HAVING RECOURSE TO MARY.
"The Queen of Heaven is so gracious and liberal," says St. Andrew of Crete, "that she recompenses her servants with the greatest munificence for the most trifling devotions." "But," says St. Bernard, "perseverance alone will merit a crown." Oh, how many are there now in hell who would have been saved hat they only persevered in the devotions they once practiced in honor of Mary!
I.
"The Queen of Heaven is so gracious and liberal," says St. Andrew of Crete, "that she recompenses her servants with the greatest munificence for the most trifling devotions." Two conditions, however, the are:
The first is that when we offer her our devotions our souls should be free from sin; otherwise she would address us as she addressed a wicked soldier spoken of by St. Peter Celestine. This soldier, every day performed some devotion in honor of our Blessed Lady. One day, he was suffering greatly from hunger when Mary appeared to him and offered him some most delicious meats, but in so filthy a vessel that he could not bring himself to taste them. "I am the Mother of God," the Blessed Virgin then said, "and am come to satisfy thy hunger." "But, O Lady," he answered, "I cannot eat out of so defiled a vessel." "And how," replied Mary, "canst thou expect that I should accept thy devotions offered to me with so defiled a soul?" On hearing this the soldier was converted, became a hermit, and live in a desert for thirty years. At death the Blessed Virgin again appeared to him and took him herself to Heaven.
We say it is morally impossible for a client of Mary to be lost; but this must be understood on condition that he lives either without sin, or, at least, with the desire to abandon it; for then the Blessed Virgin will help him. But should any one, on the other hand, sin in the hope that Mary will save him, he thereby would render himself unworthy and incapable of her protection.
Ah, my Queen, continue to guard me from hell; for what will thy mercy and the favors thou hast shown me avail me if I am lost? If I did not always love, now at least -- after God -- I love thee above all things. Never allow me to turn my back on thee or on God, Who, by thy intercession, has granted me so many graces. Love me, O Mary, my hope; save me from hell. But same me first from sin which alone can condemn me to it.
II.
The second condition is perseverance in devotion to Mary: "Perseverance alone," says St. Bernard, "will merit a crown." When Thomas a Kempis was a young man he used every day to have recourse to the Blessed Virgin with certain prayers; he one day omitted them; the then omitted them for some weeks, and finally gave them up altogether. On night he saw Mary in a dream: she embraced all his companions, but when his turn came up she said: "What dost thou expect, thou who has given up my devotions? Depart, thou art unworthy of my caresses." On hearing this Thomas awoke in alarm, and resume his ordinary prayers. Hence, Richard of St. Laurence with reason says that he would perseveres in his devotion to Mary will be blessed in his confidence and will obtain all he desires. But as no one can be certain of this perseverance, no one before death can be certain of salvation. The advice given by St. John Berchmans, of the Society of Jesus, deserves on particular attention. When this holy young man was dying, his companions entreated him, before he left the world, to tell them what devotion they could perform which would be most agreeable to our Blessed Lady. He replied in the following remarkable words: Any devotion, however small, provided it is constant. Oh, how many are now in hell who would have been saved had they only persevered in the devotions they once practiced in honor of Mary!
O my Mother, in thee have I placed all my hopes; from thee do I expect every grace. Alas, miserable wretch that I am! I have hitherto fallen because I have not had recourse to thee. I now hope that, through the merits of Jesus Christ, and thy prayers, I have obtained pardon. But I may again lose Divine grace; the danger is not past; my enemies do not sleep. I know that thou wilt help me, and that with thy help I shall conquer if I recommend myself to thee: but this is what I fear, that in time of danger I may neglect to call upon thee and thus be lost. I ask thee, then, for this grace, that in the assaults of hell I may always have recourse to thee by saying: O Mary help me! my Mother, permit me not to lose my God!
VITA, DULCEDO! HAIL, OUR LIFE, OUR SWEETNESS!
XIX. - MARY IS OUR LIFE, BECAUSE SHE OBTAINS FOR US THE PARDON OF OUR SINS.
We read in the Gospel of St. Luke that Mary said, Behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed (Luke 1:48). "Yes, my Lady," exclaims St. Bernard, "all generations shall call thee blessed, for thou hast begotten life and glory for all generations of men." For this cause all men shall call thee blessed, for all thy servants obtain through thee the life of grace and eternal glory. "In thee do sinners find pardon, and the just perseverance and ternal life." "Distrust not, O sinner," says the devout Bernardine de Bustis, "even if thou has committed all possible sins: go with confidence to this most glorious Lady, and thou will find her hands filled with mercy and bounty." Because, he adds, "she desires more do thee good than thou canst desire to receive favors from her."
St. Andrew of Crete calls Mary the pledge of Divine mercy; meaning that when sinners have recourse to Mary that they may be reconciled with God, He assures them of pardon and gives them a pledge of it; and this pledge is Mary, whom He has bestowed upon us for our advocate, and through whose prayers, by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, God forgives all who have recourse to her. St. Bridget heard an Angel say that the holy Prophets rejoiced in knowing that God, by the humility and purity of Mary, was to be reconciled with sinners and to receive those who had offended Him to favor. "They exulted, foreknowing that our Lord Himself would be appeased by thy humility and purity of thy life, O Mary, thou super-luminous star, and that He would be reconciled with those who had provoked His wrath."
No sinner, having recourse to the compassion of Mary, should fear being rejected; for she is the Mother of Mercy and as such desires to save the most miserable. Mary is that happy ark, says St. Bernard, "in which those who take refuge will never suffer the shipwreck of eternal perdition." At the time of the deluge even brutes were saved in Noah's Ark. Under the mantle of Mary, even sinners obtain salvation. St. Gertrude once saw Mary with her mantle extended and under it many wild beasts -- lions, bears, and tigers -- had taken refuge. And she remarked that Mary not only did not reject but even welcomed and caressed them with the greatest tenderness. The Saint understood hereby that the most abandoned sinners who have recourse to Mary are not only not rejected but that they are welcomed and saved by her from eternal death. Let us, then, enter this ark, let us take refuge under the mantle of Mary, and she most certainly will not reject us, but will secure our salvation.
THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST.
XXV. - "CHARITY IS PATIENT." -- THE SOUL THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST LOVES TO SUFFER.
I.
Let us be convinced that in this valley of tears true peace of heart cannot be found except by him who endures and lovingly embraces sufferings to please Almighty God: this is the consequence of that corruption in which all are placed through the infection of sin. The condition of the Saints on earth is to suffer and to love; the condition of the Saints in Heaven is to enjoy and to love. Father Paul Segneri the Younger, in a letter which he wrote one of his penitents to encourage her to suffer, gave her the counsel to keep these words inscribed at the foot of her Crucifix: 'Tis thus one loves! It is not simply by suffering but by desiring to suffer for the love of Jesus Christ that a soul gives the surest signs of really loving Him. And what greater acquisition, said St. Teresa, can we possibly make than to have some token of gratifying Almighty God? Alas, how ready are most men to take alarm at the bare mention of crosses, of humiliations, and afflictions! Nevertheless there are many souls who find all their delight in suffering, and who would be quite disconsolate did they pass their time on this earth without suffering. The sight of Jesus crucified, said a devout person, renders the cross so lovely to me that it seems to me I could never be happy without suffering; the love of Jesus Christ is sufficient for me in all circumstances. Jesus advises every one who would follow Him to take up and carry his cross: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me (Luke 9:23). But we must take it up and carry it, not by constraint and against our will, but with humility, patience, and love.
II.
Oh, how acceptable to God is he that humbly and patiently embraces the crosses He sends him! St. Ignatius of Loyola said: "There is no wood so apt to enkindle and maintain love towards God as the wood of the cross"; that is, to love Him in the midst of sufferings. One day St. Gertrude asked our Lord what she could offer Him most acceptable, and He replied: "My child, thou canst do nothing more gratifying to Me than to submit4 patiently to all the tribulations that befall thee." Wherefore, the great servant of God, Sister Victoria Angelini, affirmed that one day of crucifixion was worth a hundred years of all other spiritual exercises. And the Blessed John of Avila said: "One Blessed be God! in ill success is worth more than a thousand thanksgivings in prosperity." Alas, how little men know of the inestimable value of affliction endured for God! The Blessed Angela of Foligno said that "if we knew the just value of suffering for God, it would become an object of plunder"; which is as much as to say that each one would seek an opportunity of robbing his neighbor of the occasions of suffering. For this reason St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, well aware as she was of the merit of sufferings, sighed to have her life prolonged rather than to die and go to Heaven, "because," she said, "in Heaven one can suffer no more."
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