before. Beyond that, I don’t know.

The fact that this story ended up perfectly fitting the “fictional short story about a Catholic pilgrimage” niche of this anthology’s theme is beyond me. But, I’m happy to have placed it where it belongs, and I can only hope I did what I was supposed to do in revision. The rest is up to the reader.

If you’d like to read more by Rietta or connect with her, you can visit https://riettaparker.com. 

Read “Not All Who Wander” and other short stories by the Catholic Writers Guild in Pilgrim Tales: a Catholic Writers Guild Short Story Anthology available now on Amazon in print and e-book.

© Copyright 2026 by Rietta Parker.

Feature photo of the French Quarter from pixabay.com

Inset photo by Rietta Parker. Used with Permission.

Pondering

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Pondering

And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

Most of the world will go about today wishing everyone a happy New Year, and that’s perfectly okay. Today is the first day of the new year, and everyone is more than welcome to wish others a happy one. However, the Catholic world will be celebrating something far more profound: the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.

A Thought-Provoking Visit

Today’s Gospel is Luke’s telling of the Shepherds who went to find the Holy family in Bethlehem. Wouldn’t you think the reading should be from the Annunciation in Luke 1 where the angel tells Mary, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son … and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father … and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33)? Instead, we read of the visit of the ones who have just been told, “For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord” (Luke 2:11).

These shepherds were among the lowliest people in the land. They were poor; they were not seen as important or powerful. They were humble workers who spent their days with sheep (and honestly, they probably smelled a lot like the animals’ cave where Mary gave birth). Yet they were set apart by God to receive this news, the news of the birth of the Savior, in the city of David, the one Gabriel said would have the throne of David. These were words of rejoicing for the shepherds because David was not only Israel’s greatest king; he started out as a lowly shepherd.

 

"Pondering" by Amy Schisler

Food for Thought

Can you imagine what would be going through your mind at this point if you were Mary? She’s just given birth to a baby in a cave where animals stay. She wrapped the baby in swaddling clothes meant for a lamb and laid Him in the manger from which the animals ate. Then these shepherds appeared, asking to see the baby and telling of angels heralding His birth!

All this took place in the town of Bethlehem, a town whose name means House of Bread. Jesus was literally sleeping in a food trough. He was bound in swaddling clothes, which is not what you might think. This was not the Carter’s sleep sack young mothers of today put their babies in to sleep. No, swaddling clothes were meant to wrap the pascal lamb, to keep his feet bound and his body pure for sacrifice. Mary and Jospeh were not farmers and not herders, but their visitors were. To Mary, she was doing what was necessary for her child—keeping Him warm and giving Him a place to sleep. To the shepherds, she was preparing her son for sacrifice and laying Him out as a feast, as was required of the sacrificial lamb.

Something to Think About

Mary listened to the shepherds as they “made known the message that had been told them about this child” (Luke 2:17). As she gazed down at her sleeping child, did she make the connection? Shepherds, the followers of David the great shepherd, are witnessing the beginning of the Greatest Shepherd, yet that shepherd also took on the role of the sheep, the Pascal Lamb.

Mary was a good Jewish girl. Some theologians even believe she was given to the Temple as a child, just as Solomon was. She had already been told that her child would “be great and will be called Son of the Most High” and “of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1: 32, 33), so she knew He was the Messiah, destined for greatness. However, the Jewish people clearly had a different view of the Messiah than the one we have of a man hanging on a cross.

Ponderings of the Heart

Luke tells us that “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). And this wasn’t the only time. At the presentation, Mary was given some heavy news. Simeon foretold, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35). We are told that Joseph was amazed by what he heard, but Mary never said a word.

Later, Jesus was lost and then found teaching the leaders of the Temple. Mary said nothing when Jesus asked why they would be looking for Him anywhere but His Father’s house. Instead, “his mother kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51).The pieces are beginning to align for Mary, and she is becoming more aware of God’s plan for her son and for her.

 

"Pondering" by Amy Schisler

Mary’s Heart and Mind

Mary spent less time talking and more time listening. She spent less time doing what she thought should be done and more time thinking about what God had planned. Pope Francis said, “Mary, the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus, the first and most perfect believer, the model of the pilgrim Church, is the one who opens the way to the Church’s motherhood and constantly sustains her maternal mission to all mankind” (Francis, Homily Of His Holiness Pope Francis On The Solemnity Of Mary, Mother Of God, XLVIIII World Day Of Peace).

Jesus Himself told us how special Mary is when a woman in the crowd said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you,” and Jesus answered, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word and keep it” (Luke 11:27-28). Was Jesus saying His mother was not blessed? No! He was saying the reason she is blessed is not because she carried Jesus in her womb but because she heard His word, the word of His Father, and kept it. She kept it in the way she answered the angel, and she kept it as she reflected on the words of the shepherds, Simeon, and her Son, keeping all things in her heart.

Realizations of the Mind

We are to imitate Mary, the great model of Christianity. We are to learn from her, as the Mother of God, how we are to act and react. After Mary spent years pondering everything in her heart, she knew the will of God and was able to aid in His plan. When Jesus asked her the second most important question of her life, “O, woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4), Mary knew how to answer. Just as with her first fiat, she didn’t hesitate. She had come to understand her place in Jesus’ life. She was His mother. She would do anything for Him, anything to protect Him, but she understood her mission.

There was no more wine, and Mary wanted Jesus to help. As Jesus looked intently into her eyes, speaking soul to soul, and told her his hour had not yet come, He was really asking, Do you know what this will mean? His expression read, Do you understand what will come next?

Mary’s mind raced back to the words of the angel, the strange visits from shepherds and kings, the words Simeon told her, and the day when Jesus was in His Father’s house. She recalled their many conversations around the dinner table, the times she read to Him from the Torah, and He explained to her what the words meant and how they pointed to Him. With all these things she had kept in her heart and pondered for thirty years, Mary nodded and gave the command that would set their undeterrable course as Mother and Son. This was part of her mission, and she knew her answer would forever alter the road they would travel.

A Mindful Lesson

May we all talk less and ponder more. May we all come to understand our missions and when we need to step back and let Jesus do what He must. May we all model Mary, the Mother of God, who is our Blessed Mother, too.

She kept truth safe in her mind even better than she kept flesh safe in her womb. Christ is truth, Christ is flesh; Christ as truth was in Mary’s mind, Christ as flesh in Mary’s womb; that which is in the mind is greater than what is carried in the womb. (Augustine, The Works of Saint Augustine, A Translation for the 21st Century, Sermons III On the New Testament)

Copyright 2026 Amy Schisler
Images copyright 2026 Amy Schisler, all rights reserved.

What happened to the Virgin Mary?

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Once there was a church that had the happiest people. They all worshipped together in harmony, young and old. They had many statues and one was a wooden statue of the Virgin and Child. One day the Deacon noticed that it was gone. Everyone was tasked with looking for her, but she was nowhere to be found and they organized a team of youngsters to find out what happened. They were Connor, Paul, Meagan, Alicia, and Linda. The committee of children went out to look for her.

They scoured the neighborhood and found the guilty party: a band of hoodlums. Connor asked them to give it back.

“No way,” said the chief hoodlum. “Only if you give us a ransom.” Connor thought fast.

“If we tell you a good story, can we get her back for free?”

“Ok” said the boy.

Each child set out to find a piece of the story that would bring the Madonna and Child back to the church.

Connor went looking around the neighborhood. He came across some people that were celebrating a gender reveal. One arch of pink balloons in the sky. It was beautiful. The parents were so happy as they looked around at their friends.

Paul tried to leave home to help find the statue, but before he could, his mother said, “Aunt Cheri is having her baby shower today and I can’t go. I have too much to do. Could you go instead? Here is your gift.”

“Ok, sure,” said Paul. He walked to his aunt’s house.

“So happy to see you, Paul!” Cheri said. The guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, played games like Guess the Name of the Baby, and opened gifts of clothes, baby food and toys.

Meagan went to St Luke’s hospital because she thought someone might have taken the statue for their patients. She passed by the baby ward and looked at the babies. They were so cute. She thought to herself “What if one of these was the baby Jesus?” It was hard to think of. Maybe Jesus would have had a golden aura around him, or maybe he would just look like an ordinary baby. She decided to tell the team that all the babies had a magical aura around them.

Alicia went back to the church to scour for the statue. When she was there, a crowd of people processed in. They filed in and the last ones were some proud parents with a baby in their arms dressed in white. They gave the baby to the priest who held it over the basin and said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” while pouring water over the child’s head. She was fascinated with the process: a white glow seemed to emanate from the child’s clothes.

Finally, there was Linda, the youngest. She got a ride from her sister to the police station because she thought someone might have turned it in there. She sat down in the waiting room and shortly there was a huge uproar as some people excitedly came in. There was a young child with them and then a burst of joy from some other people as she was brought in. “Thank God, you found her,” they cried. There was much hugging and rejoicing. Then her sister told her it was time to go.

Each team member told the hoodlums their part of the story. When they were done, the hoodlum said “So that’s it?”

Connor said, “It’s the Joyful Mysteries: the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation and the Finding in the Temple.”

The other group conferred and decided it was a good story after all. So that is how they all found the Virgin Mary.

 

©Copyright 2025 by Cecile Bianco

Featured AI Image generated in Midjourney.com by Mary McWilliams

Sacred Mysteries of the Rosary

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Sacred Mysteries of the Rosary

 

The Joyful Mysteries

Not a man, this messenger announcing.

Not by man, but by God’s will, this opening.

You have been favored to be God’s mother.

So it will be, as I serve the Other.

 

Beautiful the feet, her journey complete.

God’s family with man; grains of new wheat.

Convey the Divine, bring forth His spirit.

Magnify and rejoice as you hear it.

 

Singular birth, most humble beginning.

A King in a manger, nothing stranger.

From above, afar, the fields, are coming;

Famished seekers, relieved of their hunger.

 

This truth can’t be known; it must be revealed;

Adored or rejected; thoughts unconcealed.

God, as a baby, our arms can enfold.

Piercing projected; such sorrow foretold.

 

“The son must obey the father,” He said.

Joyful reunion, such sorrowful dread;

“You see, I was at home. I was not lost.”

She ponders, says “Yes,” whatever the cost.

The Luminous Mysteries

Bathed in our sins and so bearing our cost.

Fulfilling by willing, saving the lost.

Present in sacrament, baptism first.

Trinity rising from water’s rebirth.

 

Now, Mother? Yes, time to let joy overflow.

Wedding and feasting, delights that will show.

You’ve come to bring joy, reveal His design.

Presence brings comfort, so share such as thine.

 

His Kingdom nears; the King appears.

Return from exile, cast off your stale fears.

Sown in seedlings, true harvest will ripen.

Remorse meets mercy, stony hearts open.

 

Please stop, I’m sorry to see this vision.

I don’t understand this fearful mission.

Fear not, I’m with you; I know what you need.

With time, you will see the new life I breed.

 

This bread is my body, for you given.

Forgive them again, seven times seven.

The cup is a promise, never broken.

Do as I do, you’ll not be forsaken.

The Sorrowful Mysteries

The consoling angel daubs beads of blood

As tears and sweat form into pools of mud.

Above their anguished groaning can be heard,

‘Be done to me according to your word.’

 

Beads and hooks arrayed along leather strips

Like birds of prey strike the flesh they assail.

How can it be that those wielding the whips

Are healed by this very one that they flail.

 

My pride and arrogance a mockery

Of you wearing that wicked crown for me.

Imitating your naked humbleness

Merits the cloak in which I hope to dress.

 

Too heavy, too great, too fearful for me.

Yet fear is tempered by pity for thee.

Who carries my guilt, pays my penalty

Through death on a cross to eternity.

 

Transfixed is my gaze, my hopes pinned on thee,

Hanging suspended on Calvary’s tree.

“I thirst,” you say, as you pour out your heart.

“Finished,” you say, creating a new start.

The Glorious Mysteries

Do dim tombs typically bloom with light?

Who once entombed wakes to a morning bright?

Do burial clothes often display their wearer?

Who bears wounds in a body now fairer?

 

Beyond sight to wider light, He rises.

Here now ever present, He surprises.

Beyond time to forever, He returns.

The path beyond history, He confirms.

 

Heavenly intruder in fire descends.

I am love; you shall love; love never ends.

God present for all, Church for a body.

Go tell it, go share it; for all, it’s free.

 

Bodies only went the way of all flesh,

From ashes to ashes until that day.

Lifted high for her maker to cherish.

She first, before all others, gone this way.

 

A Queen is in Heaven, mother love reigns.

Mercy, she offers, and prayer she explains.

Guide us through exile, in tears do we plead.

Return home, take shelter; hope will succeed.

 

copyright 2025 Tom Medlar

“Mary, Mother of Poets”

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Mary, Mother of Poets

 

The poet is a cultural crime fighter,

A merchant of the timeless,

A calligrapher of gravestone inscriptions.

 

The poet wanders wasted lands, and

Ponders books of ancient lore.

 

The poet tosses runes skyward, and

Traces the descent of inscrutable phrases.

 

The poet leans into the cave of echoes,

Listening for words spoken before speech began.

 

Ancient poets are being found in melting glaciers,

Their names, long etched in ice,

Now melt into a crevasse of collective forgetfulness.

 

Yet, lo, the boldest poet is a banal figure, deaf and dumb,

Next to the singular lady who conversed with glorious Gabriel.

The chosen woman who bears

The body of God,

The scar of the sword,

And the mission of forgiving the crowd calling for the death of her son.

 

Her ever-silent, inwardly-listening husband heard

The dream-speech of divine messengers,

And used the sign language of lowered eyes, bent knees, and folded hands

To tell what he’d heard.

 

Happy the mother who magnifies the Lord,

Who rejoices in God the savior.

 

Happy are we to have a mother who hears the whispered dying wishes

Of the lowest and the highest.

 

Happy to have a blessed mother who shares

Her gravitational hearing,

Her galactic awareness,

Her celestial serenity and

The super nova intensity of her love.

 

Queen mother of Being,

Holy fountain of mercy.

Listening silently to each soul.

Every person’s prayer pondered in her eternal perspective.

 

© copyright 2025 Tom Medlar

Antwerp – The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a copy after Peter Paul Rubens (1613) in Lady Chapel in st. Charles Borromeo church on September 5, 2013 in Antwerp, Belgium

2025 by Margaret King Zacharias

Rocky Times

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Rocky Times

Taxi drivers shook their fists at each other as I stared out the tour bus window. Blaring horns assaulted my ears. Sunset turned to twilight, and still we sat motionless in Tel Aviv traffic gridlock.
My heart was breaking for my fellow travelers. Although I’d been looking forward to visiting the Carmelite monastery’s public areas for a second time, I’d already been blessed with indelible memories of a daylight Mass in the gardens, followed by a tour that included rooftop views of the fertile valleys below. (See https://www.catholicwritersguild.org/2023/06/mount-carmel/). For the passengers with me on this trip, their visit here was meant to be the pinnacle of a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The bus driver’s scowl mirrored my own frustration, but only an air of resigned disappointment filled the bus.
By the time we had navigated a winding road to the top of Mount Carmel, full darkness had descended. The harried greeter who’d waited for us outside made humble apologies. Unfortunately, no tour would be possible. The brothers had already prayed Vespers, and the vowed community was cloistered for the night. But our host said he’d given the lay oblates permission to reopen the gift shop. This announcement immediately cheered the ladies. At least they could still bring rosaries to their loved ones back home. They trooped off together toward the few still-lighted windows, smiling.
Dominick, a public elementary school principal, quietly pulled his carryon suitcase from the bin above his seat and got off the bus behind them. I’d learned that in his traditional Italian neighborhood, parishioners had sacrificed for years to buy a small triangular lot adjacent to their
church. Dominick was building there, a shrine for Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I watched him engage our greeter in animated conversation.
The other pilgrims eventually returned, with full souvenir bags in hand. But where was Dominick? Finally, he appeared again at the bus door, grinning. A middle-aged but muscular man from a contractor family, Dominick did not seem daunted by the weight he now carried. He climbed right up the bus stairs, and raised his suitcase with both hands, in a victory stance, as soon as he reached the aisle.
“That brother was so kind. He took me all the way back to the mountain!” Dominick’s voice resonated through the bus without benefit of the microphone. “He said I could have as many rocks as I wanted! He found me a spade, and held the flashlight while I pried the stones
free.”
Whoops, whistles, and cheers from every seat greeted his enthusiastic news.

***

I found myself behind Dominick in the El Al security lines for our departure flight back to the United States. He patted his suitcase, and whispered with a wink. “Don’t worry. I’ve got them all right here.”
I heard the uniformed Israeli guards ask, as Dominick slowly wheeled his suitcase to the counter, “What’s in there? Rocks?”
Uh, oh, I thought, looking around. Is this even legal? Archeological artifacts, and all that? Where’s our guide!  Dominick just nodded. “Gifts for Our Lady’s new grotto, from our Holy Land pilgrimage,” he said. Seeing the stern looks on their faces, he hastened to assure them.
“Everyone gave me permission. Those monks at Mount Carmel were really helpful.” Dominick pulled a paper from his vest pocket. Apparently, he’d somehow managed to wangle a document from the Carmelite brother who’d assisted with the excavation. Dominick handed his paper to one of the security men.
The first guard examined it and showed it to his partner. Then he refolded it carefully, and gave it back to Dominick. These officials, who now appeared a bit bemused, heaved Dominick’s suitcase up to the metal counter themselves. After looking inside, they exchanged a humorous glance, and waved our hero through, with his suitcase, to the gate. As I placed my own tote on the counter, I couldn’t help wondering how Dominick could have fit in all the stones I’d seen him collect, at the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and other sacred sites we’d visited.

But from the glimpse I’d just garnered, they did look– tightly packed.

***

Dominick engraved each stone from the Holy Land with its place of origin. He mortared them in where they fit, like puzzle pieces, among larger local boulders. Pilgrimage memories endure in a curved rock wall that shelters the consecrated granite altar in the new grotto dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Today, Mass can be celebrated at the grotto as well as the church, often in both English and Spanish. The parish maintains its long and faithful tradition of Corpus Christi processions with the Blessed Sacrament, visiting and blessing individual family homes throughout the old neighborhood. The parish school pioneered for our diocese the first cohort in an optional Spanish immersion curriculum for grades K-8.
Dominick’s spirit of humility, simplicity, and faith lives on.

May we all be blessed this Lent with trust and grace to find joy in whatever God sends.

 

© Copyright 2025 Margaret King Zacharias

Feature photo by Margaret King Zacharias. Used with Permission.

 

My Proposal

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My Proposal

 

Always one with the Divine dispatch
Never a thought for himself

Always a swift and selfless messenger
Never a pause to ponder his view

Now God asking to become a person
Never had this happened before

Great Gabriel approaching
This person
This question
This transition

God asking if this Mary might become His mother

Always he’d flown on the wings of the Lord
Never had he felt like a human, hesitant to be seen

Do not be afraid, Gabriel, for you have been chosen for this role

This is my proposal to her

Announce what I say to you

Gabriel turned and looked longer at Mary
He saw all that was pending
All heaven held its breath

I love God who wisely arranges all things
I love this Mary, so different from all other persons
I love Him who wants to be her son

Gabriel brightly and silently came before Mary.

 

copyright 2025 Tom Medlar

Survey Says: Mary, Powerhouse Intercessor!

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Survey Says: Mary, Powerhouse Intercessor!

by Dennis Lambert

If we were playing Biblical Family Feud and the players were asked, “What was the greatest revelation of the Wedding at Cana?” my guess is that the number one answer would be a toss-up between two answers. It would be either that it is where Jesus performed his first miracle or that it was the beginning of his public ministry.

Now for the more serious Family Feud thrill seekers out there, what would take the next spot on the big Feud board? The answer to that is likely to be dependent on that player’s Christian affiliation. For myself, being Catholic, my response would be, “Mary the Intercessor.”

One thing I am certain of is that the role of Mary in our Christian faith is often misunderstood by Protestants, and also by many Catholics. Having spent a couple years in the non-denominational world, I can tell you that the number one misconception regarding Mary is that Catholics pray to Mary as we pray to God. (insert the Family Feud big Red X and obnoxious buzzer sound here!). It is, in fact, the story of Cana which demonstrates to the world one of Mary’s most treasured roles in our Christian faith.

Let’s take a look by putting ourselves into the story…

Now, wedding feasts during the time of Jesus were truly a celebration which lasted for days. So the party is in full swing when Mary, the intuitive mother she is, notices something is wrong.

Perhaps she notices the head waiter whispering something into the ear of the father of the bride and then sees a look of shock and dismay come across his face. Next, the father follows the head waiter into the kitchen, and Mary, who obviously knows the man, out of concern follows him to find out what has him so disheveled.

When Mary learns that he has run out of wine she immediately understands the social ramifications and embarrassment it would cause this man, his daughter the bride, and his family. You see, running short on wine at such a celebration would indeed been a major party foul and that error would have surely made that family the talk of the town for months to come, and not in a good way.

So I can envision Mary calmly talking to that father, telling him that everything is going to be all right, that she’s got it handled. Her next move is to her Son. She explains in detail what has happened, what was happening. After listening to his mother, Jesus says to her, “Women, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” The reality is that back then, the term “Woman” was an endearing sign of affection. Using a little poetic license and placing myself into the scene, I can see Jesus’ response possibly coming off more like, “Mother, the woman I adore, it’s not my time quite yet. You understand, right?”  (And if I had more space in this article we could go into how biblical scholars describe this call of “Woman” by Jesus as his announcing of Mary as the new Eve.)

Now Mary’s response is interesting. Her eyes are on Jesus, listening to what he says one second, and then a split second later turning her head from her son to the server. Without saying a word to her son, she tells the server, “Do whatever he tells you.”  Now that’s authority! Now that’s a mother!

I can just imagine Jesus rolling his eyes after this, saying something like, “Ma, really?” But what does he do? He orders the servers to bring out six stone jars filled with water. According to the Gospel, that was between 120- and 180-gallons worth of water that Jesus then turns into wine!  In that instance, Jesus complies to his mother’s wishes, her “intentions.”

What this part of the story tells us, unequivocally, is that Mary indeed has the ear of her son and most importantly, that he listens to her.

And what are the implications for us? While they may be pretty clear to most, let me build up where I’m heading with this just a bit before I come out and state the obvious. Allow me ask a couple probing questions …

How many of you have ever prayed for someone else? How many been prayed for? My guess is that everyone reading this is saying an unequivocal “yes” to both questions. The fact that we all participate so fully in this thing we call prayer shows that there is something to it. That there is a real power to prayer. And if you’re like me, the holier the person you get to say a prayer on your behalf, the more efficacious we feel that prayer is going to be.

Which brings us back to Mary. The wedding feast at Cana introduces Mary as the best intercessor for our prayers. After all, whether a person is Catholic or Protestant, I’m confident we would all agree that no one who ever lived is holier than Mary. After all, God chose her to have his Son!

Clearly, as seen in the story of the Wedding at Cana, Jesus most especially listens to his mother! And this, my friends, is Mary’s role in our faith. We don’t pray to Mary as we pray to Jesus or the Father. Rather we ask her, as the holiest person who ever lived, to take our needs, our prayers, our intentions to the very foot of her son. For, as seen at Cana, Jesus most especially listens to his Mother!

So when you find yourself in need, be it one of the big things in life variety, or just a case of writer’s block you’re trying to clear away, may the forceful words of Steve Harvey ring within your ears, “Survey Says: Mary, Powerhouse Intercessor!”…. and then may you turn to our Champion of Cana and ask her for the gift of her influential prayers!

© Copyright 2025 by Dennis Lambert

Feature Photo by John Andrew Nolia Blazo: https://www.pexels.com/photo/painting-of-holy-mary-15111009/

Visitation

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 “… Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home:

Heaven lies about us in our infancy …

 

… The Clouds that gather round the setting sun

Do take a sober colouring from an eye

That hath kept watch o’er man’s mortality …”

William Wordsworth

Ode: Intimations of Immortality from

Recollections of Early Childhood (1)

 

Visitation

May is the month our church sets aside each year to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

In 2024, May includes at least five significant liturgical celebrations:

  • Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Thursday, May 9 (or Sunday, May 12);
  • Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima, Monday, May 13;
  • Solemnity of Pentecost on May 19;
  • Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, Monday, May 20;  
  • Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Friday, May 31.

This month opens with the second Glorious Mystery of the Rosary, encompassing two additional Marian holy days as well as another Solemnity, the third Glorious Mystery, and concludes with the second Joyful Mystery — enough to make anyone’s head spin.

Decades ago, when our planet seemed safer and more civilized than it does today, I was blessed with opportunities to visit several Catholic shrines as a pilgrim.

It’s impossible to do justice to the full set of liturgical crescendos this month contains in a brief article for a first Saturday. But I offer a few reflections here about the opening solemnity and the closing feast from my pilgrimages to shrines in the Holy Land.

***

Christian Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives – Jerusalem, Israel
Fallaner, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

A small Christian monument called the Chapel of the Ascension stands on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, not to be confused with the larger mosque that looms nearby.

This probably does mark the place where Jesus proclaimed his majestic final commission to the apostles, the ‘go out into all the world’ speech we hear in the gospel reading for the Solemnity of the Ascension, Mark 16:15-20. (2)

But even though the chapel contains an ancient footprint in its rock floor that legend describes as made by Our Lord’s right foot when he departed, this holy place on the Mount of Olives may, or may not, be where Jesus actually ascended into heaven.

Some scholars, as well as many local Christians whose families have lived here for generations, believe the Ascension might have occurred elsewhere.

Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter – Tabgha, Israel
Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia
Commons

 

Another possible location hosts the small Church of the Primacy of Peter, on the northwest banks of the Sea of Galilee, believed to be where Jesus fed his friends one last breakfast of freshly-caught fish, as described in John 21. (3)

That rocky shoreline is also visited by thousands of Christian pilgrims, both Catholic and Protestant. It’s an alternative place where some believe the Ascension might actually have taken place.

View of the Sea of Galilee – from the Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter, Tabgha, Israel
someone10x, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Shore beside the Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter – Tabgha, Galilee, Israel.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/emeryjl/, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via
Wikimedia Commons

 

Wherever it occurred, the description of the Ascension in Acts 1:6-12 (4) tells us that the gathered apostles received a visitation from ‘two men dressed in white,’ usually interpreted as angels.

These men appeared ‘suddenly,’ admonishing the disciples to stop looking ‘up at the sky,’ and promising that Jesus would ‘return the same way he departed.’

***

Two distinct Visitation shrines hold importance in the town of Ein Karem, once a small village in the Judean hills, now considered a ‘suburb’ of sprawling modern Jerusalem.

The first is the Church of St. John the Baptist, in downtown contemporary Ein Karem.

Courtyard and Entrance to Church of Saint John the Baptist, Ein Karem, Israel.
Chris06, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

By tradition dating back to Saint Helen, mother of the Byzantine emperor Constantine, and supported by archeological research through layers of Crusader construction, there is evidence to believe that John the Baptist was born in the now-underground cave on this site.

Birth Cave of Saint John the Baptist, Ein Karem, Israel
Pikiwiki Israel, CC BY 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

A fountain in the courtyard appears to have been the original village water source, probably located on the temple property where Elizabeth’s husband Zacharias was serving as Jewish priest when an angel appeared to him to announce the news of his son. Their primary dwelling is believed to have been here, or very close by.

Higher into the foothills is a site traditionally identified as the family’s summer home, and many scholars believe that this would have been where young Mary went to visit her much older cousin.

A curving, terraced brick pathway with very wide steps winds around the steep mountain trail today, leading up from the main village to the Church of the Visitation.

This shrine is a much larger complex, a former monastery. In contrast to the lower church in Ein Karem, where John the Baptist’s family is highlighted, the Church of the Visitation contains imagery devoted almost exclusively to Mary.

Detail of Front Facade – Church of the Visitation – Ein Karem, Israel. Elizabeth is pictured at
upper left.
Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia
Commons

 

The exception is a sculpture in strikingly contemporary style, portraying two pregnant women, facing each other.

***

Paradoxically, as liturgical time runs forward in May, divine time seems to spin backward, in earthly terms, to the moment when two unborn infants recognized each other from within their mothers’ wombs.

It was only after a very young woman — who had said “yes” to a divine act with consequences she could not possibly have fully understood — had received affirmation and confirmation from her wiser, more experienced cousin, that she burst into the Magnificat.

Sober sunset clouds will gather. One of these babies will be beheaded. One will die by crucifixion.

But these are the moments when Wordsworth’s “… eye that hath kept watch o’er man’s mortality …” is most deftly invoked by the poet.

Penance, Baptism, Resurrection, and Ascension will change the whole game.

“The ‘clouds of glory’ that these babies ‘trail’ contain Eternity for those who believe.”

May enduring faith, hope, and love guard your hearts this May.

Veni Sancte Spiritus.

 

 

Featured Photo: Panoramic View – Church of the Visitation – Ein Karem, Israel Attribution Tombah, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Notes:

  1. Quoted from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45536/ode-intimations-of-immortality-from-recollections-of-early-childhood.
  2. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050924-Ascension.cfm
  3. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/21
  4. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/1

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