For The Nine Days Following The Feast Of The Sacred Heart
Ninth Day – Jesus And Mary.
Preparation. - St. Elizabeth assures us in the angelic Salutation, that Jesus and Mary combine in themselves all blessings, both divine and human. What a motive for us, first, to esteem and love solely in this world our Saviour and His holy Mother, and secondly, to serve and imitate them with all possible fervor. Let us resolve often to invoke Jesus and Mary, who possess for themselves and for us all the goods of grace. “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”
I. It Behooves Us To Esteem And Love Jesus And Mary
If we search history, going back to the most remote ages, recalling the most celebrated names, the most boasted geniuses, we shall always find every human being disfigured by some vice or some defect. Even the greatest saints of Christianity had their imperfections. This is not astonishing, for every one contacted the stain, and underwent the consequences of original sin.
But this is not the case with Jesus and Mary; alone among all the children of Adam, they were conceived in holiness, Jesus as God, and Mary as the Mother of God; hence they were in every thing irreprehensible and perfect in the eyes of the Creator. Jesus, the consubstantial image of the Father and the eternal mirror of His goodness, possesses all the treasures of the wisdom and science of God, all the riches of nature, grace and glory. Mary, the faithful imitatrix of her amiable Son, surpasses in holiness all the angels and saints combined. Hence neither in heaven nor on earth can there be other objects so worthy of our minds and hearts.
Happy Joseph, who hadst the privilege of guarding and contemplating at Nazareth these two precious personages, tells us the sentiments of admiration and love which then animated thee. All thy thoughts, desires and affections were concentrated in Jesus and Mary. Thy soul melted, as it were, in their presence and took in every thing the form of their so amiable holiness.
Who will give us the lights and graces of this glorious patriarch, that we may know and undividely love the Redeemer and His Virgin Mother! Let us at least, after the example of the saints, meditate on their grandeurs and virtues. This St. Alphonsus was wont to do day and night, and even in his sleep spoke of them with a touching love. St. Philip Neri used to call Jesus “his Love,” and Mary “his delights.” And we, who are so easily charmed with the beauties of creation, should we not be ravished with the two wonders of God, Jesus, Beauty itself, and Mary, the immaculate Virgin, the most perfect copy of her amiable Son.
O Lord, Thou has created me to love what is grand, noble and holy; draw me, then entirely to Thee and to the two master-pieces of Thy power, wisdom and goodness. Wherefore, make known to me the many motives which urge me to cling to my Redeemer and His loving Mother, who is also mine. I am resolved often to invoke their sacred names, to use them as an armor in combats, a remedy for my wounds, a strengthening balm in my pains, and a preservative against all the evils of this life.
II. It Behooves Us To Serve And Imitate Jesus And Mary.
There is nothing in heaven and on earth more lovely, nothing having greater claims to our devotedness than our Redeemer and His holy Mother. Jesus, the Head and Model of the predestined, in all respects, deserves our reverence, our obedience and unreserved submission. It is our duty to copy Him in our intentions, sentiments and conduct. And is not this immaculate Virgin, this Mother of the Saviour and ours, and the most perfect imitatrix of her Son, is she not after Him the most worthy of our homages and devotion?
The soul of Jesus lived recollected and as if annihilated before God; all His thoughts and desires were concentrated in His heavenly Father, whose glory and good pleasure alone He sought. Faithful in following the divine Model in all things, Mary placed herself in the same dispositions by means of prayer and ardent love. The Son and the Mother were like mirrors mutually reflecting each other, Mary drawing from Jesus all the graces, of which He is the source, and Jesus finding in Mary all the virtues of which He gave the example.
How happy and holy we should be, if our only ambition on earth was to serve Jesus and Mary and to become like unto them! So many persons exhaust themselves in serving the world through the desire of some transitory gain or advantage, so many seek to imitate celebrated men, in order to share their renown. Should we be less strenuous in serving the Lord and the Queen of angels, who promise us an eternal kingdom as a reward of our obedience to their commands and of our fidelity? Should we be less eager to imitate them in order to participate in their glory and happiness? And what helps do they not promise us, if we wish to follow them?
O holy patriarch of Nazareth, faithful imitator of Jesus and Mary, beseech the Lord to impart to me thy spirit of faith, recollection and prayer, so that I may be intimately united to my Saviour and His Blessed Mother. I am resolved, first, to contemplate them often in the mysteries of the rosary, and secondly, earnestly to entreat them then to grant me the precious gift of their love, which contains every good and enables us to practice every virtue.