September 24

Our Lady Of Mercy

Preparation. - In founding the Order of Marcy for the ransom of captives, the Blessed Virgin recalls to us, first, from what bonds she has freed us, and secondly, for how many grace we are indebted to her. We shall then conclude with a sincere resolution to give up sin, the world, and our evil inclinations, that prevent us from having free access to God. “Thou hast broken my bonds; I will sacrifice to Thee the sacrifice of praise” (Ps. 115. 16. 17).

I. The Bonds From Which Mary Frees Us

In the beginning of the thirteenth century the Mahomedans, who were masters of a great part of Spain, held in chains an immense number of Christians, and cruelly tormented them, in order to induce them to give up the faith. Many of them yielded and apostatized , and the Church deeply bewailed the loss of her children. From all sides vows and prayers ascended to the Queen of mercy to obtain a prompt remedy for so many evils. Moved by the distress of her children, the sweet Mother appeared in one and the same night to three illustrious personages, and enjoined on them to combine their efforts to found a religious Order for the ransom of captives. This enterprise was carried out successfully, and the Church approved it, and the memory of it is celebrated on this day.

How many instructions are contained in this fact! The Christians loaded with chains recall to us the bonds of sin, of the devil and of our lusts, bonds which have us unhappy already in this life, and expose us to still greater evils, and an eternity of suffering and misery. We have been freed from that cruel and shameful slavery through Mary's mediations for, in union with her divine Son, she contributed to our Redemption. If any one among us is still enchained by tepidity, habitual small faults, of by some unmortified passion or inclination, let him have recourse to our powerful Queen, the Mother of Mercy, who from heaven never loses sight of the distress of her subjects and the needs of her children. Having sacrificed, for our sake, her only Son, will she ever forget the anguish that filled her heart for our salvation? She obtains so many miracles in favor of bodies which are mortal, how much more generous will she be in favor of immortal souls! Moreover, she loves us with a strong and invincible affection.

Why then should we uselessly lament, when we behold ourselves so miserable and so oppressed by the weight of our many imperfections? Why should we attempt always to struggle alone against our defects, our passions, our concupiscences ever awake, our pride and self-love so sensitive, and so frequently the cause of the disturbance of our heart? Let us have recourse to Mary in our afflictions and combats, and she will assist and console us.

O my loving Mother, I will no longer suffer or struggle single-handed against my foes; but, placing all my trust in thee, I will have recourse to thy protection, in order to obtain, first, patience in afflictions and troubles, and secondly, the victory over myself and all temptations tending to make me a slave of sin. Burst asunder always more and more the bonds that keep my heart far from thee and thy Son.

II. Of How Many Graces We Are Indebted To Mary

The Order of Mercy, founded by the Mother of God for the ransom of captives, is a feeble image of the Church, to the foundation of which Mary contributed with her divine Son for the ransom of the lost human race. When we came into this world, we were enchained by Satan, and bore the heavy fetters of ignorance and sin. But, as says St. Germanus, no one attains the knowledge of the truth unless through Mary. Hence it is to the intercession of this amiable Mother, that we owe the grace of baptism. Through her we have passed from darkness to light, from the slavery of hell to the noble liberty of the children of God. O inestimable benefit, the principle of the precious and multiplied favors since bestowed upon us!

“No one,” says the same saint, “escapes the dangers of being lost, except through Mary.” From how many perils has not the Mother of our souls preserved us from our childhood until now? From what evils has she snatched us away, whilst so many of our friends, and even relatives, became the victims thereof! “No one, O Mary,” continues the same saint, “receives God’s gifts, except through thee; no one becomes spiritual and saves his soul, except through thy intervention.” Formerly we knew not whence came the remorse, the wholesome fears, disgust for the world, the desires to belong to God, which we experienced; and it was Mary who obtained them for us! She was watching over us as a mother over her children, and she daily does so still.

Whence do we so often feel drawn to meditate, reflect and mortify our passions? Which is the source of so many inspirations and holy desires, which urge us on to strive after perfection, to be recollected, detached, united to the supreme Good? The source is in Jesus, but its channel is Mary, the Mediatress of our salvation.

O my loving Mother, gratitude requires from me the most perfect love of thee and the most complete fidelity in obeying thee. Obtain for me the courage to sacrifice to thee whatever is displeasing to thee in me, such as, an uncharitable word, an imprudent or dangerous look, an act of impatience, of discontent, of aversion, and especially certain habitual faults very hurtful to my spiritual progress. Through the intercession of St. Alphonsus, who, on this feast of thine, broke off with the world in a church dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy, deign to burst asunder the bonds of my defects, my imperfections, my attachment to the world and myself, and unite me, like thee and with thee, to God, the supreme Good.

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Third Sunday Of September

Mary’s Sorrows

Preparation. - Filial piety requires us to recall Mary’s sorrows with sentiments, first, of compassion, and secondly, of contrition for our sins. When meditating on the Passion and bearing our daily trials, let us recall this admonition of the Holy Ghost: “Forget not the groanings of thy mother” (Eccli. 7. 29).

I. Mary’s Sorrows Demand Our Compassion.

To form an idea of the Blessed Virgin’s sufferings, we should have to understand the extent of her extreme and exquisite keenness of feeling, and the immensity of the love of Jesus that consumed her, a love which, already at the Incarnation, surpassed that of the whole heavenly court, and which, henceforth, until the Passion went on increasing every moment. Her love was the measure of her grief.

And also what tongue could express the anguish of that afflicted Mother? On the way to Calvary, and especially at the foot of the cross, an ocean of tribulation seemed to submerge her, and caused her a grief so bitter, that it would have been capable to bring on the instantaneous death of all men. And, as we know, so great a suffering was inflicted on the most sublime and innocent of creatures; on that immaculate Virgin, who is not a stranger to us, but is of our family, is our spiritual relative, and to say all in a word, who is the sweet and amiable Mother of our souls! Is not all this enough to pierce our heart with the sword of compassion?

Were a son unfortunately compelled to assist at the most unjust and cruel execution of her who gave him birth, were he to see her throbbing under the executioner’s axe, without being able to succor or relieve her, would he not feel as if his heart were a thousand times torn to pieces? And we, the children of the holiest and most loving of mothers, how can we behold her in the torments of Calvary and as if in agony at the foot of the cross, without feeling in our heart her very pains, her very sorrows, even more intensely than if they were our own?

What mother was ever more worthy of our tears and sympathy? She loses a Son she loves more than all mothers together can love theirs. She loses Him, innocent, most horribly and ignominiously put to death by those He loaded with benefits. He, indeed, has a heart of stone, who is not moved at this sight! My God, deign to soften my insensible heart.

Our Saviour has promised four graces to those who daily compassionate the sorrows of His Mother: first, a sincere repentance of their sins; secondly, a special assistance of Mary in trials and afflictions; thirdly, an habitual remembrance of the Passion and the salutary fruits accompanying it; and fourthly, the special protection of the Mother of sorrows.

O Blessed Virgin, enable me to deserve these favors by a tender devotion to thy maternal anguish, which snatched me out of hell and opened to me the heavenly Jerusalem. I purpose daily to recite seven Hail Marys to remind me of thy sufferings and to sympathize with them with a childlike heart. “Forget not the groanings of thy mother.”

II. Mary’s Sorrows Should Excite Us To Repentance.

When Jesus was in His agony on Calvary and Mary stood at the foot of His cross, had we asked the eternal Justice the cause of so bloody a drama, of a drama calculated to move all hearts to compassion, what answer would have been given us? No doubt these words of the prophet: “For the wickedness of My people have I struck Him” (Is. 53. 8).

O my God, it was, then, my own will and its sins that put my Saviour to death and pierced the heart of His and my Mother. I am, therefore, a criminal, a parricide, and if I were judged by human laws, death would be the penalty. And in the sight of God I have deserved eternal death with all its miseries. Who will penetrate my heart with a sufficiently intense sorrow to expiate my misdeeds? What tears powerful enough can ever preserve me from the avenging fire destined for my punishment? There are none on earth, save those of the two victims of Golgotha, immolated to obtain my forgiveness.

However, it is incumbent on me to add to their tears my sorrow, but a sincere and efficacious sorrow that will cause me to shun deliberate faults, to combat my feelings and my evil propensities. If I really repent of the past, I shall prove it by fleeing the world, its pleasures and habitual dissipation, by repressing my vanity, effeminacy, love of ease and sensuality. By these means I shall avoid the dangers of relapse, and my repentance, abounding in fruits of salvation, will correspond to the wishes of Jesus and Mary, for the object of their sufferings on Calvary is especially the destruction of sin and the reparation of our ruins.

O holy Virgin, afflicted Mother, how shall I again seek vain enjoyments on earth, where, on my account, thou didst experience all the prickings of the thorns of sorrow? To expiate my evil doings against thee, I henceforth condemn myself to the labors of penance and self-denial. Fill me with the spirit of compunction, of detachment from transitory goods and true devotedness. Strengthen my desire of following with thee the steps of Jesus crucified.

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September 15

On Devotion To Mary

Preparation. - Since the Church celebrates on this day the octave of Mary’s Nativity, we shall mediate, first, on the motives for this august Virgin, and secondly, the immense benefits resulting from devotion to her. Let us profit by this meditation to awaken our confidence in the Mother of God, saying to us through holy Church: “Blessed is the man that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall find life and shall have salvation from the Lord” (Prov. 8. 34, 35).

I. Motives Of Devotion To Mary

The adorable Trinity itself has given us the example of doing homage to the most pure, most holy and most sublime of creatures. The eternal Father, treating her from her Immaculate Conception with gifts, prerogatives and favors immensely superior to those of all the angels and saints combined. God the Son, choosing her as His beloved Mother, showed her a perfect obedience and a filial love. Daily He saluted her, thanked her, honored her with the most sincere respect and the most tender affection. What a beautiful model for us! The Holy Ghost predestined her as His most pure Spouse, and entrusted to her all the goods of the Redemption, so that, being herself enriched thereby beyond all measure, she may, as St. Alphonsus teaches, be able to dispense to all men the necessary and superabundant helps to salvation. Can the Creator Himself show greater honor, confidence and love than this to a mere creature?

Hence the Church, inspired by her divine Founder, considers it no excess to raise the honor paid to Mary as high as she has done. Every year she consecrates to the Mother of God two whole months, May and October, and celebrates many feasts in honor of her conception, birth, sorrows, life, death, her privileges and virtues. Every week she reserves Saturday to Mary; and three times a day she invites the faithful to greet her at the ringing of the Angelus, thus recalling to us the unspeakable mystery, in which Mary, by becoming the Mother of God, became also our Mother and our all-powerful advocate with the Almighty. Who can enumerate the sanctuaries dedicated to this glorious Queen, and the titles by which she is everywhere invoked in the Catholic Church? In this manner the whole Church confirms what the doctors and saints have written on Mary’s power and goodness.

O Mary, our Queen and Mother, when I consider what the adorable Trinity, the holy Church and all the true disciples of Jesus, have done for thee, I am full of confusion at the thought of my tepidity in thy service. Obtain for me the grace, first, to honor thee as the Immaculate Virgin, the Mother of the Incarnate Word, the Queen of heaven and earth, the most perfect image of the uncreated Being; secondly, to love thee as the purest and holiest of creatures and the co-operatress of the Saviour in our spiritual restoration; and thirdly, to pray to thee and invoke thee as the Dispensatrix of the heavenly gifts and the Mediatress of our salvation. “He that shall find me, shall find life and shall have salvation from the Lord.”

II. The Beneficial Results Of Devotion To Mary

If the child that loves not his mother, is called unnatural, what will the angels all us, if we do not love Mary? Did she not bring us forth to grace and glory in the greatest anguish and pain? And has she not since then been our Nurse in the order of salvation? Who has ever invoked her without receiving assistance? All sinners that have thrown off the shackles of their slavery, have done so with Mary’s help. All the innocent souls that have persevered in the way of virtue, owe this privilege to her prayers.

Even the saints, who are now in glory, such as, Sts. Ephram, Bernardine of Siena, St. Philip Neri, St. Alphonsus and so many others, all acknowledge that, after Jesus, they owe their crown to Mary. The doctors offer her the homage of their light and, with St. Cyril, proclaim her the inextinguishable Lamp and the Queen of the orthodox faith. The virgins refer to her the honor of their virginity, the martyrs of their patience, and all the saints of their virtues. “Through her,” says St. Cyril, “the whole heaven triumphs, the angels and the archangels rejoice, the devils are put to flight, and all mankind is placed again in the way leading to eternal bliss.”

How canst thou, after this, O presumptuous soul, attribute to thy merits and fidelity the small amount of good thou hast done? Whence didst thou receive the pardon of thy sins, victory over temptations, and the interior peace thou enjoyest? Is it not from her to whom thou givest the sweet name of Mother, and who is the Dispensatrix of heavenly goods? Say to her with humble gratitude:

O Mother of divine grace, if I have received the true faith and a Christian education; if I have escaped the contagion of the world, and have not become, like so many others, the unhappy victim of Satan’s wiles, and of eternal punishment, I owe it, after Jesus, to thy protection and maternal love. Would that I had the language of the angels to thank thee. At least I am resolved, out of gratitude, first, often to read and meditate on thy joys, sorrows and glories; secondly, to greet thee and pray to thee, like St. Alphonsus, every quarter of an hour; and thirdly, to strive to sanctify myself with the intention of pleasing thee, and under thy sweet and efficacious direction.

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September 8

Nativity Of The Blessed Virgin

Preparation. - “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising,” asks the Holy Ghost (Cant. 6. 9). We shall know by the greatness of her destiny. Wherefore let us consider, first, Mary’s destiny and ours, and secondly, the duties flowing therefrom for her and for us. Let us renew our willingness to correspond faithfully to divine grace, ands we shall thereby reach the holiness to which we are called. “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy” (Eph. 1. 4).

I. Mary’s Destiny And Ours

Mary, at her birth, was called by God to sanctify herself and to labor for the salvation of mankind. For this purpose she received, from her very Conception, a capital of grace far superior to that of the angels and saints combined, a capital capable of making her the most exalted of creatures, the universal Mediatress between heaven and us. As the Mother of God and the Mother of men, she must be equal to these two prerogatives by a supereminent holiness and a power of intercession equal to our wants.

As Daughter of the Father and Spouse of the Holy Ghost, it behooved her to acquire the most sublime virtues and to become a channel worthy of the designs of her heavenly Spouse, who wishes through her to sanctify fallen human nature. Her perfection should, in fine, correspond to the splendor of the throne prepared for her at the right of her divine Son. Does not such a destiny require gifts and privileges as exquisite as those Mary received, and likewise a sublime fidelity proportionate to these prerogatives, just as the spotless Virgin actually practiced?

We also, with due proportion, have come into the world to sanctify ourselves and lead others to salvation. For this object God endowed us in baptism with a capital of faith, hope, charity, virtues and heavenly gifts, which we are to invest profitably. To these He has added many privileges; that of brethren of Jesus Christ and adopted children of God; that of union and resemblance with our Saviour, the mystical vine and our adorable model; that of substantial and permanent dwelling of the Holy Ghost in us.

In such conditions and with the actual graces daily granted us, we can easily fulfill our destiny. Have we done so hitherto? Alas, how many deserved reproaches may not God address to us! Already from our boyhood and our youth, and later on have we not, forgetful of our final end, acted as if we were independent of God, and followed our won will, our won notions? Let us deplore these wrongs and resolve to redouble our fervor during the short time that separates us from eternity.

O my God, preserve me from the misfortune of resisting Thy light, Thy attractions and Thy inspirations. At one time Thou urgest me to shun such and such a danger, such a reading, such a person, such a loss of time; at another, Thou awakenest in me the desire of watching, praying, of mortifying such and such a defect. Alas! how often I do not heed such invitations to acts of virtue! Had I corresponded therewith from my childhood, I would have already acquired the perfection of the saints. Grant that I may be perfectly faithful in recollecting myself, in listening to Thy voice and in obeying Thee in all my actions and conduct.

II. Mary’s Duties And Ours

From Mary’s sublime dignity flowed her obligation to correspond therewith every moment of her life on earth. Hence she never lost the smallest part of time during her admirable life, for she employed it wholly and uninterruptedly in producing the most beautiful acts of virtue. Let us be more exact: from her Immaculate Conception until her holy death, her life was as a single act always increasing and perfecting itself until it reached the most perfect union, that ever was, with the supreme Good.

Although we can never come near so perfect a model, are we not at least obliged to try to imitate her? God has given us the present life as a treasure to be spent, not according to our whims, but solely according to His intentions and designs concerning our soul. He demands of us continual striving after and labor for our perfection. What would we say of a servant who received a sum of money from his employer for his support, and who would spend it for trifles, or to gratify his passions? What is then to be thought of us, who waste our time in tepidity and frivolity, instead of devoting it to our sanctification?

Our life is given to us also as a field to be cultivated. Each day resembles a furrow wherein we sow our thoughts, desires, intentions, affections and all our works. What we sow germinates, grows and bears fruit, good or bad, according to our dispositions. The good becomes a harvest of merits for eternity; the bad becomes the cockle destined by divine justice to be burnt. It behooves us, therefore, to sow always in accordance with faith and grace.

Wherefore let us imitate the holy Child Mary, whose birth we celebrate this day, and, like her, let us consider, first, our Creator as our first beginning and our last end, by unceasingly thanking Him for His benefits and referring every thing to His glory; and secondly, let us live in constant union with Him, a union based on humility and on faith in His greatness; a union strengthened by confidence in Him and surrender to His guidance, and perfected by filial love ready for every sacrifice.

O Virgin, already holy at thy entrance into the world, do not disdain me, but make me pure in the sight of the Lord. As thou didst, and together with thee, I consecrate to Him all my mind, all my heart, all the moments of my life. Deign to teach me always to think on Him, and to direct to Him all my aspirations and all my doings. Aid me especially to offer to Him my every trial and willingly to suffer for His love.

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September 3

Mary, A Model Of Zeal

Preparation. - The Church permits certain Institutes to honor Mary this day under the beautiful title of “ Mother of the divine Shepherd.” Wherefore we shall meditate, first, on the Blessed Virgin’s great ardor in seeking the stray sheep, and secondly, how we may help her in this charitable office. We shall then resolve often to invoke with her the Sacred Heart of Jesus, especially in favor of dying sinners about to appear before God. “Heart of Jesus, once in agony, pity the dying.”

I. Mary Seeks The Stray Sheep

“I am the good Shepherd,” said Jesus to His disciples; “the good Shepherd giveth His life for His sheep” (John 10. 11). The Queen of mercy, the Mother of the Shepherd of our souls, is animated with the same sentiments as her Son. From the Incarnation of the Word she began to fulfill her office of saving men, by accepting the divine maternity, a necessary condition of our Redemption. Through her and with her Jesus sanctified John Baptist and offered Himself for us as a victim in the temple of Jerusalem. During His ministry throughout Judea in search of the lost sheep, His holy Mother accompanied Him by her prayers, thereby preparing the hearts of men to receive profitably the Gospel. And who will tell what she did and suffered for our souls during the Redeemer’s Passion? There were on Calvary two altars, writes St. Alphonsus; the one in the Heart of Jesus, and the other in the soul of Mary. The Son and the Mother immolated themselves for the ransom of us all. Thenceforth the zeal of the Virgin of sorrows was more than ever identifies with that of the Man-God.

Moreover, if we examine the history of the Church, we shall see that all the good wrought for souls, is done through Mary’s intervention. How many criminals have been converted, stray souls brought back and tepid hearts placed again on the right road, through her powerful intercession! The whole earth proclaims it: every thing comes to s through the charity of that faithful Virgin, our hope next to Jesus.

Let us beware of attributing to our merits the innumerable benefits received through her mediation. “Methinks,” says St. Leonard of Port Maurice, “that I am like one of those churches where some miraculous Madonna is venerated, and whose walls are covered with ex-votos with this inscription: ‘For a favor received through Mary.’ So also there is nothing in me on which I could not write: ‘Favor received through Mary.’”

Should not this touching language of a saint be ours also? What good have we received, which was not given us through Mary’s intercession? Has the deep abyss of our miseries ever exhausted the ocean of her mercies? Has this compassionate Virgin ever refuses to succor us in trials and combats, and particularly after our faults? Her conduct towards us in the past is a pledge of her protection in the future. Wherefore let us place our trust in her, however great our defects, our passions and our relapses.

O Mother of the sweetest of shepherds, my soul is like a stray sheep amid the briars of passion and the thorns of sin. Deign to seek me and to withdraw me from earthly attachments, and bring me back to the fold of Jesus. I am resolved often to invoke thee, especially in sufferings and temptations. Save also those unfortunate sinners in the greatest danger of being eternally lost, especially those now in their agony, about to appear before the tribunal of God.

II. How We May Help Mary To Save Sinners

How great is the compassion of Mary when she thinks on poor sinners! She beholds these unfortunate deprived of sanctifying grace, enslaved by the devil, without right to the heritage of the saints and unable to gain merit in order to obtain it. They are the deplorable victims of sin, enchained by their evil habits, and under the yoke of the most cruel of tyrants, whilst awaiting the torments of the reprobate. O most lamentable of states, which should deeply touch our hearts!

The Mother of mercy is never weary recommending these unfortunates to God. Could not we help her in this charitable office? What! souls created in the image of God and redeemed with the blood of a God, are becoming the prey of demons; Jesus and Mary, the angels and saints deplore their fatal lot, and we would remain insensible thereto! When St. Catherine the Admirable heard of the death of some obstinate sinner, she would utter heart-rending cries, roll herself in the dust and tear out her hair, so intense was her grief at the thought of an immortal soul lost for eternity! And can we remain indifferent to the painful sight of so many Christians going astray? How can we, so greatly abounding in spiritual goods and means of salvation, forget so many sinners almost destitute of them?

Let us at least offer to the Lord, through Mary’s intervention, a prayer, a sigh, some privation, some sacrifice to snatch so many souls from the tyranny of their passions and endless punishment. In union with the Mother of the divine Shepherd, let us often recall to God the prodigies of the love of Jesus for the stray sheep, and how He sought them through hill and dale, and how joyfully and lovingly He celebrated their return! These souvenirs will more the Heart of God and fill us with compassion for sinners.

O Mother of mercy, I offer thee the most precious blood of Jesus as an expiation of my own sins and for the conversion of so many ungrateful and guilty hearts. Impart to me some of the tender compassion which induces thee to recommend to God so many unfortunate souls separated from Him. Obtain for me the grace to realize the greatness of the misfortune of falling into mortal sin, and the happiness of living in God’s friendship till the last breath.

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Sunday After The Octave Of The Assumption

The Heart Of Mary

Preparation. - As all good proceeds from the heart, we shall study the Heart of Mary, and for this purpose we shall consider, first, the holy dispositions of that generous Heart, and secondly, its immense love for God. Following the counsel of the Holy Ghost, we shall resolve to watch without ceasing over our interior, our thoughts, desires and affections, in order to turn them towards God and attach them to Him alone. “With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it” (Prov. 4. 23).

I. The Dispositions Of Mary’s Heart

Humility, purity, devotion and fidelity, says St. Albert, the Carmelite, are the four qualities of a good heart. Who can tell us in how great a degree the Immaculate Virgin possessed these precious qualities. By the vivid lights with which she was forestalled from her very Conception, she already knew, better than all the saints together, the grandeurs of God and her own nothingness. Her Heart was then engulfed in the ocean of the divine perfections as an atom in boundless space. Being profoundly abased before the infinite majesty of God, it rendered all glory to Him, and accepted beforehand every confusion with a sublime uprightness, worthy of the Mother of God.

Her purity was likewise beyond comprehension. Like the crystal, which receives the rays of the sun in proportion to its purity and clearness, the Blessed Virgin’s Heart, exempt from the original stain and from every shadow of actual imperfection, acquired a purity adapted to the brightness of the lights it received. As an enclosed garden and a sealed fountain, it never afforded an entrance to the least worldly dust, to the least affection than might turn it away from the Supreme Good.

Even sleep could not interrupt its application to God or the transports of her devotion. In her Heart, as in a temple, the Lord was adored, loved, served and invoked more perfectly than in all the most august sanctuaries. And what a sanctuary, O God, was that in which the three divine Persons took delight! The eternal Father considered it as the master-piece of His power; the divine Word associated it with Himself in the difficult undertaking of our restoration; and the Holy Ghost enriched it with all the prerogatives and perfections suited to its sublime destiny.

Hence in this Heart there was no hindrance to grace. Grace abounded therein beyond all expression, never meeting any resistance. On the contrary, it was like a holy emulation between God and Mary, for the Lord was pleased to lavish His gifts on her, and she faithfully strove to derive profit therefrom. O fertile docility which, by making our Mother’s Heart the reservoir of the goods of the Redemption, rendered it pre-eminently the palace of the eternal King, a palace more splendid than heaven itself.

Had we, like Mary, constantly corresponded with the heavenly lights and the inspirations, should we not already be saints in the sight of God? But, alas! how different is the case! We are full of imperfections and lack solid virtue, because we prefer our views, our tastes, our will, our inclinations to the desires of Jesus, who unceasingly strives to sanctify us.

O my God, I am sincerely resolved to correspond more faithfully to Thy attractions, and especially to those that prompt me to make mental prayer, for, by its means, I can render my heart humble, so as to give Thee glory for every thing, and pure, so that it may have no earthly attachment, and devout, so that it may unreservedly consecrate itself to Thee, and faithful, so that it may refuse nothing to Thy grace, and be conformed to all Thy desires.

II. Charity Of Mary’s Heart

The Blessed Virgin’s love for God was figured, according to St. Germanus, by the altar of propitiation, on which the fire was never extinguished, but burned by day and by night (Levit. 6. 12). St. Jerome compares Mary to the bush Moses saw burning without being consumed (Exod. 3. 2). It was truly wonderful, says Bernardine de Bustis, how Mary loved her Creator uninterruptedly from her conception to her death by a continuous act. Her understanding, ever united to the uncreated Wisdom, constantly studied it and, in some manner, identified herself with it. Hence her unreserved submission, by which her will became one with that of God.

The Mother of God is also rightly represented as a woman clothed with the sun (Apoc. 12. 1), that is, wholly penetrated with divine charity; she has the moon under her feet, to signify her entire detachment from transitory goods. On her head there is a crown of twelve stars, the symbols of the sublime virtues produced in her by divine love.

To what fire, O our august Sovereign, can we compare the fire that consumed thee? Is it to the ardor of the seraphim? To the combined flames of the denizens of heaven? No; for thy love immensely surpasses that of all creatures put together. As much as Mary, by becoming the Mother of God, participated in her Son’s grandeurs, so great also was her participation in His boundless charity. Her Heart is as a vast furnace, the extent of which God alone can measure, and God alone can appreciate the intensity of the flames perpetually enkindled therein.

Let us ask of this Queen of charity a spark of the fire that burns within her and enables her to practice all virtues in an incomprehensible degree. Were our heart to have some love of God, would we be so languid in His service, so cold at mental prayer, Mass and holy Communion; so eager for distractions, rest, pleasures and sensual gratification, instead of seeking recollection, work and mortification?

O truly great and generous Heart of the purest of virgins! Heart all aglow with the most holy ardor! impart to me, first, the light which showed thee the lovely splendor of the divine perfections; and secondly, the sacred flames, which disengaged thee from the earth and from thyself, and raised thee to the most intimate union with God’s holy will. Enable me to watch constantly over my thoughts and affections, so that I may, after thy example, direct them solely to the supreme, immutable and eternal Good.

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August 22

Mary’s Glory In Heaven

Preparation. - At the end of the octave of the Assumption we shall meditate again on the exaltation of our Queen and Mother. Wherefore, we shall see, first, the place she occupies in heaven, and secondly, how she deserved it. We shall then resolve to imitate her in her docility to grace and often to invoke her under the beautiful title given her by the Church: “Virgin most faithful, pray for us.”

I. Mary’s Place In Heaven

According to St. Thomas the orders of the angels and saints are divided in heaven into three hierarchies. But the Immaculate Virgin surpasses in merit the whole heavenly court, just as the sun surpasses all the stars in brightness. Her glory in heaven, therefore, effaces that of all the saints combined. She is, moreover, their Queen, and they are her subjects; she is the Mother of Jesus, and they are His servants. Hence Gerson says: “Mary by herself forms one of the heavenly hierarchies, the most sublime of all; she is the first after God.”

As Jesus sits at the right hand of the eternal Father, so the Virgin-Mother is at the right hand of her Son. And is not this just? Are not Mary’s merits the greatest after those of the Man-God? Did she not follow Him the most closely in the ways of His sufferings and virtues? As the living book of the Incarnate Word, says St. Epiphanius, she described better than any one else His adorable perfections. Hence no one but Jesus Himself can precede her in the kingdom of glory.

O our amiable Sovereign, how can we sufficiently praise thee and love thee? Would that I had the devotion and love of the blessed husband Joseph, who was wont to spend hours conversing with thy goodness; of St. Stanislaus, who delighted in calling thee his Mother; of Blessed Henry Suso, who felt the taste of honey in his mouth, whenever he pronounced thy sweet name; of St. Ephrem, of St. Bernard, of St. Alphonsus, who wrote such touching pages on the love due to thee, our Queen, our Mother!

Let us examine our sentiments concerning Mary. Do we not find it wearisome to think on her, to pray to her, to converse with her, to meditate on her virtues, to study her grandeurs, to celebrate her praises and thank her for her benefits? Do we carefully say our beads, and recite the Angelus, and the Hail Mary? Do we often have recourse with true fervor to her powerful protection? If we do this, we may most surely expect abundant graces from her.

O spotless Virgin, purify my mind, make it capable of knowing thee; sanctify my heart, which desires to love thee with a truly filial love, and so regulate my life, that it may resemble thine in all things by the practice of the virtues.

II. How Mary Deserves The Place She Occupies In Heaven

Undoubtedly by her excellent virtues. But how did she acquire them, unless by her fidelity to grace? Already from her very conception being more greatly favored by the Holy Ghost than all creatures combined, she so perfectly corresponded to the gifts and privileges bestowed upon her, that never will a created holiness approach hers. What saint in heaven, in fact, can congratulate himself on never having lost a single light of inspiration from heaven? Mary alone fully satisfied her Creator at every moment of her admirable life.

Wherefore with what transport of praise does not the royal prophet celebrate the triumph of this great Queen! He describes her as clothed with a golden garment, a symbol of her charity, and adorned most splendidly, as a symbol of her sublime virtues. Every other saint distinguishes himself by some peculiar trait or virtue. But Mary, their Queen, excelled in every thing. She is the apostle of the apostles, the Queen of martyrs, the Standard-bearer of the virgins. She joined the most perfect innocence with the most complete mortification, and the most profound mistrust of self with the most childlike confidence in God. And then how great her generosity, her grandeur of soul in suffering, and how wonderful her charity, capable of inflaming the whole universe! Hence she justly reigns with Jesus in the highest heaven!

If we wish to follow her in glory after this life, it behooves us to humble our haughty spirit, our spirit of insubordination, which prompts us to resist grace. The Lord has already long been requiring of us a more constant recollection, a more complete self-denial, a prayer more fervent and more fertile in fruits of salvation. And we neglect, and even refuse, to make the necessary sacrifice to comply with His will. Let us, says St. Augustine, fear lest we render useless the precious moment of the visit of Jesus, a moment that passes away and does not return.

O constantly faithful Virgin, enable me always to correspond with grace, especially when it invites me to pray and meditate, for it is by this means that I can draw from the divine treasures the fruits of mental prayer, that is, all that enlightens, purifies, strengthens, enriches and sanctifies me.

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August 15

Mary’s Assumption

Preparation. - “The holy Mother of God,” says the Church in the divine office of this day, “has been raised to the heavenly mansions above the choirs of angels.” We shall contemplate, first, her glorious Assumption, and secondly, the virtues that made her worthy of it, and then we shall resolve to aspire, as she did, to heavenly glory by a pure, humble and devoted life, which will one day raise us near her in the splendors of heaven.

I. Mary’s Glorious Assumption

Most magnificent was the display King David made, when he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem; but how much more splendid and brilliant was the entrance of Mary, the Ark of the New Testament, into the heavenly Jerusalem! Jesus Himself accompanied her at the head of the Angelic choirs. “Who then is that Virgin that is so greatly honored by the King of kings? Who is that Woman coming and leaning on the Prince of peace?” And Mary’s cortege replies: “It is the Immaculate Virgin, the Queen of the universe, the Mother of our God.”

Soon the eternal vaults resounded with praises and blessings. The angels, archangels and principalities congratulated their Queen on the gifts and privileges with which God had adorned her; the powers, virtues and dominations exalted her immense power with the Lord; and the thrones, cherubim and seraphim were heard singing hymns to her, and protesting to her with all the heavenly court their entire submission and inviolable fidelity.

Let us consider also the loving expressions of all the saints welcoming her in their turn. The patriarchs who had so ardently desired her coming; the prophets who had hailed her from afar as the dawn of our deliverance; the virgins and martyrs, who congratulated her on her incomparable purity and her invincible constancy in suffering; all proclaimed her together as the most Blessed, as alone deserving of all the bliss and blessings of heaven and earth. - Then the three divine Persons themselves lovingly receiving her, the Father as His Daughter, the Son as His Mother, the Holy Ghost as His Spouse, placed her on an exalted throne, the most glorious after that of the Redeemer.

Who will enable us to rise in thought to the glory enjoyed by our Queen and Mother? And how did she deserve it? Was it by enjoying honors and pleasures, or by seeking earthly riches? No; it was by denying herself, by renouncing all that the world esteems; it was by loving a hidden, poor and mortified life; by following step by step, the divine Model of the predestined; by faithfully corresponding with the light and graces of the Holy Ghost.

O my amiable Queen, from thy exalted throne, deign to cast a sweet look on me, and enable me to realize the nothingness of worldly dignities, riches and pleasures, compared with the goods of eternity. Impart to me a love of solitude, recollection and mental prayer, so that I may daily resume fresh strength in practicing the virtues which raised thee to so exalted a place in heaven. “The holy Mother of God has been raised to the heavenly mansions above the choirs of angels.”

II. The Virtues Which Specially Glorified The Virgin-Mother

Ever since the Incarnate Wisdom declared that, “he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted” (Luke 18. 14), humility, observes St. Bernard, has become the only way that exalts us before God. Why was the Blessed Virgin placed the first in the highest heaven? Was it no because she ever strove to be the last on earth? Her self-abasement in the presence of God was so profound, so continual; her docility, resulting therefrom, was so perfect, that she never failed to correspond fully with every grace bestowed upon her. Hence how great the holiness she thus acquired, a holiness truly worthy of the Mother of God! Like the violet that conceals itself, the holiest of virgins, aspired to remain hidden and forgotten; but the King of glory, smitten by her perfume, transplanted her from earth to heaven, as the most ravishing Flower of all creation.

To the attractions of her humility were added those of her purity. Nothing is more welcome than innocence in the sojourn of the angelic spirits. How great the rejoicings at the Immaculate Virgin’s entrance into glory! The thrice holy God calls her “His love, His dove, His beautiful one” (Cant. 2. 10). Though a daughter of Adam, the prevaricator, she knew, by her virginal candor, how to deserve to reign over the nine choirs of angels, by surpassing them all in innocence and purity.

But if her purity opened to Mary the gates of her kingdom, just as her humility took her up from this world and raised her to heaven, it was charity that prepared her throne. Is it not, indeed, divine love that imparts to our actions and sufferings the highest degree of supernatural merit? This divine love, so great in Mary as to be beyond our comprehension, enabled her to attain the sublime holiness that places her at the right of her adorable Son. Without sanctifying grace, or charity, all our virtues are dead, for they lack the bond that unites and consolidated them, the sap that nourishes them and enables them to bring forth fruits of life.

O Jesus, my Redeemer, I thank Thee for having so magnificently rewarded Thy holy Mother and ours. Through her all-powerful intercession with Thee, enable me to imitate her, first, in her humility, by placing myself in spirit below every one; secondly, in her purity of heart, by avoiding every deliberate fault, every attachment and imperfection; and thirdly, in her perfect charity, by loving Thy infinite goodness in itself and in the souls created after Thy image and redeemed by Thy infinitely precious blood.

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August 14

The Last Moments Of The Blessed Virgin

Preparation. - That we may properly celebrate the eve of the Assumption and prepare ourselves for this feast, we shall consider, first, Mary’s dispositions at her last hour, and secondly, her death, caused by the power of her divine love. We shall then resolve to give up every earthly attachment, every kind of imperfection, so as to render our death precious in the sight of God, like that of the Virgin-Mother and of the saints, who imitated her. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Ps. 115. 5).

I. Mary In Her Last Moments

How bitter are the regrets of the dying who are attached to perishable goods, because they have to leave them, but especially on account of the sins they have committed! But there was nothing to worry at her death the Immaculate Virgin, the Queen of holiness. She had nothing to fear from the judgements of God, for she had never displeased her Creator, and saw herself surrounded, as it were, but he virtues she had so well practiced. Her lively faith, her unwavering confidence, her most devoted patience and profound humility, her ardent charity, her modest and unalterable meekness, in a word, all the perfections of her privileged soul filled her with joy, by giving her a glimpse of the reward that awaited her.

Hence how ardently this Virgin, wholly detached from the earth, sighed after heaven, where her beloved Son reigned. She would say: “Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest” (Ps. 54. 7) with the Supreme and eternal Good. “When shall I come, and appear before the face of my God? As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after Thee, O God” (Ps. 41. 3, 2). Such were the yearnings of Mary’s heart at the end of her so well filled career.

Let us strive to imitate this Virgin so pure and so detached, by avoiding every deliberate fault, and living here below as a traveller hastening without delay to his journey’s end.

Let us examine whether we prefer piety to science, the happiness of obeying to the honor of commanding, purity of heart to every sensual gratification. Let us every night imagine ourselves on our death-bed, and ask ourselves what will cause us the greatest regret at the end of our life. Can we think on the supreme tribunal without dreading the Lord’s reproaches for our sloth at prayer, our negligence in our employments, our carelessness and indifference in profiting by the numerous means of salvation constantly offered us?

O Jesus, through the merits of the ever most faithful Virgin, give me the courage to do violence to myself, in order punctually to perform all my duties, so that I may deserve the reward promised to watchful servants. Enable me to deny myself, whenever grace requires of me the sacrifice of some word, of a look, of some impatience, of an inclination opposed to Thy good pleasure.

II. Mary’s Last Breath

According to Sts. Andrew of Crete and John Damascene, the apostles and some of the disciples, dispersed in various countries, met miraculously at Jerusalem in the chamber where the spotless Virgin was dying. Who will describe the loving kindness of this most loving Mother, when she bid them adieu. All present could not refrain from bursting into tears.

But the angels, longing to assist at their Queen’s happy departure out of this world, came down from the highest heavens. Soon Jesus Himself, drawn by His Mother’s ardent desires, appears to her surrounded by a brilliant retinue of the Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim. At the same moment, the grieving apostles heard a ravishing melody; and what delights then inundated the blessed soul of the most faithful Virgin, especially at the moment when, according to St. John Damascene, Jesus gave Himself to her under the Sacramental species, as the Viaticum of her passage from exile to her country, from time to eternity!

This was the signal for our Mother’s departure; her beautiful soul, like the white smoke of the purest incense, softly detached itself from her virginal body, and took flight in the midst of the angelic choirs “leaning on her Beloved.” Let us follow her entering heaven and forever most intimately united with God. - Then let us return to her funeral couch, where we shall find the apostles grieving, yet consoled by the odor of the heavenly perfumes exhaled from the mortal remains of their august Sovereign. Let us admire with them how those die who have lived solely for God.

O holy Virgin, it was meet that thy death should have been the sweetest of all, for on Calvary thou hadst endured the most cruel of martyrdoms. Wherefore we shall be consoled in our last moments in proportion to the afflictions, trials and sacrifices we have generously embraced during the course of our life. In the meantime, O powerful Queen, deign to obtain for me, first, daily victory over all my perverse inclinations and propensities, so that there remains nothing needing to be purified in me after this sad exile; and secondly, often recall to me the following maxim: “The happiness of dying without regret is well worth the hardships of a life devoid of pleasure,” of consolation, of enjoyment, so as to belong more unreservedly to God. Blessed Virgin, deign to assist me during life, and especially at the hour of my death. Come thyself during my last days to prepare me for the sacraments of the dying, and then receive my soul leaving this world, in order to present it to Thy divine Son.

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August 5

Our Lady Of The Snow

Preparation. - “He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall draw salvation from the Lord” (Prov. 8. 35). We shall see tomorrow, first, how the Blessed Virgin in the mystery of this feast manifests her goodness and her desire to save us, and secondly, the meaning of the snow that fell miraculously on this day. By means of these considerations we shall reanimate our fervor in venerating our heavenly Mother, for in her we find the grace that leads to salvation. “He shall draw salvation from the Lord.”

I. How Greatly The Blessed Virgin Desires To Save Us

In the fourth century, during the pontificate of Pope Liberius, a Roman patrician and his worthy wife, being childless, made a vow to institute the Queen of heaven as their heiress. Moved by their filial piety, Mary appeared in a dream to them, and also to Pope Liberius, manifesting her desire to possess a church on the Esquiline hill on the very spot which they would find covered with snow. This was on August 5, when the greatest heat reigns in Rome. The Pope, accompanied by a number of prelates, priests and faithful, found the ground covered with snow in the very spot where the Basilica of St. Mary Major was in consequence erected, which is one of the most famous in the world.

Who does not herein admire the Blessed Virgin’s charity and solicitude for our salvation? She kindly accepts the temporal donation, and why? to repay it a hundredfold with eternal goods. She wishes a church built in her honor, and this in order to make an asylum for souls and a refuge for sinners. By accepting the legacy of the patrician and his wife, she procures for them the merit of an excellent work, and extends this benefit in the city of Rome to all Christendom, by re-awakening the faith by means of the remarkable prodigy the whole Church celebrates on this day. How ingenious and tender is Mary’s goodness! No; it is not in vain that she is called the “Queen and Mother of mercy.” From the moment she conceived the God of love, become incarnate in her for our salvation, her heart has become dilated in our favor as an immense ocean of compassion, wherein we may drown all our miseries. The most wretched are her own subjects, whom she receives with extreme kindness, when they are repentant. Why are we so diffident, so hesitating, when we implore her help? Does she not, like her Son, cry to us, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will refresh you”?

Most merciful Virgin, far from me be the thought of ever mistrusting thee. On the contrary, I hope from thy all-powerful charity victory over my perverse inclinations, the courage and constancy necessary for my perseverance, and the strength to build up the edifice of my perfection over the ruins of my self-love, and especially of my predominant passion. Deign, O Queen of holiness, to obtain for me the sincere will to cause my soul to rule henceforth over my body, my reason over my senses, faith over my judgement, grace and charity over my natural inclinations which would prevent my perfect union and resemblance with Thy amiable Son. “He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall draw salvation from the Lord.”

II. What The Miraculous Snow Of This Day Represents To Us

The Church, in celebrating this day’s feast, intends not only to re-animate our confidence in Mary’s goodness, but also to honor her virginal purity, of which, says St. Sophronius, snow is the emblem. The most brilliant stars are not pure before God (Job 15. 15); but the Holy Ghost Himself did not find the least spot in His immaculate Spouse. “There is not a spot in thee” (Cant. 4. 7). The innocence of the angels themselves, observes St. Bernard, bears no comparison with the incomprehensible purity of the Virgin-Mother. Being exempt from original sin and inundated with the most abundant graces from her very conception, and enriched with the most precious privileges, she always was the white and most pure Dove, the Beloved of the most holy God, who in her found His rest and His delights.

On her side, this most faithful Virgin placed in God alone all her affections, all her love; this perfected her interior purity always more and more. For the more we love God, the infinite Purity, the more our soul disengages herself from all that is created, and with this disposition chastity becomes strengthened and easy to observe. Our attachments to ourselves, to our body, to the gratification of our senses and to creatures are, in fact, but so many thorns that tend to inflict wounds on the angelic virtue. Wherefore, if we intend to preserve it intact, it behooves us to strive, under Mary's guidance, to shun the smallest faults, and to bind ourselves closely and solely to the Supreme Good.

The soul that is raised above the senses and desires to be united to the Lord, resembles limpid water and the purest crystal. The divine light penetrates her, showing her the nothingness of transitory pleasure and the solidity of the joys of virtue. Hence she watches over herself, mortifies herself, is addicted to prayer, and thus is kept out of danger and brought near to Jesus. Oh, how chastity becomes easy and sweet to truly detached heart!

Immaculate Virgin, I say to thee with St. Sophronius, the whiteness of snow is only an imperfect image of the purity that distinguishes thee above all virgins. Obtain for me chastity of body, a horror for the slightest stain, and a constant watch over my heart, in order to preserve it for God alone. Enable me to live here below as in a desert, where my sole occupation may be to sanctify my soul and procure the glory of thy divine Son.

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July 17

Mary’s Humility

Preparation. - The privilege of celebrating the feast of Mary’s humility on this day is granted to certain institutes. Wherefore we shall see, first, what humble sentiments Mary had of herself, and secondly, how she acted in consequence. St. Bernard admonishes us to strive to imitate the humility of the Queen of saints, and that if we constantly practice this virtue in our relations with God and our neighbor, it will suffice to sanctify us.

I. Humble Sentiments Of The Mother Of God

“Humility is truth,” says St. Teresa. Hence Mary did not believe herself a sinner, for she was certain that she had never offended God. Nor did she refuse to acknowledge the graces with which she was enriched; for her Magnificat shows it, since she therein gives glory to God for the great things He had wrought in her. How then could she have lowly sentiments of herself? In this wise; the powerful light with which the Holy Ghost illumined her, enabled her to understand, beyond all expression, the infinite greatness of God and the unfathomable abyss of her own nothingness.

As a drop of water disappears in the ocean, and an atom in endless space, thus did Mary disappear in her own eyes, when comparing herself to the majesty and holiness of the Almighty, who created the universe. The outcome of this was a total forgetfulness of herself and her merit, which caused her to refer to the most High all the good that adorned her soul. Convinced of her unworthiness and weakness without grace, she was always before her Lord as a mere beggar magnificently clad, who so much the more felt her own indigence; wherefore she humbled herself in proportion to the gifts, sublime virtues and most rare privileges embellishing her interior, wherein God dwelt. Esteeming herself the least among creatures, as was revealed to St. Mechtildis, she humbles herself and placed herself in spirit below every one.

How different are these sentiments from ours! We entertain so high an opinion of ourselves, of our qualities, talents, and apparent virtues. The least remark, the slightest reprimand disturbs and irritates us, so irreproachable do we esteem ourselves! Whence come our pretensions, unless from the too exalted opinion we have of ourselves? We imagine we are somebody, but reason and faith tells us we are nothing, and even less than nothing, for we are sinners.

O Queen of humility, help me to know God and to know myself. Strip me of the deceits of pride, and clothe me with the light of truth, that I may clearly perceive my nothingness, my ignorance, my helplessness and my indigence, through the mercy of thy divine Son. Enable me to strive interiorly to despise myself, to esteem others, to have unceasing recourse to thee, and to submit in all things to whatever God pleases.

II. How Mary Practiced Humility

Let us first consider this most faithful Virgin in the great mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. She is disturbed, not by the humiliation as other creatures are, but by the praises bestowed on her by the heavenly messenger. As ambassador of Him who is Truth itself, Gabriel speaks in the name of his Master, and yet, through holy fears and holy anguish, the most humble Virgin “was troubled at his saying” (Luke 1. 29).

After having conceived the Word made flesh, the God who “emptied Himself,” she started for Hebron, with the intention of abasing herself and serving her cousin, though inferior to herself. Such is the first effect of humility, which causes us to love subjection even towards those who owe us respect. It would have been but little for so humble a Virgin to have called herself the Creator’s handmaid, did she not also become the servant of all creatures.

And how carefully she concealed the graces, gifts and privileges with which she was enriched! Content with being seen by God only, she spent her life in forgetfulness and abjection. “Nowhere do we read,” says St. Alphonsus, “that she appeared in Jerusalem when her Son entered it in triumph; but she feared not to follow Him to Calvary, and thus to make herself known as the Mother of Him, who had been condemned to an infamous death.” Did she not share in the outrages, derision and sarcasms with which Jesus was loaded? Far from shrinking from humiliation, she courageously exposes herself to the insults of the rabble, to the mockery of the pharisees, to the ill-treatment of the soldiers and executioners. O prodigy of humility! The Queen of saints considers it her duty to accompany to capital punishment Him who the princes of her nation call a seducer, a blasphemer, a magician, as one possessed of a devil; she finds delight in being disdained, insulted and reviled with Him and like HIm.

O how well calculated is her conduct to confound our pride, our vanity! Often we desire to be humbled; but is it not on account of the honors that so frequently accompany sincere humility, and not because of the desire of humiliations by which it is formed and preserved in us? Let us earnestly beseech the queen of this virtue to obtain for us the courage to embrace that which humbles us. Let us even recite the Gloria Patri, when some one applies a stinging remedy to the ulcer of our pride and self-love.

O most humble of creatures, notwithstanding my numerous sins, I am so full of vanity and self-love. Thou, on the contrary, most innocent, seekest only contempt and confusion. Deign, O Mother, to obtain for me, first, the love of a hidden, ignored and forgotten life; and secondly, the strength to keep an humble silence, when I am reproved, contradicted, repulsed, vilified, ridiculed and derided.

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July 9 - Octave of the Visitation

Mary’s Obedience.

Preparation. - In obedience to the Holy Ghost Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth. With the desire of imitating her, let us consider, first, the perfection of her obedience, and secondly, how God rewarded it. If we wish to render our daily occupations very meritorious, let us resolve to acquit ourselves of them in a spirit of humility, submission, and dependence, without attachment to our own will. “The mind of the just studieth obedience” (Prov. 15. 28).

I. Perfection Of Mary’s Obedience.

When the archangel Gabriel came to offer to the Virgin of Nazareth the sublime dignity of Mother of God, she believed in the heavenly messenger’s word, and fully acquiesced therein as in the will of God Himself. Let us admire her lively faith in the divine authority with which the ambassador of the Most High was clothed, and especially her extraordinary esteem of the virtue of obedience, for, on so solemn an occasion she found nothing better to present to God than a soul wholly submissive to His good pleasure.

Wherefore how promptly and faithfully she executed the least wishes of heaven! The angel insinuated the service to be rendered to Elizabeth, and she at once set out for Hebron there to subject herself to another’s will. “Being a faithful servant,” says St. Thomas of Villanova, “she never contradicted her Creator.” As molten metal, her soul took at every moment all the forms it pleased God to give her. “Her whole life,” says St. Bernardine of Siena, “consisted in seeking and accomplishing the Lord’s will in all things without the slightest resistance.”

We see her leaving Nazareth to go to Bethlehem at a pagan emperor’s order. We follow her into the temple where she went to fulfill the ceremonies of the Law, at the risk of being considered only an ordinary mother, though she was the Virgin of virgins. Let us accompany her into Egypt, whither she goes into exile by order of Joseph admonished by an angel, and where she remained as long as her chaste spouse wished, for she considered him as the interpreter of God’s orders. Ever submissive to this faithful guardian, she lived obedient to him in the house of Nazareth, and when the time came to accomplish the designs of God by immolating her Son, she is seen accompanying Jesus to Calvary and remaining standing near His cross of shame, so as to sacrifice herself with Him.

Who will tell us how pleasing Mary’s obedience was to God? It contributed with that of Jesus in delivering us from hell and in opening to us heaven, which the disobedience of our first parents had closed against us. O my sweet Advocate, consider my extreme misery; instead of imitating thy perfect docility, I cannot receive a command without discussing its motives and difficulties in its way. Hence my repugnance and hesitancy to obey, and often complaints and discontent. Deign, O holy Virgin, to obtain for me greater faith, promptitude and generosity in the discharge of my office, and in the performance of all my duties. May my mind and my heart be ever directed and sanctified by my intention to obey! “The mind of the just studieth obedience.”

II. How God Rewarded Mary’s Obedience.

The immaculate Virgin’s acquiescence in the words of the heavenly messenger was the principle of her glories. In fact, at what moment did the eternal Word become Mary’s Son? At the very moment when the faithful Virgin submitted to the will of the Most High by accepting the divine Maternity. It is from this unheard-of dignity, accepted through obedience, that all the grandeurs of the Virgin-Mother are derived. “Eve, the first woman,” says St. Irineus, “had caused our death by her disobedience; Mary, the new Eve, restored life to us by her subjection to the will of God”; this she did on two decisive occasions, in the Incarnation of the Word and at the death of Jesus.

By giving her will to God, Mary gave Him all; in return for this the Lord entrusted to her all the benefits of the Redemption, to which her perfect submission had greatly contributed; He, therefore, constituted her the Dispensatrix of graces. Thenceforth through her intercession sinners are converted. “By the perfection of my obedience,” Mary revealed to St. Bridget, “I merited the pardon of all who have recourse to me with sentiments of repentance.” This power of Mary also sanctifies the just and strengthens in virtue all who pray to her. Such, O Mary, is the reward of thy fidelity in ever uniting thy heart with the divine will! Thereby is accomplished in thee this saying of our divine Master: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatsoever you will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15. 7).

How great would our influence over the heart of God be, if, like Mary, we would always carefully obey Him! Wherefore let us resolve, first, never to resist our superiors’ orders, desires and intentions, but cheerfully and promptly to execute their every wish in order to please the Lord; and secondly, to be always pliant to the movements of grace, by profiting by the lights and attractions of the Holy Ghost, by means of which He wishes to establish His reign in us and enable us to share His favors.

O my loving Mother Mary, enliven my faith as to the motives that should animate my obedience. Make me docile and faithful like thyself; enable me to overcome my repugnances and to fulfill all the divine commands, especially those that disagree with my tastes, wound my pride, and give the death-blow to my self-love.

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