Our Lady of Hope
This beautiful statue can be purchased at Mother Angelica's gift shop - click here for more information
St. Bonaventure wrote a small treatise called Bring Forth Christ: Five Feasts of the Child Jesus.
The First Feast: How Christ Jesus, The Son Of God, May Be Conceived Spiritually By A Devout Soul. This is a beautiful meditation on the Annunciation and Visitation. To read the entire chapter click below
The First Feast: How Christ Jesus, The Son Of God, May Be Conceived Spiritually By A Devout Soul
Here are 2 quotes from this chapter.
"Once a devout soul has been touched or moved by the hope of heavenly bliss, the fear of eternal punishment or the weariness of living long in this vale of tears (Ps. 83:7), it is visited by fresh inspirations, set alight with holy desires and taken up with godly thoughts. When at length it has rejected and despised previous imperfections and former desires for worldly things, and has resolved to lead a new life by the gracious kindness of the Father of lights from whom is every good endowment and every perfect gift (Jas. 1:17), it conceives mystically by the gift of grace."
"Now, with Mary, the soul begins to climb the hill country (cf. Luke 1: 39) because after this conception earthly things lose their attraction, and the soul longs for heavenly and eternal things. The soul begins to flee the company of those with minds set on earthly things (Phil. 3:19) and desires the friendship of those with hearts set on heavenly things. It begins to take care of Elizabeth, that is, to look to those who are enlightened by divine wisdom and ardently inflamed by love."
These next chapters (or feasts) all pertain to the Christmas season so we will cover each of them in the days to come.
The Second Feast: How The Son of God Is Born Spiritually In A Devout Soul
The Third Feast: How The Infant Jesus Is Named Spiritually By A Devout Soul
The Fourth Feast: How The Son Of God Is Sought and Adored Spiritually With The Magi, By The Devout Soul
The Fifth Feast: How The Son Of God Is Presented In The Temple By A Devout Soul
