"Victory, when it comes,
will come through Mary."
-- Pope John Paul II
Mary is a model of total
self-abandonment to the will of God: she received in
her heart the eternal Word and she conceived it in
her virginal womb; she trusted to God and, with her
soul pierced by a sword (cf. Lk 2:35), she did not
hesitate to share the passion of her Son, renewing
on Calvary at the foot of the Cross her ‘Yes’ of the
Annunciation. To reflect upon the Immaculate
Conception of Mary is thus to allow oneself to be
attracted by the ‘Yes’ which joined her wonderfully
to the mission of Christ, the redeemer of humanity;
it is to allow oneself to be taken and led by her
hand to pronounce in one’s turn ‘fiat’ to the will
of God, with all one’s existence interwoven with
joys and sadness, hopes and disappointments, in the
awareness that tribulations, pain and suffering make
rich the meaning of our pilgrimage on the earth.
-- Pope Benedict XVI
The title "Mother of the
Church" thus reflects the deep conviction of the
Christian faithful, who see in Mary not only the
mother of the person of Christ, but also of the
faithful. She who is recognized as mother of
salvation, life and grace, mother of the saved and
mother of the living, is rightly proclaimed Mother
of the Church.
-- Pope John Paul II
"Repent and believe the Good News!"
Penance means conversion. The Confraternity of
Penitents is a world wide private Catholic
association of the faithful, completely loyal to our
Pope and the Magisterium.
Our Rule of Life has been reviewed by our bishop and
recognized in these words: "this Rule does not
contain anything contrary to our faith; therefore it
may be safely practiced privately by you or by
anyone inclined to do so. . . . His Excellency
is appreciative of your efforts to live and promote
Franciscan spirituality and especially promote the
neglected practice of penance and he wishes you
success" (January 30, 1998).
Members of the Confraternity of Penitents live this
Rule in their own homes, devoted to prayer, penance,
fasting, conversion, and works of mercy modeled on
Jesus Christ and inspired by the lives and teachings
of
St. Francis,
St. Dominic,
St. Therese,
St. Benedict,
St. Augustine,
St. Ignatius,
and all the saints, most especially Mary, the Mother
of God, who lived a life of true penance
(conversion) in perfect union with our Lord.
May Our Lady and all the saints intercede for all
who wish to embrace a life of penance, anywhere in
the world, so that the grace of God will assist them
to obtain every virtue necessary for a life of
holiness and surrender to the Will of God! Amen.
PRAYER OF PENITENTS
"Most High, Glorious God, enlighten the darkness
of my mind, give me right faith, a firm hope and
perfect charity, so that I may always and in all
things act according to Your Holy Will. Amen."
(Saint Francis's prayer before the San Damiano
Crucifix)
MISSION OF PENITENTS
"Go and repair My House
which, as you can see, is falling into ruin." (The
message given to St. Francis in a voice from the San
Damiano Crucifix.)
ACTION OF PENITENTS
To pray for God's
specific direction in one's life so that, through
humbly living our Rule of Life, each penitent may
help to rebuild the house of God by bringing love of
God and neighbor to his or her own corner of the
world.
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the
virgin made church
Salutation of
the Blessed Virgin Mary
Hail Lady, Holy Queen, Holy Mary, Mother of God,
who are the Virgin made Church and the one
chosen by the Most Holy Father of Heaven, whom
He consecrated with His Most Holy Beloved Son
and with the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete;
in whom there was and is all fullness of grace
and every good. Hail His Palace; Hail His
Tabernacle; Hail His Home. Hail His Vestment;
Hail His Handmaid; Hail His Mother and hail all
you holy virtues, which through the grace and
illumination of the Holy Spirit are infused into
the hearts of the faithful, so that from being
unbelievers, you make them faithful to God. --
Saint Francis of Assisi
Writing in his Second Life of St. Francis of the
Little Poor Man’s “inexpressible love” of the
Blessed Virgin, Thomas of Celano says that
Francis “sang special Praises to her, poured out
prayers to her, offered her his affections, so
many and so great that the tongue of man cannot
recount them” (II Cel. 198, in Omnibus p. 135).
One set of these “special Praises” has come down
to us in nearly all the early manuscripts of his
works, its authenticity unchallenged: St.
Francis’ “Salutation of the Blessed Virgin
Mary”.
When I first heard the Salutation – spoken
aloud, not read – I heard it as speaking of a
“Virgin-made Church”. That made complete sense
to me. The Church believes, as St. Augustine
articulated, that the one Body of the Lord Jesus
Christ is present in three forms: the Incarnate
Body which hung upon the Cross and is now
glorified in heaven, the Eucharistic Body which
is present under forms of Bread and Wine, and
the Mystical Body which is the Church. Since
His Body is one, what is truly said of any one
of these forms, must be true of all three.
Thus, if Our Lady is the Mother of the Incarnate
Body, she must be no less the Mother of the
Eucharistic Body and the Mother of the Mystical
Body. The Church is born of Mary: the Church is
Virgin-made.
That is true. But when I read the text of the
Salutation, I learned that St. Francis’ words
teach a different truth. What he wrote was “che
sei vergine fatta Chiesa” (in Latin, “quae es
virgo ecclesia facta”): literally, “because you,
Virgin, are made Church” – Virgin, made Church.
The Gospel records an interchange in which
Jesus, told that His Mother wants to speak with
Him, asks who His Mother is, and answers that
His Mother is the person who does His Father’s
will (Mt. 12.50 and parallels). Some take this
as disparaging Our Lady: but who is it that said
to the Father’s messenger, “Be it unto me
according to thy word” (Lk. 1.38)? And who is
it who continued in prayer with the disciples in
the Upper Room until the coming of the Holy
Spirit (Acts 1.14)? Holy Mary does the Father’s
will: from the day of the Annunciation she is a
believer, a disciple of her Son. And from the
day of the Annunciation she uniquely believes in
Him, she uniquely follows Him. She not only
gives birth to the Church: she – she alone until
He calls His first disciples – is the Church.
The Virgin is made Church.
The Virgin is made Church, the Virgin is
everything the Church is, from the moment of her
“yes” to God. But given His devotion to the
Holy Cross, one cannot but hear in St. Francis’
image of the Virgin made Church something of
that moment when from that Cross Our Lord gives
His Mother to His Apostle John. The Church is a
sheep-fold: under the one Shepherd, there are
shepherds, and there are sheep. And here, in
the dying that will issue in His return to His
Father’s right hand, the one Shepherd places the
foremost and first of His sheep under the care
of the shepherd whom He most loved. The Virgin
is the Church: in Mary at the foot of the Cross,
Jesus shows us what the Church is, and thus
holds before us what He intends that we – like
her, and with her, His Church – should be.
Rev. Warren V.
Tanghe
Confraternity of Penitents
520 Oliphant Lane
Middletown RI USA
02842-4600
401/849-5421
bspenance@hotmail.com
copenitents@yahoo.com
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