Mary's Beauty: A Spiritual Outlook on Beauty for Preteens

By Rosemarie C. Pomilla

As the source of all beauty, God created Mary for His Son and us but also as the perfect example of true beauty, which comes from grace and virtue. Preteens will learn about Mary’s life, virtues, and devotions while developing character-building qualities and discovering ways to enhance their beauty with modesty. In addition, the young ladies will learn how to establish a holy self-love, which leads to a beautiful life, giving glory to God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638141136

Book preview

The Virtue of Wisdom

It is developed with experience in life and also given as a gift by the Holy Spirit. It helps us to use good judgment when making a decision. It is known that Saint Therese was not highly educated but gained wisdom through prayer and simple acts of love. She became a doctor of the church! Let us pray for this much-needed virtue of wisdom every day.

The Blessed Mother’s Role, Virtues, and Beauty

To know Mary is to love her. In this book, we will learn about her life, role, virtues, beauty, sacramentals, and devotions. We will come to know how we can be more like her in this world we live in. We will use her as a model and follow her example of beauty.

Mary is Jesus’s mother and our spiritual mother. She is perfectly beautiful internally and externally. Mary was created with a unique quality, God created her without the stain of original sin. Original sin is a weakness in us humans that leads us to sin and make bad choices sometimes. This special privilege Mary has is called the Immaculate Conception. During her entire life, she never committed a sin. Our Lady always pleases God.

So now that we understand that Mary is a perfect woman, we can then say that her beauty is reflected in her soul and body. Because she always does what is pleasing to God, we can say that while Mary was on earth, she took good care of her body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Blessed Mother would keep herself clean, eat healthy, be active, take care of her teeth, brush her hair, keep her clothes washed, neat, and appropriate. She made sure that her appearance never offended God. Mary always did the right thing. She was orderly, organized, and worked hard for the Holy Family. Mary said her prayers, learned her faith, loved God with all her heart, and loved all people.

Let us pray and strive to live more like that of our Heavenly Mother’s earthly life.

What are some things we can work on to become more like Mary?

Madonna with Child and Saints, Filippino Lippi, 1485–1488

The Virtue of Diligence

The persistent work and effort toward completing a task. A person who is diligent is careful, thorough, and works hard until the job gets done. Let us pray for and practice this virtue at school and home. This will help us give glory to God in our works.

The Most Holy Rosary

Catholic tradition teaches us that the Rosary is a powerful prayer that Mary gave to us through Saint Dominic around the year 1208.

Being exhausted from trying so hard to win over those swayed away from the faith, but with no success, Saint Dominic turned to the Blessed Mother for help. He prayed and did penance to be able to find a way to lead God’s people back to the truth. Mary appeared to Saint Dominic and taught him the Most Holy Rosary and how to pray it. She encouraged him to teach others also to pray it. In time, he saw many conversions. People started returning back to the church.

Blessed Alan de la Roche, a Dominican priest, continued the work of Saint Dominic to solidify devotion to the Rosary and make it a valued part of the Catholic faith. He was successful! To this day, as Catholics, we recognize the Holy Rosary as a treasure of the church.

To Saint Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche, the Blessed Mother gave fifteen promises to those who devoutly recite her Rosary.

The fifteen promises:

Why do you think the Holy Rosary is so powerful?

Madonna of Mercy, Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1472

The Virtue of Perseverance

Continuing to work toward something no matter how difficult the task. Never giving up no matter how long it takes to accomplish a goal. Let us pray for and practice the virtue of perseverance so that we may achieve our goals in life and inspire others to do the same.

How to Pray the Most Holy Rosary

The Most Holy Rosary is a powerful spiritual tool that requires a combination of vocal and mental prayer while using the rosary beads. The spoken prayers consist of mostly Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and Glory Bes. The mental prayer is the meditation of the twenty events that happened in the lives of Jesus and Mary. These events are divided into the Joyful, Sorrowful, Luminous, and Glorious mysteries.

Take the time to learn the Rosary and pray it every day. It may be challenging at times, but encourage yourself to recite it anyway. You will receive graces that will help you in life, so make an effort to pray it. More importantly, you will be pleasing Jesus and Mary. Our Lady appreciates the effort, even if it’s not prayed perfectly. As long as your intentions are to recite it to the best of your abilities, you will be blessed for it.

Sister Lucia dos Santos, the eldest Fatima visionary said,

The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.

Why do you think it’s important to recite the Rosary every day?

Nativity, Antonio da Correggio, 1528–1530

The Virtue of Gratitude

Having the disposition of thankfulness. Showing appreciation and returning kindness. Without this virtue, there is no joy. A grateful heart is a joyful heart. Let us pray for and