Jubilee Year of Saint Francis on the 800th Anniversary of His Death
August is the month dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
I will praise the name of God in song.
MARY, ASSUMED INTO HEAVEN,
HEART OF MARY, THRONE OF GLORY,
HEART OF MARY, SEAT OF MERCY,
PRAY FOR US.
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI,
SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL,
PRAY FOR US.
Welcome to August, dear faithful readers. Thank you for being there, wherever you are. Once again, we can't go wrong as we dedicate this month to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Our Lady. Heart of Mary, according to the Heart of God, pray for us! One of the most noteworthy celebrations for the month comes August 15 with the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the patronal feast of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. Please pray for us. At the same time, the Assumption of Mary is the fourth mystery we recall when we pray the Glorious Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary. Dear Mary, raised up body and soul, assumed into heaven, please cover us in your protective veil. And if that’s not enough for us, we commemorate Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church, "Doctor Mellifluus," on August 20. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, pray for us!
Going over some notes from studies in Rome, I found a short reflection written for one of my classes. It has been dormant since 2010, so I thought to resurrect it. Not about the Assumption necessarily, it is about Mary, our Mother. She comes to our aid no matter what. Maybe you will find something worthwhile in it. Not too long, it's under 400 words. Here goes ...
In Lumen
Gentium (LG), the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council write that “everyone
whether belonging to the hierarchy, or being cared for by it, is called to
holiness according to the saying of the Apostle ‘For this is the will of God,
your sanctification’” (LG 39). The
Blessed Virgin Mary serves as a model and guide for all of the faithful who
“are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity”
(LG 53). All the faithful strive to
conform themselves to the image of Christ and, like Mary, by living a life of
faith, hope, and charity, to bring Christ to the world.
John
Paul II, in the 1987 encyclical letter Redemptoris
Mater (RM), clearly presents the Blessed Virgin Mary as a universal model of
holiness. The pope writes, “…as Christians raise their eyes with faith to Mary
in the course of their earthly pilgrimage, they ‘strive to increase in
holiness’” (RM 47). As Virgin, Mary believed
that she would conceive and bear the Son of God, the Word made flesh. As
handmaid of the Lord, “she remained in perfect fidelity to the person
and mission of this Son” (RM 42). As
Mother, [Mary] believed and obeyed and “brought forth on earth the
Father’s Son” (RM 42).
The
Church, the Body of Christ, “seeks to become like Mary: ‘Imitating the Mother
of the Lord, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, she preserves with virginal
purity and integral faith, a firm hope, and a sincere charity’” (RM 44). As Mary told the servers at the
wedding feast at Cana, she also tells us. “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2,5). We
entrust ourselves to the care of Mary, and through her prayers and
intercession, say “yes” to the Lord, remaining faithful to our call to holiness
as the Holy Spirit guides us. Mary was the first believer. Like Mary, in faith
and with confidence, we say to the Lord, “May it be done to me according to
your Word” (Lk 1,38).
Mary,
help us “to find in Christ the path to the Father’s house” (RM 47).
For our voices this month, wisdom and insight is offered by psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs and her mentor Maurice Blanche in Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs. Although each and every book in the series* is worthwhile, this first in the series is always a very good place to start. Listen with the ear of your heart.
The extraordinary hides behind the camouflage of the ordinary. Assume nothing, Maisie.
(Maurice Blanche to Maisie)
In the early days of her pupilage with Maurice, he had told Maisie of his teachers, the wise men who spoke of the veil that was lifted in the early hours, of the all-seeing eye that was open before the day was awake. The hours before dawn were the sacred time, before the intellect rose from slumber. At this time one's inner voice could be heard.
Truth walks toward us on the paths of our questions ... As soon as you think you have the answer, you have closed the path and may miss vital new information. Wait awhile in the stillness, and do not rush to conclusions, no matter how uncomfortable the unknowing.
(Maisie remembering what Maurice told her)
Maurice had counseled her, in the early days of her apprenticeship, when she was the silent observer as he listened to a story, gently prodding with a question, a comment, a sigh, or a smile. "The story takes up a space as a knot in a piece of wood. If the knot is removed, a hole remains. We must ask ourselves, how will this hole that we have opened be filled? The hole, Maisie, is our responsibility.
Allow grief to air itself ... Be judicious in using the body to comfort another, for you may extinguish the freedom that the person feels to be able to share a sadness.
(Maurice to Maisie)
I never want to learn that you 'don't know,' Maisie, I want to know what you think the answer is to the question. And once more, a word of advice: Stay with the question. The more it troubles you, the more it has to teach you. In time, Maisie, you will find that the larger questions in life share such behavior.
(Maurice to Maisie)
The following is some of the best advice I have heard about sitting in silence ...
With Khan she [Maisie] learned to sit in deliberate silence, and learned too that the stilled mind would give insight beyond the teaching of books and hours of instruction, and that such counsel would support all other learning. When she first sat with Khan, she asked what it was she was to do as she sat with legs crossed on the cushion in front of him. The old man lifted his face to the window, then turned his clear white eyes toward her and said simply, “Pay attention."
Maurice says that only when we have a respect for time will we have learned
something of the art of living.
And as she walked, [Maisie] thought of Maurice, who had told her so many times that coincidence could simply be what it appeared to be: two events connected to each other by the thoughts and experience of a person. But he also told Maisie to pay attention to coincidence.
Coincidence was a messenger sent by truth.
Pay attention, Maurice had always cautioned [Maisie]. Pay attention to the reactions of your body. It is the wisdom of the self speaking to you. Be aware of concern, of anticipation, of all the feelings that come from self. They manifest in the body. What is their counsel?
And Maisie when you visit The Retreat, consider that nature of masks. We all have our masks, Maisie.
Maurice had always encouraged judicious use of both words and silence.
But remember, Maisie, remember, truth also came to us as individuals so that we might have a more intimate encounter with the self ... What is there in your heart that needs to be given light and understanding?
(Maurice to Maisie)
To solve a problem, walk around.
(Maurice to Maisie)
A time when the light is most likely to deceive the eye, a time between sleep and waking. A time when a man is likely to be at his weakest. Dawn is a time when soft veils are draped across reality, creating allusion and cheating truth. It is said, Maisie, it is the darkest just before dawn.
(Maurice to Maisie)
As usual, there are plenty of heavy hitter saints to invoke this month.
SAINT ALPHONSUS MARY DE' LIGUORI, BISHOP, DOCTOR,
SAINT EUSEBIUS OF VERCELLI,
SAINT PETER JULIAN EYMARD,
SAINT PETER FABER,
SAINT GERMANUS OF AUXERRE,
SAINT OSWALD,
SAINT AETHELWOLD,
SAINT LYDIA OF THYATIRA,
SAINT JOHN MARY VIANNEY, CURE OF ARS, PRIEST,
BLESSED FREDERIC JANSSOONE,
POPE SAINT SIXTUS II, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS,
SAINT CAJETAN, PRIEST,
BLESSED NICHOLAS POSTGATE,
SAINT ALBERT OF TRAPANI,
SAINT DOMINIC, PRIEST,
SAINT MARY OF THE CROSS,
SAINT TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS,
SAINT NATHY,
SAINT FELIM,
SAINT LAURENCE, DEACON, MARTYR,
SAINT CLARE, VIRGIN,
SAINT JANE FRANCES DE CHANTAL, RELIGIOUS,
SAINT ISIDORE BAKANJA,
SAINT MUREDACH,
SAINT ATTRACTA,
SAINT LELIA,
SAINT BLAAN,
POPE SAINT PONTIAN, SAINT HIPPOLYTUS, PRIEST, MARTYRS,
SAINT FACHTNA OR FACHANAN OF ROSS,
BLESSED WILLIAM FREEMAN,
SAINT MAXIMILIAN KOLBE, PRIEST, MARTYR,
SAINT STEPHEN OF HUNGARY,
SAINT ROCK,
BLESSED MARIA SAGRARIO OF SAINT ALOYSIUS GONZAGA,
BLESSED ANGELUS MAZZINGHI,
SAINT BEATRICE OF SILVA, VIRGIN,
SAINT JOAN OF THE CROSS,
BLESSED VICTORIA RASOAMANARIVO,
SAINT ALBERTO HURTADO CRUCHAGA,
BLESSED JOHN-BAPTIST DUVERNEUIL, MICHAEL-ALOYSIUS BRULARD AND JAMES GAGNOT,
SAINT HELENA,
SAINT JOHN EUDES, PRIEST,
SAINT EZEKIEL MORENO,
SAINT OSWIN,
SERVANT OF GOD NICHOLAS BLACK ELK,
SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, ABBOT, DOCTOR,
POPE SAINT PIUS X,
OUR LADY, MOTHER AND QUEEN,
SAINT JOHN KEMBLE,
SAINT ROSE OF LIMA,
SAINT EUGENE,
SAINT JOHN WALL,
SAINT BARTHOLOMEW, APOSTLE,
SAINT LOUIS,
SAINT JOSEPH OF CALASANZ, PRIEST,
SAINT MARY OF JESUS CRUCIFIED BAOUARDY,
BLESSED DOMINIC BARBERI,
SAINT DAVID LEWIS,
OUR LADY OF CZESTOCHOWA,
SAINT CAESARIUS OF ARLES,
BLESSED JACQUES RETOURET,
SAINT TERESA OF JESUS' TRANSVERBERATION,
SAINT JEANNE ELIZABETH,
SAINT MONICA,
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, BISHOP, DOCTOR,
SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST,
SAINT MARGARET CLITHEROW, NEE MIDDLETON,
SAINT ANNE LINE,
SAINT MARGARET WARD,
BLESSED GHEBRE MICHAEL,
SAINT FIACRE,
SAINT EDMUND ARROWSMITH,
SAINT AIDAN,
SAINTS JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA AND NICODEMUS,
PRAY FOR US.
* Jacqueline Winspear brought the series to conclusion with the 2024 publication of The Comfort of Ghosts.
This month’s photo: I will glorify Him with thanksgiving. In Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton begins Chapter 2 with this line: “A tree gives glory to God first of all by being a tree.” This tree, found on the grounds of El Retiro Jesuit Retreat Center, Los Altos, CA, by simply being a tree, is busy giving glory to God. And by coincidence, or not, it is June 28, 2026, when I write this. It is a day, in other years, when we commemorate Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, who wrote, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” So, why not just be who you are, made in the image and likeness of God, be fully alive and give glory to God. “Live in the newness of life”! (see Romans 6:4).
© Gertrude Feick 2026
