Clear Crackle Quartz Bracelet with Miraculous Medal

The Ave beads in this bracelet are 9mm clear crackle quartz. These beads sparkle and dance in the light. When the sun hits them they refract the light and show beautiful little spectrums. Accenting these beads is the silver, metalized Lucite Pater bead. The spacers, Miraculous Medal, crucifix and toggle clasp are silver colored metal. This bracelet would make a wonderful gift.  Please click here to learn more about this rosary bracelet and please visit my shop, Holy Name Rosaries to see more of my rosary bracelets and unbreakable rosaries.

Mary Undoer of Knots Rosary Pale Blue Amazonite

Mary, the Undoer of knots is reported to be Pope Francis' favorite aspect of Our Blessed Mother.  The Ave beads in this rosary are 8mm pale blue Amazonite. These beads are slightly translucent which gives them a light appearance. Some of the beads have slight imperfections, this is to be expected with natural stone beads. The Pater beads are jasper from Madagascar. They are a light gray color with light blue mixed in. This rosary would make a wonderful gift. It would also be great to keep for yourself. The center and the crucifix are both silver colored metal.  Please click here to learn more about this rosary and please visit my shop, Holy Name Rosaries, to see more of my unbreakable, wire wrapped rosaries. 

Mary Undoer of Knots

To show us the mission granted to the Virgin Mary by Her Son, an unknown artist painted Mary Undoer of Knots with great grace. Since 1700, his painting has been venerated in the Church of St. Peter in Perlack, Germany. It was originally inspired by a meditation of Saint Irenaeus (Bishop of Lyon and martyred in 202) based on the parallel made by Saint Paul between Adam and Christ. Saint Irenaeus, in turn, made a comparison between Eve and Mary, saying:

"Eve, by her disobedience, tied the knot of disgrace for the human race; whereas Mary, by her obedience, undid it".

But what are these knots? They are the problems and struggles we face for which we do not see any solution. Knots of discord in your family, lack of understanding between parents and children, disrespect, violence, the knots of deep hurts between husband and wife, the absence of peace and joy at home. They are also the knots of anguish and despair of separated couples, the dissolution of the family, the knots of a drug addict son or daughter, sick or separated from home or God, knots of alcoholism, the practice of abortion, depression, unemployment, fear, solitude…Ah, the knots of our life! How they suffocate the soul, beat us down and betray the heart’s joy and separate us from God.

The devotion to Mary Undoer of Knots is not new. The devotion is more than 300 years old. However, it is not based on an apparition of the Virgin Mary to a person, or persons, as in Lourdes or Fatima, but rather it is a revered devotion as many others in the Catholic Church, despite Virgin Mary is only one. The devotion to Mary Undoer of Knots is becoming more and more known in many different countries, and the Novena has been printed in 19 languages, as well as in Braille. In the last 4 years, the Sanctuary of Mary Undoer of Knots has welcomed more than 600,000 pilgrims from all over the world. At Mass, there is a multitude of people: the young, the elderly, rich and poor, all asking for help from Our Lady to simplify their lives.

Sanctuary where Mary Undoer of Knots is venerated Devotes on field Mass in honor to Mary Undoer of Knots

Day after day, more and more Christians kneel to pray to Her as soon as they meet the Mother of the Fair Love.
Many families have become reconciled! Many diseases have been healed! Many spouses have returned to the Church! Many jobs have been given! Many conversions have taken place! Many Catholics have been on their knees praying and giving thanks for graces received from our sweet Mother.

We are living in difficult times where the problems, the knots, the temptations, the lack of peace and the evils are all around us. Like a roaring lion your adversary, the devil, prowls around, looking for someone to devour.
(1 Peter 5,8)

For that reason, Mary Who undoes the knots, Who was chosen by God to crush the evil with Her feet, comes to us to reveal Herself. She comes to provide jobs, good health, to reconcile families, because She wants to undo the knots of our sins which dominate our lives, so that - as sons of the King - we can receive the promises reserved for us from eternity. She comes with promises of victory, peace, blessings and reconciliation.

Then, free from our knots – filled with happiness, we can be a testimony of the Divine Power in this world, like pieces of God’s heart or small bottles of perfume exhaling mercy and love to our neighbor. Like ambassador of Jesus Christ and the Virgin of the fair love, we can rescue those who cry without any consolation, those who are lonely, tied with knots, who have no God, no Father nor Mother.

Mother of the Rising Sun, Immaculate, our Advocate, Helper in moments of affliction, Mother of God and made by Him our Mother, this is how Mary, Undoer of Knots is presented. Above all, She comes as the Queen of Mercy, the one who knows all about us, who has compassion for us and hurries to rescue us, praying for each one of us to Her beloved Jesus.

The information in this post was taken entirely from this website  http://www.maryundoerofknots.com/history.htm

Irish Rosary Honoring Our Lady of Knock

The Avé beads in this rosary are 8mm multicolored fancy agate. The colors range from many shades of green accented by a few rust colored beads. The Pater beads are 12mm white magnesite. Magnesite is often advertised as white turquoise which it is not. However, it is a beautiful stone in and of itself. Because of the size and weight of the beads, this is a nice substantial rosary which has a nice feel in your hands.  Please click here to learn more about this rosary and please visit my shop, Holy Name Rosaries, to see more of my unbreakable rosaries.

Our Lady of Knock

Altar Sculpture at Knock based on accounts of the Apparition

As is the case with so many of her apparitions, the people of  County Mayo in Ireland where that apparition occured was in great turmoil.   There had been many famines and forced evictions imposed on a population that was already suffering.  On the evening of August 21, 1879, at about 8 o'clock in the evening, fifteen people, whose ages ranged from five years to seventy-five and included men, women, teenagers and children, witnessed what they claimed was an apparition of Our Lady, Saint Joseph, and Saint John the Evangelist at the south gable end of the local small parish church, the Church of Saint John the Baptist. Behind them and a little to the left of Saint John was a plain altar. On the altar was a cross and a lamb

The Blessed Virgin Mary was described as being beautiful, standing a few feet above the ground. She wore a white cloak, hanging in full folds and fastened at the neck. The crown appeared of a golden brightness, of a deeper hue, than the striking whiteness of the robe she wore; the upper parts of the crown appeared to be a series of sparkles, or glittering crosses. She was described as "deep in prayer", with her eyes raised to heaven, her hands raised to the shoulders or a little higher, the palms inclined slightly to the shoulders. Bridget Trench "went in immediately to kiss, as I thought, the feet of the Blessed Virgin; but I felt nothing in the embrace but the wall, and I wondered why I could not feel with my hands the figures which I had so plainly and so distinctly seen". 

 

 

Saint Joseph, also wearing white robes, stood on the Virgin's right hand. His head was bent forward from the shoulders towards the Blessed Virgin. John the Evangelist stood to the left of the Blessed Virgin. He was dressed in a long robe and wore a mitre. He was partly turned away from the other figures. He appeared to be preaching and he held open a large book in his left hand. To the left of St. John was an altar with a lamb on it with a cross standing on the altar behind the lamb




Those who witnessed the apparition stood in the pouring rain for up to two hours reciting the Rosary, a traditional Catholic prayer. When the apparition began there was good light, but although it then became very dark, witnesses could still see the figures very clearly - they appeared to be the color of a bright whitish light. The apparition did not flicker or move in any way. The witnesses reported that the ground around the figures remained completely dry during the apparition although the wind was blowing from the south. Afterwards, however the ground at the gable became wet and the gable dark

Our Lady of Knock is one of the few apparitions where Our Blessed Mother remained silent.  She remained in an attitude of prayer during the entire apparation.   It is my belief that perhaps she was trying to encourage her people to pray and to teach them the language of silence.   For it is only in silence that we are able to perceive the Lord and "hear" the language of His love for us.

Most of the contents of this post were taking directly from Wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knock_Shrine and some of the information came from Mary Pages http://www.marypages.com/Knock.htm    The last paragraph is my own original thinking as to why Our Blessed Mother chose not to speak at Knock.

Surrender to Holiness

On the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, I was thinking about Lent and I asked the Lord what kind of observance I should do for Lent.   The thought went thru my mind: "Surrender to holiness".  As I wondered what this might mean, my first impression was that it meant: "Let go and let God!"  This seemed fairly obvious to me and, it can mean just that.   In truth, it can be summed up in this well written article on Wikipedia:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_%28spirituality_and_psychology%29     As I felt drawn to ponder the phrase further,  I began to think there might a much deeper and more profound meaning of the phrase for my life. 

My first thought was to define the word "Surrender".   We hear it all the time in our society.   We have bakeries named "Sweet Surrender", songs titled "Sweet Surrender".  Actually, the term "Sweet Surrender"  seems to be just about everywhere.   Truly, it is over used.   So, I turned to my dear friend Miriam  (Webster that is) for a definition.   When I read the definition of Surrender, I realized there is nothing sweet about it.   According to the dictionary,  the definition of surrender is:

1:  to give up completely or agree to forgo especially in favor of another
2:  to give (oneself) up into the power of another especially as a prisoner

Surrender is not only unpleasant, it is often painful.   I mean, who wants to give anything up to another?   We humans tend to be a rather possessive lot, not easily letting go of the things that are important to us, especially if it means giving up our freedom or our own way of doing things.   Yet, surrender is what I feel called to do. 

Then  my next question was:  "Surrender to what?"   My first thought was "Surrender to God...of course!".   But that isn't the phrase that kept going thru my head.   The phrase I hear over and over is "Surrender to holiness". 

I can honestly tell you I thought I knew what holiness is.   But, again, I felt compelled to look the definition up.   It isn't at all what I thought it meant.   I thought "holiness" meant being very good and living a life for God...living a very good life for God.    However, according to this article, the concept of "good" doesn't enter into the definition of holiness at all.   http://www.tektonics.org/whatis/whatholy.php    According to the author of this article, "good" is what we become as a result of being holy.  I was surprised. 

It appears the definition of "holy" or "holiness" means to be set apart.   I never knew that.   At first sight, the idea of being set apart for God brings great joy...and well it should.   It means that, as Christians, we have been chosen by Him to be His people.   As the prophet Ezekiel said  "You will be my people and I will be your God."    Those words have always brought comfort to me.

As we are set apart by God, for God, we become more like God, and begin to take on more and more of HIs attributes.   As we take on more of His attributes, He becomes more and more a part of our identity.  Eventually, the more we surrender to being set apart, to being holy, the more of our selves we are able to surrender to Him, and the more of Himself He surrenders to us.  In the end, we become completely  His and He becomes completely ours.  Our identities become  inextricably  entwined with His.   We have become one in Him. 

Yet, as Lent has progressed, I've learned that being set apart is often hard and painful.   It means we often don't  fit in with the crowd.    It doesn't matter whether the group we want to belong to is in a social situation, or a work situation or any other situation we may find ourselves in.   It means that we can not truly be a part of the group, that we can not always go along with the crowd.   It means  there are times when we have to deliberately choose to do or say something that is different from the accepted norms.   To do so means to risk ridicule, criticism or even rejection.   Yet this is what we must do if we are going to be true  to our identity as God's holy people and also true to ourselves.

This is a difficult thing for me.   I have always wanted to be a part of "the group".   I've always wanted to "belong" and yet,  somehow, I have always felt like I don't quite fit in.   Perhaps this  is as it should be.  Perhaps this is the Lord's way of reminding me that I really shouldn't "fit in" with everyone else.   Perhaps it is a reminder for me to keep my eyes focused on Him instead of on everyone and everything around me.

Being set apart also means we can not allow ourselves to be swept up by the tidal wave of consumerism and pseudo individualism which defines our society .   We can not allow ourselves to be seduced into believing that we have to have the latest gadget, clothes, car, etc.  if we want to be individuals.  In truth, the forces which control our society are leading us to become carbon copies of each other.  We have become a society of clones where no one is really very different from anyone else.  To surrender to holiness means that we can not surrender to the world.  We are to be in this world, but not of it.

If we do surrender to the call of our society to become like everyone  else,  then we will no longer be set apart, identifiable as God's people.   We will not only loose our holiness, we will loose our identity.  We will become like many of the Jews in the Babylonian captivity.  When King Cyrus finally set the Jews free and allowed them to go back to Jerusalem, many of them decided to stay right where they were...in Babylon.  Their Babylonian identity had become so strong that they lost their identity as Jews.  They had lost their holiness....they were no longer set apart.

If we surrender to being set apart, we will begin to grow in the Lord.   We will become the individuals we were meant to be.  If we persevere in our journey, we will become identifiable as God's people in the eyes of the world.   We will bear His light to the rest of mankind and to each other.   We will, in fact, have become holy.

Mother's Day Rosary with Blue Agate and Handmade Lampwork Beads

The show stealers in this rosary are the 12mm by 11 handmade lampwork Pater beads. These striking beads have a silver foil center encased in clear crystal with pink flower and green leaves on the surface of the bead. Because they are handmade, each of the Pater beads is slightly different from the others. Most of the differences can be seen in the size, shape and color of the pink roses. Accenting these beads are silver colored bead caps. The Ave beads are light blue 8mm faceted agate. These are complimented by 3mm bead caps and a swirl of silver plated wire going up the side. The crucifix and center are silver plated metal. The center honors the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus.  Please click here to learn more about this rosary and please visit my shop Holy Name Rosaries to see more of my wire wrapped, unbreakable rosaries and prayer beads.