TREATY OF TRUE DEVOTION TO THE HOLY VIRGIN
FOR THE BLESSED LUIZ MARIA GRIGNION DE MONTFORT
APOSTOLIC MISSIONARY, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF MISSIONARIES OF
COMPANY OF MARY AND THE CONGREGATION OF THE DAUGHTERS OF WISDOM
SECOND EDITION
1943
EDITORA VOZES Ltda. - PETRÓPOLIS, RJ
RIO DE JANEIRO - SÃO PAULO
IMPRIMATUR
By special commission of the Hon. and over again. mr. Bishop of Niterói, D. José Pereira Alves. Petrópolis, 10/22/1942. Atico Eyng, OFM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
NOT OF RECOMMENDATION, BUT OF PRAYER ...
If there is a book that does not need any recommendation - he is so recommended in this world, in I don't know how many languages, and by himself and by legions of admirers and followers - it is the classic book by Luiz Maria Grignion de Montfort, with the title " Traité de la Vraie Devotion à la Sainte Vierge ", which now appears in a new Portuguese edition.
All his reason for being, all of his reasoning, all of his purpose and all of his charm are summed up, precisely, in the first words of the introduction: "It is by the SS. Virgin Mary that Jesus Christ came into the world, it is by the SS. Virgin Mary that Jesus Christ must reign in the world, that is, in the small world, which is the human soul, in the larger world which is the family, and in the great world which are societies, nations. This is the great mystery of Mary, that Montfort announces with the convincing eloquence of an apostle, that is, of a passionate soul.
"In the past centuries - writes Rev. P. Bernard, OP, in his also admirable book about Our Lady - no one like the Good. Grignion de Montfort contributed so much to spreading among our souls this feeling of our dependence on the SS Virgin. and of his motherhood towards us. Hearing him publish this mystery with such fervor and inspiration, we would think to hear Saint Paul preaching to the primitive Church about the unfathomable richness of Jesus Christ ".
Such a book needs no recommendation. But you need prayer. The holy author already foresaw the anger of hell and men of ill will against this booklet intended to spread so well, because it is intended to place souls in Mary's maternal lap, in the same lap where Jesus was born.
So pray that the Portuguese edition that EDITORA VOZES LTDA. publishes with such affection become very and very well known. Let us pray, above all, that good souls understand the sublime doctrine of these pages and, understanding them, know how to live.
It is, therefore, a book that does not need any recommendation, but rather prayer, much prayer, so that, in spite of the onslaught of impiety and false piety, he may carry out his apostolate of sanctification and elevation of souls, by Mary, in Jesus Christ.
Go, little book of gold, go on the wings of the prayer of everyone who admires you, teach the souls throughout this Brazil, that Mary is ours and that we are Mary's, because Mary is Christ's and Christ is Mary's, it gave.
Henrique G. Trindade OFM
Guaratinguetá, day of NS do Carmo, 1938
PREFACE
BY REVEREND FATHER FWER
It was in 1846 or 1847, in San Wilfrido, that I first studied the life and spirit of the venerable Grignion de Montfort. Today, more than fifteen years later, I can say that those who take him for a teacher, will hardly find a saint or an ascetic writer who most captivates their intelligence by his grace and his spirit.
We cannot yet call him a saint; however, the process of his beatification is so well advanced that we should not have much to wait to see him placed on our altars.
Few men, in the 18th century, bear the signs of a man of Providence more strongly engraved than this new Elias, missionary of the Holy Spirit and of Mary Most Holy. His whole life was such a manifestation of the holy madness of the cross, that his biographers are in agreement to classify him as Saint Simeon Salus and Saint Felipe Neri. Clement XI made him an apostolic missionary in France, so that he could use his life to combat Jansenism, so full of danger for the salvation of souls. It will be difficult to find, after the apostles' epistles, words as ardent as the twelve pages of their "Prayer" by the missionaries of their Society (1) I recommend it to all those who find it difficult to keep, in the midst of numerous trials, the fire primitive love for the salvation of souls.
1) This beautiful "Prayer" is found at the end of the volume.
Grignion de Montfort was both persecuted and revered everywhere. The sum of his works is, like that of Saint Anthony of Padua, truly incredible and inexplicable. He wrote some spiritual treatises, which, although recently known, have already had a notable influence on the Church, and are called to have a much greater influence in the future.
His sermons, his writings, his conversation were steeped in prophecies and anticipated visions of the last Church ages.
New Saint Vincent Ferrer, he goes ahead, as if he were in the precursor days of the final judgment, and proclaims himself to be the bearer of an authentic message from God: more honor, wider knowledge, more ardent love for Mary Most Holy, and it announces the intimate union that she will have with the second advent of her Son.
He founded two religious congregations, one for men, the other for women, both very prosperous. And yet he died at the age of 43, in 1716, having only sixteen years of priesthood.
On May 12, 1853, a decree was promulgated in Rome declaring his writings exempt from any error that could serve as an obstacle to his canonization.
In this work on true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, he wrote these prophetic words: "I clearly see in the future fruitful animals that rush with fury to smash through this diabolical teeth this little writing and that of whom the Holy Spirit used to write it. ; or to bury him, at least, in the silence of a closet, so that he doesn't see the light ".
Nevertheless, it predicts, at the same time, the book's appearance and success. Everything was accomplished to the letter. The author died in 1716, and it was not until 1842 that this treaty was discovered, as by chance, by one of the priests of his Congregation in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sévre. The superior of that time was able to certify that the manuscript was of the venerable founder and the autograph was sent to Rome, in order to be examined in the process of canonization.
Certainly, those who are going to read this book already love God and would like to love him even more; everyone wants something for his glory: the spread of a good work, the coming of better times, the success of a devotion; one made every effort for years to overcome a particular defect and failed to do so; another has been tearfully asking for the conversion of his parents and friends, and is amazed that, despite his tears, so few of them have converted to the faith; he is saddened by not having enough devotion; one is afflicted by having to carry a cross that seems too heavy for his weakness, while another finds domestic disturbances and misfortunes within the family that seem incompatible with the work of his salvation; and for all these sorrows, prayer seems to bring so little relief! What, then, iswhat medicine do they lack? What remedy is indicated by God Himself? It is, according to the revelations of the saints, an immense spread of devotion to the Blessed Virgin; but, reflect well, the immense does not admit restrictions or limits.
Here, in England, Our Lady is not quite preached and known. The devotion that he consecrates to him is weak, scarce, petty, misguided by the scorns of heresy. Dominated by human respect and carnal prudence, I would like to make the true Mary such a small Mary that Protestants could be. feel at ease with her. Her ignorance of theology robs Mary of all life and dignity; it is not, as it should be, the salient character of our religion; it has no faith in itself. And it is for this reason that Jesus is not loved, that heretics are not converted, that the Church is not exalted; souls that could be holy, faint and degenerate; the sacraments are not attended as they should be; souls are not evangelized with the enthusiasm of apostolic zeal; Jesus is not known, because Mary is left behind;thousands of souls perish, because Mary is far from them. It is this unworthy and miserable shadow, which we dare to give the name of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, who is the cause of all these miseries, all these evils, all these omissions, all this lukewarmness. However, according to the revelations of the saints, God expressly wants a wider, more extensive, more solid devotion, a devotion very different from the present, towards his most holy Mother. I am of the opinion that there is no more excellent, more effective work to achieve this end, than the simple propagation of this particular devotion of the venerable Grignion de Montfort.of all this lukewarmness. However, according to the revelations of the saints, God expressly wants a wider, more extensive, more solid devotion, a devotion very different from the present, towards his most holy Mother. I am of the opinion that there is no more excellent, more effective work to achieve this end, than the simple propagation of this particular devotion of the venerable Grignion de Montfort.of all this lukewarmness. However, according to the revelations of the saints, God expressly wants a wider, more extensive, more solid devotion, a devotion very different from the present, towards his most holy Mother. I am of the opinion that there is no more excellent, more effective work to achieve this end, than the simple propagation of this particular devotion of the venerable Grignion de Montfort.
It is enough for a person to experience this devotion for himself; soon, the surprise that the graces it brings will bring you, as well as the transformations it will produce in your soul, will convince you of its effectiveness, almost incredible indeed, as a means to achieve the salvation of souls and the coming of the kingdom of Jesus Christ!
Oh! if Mary were even known, there would be no coldness for Jesus! Oh! if Mary were even known, how much more admirable our faith would be, how different our communions would be! Oh! if Mary were at least known, the happier, the more holy, the less worldly we would be, how we would become living images of our Lord and Savior, her most beloved and most divine Son!
I translated the entire treaty myself, which gave me a lot of work; and I was scrupulously faithful. At the same time, I take the liberty of warning the reader that with a single reading of the book, he will not be able to understand it in depth. One finds in this book, if I dare say so, the feeling of a not-so-inspired and supernatural feeling, which is always on the increase, as we go deeper into its study. Furthermore, one cannot fail to experience, after reading it repeatedly, that in it the novelty never seems to grow old, the fullness never diminishes, the fresh perfume and the sensitive fire of the anointing never dissipate or weaken.
Let the Holy Spirit, the divine Caretaker of Jesus and Mary, grant a new blessing to this work in England; may he soon console us with the canonization of this new apostle and ardent missionary of his most beloved and immaculate spouse, and even more so for the prompt emergence of this glorious age of the Church, which must be the glorious age of Mary.
FW FABER
Priest of the Oratory
On the day of Our Lady's presentation. 1862.
The manuscript of the blessed is not divided into chapters and articles. To facilitate the reading of the Treaty, the divisions that stand out from the plan drawn up by the author were highlighted.
A system of progressive numbers, corresponding to the succession of ideas, will facilitate future references to subsequent editions, whatever they may be.
INTRODUCTION
1. It was through the Most Holy Virgin Mary that Jesus Christ came into the world, and it is also through her that he must reign in the world.
2. All her life Mary remained hidden; that is why the Holy Spirit and the Church call her Alma Mater - Mother hidden and secret (1). So profound was her humility that, for her, the most powerful, most constant attraction was to hide from herself and from every creature, to be known only to God.
1) Antiphon to the Blessed Virgin for Christmas time; hymn "Ave Maris Stella".
3. In order to fulfill her requests to hide, impoverish and humiliate her, God arranged for her to remain hidden in her birth, in her life, in her mysteries, in her resurrection and assumption, going unnoticed. in the eyes of almost every human being. Her own relatives did not know her; and the angels often asked each other: Quae est ista ?. . - Who is this? (Ct3,6; 8,5) because the Most High hid it; or, if something unveiled them, much more, infinitely, hid them.
4. God the Father consented that she would never perform a miracle in her life, at least a visible and resounding miracle, although she had been empowered to do them. God the Son allowed her not to speak, although he had communicated divine wisdom to her. God the Holy Spirit consented that the apostles and evangelists hardly referred to it, and only in what was necessary to manifest Jesus Christ. And yet, she was the Spouse of the Holy Spirit.
5. Mary is the masterpiece par excellence of the Most High, whose knowledge (2) and dominion He has reserved for himself. Mary is the admirable Mother of the Son, who was happy to humiliate and hide her during her life in order to favor her humility, treating her as a woman - mulier (Jo2,4; 19,26), as a foreigner, although in her Heart, cherish and love her more than all angels and men. Mary is the sealed fountain (Ct 4,12) and the faithful wife of the Holy Spirit, where only He can penetrate. Mary is the sanctuary, the resting place of the most holy Trinity, in which God is more magnificent and divinely than anywhere else in the universe, without excepting his throne over cherubs and seraphim; and no creature, pure as it may be, can enter there without great privilege.
2) ... ut soli Deo cognoscenda reservetur (São Bernardino de Sena, sermon 51, art. 1, chap. 1).
6. I say with the saints: Holy Mary is the earthly paradise (3) of the new Adam, in whom he was incarnated by the work of the Holy Spirit, to work there incomprehensible wonders. It is the great, divine world of God (4), where there are beauty and ineffable treasures. It is the magnificence of God (5), in which He hid, as in his bosom, his only Son, and in him all that is most excellent and most precious.
3) Rationalis secundi Adam paradisus. São Leão Grande (Serm. De Annuntiatione).
4) Mundus specialissimus altissimi Dei (São Bernardo).
5) Magnlficentia Dei. Ricardo de São Lou renço (De laud. Virg., 1. IV).
Oh! what great and hidden things almighty God has accomplished in this admirable creature, she says so herself, as thanks, despite her profound humility: Fecit mihi magna qui potens est (Lc 1,49). The world does not know these things because it is inept and unworthy.
7. The saints said wonderful things about this holy city of God; and they have never been more eloquent or happier, - they confess it - than by taking it as the theme of their words and writings. And then they proclaim that it is impossible to understand the height of their merits, which she has raised to the throne of Divinity; that the breadth of his charity, more extensive than the earth, cannot be measured; that it is beyond all comprehension the greatness of the power it wields over God himself; and, finally, that the depth of his humility and all his virtues and graces are an abyss that cannot be probed. O incomprehensible height! O ineffable width! O immeasurable greatness! O unfathomable abyss!
8. Every day, from one end of the earth to the other, in the highest of the heavens, in the deepest abyss, everything preaches, everything exalts the incomparable Mary. The nine choirs of angels, men of all ages, conditions and religions, the good and the bad, the demons themselves are obliged, willingly or unwillingly, by the force of truth, to proclaim it blessed. It vibrates in the skies, as Saint Bonaventure says, the incessant cry of angels: Sancta, sancta, sancta Maria, Dei Genitrix et Virgo; and millions and millions of times, every day, they address her angelic greeting: Hail, Mary ..., prostrating themselves before her and asking her for the grace to honor them with her orders. And the prince of the heavenly court, Saint Michael, is the one who is most zealous in rendering him and looking for all kinds of tributes, always attentive, to have the honor of, at his word, rendering a service to one of his servers.
9. The whole land is full of its glory, particularly among Christians, who take it as patron and protector in many countries, provinces, dioceses and cities. Countless cathedrals are consecrated under the invocation of his name. No church is without an altar in its honor; there is no region or country that does not have any of its miraculous images, with which all ills are cured and all goods are obtained. How many brotherhoods and congregations erected in his honor! how many institutes and religious orders are housed under your name and protection! how many brothers and sisters from all the fraternities, and how many men and women religious chanting their praises, announcing their wonders! There is no little child who, babbling Ave Maria, does not praise her; even sinners, the most hardened, always maintain a spark of confidence in Mary.Of the demons themselves in hell, there is not one who does not respect her, although fearing.
10. After this, it is necessary to say, in truth, with the saints: De Maria nunquam satis ... Not yet praised, exalted, honored, loved and served Mary sufficiently, because much more praise, respect, love and service she deserves .
11. It is also necessary to say, with the Holy Spirit: Omni gloria ejus filiae Regis abintus - All the glory of the Daughter of the King is inside (Ps 44, 14), as if all the outside glory, that they give, the porfia, heaven and earth, nothing compared to what she receives inside, from the Creator, and who are unaware of the weak creatures, unable to penetrate the secret of the King's secrets.
12. We must, therefore, exclaim with the apostle: Nec oculus vidit, nec auris audi vit, nec in cor hominis ascendit (1Cor2,9) - the eyes did not see, the ear did not hear, nor did the man's heart understand the beauties, the greatness and excellence of Mary, the miracle. the miracles of grace (6), nature and glory. If you want to understand the Mother - says a saint - understand the Son. She is a worthy Mother of God: Hic taceat omnis lingua - Every language here is muted.
6) Miraculum miraculorum (São João Damasceno, Oratio I de Nativitate BV).
13. My heart dictated everything I just wrote with special joy, to demonstrate that the most holy Mary has so far been unknown (7), and that this is one of the reasons why Jesus Christ is not known as he should be. When, therefore, and it is certain, the knowledge and the kingdom of Jesus Christ take over the world, it will be as a necessary consequence of the knowledge and the kingdom of the most holy Virgin Mary. She gave it to the world the first time, and also, the second time, it will make it shine.
7) In the sense of being insufficiently known, as can be seen from this entire paragraph and the expression: "JC is not known as he should be".
CHAPTER 1
Necessity of devotion to the Blessed Virgin
14. I confess with the whole Church that Mary is a pure creature out of the hands of the Most High. Compared, therefore, to the infinite Majesty it is less than an atom, it is, rather, nothing, since only he is "He who is" (Ex3,14) and, therefore, this great Lord, always independent and sufficient if himself, he does not and has never needed the Blessed Virgin for the fulfillment of his will and the manifestation of his glory. You just need to do everything.
15. I say, however, that, assuming things as they are, since God wanted to begin and end his greatest works through the Most Holy Virgin, after he formed her, it is to be believed that he will not change his behavior in the centuries of the centuries, because it is God, unchanging in his conduct and his feelings.
ARTICLE 1
PRINCIPLES:
FIRST PRINCIPLE.
- God wanted to use Mary in the incarnation
16. God the Father only gave the world his Only Begotten for Mary. The patriarchs sighed, and insistent requests made the prophets and saints of the ancient law, for four millennia, but only Mary deserved it, and obtained grace before God (1), by the strength of her prayers and by the sublimity of her virtues. Because the world was unworthy, says Saint Augustine, to receive the Son of God directly from the Father's hands, he gave it to Mary so that the world would receive him through her.
1) Cf. Lc 1, 30: Invenisti enim gratiam apud Deum.
It is in Mary and for Mary that the Son of God became man for our salvation.
God the Holy Spirit formed Jesus Christ in Mary, but only after asking for his consent through one of the first ministers of the heavenly court.
17. God the Father transmitted to Mary his fruitfulness, insofar as he could receive her as a simple creature, so that she could produce her Son and all the members of her mystical body.
18. God the Son descended into his virgin bosom, like a new Adam in the earthly paradise, to have his complacencies there and to work wonders of grace in secret. God, made man, found his freedom to be imprisoned in the bosom of the Virgin Mother; he showed his strength in allowing himself to be carried away by this holy Virgin; he found his glory and that of his Father, hiding his splendors from all the creatures of this world, to reveal them only to Mary; glorified her independence and majesty, depending on this kind Virgin, in her conception, in her birth, in her presentation in the temple, in her thirty years of hidden life until death, which she was to attend, to make both the same sacrifice and to that he be sacrificed to the eternal Father with the consent of his Mother, as Isaac once did, with the consent of Abraham to the will of God.
O admirable and incomprehensible dependence on a God, from whom we have been given to know the price and infinite glory, for the Holy Spirit could not pass it in silence in the Gospel, as unknown to us almost all the wonderful things that Wisdom incarnated during your hidden life. Jesus Christ gave God more glory, submitting himself to Mary for thirty years, than the whole earth had been converted by performing the most amazing miracles. Oh! how highly we glorify God, when, to please him, we submit to Mary, following the example of Jesus Christ, our only model.
19. If we look closely at the rest of Jesus' life, we will see that it was by Mary that he wanted to begin his miracles. By the word of Mary He sanctified Saint John in the bosom of Saint Elizabeth; as soon as the words came from Mary's lips, John was sanctified, and this was his first and greatest miracle of grace. It was at Mary's humble request that He, at the wedding of Cana, changed water into wine, this being her first miracle about nature. He began and continued his miracles for Mary, and for Mary he will continue them until the end of the centuries.
20. The Holy Spirit, who was sterile in God, that is, did not produce another divine person, became fruitful in Mary. It is with her, in him and her that He produced his masterpiece, a God made man, and who produces every day, until the end of the world, the predestined and the members of the body of this adorable Chief. That is why, the more, in a soul, he finds Mary, his beloved and inseparable wife (2), the more active and powerful he becomes to produce Jesus Christ in that soul, and that soul in Jesus Christ.
2) Sponsa Spiritus Sancti (Santo Ildefonso, Liber de Corona Virginis, ch. III). - Sponsus ejus Spiritus veritatis (Belarmino, Concio 2 super "Missus est").
21. This is not to say that the Blessed Virgin gives fruitfulness to the Holy Spirit, as if he did not have it.
Being God, he has fruitfulness or the ability to produce, like the Father and the Son. However, action does not reduce it, and it does not generate another divine person. What we mean is that the Holy Spirit, through the Virgin, whom we wanted to serve, although it was not absolutely necessary, reduced her fruitfulness to the act, producing, in her and through her, Jesus Christ and her members . It is a mystery of grace, inaccessible to even the wisest and most spiritual of Christians.
SECOND PRINCIPLE.
- God wants to use Mary in the sanctification of souls
22. The conduct of the three persons of the Most Holy Trinity, in the incarnation and first coming of Jesus Christ, is the same as every day, in a visible way, in the Church, and this procedure will last until the end of the centuries, in the last coming from Christ.
23. God the Father gathered all the waters and called them the sea; he gathered all his graces and called them Mary (1). This great God has a treasure, a very rich deposit, where he enclosed everything that is beautiful, brilliant, rare and precious, even his own Son; and this immense treasure is Mary, which the angels call the Lord's treasure (2), and from whose fullness men are enriched.
1) Appellavit eam Ma.riam, quasi mare gratiarum (Sto. Antonino, Summa p. IV, tit. 15, chap. 4, § 2).
2) Ipsa est thesaurus Domini (Idiot, ln contemplatione BMV).
24. God the Son communicated to his Mother everything he acquired through his life and death: his infinite merits and his admirable virtues. He made her treasurer of everything that her Father gave her as an inheritance; it is through it that he applies his merits to the members of the mystical body, which communicates his virtues, and distributes his graces; it is the mysterious channel, the aqueduct, through which his mercies pass abundantly and sweetly.
25. God the Holy Spirit communicated to Mary, his faithful wife, his ineffable gifts, choosing her as the dispenser of everything he possesses. In this way she distributes her gifts and her graces to anyone who wants, how much she wants, how she wants and when she wants, and no gift is given to men, other than through their virgin hands. Such is the will of God, that we have everything for Mary and thus will be enriched, elevated and honored by the Most High, who, in all her life, wanted to be poor, humble and hidden to nothing. This is the opinion of the Church and the Holy Fathers (3).
3) See, among others, São Bernardo and São Bernardino de Sena, which the blessed mentions later (141-142).
26. If I were to address the strong spirits of this time, all this, which I say simply, could prove it by Sacred Scripture, by the Holy Fathers, quoting long passages in Latin and adding the strongest arguments, which Father Poiré deduces and develops in her "Triple Crown of the Blessed Virgin". I speak, however, to the poor and the simple who, because they are of good will and have more faith than most sages, believe with more simplicity and merit, and therefore I am content to simply tell them the truth, without worry about citing all Latin texts, although I mention some, but without much searching. Let's continue.
* * *
Because grace perfects nature and glory perfects grace, it is certain that our Lord continues to be, in heaven, as Son of Mary as he was on earth. Consequently, He preserves the submission and obedience of the most perfect of children to the best of mothers. Let us be careful, however, not to attribute this dependence to the slightest lowering or imperfection in Jesus Christ. Mary is infinitely below her Son, who is God, and therefore does not give her orders as an earthly mother gives her son. Mary, because she is completely transformed into God by grace and glory which, in God, transforms all the saints, does not ask, does not want, does not do the least thing contrary to the eternal and immutable will of God. When you read, therefore, in the writings of St. Bernard, St. Bernardine, St. Bonaventure, etc., that in heaven and on earth everything, God Himself,is submissive to the Blessed Virgin (4), it must be understood that the authority, which God spontaneously conferred on her, is so great that she seems to have the same power as God, and that her prayers and prayers are so effective that they can be taken as orders from his Majesty, and he never resists his mother's pleas, because she is always humble and conformed to the divine will.
4) See below the citation (not the 76).
If Moses, by virtue of his prayer, managed to end God's wrath against the Israelites, and in such a way that the highest and infinitely merciful Lord told him to let him be angry and punish that rebellious people, which we must think, with much more right, the prayer of the humble Mary, the worthy Mother of God, who has more power with the divine Majesty, than the prayers and intercessions of all the angels and saints of heaven and earth? (5).
5) Sto. Augustine, sermon 208 in Assumpt., N the 12.
28. In heaven, Mary commands the angels and the blessed. To reward his profound humility, God gave him the power and mission to populate empty thrones with saints, which apostate angels abandoned and lost out of pride (6). And the will of the Most High, who exalts the humble (Lc 1,52), is that heaven, earth and hell bow, willingly or unwillingly, to the orders of the humble Mary (7), because He made her sovereign over the heaven and earth, general of his armies, treasurer of his riches, dispenser of his graces, creator of his great wonders, repairer of mankind, mediator for men, exterminator of the enemies of God and the faithful companion of his greatness and your triumphs.
6) Per Mariam ab hominibus Angelorum chori reintegrantur (São Bonaventura - Speculum BV, Ject. XI, §6).
7) ln nomine tuo omne genu flectatur caelestium, terrestrium et infernorum (St. Bonaventure - Psalter. Majus BV, Cantic. Instar "Cantici trium puerorum").
* * *
29. Through Mary, God wants the number of her children to always increase, until the end of the age, and says these words to her: In Jacob inhabita - Dwells in Jacob (Ecle24,13), i. it is, make your abode and residence in my children and predestined ones, figured by Jacob and not in the children of the devil and in the reprobates, that Esau figures.
30. Just as in the natural and bodily generation there is a father and a mother, there is, in the supernatural generation, a father who is God and a mother, Mary most holy. All true and predestined children of God have God for father, and Mary for mother; and he who does not have Mary as his mother does not have God as his father. For this reason, the reprobates, the heretics, the schismatics, etc., who hate or look with contempt or indifference at the Blessed Virgin, do not have God for their father, even if they boast about it, because they do not have Mary for their mother. If they had her as their mother, they would love and honor her, as a good and true son naturally loves and honors his mother who gave him life.
The most infallible and undoubted sign to distinguish a heretic, a schismatic, a reprobate, from a predestined one, is that the heretic and the reprobate show contempt and indifference to the Blessed Virgin (8) and seek, through their words and examples, openly or at hidden, sometimes under beautiful pretexts, diminish and make the cult and love of Mary Ah! It was not in these that God told Mary to make her home, for they are Esau's children.
8) Quicumque vult salvus esse, before the omnia opus est ut teneat of Maria sign fidem (Saint Bonaventure, Psalter. Majus BV, Symbol. Instar Symboli Athanasii).
* * *
31. The desire of God the Son is to form and, so to speak, to incarnate every day, through his Mother, in his members. He says to him: " In Israel hereditare - own your inheritance in Israel" (Ecle24,13), as if to say: God, my Father, gave me for inheritance all the nations of the earth, all the good and bad men, predestined and reprobates. I will lead them, some with the golden rod, others with the iron rod; I will be the father and lawyer of some, the just avenger for others, the judge of all; but you, my dear Mother, will only have by inheritance and possession the predestined ones, figured by Israel. As your good mother you will give them life, you will nourish them, you will educate them; and as your sovereign, you will lead, govern and defend them.
32. "A large number of men were born in it," says the Holy Spirit: Homo et homo natus est in ea. According to the explanation of some Holy Fathers, the first man born in Mary is the God-man, Jesus Christ; the second is a pure man, son of God and Mary by adoption. If Jesus Christ, the chief of men, was born in her, the predestined, who are the members of this chief, must also be born in her, by a necessary consequence. There is no mother who gives birth to a head without limbs or limbs without a head: it would be a monstrosity of nature. Likewise, in the order of grace, the head and limbs are born from the same mother, and if a member of the mystical body of Jesus Christ, that is, a predestined one, was born to another mother than Mary, who produced the head, he would be a predestined, nor a member of Jesus Christ, but a monster in the order of grace.
33. Furthermore, since Jesus is now, more than ever, the fruit of Mary, as heaven and earth repeat to him a thousand and thousand times daily: "... and blessed is the fruit of your womb", it is it is certain that Jesus Christ, for every man in particular, who possesses him, is as truly the fruit and work of Mary as he is for the whole world in general. In this way, if any believer has Jesus Christ formed in his heart, he can dare to say: "A thousand thanks to Mary! This Jesus that I possess is, in effect, her fruit, and without her I would never have him". One can also apply to him, with more property than São Paulo applies to himself, the words: " Quos iterum parturio, donec formetur Christus in vobis"(Gl4,19): I give birth to the children of God every day, until Jesus Christ is formed in them in all the fullness of his age. Saint Augustine, surpassing himself, and everything I have just said, confirms that all predestined, to conform to the image of the Son of God, are, in this world, hidden in the bosom of the Blessed Virgin, and kept there, fed, maintained and magnified by this good Mother, until she gives them glory, after of death, which is exactly the day of his birth, as the Church describes the death of the just. O mystery of grace, which the reprobate ignore and the predestined know very little.
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34. It is the will of the Holy Spirit, that in her and through her be elected to him.
" ln electis meis mitte radices " (Ecle24,12), He says: My beloved and my wife, put in my elect the roots of all virtues, so that they grow from virtue to virtue and from grace to grace . I had such complacency in you, when you lived on earth, practicing the most sublime virtues, that I still want to meet you on earth without stopping being in heaven. Reproduce yourself, therefore, in my elect. May I see in them with complacency the roots of your invincible faith, of your profound humility, of your universal mortification, of your sublime prayer, of your ardent charity, of your firm hope and of all your virtues. You are always my wife as faithful, as pure and as fruitful as ever: may your faith give me faithful, may your purity give me virgins, may your fertility give me elect and temples.
35. When Mary takes her roots in a soul, wonders of grace are produced, which only she can produce, for she is the only fruitful Virgin who has never had, nor will she have a similarity in purity and fruitfulness.
Mary produced, with the Holy Spirit, the greatest wonder that ever existed and will exist a God-man; and it will therefore produce the most admirable things that will exist in recent times. The formation and education of the great saints, who will appear at the end of the world, is reserved for him, because only this singular and miraculous Virgin can produce, in union with the Holy Spirit, the singular and extraordinary works.
36. When the Holy Spirit, your spouse, finds you in a soul, He takes possession of that soul, penetrates it with all the fullness, communicating to you abundantly and as your wife grants you; and one of the reasons why, today, the Holy Spirit does not work resounding wonders in souls, is that he does not find a very strong union between souls and his faithful and inseparable wife. I say inseparable wife because, after this substantial Love of the Father and the Son married Mary to produce Jesus Christ, the head of the elect, and Jesus Christ in the elect, he never repudiated her, because she has always been faithful and fruitful.
ARTICLE II
CONSEQUENCES
FIRST CONSEQUENCE.
- Mary is the Queen of hearts
37. From what has been said, it must evidently be concluded that: First, Mary received a great dominion from God over the souls of the elect; for she cannot establish her residence in them, as God the Father has commanded her; he cannot form them, nurture them, make them be born into eternal life, like his mother, possess them as his inheritance and share, form them in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ in them; she cannot implant in her heart the roots of her virtues, and be the inseparable companion of the Holy Spirit in all her works of grace; I cannot, again, do all these things, if I have no right and dominion over their souls, by a singular grace of the Most High. And this grace, which gave him authority over the only and natural Son of God, was also granted to him over his adopted children, not only as regards the body, which would be little,but also about the soul.
38. Mary is the Queen of heaven and earth, by grace, as Jesus is the King by nature and conquest. Now, since the kingdom of Jesus Christ mainly comprises the heart or the interior of man, according to the word: "The kingdom of God is in your midst" (Lk17,21), the kingdom of the Blessed Virgin is mainly within man , i. it is in her soul, and it is mainly in souls that she is more glorified with her Son, than in all visible creatures, and we can call her with the saints the Queen of hearts.
SECOND CONSEQUENCE.
- Mary is necessary for men to reach their last end
39. Secondly, it must be concluded that the Blessed Virgin, being necessary to God, of a so-called hypothetical need, due to her will, is much more necessary for men to reach their ultimate end. Therefore, do not confuse devotion to the Blessed Virgin with devotion to other saints, as if it were no more necessary than that of these, and only for supplication.
§1. Devotion to the Holy Virgin is necessary for all men to achieve salvation.
40. The learned and pious Suárez, of the Society of Jesus, the wise and devout Justo Lípsio, doctor of the University of Leuven, and many others, proved indisputably, supported by the opinion of the Holy Fathers, among others, Saint Augustine, Saint Efrem, deacon Edessa; Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Saint Germanus of Constantinople, Saint John of Damascus, Saint Anselm, Saint Bernard, Saint Bernardine, Saint Tomaz and Saint Bonaventure, that devotion to the Blessed Virgin is necessary for salvation, and that it is an infallible sign of condemnation - opinion of Ecolampádio and several other heretics, - not having esteem and love for the Blessed Virgin. On the contrary, it is a sure sign of predestination to be fully and truly devoted to him (1).
1) True devotion to the Blessed Virgin consists in devoting herself and giving herself to her. The cult of dulia is dependency, servitude (S. Th. - Sum. Theol. 2, 2, q 103, a. 3, in fine corp.); the cult of hyperdultery consists of a more perfect dependence on the Blessed Virgin, or, in other words, in the slavery advocated by Blessed Montfort.
41. The Old and New Testament figures and words prove it; the opinion and examples of the saints confirm it; reason and experience teach and demonstrate it; the devil himself and his minions, pressed by the force of the truth, were often constrained to confess it in spite of themselves. Of all the passages of the Holy Fathers and doctors, which I have compiled to prove this truth, I quote only one, so as not to dwell on it: " Tibi devotumthat one, this weapon quaedam salutis quae Deus his dat quos vult salvos fieri ... "(S. João Damasceno) - Being your devotee, O Most Holy Virgin, is a weapon of salvation that God gives to those he wants to save.
42. I could repeat several stories here that prove what I say. Among others,
1 the one that is narrated in the chronicles of Saint Francis, in which it is said that the saint saw, in ecstasy, a huge stairway, at the top of which, supported by the sky, loomed the Blessed Virgin. And the saint understood that he must climb that ladder to reach heaven;
2 the other, narrated in the chronicles of Saint Dominic: When the saint preached the rosary near Carcassona, fifteen thousand demons, who possessed the soul of an unfortunate heretic, were forced, by order of the Blessed Virgin, to confess many great truths and consoling, regarding devotion to Mary. And they, to their own confusion, did it with such fervor and clarity that this authentic narration and panegyric cannot be read, which the devil, though grudgingly, made of Marian devotion, without shedding tears of joy, even if little devout. be of the Blessed Virgin.
§2. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin is even more necessary for those called to a particular perfection.
43. If devotion to the Blessed Virgin is necessary for all men to achieve salvation simply, it is even more so for those who are called to a particular perfection; nor do I believe that a person can acquire an intimate union with our Lord and perfect fidelity to the Holy Spirit, without a great union with the Blessed Virgin and a great dependence on his help.
44. Only Mary found grace before God (Lc 1,30) without the help of any other creature. And everyone, after her, who found grace before God, found her through her and it is only through her that those who will come will find grace (1). Mary was full of grace when the archangel Gabriel greeted her (Lc 1:28) and grace abounded when the Holy Spirit covered her with her ineffable shadow (Lc 1:35). And in such a way she increased this double plenitude, day by day, from moment to moment, which reached an immense and inconceivable point of grace, so that the Most High made her treasurer of all her goods, dispenser of his graces, to ennoble, elevate and enrich whoever she wants, to let anyone she wants into the narrow path of heaven, to let anyone who wants to pass through the narrow door of eternal life, and to give the throne, the scepter,and the king's crown to whomever she wants. Jesus is everywhere and always the fruit and the Son of Mary; and Mary is everywhere the true tree that bears the fruit of life, and the true Mother that produces it (2).
1) Cf. são Bonaventura: Necesse est ut qui vult a Deo gratiam impetrare, ad hanc mediatricem accedat devotissimo corde (Sermo in BVM). See also São Bernardo: From aquaeductu, no 7.
2) See above, no 33.
45. Mary alone God entrusted the keys to the storehouses of divine love, and the power to enter the most sublime and secret ways of perfection, and to let others enter into these paths. Only Mary gives the miserable children of unfaithful Eve the entrance to the earthly paradise, to relax there pleasantly with God, for there, safely, to hide from her enemies, for there, without fear of death, to be deliciously fed on the fruit of trees of life and the science of good and evil, and to soak up the celestial waters for a long time from this beautiful fountain that gushes with such abundance; or rather, as she herself is this earthly paradise or that virgin and blessed land, from which Adam and Eve, sinners, were expelled, she only gives entry to those, who are happy to let her in, and to make them holy.
46. All the wealthy of the people, to serve me as the expression of the Holy Spirit (Ps 44, 13), will, according to Saint Bernard's explanation, plead with you in all ages, and particularly at the end of the world; that is, the most holy, the souls richest in grace and virtues will be the most assiduous in pleading with the Blessed Virgin to be always present to them, as their perfect model to imitate, and to help them with her powerful help.
47. He said that this would happen particularly at the end of the world and soon, because the Most High and his holy Mother must raise up great saints, of such a sanctity that they will surpass most of the saints, as the cedars of Lebanon stand out from the small trees in around, according to revelation made to a holy soul.
48. These great souls, full of grace and zeal, will be chosen as opposed to the enemies of God bubbling up in all corners, and they will be especially devoted to the Blessed Virgin, enlightened by her light, fed by her milk, led by her spirit, supported by his arm and kept under his protection, in such a way that they will fight with one hand and build with the other (cf. Ne4,17). With the right they will fight, overthrow, crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatries, and the wicked with their wickedness; and with the left they will build the temple of the true Solomon and the mystical city of God, that is, the most holy Virgin that the Holy Fathers call "the temple of Solomon" (3) and "the city of God" (4). By your words and your example,they will drag the whole world to true devotion and this will attract them countless enemies, but also innumerable victories and glory for the one God. It is what God revealed to Saint Vincent Ferrer, a great apostle of his century, and which is marked in one of his works.
The same seems to have predicted Psalm 58 (14,15), which reads: " Et scient quia Deus dominabitur Jacob et finium terrae; convertentur ad vesperam, et famem patientur ut canes, et circuibunt civitatem - And they will know that God will reign over Jacob, and to the ends of the earth; they will return in the afternoon, and suffer hunger like dogs, and will go around the city in search of what to eat ". This city that men will find at the end of the world to convert and satisfy their hunger for justice, is the most holy Virgin, whom the Holy Spirit calls "city of God" (SI 86,3).
3) "Templus Salomonis". Idiot, From BV p. XVI, contemplation 7.
4) "Civitas Dei". Sto. Augustine, Enarrat. in Ps. 142, n. 3.
§3. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin will be especially necessary in recent times.
1. Maria's special role in recent times
49. Through Mary began the salvation of the world and it is through Mary that it must be consummated. At the first coming of Jesus Christ, Mary barely appeared, so that men, still insufficiently instructed and enlightened about the person of her Son, would not become too attached to him and grossly, thus turning away from the truth. And this would apparently have happened because of the admirable charms with which God Himself had adorned his outward appearance. Saint Dionysus the Areopagite confirms it in a page that he left us (5) and in which he says that when he saw her, he would have taken her by a divinity, such a charm that emanated from her person of incomparable beauty, if faith, in which he was well confirmed, did not teach him otherwise. But, at the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and revealed by the Holy Spirit,so that Jesus Christ is known, loved and served by her, for the reasons that led the Holy Spirit to hide his wife during his life and to reveal her only shortly after the preaching of the Gospel no longer exist.
5) Testor qui Adesat in Virgine Deum, if your doctrine non me docuisset, hanc verum Deum that credidissem (Ep. Ad s. Paulum).
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50. God therefore wants, in recent times, to reveal and manifest Mary, the masterpiece of his hands:
l ° Because she hid herself in this world, and because of her profound humility, she placed herself under the dust, obtaining from God, the apostles and evangelists not to be almost mentioned.
2 o Because, being the masterpiece of the hands of God, both here below, by grace, as in heaven, for glory, he wants the living beings to praise and glorify him on earth for her.
3 the visa that it is the dawn which precedes and announces the Sun of righteousness, Jesus Christ must be known and noted that Jesus Christ is.
4 o For what is the way in which Jesus Christ came to us the first time, it will be so even at the second coming, although in a different way.
5 o Since it is the safe way and the straight and immaculate way to go to Jesus Christ and find him fully, it is through her that souls, called to shine in holiness, must find him. Whoever finds Mary will find life (cf. Pv8,35), i. it is Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life (Jn 14,6). But she cannot find Maria who does not seek her; those who do not know it cannot seek it, and no one seeks or desires what they do not know. It is necessary, therefore, that Mary be, more than ever, known, for greater knowledge and greater glory of the Most Holy Trinity.
6 o In these recent times, Mary must shine, as she never did, in mercy, in strength and grace. In mercy to lead and lovingly receive the poor sinners and deviants who will be converted and return to the heart of the Catholic Church; in strength against the enemies of God, the idolaters, schismatics, Mohammedans, Jews and hardened wicked, who will revolt terribly to seduce and to fall, with promises and threats, all who are against them. Finally, it must shine in grace, to animate and support the brave soldiers and faithful of Jesus Christ who will strive for their interests.
7 the Maria should be short, terrible for the devil and his minions like an army in battle array, especially in recent times, for the devil, knowing well that his time is short to lose souls, doubles every day its efforts and attacks. It will soon cause cruel and terrible persecutions to ambush the faithful servants and the true children of Mary, who give them more work to win.
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51. It is mainly these last and cruel persecutions of the devil, which will multiply every day until the kingdom of Antichrist, which refers to that first and famous prediction and curse that God launched against the serpent in the earthly paradise. It is on purpose to explain it here, for the glory of the Blessed Virgin, the salvation of her children and the confusion of the devil.
" Inimicitias pon inter te et mulierem, et semen tuum et semen illius; ipsa conteet caput tuum, et tu insidiaberis calcaneo ejus " (Gn 3,15): I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your posterity and her posterity. She will step on your head, and you will betray her heel.
52. A single enmity God promoted and established, irreconcilable enmity, which will not only last but increase to the end: the enmity between Mary, her worthy Mother, and the devil; between the children and servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and minions of Lucifer; so that Mary is the most terrible enemy that God has set against the devil. He even gave you, from heaven, so much hatred for this cursed enemy of God, so much foresight to discover the malice of that old serpent, so much strength to overcome, crush and annihilate this proud wicked, that the fear that Mary inspires the devil is greater that what inspires you all angels and men and, in a sense, God Himself. Not that the wrath, the hatred, the power of God are not infinitely greater than those of the Blessed Virgin, because Mary’s perfections are limited, but, first of all,Satan, because he is proud, suffers incomparably more, for being overcome and punished by the small and humble slave of God, whose humility humiliates him more than divine power; second, because God gave Mary so great power over demons that, as they were often forced to confess, by the mouth of the possessed, it infuses them with even more fear of one sigh for a soul than the prayers of all. saints; and one of its threats than all other torments.instills in them a greater fear of one sigh for a soul than the prayers of all the saints; and one of its threats than all other torments.instills in them a greater fear of one sigh for a soul than the prayers of all the saints; and one of its threats than all other torments.
53. What Lucifer lost out of pride, Maria gained out of humility. What Eva condemned and lost by disobedience, Maria saved by obedience. Eve, obeying the serpent, lost all her children with her and gave them over to hellish power; Mary, for her perfect fidelity to God, saved all her children and servants with her and consecrated them to God.
54. God has not only put enmity, but enmity, and not only between Mary and the devil, but also between the posterity of the Blessed Virgin and the posterity of the devil. That is to say, God established enmities, antipathies and secret hatreds between the true children and servants of the Blessed Virgin and the children and slaves of the devil. There is no shadow of love between them, nor is there any intimate correspondence between them. The children of Belial, the slaves of Satan, the friends of the world (for it is the same thing) have always persecuted today and will persecute in the future those who belong to the Blessed Virgin, as Cain once persecuted his brother Abel, and Esau, his brother Jacob , featuring the reprobate and predestined. But humble Maria will always be victorious in the fight against this proud,and so great will the final victory be that it will reach the point of crushing his head, the seat of all pride. She will always discover her serpent malice, unravel her infernal plots, undo her diabolical advice, and until the end of time she will guarantee her faithful servants, against the clutches of such a cruel enemy.
But the power of Mary over all demons will become more evident in recent times, when Satan begins to set insects on his heel, i. it is to her humble servants, to her poor children, whom she will raise up to fight the prince of darkness. They will be small and poor in the eyes of the world, and lowered in front of everyone like the heel, pressed and chased like the heel compared to other members of the body. But in return, they will be rich in the graces of God, thanks to which Mary will distribute them abundantly. They will be great and remarkable in holiness before God, superior to every creature, for their active zeal, and so strongly supported by divine power, that, with the humility of their heel and in union with Mary, they will crush the devil's head and promote the triumph of Jesus Christ.
2. The apostles of recent times
55. God finally wants his Most Holy Mother to be better known, more loved, more honored, than he ever was.
And this will happen, without a doubt, if the predestined ones use, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the inner and perfect practice that I indicate to them to follow. And if you observe it faithfully, then you will see clearly how much faith allows you, this beautiful starfish; and they will reach a good port, having overcome storms and pirates.
They will know the greatness of this sovereign and devote themselves entirely to her service, as subjects and slaves of love.
They will experience her maternal sweetness and kindness and love her as tenderly as her trembling children. They will know the mercies of which it is full and the need they have for its help, and they will have recourse to it in all circumstances as to their dear advocate and mediator with Jesus Christ. They will recognize that it is the safest, easiest, fastest and most perfect way to reach Jesus Christ, and will give themselves body and soul, without restrictions, so that they too can belong to Jesus Christ.
56. But who are these servants, these slaves and children of Mary?
They will be ministers of the Lord burning in burning flames, which will cast the fire of divine love everywhere.
They will be " sicut sagittae in manu potentis " (Ps126,4) - sharp arrows in the hands of almighty Mary, ready to pierce her enemies.
They will be children of Levi, well purified in the fire of great tribulations, and well bonded to God (1), who will carry the gold of love in their hearts, the incense of prayer in their spirit, and the myrrh of mortification in their bodies, the good odor of Jesus Christ leaves for the poor and the small, and for the great, the rich and the proud of the world, a disgusting odor of death.
1) Strong translation of the word of São Paulo (1Cor6,17): "Qui adhaeret Domino".
57. They will be thundering clouds flying in the air at the slightest breath of the Holy Spirit, who, without clinging to anything or admiring anything or worrying, will pour out the rain of God's word and eternal life. They will thunder against sin, they will shout at the world, they will whip the devil and his minions, and, for life or death, they will pierce side by side, with the double-edged sword of the word of God (cf. Eph 6,17 ), all those to whom they are sent from the Most High.
58. They will be true apostles of recent times, and the Lord of virtues will give them the word and the strength to do wonders and achieve glorious victories over their enemies; they will sleep without gold or silver, and, what is better, without worries, among the other priests, ecclesiastics and clergy, " inter medias cleros" (Ps67,14) and, however, they will have the silver wings of the dove, to fly , with the pure intention of the glory of God and the salvation of souls, wherever the Holy Spirit calls them, leaving after themselves, in the places where they preach, the gold of charity that is the fulfillment of the law (Rm13,10).
59. We know, finally, that they will be true disciples of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of his poverty and humility, of the contempt of the world and charity, teaching the narrow way of God in pure truth, according to the holy Gospel, and not by the maxims of world, without worrying or showing respect to anyone, without sparing, listening or fearing any mortal, however powerful it may be. They will have the double-edged sword of the word of God in their mouths; on their shoulders they will bear the bloody banner of the cross, on the right, the crucifix, on the left the rosary, in their hearts the sacred names of Jesus and Mary, and in all their conduct, the modesty and mortification of Jesus Christ.
These are the great men who will come, raised by Mary, in obedience to the Most High's orders, so that their empire may extend over the empire of the wicked, the idolaters and the Mohammedans. When and how will this happen? ... Only God knows it! ...
As for us, we must be silent, pray, sigh and wait: Exspectans exspectavi (Ps 39,2).
CHAPTER II
Fundamental truths of devotion to the Blessed Virgin
60. So far we have said something about our need for devotion to the Blessed Virgin. With the help of God, I will now say what this devotion consists of, but, rather, exposing some fundamental truths, which will clarify this great and solid devotion that I want to manifest.
ARTICLE 1
Jesus Christ is the ultimate end of devotion to the Blessed Virgin
61. First truth. - Jesus Christ, our Savior, true God and true man, must be the ultimate end of all our devotions; otherwise, they will be false and misleading. Jesus Christ is the alpha and omega (1), the beginning and the end of all things. We only work, as the apostle says, to make every man perfect in Jesus Christ, for it is in Jesus Christ that all the fullness of Divinity and all other fullness of grace, virtue, perfection abides; because in him we were only blessed with all spiritual blessing; because he is our only teacher who must teach us, our only Lord on whom we must depend, our only boss on whom we must be united, our only model, with whom we must conform, our only doctor who will heal us, our only pastor who will feed us, our only path that we must follow,our only truth that we must believe, our only life that will quicken us, and our everything in all things, which should be enough for us.
Under heaven no other name has been given to men, by which we must be saved. God gave us no other foundation for our salvation, our perfection and our glory, but Jesus Christ. Any building whose base does not rest on this solid stone, will be built on quicksand, and will collapse fatally, sooner or later. Any believer who is not united with Him, like a branch on the vine's vine, will fall and dry up, and will finally be thrown into the fire. Outside it everything is illusion, lie, iniquity, uselessness, death and damnation. If, however, we are in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ in us, we have no damnation to fear; neither the angels of heaven, nor the men of the earth, nor any creature can embarrass us, because it cannot separate us from the charity of God that is in Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ, with Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, we can do everything:surrender all honor and glory to the Father, in unity of the Holy Spirit and make us perfect and be a good odor of eternal life to our neighbors.
1) The eloquent pages that follow are taken almost exclusively from Sacred Scripture. See, p. e.g., Ap1.8; Col2.9; Mt23,8,10; Jo13,13; 1Cor8.6; Col1,18; Jo13,15; 10.16; 14.6; At 9.12; 1 Color 3.11; Mt7,26-27; Jo15,6; Rom8,38-39; etc.
62. If, therefore, we establish a solid devotion to the Blessed Virgin, we will have contributed to establish more perfectly the devotion to Jesus Christ, we will have provided an easy and safe way to find Jesus Christ. If devotion to the Blessed Virgin removed us from Jesus Christ, we would have to reject her as an illusion of the devil. But it is so the other way around, that, as I have already seen, and will show, in the following pages, this devotion is only necessary for us to find Jesus Christ, to love him tenderly and faithfully to serve him.
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63. I turn here, for a moment, to you, O Jesus, in order to lovingly complain to your divine majesty, that most Christians, even the most educated, are unaware of the essential link that exists between you and your most holy Mother. You, Lord, are always with Mary, and Mary is always with you, nor can she be without you; otherwise, it would cease to be what it is; and in such a way is it transformed in you by grace, which no longer lives, no longer exists; it is you, my Jesus, who live and reign in it, more perfectly than in all angels and blessed ones. Ah! if we knew the glory and love you receive in this admirable creature, our feelings about you and her would be very different. Mary is so closely united with you that it would be easier to separate the light from the sun, and the heat from the fire; I say more:the angels and saints would more easily separate from you than the divine Mother, since she loves you with more fervor and glorifies you with more True perfection than all your other creatures together.
64. After this, my lovely Master, is it not sad and regrettable to see the ignorance and darkness in which all men on earth lie, concerning your most holy Mother? I do not speak of idolaters and pagans, who, not knowing you, also do not care to know you; nor do I speak of heretics and schismatics, who do not have the heart to be devotees to your most holy Mother, for they are separated from you and your holy Church; I speak, however, of Catholic Christians, and even of doctors among Catholics (2) who exercise the profession of teaching others the truth, and yet they do not even know you or your most holy Mother, except in a speculative, dry way , sterile and indifferent. These gentlemen rarely speak of Mary and of the devotion that must be given to her, because, they say, they fear that this devotion will be abused and that she will offend you, excessively honoring your most holy Mother.If they see or hear a devotee of the Blessed Virgin often speak, in a tender, strong and persuasive way, of devotion to this good Mother, as in a safe and without illusion, in a short and without danger, in an immaculate and without imperfection , and a wonderful secret to come to you and love you perfectly, cry out against him, and present him with a thousand false reasons, to prove to him that it is not necessary to talk so much about the Blessed Virgin, that there is much abuse in this devotion, which is we must strive to destroy, and apply ourselves to talking about you instead of favoring devotion to the Virgin Mary, whom the people already love enough.of an immaculate and imperfect way, and of a wonderful secret to come to you and love you perfectly, cry out against him, and present him with a thousand false reasons, to prove to him that it is not necessary to talk so much about the Blessed Virgin, who has long abuse of that devotion, which is necessary to endeavor to destroy, and apply to speak about you instead of favoring devotion to the Virgin Mary, whom the people already love enough.of an immaculate and imperfect way, and of a wonderful secret to come to you and love you perfectly, cry out against him, and present him with a thousand false reasons, to prove to him that it is not necessary to talk so much about the Blessed Virgin, who has long abuse of that devotion, which is necessary to endeavor to destroy, and apply to speak about you instead of favoring devotion to the Virgin Mary, whom the people already love enough.
2) The blessed wrote at a time when Jansenism, an opponent of devotion to the Blessed Virgin (see no. 93), counted adherents among nominees.
Sometimes they start talking about devotion to your most holy Mother, not, however, to settle and propagate it, but to destroy the abuses that are made of it. These gentlemen are, however, without mercy, and do not have sincere devotion for you, since they do not have Mary. They consider the rosary, the scapular, the rosary, as devotions of women, proper to the ignorant, without which salvation can be obtained very well. And if a devotee of the Blessed Virgin, who recites her rosary or practices any other Marian devotion falls into their hands, their spirit and heart change in a short time: instead of the rosary they advise you to recite the seven psalms; instead of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, they will advise devotion to Jesus Christ.
O my lovely Jesus, do these people have your spirit? Is it possible that you will like it, acting in this way? Can anyone please you without making every effort to please Mary, for fear of displeasing you? Does devotion to your Mother hinder yours? Will it be attributed the honors we give it? Will it form a party different from yours? Is she, perhaps, a foreigner without the slightest connection with you?
Is it displeasing to want to please you? Do we part, perhaps, or withdraw from your love, if we give ourselves to it and love it?
65. However, my lovely Master, most of the wise men, in punishment of their pride, would no longer depart from devotion to the Blessed Virgin, nor would they look at her with more indifference, if all I have just said was true. Guard me, Lord, guard me from your feelings and your practices, and give me a part of the feelings of recognition, of esteem, of respect and of love, that you have towards your most holy Mother, so that I love and glorify as they imitate you and more closely follow you.
66. Grant me the grace to praise your Most Holy Mother with dignity, as if nothing is what I have so far said in your honor.
" Fac me digne tuam Matrem collaudare ", in spite of all his enemies, which are yours, and that I repeat to you with the saints: " Non praesumat aliquis Dewil se habere propitium qui benedictam Matrem offensam habuerit . - Do not assume to receive the grace of God, who offends his most holy Mother ".
67. And in order to achieve true devotion to your most holy Mother out of your mercy, and to inspire her to all the earth, make me love you ardently, and receive for this purpose the ardent supplication that I address to you with Saint Augustine (3) and your true friends: tu es christus, patater my sanctus, god my pius, rex my magnus, pastor my bonus, magister my unus, adjuster my optimus, dilectus my pulcherrimus, panis minha vivus, sacerdos mine in aeternum, dux minha ad patriam , lux mea vera, dulcedo mea sancta, via mea recta, sapientia mea praeclara, simplicitas mea pura, concordia mea pacifica, custodia mea tota, portio mea bona, salus mea sempiterna ...
Christe Jesu, amabilis Domine, cur amavi. quare concupivi in omni vita mea quidquam praeter te Jesum Deum meum? Ubi were when tecum mente non were? Jam ex hoc nunc, omnia desideria mea, incalescite et effluite in Dominum Jesum; currite, satis hactenus tardastis; properate quo pergitis; quaeritis who quaeritis. Jesu, qui non amat te, anathema sit; qui te non amat, amaritudinibus repleatur .. The dulcis Jesu, te amet, in te delec tetur, te admiretur omnis sensus bonus tuae conveniens laudi. Deus cordis mei et pars mea, Christe Jesu, deficiat cor meum spiritu suo, et vividas tu in me, et concalescat in spiritu meo vivus carbo amoris tui et excrescat in ignem perfectum; ardeat jugiter in ara cordis mei, ferveat in medullis meis, flagret in absconditis animae meae; in die consumniationis meae consummatus invenar apud te ... Amen.
In order to satisfy the wishes of the faithful who do not understand Latin, here is a translation of this prayer: "You are, O Jesus, the Christ, my holy Father, my merciful God, my infinitely great King; you are my good shepherd, my only master, my aid full of goodness, my beloved of wonderful beauty, my living bread, my eternal priest, my guide to my homeland, my true light, my holy sweetness, my upright path, my wisdom, my pure simplicity, my peace and harmony; in short, you are all my safeguard, my precious heritage, my eternal salvation ...
O Jesus Christ, dear Lord, why, in all my life, have I loved, why did I desire anything other than you? Where was I when I didn't think of you? Ah! that, at least, from this moment on, my heart only wishes you and is burned for you, Lord Jesus! Wishes of my soul, I ran, which you have already long delayed; hurry to the end that you aspire to; seek in truth the one you seek. O Jesus, anathema be he who does not love you. He who does not love you is filled with bitterness. O sweet Jesus, be the love, the delights, the admiration of every heart worthily consecrated to your glory. God of my heart and my sharing, Jesus Christ, may my heart fail in you, and be my life yourself.
Let the burning ember of your love be lit in my soul and become a divine fire, burning forever on the altar of my heart; to inflame the depths of my being, and to burn the core of my soul; so that on the day of my death I appear before you, completely consumed in your love ... Amen ".
I wanted to transcribe in this original this admirable prayer of Saint Augustine so that people who understand Latin can recite it. Let us recite it every day to ask for the love of Jesus, which we seek through the Blessed Virgin.
ARTICLE II
We belong to Jesus Christ and Mary as slaves
68. Second truth.
- From what Jesus is to us, we conclude that we do not belong, as the apostle says (1Cor 6,19), but to Him, entirely, as his members and his slaves, bought that we were for an infinitely expensive price, the price of your blood. Before baptism, the devil had us as slaves, and baptism made us slaves to Jesus Christ and we must only live, work and die to produce fruit for the God-man (Rom 7,4), glorify him in our bodies and do you reign in our soul, for we are your conquest, your people acquired, your heritage. For the same reason the Holy Spirit compares us (1):
l ° to trees planted along the waters of grace, in the fields of the Church, trees that must bear fruit in due time;
2 o to the branches of a vine of which Jesus Christ is the trunk, and which must produce good grapes;
3 o to a flock whose shepherd is Jesus, and that flock must multiply and give milk;
4 the the good land that God is the gardener, and in which the seed is multiplied, yielding thirty, sixty, a hundredfold. Jesus cursed the barren fig tree (Mt21,19) and declared the useless servant who had not put his talent to death (Mt25,24-30). All of this proves to us that Jesus Christ wants to receive some fruits from our petty people: whether he did; our good works, because good works belong exclusively to him: " Creati in operibus bonis in Christo Jesu - Created in Jesus Christ for good deeds" (Eph 2,10). These words of the Holy Spirit show that Jesus Christ is the only end of all our good works, and that we are to serve him not only as wage laborers, but as slaves of love. I'll explain.
1) Cf. Sl1.3; Jo15,1; 10.11; Mt13,3.8.
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69. There are two ways, here on earth, for someone to belong to someone else and to depend on their authority. They are simple servitude and slavery, hence the difference that we establish between servant and slave.
For servitude, common among Christians, a man puts himself at the service of another for a certain time, receiving a certain amount or reward.
For slavery, a man depends entirely on another one throughout his life, and must serve his master, without expecting any salary or reward, as one of the animals over which the owner has the right to life and death.
70. There are three kinds of slavery (2): by nature, by constraint and by free will: By nature, all creatures are slaves to God: " Domini est terra et plenitudo ejus " (SI 23,1). Demons and reprobates are enslaved by constraint; and the righteous and the holy are of their own free will. Voluntary slavery is the most perfect, the most glorious in the eyes of God, who looks at the heart (1 Kings 16,7), asks for the heart (Pv 23,26) and is called the God of the heart (Ps 72,26) or of loving will, because, through this slavery, God and his service are chosen above all things, even when nature does not compel him.
2) Cf. Sto. Augustine, "Exposltio canticl Magnificat" (circa medium). Sto. Tomaz, Summa Theol. 3, q. 48, a. 4, corp. et resp. ad 1.
71. The difference between a servant and a slave is total:
1 o A servant does not give his employer everything he is, everything he owns or can acquire by others or by himself; but a slave gives himself completely to his master, with everything he owns or can acquire, without any exception.
2 o The servant demands a salary for the services he provides to his employer; the slave, however, can demand nothing, whatever the assiduity, the skill, the strength he uses at work.
3 o The servant can leave the master whenever he wants, or at least when the time of service expires, but the slave does not have that right.
4 o The boss has no right to life and death over the servant, so that if he killed him as he kills one of his pack animals, he would commit murder; but, by law, the master has the power of life and death over the slave (3); so you can sell it to anyone who wants it, or kill it, as, without comparison, it would do to your horse.
5 o The servant, in short, is only for a time in the service of a master, while the slave is forever.
3) Natural law, Mosaic law and modern laws do not recognize such a right, except for a special mandate of the sovereign Lord of life and death. The blessed is placed here simply from the point of view of the fact, according to the civil laws of the countries in which slavery prevailed (Cf. Secret de Marie, p. 34). Abstracting from the morality of the act, his aim is to show, for example, the total dependence of which he speaks.
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72. Only slavery, among men, puts one person in possession and complete dependence on another. There is nothing, in the same way, that more absolutely makes us belong to Jesus Christ and his most holy Mother than voluntary slavery, according to the example of Jesus Christ himself, who, for our love, took the form of a slave: " They form serv accipiens "(Fp2,7), and of the most holy Virgin, who declared herself the slave of the Lord (Lc1,38). The apostle is honored several times in his epistles with the title " servus Christi " (4). Sacred Scripture often calls Christians " servi Christi ", and this word, " servus"according to the correct observation of a great man (5), it meant, in the past, only a slave, because there were no servants like today, and the rich were only served by slaves or freedmen. And so that there is no doubt that we are slaves of Jesus Christ, the Council of Trent uses the unmistakable expression " mancipia Christi ", and applies it to us: slaves of Jesus Christ (6).
4) Cf. Rm1.1; Gl1.10; Fp1.1; Tt1,1.
5) Henri-Marie Boudon, archdiago d'Evreux, in his book: "La sainte esclavage de l'admirable Mere de Dieu", ch. II.
6) Catec. Rom., Part I, ch. 3: According to Symboli articulo (in fine).
73. I say that we must belong to Jesus Christ and serve him, not only as mercenary servants, but as loving slaves, who, as a result of great love, dedicate themselves to serving him as slaves, for the exclusive honor of belonging to him. Before baptism, we were slaves to the devil; baptism made us slaves to Jesus Christ. It is therefore important that Christians are slaves to either the devil or Jesus Christ.
74. What I say absolutely about Jesus Christ, I also say about the Virgin Mary, because Jesus Christ, choosing her for his inseparable companion in life, in death, in glory, in his power in heaven and on earth, gave her by grace, in relation to his majesty, the same rights and privileges that he has by nature. " Quidquid Deo convenit per naturam, Mariae convenit per gratiam ... - Everything that befits God by nature, befits Mary by grace", say the saints. Thus, according to this teaching, since both have the same will and the same power, they also have the same subjects, servants and slaves (7).
7) Oportebat ... Dei Matrem ea quae Filii essent possidere (São João Damasceno: Sermo 2 in Dormitione BM).
75. We can, therefore, following the opinion of the saints and many scholars, tell us and become slaves to the Blessed Virgin, so that we can become more perfectly slaves to Jesus Christ (8). The Blessed Virgin is the means our Lord used to come to us; and it is the means that we must use to go to it (9). It is quite different from other creatures, which, if we cling to them, will be able to distance us rather than to approach God. Mary's strongest inclination is to unite with Jesus Christ, her divine Son; and the Son's strongest inclination is that we come to him through his most holy Mother. And this is for him as much honor and pleasure, as it would be for a king, honor and pleasure, if someone, to become his slave more perfectly, became the queen's slave. That is why the Holy Fathers, and are Bonaventure with them,say that the Blessed Virgin is the way to reach our Lord: "Via veniendi ad Christum is appropinquare ad illam "(10).
8) Ita served Matrl tuae, utex hoc ipse me probes served tibi (Sto. Ildefonso: De v! Rginitate perpetua BM, chap. XII).
9) Per ipsam Deus descendlt ad lands, ut per ipsam homines ascendere mereantur ad caelos (Sto. Agostinho - Sermo 113 in Nativit. Domini). - See also São Boaventura: Expositio in Lc, chap. I, n. 38. Pius X, Encyclical "Ad diem illum".
10) Psalterium majus BV, Sl17.
76. Moreover, the Blessed Virgin, as I said (v. N the 38), is the queen and sovereign of heaven and earth - "I mperio Dei et omnia subjiciuntur Virgo, ecce empire Virginis et omnia subjiciuntur God"(11), say Saint Anselm, Saint Bernard, Saint Bonaventure - does she not have as many subjects and slaves as there are creatures? (12). Is it unreasonable that, among so many slaves out of embarrassment, there are some out of love, which, will and as slaves, choose Mary for their sovereign? For then men and demons will have their voluntary slaves and will Mary not have them? Would it be dishonor to a king if the queen, his companion, did not have slaves over the which had the right to life and death (13), because the honor and power of the king are the honor and power of the queen, and it can be believed that our Lord, the best of all children, who gave his most holy Mother part of all its power, consider it evil to have slaves? (14).Does he have less respect and love for his Mother than did Ahasuerus to Esther and Solomon to Bathsheba? Who would dare say it or even think it?
11) "To the power of God everything is submissive, even the Virgin; to the power of the Virgin everything is submissive, even to God".
12) "Res quippe omnes conditas Filius Matri m ancipavit". São João Damasc .: Sermo 2 in Dormitione BM - São Bonaventura: Ancilla Dominae Mariae est quaelibet anima fidelis, imo etiam Ecclesia universalis (Speculum BMV, lect. III §5).
13) V. note to n. 71.
14) Christianorum memento, qui servi tul sunt. St. Germanus of Constantinople: Orat. hist. in Dormitione Delparae.
77. But where does my pen take me? Why do I stop here to prove something so evident? If someone refuses to confess to being a slave to Mary, what does it matter? Let him be made and say he is a slave of Jesus Christ. It is the same as being a slave to the Blessed Virgin, for Jesus is the fruit and glory of Mary. And this is done perfectly by the devotion that we will talk about next (15).
15) For an explanation of the doctrine exposed in this article II, see: A. Lhoumeau: "The spiritual life of the BL-M Montfort Grignion.", 1 the part, cap. IV.
ARTICLE III
We must strip ourselves of what is bad in us
78. Third truth.- Our best actions are ordinarily tainted and corrupted by the depth of evil in us. When you pour clean, clear water into a dirty bowl, which smells bad, or when you put wine in a barrel whose interior is soured by another wine that was deposited there, the clear water and the good wine easily acquire the bad smell and the bitterness of the containers. In the same way, when God puts in the vessel of our soul, corrupted by original sin and by current sin, his heavenly graces and dews or the delicious wine of his love, these divine gifts are ordinarily spoiled or tainted by the bad germ and bad background that sin left us; our actions, even the most sublime virtues of this are resented. It is, therefore, of great importance, to acquire perfection, which is only achieved through union with Jesus Christ,divest ourselves of everything that is bad in us. Otherwise, our Lord, who is infinitely pure and infinitely hates the smallest blemish on the soul, will repel us and in no way join us.
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79. To dispose of ourselves, we must first and well know, by the light of the Holy Spirit, our bottom of evil, our incapacity for all good, our weakness in all things, our inconstancy at all times, our unworthiness of all grace and our iniquity everywhere. The sin of our first parents completely spoiled us, soured, swelled and corrupted us, like sour yeast, swells and corrupts the dough in which it is put. The current sins that we commit, whether mortal or venial, forgiven as they are, increase lust, weakness, inconstancy and corruption in us, leaving bad traits in our souls.
Our body is so corrupted, that the Holy Spirit (Rm6,6; Ps 50,7) calls it the body of sin, conceived in sin, nourished in sin, and only fit for sin, a body subject to a thousand and a thousand evils, which it corrupts more and more each day, and which only breeds disease, worms, corruption.
Our soul, united to the body, has become so carnal, that it is called flesh: "All flesh had corrupted its way" (Gen. 6.12). Our entire heritage is pride and blindness in the spirit, hardening in the heart, weakness and inconstancy in the soul, lust, revolted passions and illnesses in the body. We are, of course, more proud than peacocks, more attached to the land than frogs, uglier than goats, more envious than snakes, more gluttonous than pigs, more angry than tigers and more lazy than turtles; weaker than reeds, and more fickle than a pinwheel. All we have inside is nothing and sin, and we only deserve God's wrath and eternal hell (1).
1) The blessed speaks of our nothingness and of our impotence in the supernatural order, without the help of grace (see, in fact, further on n. 83: Our innermost ..., so corrupted, if we lean on our own work ... to reach God ...).
80. After that, why should we be surprised that our Lord said that whoever wanted to follow him should renounce himself and hate his own soul; that whoever loved his soul would lose it and whoever hated it would be saved? (Jo12,25). Infinite Wisdom, which does not give orders without reason, only orders us to hate ourselves because we are greatly worthy of hate: only God is worthy of love, while there is nothing more worthy of hate than us.
81. Secondly, in order to strip ourselves of ourselves, we must die every day for ourselves, i. yes, it is important to renounce the power operations of our soul and the senses of the body, we need to see as if we did not see, hear as if we did not hear, use the things of this world as if we did not (cf. 1Cor7,29-31 ), what São Paulo calls dying every day: " Quotidie morior " (1Cor15,31). "If the grain of wheat, falling into the earth, does not die; it is left alone, and does not produce appreciable fruit: Nisi granum frumenti cadens in terram - mortuum fuerit, ipsum solu.m manet"(Jn 12,24-25). If we do not die ourselves, and if the most holy devotions do not lead us to this necessary and fruitful death, we will not produce worthwhile fruit, our devotions will be useless, all our works of justice will remain tarnished by our own love and our own will, and God will abhor the greatest sacrifices and the best actions we can do. At the time of our death, we will have empty hands of virtues and merits, and the smallest spark of pure will not shine in us love, which is communicated only to souls who have died themselves, souls whose life is hidden with Jesus Christ in God (Col3,3).
82. Third, it is necessary to choose, among all devotions to the Blessed Virgin, the one that most certainly leads us to this annihilation of self. This will be the best and most sanctifying devotion, as it is necessary to recognize that not everything that is light is gold, not everything that is sweet is honey, and not everything that is easy to make and practice is the most sanctifying. In the same way that nature has secrets to do in a short time, without much expense and with ease, certain natural operations, there are secrets, in the order of grace, for which supernatural operations are made, in a short time, with sweetness and ease, how to strip ourselves, fill ourselves with God, and become perfect.
The practice I want to reveal is one of those secrets of grace, unknown to most Christians, known to few devotees, practiced and appreciated by a very small number. Before addressing this practice, I present a fourth truth that is a consequence of the third.
ARTICLE IV
We need a mediator with the mediator himself, who is Jesus Christ
83. Fourth truth - It is much more perfect, because it is more humble, to take a mediator to approach God.
If we rely on our own works, skill, and preparations, to come to God and to please him, it is certain that all our works of justice will be tainted and will have a negligible weight with God, to move him to unite with us and attend to us, because, as I just demonstrated, our intimate is extremely corrupt. And it was not without reason that he gave us mediators to his majesty. He saw our iniquity and inability, took pity on us, and, in order to give us access to his mercies, provided us with powerful intercessors. along with its greatness; so that neglecting these mediators and approaching their holiness directly without further recommendation is a lack of respect for a God so high and so holy; is to despise this King of kings, as a king or prince of the land would not be done,that nobody would approach without the recommendation of a friend.
84. Our Lord is our advocate and mediator of redemption with God the Father; it is through him that we must pray with the whole Church triumphant and militant; it is through him that we gain access to his majesty, in whose presence we must never appear, unless protected and clothed with the merits of Jesus Christ, like Jacob putting on the goatskin to receive the blessing of his father Isaac.
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85. But do we need a mediator with the mediator himself? Our purity will be sufficient to allow us to unite directly with Him, and for ourselves. Is he not God, in everything equal to the Father, and therefore the Holy of Holies, worthy of as much respect as his Father?
If he, by his infinite charity, became our pledge and mediator with God his Father, to appease him and pay him what we owed him, does this mean that we owe him less respect and fear for his majesty and holiness?
Let us say, therefore, boldly, with Saint Bernard (1), that we need a mediator with the Mediator, par excellence, and that Mary Most Holy is the only one capable of exercising this admirable function. Through it Jesus Christ came to us, and through it we must go to Him. If we are afraid to go directly to Jesus Christ God, in view of his infinite greatness, or because of our baseness, or because of our sins, we will plead boldly for the help and intercession of Mary our Mother; she is good and tender; there is no severity or disgust in it, everything about it is sublime and brilliant; contemplating it, we see our pure nature. It is not the sun, which, by the strength of its rays, could dazzle us in our weakness, but it is beautiful and soft like the moon (Ct6,9), which receives the sunlight and tempers it so that we can support it . She is so charitable that she repels no one,to beg your intercession, even though you are a sinner; for, as the saints say, it has never been said, since the world is a world, that someone who has turned to the Blessed Virgin, with confidence and perseverance, has been forsaken or repelled (2). It is so powerful that it was never disregarded in its requests; it is enough for him to appear before his Son to ask him for something, and he only hears the request and then grants him what she asks for; he is always lovingly overcome by the breasts, the entrails and the prayers of his dear Mother.it is enough for him to appear before his Son to ask him for something, and he only hears the request and then grants him what she asks for; he is always lovingly overcome by the breasts, the entrails and the prayers of his dear Mother.it is enough for him to appear before his Son to ask him for something, and he only hears the request and then grants him what she asks for; he is always lovingly overcome by the breasts, the entrails and the prayers of his dear Mother.
1) Serm. in Domin. inf. oct. Assumptionis, n. 2: "Opus est enim mediatore ad Mediatorem istum, nec alter no bis utilior quam Maria". This whole paragraph is taken from this sermon by St. Bernard.
2) St. Bernard's quote ends here. The following sentence is taken from St. Bonaventure: Sermo 2 in BVM
86. All of this is taken from St. Bernard and St. Bonaventure. According to his words, we have three steps to go up to reach God: the first, closer to us and more in line with our ability, is Mary; the second is Jesus Christ; and the third is God the Father (3). To go to Jesus it is necessary to go to Mary, for she is the mediator of intercession. To reach the eternal Father, it is necessary to go to Jesus, who is our mediator of redemption. Now, due to the devotion I advocate, later on, this is the order perfectly observed.
3) Cf. Saint Bonaventure: Per Mariam ad Christum accedimus, et per Christum gratify Spiritus Sancti invenimus (Speculum BV, iect VI, § 2). - See also Leo XIII, Encyclical "Octobri mense", 22-9-1891.
ARTICLE V
It is very difficult for us to preserve the graces and treasures received from God
87. Fifth truth.- It is extremely difficult, due to our weakness and fragility, to keep in us the graces and treasures that we receive from God:
88. 1 o Because this treasure, more valuable than heaven and earth, we keep it in fragile vessels: " Habemus thesaurum istum in vasis fictilibus " (2Cor4,7); in a corruptible body, in a weak and fickle soul that nothing disturbs and slaughter.
2 oBecause demons, who are finicky thieves, seek to surprise us on the fly to rob and rob us; they watch day and night for the moment favorable to its design; they walk around us ceaselessly, ready to devour us (cf. 1Pd5,8) and, for sin, take away, in a moment, everything that in many years we have been able to achieve with graces and merits.
And all the more we must fear this misfortune, knowing how incomparable his malice, his experience, his cunning and his number are. People have been much more graceful than we are, richer in virtues, more experienced, higher in holiness, who have been surprised, stolen, plundered plaintively. Ah! how many cedars from Lebanon, how many stars in the firmament have seen themselves fall miserably, soon losing all their haughtiness and clarity. To what can we attribute such a strange change? It was not a lack of grace, because grace is not lacking in anyone; it was lack of humility. These people believed themselves to be stronger and more sufficient than they were in reality, believed themselves capable of guarding their treasures; they relied and supported themselves; they believed their house safe enough and their coffers strong enough to keep the precious treasure of grace,and, because of that imperceptible security that they had in them (although it seemed to them that they were based on the grace of God), it is that the most just Lord, abandoning them to his own forces, allowed them to be stolen. Ah! if they had known the admirable devotion that I am going to expound, then they would have entrusted their treasure to the powerful and faithful Virgin, who would have kept it as her own good, even doing a duty of justice.
89. 3 o It is difficult to persevere in justice, because of the corruption of the world. The world is now so corrupted that it is almost necessary for religious hearts to be stained if not by the mud, at least by the dust of this corruption; so that it can be considered a miracle that a person stands firm in the midst of this fiery torrent without the whirlwind dragging him; in the midst of that stormy sea without the furor of the waves overwhelming you or plaguing pirates and privateers; in the middle of that plagued air without the miasmas contaminating it. It is the Virgin, the only believer, in whom the serpent has never had a part, who performs this miracle in favor of those and those who serve her in the most beautiful way.
CHAPTER III
Choice of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
90. Knowing these five truths, it is necessary, now more than ever, to make a good choice now of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, as, as never before, false devotions to the Most Holy Mary abound, which easily pass through true devotions. The devil, like a fake coin purse and a fine and experienced deceiver, has already deceived and lost countless souls, inculcating a false devotion to the most holy virgin, and every day draws on his diabolical experience to launch others more to eternal condemnation, amusing himself them and nurturing them in sin, under the pretext of some poorly recited prayers and some external practices that inspire them. As a fake coin purse usually only forges gold and silver coins, rarely imitating other metals, which do not compensate for the work,likewise, the evil spirit does not stop at falsifying other devotions than those of Jesus and Mary, to holy communion, and to the most holy Virgin, because they are like gold and silver among metals.
91. It is, therefore, of great importance to first know false devotions to the Blessed Virgin, to avoid them, and the real one, to embrace her; second, among so many different practices of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, to distinguish the most perfect, the most pleasing to the Most Holy Mary, the one that gives the most glory to God, the most sanctifying for us, to cling to.
ARTICLE 1
The signs of false and true devotion to the Blessed Virgin
§ I. False devotees and false devotions to the Blessed Virgin.
92. I know seven kinds of false devotees and false devotions to the Blessed Virgin:
l ° the critical devotees,
2 the scrupulous devotees,
3 the outer devotees,
4 the presumptuous devotees,
5 the fickle devotees,
6 the hypocritical devotees,
7 the interested devotees.
1 ° Critical devotees
93. Critical devotees are, in general, proud sages, strong and presumptuous spirits, who have at heart a certain devotion to the Most Holy Virgin, but who live criticizing the practices of devotion that simple people tribute in good faith and holy to this good one. Mother, because these devotions do not please your cultured fantasy. They question all the miracles and stories narrated by authors worthy of faith, or inserted in chronicles of religious orders, attesting to the mercies and the power of the Blessed Virgin. It disgusts them to see simple, humble people kneeling before an altar or an image of the Virgin, sometimes in the corner of a street, praying to God; they even accuse them of idolatry, as if they were worshiping stone or wood. They say that, on your part,they do not appreciate these external devotions and that their spirit is not so weak that it will give faith to so many tales and stories that are attributed to the Blessed Virgin. When someone repeats the admirable praises that the Holy Fathers give to the Most Holy. Virgo, they reply that they are flowers of rhetoric, or exaggeration, that those writers were speakers; or they give a bad explanation of those words (1).
This kind of false, proud and worldly devotees is much to fear, and they cause infinite evil to devotion to the Blessed Virgin, effectively driving the people away from her, under the pretext of destroying her abuses.
1) Do not think that the blessed exaggerates this point. The time in which he wrote was that of those critical devotees, who sought to spread among the faithful poisonous writings, such as the pamphlet by Windenfelt, entitled: "BV Maria's wholesome warnings to her indiscreet devotees" (V. Lhoumeau: "Spiritual life").
2 ° The scrupulous devotees
94. Scrupulous devotees are those who fear to dishonor the Son, honoring the Mother, and demean him if they exalt her too much.
They cannot bear to repeat those most just praises that the Holy Fathers wove to the Blessed Virgin; they cannot bear without disgust that the crowd kneeling at Mary's feet is larger than before the altar of the Blessed Sacrament, as if they were antagonistic, and as if those who pray to the Blessed Virgin did not pray to Jesus Christ through her. They do not want people to talk about the Blessed Virgin so often, nor do they want to use it so often.
Some phrases they repeat them every moment: Why are there so many thirds, so many confraternities and devotions outside the Blessed Virgin? This is a lot of ignorance! It is making religion a joke.
Tell me, yes, of those who are devotees of Jesus Christ (and they name him, many times, without discovering myself, I say it in parentheses): it is necessary to turn to Jesus Christ, because he is our only mediator; it is necessary to preach Jesus Christ, that is solid!
In a sense, what they say is true. But, due to the application they give it, it is very dangerous and constitutes a subtle trap of the evil one, under the pretext of a much greater good, because one will never honor Jesus Christ more than honoring the Blessed Virgin, as long as the honor that he lends himself to Mary has no other purpose than to honor Jesus Christ more perfectly, and that he only goes to her as the way to reach the term that is Jesus Christ.
95. The Holy Church, with the Holy Spirit, first blesses the Blessed Virgin and then Jesus Christ: " benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus ". Not because the Blessed Virgin is more or equal to Jesus Christ: it would be an intolerable heresy, but because, in order to more perfectly bless Jesus Christ, it is necessary to bless Mary first. Let us say, therefore, with all the true devotees of Mary, against her false and scrupulous devotees: O Mary, blessed are you among all women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus!
3 ° The exterior devotees
96. External devotees are the people who make all devotion to the Most Holy Virgin consist in external practices; that they only take an interest in the exteriority of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, because they have no inner spirit; who will hastily recite a string of rosaries, will listen, without attention, to an infinity of masses, will accompany the processions without devotion, will be part of all the confraternities without changing their lives, without violating their passions, without imitating the virtues of this most holy Virgin. They love only what is sensitive in devotion, with no interest in the solid part. If their practices do not affect their sensitivity, they feel that there is nothing more to do, they become disoriented, or they do everything in disorder.The world is full of this kind of external devotees and there are no people who criticize the people of prayer who dedicate themselves to inner devotion without neglecting the outside of modesty, which always accompanies true devotion.
4 a The devoted smug
97. Presumptuous devotees are sinners abandoned to their passions, or lovers of the world, who, under the beautiful name of Christians and devotees of the Blessed Virgin, hide either pride, or greed, or impurity, or drunkenness, or cholera, or blasphemy, or backbiting, or injustice, etc .; who sleep peacefully in their bad habits, without violating themselves too much to correct themselves, claiming that they are devotees of the Virgin; who promise themselves that God will forgive them, that they will not die without confession, and will not be condemned because they recite their rosary, fast on Saturdays, belong to the brotherhood of the Holy Rosary or Scapular, or to some congregation; because they bring with them the little habit or the little chain of the Blessed Virgin, etc.
When someone tells them that their devotion is nothing but illusion and a pernicious presumption capable of losing them, they refuse to believe; they say that God is good and merciful and that he did not create us to condemn us; that there is no man who does not sin; that they will not die without confession; what a good peccaviat the time of death it is enough; moreover, they are devotees of the Blessed Virgin, whose scapular they use; and in whose honor they say, every day, blamelessly and without vanity (that is, with fidelity and humility) seven Our Father and seven Ave Marias; who even recite, at one time or another, the rosary and the office of the Blessed Virgin; who fast, etc. To confirm what they say and further increase their own blindness, they recall some stories they read or heard, true or false, no matter, in which it is said that people killed in mortal sin, without confession, just because they had done so in life some prayers or practices of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, were resurrected to confess, or her soul remained miraculously in the body until they confessed, or, still, that, by the mercy of the Blessed Virgin, they obtained from God, at the time of death,contrition and forgiveness of their sins, and they were saved.
They therefore expect the same thing.
98. There is nothing in Christianity as damnable as this diabolical presumption; for will it be possible to truly say that the Blessed Virgin is loved and honored when, for her sins, she is pierced, pierced, crucified and outrages Jesus Christ her Son? If Mary considered it a law to save these kinds of people, she would authorize a crime, help crucify and revile her own Son. Who would dare to think?
99. I say that to abuse devotion to the Blessed Virgin, the holiest and most solid after devotion to our Lord and the Blessed Sacrament, is to commit a horrible sacrilege, the greatest and the least forgivable, after the sacrilege of an unworthy communion.
I confess that, in order to be truly devoted to the Blessed Virgin, it is not absolutely necessary to be holy to the point of avoiding all sin, although this is the ideal; but it is necessary at least (note what I will say):
In the first place, it is with sincere resolution to avoid at least every mortal sin which offends both the Mother and the Son.
Second , do violence to yourself to avoid sin.
Third , to join brotherhoods, to pray the rosary, the holy rosary or other prayers, to fast on Saturdays, etc.
100. This is wonderfully useful for the conversion of a sinner, even if hardened; and if my reader is in these conditions, even if he already has a foot in the abyss, I advise him, provided, however, that he only practice these good works with the intention of, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, obtaining from God the grace of contrition and forgiveness of sins, and to overcome their bad habits, and not to continue calmly in the state of sin, despite the remorse of conscience, the example of Jesus Christ and the saints, and the maxims of the holy Gospel.
5 ° The shifting devotees
101. Fickle devotees are those who are devotees of the Blessed Virgin periodically, at intervals and on a whim: today they are fervent, tomorrow they are lukewarm; now they are ready to undertake everything in Mary's service and soon after they no longer seem the same. They immediately embrace all devotions to the Blessed Virgin, join all her brotherhoods, and in a short time they no longer even observe the rules with fidelity; they change like the moon (1), and Mary smashes them under her feet as she does the crescent, for they are fickle and unworthy to be counted among the servants of this faithful Virgin, who have fidelity and constancy by inheritance. It is better not to be burdened with so many prayers and devotional practices, and to do few with love and fidelity, in spite of the world, the devil and the flesh.
1) The moon, due to its variations, is often taken by the ancient mystical authors as the symbol of changes in the shifting soul. - Cf. Ecle27.12. São Bernardo: "Sermo super Signum Magnum" n. 3.
6 ° The hypocritical devotees
102. There are also false devotees of the Blessed Virgin, the hypocritical devotees, who cover their sins and bad habits with the cloak of this faithful Virgin, in order to pass into the eyes of the world for what they are not.
7 ° The devout self-interested
103. There are also devout self-interested people, who only turn to the Blessed Virgin to gain some trial, to avoid any danger, to cure themselves of any disease, or in any need of that kind, without which they would forget it; both are false devotees who have no acceptance before God and his most holy Mother.
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104. Let us take care, therefore, not to belong to the number of critical devotees who believe in anything and criticize everything; the scrupulous devotees who fear being too devoted to the Blessed Virgin, out of respect for Jesus Christ; external devotees who make all their devotion consist of external practices; of presumptuous devotees, who, under the pretext of their false devotion, remain marasmated in their sins; the fickle devotees who, out of levity, vary their practices of devotion, or abandon them completely to the slightest temptation; of hypocritical devotees who get into brotherhoods and wear the insignia of the Blessed Virgin in order to pass for good; and, finally, of devout self-interest, who only turn to the Blessed Virgin to get rid of the ills of the body or obtain temporal goods.
II. True devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
105. After discovering and condemning false devotions to the Blessed Virgin, it is necessary to establish in a few words true devotion, which is:
l ° inside,
2 the tender,
3 the saint,
4 the constant,
5 the disinterested.
1 o True devotion is Interior
106. First of all, true devotion to the Blessed Virgin is interior, that is, part of the spirit and the heart. It comes from the esteem in which one has the Blessed Virgin, from the high idea that was formed from her greatness, and from the love that is consecrated to her.
2 ° True devotion is tender
107. Secondly, it is tender, that is to say full of confidence in the Blessed Virgin, of the trust of a son in his mother.
It impels a soul to resort to it in all the needs of the body and the spirit, with extremes of simplicity, confidence and tenderness; she begs the help of her good Mother at all times, in all places, in all things: in her doubts, to be clarified; in your mistakes, to correct yourself; in temptations, to be sustained; in its weaknesses, to be fortified; in his falls, to be lifted; in his downfalls, to be encouraged; in your scruples, to get rid of them; in their crosses, works and setbacks of life, to be comforted. In all the evils of body and spirit, in short, Mary is her refuge, and there is no fear of harassing this good Mother and displeasing Jesus Christ.
3 ° True devotion is holy
108. Third, true devotion to the Blessed Virgin is holy: it leads a soul to avoid sin and to imitate the virtues of the Blessed Virgin, especially her profound humility, her continuous prayer, her blind obedience, her living faith, her universal mortification, his divine purity, his ardent charity, his heroic patience, his angelic sweetness and his divine wisdom. There are the ten main virtues of the Blessed Virgin.
4 o The real one. devotion is constant
109. Fourth, true devotion to the Blessed Virgin is constant, firm a soul in goodness, and helps her to persevere in her practices of devotion. It makes you brave to oppose the world in its fashions and maxims, the flesh, its annoyances and passions, and the devil, in its temptations.
Thus, a person who is truly devoted to the Blessed Virgin is not volatile, nor does he allow himself to be dominated by melancholy, scruples or fears. This does not mean that he does not fall or change, at times, in the sensitivity of his devotion; but if he falls, he gets up immediately, stretches out his hand to his good Mother, and if he loses his sensitive taste or devotion, he does not feel hopeless, because Mary’s righteous and faithful devotee lives on the faith of Jesus and Mary , not natural feelings.
5 ° The real one. devotion is disinterested
110. True devotion to the Blessed Virgin is, at last, disinterested, it leads the soul to seek not itself, but only God in his most holy Mother. The true devotee of Mary does not serve this august Queen out of a spirit of profit and interest, nor for her temporal or eternal good, bodily or spiritual, but only because she deserves to be served, and God exclusively in her; the true devotee does not love Mary precisely because she does him or he expects some good from her, but because she is kind.
For this reason alone, he loves her and serves in sorrows and aridity, as in sweetness and sensitive fervor, always with the same fidelity; he loves her in the bitterness of Calvary as in the joys of Cana. Oh! how pleasing and precious it is in the eyes of God and his most holy Mother, that devotee, who is in no way sought in the services he renders to his Queen. But also, how rare it is to find it now. And it is with the aim of increasing the number of these faithful devotees, that I wielded the pen to write what I have, with fruit, taught in public and in particular in my missions, for years and years.
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111. Many things have already been said about the Blessed Virgin. However, I still have more to say, and infinitely more I will omit, either through ignorance, incapacity or lack of time, in the plan that I have to form a true devotee of Mary and a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
112. Oh! my effort would be well used, if this writing, falling into the hands of a well-born soul, born of God and Mary, and not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man (cf. Jn 1:13), unveil and inspire, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, the excellence and the prize of true and solid devotion to the Blessed Virgin, as I will indicate. If I knew that my sinful blood could serve to bring into my heart the truths that I write in honor of my dear Mother and sovereign Lady, of whom I am the last of children and slaves, in place of ink I would use it to form these characters, in the hope that encourages me to find good souls who, for their fidelity to the practice I teach, will compensate my good Mother and Lady for the losses that have caused my ingratitude and infidelity.
113. I feel, more than ever, encouraged to believe and hope in everything that I have deeply engraved in my heart, and that I ask God for many years: that sooner or later the Blessed Virgin will have more children, servants and slaves (1), as never before, and that hereby, Jesus Christ, my beloved Master, will reign totally in all hearts.
114. I see, in the future, fruitful animals, who rush furiously to tear with their diabolical teeth this small manuscript and the one the Holy Spirit used to write it, or at least to make it enveloped in darkness and in the darkness. silence of an ark, so that it does not appear. They will even attack and pursue those who read it and put it into practice (2). But it does not matter! all the better! This vision encourages me and gives me the hope of great success, that is, a squad of brave and fearless soldiers of Jesus and Mary, of both sexes, to fight the world, the devil and the corrupted nature, in dangerous times to come, and as yet has not been. " Qui legit, intelligat. Qui potest capere, capiat " (Mt24.15; 19.12).
1) Note the association of these two terms: son and slave. The same approach was made by the Catechism of the Council of Trent (p. I, chap. 3, "De secundo symboli articulo", in fine).
2) This prediction was taken literally. Throughout the 18th century, the sons of Montfort were the target of attacks by the Jansenists, in view of their zeal for this devotion. And the precious manuscript, hidden during the disturbances of the French Revolution, was only found in 1842 by a priest from the Society of Mary, in a box of old books.
ARTICLE II
Practices of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin
§ I. Common practices.
115. There are many inner practices of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
The main ones are, for short, the following:
1. To honor her, as the worthy Mother of God, with the cult of hyperdultery, that is, to esteem and honor her over all other saints, as the masterpiece of grace and the first after Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
2. Meditate on your virtues, your privileges and your actions.
3. Contemplate your greatness.
4. Make him acts of love, praise and recognition.
5. Invoke it cordially.
6. Offer yourself and join her.
7. In all actions, intend to please you.
8. Begin, continue and end all actions for her, in her, with her and for her, in order to do them for Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, with Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ, our last end. We will explain this last practice later (see chap. VIII, art. II).
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116. True devotion to the Blessed Virgin also has many outward practices, the main of which are:
1 o Enlist in your brotherhoods and join your congregations;
2 to enter one of the orders instituted in his honor;
3 o publish your praises;
4 the almsgiving, fasting and mortify the spirit and the body in his honor;
5 the bring their insignia, as the rosary or the rosary, scapular or cadeiazinha;
6 to recite with devotion, attention and modesty or the holy rosary, composed of fifteen dozen Ave Marias, in honor of the fifteen main mysteries of Jesus Christ, or the third of five dozen, contemplating the five joyful mysteries : the announcement, the visitation, the nativity of Jesus Christ, the purification and the encounter of Jesus in the temple; the five painful mysteries : the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Olives, his scourging, the crowning of thorns, Jesus carrying the cross, and the crucifixion; the five glorious mysteries : the resurrection of Jesus, his ascension, the descent of the Holy Spirit, the assumption of the Most Holy Virgin in body and soul into heaven, and her coronation by the three persons of the Most Holy Trinity.
One can also recite a crown of six or seven dozen in honor of the years that the Blessed Virgin believed to have lived on earth; or the altarpiece of the Blessed Virgin, composed of three Our Father and twelve Hail Marys, in honor of her crown of twelve stars (1) or privileges; likewise the office of the Blessed Virgin, universally known and recited by the Church; the little Psalter of the Most Holy Virgin which is Bonaventure composed in his honor, so tender and devout that it cannot be recited without tenderness; fourteen Our Father and Hail Marys in honor of their fourteen joys; any other prayers, in short, hymns and songs of the Church, such as "Salve Rainha", "Alma", "Ave Regina caelorum", or "Regina caeli", according to the different times; or "Ave, Maris Stella", "The glorious Domina", etc.,or the "Magnificat", and other prayers and hymns that devotees are full of;
1) This sentence is found at the end of the volume.
7 the sing and sing in his honor spiritual songs;
8 ° to make him a number of genuflections or obeisances, telling him, p. eg, every morning, sixty or a hundred times: " Ave, Maria, Virgo fidelis ", in order to obtain fidelity to graces during the day from God; and at night: " Ave, Maria, Mater misericordiae ", so that, through her, she can obtain from God the forgiveness of sins committed during the day;
9 the have zeal for their fraternities, adorn their altars, to crown and decorate your images;
10 to carry or make his image carried in the processions, and to bring it with him as an effective weapon against the devil;
11 order him to make images that represent him, or his name, and place them in churches, houses, porches or at the entrance to cities, churches and houses;
12 o dedicate oneself to it in a special and solemn way.
There are a number of other practices of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, which the Holy Spirit has inspired to souls of school, and which are very sanctifying. You can find them more extensively in the book "Paradise open to Philia" by Father Paulo Barry of the Society of Jesus. There the author collected a large number of devotions practiced by the saints in honor of the Blessed Virgin, wonderfully useful devotions to sanctify souls, as long as they are practiced as they should, that is:
1 o With a straightforward and good intention to please only God, to unite with Jesus Christ as our ultimate end, and to build the next;
2 o with attention, without voluntary distractions;
3 o with devotion, without haste or negligence;
4 o with modesty and composure, in a respectful and edifying attitude.
§ II. The perfect practice.
118. After reading almost all the books dealing with devotion to the Blessed Virgin and talking to the most holy and educated people of recent times, I firmly declare that I have not found or learned another practice of devotion to the Blessed Virgin similar to the one I am going to. to indicate, that a soul requires more sacrifices to God, that it deprives it more completely of its self-love, that it keeps it more faithfully in grace and grace in it, that it unites it more perfectly and easily to Jesus Christ, and, after all , that is more glorious for God, sanctifying for the soul and useful to others.
119. The essence of this devotion is the interior that it must form, and for this reason it will not be understood equally by the whole world. Some will stop at what is outside, and they will not pass on, and these will be the greatest number; others, in small numbers, will enter it, but will only climb one step. Who will reach the second?
Who will rise to the third? Who, finally, will identify himself in this devotion?
He only to whom, the Spirit of Jesus Christ will reveal this secret. He himself will lead the faithful soul to that state, making it progress from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace and from light to light, so that it may become Jesus Christ, and reach the fullness of its age on the earth and its glory in heaven.
CHAPTER IV
From perfect devotion to the Blessed Virgin or perfect consecration to Jesus Christ
120. The most perfect devotion is that by which we conform, unite and consecrate ourselves more perfectly to Jesus Christ, because all of our perfection consists in being conformed, united and consecrated to Him. Now, since Mary is, of all creatures, the more in line with Jesus Christ, it follows that, of all devotions, the one that most consecrates and conforms a soul to our Lord is devotion to the Most Holy Virgin, her holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to Mary, the more consecrated will be Jesus Christ.
That is why the perfect consecration to Jesus Christ is nothing more than a perfect and whole consecration to the Blessed Virgin, and this is the devotion that I teach; or, on the other, a perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism.
ARTICLE 1
A perfect and complete consecration of himself to the Blessed Virgin
121. This devotion, therefore, consists in giving oneself entirely to the Most Holy Virgin, in order, through her, to belong entirely to Jesus Christ (1). We must give it
1 the our body with all its members and senses,
2 the soul with all its powers,
3 the our external goods, we call fortune, present and future,
4 the our inner and spiritual goods, which are our merits, our virtues and our good works past, present and future. In a word, everything that we have in the order of nature and in the order of grace, and everything that, in the future, we may have in the order of nature, grace and glory, and this without any reservation, without even a real reserve, of a hair, of the best good deed, for all eternity, without intending or expecting the least reward of her offering and of her service, except the honor of belonging to Jesus Christ for her and in her, even though this lovely Lady does not it was, as it always is, the most liberal and recognized of creatures.
1) Cf. São João Damasceno: "Lie, animate, corpus, in the ipsosque totos tibi consecramus" (Sermo I in Dormitione BV).
122. It is important to note here that there are two things in good works that we do, namely: satisfaction and merit, or satisfactory or impetratory value and meritorious value.
The satisfactory or impetratory value of a good work is a good deed insofar as it satisfies the penalty due for sin, or obtains some new grace; meritorious value or merit is a good deed, as far as grace and eternal glory deserve.
Now, in this consecration of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin, we give him all the satisfactory, impetratory and meritorious value, or, on the other hand, the satisfactions and merits of all our good works: we give him our merits, our graces and our virtues, not to communicate them to others (because our merits, graces and virtues, properly speaking, are incommunicable; only Jesus Christ, making himself our pledge before his Father, was able to communicate his merits to us), but for no- preserve, increase and increase them, as we shall say (see Nm. 146, ff). We give her our satisfactions so that she communicates them to whomever she sees fit and for the greater glory of God.
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123. It follows one thethat, for this devotion, we give Jesus Christ, in the most perfect way, since we do it through the hands of Mary, everything we can give him, and much more than through other devotions, for which we give him a part of our time or of our good works, or a part of our satisfactions and mortifications. here we give and consecrate everything, even the right to dispose of the interior goods, and the satisfaction we gain from our good works, day by day: and this is not even done in a religious order. In these, the goods of fortune are consecrated to God by the vow of poverty, the goods of the body by the vow of chastity, the self-will by the vow of obedience, and, at times, the freedom of the body by the vow of closure. However, you are not given the freedom or the right to have our good works,nor does one renounce as much as one can what the Christian has most precious and dear: its merits and satisfactions.
124. 2 o A person, who voluntarily consecrated himself and sacrificed Jesus Christ for Mary, can no longer afford the value of any of his good deeds. Everything that suffers, everything that thinks, says and does well belongs to Mary, so that she can dispose of everything according to the will and for the greater glory of her Son, without, however, this dependence in any way prejudicing the obligations of the state in the country. which one is presently, or will be in the future: for example, the duties of a priest who, by duty of office or for another reason, must apply the satisfactory and impetratory value of Holy Mass to a private individual; for this offer is not made except in accordance with the order of God and the duties of the state.
125. 3 o The consecration is made jointly with the Most Holy Virgin and Jesus Christ; to the Blessed Virgin as the perfect medium that Jesus Christ chose to join us and us to him; and to our Lord as our ultimate end, to which we owe everything we are, as our Redeemer and our God.
ARTICLE II
A perfect renewal of the vows of baptism
126. I said above (v. Nm. 120) that this devotion could very well be called a perfect renewal of the vows or promises of holy baptism.
Every Christian, before baptism, was a slave to the devil, because he belonged to him. At the time of baptism, the Christian, through his own mouth or that of his godfather and godmother, renounced Satan, his pomps and works, and took Jesus Christ for his Master and sovereign Lord, becoming dependent on him, as slave for love. This is what is done by the present devotion: the devil, the world, sin and himself are renounced (as indicated in the formula of consecration), giving themselves entirely to Jesus Christ through the hands of Mary. Something more is done, because if, in baptism, we speak ordinarily through the mouth of another, through the mouth of the godfather or godmother, giving ourselves to Jesus Christ by proxy, in this devotion we do it ourselves, voluntarily, with knowledge of cause.
In baptism it is not by the hand of Mary that we give ourselves to Jesus Christ, at least in an express way, nor do we give him the value of our good deeds; after baptism, we are entirely free to apply that value to whomever we want or to keep it for us. For this devotion, however, we give ourselves to our Lord through the hands of Mary, and we consecrate to him the value of all our actions.
127. In holy baptism, says Saint Tomaz, men vow to renounce the devil and his pomp: " ln baptism vovent homines abrenuntiare diabolo et pompis ejus " (1). And this vow, says Saint Augustine, is the largest and most indispensable. "V otum maximum nostrum quo vovimus in Christo este mansuros " (2).
It is also what the canonists say: " Praecipuum votum est quod in baptismate facimus " - the main vote is what we do in baptism. Who, however, has such a great vote? Who is it that keeps the promises of holy baptism faithfully? Is it not a fact that almost all Christians distort the faithfulness they promised Jesus Christ at baptism? Where can this universal derangement come from, if not from forgetting the promises and commitments of holy baptism, and why does not everyone spontaneously ratify the covenant contract made with God by their godfather and godmother?
1) Summa Theol. 2-2, q. 88, art. 2, arg. 1.
2) Epistol11. 59 ad Paulin.
128. This is so true, that the Council of Sens, convened by order of Luiz Bonachão to put an end to the great disorders of the Christians, declared that the main cause of the corruption then reigning came from the forgetfulness and ignorance in which lived the commitments made in holy baptism; and he found no better remedy for such great evil than to induce Christians to renew the promises of holy baptism.
129. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, faithful interpreter of this holy Council, urges healers to do the same, and to remind the faithful who are linked and consecrated to our Lord Jesus Christ, as slaves to their Redeemer and Lord. Here are the textual words: " Parochus fidelem populum ad eam rationem cohortabitur ut sciat aequissimum esse ... nos ipsos, non secus ac mancipia Redemptori nostro et Domino in perpetuwn addicere et consecrare " (3).
3) Catec. Cone. Trid., P. 1, ch. 3, art. 2, § 15, "De secundo Symboli articulo" in fine.
130. Now, if the Councils, the Holy Fathers and the experience itself show us that the best way to remedy the disruptions of Christians is to remind them of the obligations assumed at baptism and to renew the vows they then took, it is not natural that do this at present, in a perfect way, for this devotion and consecration to our Lord, through your most holy Mother? I say "in a perfect way" because in this consecration to Jesus Christ we use the most perfect of all means, which is the Blessed Virgin.
Answers to some objections
131. It cannot be objected that this devotion is new or unimportant. It is not new because councils, priests and many ancient and modern authors speak of this consecration to our Lord or of renewing the promises of baptism, as of an ancient practice, advising it to all Christians. This practice is also not unimportant, since the main source of all the disorders and the consequent condemnation of Christians is in forgetfulness and indifference for this renewal.
132. Some may claim that this devotion, leading us to give our Lord, through the hands of the Most Holy Mary, the value of all our good works, prayers, mortifications and alms, makes us powerless to help the souls of our relatives, friends and benefactors.
To these I reply first that it is not credible that our friends, relatives or benefactors suffer damage because we have devoted and consecrated ourselves without reservation to the service of our Lord and his most holy Mother. It would be an injury to the power and goodness of Jesus and Mary, who will know how to count on our relatives, friends and benefactors, taking advantage of our spiritual credit, or by any other means.
Second, this practice does not prevent it. that we pray for others, living or dead, although the application of our good works depends on the will of the Blessed Virgin; and, quite the contrary, this circumstance will lead us to pray with much more confidence, in the same way that a rich person, who had donated all his goods to a great prince, would pray with greater confidence to that prince who would benefit some friend in need. . It would even be a pleasure to give that prince an opportunity to show his appreciation to a person who had stripped himself of everything to magnify him, who had been reduced to complete poverty to honor him.
The same must be said of our Lord and the Blessed Virgin: they will never be overcome in recognition.
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133. Others will say, perhaps: If I give the Blessed Virgin the full value of my actions so that she can apply it to whomever she wants, I will have to suffer perhaps a long time in purgatory.
This objection, the product of self-love and ignorance of the liberality of God and of his most holy Mother, destroys itself. A soul full of fervor and generosity, which puts the interests of God ahead of its own, who gives everything to God entirely, without reservation, who only aspires to the glory and kingdom of Jesus Christ through his most holy Mother, and who if you sacrifice completely to obtain it, will this generous, I repeat, and liberal soul be punished in the other world for being more liberal and disinterested than the others? On the contrary, it is to this soul, as we shall see below, that our Lord and his most holy Mother are most generous in this world and in the next, in the order of nature, grace and glory.
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Let us now see, as soon as we can, the reasons that this devotion recommends; the wonderful effects it produces on faithful souls, and the practices of this devotion.
CHAPTER V
Reasons that recommend this devotion
ARTICLE 1
This devotion puts us entirely at the service of God
135. First reason, which shows us the excellence of this consecration of ourselves to Jesus Christ through the hands of Mary.
Since it is impossible to conceive of a more relevant job on earth than the service of God; if the smallest servant of God is richer, more powerful and more noble than all the kings and emperors of the earth who are not also servants of God, what will not be the riches, the power and the dignity of the faithful and perfect servant who has devoted to divine service, as entirely and without reservation as he is able !? So it will be a faithful and loving slave of Jesus and Mary, who, through the hands of the most holy Mary, gives herself entirely to the service of this King of kings, and who does not reserve anything for himself: not all the gold on earth and the beauties of heaven can pay.
136. The other upright congregations, associations and fraternities in honor of our Lord and Our Lady, who do great good in Christianity, do not order everything to happen without reservation; they do not prescribe to their associates more than certain practices and acts to satisfy their obligations; they leave us free in all other actions and moments of his life. But in this devotion, which I present, we give without reservation to Jesus and Mary all our thoughts, words, actions and sufferings, and all moments of life: so that, either awake or asleep, drinking or eating, in the most actions important as in the most common ones, it can always be said in truth that what we do, although it doesn’t even occur to us, belongs to Jesus and Mary because of our offer, unless we expressly portray it. What a consolation!
137. Furthermore, as has already been said, there is no other practice like this, by which we easily dispose of a certain spirit of ownership, which insinuates even the best actions; and our good Jesus gives us this great grace as a reward for the heroic and selfless act we have done, giving him, by the hands of his most holy Mother, all the value of our good works.
If, even in this world, he gives a hundredfold to those who, for his love, abandon outer, temporal and expired goods (cf. Mt 19,20), how much will he give to those who sacrifice even his inner and spiritual goods ?!
138. Jesus, our divine friend, gave himself to us without reserve, his body and his soul, his virtues, thanks and merits: " Se toto totum me comparavit " - says Saint Bernard: He won me entirely by giving himself entirely to me. Justice and gratitude, therefore, demand that we give him everything we can. He was the first to be liberal towards us; let us also be generous to him and experience his liberality even more, during life, at the time of death and for all eternity. " Cum liberali liberalis erit ".
ARTICLE II
This devotion leads us to imitate the example set by Jesus Christ, and to practice humility
139. Second reason, which shows us that it is just and advantageous for Christians to devote themselves, through this practice, entirely to the Most Holy Virgin, in order to belong more perfectly to Jesus Christ.
This good Master did not disdain to lock himself in the bosom of the Blessed Virgin, as a captive, a loving slave, and to submit to her, obeying her for thirty years. And here, I repeat, that the human spirit is confused, when it seriously reflects on this attitude of the divine incarnate Wisdom, which it did not want, although being able, to give itself directly to men, preferring to do it through the Most Holy Virgin; who did not want to appear in the world in full manly age, regardless of whoever he was, but as a little child depending on the care of his most holy Mother, and maintained by her. This infinite Wisdom, filled with an immense desire to glorify God his Father and to save men, found no more perfect or simpler way of doing it, than submitting himself in all things to the Most Holy Virgin, not only for eight, ten or fifteen years,but for thirty years; and he gave more glory to God his Father during all that time of submission to the Blessed Virgin, as he did not give him the last three years of his life to do wonders, to preach everywhere, to convert men. Oh! what a great glory we give to God, submitting ourselves to Mary, following the example of Jesus.
With an example so visible and known to everyone, will we be foolish enough to think that we will find a more perfect and more sure way to glorify God, other than submitting ourselves to Mary, following the example of her Son?
140. Let us remember here, for proof of the dependence that we must have towards Mary, what has already been said (Num. 14-39), citing the examples that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit give us in this dependence. God the Father gave us and gives his Son for her alone, only produces other children through her, and only through her communicates his graces to us. God the Son was formed for the whole world, by her, and it is only through her that he is formed every day, and generated by her in union with the Holy Spirit, and she is the only way by which he communicates his virtues and his merits. The Holy Spirit formed Jesus Christ through her, and through her she forms the members of her mystical body, and only through her does she give us her gifts and favors. After such clear and instant examples, we can, without extreme blindness, precede Mary,fail to consecrate ourselves to her and depend on her to go to God and sacrifice to him?
141. Here are some passages from the Holy Fathers, which I have chosen as proof of what I have just said: " Duo filii Mariae sunt, homo Deus and homo purus; unius corporaliter, et alterius spiritualiter mater est Maria " (S. Boav. And Origen) ( 1).
" Haec est voluntas Dei, qui totum nos voluit habere per Mariam; ac proinde, si quid spei, si quid gratiae, si quid salutis, ab ea moverimus redundare " (S. Bern.) (2).
" Omnia dona, virtutes, gratiae ipsius Spiritus Sancti, quibus vult, et when vult, quomodo vult, quantum vult per ipsius manus administrantur " (S. Bernardino) (3).
" Qui indignus eras cui daretur, datum est Mariae, ut per eam acciperes quidquid haberes " (S. Bernardo) (4).
1) "Mary has two children, one, a God-man and the other, a pure man; one Maria is a corporal mother, the other a spiritual mother" (Speculum BMV, lect. III, § 1, 2 °).
2) Saint Bernard (De Aquaeductu, n. 6): "Such is the will of God who wanted us to have everything for Mary. If, therefore, we have any hope, some grace, some salutary gift, let us know that this comes to us through hands. ''
3) Saint Bernardino de Sena (Sermo ln Nativ. BV art. Un., Ch. 8): "All the gifts, virtues and graces of the Holy Spirit are distributed by the hands of Mary, whom she wants, when she wants, how she wants , and how much you want ".
4) Saint Bernard (Sermo 3 in vigilia Nativitatis Domini, n. 10): "You were unworthy to receive divine graces: for this reason they were given to Mary, so that by her you would receive everything you would have".
142. God, seeing that we are unworthy to receive his graces directly from his divine hands, gives them to Mary, in order to obtain by her what he wants to give us; and it also results in glory for him, to receive the recognition, respect and love we owe him for his benefits through Mary's hands. It is, therefore, very fair that we imitate the procedure of God, in order - says St. Bernard (5) - for grace to return to its author through the same channel through which it came: " Ut eodem alveo ad largitorem gratia redeat quo fluxit ".
5) "De Aquaeductu", n. 18.
It is what we do through our devotion: we offer and consecrate to the Blessed Virgin everything we are and everything we possess, so that our Lord may receive through his mediation the glory and recognition we owe him. We recognize ourselves to be unworthy and unable, on our own, to approach his infinite majesty; that is why we use the intercession of the Blessed Virgin.
143. Furthermore, it is a practice of great humility, a virtue that God loves above all others. A soul that elevates itself, demeans God; God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (Jas 4,6). If you lower yourself, believing yourself unworthy to appear before Him and to approach You, He descends, lowers himself to come to you, to indulge you, and to lift you up. When, however, we try to approach God boldly, without a mediator, God eludes us and we cannot reach him. Oh! how much He loves humility of heart. It is this humility that invites this practice of devotion, as it teaches us not to approach our Lord directly, however merciful and sweet he may be, but to always use the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin, both to appear before God and to speak to him, approach him,offer him anything, to unite or consecrate ourselves to him.
ARTICLE III
This devotion gives us the good graces of the Blessed Virgin
§ I. Mary gives herself to her slave for love.
144. Third reason. The Blessed Virgin, Mother of sweetness and mercy, who never lets herself be overcome in love and liberality, seeing that someone gives herself entirely to her, to honor and serve her, stripping herself of what is most dear to her to adorn her, she also gives herself entirely and in an ineffable way, to whom she gives everything. She immerses him in the abyss of his graces, invests him with his merits, supports him with his power, illuminates him with his light, burns him with his love, communicates his virtues: his humility, his faith, its purity, etc .; it is his pledge, his supplement, his everything towards Jesus. As, in short, this consecrated person is all of Mary, so is Mary all of her; so that it can be said of that perfect servant and son of Mary what Saint John the Evangelist says of himself, that he took it as a good, for his home: "Accepit eam disciples in his "(Jo19,27).
145. This is what causes a great distrust, contempt and self-hatred in the faithful soul, together with unlimited trust in the Blessed Virgin, her good Lady. He no longer seeks, as before, his support in his own dispositions, intentions, merits, virtues and good works, since, having sacrificed everything to Jesus for this good Mother, he has only one treasure left that sums up all his goods and of which he doesn't have it, and that treasure is Maria.
It is what makes him approach our Lord, without servile or scrupulous fear, and pray with extreme confidence; it is what makes him acquire the feelings of the devout and wise abbot Ruperto, who, alluding to Jacob's victory over an angel (cf. Gn32,24), addresses these beautiful words to the Most Holy Virgin: "O Mary, my princess and Mother immaculate of God-man, Jesus Christ, it is my desire to fight with this Man, that is, the divine Word, armed not with my own merits, but with yours: " Domina, Dei Genitrix, Maria, et incorrupta Mater Dei et hominis, non meis, sed tuis armatus meritis, cum este Viro, scilicet Verbo Dei, luctare cupio "(Rup. prolog. Ui Cant.).
Oh! how powerful and strong it is, for Jesus Christ, who is armed with the merits and intercession of the worthy Mother of God, who, as Saint Augustine says, lovingly overcame the Almighty.
§ II. Mary purifies our good works, beautifies them and makes them acceptable to her Son.
146. This kind Lady purifies, beautifies and makes acceptable to her Son, all our good works, because, by this devotion, we give them all to Him through the hands of her most holy Mother.
1 ° It purifies them from every stain of self-love and from the imperceptible attachment to the creature, an attachment that insensibly insinuates itself in the best actions. Since they are in your most pure and fertile hands, these same hands, which have never been stained or idle, and which purify everything they touch, take from the present that we do everything that can deteriorate or make it imperfect.
147. 2 o It embellishes our good deeds, embellishing them with their merits and virtues.
It is as if a peasant, wanting to win the friendship of the king, goes to the queen, and presents him with an apple, which represents all his profit, and asks him to offer it to the king. The queen, welcoming the poor gift of the peasant, placed it in the center of a great and magnificent golden plate, and thus presented it to the king, on the part of the offerer. In these circumstances, the apple, unworthy in itself to be offered to the king, becomes a gift worthy of his majesty, due to the golden plate and the importance of the person who presents it.
148. 3 o She presents these good works to Jesus Christ, for she retains nothing for herself from what we offer her. Everything refers faithfully to Jesus. If we give it to her, we necessarily give it to Jesus. If we praise and glorify her, then she praises and glorifies Jesus. Today as before, when Santa Isabel exalted her, she sings, when we praise and bless her: " Magnificat anima mea Dominum ... " (Lc 1,46).
4 149. TheIt makes Jesus accept these good works, however small and poor the gift that we offer to the Holy of Holies and King of Kings. When we present something to Jesus, of our own initiative and supported by our own capacity and disposition, Jesus examines the present, and often rejects it in view of the blemishes that the gift contracted from our self-love, as in the past he rejected the sacrifices of the Jews for being full of self-will. When, however, we present something to you by the pure and virgin hands of your beloved, we take you for your weak side, if I may allow the expression. He does not consider the offer we make to him as much as his good Mother who presents it to him; does not look at the origin of the present as much as the carrier. In this way, Mary, who was never repelled, and, on the contrary, was always well received,makes everything that presents to him, small or large, be pleasantly received by the divine Majesty: it is enough for Mary to present him for Jesus to receive and accept him.
Valuable advice is what St. Bernard gave to those he led on the path of perfection: "Whenever you want to offer anything to God, take care to offer it by the pleasant and dignified hands of Mary, unless you want to be rejected" - Modicum. quid offerre desideras, manibus Mariae offerendum tradere healing, if not vis sustinere repulses (1).
1) São Bernardo: "De Aquaeductu".
150. And, as we have seen, does nature itself not inspire the little ones to act in relation to the big ones? Why shouldn't grace lead us to do the same in relation to God, who is infinitely above us, and before whom we are less than atoms? moreover, having a lawyer so powerful that she was never repulsed; so skilled that she knows the secrets to winning the Heart of God; so good and charitable that she doesn't shy away from anyone, however small and bad.
I will refer later to the true figure of the truths I affirm in the story of Jacob and Rebekah (see ch. VI).
ARTICLE IV
This devotion is an excellent means of promoting the greatest glory of God
151. Fourth reason. This faithfully practiced devotion is an excellent means of making the value of all our good works contribute to the greater glory of God. Almost nobody acts with this noble intention, although we are obliged to this, either because they do not know what the greatest glory of God consists of, or because they do not want it. But the Blessed Virgin, to whom we confer the value of our good works, knows perfectly well what the greatest glory of God consists of, and does nothing that does not contribute to this end. Hence, a perfect servant of this kind Sovereign, who has devoted himself entirely to her, as we said, can boldly say that the value of all her actions, thoughts and words, is used to the greatest glory of God, unless expressly revoked the intent of your offer.Can anything more consoling be found for a soul that loves God with pure and disinterested love, and that values the glory and interests of God more than its own interests?
ARTICLE V
This devotion leads to union with our Lord
152. Fifth reason. This devotion is an easy, short, perfect and safe way to reach union with our Lord, and this is the Christian's perfection.
§ I. This devotion is an easy way.
It is an easy path; it is a path that Jesus Christ opened when he came to us, and in which there is no obstacle that prevents us from reaching him. One can, it is true, reach him in other ways; but there are many more strange crosses and deaths, and many more obstacles, which are difficult to overcome. It will be necessary to pass through dark nights, through battles and terrible agonies, to climb rugged mountains, to step on sharp thorns, to cross horrible deserts. While on the path of Maria, it passes with much more sweetness and tranquility.
There, undoubtedly, there are harsh combats to be fought, and enormous difficulties to win. But this good Mother and Lady is always so close and present to her faithful servants, to enlighten them in their darkness, clarify them in their doubts, encourage them in their fears, sustain them in their struggles and difficulties, that, in fact, this virginal way to reach Jesus Christ is a way of roses and honey, in view of other ways. There were some saints, but in small numbers, such as Santo Efrem, São João Damasceno, São Bernardo, São Bernardino, São Bonaventura, São Francisco de Sales, etc., who followed this pleasant path to go to Jesus Christ, because the Holy Spirit, Mary's faithful husband, indicated him by special grace; the other saints, however, who are in greater numbers, although they had devotion to the Blessed Virgin, did not enter,or they entered very little in this way. And so they had to put up with much ruder and more dangerous evidence.
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153. To what, then, would any credible servant of this good Mother say, - that her servants have to face so many occasions of suffering, and more than others who are not devoted to her? Contradict us, persecute us, - slander us, do not support them (1); or else they walk in inner darkness, and in desert aridity where not a drop of heavenly dew drips. If this devotion makes the path that leads to Jesus Christ easier, where does it come from that they are so despised?
1) Cf. Saint Bonaventure: "Servientes tibi plus aliis invadunt dracones inferni" (Psalter. Majus BV, Sl118).
154. I answer that it is quite true that the most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, because they are her great favorites, receive from her the greatest graces and favors of heaven, i. yes, the crosses; but I maintain that it is also the servants of Mary who carry these crosses with greater ease, merit and glory; and more than that, where any other would stop a thousand times and even fall, they do not stop and, on the contrary, always advance, because this good Mother, full of grace and anointing of the Holy Spirit, sweetens all the crosses that they carve, in the honey from its maternal sweetness and the anointing of pure love; in this way, they happily support them, like confined nuts, which are bitter in nature. And I believe that a person who wants to be devout and live godly in Jesus Christ, and therefore suffer persecution and carry his cross every day,he will never carry large crosses, or he will not carry them happily until the end, without a tender devotion to the Most Holy Virgin, who makes crosses sweet; just as a person could not, without great violence, impossible to maintain indefinitely, eat green nuts that were not saturated with sugar.
§ II. This devotion is a short way.
155. This devotion to the Blessed Virgin is a short way (2), to find Jesus Christ, either because we have not strayed from him or because, as I have just said, we march on him with more joy and ease, and, consequently, with more readiness . We have advanced more, in a short time of submission and dependence on Mary, than in whole years of our own will and relying only on our own effort; for the obedient and submissive man to the most holy Mary will sing victories (Pv21,28) marked on his enemies. These will want to prevent you from moving forward, or to force you to retreat, or to bring you down; but, supported, assisted and guided by Mary, he, without falling, without retreating, without even being late, will advance with giant steps towards Jesus Christ, along the same path, which, as it is written (Ps 18,6), Jesus walked to come to us in large steps and in a short time.
2) Cf. São Bernardo: "Tu es via compendiosa in caelo" (Laudes glor. Virginis). - Cf. SS Bento XV: "Recta et tanquam would compendiaria via ad Jesum per Mariam itur" (Epist. Ad RPD Schoepfer - Acta Ap. Sed. 1914, p. 515).
156. Why did Jesus Christ live so little on earth, and why did those few years he lived here spend almost all of them in submission and obedience to his Mother? Ah! is that, having lived little, he filled his career with a long life (Sb4,13); he lived long and longer than Adam, from whom he came to repair the losses, although he lived more than nine hundred years; and Jesus Christ lived long, because he lived very submissive and close to his most holy Mother, to obey God his Father; because:
1 the one who honors his mother is like a man who treasures, says the Holy Spirit, that is, one who honors Mary his mother, to the point of submitting to it and obey it at all, soon he will become rich, as he accumulates treasures every day, for the secret of this philosopher's stone: " Qui honorat matrem, quasi qui thésaurizat " (Ecle 3,5);
2 the because, as a spiritual interpretation of the word of the Holy Spirit: " Senectus mea in misericordia uberi - My old age is in the bosom of mercy" (Sl91,11), is in the womb of Mary, which "involved and generated a man perfect "(cf. Jer31,22), and who" had the capacity to contain that which the whole universe does not understand or contain "(3), it is within Mary that young people grow old in light, in holiness, in experience and in wisdom, and where, in a few years, the fullness of the age of Jesus Christ is reached.
§ III. This devotion is a perfect path.
157. This practice of devotion to the Blessed Virgin is a perfect way to go and unite with Jesus Christ, for Mary is the most perfect and most holy of creatures, and Jesus Christ, who came perfectly to us, did not take another path on his great and admirable journey. The Most High, the Incomprehensible, the Inaccessible, the one who wanted to come to us, little worms of the earth, who are nothing. How was this done? The Most High descended perfectly and divinely to us through the humble Mary, without losing anything of his divinity and holiness; and it is for Mary that the little ones must ascend perfectly and divinely to the Most High without fearing anything. The Incomprehensible let itself be understood and contained perfectly by Mary, without losing anything of its immensity; it is also for little Maria that we must allow ourselves to be led and restrained perfectly without the slightest reservation.The Inaccessible approached, joined closely, perfectly and even personally to our humanity through Mary, without losing a part of her majesty; it is also for Mary that we must approach God and unite with his majesty, perfectly and closely, without fear of revulsion. He who is, at last, wanted to come to what is not, and to make the one who is not become God or the one who is. And he did it perfectly, giving himself and submitting himself entirely to the Virgin Mary, while remaining in time the one he is in eternity; otherwise, it is for Mary that, although we give nothing, we can become like God, by grace and glory, giving ourselves to her so perfectly and entirely, that we are nothing in ourselves and everything in her, without fear to deceive us.perfectly and even personally to our humanity through Mary, without losing a part of her majesty; it is also for Mary that we must approach God and unite with his majesty, perfectly and closely, without fear of revulsion. He who is, at last, wanted to come to what is not, and to make the one who is not become God or the one who is. And he did it perfectly, giving himself and submitting himself entirely to the Virgin Mary, while remaining in time the one he is in eternity; otherwise, it is for Mary that, although we give nothing, we can become like God, by grace and glory, giving ourselves to her so perfectly and entirely, that we are nothing in ourselves and everything in her, without fear to deceive us.perfectly and even personally to our humanity through Mary, without losing a part of her majesty; it is also for Mary that we must approach God and unite with his majesty, perfectly and closely, without fear of revulsion. He who is, at last, wanted to come to what is not, and to make the one who is not become God or the one who is. And he did it perfectly, giving himself and submitting himself entirely to the Virgin Mary, while remaining in time the one he is in eternity; otherwise, it is for Mary that, although we give nothing, we can become like God, by grace and glory, giving ourselves to her so perfectly and entirely, that we are nothing in ourselves and everything in her, without fear to deceive us.perfectly and closely, without fear of revulsion. He who is, at last, wanted to come to what is not, and to make the one who is not become God or the one who is. And he did it perfectly, giving himself and submitting himself entirely to the Virgin Mary, while remaining in time the one he is in eternity; otherwise, it is for Mary that, although we give nothing, we can become like God, by grace and glory, giving ourselves to her so perfectly and entirely, that we are nothing in ourselves and everything in her, without fear to deceive us.perfectly and closely, without fear of revulsion. He who is, at last, wanted to come to what is not, and to make the one who is not become God or the one who is. And he did it perfectly, giving himself and submitting himself entirely to the Virgin Mary, while remaining in time the one he is in eternity; otherwise, it is for Mary that, although we give nothing, we can become like God, by grace and glory, giving ourselves to her so perfectly and entirely, that we are nothing in ourselves and everything in her, without fear to deceive us.we can become like God, by grace and glory, giving ourselves to her so perfectly and entirely, that we are nothing in ourselves and everything in her, without fear of being deceived.we can become like God, by grace and glory, giving ourselves to her so perfectly and entirely, that we are nothing in ourselves and everything in her, without fear of being deceived.
3) Cf. Gradual of the Mass of the Blessed Virgin (from Pentecost to Advent); 1st Answer of the Office of the Blessed Virgin.
158. Although they present me with a new way to go to Jesus Christ, and may this path be paved with all the merits of the blessed, decorated with all their heroic virtues, illuminated and decorated with all the lights and beauties of angels, and that all the angels and saints are there to lead, defend and support those who want to tread him; in truth, in truth, I say boldly, and I tell the truth, I would prefer this, so perfect, the immaculate path of Mary: " Posui immaculatam viam meam"(Ps 18,33), path or path without the slightest stain or stain, without original or present sin, without shadows or darkness; and when my lovely Jesus comes, in his glory, a second time to earth (as is right) for reigning here, the path you will choose will be the most holy Mary, the one by which He came safely and perfectly the first time. The difference between the first and the last coming is that the first was secret and hidden, and the second will be glorious and resounding both, however, are perfect, because, like the first, the second will also be for Mary. Here is a mystery that we cannot understand: " Hic taceat omnis lingua ".
§ IV. This devotion is a safe path.
159. This devotion to the Blessed Virgin is a safe way for us to go to Jesus Christ and acquire perfection, uniting ourselves with him:
1 ° Because this practice, advocated by me, is not new; it is so old that it is not possible, as Boudon (4) says, in a book he wrote about this devotion, to determine its beginnings with all precision.
In any case, it is certain that there are traces of it in the Church for more than 700 years (5).
Santo Odilon, abbot of Cluní who lived around the year 1040 was one of the first to practice it in France, as noted in his life.
Cardinal Pedro Damião (6) mentions that in 1016 the blessed Marinho, his brother, became a slave to the Blessed Virgin, in the presence of his director and in a very edifying way: he put the rope around his neck, took the discipline, and he deposited a sum of money on the altar as a sign of his devotion and consecration to the Blessed Virgin; and so he went on so faithfully that, at the time of death, he deserved to be visited and comforted by his good Sovereign, from whose lips he received the promises of paradise as a reward for his services.
Cesário Bollando mentions an illustrious knight, Vautier de Birbak, a close relative of the dukes of Leuven, who, around 1300, made this consecration to the Blessed Virgin.
This devotion was practiced by many individuals until the 17th century, when it became public.
4) Henri-Marie Boudon, doctor of theology, who died in the odor of sanctity, in 1702, as archdeacon of Evreux. Author of the book entitled "The holy slavery of the admirable Mother of God", and other works, all impregnated with an ardent devotion to the Most Holy Virgin.
5) The holy king Dagobert II (7th century) thus consecrated himself to the Most Holy Virgin, as a slave (cit. By Kronenburg in "Maria's Heerlijkheid", 1.98). So did Pope John VII (701-707).
6) Declared "doctor of the Church" by Leo XII.
160. Father Simão de Roías of the Order of the Trinity, also called the redemption of the captives, a preacher of King Felipe III, put this devotion in vogue throughout Spain (in 1611) and Germany (7); at the instigation of Philip III, he obtained great indulgences from Gregory XV for those who practiced it.
The priest of Los Rios, of the Order of Saint Augustine, applied himself with his close friend, the priest of Roias, to spread this devotion throughout Spain and Germany, which he did for his writings and preachings. He composed a thick volume entitled "Mariana Hierarchy" (8), in which he treats, with piety and erudition, the antiquity, excellence and solidity of this devotion.
7) Emperor Fernando II himself made this consecration with all his court, in 1640.
8) Edited in Antwerp in 1641.
161. The reverend Teatine priests established this devotion in Italy, Sicily and Savoy in the 17th century.
The rev. Father Estanislau Falácio, of the Society of Jesus, wonderfully increased this devotion in Poland (9).
The rev. Father Cornélio a Lápide, commendable both for his piety and for his profound knowledge, having received from several bishops and theologians the task of giving his opinion on this devotion, examined it accurately and gave him praises worthy of his piety, and his example was followed by many other important people.
The reverend Jesuit priests, always zealous for the service of the Most Holy Virgin, presented to Duke Fernando of Bavaria, on behalf of the congregants of Cologne, a small treatise on this devotion (10). The Duke, who was then Archbishop of Cologne, gave him his approval and permission to print it, urging all the healers and religious in his diocese to spread this solid devotion as much as they could.
9) The king of Poland Wladislaf IV commissioned the Jesuits to preach it in his kingdom.
10) Entitled "Mancipium Virginis" - The slavery of the Virgin. Cologne 1634.
162. Cardinal de Bérulle, whose memory is blessed throughout France, was one of the most zealous in spreading this devotion, despite all the calumnies and persecutions that raised and moved critics and libertines. They accused him of inventing novelty and superstition; they wrote and published a defamatory pamphlet against him, and the devil, or rather the devil, by his ministry, used a thousand stratagems to prevent him from spreading this devotion in France. But the great and holy man only opposed to his calumnies an unalterable patience, and to his objections, contained in that libel, a small writing in which he vigorously refutes them, demonstrating that this devotion is founded on the example of Jesus Christ, on the obligations that he we must, and in the vows we made at holy baptism; and it is especially with this last reason that he closes his mouth to his opponents,showing that this consecration to the Blessed Virgin and to Jesus Christ through her hands is nothing more than a perfect renewal of the promises of baptism. Finally, he says many beautiful things that can be read in his works.
163. In the book of Boudon, already quoted (Nm.159), you can find the names of the Popes who approved this devotion, the theologians who examined it, one can read the persecutions that aroused him and that he won, and the thousands of people who embraced it, with no Pope ever condemning it; nor would it be possible to do so without overturning the foundations of Christianity.
It therefore stands that this devotion is not new, and that it is unusual because it is too precious to be appreciated and practiced by everyone.
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164. 2 o This devotion is a sure way to go to Jesus Christ, because it belongs to the Blessed Virgin and it is proper for her to lead us to Jesus Christ, as it is Jesus Christ's duty to lead us to the heavenly Father. And spiritual people should not wrongly believe that Mary is a hindrance on the path that leads to divine union. For would it be possible that the one who found grace before God for the whole world in general, and for each one in particular, was an obstacle to a soul that seeks the great grace of union with Him? Would it be possible that the one that has been filled and overflowing with graces, and so united and transformed into God, that He incarnated in her, would prevent a soul from being perfectly united with God?
It is true that the sight of other creatures, albeit holy, could, perhaps, at certain times, delay divine union; but not Maria, as I said and I will always say without getting tired. One of the reasons why so few souls reach the full age of Jesus Christ, is that Mary, the Mother of the Son and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, is not sufficiently formed in the hearts. Whoever wants the fruit well ripe and formed must have the tree that produces it; whoever wants to have the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, must have the tree of life, which is Mary. Whoever wants to have in him the operation of the Holy Spirit, must have his faithful and inseparable spouse, Mary most holy, who makes him fertile and fruitful, as we have said elsewhere (Num. 20-21).
165. Persuade yourselves, therefore, that the more you contemplate Mary in your prayers, meditations, actions and sufferings, if not in a distinct and perceptible way, at least general and imperceptible, the more perfectly you will find Jesus Christ, who, with Mary , is always big, powerful, active and incomprehensible, and much more than in the sky and in any creature in the universe. Thus, most holy Mary, all astonished at God, is far from becoming an obstacle to the perfect on her way to reach union with God, and, quite the contrary, there has never been, nor will there ever be, a creature that helps us more effectively. than she in this great work, either by the graces that she will communicate to you for this purpose, because no one is filled with the thought of God if it is not for her, says a saint (11): " Nemo cogitatione Dei repletur nisi per te"; either by the illusions and tricks of the evil spirit against which it will guarantee you.
11) St. Germano of Constantinople (Sermo 2 in Dormit.).
166. Where Mary is, the evil spirit does not enter; and one of the most infallible signs that one is being led by the good spirit is the circumstance of being very devoted to Mary, of thinking of her often, and of speaking to her often. This is the opinion of a saint (12) who adds that, since breathing is an unmistakable sign that the body is not dead, the assiduous thought and loving invocation of Mary is a sure sign that the soul is not dead by sin .
12) Ditto: Orat. in Encaenla veneranda aedis BV
167. Mary alone crushed and exterminated heresies, says the Church with the Holy Spirit who leads her: " Sola cértas haereses interemisti in Universo mundo " (13); and although critics grumble against this statement, a faithful devotee of Mary will never fall into heresy or illusion, at least formal; he may materially err, take the lie for truth, and the evil spirit for the good, and this not as easily as any other. Sooner or later, however, he will recognize his lack and his material error, and when he recognizes it, he will in no way insist on believing and sustaining what he has taken for truth.
13) Office of the Blessed Virgin, la. 3 anthem of the night.
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168. Anyone, therefore, without fear of an illusion common to people of prayer, who wants to advance on the path of perfection and find Jesus Christ safely and perfectly, embrace with all their hearts, " corde magno et animo volenti " (2Mac1,3) , this devotion to the Blessed Virgin, who perhaps still does not know. Enter this excellent path that I did not know and that I show you: " Excellentiorem via vobis demonstro " (1Cor12,31). It is a path followed by Jesus Christ, Wisdom incarnate, our only chief. The faithful who walk it cannot be mistaken.
It is an easy path due to the fullness of grace and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, of which it is full: no one, who marches on this path, gets tired, nor retreats. It is a short path that takes us to Jesus Christ in a short time. It is a perfect path, where there is no mud, no dust, not the slightest dirt of sin. It is, finally, a safe path that, in a straight and guaranteed way, without turning right or left, leads us to Jesus Christ and to eternal life. Let us, therefore, enter this path, and march day and night, until the full age of Jesus Christ (cf. Eph 4:13).
ARTICLE VI
This devotion gives great inner freedom
169. Sixth reason. This practice of devotion gives people who practice it faithfully a great inner freedom, which is the freedom of the children of God (cf. Rm 8,21). Since, by this devotion we become slaves of Jesus Christ, consecrating ourselves all to Him in this condition, this good Master, in reward of the captivity for love to which we submit, takes, first, from the soul every scruple and servile fear, that embarrass, enslave and disturb it; second, it enlarges the heart by a holy trust in God, making him consider him as a Father; third, it inspires tender and filial love.
170. Without stopping to add reasons to prove this truth, I am happy to quote a historical passage I read in the life of Mother Inez de Jesus, a Jacobin religious (1) from the Langeac convent in Auvergne, who died in the odor of sanctity in that same place, in 1634. She was not yet seven years old, when, on one occasion, suffering torments of spirit, she heard a voice that told her that if she wanted to get rid of all her sufferings and be protected against all her enemies, as soon as she became a slave to Jesus and his most holy Mother. As soon as he got home, he gave himself entirely to Jesus and Mary, as the voice had advised him, although he did not know beforehand what this devotion consisted of; and, having found an iron chain, his kidneys were girded with it and he wore it to death. After that act all his pains and scruples ceased,and she found herself in great peace and well-being at heart, and this led her to teach this devotion to many other people, who made great progress, among others, to M. Olier, who instituted the seminary of San Sulpicius, and to many other priests and ecclesiastics from the same seminary ... One day the Blessed Virgin appeared to her and put a gold chain around her neck to testify to her the joy of having her as a slave to her Son and hers; and Saint Cecilia, who accompanied the Blessed Virgin, said to her: Happy are the faithful slaves of the Queen of heaven, for they will enjoy true freedom: ". One day the Blessed Virgin appeared to her and put a gold chain around her neck to testify to her the joy of having her as a slave to her Son and hers; and Saint Cecilia, who accompanied the Blessed Virgin, said to her: Happy are the faithful slaves of the Queen of heaven, for they will enjoy true freedom: ". One day the Blessed Virgin appeared to her and put a gold chain around her neck to testify to her the joy of having her as a slave to her Son and hers; and Saint Cecilia, who accompanied the Blessed Virgin, said to her: Happy are the faithful slaves of the Queen of heaven, for they will enjoy true freedom: "Tibi servire libertas ".
1) Until the French Revolution, the religious of the order of Saint Augustine were called Jacobins, after the name of the church of Saint-Jacques (Saint James) in Paris, close to which the order was established.
ARTICLE VII
Our neighbor gains great goods from this devotion
171. Seventh reason. What can still lead us to embrace this devotion are the great goods that our neighbor will receive for it. For, by practicing it, we exercise charity towards him in an eminent way, since we give him at the hands of Mary what we have most dear, that is, the satisfactory and impetratory value of all our good works, without exception the smallest of good thoughts and the slightest suffering; we consent that everything we acquire, and that we will acquire from satisfactions, is, until the hour of death, employed in accordance with the will of the Blessed Virgin, the conversion of sinners or the liberation of souls from purgatory.
Isn't this loving your neighbor perfectly? Is this not the true disciple of Jesus Christ, who is recognized by charity? (Jo13,35). Is this not the means of converting sinners, without fear of vanity, and of freeing souls from purgatory, doing almost nothing more than what each is bound by in his state?
172. In order to know the excellence of this reason, it would be necessary to know the good that it is to convert a sinner or free a soul from purgatory: infinite good, greater than creating heaven and earth (1), since it is giving a soul possession God's. Even if, through this practice, he could not get more than one soul out of purgatory, or become just a sinner, would this not be enough to induce every truly charitable man to embrace her?
It is also necessary to note that our good works, passing through the hands of Mary, receive an increase of purity, and, therefore, of merit and of satisfactory and impetratory value; that is why they are much more capable of relieving the souls in purgatory and of converting sinners, than if they did not pass through the virgin and liberal hands of Mary. The little we give for the Blessed Virgin, without her own will, and for a disinterested charity, in fact, becomes much more potent to soften God's wrath and attract his mercy; and it must be verified at the time of death that a person faithful to this practice will have hereby freed countless souls from purgatory, and converted many sinners, even though he has only done the ordinary and ordinary actions of his state. What joy will be in your judgment! What glory in eternity!
1) Saint Augustine - Tract. 72 in Joann., The measure.
ARTICLE VIII
This devotion is an admirable means of perseverance
173. Eighth reason. Finally, the most powerful reason, which, in a way, induces us to this devotion to the Most Holy Virgin, is to constitute an admirable means to persevere in virtue and to be faithful. How do you explain that most sinner conversions are not durable? Where does the ease of falling into sin come from? Why most of the righteous, instead of advancing from virtue to virtue and acquiring new graces, often lose the little virtues and graces they had. This unhappiness stems, as I have already shown (v. Nm. 87-89), that man, being so corrupted, so weak and so fickle, trusts himself, and believes he is capable of keeping the treasure of its graces, virtues and merits.
For this devotion we entrust to the Most Holy Virgin, faithful par excellence, all that we possess; we take it as the universal depository of all goods of nature and grace. It is in her faithfulness that we trust, in her power that we lean on, in her mercy and charity that we rely, so that she can preserve and increase our virtues and merits, despite the devil, the world and the flesh, who make every effort to snatch them from us. We say to her mother as a good son: " Depositum custodi " (1Tim 6,20), that is, my good Mother and Sovereign, I recognize that up to the present I have received much more from God through your intercession, than I deserve. , and my dismal experience teaches me that the vessel in which I keep this treasure is very fragile, and that I am too weak and miserable to keep it in me: "adolescentulus sum ego et contemptus "(Ps118,141); take everything I have in deposit, and keep it for your faithfulness and your power. If you keep me, I will lose nothing; if you sustain me, I will not fall; if you protect me, safe from my enemies.
174. This is what St. Bernard says to inspire us in this practice: "As long as Mary sustains you, do not fall; while she protects you, do not fear while she leads you, do not weary yourself; and, being favorable, you will reach the port of salvation. : Ipsa lieutenant, non corruis; ipsa protectante, non metuis; ipsa duce, non fatigaris; ipsa propitia, pervenis "(1). The same seems to be said in Saint Bonaventure in even clearer terms: The Blessed Virgin, he says, is not only detained in the fullness of the saints, but also keeps and detains the saints in full so that this fullness does not diminish; it prevents its virtues from dissipating, its merits from perishing, its graces from being lost, from harming demons; finally prevents our Lord from punishing sinners: "Virgo non solum in plenitudine sanctorum detinetur, sed etiam in plenitudine sanctos detinet, ne plenitudo minuator; detinet virtutes ne fugiant; detinet merita ne pereant; detinet gratias ne effluant; detinet daemones ne necant; detinet Filium ne peccatores percutiat "(2).
1) Homily 2 super "Missus est" n. 17.
2) "Speculum BV", lect. VII, § 6.
175. The Blessed Virgin is the faithful Virgin who, through her faithfulness to God, atones for the losses infidel Eve has caused by her infidelity, and who obtains from God the faithfulness and perseverance for those who cling to her. That is why a saint compares it to a firm anchor, because it retains and prevents them from settling in the rough sea of this world, where so many people are wrecked because they do not stand on this unshakable anchor.
"We hold souls, he says, to your hope: as a firm anchor: Animas ad spem tuam sicut ad firmam anchoram alligamos " (3). It was to her that the saints clung most, and imprisoned others, in order to persevere in virtue.
Happy, a thousand times happy Christians who now cling faithfully and entirely to it, like a firm anchor. The storms of this world will not make you submerge, nor will you lose your heavenly treasures.
Blessed are those who seek shelter in it as in Noah's ark. The waters of the flood of sins, which drown so many people, will not hurt them, because: " Qui operantur in me non peccabunt " - those who are guided by me will not sin (Ecle 24,30), she says with Wisdom. Blessed are the unfaithful children of the unfortunate Eva who cling to the faithful Mother and Virgin, who always remain faithful and who never fail in her word: " Fidelis permanet, if ipsam negare non potest " (4), and who loves those who they love her: " Ego diligent I diligo " (Pv8,17), not only of an affective love, but of an effective and efficacious love, preventing them, by a great abundance of graces, to retreat in virtue, or to fall into the way, losing the grace of his Son.
3) São João Damasceno "Sermo 1 ln Dormitione BMV".
4) Application to the Blessed Virgin of the words of St. Paul: 2 Tim 2, 13.
176. This good Mother always receives, out of pure charity, everything we give her in deposit; and, since she received it as depositary, she is obliged by justice, by virtue of the deposit agreement, to keep it for us; in the same way that a person, to whom I entrusted a thousand escudos, would be obliged to keep them for me, in such a way that if, through their negligence, my thousand escudos were lost, it would be, with justice, responsible. This does not happen, however, because Mary, the faithful Virgin, would never let herself be lost, through her negligence, what we had entrusted to her. Rather heaven and earth will pass away than that she be negligent and unfaithful to those who trust her.
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177. Poor children of Mary! extreme is your weakness, great, your inconstancy, addict, your innermost! You are, I confess, of the same corrupted mass as the children of Adam and Eve; but do not therefore lose courage; console yourself, rejoice: this is the secret that I teach you, a secret unknown to almost all Christians, even the most devout.
Do not leave your gold and silver in the coffers, already forced by the evil spirit that stole you, coffers too small and weak and old to contain such a great and so precious treasure. Do not deposit the pure, crystalline water of the fountain in your sin-stained and infected vessels. It may be that the sin is no longer there, but the odor remains and the water will be contaminated. Do not pour your fine wine into old vats that have already contained ordinary wine: it will be spoiled and you will lose it.
178. Although you understand me, predestined souls, I speak more openly. Do not entrust the gold of your charity, the silver of your purity, the waters of heavenly graces, nor the wines of your merits and virtues to a broken sack, to an old and broken vault, to a contaminated and corrupted vessel, as you are ; because you will be plundered by thieves, that is, the demons, who seek and stalk, night and day, the proper moment for the attack; you will spoil, with the foul odor of self-love, self-confidence and self-will, all that God gives you in purest form.
Deposit, pour into your bosom and into the heart of Mary all your treasures, all your graces and virtues. Mary is a spiritual vessel, an honorary vessel, an insignificant vessel of devotion: " Vas spirituale, vas honorabile, vas insigne devotionis ". After God Himself was closed there, with all his perfections, this vessel became all spiritual, and the spiritual home of the most spiritual souls. It became honorable, and the throne of honor for the greatest princes of eternity. It has become outstanding in the devotion and home of the most illustrious in sweetness, in graces and virtues.
Finally, he became rich as a house of gold, strong as the tower of David, pure as an ivory tower.
179. Oh! how happy is the man who gave everything to Mary and who trusts her in everything and for everything. He's all of Maria and Maria is all of him. You can say boldly with David: " Haec facta est mihi : Mary was made for me" (Ps118, 56); or with the beloved disciple: " Accepi eam in meam " (Jo19,27) - I took it as all my wealth; or with Jesus Christ himself: " Omnia mea tua sunt, et omnia tua mea sunt : All my things are yours, and yours are mine" (Jn 17,10).
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180. If any critic, reading this, finds that I speak exaggeratedly and out of excess devotion, unhappy about him, because he does not understand me, either because he is a carnal man who does not appreciate the things of the spirit, or because he is of the world that cannot receive the Holy Spirit, or even for being proud and critical, who condemns and despises what he does not understand. The souls, however, who were not born of blood or of the will of the flesh (Jn 1:13) but of God and Mary, understand and appreciate me; and it is for them, after all, that I write.
181. However, I say to each other, returning to the interrupted subject, that Mary most holy, because she is the most honest and most generous of all pure creatures, never lets herself be overcome in love and liberality. And for an egg, says a holy man, she gives an ox, that is, as little as we gave her she gives more than she received from God; and therefore, if a soul gives itself without reservation, it gives itself to this soul also without reservation, if we place all our trust in it, working on our side to acquire the virtues and tame the passions.
182. May the faithful servants of Mary, therefore, boldly say with Saint John Damascene: "Having confidence in you, Mother of God, I will be saved; having your protection, I will not fear; with your help, I will fight my enemies and put them on the run, for your devotion is a weapon of salvation that God gives to those who want to save: Spem tuam habens, Deipara, servabor ; nam tibi devotum this est weapon quaedam salutis quae Deus bis dat quos vult salvos fieri "(Sermon of Annunc.).
CHAPTER VI
Biblical figure of this perfect devotion: Rebeca and Jacob
183. Of all the truths that I have just described in relation to the Blessed Virgin, the Holy Spirit presents us, in Sacred Scripture (Gn27), with an admirable figure in the story of Jacob, who received Isaac's blessing, thanks to his solicitude and ingenuity of his mother Rebeca.
Here it is, as the Holy Spirit tells us.
Then I will add the explanation.
ARTICLE 1
Rebecca and Jacob
§ I. Jacob's story.
184. Esau had sold Jacob his birthright. Years later, Rebeca, mother of the two brothers, assured Jacob, - that she loved dearly, - the advantages of that privilege, employing, for this, a holy and mysterious cunning. For Isaac, feeling extremely old, wanted, before he died, to bless his children, and, calling Esau, the favorite, ordered him to go and hunt something for him to eat.
Then I would bless him. Rebeca promptly brought Jacob up to date on what was going on, and told him to go and get two goats from the flock. As soon as he brought them to her, she prepared them the way Isaac liked best. Then, with the clothes of Esau, which she kept, she dressed Jacob, and with the skins of the goats he wrapped his neck and hands, so that Isaac, who could not see, believed, feeling his hands, who it was Esau, even though he heard Jacob's voice. Isaac, in fact, was surprised to hear the voice that he recognized as Jacob's, but, making him approach and feel the hairs that covered his son's hands, he murmured, Truly the voice is that of Jacob, but the hands are that of Esau. And, convinced, he ate. Then, when he kissed Jacob, he smelled the fragrance of Esau's clothes, which ended up dispelling his doubts.
He then blessed him and wished him the dew of heaven and the fruitfulness of the earth; Lord of all his brethren established him, and ended the blessing with these words: "Whoever curses you is cursed, and whoever blesses you is showered with blessings."
Only Isaac had finished speaking, Esau came in with a hunting stew which he had shot, and introduced him to his father, asking him to eat and then bless him. The saint patriarch was extremely surprised, when he became aware of the mistake, but, far from portraying what he had done, he confirmed it, because he evidently recognized the fact of the finger of God. Then Esau, as Sacred Scripture observes, cried out with a loud cry, and accusing his brother's hoax in loud voices, asked his father if he had no other blessing. At this point, the Holy Fathers note, he was the image of those who easily reconcile God with the world, wanting to enjoy at the same time the consolations of. heaven and earth. Isaac, moved by the cries of Esau, blessed him at last, but the blessing he gave him was an earthly blessing, subjecting him to his brother.That is why Esau conceived such a deep hatred against Jacob that he only waited for his father to kill him. And Jacob would not have been able to avoid death if his extreme mother Rebeca had not protected him with his skill and the good advice he gave him and which he followed.
§ II. Interpretation of the story of Jacob.
185. Before explaining this beautiful story, it must be noted that, according to all the Holy Fathers and interpreters of Sacred Scripture, Jacob is a figure of Jesus Christ and the predestined, while Esau is a figure of the reprobates; it is enough to examine the attitude of both and to verify it.
1st Esau, figure of the reprobates
1 the Esau, the elder, was strong and robust body, deft and skilled in handling the bow and in the art of hunting.
2 o Almost never stopped at home, and, confident in his strength and dexterity, he only worked outside, outdoors.
3 the little bothered to please his mother Rebecca, and did nothing for her.
4 o He was greedy and was so fond of satisfying the palate that he even sold his birthright for a plate of lentils.
5 o He was, like Cain, jealous of his brother Jacob, and pursued him relentlessly.
186. Here is the conduct of the reprobates, every day:
l They rely on their strength and industry in temporal affairs; they are very strong, very skilled and enlightened for the things of the earth, but extremely weak and ignorant of the things of the sky: " ln terrenis forte, in caelestibus debiles ". That is why:
187. 2 o Do not stay or spend very little time in your own home, that is to say inside, which is the interior and essential house given by God to each man to live there, according to your example, because God always lives in your home. House. The reprobates do not love the retreat, nor the spirituality, nor the inner devotion and call those who are spiritual and withdrawn from the world, who are spiritual and withdrawn from the world, and who work more inside than outside.
188. 3 o The reprobates are in no way concerned with devotion to the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of the Predestined. It is true that they do not hate her formally, they sometimes give her a compliment, they say that they love her, they even practice some devotion in her honor, but, for the rest, they could not bear to see her loved dearly, because they do not have the tenderness for her. Jacob. They find reason for censure in the practices of devotion, to which the good children and servants of the Blessed Virgin give themselves to obtain their affection, in the certainty that this devotion is necessary for their salvation, and they think more than that, since they do not formally hate the Blessed Virgin, and who do not openly despise their devotion, that is enough and they have already won the good graces of the Blessed Virgin. They are her servants, and they recite or mumble some prayers in her honor, without the slightest tenderness for her or amendment to them.
189. 4 o These reprobates sell their birthright, that is, the joys of paradise, for a plate of lentils, the pleasures of the land. They laugh, drink, eat, have fun, play, dance, etc ..., without the slightest concern, like Esau, to become worthy of the heavenly Father's blessing. In three words, they only think of the earth, they only love the earth, they only speak and act for the earth and earthly pleasures, selling, for an instant of pleasure, for a vain smoke of honor, and for a piece of yellow or white matter , baptismal grace, her dress of innocence, her heavenly heritage.
190. 5 o The reprobates, finally, secretly or in the open, hate and persecute the predestined on a daily basis. They harm us as much as they can, despise us, criticize us, defraud us, insult us, steal from them, deceive us, impoverish us, expel us, reduce us to dust; while they themselves make a fortune, enjoy their pleasures, live in a splendid situation, enrich themselves, magnify themselves and lead a leisurely life.
2nd Jacob, figure of the predestined
191. 1 ° Jacob, the youngest, was of slight build, gentle and peaceful. He stayed at home as much as possible, to win the favor of his mother Rebeca, who loved him dearly. If he left home, he did not do it out of his own free will, nor out of confidence in his own ability, but to obey his mother.
192. 2 ° He loved and honored his mother: that is why he stayed at home with her. His greatest contentment was seeing her; he avoided everything that might displease him and did everything he imagined to please him. All of this contributed to increase in Rebeca the love she dedicated to her son.
193. 3 o In all things he was submissive to his mother, obeyed her entirely in everything, with prompt obedience, without delay, and loving, without complaints; at the slightest sign of maternal will, little Jacob ran and worked. He strongly believed, without arguing, in everything his mother said to him: for example, when Rebeca sent him to fetch the two kids, and he brought them for her to prepare them for Isaac, Jacob did not reply or observe that one was enough to satisfy the appetite of one man, but without arguing, he did exactly as she said.
194. 4 o He placed unlimited trust in his dear mother; as he had absolutely no experience of his own, he relied solely on maternal protection and care. He called for her in all her needs and consulted her in all her doubts: for example, when she asked him if, instead of the blessing, he would not receive the curse from his father, he believed and trusted the answer she gave him that he would take the curse on himself.
195. 5 o He finally imitated, to the extent of his ability, the virtues he saw in his mother; and it seems that one of the reasons why he remained at home, so sedentary, is that he tried to imitate his virtuous mother, and to distance himself from bad company, which corrupts customs. For this reason, he became worthy to receive the double blessing of his dear father.
196. Here is also the daily conduct of the predestined:
1 ° They live at home, sedentary, with their mother, that is to say, they love recollection, they are interior, and they apply themselves to prayer, but according to the example and the company of their Mother, the Blessed Virgin, whose glory is all inside and who, throughout his life, loved retreat and prayer. It is true that they sometimes appear outside, in the world; they do so, however, in obedience to the will of God and his dear Mother, to fulfill the duties of their state. For great things that they do abroad and that appear, they much prefer those that they do inside, in the company of the Most Holy Virgin, because there they perform the great work of their perfection, alongside which all the others are like children's toys. So while your brothers and sisters often work abroad with more enthusiasm, skill and success,receiving the praises and approvals of the world, they know, by the light of the Holy Spirit, that there is much more glory, good and pleasure to remain hidden in the recollection with Jesus Christ, their model, in a complete and perfect submission to their Mother, than to perform, on his own, natural wonders and grace in the world, like so many Esau and reprobates.
" Gloria et divitiae in domo ejus " (Ps111,3) - the glory for God and the riches for men are found in the house of Mary.
Lord Jesus, how lovely are your tabernacles! The sparrow found a house to lodge, and the dove, a nest, to house its young. Oh! how happy is the man who lives in Mary's house, where you first made your home! It is in this house of predestined people that he, from you alone, receives help, and in his heart he has set up steps and steps of all virtues, to rise to perfection in this valley of tears. " Quam dilecta tabernacula ... " (Sl83).
197. 2 o They tenderly love and truly honor the Blessed Virgin, as their good Mother and Lady. They love you not only with your mouth, but truly; they honor it not only abroad, but in their hearts; they avoid, like Jacob, everything that may displease him, and practice with fervor everything that they believe they can acquire their benevolence from. They bring him and give him not only two goats like Jacob and Rebeca, but his body and his soul, with everything that depends on his body and soul, on which are the two kids of Jacob,
1 the so she receives them as a gift that belongs to him;
2 the for the sacrifice and make die to sin and themselves, escorchando them and depriving them of the very skin of his own love, and to please, by this means, Jesus, your Son, who does not want for friends and disciples, if not those who are dead to themselves;
3 the so prepare to taste the heavenly Father, and to serve his greater glory, she knows better than any other creature;
4 the so that, for her care and intercession, this body and this soul, cleansed from all stain, well dead, and stripped and well prepared, are a delicate delicacy worthy of taste and the blessing of the heavenly Father. Is it not what predestined people will do, who will appreciate and practice the perfect consecration to Jesus Christ by the hands of Mary, as we teach them, to witness to Jesus and Mary an effective and courageous love?
The reprobates say that they love Jesus, that they honor Mary, but not with her substance (1), with her possessions, to the point of sacrificing her body with her senses, her soul with all passions, as predestined people do.
1) Cf. Prov 3: 9 "Honor Dominum of your substance" - Honor the Lord with your possessions.
198. 3 o They are submissive and obedient to the Blessed Virgin, like their good Mother, following the example of Jesus Christ, who, of the thirty-three years that lived on earth, dedicated thirty to glorify God her Father, for a perfect and entire submission to his most holy Mother. They obey her, following his advice exactly, as little Jacob followed his mother's, who says: " Acquiesce consiliis meis " (Gen 27: 8) - My son, follow my advice; or like the servants at the wedding at Cana, to whom the Blessed Virgin says: " Quodcumque dixeris vobis facite"- Do whatever he tells you (Jn 2: 5). Because he obeyed his mother, Jacob received the blessing, as if by miracle, although by natural right he should not have received it; because the servants at the wedding in Cana followed counsel of the Blessed Virgin, they were honored with the first miracle of Jesus Christ, who at that time, at the request of his Mother, converted water into wine, so that all those who until the end of the centuries have received the blessing of the heavenly Father, and honored with the wonders of God, they will only receive these graces as a result of their perfect obedience to Mary; the Esaús, on the contrary, will lose their blessing, for lack of submission to the Blessed Virgin.
4 199. TheThe predestined have a great confidence in the goodness and power of the Blessed Virgin; they continually complain about their help; they look at it like the polar star guiding them to safe harbor; they communicate to you, with an open heart, their pains and their needs; they accept their mercy and sweetness to, through their intercession, reach the forgiveness of their sins, or to enjoy their motherly affection in their afflictions and setbacks. They even throw themselves, hide themselves and lose themselves in an admirable way in their loving and virginal lap, so that they can burn with love, so that they can purify themselves of the smallest stains, and that they can fully find Jesus, who resides there as in most glorious of thrones. Oh! what happiness! "Do not believe, says Father Guerric, that it is greater happiness to inhabit the bosom of Abraham than the bosom of Mary, for in this the Lord has placed his throne:Ne credideris majoris that felicitatis habitare in sinu Abrahae quam in sinu Mariae, cum in and Dominus posuerit thronum suum "(2).
The reprobates, on the contrary, put all confidence in themselves, they only eat, like the prodigal son, what pigs eat; like worms, they only feed on earth; and because they love only the visible and fleeting things, like the mundane, they do not appreciate the sweetness and softness of Mary's bosom. They do not feel that support and that confidence that the predestined ones feel for the Blessed Virgin, their good Mother. They love their outer hunger miserably, as Saint Gregory says (3), because they do not want to taste the softness that is prepared in their very heart and in the heart of Jesus and Mary.
2) Sermo 1 in Assumptione, n. 4.
3) "Amamus foris miseri famem nostram" (Homil. 36 in Evangel.).
200. 5 o Finally, the predestined remain on the path of the most holy Virgin, that is, imitate her, and in this they are truly happy and devoted, thus bringing the infallible sign of their predestination. This good Mother tells them: " Beati qui custodiunt vias meas"(Pv8,32) - Blessed is he who practices my virtues, and walks in the footsteps of my life, with the help of divine grace. They are happy in this world, during their life, due to the abundance of graces and sweetnesses that I communicate to them of my fullness and much more abundantly than to others who do not imitate me so hard, they are happy in their death, which is sweet and peaceful, and in which I watch them, to lead them to the joys of eternity; they will, at last, be happy in eternity, because none of my servants, who during my life have faithfully imitated my virtues, has ever been lost.
The reprobates, on the contrary, are unhappy during their lives, in their death and in eternity, because they do not imitate the Blessed Virgin in her virtues, being content with belonging to one of her brotherhoods, with reciting one or another prayer in her honor or do any outside devotion.
O Blessed Virgin, my good Mother, how happy are those - I repeat it with heartfelt transports - how happy are those who, without being seduced by false devotion, faithfully keep your ways, your advice and your orders! How unhappy, however, and cursed are those who, abusing your devotion, do not keep your Son's commandments! " Maledictis omnes qui declinant a mandatis tuis " - Cursed are those who depart from your commandments (SI 118,21).
ARTICLE II
The Blessed Virgin and her slaves for love
201. Here, then, are the charitable duties that the Blessed Virgin fulfills, as the best of mothers, towards her faithful servants, who gave themselves to her as I have indicated, and according to the figure of Jacob.
§ I. She loves them.
" Ego diligent I give myself - I love those who love me" (Pv8,17). She loves them
1 the why is his true Mother; now, a mother always loves her child, the fruit of her entrails;
2 o she loves them out of recognition, since they actually love her as their good Mother;
3 the she loves them, because, being predestined, God loves you, " Jacob dilexi, Esau autem odio habui - Jacob I loved, but Esau have I hated" (Rm9,13);
4 the she loves them because they have consecrated it, and why is your share and heritage: " ln Israel haereditare " (ECLI 24.13).
202. She loves them dearly, and with more tenderness than all mothers combined. Accumulate, if you can, in one mother's heart and for an only child, all the natural love that all mothers in this world have for their children: no doubt that mother would love that child very much. It is true, however, that Maria loves her children even more tenderly than that mother would love hers.
She loves them not only with affection, but also with effectiveness. His love for them is active and effective, like that of Rebeca for Jacob, and much more. Here is what this good Mother, of whom Rebecca was just the figure, does with the aim of achieving, for her children, the blessing of the heavenly Father:
203. 1 o She looks, like Rebeca, for favorable occasions to provide them with some good, to magnify them, to enrich them. She clearly sees in God all goods and evils, good and bad fortunes, divine blessings and curses, and therefore, by far, she already disposes of things to exempt her servants from all evil and to cumulate them from all goods. ; so that, if there is, a good profit to be obtained in God, through the fidelity of a creature in some high job, it is certain that Mary will obtain it for one of her children, and will give her the grace to reach the end with fidelity. " Ipsa procurat negotia nostra ", says a saint.
204. 2 o She gives them good advice, like Rebeca to Jacob: " Fili mi, acquiesce consiliis meis - My son, follow my advice" (Gn27,8). And, among other advices, she suggests taking two kids, that is, her body and her soul, to consecrate them so that she can prepare a meal pleasing to God, and to do everything that Jesus Christ, her Son, taught us. by word and example. If he does not give his advice directly, he does so through the ministry of angels, for whom it is the greatest pleasure and the greatest honor to obey the least of his orders to go down to earth and assist his faithful servants.
205. 3 o When we take you and consecrate your body and soul with everything that depends on them, without exception, what does this good Mother do? The same thing that Rebekah did to the two kids Jacob brought him:
1 ° kills them, taking the life of old Adam;
2 the escorcha them and strips of genuine leather, the natural inclinations of self - love, self - will and all attachment to the creature;
3 the purified them from all stain, dirt and sin;
4 o prepares them to the taste of God and to his greatest glory. No one like her knows perfectly this divine taste and this greater glory of the Most High, and therefore she alone can, without making mistakes, prepare and prepare our body and soul according to this infinitely high taste and this infinitely hidden glory.
206. 4 o This good Mother, after receiving the perfect offering that we made of ourselves and our own merits and satisfactions, for the devotion I spoke of, after having stripped us of our old habits, cleanses us and makes us worthy to appear before our heavenly Father.
lo She covers us with the clean, new, precious and perfumed garments of Esau, the firstborn, that is, of Jesus Christ his Son, of those garments that she keeps in her house, or, on the other hand, in her power, since it is the treasurer, the universal dispenser of the merits and virtues of her Son, Jesus Christ, gifts that she dispenses and communicates to those who want, when they want, how they want, and how much they want, as we have already seen above (cf. Nm.25 and 141).
2 o She surrounds the neck and hands of her servants with the hair of the dead and foreshortened sheep, that is to say, she covers them with the merits and the value of her own actions. It kills and mortifies, in truth, everything they have that is impure and imperfect in their people; but it does not lose or dissipate the good that grace has already accomplished in them; on the contrary, keep it and increase it to decorate and strengthen their necks and hands, that is, so that they have the strength to carry the yoke of the Lord, which is carried around their necks, and to do great things that result in glory of God and the salvation of his brothers.
3 o She puts a new perfume and a new grace on these garments and ornaments, through the contact of her own garments: her merits and her virtues, which she, when she died, bequeathed them in will, as a 17th-century religious saint says, dead in an odor of holiness, and who knew it by revelation; so that all her servants, her faithful servants and slaves are doubly dressed: with her and her Son's garments: " Omnes domestici ejus vestiti sunt duplicibus " (Pv31,21). That is why they do not have to fear the cold of Jesus Christ, white as snow, that the reprobates, completely naked and stripped of the merits of Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin, cannot endure.
207. 5 o She manages them, in short, the blessing of the heavenly Father, though they are the second, adopted children, and therefore they should not receive it. With these new, precious and odorous clothes, and with their well-prepared and willing body and soul, they confidently approach the heavenly Father's bed. He hears them and recognizes them by the voice, the voice of the sinner; it touches their hair-covered hands; he inhales the perfume that comes out of his garments; he eagerly eats what Mary has prepared for him; and in them recognizing the merits and the good odor of his Son and his most holy Mother:
1the gives them a double blessing, blessing of the dew of heaven: " In rore Caeli " (Genesis 27,28), that is, of divine grace which is the glory of the seed: " benedixit us in omni benedictione spirituali in Christo Jesu "(Eph 1,3: God has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus); blessing of the fertility of the land: " De pinguedine terrae " (Gn27,28), in other words, that this good Father gives them his daily bread and an adequate abundance of goods from this world;
2the masters of his other brothers, the disapproved, make them, although this primacy does not always appear in this world that passes in an instant, and in which the disapproved often dominate: " Peccatores effabuntur et gloriabuntur ... (Ps 93,3, 4), Vidi impium superexaltatum et elevatum "(Sl36,35); this primacy is, however, true and will be manifested for all eternity, in the other world, where the righteous, as the Holy Spirit says, will dominate and command the nations: " Dominabuntur populis " (Sb3,8);
3the majesty, not content to bless them in their persons and their property, still blesses all who bless them and curses all who curse and persecute them.
§ II. She keeps them.
208. The second duty of charity that the Most Holy Virgin exercises for her faithful servants is to provide them with everything for the body and the soul. She provides them with double robes, as we have just seen; feed them the finest delicacies on the table of God; give them the bread of life that she formed: " A generationibus mei jmplemini " (Ecle24,26): My dear children, she says to you, under the name of Wisdom, be filled with my fruits, that is, of Jesus, the fruit of life that I have put in the world for you. - " Venite, comedite panem meum et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis " (Pv9,5); " comedite et bibite, et inebriamini, carissimi"(Ct5,1): Come, repeat them, eat my bread, which is Jesus, and drink the wine of his love, which I prepared for you with the milk of my breasts. And how is the treasurer and dispenser of gifts and from the graces of the Most High, she takes a good portion, the best, to feed and support her children and servants, they are strengthened with living bread, drunk with wine that generates virgins (cf. Lk 9,17); sin : " ad ubera portamini " (Is66,12), and they are so easy to carry the yoke of Jesus Christ that they hardly feel its weight, thanks to the oil of devotion with which it makes it rot: " Jugum eorum computrescet a facie olei "(Is10, 27).
§ III. She leads them.
209. The third good that the Blessed Virgin does to her faithful servants is to lead and direct them according to the will of her Son. Rebeca led little Jacob and from time to time gave him good advice, and gave them both to attract Isaac's blessing and to escape Esau's fury. Mary, the star of the sea, guides all her faithful servants at a good port; shows them the ways of eternal life; divert them from dangerous steps; take them by the hand in the paths of justice; sustain us when they are about to fall; lift them when they fell; scold them, as a charitable mother, when they do something wrong; and even, sometimes, lovingly punishes them. Can a son who obeys Mary miss the path that leads to eternity? " Ipsam sequens, non devias: Following her, you will not go astray ", says Saint Bernard. Do not be afraid that a true son of Mary will be deceived by the devil and will fall into some formal heresy. Where the leading hand of Mary manifests, there are not even the evil spirit with its illusions, nor the heretics with its sophisms: " Ipsa lieutenant, non corruis " (1).
1) Words of São Bernardo, cited and commented above, n. 174.
§ IV. She. defend and protect them.
210. The fourth favor that the Blessed Virgin pays to her children and faithful servants is to defend them and protect them from their enemies.
Rebekah, by his care and skill, freed Jacob from the dangers that threatened him, and particularly from the death that Esau had sworn to him, and that, in the height of the anger and envy that dominated him, he would have brought to an end, as Cain once did. your brother Abel.
Mary, the merciful Mother of the predestined, shelters them under the wings of their protection, like a hen, chicks. She speaks to them, bends down to them, condescends to their weaknesses, protects them against the claws of the hawk and the vulture; accompanies them like an army in battle: " ut castrorum acies ordinata " (Ct6,3). Can a man, guaranteed by an army of a hundred thousand soldiers, be afraid of his enemies? There is even less to fear a faithful servant of Mary, surrounded by the protection and strength of her most holy Mother. This powerful Mother and Princess would rather send battalions of thousands of angels to the aid of one of her servants, lest it be said that a faithful servant of Mary, who entrusted herself to her, succumbed to the enemy's malice, number and strength .
§ V. She intercedes for them.
211. Finally, the fifth, and the greatest good, that the most lovable Mary does to her faithful devotees, is to intercede for them with her Son, to appease him by his prayers, to unite them with Him by a strong bond, and to He keeps them.
Rebeca commanded Jacob to approach Isaac's bed; and the elder felt his son's hands and arms, embraced him and kissed him with joy, showing himself happy and satisfied with the taste that Jacob presented him. And when he inhaled with extreme satisfaction the perfume that evolved from Esau's garments, he exclaimed: " Ecce odor filii mei sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Dominus : Behold, my son's smell is like the smell of a flowering field that the Lord blessed "(Gn27,27). This flowering field, whose odor enchants the father's heart, another is not that the odor of Mary's virtues and merits, which is a field full of grace, in which God the Father sowed, like a grain of wheat of the elect, his Son single.
Oh! welcome to Jesus Christ, Father of the future century, a son who rekindles the good odor of Mary. And how quickly and perfectly united it is, we have already demonstrated it at length.
212. Furthermore, after showering her faithful children and servants with favors, Mary most holy obtains them the blessing of the heavenly Father and union with Jesus Christ, and, moreover, keeps them in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ in them. She keeps them and watches over them constantly, so that they do not lose the grace of God and do not fall into the enemy's traps: "ln plenitudine sanctos detinet: Stop the saints in their fullness" (2), and help them to persevere until the end, as we have already seen.
There is the explanation of this great and ancient figure of predestination and condemnation, a figure so unknown and so full of mysteries.
2) Words of Saint Bonaventure, already quoted and commented (n. 174).
CHAPTER VII
Wonderful effects that this devotion produces in a soul that is faithful to him
213. My dear brother, I have convinced you that, if you become faithful to the inner and outer practices of this devotion, which I indicate next:
ARTICLE 1
Self-knowledge and contempt
1 o By the light that the Holy Spirit will give you through Mary, your dear wife, you will know your evil background, your corruption and your incapacity for all good, and, as a result of this knowledge, you will despise yourself, and it will be with horror that you will think of yourselves. Consider yourselves as a disgusting slug that spoils everything with its drool, as a disgusting frog that poisons everything with its venom, or as the treacherous snake that only seeks to deceive. The humble Mary will finally give you part of her profound humility, with which you will despise yourself, without despising anyone, and you will even enjoy being despised.
ARTICLE II
Participation in the Faith of Mary
214. 2 o The Blessed Virgin will give you a part of your faith, the greatest that has ever been on earth, greater than that of all patriarchs, prophets, apostles and all saints.
Now, reigning in heaven, she no longer has this faith, for she sees all things clearly in God, by the light of glory. With the consent of the Most High, however, she did not lose it when she entered glory; he kept it for his faithful male and female servants in the militant Church. The more, therefore, you gain the benevolence of this faithful Princess and Virgin, the more profound faith you will have in all your conduct: a pure faith, which will lead you to unconcern for everything that is sensitive and extraordinary; a faith alive and animated by charity that will cause your actions to be motivated by pure love; a firm and unshakable faith like a rock, which will keep you firm and constant in the midst of storms and storms; an active and penetrating faith that, similar to a mysterious key, will give you entry into all the mysteries of Jesus Christ,in the very young of man and in the heart of God Himself; courageous faith that will make you undertake without hesitation, and do great things for God and the salvation of souls; faith, finally, that it will be your luminous fanal, your divine way, your hidden treasure of divine Wisdom, and your invincible weapon, of which you will use to clear those who lie in darkness and in the shadows of death, to burn the shinny and those they need the burning gold of charity, to give life to those who are dead from sin, to touch and move, by your sweet and powerful words, the marble hearts and to tear down the cedars of Lebanon, and, finally, to resist the devil and the all the enemies of salvation.your divine way, your hidden treasure of divine Wisdom, and your invincible weapon, which you will use to clear up those who lie in darkness and in the shadows of death, to burn the shy and those who need the burning gold of charity, to give life to those who are dying of sin, to touch and touch, by your sweet and powerful words, the marble hearts and overthrow the cedars of Lebanon, and to finally resist the devil and all enemies of salvation.your divine way, your hidden treasure of divine Wisdom, and your invincible weapon, which you will use to clear up those who lie in darkness and in the shadows of death, to burn the shy and those who need the burning gold of charity, to give life to those who are dying of sin, to touch and touch, by your sweet and powerful words, the marble hearts and overthrow the cedars of Lebanon, and to finally resist the devil and all enemies of salvation.the marble hearts and overthrow the cedars of Lebanon, and to finally resist the devil and all enemies of salvation.the marble hearts and overthrow the cedars of Lebanon, and to finally resist the devil and all enemies of salvation.
ARTICLE III
Grace of pure love
215. 3 o This Mother of beautiful love (Ecle24,24) will relieve your heart of every scruple and servile fear; it will open and widen it to run along the path of the commandments of her Son (cf. Ps 118: 32), with the holy freedom of the children of God, and to introduce the pure love of which she has the treasure; in such a way that you will no longer conduct yourself, as you have done so far, out of fear of the God of charity, but out of pure love alone. You will come to regard him as your kind Father, trying to please him incessantly; you will talk confidently with Him, like a son with his father. If, by any chance, you offend him, humiliate you, you will incontinently stand before him, ask him for humbly forgiveness, you will simply reach out to him, and you will rise up lovingly, without disturbance or restlessness,and without fainting you will continue to walk towards him.
ARTICLE IV
Great trust in God and Mary
216. 4 o The Blessed Virgin will fill you with great confidence in God and in her:
1the why not you aproximareis over Jesus Christ for yourselves, but always through this kind Mother;
2the why, having given her all your merits, graces and satisfactions so that they become available to his will, have it report its virtues and you clothe their merits, so that ye can confidently say to God, "Behold Mary, your servant: let it be done to me according to your word: Ecce ancilla Domini; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum "(Lc 1,38);
3the why, since you these it entirely, body and soul, she, who is liberal with liberals, and more liberal than the liberals themselves, it shall be given to you in return, and this in a marvelous way , but true; so you can boldly say to him: " T uus sum ego, salvum me fac! - I belong to you, Most Holy Virgin, save me!" (Ps118,94) or, as I said (cf. Nm.179), with the beloved disciple: " Accepi te in mea " - I took you, Most Holy Mother, as all my good. You can also say with Saint Bonaventure: " Ecce Domina salvatrix mea, fiducialiter agam, et non timebo, quia fortitudo mea, et laus mea in Domino es tu ... " (1) and elsewhere: "Tuus totus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt; the glorious Virgo, super omnic benedicta, ponam te ut, signaculum super cor meum, quia fortis est ut mors dilectio yours (2) - My dear Lady and Savior, I will act with confidence and I will not fear because you are my strength and my praise in the Lord. .. I am all yours, and everything I have belongs to you; O glorious Virgin, blessed over all created things, may I mark you as a mark on my heart, for your dilution is as strong as death! "You can say to God with the prophet's feelings:" Domine, non est exaltatum cor meum, neque elati sunt oculi mei; neque àm.bulavi in magnis, neque in mirabilibus super me; si non humiliter sentiebam, sed exaltavi animate meam; sicut ablactatus is super matre sua, ita retribution in anima mea(Ps 130, 1-2) - Lord, neither my heart nor my eyes have reason to rise and puff up, nor to seek great and wonderful things; and yet, I am not yet humble; but I raised and encouraged my soul by trust; I am like a child, removed from the pleasures of the land and supported by my mother's breast; and it is in this bosom that I am filled with goods.
4 o What further increases your confidence in it is that, having deposited in it everything you have good to give or keep, you will trust less in yourself and much more in it, which is your treasure. Oh! what confidence and consolation for a soul to also be able to call God's treasure his own, where God deposited what is most precious! " Ipsa est thesaurus Domini - She is, says a saint, the treasure of the Lord" (3).
1) Psalter. majus BV, Cant. urge Is 12, 2.
2) Psalt. majus BV, Cant. urge Ex 15.
3) Idiot (ln contemplatione BMV).
ARTICLE V
Communication of the soul and spirit of Mary
217. 5 o The soul of the Blessed Virgin will communicate to you to glorify the Lord; his spirit will take the place of yours to rejoice in God, as long as you practice this devotion faithfully. " Sit in singulis animate Mariae, ut magnificet Dominum; sit in singulis spiritus Mariae, ut exultet in Deo(1) - May the soul of Mary be in each one to glorify the Lord there; may the spirit of Mary be in each one to rejoice in God ". Ah! when will this happy time come - says a saint of our day, all given to Mary - when will this happy time come when Mary will be established Lady and Sovereign in hearts, to subject them fully to the empire of their great and unique Jesus? When will the day come when souls will breathe Mary, how the body breathes the air? Then, wonderful things will happen in this world, where the Holy Spirit, meeting his dear wife, as if reproduced in souls, will come down to them abundantly, filling them with their gifts, particularly the gift of wisdom, in order to work wonders of grace. My dear brother, when will this happy time come, this century of Mary, in that countless chosen souls,losing themselves in the abyss within, will they become living copies of Mary, to love and glorify Jesus Christ? That time · will only · come when you know and practice the devotion I teach, "Ut adveniat regnum tuum, adveniat regnum Mariae ".
ARTICLE VI
Transformation of souls into Mary in the image of Jesus Christ
218. 6 o If Mary, who is the tree of life, is well cultivated in our souls by faithfulness to the practices of this devotion, she will bear fruit in her time; and its fruit is none other than Jesus Christ. I see so many devotees who seek Jesus Christ, these in one way and one practice, those in another; and many times after a lot of work during the night, they can say: " Per totam noctem laborantes, nihil cepimus - Working all night, we get nothing" (Lc 5.5). And you can answer them: " Laborastis multum, et intulistis parum - you worked hard and you won little" (1). Jesus Christ is still very weak in you.
But, due to Mary's immaculate path and this divine practice that I teach, we work during the day, work in a holy place, work little. There is no night in Mary, for she never sinned, nor did she even have the shadow of a sin. Mary is a holy place, the Holy of Holies, in which the saints are formed and shaped.
1) Ag 1, 6 (The exact text says "Seminastis multum ...").
219. Note, if you like, that I say that the saints are molded in Mary. There is a big difference between making a figure in relief, using a hammer and chisel, and making it using a mold. Sculptors and statues have to work hard to make a figure the first way, and they spend a lot of time; but, in the second way, they work little and finish in a short time.
Saint Augustine calls the Blessed Virgin " Forma Dei ", the mold of God. " If they form Dei te appellem, you exist worthy " (2); the proper mold to form and mold gods. He who is cast into the divine mold is soon formed and molded in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ in him: with little expense and in a short time, he will become a god, for he was cast in the same mold that formed a God.
2) Sermo 208 (inter opera s. Augustini): "You are worthy to be called the mold of God".
220. It seems to me that I can very well compare these directors and devout people who intend to form Jesus Christ in themselves or in others, through practices different from these, to sculptors who, placing all confidence in their own expertise, knowledge and art, they hammer endlessly and dull the chisel on a hard stone, or rough wood, to make the image of Jesus Christ; and sometimes they fail to give natural expression to Jesus Christ, either due to lack of knowledge or due to some clumsy blow that damages the whole work. Those, however, who embrace this secret of grace that I present to you, I compare them to founders and molders who, having found the beautiful mold of Mary, in which Jesus Christ was naturally and divinely formed, without relying on his own ability, but only in mold efficiency,they are thrown and lost in Mary to become the natural portrait of Jesus Christ.
221. Beautiful and true comparison!
Who will understand it, however? I wish it to be you, dear brother. But remember that only that which is molten and liquid is cast into the mold, that is, that it is necessary to destroy and melt in you the old Adam, so that he may be the new one in Mary.
ARTICLE VII
The greatest glory of Jesus Christ
222. 7 o By this practice, faithfully observed, you will give Jesus Christ more glory in one month than any other, although more difficult, in many years. - Here are the reasons for what I say:
1 ° Because, doing your actions for the Blessed Virgin, as this practice teaches, you abandon your own intentions and operations, although good and known; to lose you, so to speak, in those of the Blessed Virgin, although you are unaware of them; and from there you go on to participate in the sublimity of her intentions, which were so pure, that she gave more glory to God, for the least of her actions, p. eg, spinning on his distaff, giving a needle point, than a Saint Lawrence lying on the grid, for his cruel martyrdom, and even all the saints for their most heroic actions; for which reason, during her life in this world, she conquered such a sum of ineffable graces and mysteries that the stars of the firmament, the drops of water from the sea and the grains of sand on the beaches would be told;and she gave more glory to God than all the angels and saints gathered together and how they never gave and cannot give. O prodigy of Mary! you can only perform wonders of grace in souls who willingly wish to be astonished in you.
223. 2 o Because a soul, by this practice, considering nothing everything it thinks or does for itself, and putting all its support and complacency in the dispositions of Mary, to approach Jesus Christ and even to speak to her , practices more humility than souls who act for themselves, who support and delight in their own dispositions. Consequently, it glorifies God more highly, which is only perfectly glorified by the humble and small in heart.
224. 3 o Because the Most Holy Virgin, wanting, by a great charity, to receive in her virgin hands the gift of our actions, gives them admirable beauty and brilliance; she herself offers them to Jesus Christ, and our Lord is thus more glorified than if we offered them to him through our criminal hands.
225. 4 o Finally, because you never think of Mary, without her, in your place, thinking of God. Never praise or honor her, without her praising and honoring God with you.
Mary is all in connection with God, and with all property I would call her the 'relationship of God, which only exists in reference to God, the echo of God, who only says and repeats God. Saint Elizabeth praised Mary and called her blessed, because she believed, and Mary, the faithful echo of God, sang: " Magnificat anima mea Dominum - My soul glorifies the Lord" (Lk 1,46). What she did on that occasion, Maria does it every day; when we praise, love, honor or give you something, God is praised, loved, honored, and receives by Mary and Mary.
CHAPTER VIII
Particular practices of this devotion
ARTICLE 1
Outdoor practices
226. Although the essence of this devotion consists of the interior, it also relates exterior practices that must not be neglected: " Haec oportuit facere et ilia non omittere"(Mt 23,23); both because the well-done exterior practices help the interiors, as well as because they remind the man, who is always guided by the senses, what he has done or must do; also because they are proper to build the neighbor who sees them, which is no longer the case with purely inner practices. No mundane, therefore, criticize or put your nose in here, saying that true devotion is in the heart, that it is necessary to avoid externalities, that in this there may be vanity, that it is preferable to hide each one your devotion, etc. I answer them with my Master: "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Mt 5,16). as St. Gregory (1) observes, that we should do our outward actions and devotions to please men and draw praise from there,what would be vanity; but to do them sometimes before men, with the aim of pleasing God and glorifying him, without worrying about the contempt or praises of men.
I will only briefly mention some exterior practices, which I do not describe as exterior because they are made without interior, but because they contain any exteriority, and to distinguish them from those that are strictly interior.
1) Homil. II in Evangel.
§ I. Consecration after preparatory exercises.
227. First practice. Those and those who want to adopt this devotion, which is not erected as a brotherhood, as would be desired (2), after having, as I said in the first part of this preparation for the kingdom of Jesus Christ (3), employed at least twelve days in detaching themselves from the spirit of the world, contrary to that of Jesus Christ, they will dedicate three weeks to being filled with Jesus Christ through the Most Holy Virgin (4). Here is the order they can observe:
2) The vows of good. Montfort was realized, his beloved devotion is erected in Arquiconfraria, whose members, already numerous, multiply in an extraordinary way.
3) These words of the blessed seem to allude to another work that would have served as an introduction to this, such as: "L'amour de la Sagesse éternelle" (Cf. chap. VII and XVI).
4) See at the end of the volume the spiritual exercises advised by the author for those twelve days and those three weeks in preparation for consecration.
228. During the first week they will apply all their prayers and acts of piety to ask for knowledge of themselves and contrition for their sins. They will do everything in a spirit of humility. For that they can, if they want, meditate on what has been said about our evil fund (5), and consider themselves, on the six days of this week, as a slug, a frog, a pig, a snake, a goat; or, then, these three words of Saint Bernard: " Cogita quid fiieris, semen putridum; quid sis, vas stercorum; quid futurus sis, esca verminum " (6). Ask the. to our Lord and his Holy Spirit to clarify them, saying: " Domine, ut videam " (7); or " Noverim me " (8); or " Veni, Sancté Spiritus"and they will say every day the litany of the Holy Spirit and the prayer that follows (9). They will turn to the Blessed Virgin and ask her for this great grace that must be the foundation of the others, and for that they will recite the" Ave, Maris Stella "and the litanies.
5) See above n. 78 et seq.
6) Think about what you were: a little mud; in what you are: vase of slag; what you will be: worm pasture "(São Bernardo, inter opera: Meditation on the knowledge of the human condition).
7) "Lord, make me see" (Lk 18,41).
8) Saint Augustine: "May I know myself".
9) These litanies of the Holy Spirit are found in the appendix at the end of the volume.
229. During the second week, they will apply to all your prayers and daily works; to meet the Blessed Virgin. They will implore this knowledge to the Holy Spirit. You will be able to read and meditate on what we have already said about it. They will recite, as in the first week, the litany of the Holy Spirit, the "Ave, Maris Stella", and one more rosary every day, or at least the third, in this intention.
230. The third week will be spent in getting to know Jesus Christ. They will be able to read and meditate on what we have said in this regard, and recite the prayer of Saint Augustine, inserted in number 67. They will be able, with the same saint, to say and repeat hundreds of times a day: " Noverim te : Lord, may I know you" , or else: " Master, ut videam - Lord, make me see who you are". As in previous weeks, they will recite the litany of the Holy Spirit and the " Ave, Maris Stella ", gathering the litany of the most holy name of Jesus.
231. At the end of these three weeks, they will confess and commune with the intention of giving themselves to Jesus Christ as slaves for love, through the hands of Mary. And after communion, which they will take care to do according to the method that follows (see Nm. 266), they will recite the formula of consecration, which is also ahead; it will be necessary for them to write it or have it written, if it is not printed, and to sign it the same day they do it.
232. On that day, it will be good to pay some tribute to Jesus Christ and his most holy Mother, either in penance for his past infidelity to the promises of baptism, or as a sign of his dependence on the dominion of Jesus and Mary. Now, this tribute will be according to the devotion and capacity of each one: a fast, a mortification, an alms, a candle. Even if they do not give more than a pin in honor, as long as they give it with a good heart, it is enough for Jesus, who only looks at good will.
233. Every year, at least on the same day, they will renew the consecration, observing the same practices for three weeks.
They may even, every month and, perhaps, every day, renew, with the following few words, everything they have done: " Tuus totus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt - I am all yours and everything I have belongs to you" , O my lovely Jesus, for Mary, your most holy Mother (10).
10) The members of the Archiconfraria de Maria, Queen of hearts, gain an indulgence of 300 days every time they renew their consecration, by the words: "I am all yours, and all that I possess, O my dear Jesus, for Mary, your most holy Mother ".
§ II. Recitation of the altar boy of the most holy. Virgin.
234. Second practice. They will recite every day of their lives, without, however, any constraint, the altarpiece of the Most Holy Virgin, composed of three Our Father and twelve Ave Marias, in honor of the twelve privileges and greatness of the Most Holy Virgin.
This practice is very old and has its foundation in Sacred Scripture. Saint John saw a woman crowned with twelve stars, dressed in the sun and with the moon under her feet (Ap12,1) and this woman, in the opinion of the interpreters (1), is the most holy Virgin.
1) Among others, Saint Augustine (Tract. De Sy symbol ad Catechumenos, 1. IV, ch. 1); São Bernardo (Sermo super "Signum Magnum", n. 3).
235. There are many ways to pray this altar boy well and it would be too long to mention them. The Holy Spirit will inspire you to those and those who are most faithful to show themselves to this devotion. To say it well, it is simply necessary to say in the first place: " Dignare me laudare te, Virgo sacrata; da mihi virtutem against host tuo " (2); then, the Creed is said, then our Father, four Ave Marias and one Glory to the Father; still our Father, four Ave Marias, and a Glory to the Father; and so on. When finished, it is said: " Sub tuum praesidium ".
2) "Make me worthy to praise you, O holy Virgin, and give me strength against your enemies."
§ III. Use small iron chains.
236. Third practice. It is very praiseworthy, glorious and useful to those who will thus prove to be slaves of Jesus in Mary, to bring, as a sign of their loving bondage, small iron chains, blessed with a special blessing (1).
These outward demonstrations are not really essential, and a person may well excuse himself, although he has embraced this devotion. I cannot, however, shy away from praising those and those who, after having broken the shameful chains of the devil's slavery, to which the original sin had dragged them, and perhaps the current sins, voluntarily surrendered themselves to the glorious slavery of Jesus. Christ and Saint Paul glory in being chained by Jesus Christ (cf. Eph 3,1), with chains that, although made of iron and lackluster, are more glorious and more precious than all the gold necklaces of the emperors.
1) It could be believed that certain decrees of the Roman Congregations have strictly prohibited the use of these small chains. We see nothing, however, in these decrees that prohibit this practice from private individuals, especially if they use them as a symbol of slavery to Jesus in Mary, in what constitutes B. Montfort's devotion (V. Analecta Juris Pontificii, la. Series, col. 757).
237. In the days of old it was the cross that was most infamous; today, however, it is the most glorious symbol of Christianity. Let's say the same thing about the irons of slavery. There was nothing more ignominious among the ancients, and still today among the pagans. Among Christians, however, these chains of Jesus Christ are the most illustrious badge, for they deliver and preserve us from the shameful links of sin and the devil; they restore us freedom and connect us to Jesus and Mary, not against reluctance and strength, as forced, but out of charity, love, as children: " Traham eos in vinculis caritatis"(The 11,4) - I will attract them to me, says God through the mouth of the prophet, with the bonds of charity, which, consequently, are strong as death (cf. Ct 8,6), and, in a way , stronger in those who faithfully bring these glorious badges to death, for death, though destroying their bodies and reducing it to rot, will not destroy the shackles of their slavery, which, because they are iron, do not they become so easily corrupted, and on the day of the resurrection of the bodies, in the final judgment, who knows, these chains, still hanging from their bones, will not constitute a part of their glory, changing into chains of light and glory? Happy, therefore, a thousand times happy are the illustrious slaves of Jesus in Mary, who use these chains to the grave!
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238. Here are the reasons why these chains are used:
1 ° They remind the Christian of the vows and commitments of baptism, the perfect renewal of the baptismal promises he made for this devotion, and the strict obligation in which he is to remain faithful. Because man allows himself to be carried away more by the senses than by pure faith, he easily forgets his obligations to God, if he does not have something to bring to mind. For this reason, these small chains serve to remind the Christian of those chains of sin and the devil's slavery, from which holy baptism delivered him, and the dependence that, in this sacrament, voted on Jesus Christ, and the ratification of that dependence, made by renewing your votes; and one of the reasons why so few Christians think about the promises of holy baptism, and live with such debauchery as if they had promised nothing to God, as if they were pagans,is not to bring any brand or exterior badge that reminds them of that.
239. 2 o Show that he is not ashamed of being a slave and servant of Jesus Christ, and that he has renounced the dire slavery of the world, of sin and of the devil.
3 o Guarantee it and preserve it from the shackles of sin and the devil, because we will either be shackled by the chains of the enemy, or we will bring the chains of charity and salvation: " Vincula peccatorum; in vinculis caritatis ".
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240. Ah! dear brother, let us break the chains of sin and sinners, of the world and of the worldly, of the devil and his minions, and let us throw away his dismal yoke: " Dirumpamus vincula eorum et projiciamus a nobis jugum ipsorum " (Sl2,3) . We stick our feet, to use the words of the Holy Spirit, in his glorious irons and our neck in his chains: " lnjice ask for tuum in compedes illius, et in torques illius collum tuum " (Ecle 6,25). Let us bow our shoulders and carry Wisdom, which is Jesus Christ, and do not be bored by its chains: " Subjice humerum tuum et porta illam, et ne acedieris vinculis ejus"(Eccle 6:26). You will notice that the Holy Spirit, before saying these words, prepares the soul, so that it does not reject the important advice.
Here are his words: " Audi, fili, et accipe consilium intellectus, et ne objicias consilium meum - Listen, son, and receive a wise warning, and do not reject my advice" (Eccle 6:24).
241. Allow me, dear friend, to join me here with the Holy Spirit, to give you the same advice: "Vincula illius, alligatura salutaris" (Ecle 6,31) - Your chains are chains of salvation. Jesus hanging from the cross must attract everything to himself, and everything, for good or ill, will be attracted. In the same way he will draw reprobates by the chains of their sins, to chain them, as forced and demons, to their eternal wrath and avenging justice. In recent times, however, he will especially attract predestined people, through the chains of charity: " Omni traham ad meipsum " (Eph 3,1). " Traham eos in vinculis caritatis " (Os11,4).
242. These loving slaves of Jesus Christ or chained to Jesus Christ, " vincti Christi " (cf. no . 170), may wear their chains either on the neck or on the arm, or on the waist, or on the feet. Father Vicente Caraffa, seventh general of the Society of Jesus, who died in the odor of sanctity in the year 1643, used, as a sign of his servitude, an iron circle on his feet, and said that he regretted not being able to drag the fetters publicly. Mother Inez de Jesus, to whom we have already referred, always carried an iron chain around her waist. Others wore it around their necks, in penance for the pearl necklaces they used to wear around the world. Others used it on their arms to remind themselves, in manual labor, that they were slaves to Jesus Christ.
§ IV. Special devotion to the mystery of the incarnation.
243. Fourth practice. They will have a special devotion for the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, on March 25 (1), which is the appropriate mystery for this devotion, since this devotion was inspired by the Holy Spirit:
l to honor and imitate the dependence in which God the Son wanted to be on Mary, for the glory of God his Father and for our salvation; dependence that appears particularly in this mystery in which Jesus Christ becomes a captive and a slave in the bosom of the most holy Mary, depending on her in everything;
2 o to thank God for the incomparable graces that he granted to Mary, mainly for having chosen her for his most dignified Mother, a choice made in this mystery. These are the two main ends of enslavement to Jesus Christ in Mary.
1) On March 25th, all members of the Archiconfraria de Maria, Queen of hearts, can win a plenary indulgence.
244. I ask you to note that I ordinarily say: "the slave of Jesus in Mary, the enslavement of Jesus in Mary". One can, it is true, say as many have said so far, "the slave of Mary, the slavery of the Blessed Virgin". I believe, however, that it is better to say "slave of Jesus in Mary" as advised by M. Tronson, superior general of the seminary of San Sulpicius, who was known for his rare prudence and great piety. So he advised an ecclesiastic who consulted him on the matter. The reasons are as follows:
245. l ° Since we are in a proud century, in which swollen sages, strong and critical spirits, who always find what to talk about the most solid and well-established practices of piety, it is preferable, to avoid them occasion of unnecessary criticism , say "slavery of Jesus in Mary" and say "slave of Jesus Christ" than slave of Mary. Thus the denomination of this devotion will be given rather by its purpose, Jesus Christ, than by the way and means to reach this end, most holy Mary. However, one can use one or the other without the slightest qualms, as I do. A man, for example, who goes from Orleans to Tours on the way to Amboise, can of course say that he is going to Amboise and that he is going to Tours. The only difference is that Amboise is just the way to go to Tours and Tours is the end, the end of your trip.
246. As the main mystery celebrated and honored in this devotion is the mystery of the incarnation, in which Jesus can only be seen in Mary, and incarnated in her bosom, it is more appropriate to say "the slavery of Jesus in Mary", of Jesus residing and reigning in Mary, according to the beautiful prayer of so many celebrated men: "O Jesus living in Mary, come and live in us, in your spirit of holiness", etc. (2).
2) See this sentence at the end of the volume, p. 296.
247. 3 o This way of speaking further reveals the intimate union between Jesus and Mary. So closely are they united that one is everything in the other: Jesus is everything in Mary and Mary is everything in Jesus; or, better, it no longer exists, but Jesus only in it, and rather the light would be separated from the sun, than to separate Mary from Jesus. That is how our Lord can be called "Jesus of Mary", and the most holy Virgin "Mary of Jesus".
248. Time does not allow me to stop here to explain the excellencies and greatness of the mystery of Jesus living and reigning in Mary, or the incarnation of the Word. I am therefore content to say, in three words, that this is the first mystery of Jesus Christ, the most hidden, the highest and the least known; that it is in this mystery that Jesus, in collaboration with Mary, in her bosom, and for this reason called by the saints " class sacramentorum ", the room of God's secrets (3), chose all the elect; that it was in this mystery that he operated all the subsequent mysteries of his life, by accepting them: " Jesus ingrediens munduni dicit: Ecce venio ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam"(cf. Heb 10,5-9). Therefore, this mystery is a summary of all mysteries, and contains the will and grace of all. This mystery is, finally, the throne of mercy, liberality and glory The throne of God's mercy, because, since we cannot approach Jesus except through Mary, we cannot see Jesus or speak to him except through Mary. Jesus always attends to his beloved Mother and always gives his grace and his mercy to the poor sinners: " Adeamus ergo cum fiducia ad thronum gratiae - Let us, therefore, confidently come to the throne of grace" (Heb 4,16).
It is the throne of her liberality for Mary, because this new Adam, while remaining in that true earthly paradise, there concealed so many wonders that neither angels nor men understand them; that is why the saints called Mary the magnificence of God: " Magnificentia Dei " (4), as if God was only magnificent in Mary: " Solummodo ibi magnificus Dominus"(Is 33, 21). It is the throne of his glory to his Father, because it was in Mary that Jesus Christ perfectly calmed his angry Father against men; that he perfectly recovered the glory that sin had taken from him, and that, through sacrifice, which in this mystery he made of his will and of himself, gave him more glory than all the sacrifices of the old law had ever given him, and, finally, gave him infinite glory as he had not yet received from a human creature.
3) Saint Ambrose: De lnstlt. Virg., Ch. VII, n. 50.
4) Ricardo de São Lourenço: De Iaud. Virg. l. IV.
§ V. Great devotion to Ave Maria and the rosary.
249. Fifth practice. They will have great devotion when reciting the Ave Maria, or the Angelic Salutation, of which very few Christians, even enlightened, know the value, the merit, the excellence and the need. It was necessary for the Blessed Virgin to appear several times to great learned saints, to demonstrate the merit of this little prayer, as happened to Saint Dominic, to Saint John Capistrano, to Blessed Alano de la Roche. And they composed entire books on the wonders and effectiveness of Ave Maria, for converting souls. Highly published and preached that the salvation of the world began with Ave Maria, and the salvation of each individual is linked to this prayer; that it was this prayer that brought the fruit of life to dry and arid land, and that it is this same prayer that must make the word of God to germinate in our souls and produce the fruit of life,Jesus Christ; that Ave Maria is a heavenly dew, which moistens the earth, i. it is, the soul, to make the fruit sprout at the proper time; and that a soul that is not dewy by this heavenly prayer or dew will bear no fruit, nor will it bear thorns, and will not be far from being cursed (cf. Heb 6,8).
250. In the book "De dignitate Rosarii" by Blessed Alano de la Roche, the following is read that the Blessed Virgin revealed to him: "Know, my son, and communicate it to all, that a probable and close sign of eternal condemnation is aversion, lukewarmness, neglect to pray the Angelic Salutation, which was the reparation of the whole world - Scias enim et secure intelligas et inde late omnibus patefacias, quod videlicet signwn probabile est et propinquum aeternae damnationis horrere et acediari ac overlook Salutationem angelicam, totius mundi reparationem"(ch. II). Here are consoling and terrible words, which it would be hard to believe, if this holy man did not guarantee us and before him they are Dominic, as, after him, many trustworthy characters, with the experience of many centuries For it has always been found that those who carry the sign of condemnation, such as heretics, the wicked, the proud, and the worldly, hate and despise Ave Maria and the rosary.
Heretics still learn and recite the Our Father, but they loathe Ave Maria and the rosary. They would rather have a snake on their chest than the rosary or the rosary. The proud also, although Catholics, but having the same inclinations as their father Lucifer, despise or show complete indifference towards Ave Maria, considering the rosary as an effeminate devotion, sufficient for the ignorant and illiterate. On the contrary, it has been seen and experience proves that those who have others and great signs of predestination, love, appreciate and recite with pleasure the Ave Maria. And that the more they are from God, the more they love this prayer.
This is what the Blessed Virgin also says to Blessed Alano, after the words I quoted.
251. I don't know how this happens or why; however it is true, and I know of no better secret for verifying whether a person is from God, than examining whether or not he likes to pray Ave Maria and the rosary.
I say: he likes it, because it can happen that someone is in the natural or even supernatural impossibility to say it, but he always loves and inspires others.
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252. Predestined souls, slaves of Jesus in Mary, learn that Ave Maria is the most beautiful of all prayers, after our Father. It is the most perfect greeting you can offer Mary, as it is the greeting that the Most High indicated to an archangel, to win the heart of the Virgin of Nazareth. And so powerful were those words, because of the secret charm they contain, that Mary gave her full consent for the incarnation of the Word, although she was reluctant in her profound humility. It is for this greeting that you too will unfailingly win your heart, as long as you say it as you should.
253. Ave Maria, prayed with devotion, attention and modesty, is, as the saints say, the enemy of the devil, immediately putting him to flight, and the hammer that crushes him; the sanctification of the soul, the joy of the angels, the melody of the predestined, the song of the New Testament, the pleasure of Mary and the glory of the Most Holy Trinity. Ave Maria is a heavenly dew that makes the soul fruitful; it is a chaste and loving kiss that is given to Maria, it is a red rose that is presented to her, it is a precious pearl that is offered to her, it is a bowl of ambrosia and divine nectar that is given to her. All of these comparisons are of illustrious saints.
254. I immediately beg you, for the love that I consecrate to you in Jesus and Mary, that you are not content to recite the altarpiece of the Most Holy Virgin, but also your rosary, and even, if there is time, your rosary, every day, and you will bless, at the hour of death, the day and the hour in which you believed me; and, after sowing under the blessings of Jesus and Mary, you will reap eternal blessings in heaven: " Qui seminat in benedictionibus, de benedictionibus et metet " (2Cor9,6).
§ VI. Magnificat recitation.
255. Sixth practice. To thank God for the graces he bestowed on the Blessed Virgin, the Magnificat will often be said, following the example of Blessed Maria d'Oignies and many other saints.
It is the only prayer and the only work composed by Mary, or, better, that Jesus did through her, because he speaks through the mouth of his most holy Mother. It is the greatest sacrifice of praise that God has ever received in the law of grace. It is, on the one hand, the most humble and the most recognized and, on the other hand, the most sublime and highest of all songs. In this song there are mysteries so great and so hidden, that the angels themselves ignore. Gerson, who was a doctor as wise as pious, after spending much of his life writing treatises full of scholarship and piety, on the most difficult subjects, trembled and hesitated at the end of his career, when he undertook the explanation of the Magnificat, with which intended to crown all his works. In a folio volume, he tells us admirable things about the beautiful and divine song. Among others,says that the Blessed Virgin recited it many times alone, especially after Holy Communion, in thanksgiving. The wise Benzonus, in an explanation of the same song, mentions several miracles performed by his virtue, and says that demons tremble and flee when they hear the words of the Magnificat: "Fecit potentiam in brachio suo, dispersit superbos mente cordibus sui "(Lc 1,51).
§ VII. The contempt for the world.
256. Seventh practice. The faithful servants of Mary must despise, hate and flee the corrupted world, and use the practices of contempt for the world, which we noted in the first part (1).
1) See note 3 of no. 227. Cfr. "L'Amour de la Sagesse éternelle", ch. XVI.
ARTICLE II
Special and indoor practices for those who want to become perfect
257. In addition to the external practices of devotion that we have been referring to, which should not be omitted due to negligence or contempt, as the state and conditions of each person allow, we add some very sanctifying interior practices for those called by the Holy Spirit to highest perfection.
It consists, in four words, of doing all your actions for Mary, with Mary, in Mary and for Mary, in order to do them more perfectly for Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus and for Jesus.
§ 1. Do all actions for Mary.
258. 1 o It is necessary to do all actions for Mary, that is to say, in all things to obey the Most Holy Virgin, and in everything to be guided by her spirit, which is the holy spirit of God. Children of God are those who are guided by the spirit of God: " Qui spiritu Dei aguntur, ii sunt filii Dei " (Rm 8,14). And those who guide their conduct by the spirit of Mary, are children of Mary and, therefore, children of God, as we have already shown; among so many devotees of the Blessed Virgin, only those who are guided by her spirit are true and faithful devotees. He said that the spirit of Mary is the spirit of God, because she was never guided by her own spirit, and always by the spirit of God, and he so dominated her that he ended up becoming her own spirit. For this reason, says Saint Ambrose:"Sit in singulis ... etc. - May Mary's soul be in each one to glorify the Lord; let the spirit of Mary be in each one so that he may rejoice in God "(1).
How happy a soul is when, like the good Jesuit brother, Rodriguez (2), who died in the odor of sanctity, is all possessed and governed by the spirit of Mary, who is a gentle and strong spirit, zealous and prudent, humble and courageous , pure and fruitful!
1) Words already cited and commented on in no. 217.
2) Canonized by Leo XIII, on January 15, 1888.
259. For the soul to be guided by this spirit of Mary, it is necessary:
1 o Renounce one's spirit, one's own lights and wills, before anything: for example, before prayer, before saying or listening to Holy Mass, before taking Communion, etc ...; for the darkness of our own spirit and the malice of our own will, although they seem good to us, would put an obstacle to Mary's holy spirit.
2 o It is necessary to surrender to the spirit of Mary to be moved and guided by her as she wishes. It is necessary to place yourself in and remain in your virgin hands like an instrument in the hands of a worker, like a zither in the hands of an artist.
It is necessary to abandon yourself and lose yourself in it, like a stone thrown into the sea. And this is done simply and in an instant, by a single look of the spirit, a small movement of the will, or verbally, saying, for example: "I renounce myself, I give myself to you, my dear Mother". And although we do not feel any sensitive sweetness in this act of union, it is nonetheless true, in the same way that, if we said, with God's displeasure, "I give myself to the devil", with the same sincerity, although we said it without any sensible change, we would no less truly belong to the devil.
3 o It is necessary, from time to time, during an action or later, to renew the act of offering and uniting, and the more we do it, the sooner we will sanctify ourselves, and the sooner we will arrive at the union with Jesus Christ, who always follows necessarily union with Mary, because the spirit of Mary is the spirit of Jesus.
§ II. Do all the actions with Maria.
260. 2 o It is necessary to do all actions with Mary, that is, in all actions, to look at Mary as a finished model of all virtues and perfections, which the Holy Spirit formed in a pure creature, and to imitate him to the extent of our capacity. Therefore, in each action, we must consider how Mary did or would do it if she were in our place. Therefore, we must examine and meditate on the great virtues that she practiced during her life, especially
1the his living faith, whereby believed faithfully and constantly up to the foot of the cross of Calvary;
2the her profound humility that led her to hide, to be silent, to submit to everything and to put herself in last place;
3the his divine purity, which never had or will have similar under the sky, and finally all his other virtues.
Remember, I repeat it a second time, that Mary is the great and unique mold of God (1) proper for making living images of God, with little expense and in a short time; and that a soul that has found this mold, and that is lost in it, will soon be changed in Jesus Christ, represented there in the natural.
1) See before, Nm. 218 sg.
§ III. Do all the actions on Maria.
261. 3 o It is necessary to do all the actions in Maria.
To fully understand this practice, it is necessary to know that the Blessed Virgin is the true earthly paradise of the new Adam, of which the ancient earthly paradise is only the figure. There are, therefore, in this earthly paradise, inexplicable riches, beauties, rarities and sweetness, that the new Adam, Jesus Christ, left there. In this paradise he put his compliments on for nine months, there he worked his wonders and there he accumulated wealth with the magnificence of a God. This most holy place is formed by a virgin and immaculate land, from which the new Adam was formed and nourished, without the slightest stain or stain, by the operation of the Holy Spirit who lives there. It is in this earthly paradise that the tree of life that produced Jesus Christ, the fruit of life, is in truth; the tree of the science of good and evil, which gave birth to the world. There is, in this divine place,trees planted by the hand of God and sprayed by his divine anointing, trees that produced and produce, every day, wonderful fruits with a divine flavor; there are enameled beds of beautiful and variegated flowers of virtues, whose perfume delights the angels themselves. In this place there are green meadows of hope, impregnable and strong towers, rooms full of charm and security, etc. No one, except the Holy Spirit, can make known the hidden truth under these figures of material things. In this place there is pure air, without infection, an air of purity; a beautiful day without night, of holy humanity; a beautiful sun without shadows, from Divinity; a fiery and continuous charcoal furnace, in which all the iron that is cast there is burned and turns into gold; there is a river of humility that arises from the earth, and which, dividing into four arms,water this enchanted place: the four cardinal virtues.
262. The Holy Spirit, through the mouth of the Holy Fathers, also calls the Most Holy Virgin:
1 o the eastern gate, through which the high priest Jesus Christ enters and comes into the world (cf. Ez44,2-3); he entered through it the first time, and through it he will come the second time;
2 o the sanctuary of Divinity, the reclining of the Most Holy Trinity; the throne of God, the city of God, the altar of God, the temple of God, the world of God.
All these different epithets and praises are true in relation to the different wonders and graces that the Most High has accomplished in Mary. Oh! what wealth! what a glory! what a pleasure! what happiness to be able to enter and dwell in Mary, in whom the Most High placed the throne of her supreme glory!
263. But how difficult it is for sinners, as we are, to obtain permission and the ability and light to enter such a high and holy place, guarded not by a cherub, like the ancient earthly paradise, but by the Holy Spirit himself, who from him he became the absolute lord and of which he says: " Hortus conclusus soror mea sponsa, hortus conclusus, fons signatus " (Ct4,12). Maria is closed; Mary is sealed; the miserable children of Adam and Eve, expelled from earthly paradise, have access to this other paradise only through a special grace of the Holy Spirit, which they must deserve.
264. After, through fidelity, we obtained this remarkable grace, it is with complacency that we must live in the beautiful interior of Mary, there to rest in peace, there to support us with all confidence, there we will surely hide and lose ourselves without reservation , in order that in this virgin bosom:
1the soul feeds on the milk of her grace and maternal mercy;
2 o be free from your troubles, your fears and scruples;
3 o be safe there, protected from all your enemies, the devil, the world and sin, which never enter there; and that is why she says that those who operate on it will not sin: " Qui operantur in me, non peccabunt " (Ecle24,30), that is, those who, in spirit, inhabit the Blessed Virgin, will not commit serious sin;
4 The order for the soul to be formed in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ in it; because its bosom, as the Holy Fathers say (1), is the room of the divine sacraments, where Jesus Christ and all the elect were formed: " Homo et homo natus est in ea " (Ps86,5) (2).
1) See above no. 248: "Aula sacramentorum".
2) On this text, see the commentary of the blessed, n. 32.
§ IV. Do all the actions for Maria.
4 265. TheFinally, all actions must be done for Maria. Because, since we give ourselves completely to her service, it is only right that we do everything for her, as a servant, a servant, a slave. We do not, however, take it as the ultimate end of our services, which is only Jesus Christ, but as a close end, a mysterious intermediary, and the easiest way to reach it. Like a good servant and slave, it is necessary that we do not remain idle, but that, supported by his protection, we undertake and accomplish great things for such an august Sovereign. It is necessary to defend your privileges when someone disputes them; sustain its glory when someone attacks it; attract the whole world, if possible, to your service and this true and solid devotion; speak, cry out to all who abuse their devotion to outrage their Son;and at the same time establish this true devotion. And as a reward for these small services, we must claim no more than the honor of belonging to such a loving Princess, and the happiness of being, through her, united with Jesus Christ, her Son, with an indissoluble bond in time and eternity.
Glory to Jesus in Mary!
Glory to Mary in Jesus!
Glory to God alone!
SUPPLEMENT
How to practice this devotion in Holy Communion
I
Before communion
266. 1 ° You will humble yourselves deeply before God.
2 o You will renounce your corrupt inner self and your dispositions, even though your self-love makes them seem good to you.
3 o You will renew your consecration, saying: " Tuus totus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt : I am all yours, my dear Lady, with all that I have" (1).
4 o supplicate to this good Mother to lend you their hearts, with the same provisions, shall receive his Son. You will see to it that it matters to the glory of her Son not to be brought into a heart as tarnished as yours, and so fickle, that it would take away its glory or lose it; if, however, she wants to live in you to receive her Son, she can easily, in view of the dominion she has over hearts; and for her, her Son will be well received, without blemish, and without danger of being outraged: " Deus in medio ejus non commovebitur"(Ps 45,6). You will confidently tell her that everything you have given her of your possessions is little to honor her, but, by holy communion, you will give her the same gift that the eternal Father gave her, a gift that he will honor it more, that you should give him all the goods in the world, and that, at last, Jesus still wants to have his complacencies and rest in her, even though, in your soul, he is more dirty and poorer than the stable,
1) Or else the indulgent formula, indicated in "News about the Archiconfraria de Maria, Queen of hearts" (Advantages and privileges, 3rd).
252 to which Jesus had no difficulty in descending, since she was there. With the following tender words, you will ask for his heart: " Accipio te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria! " (1).
1) Adaptation of the two texts of Sacred Scripture, commented on during the "Treaty". Cf. Jn 19, 27 and Pv. 23,26.
II
During communion
267. About to receive our Lord Jesus Christ, I will tell you three times, after the " Pater ": " Domine, non sum dignus… “ etc., as if to say, for the first time to the eternal Father who, due to your wickedness thoughts and ingratitude towards him, you are not worthy to receive his only Son, but here is Mary his servant: " Ecce ancilla Domini ", who does everything for you, and who gives you a special confidence and hope, together with his Majesty: " Quoniam singulariter in spe constitisti me " (Ps4,10).
268. You will say to the Son: " Domine, non sum dignus ... " etc., that you are not worthy to receive him, because of your useless and evil words, and your infidelity in his service; you beg him, however, to have mercy on you, because you are going to introduce him to the home of his own Mother and yours, and that you will not let him go without him coming to stay there: " Tenui eum, nec dimittam, donec introduce illum in domwn matris meae, et in cubiculum genitricis meae "(Ct3,4). Implore him, let him rise and come to the place of his rest and to the ark of his sanctification: " Surge, Domine, in requiem tuam, tu et arca sanctificationis tuae"(Ps131,8). I will tell you that, in no way, do you place your trust in your merits, your strength and your preparations, like Esau, but in Mary, your dear Mother, like little Jacob in his care of Rebekah, who, a sinner and Esau, who you are, dare to approach his holiness, ornamented and supported by the virtues of his most holy Mother.
269. You will say to the Holy Spirit: " Domine, non sum dignus ", etc .; that you are not worthy to receive the masterpiece of your charity, in view of the lukewarmness and iniquity of your actions and your resistance to their inspirations. But all of your trust is Mary, your faithful Wife. And you will say with São Bernardo: " Haec mea maxima fiducia est; haec tota ratio spei meae " (1). You can even ask her to go down to Mary, his inseparable Wife; for her bosom is as pure and her heart as blazing as always, and that if it does not descend into your soul, Jesus and Mary will not be formed there, nor worthily housed.
1) "From Aquaeductt.", N. 7.
III
After Holy Communion
270. Fully withdrawn, with your eyes closed, after Holy Communion, you will introduce Jesus Christ into the heart of Mary. You will give it to your Mother, and she will receive you lovingly, place you in the place of honor, adore you deeply, love you perfectly, embrace you closely, and, in spirit and truth, it will honor you that we, surrounded by thick darkness, do not know.
271. Or else, I lay deeply humbled, in the presence of Jesus residing in Mary; or remain as a slave at the door of the royal palace, where the King is entertained by the Queen; and, while they talk without your presence, go in spirit to heaven and to the whole earth to pray to the creatures that in your place thank, worship and love Jesus and Mary: " Venite, adoremus, venite! " (Ps94,6 ).
272. Or, still, I asked Jesus, in union with Mary, that through her her kingdom come, or divine wisdom, or divine love, or the forgiveness of your sins, or any other grace, but always for Maria and Maria. And, considering yourselves, say: " Ne respicias, Domine, peccata mea - Lord, do not look at my sins" (1), " sed oculi tui videant aequitates Mariae " (2): but that your eyes only see in me the virtues and graces of Mary. And, remembering your sins, you will add: " lnimicus homo hoc fecit " (Mt 13,28): I, who am my greatest enemy, have committed these sins; or else: " Ab homine iniquí et doloso erue me " (SI 42, 1), or: " Te oportet crescere, ne autem minui"(cf. Jo3,30): My Jesus, you need to grow in my soul and I decrease. Mary, you need to grow in me and I am less than I have been." Crescite et multiplicamini "(Gn1, 22): O Jesus and Mary, grow in me and multiply outside, in others.
1) Roman Missal, la. orat. ante communionem.
2) SI 16, 2, applied to the Blessed Virgin.
273. The thoughts that the Holy Spirit provides are infinite, and they will provide you if you are very inner, mortified and faithful to this great and sublime devotion, which I have just taught you. Remember that the more you let Mary act in your communion, the more Jesus will be glorified; and the more you will allow Mary to act for Jesus, and Jesus in Mary, the more deeply you humble yourself, and then you will hear them in peace and silence, without being troubled to see, taste, or feel; for the righteous live everywhere in faith, and especially in holy communion, which is an act of faith: " Justus meus ex fide vivet " (Hb10,38).
NB Here ends the manuscript of the blessed Montfort. On the following pages are the prayers indicated (Nm. 227) and suitable for the preparation for the solemn consecration, the formula of consecration composed by the blessed, other prayers particularly recommended in the course of the work, and, finally, the "Burnt Prayer" ", which the holy founder composed to ask God for missionaries for the Society of Mary.
APPENDIX
Preparatory spiritual exercises for solemn consecration according to the method of Blessed Luiz Maria de Montfort
I
TWELVE PRELIMINARY DAYS
employed in letting go of the spirit of the world
VENI, CREATOR SPIRITUS
Come, O Creator Spirit, the souls of your visitors;
The hearts that you have created, fill with infinite grace.
You, Paráclito, are called the gift of the heavenly Father,
Fire, charity, living source and spiritual anointing.
You give septiform grace; you are the right-hand parent;
From the Father, solemn promise, you give strength to the supernal voice.
Our reason clarifies, Your love in the chest lights up,
From our body the weakness with your strength defends.
Take the enemy away from us. Give us peace without delay,
Guide us; and we will avoid everything that is deplored.
Give God the Father and his Son for us we know well,
And in you, Spirit of both at all times, we believe.
To God the Father give glory and to the risen Son,
Paráclito and you too
With perpetuated praise. Amen.
V. Send your Spirit, and everything will be created.
A. And you will renew the face of the earth.
WE PRAY.
O God, that you instructed on this day the hearts of your faithful with the light of the Holy Spirit; grant us that in the same Spirit we know what is right, and always enjoy its consolations.
Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.
AVE, MARIS STELLA
Bird, Sea Star, God beautiful Mother,
Always Virgo, from the happy heavenly home.
O you who heard the greeting from the angel's mouth;
Give us peace and quiet; and Eva's name changes.
The arrests to the defendants untie.
And we who are blind illuminate; of everything that mistreats us
Deliver us, the good grows us.
Show that you are a Mother, making the pleas of the people yours
Listen to him who, being born for us, wanted to be your Son.
O specious Virgin, all full of tenderness, our sins extinguished,
Give us purity and gentleness, give us a pure life, put us in a safe life,
So that Jesus may enjoy, and always rejoice.
We will worship God the Father; to Jesus Christ too.
And to the Holy Spirit; we gave the three a compliment. Amen.
II
FIRST WEEK
employed in acquiring the knowledge of oneself
LADAINHA TO HOLY SPIRIT
Lord have mercy on us.
Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord have mercy on us.
Divine Holy Spirit, hear us.
Paráclito Spirit, listen to us.
God the Father in heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God the Holy Spirit,
Most Holy Trinity, that you are one God,
Spirit of Truth,
Spirit of wisdom,
Spirit of intelligence,
Spirit of the fortress,
Spirit of godliness,
Spirit of good advice,
Spirit of science,
Spirit of holy fear,
Spirit of charity,
Spirit of joy,
Spirit of Peace,
Spirit of virtues,
Spirit of all grace,
Spirit of the adoption of the children of God,
Purifier of our souls,
Sanctifier and guide of the Catholic Church,
Distributor of heavenly gifts,
Knowing the thoughts and intentions of the heart,
Sweetness of those who begin and serve you,
Crown of the Perfect,
Joy of angels,
Light of the patriarchs,
Inspiration from the prophets,
Word and wisdom of the apostles,
Victory of the martyrs,
Science of confessors,
Purity of virgins,
Anointing of all saints,
Be favorable to us, forgive us, Lord.
Be favorable to us, listen to us, Lord.
From all sin, deliver us, Lord.
Of all the devil's temptations and pitfalls,
From all the presumption and despair,
From the attack to the known truth,
From the envy of fraternal grace,
From all the obstinacy and impenitence,
From all the neglect and numbness of the spirit,
Of all the impurity of mind and body,
Of all heresies and errors,
With all the evil spirit,
Of evil and eternal death,
Because of your eternal origins from the Father and the Son,
Through the miraculous consolation of the Son of God,
By your descent on Jesus Christ baptized,
By your holy appearance in the transfiguration of the Lord,
For your coming on the Lord's disciples,
On the day of judgment,
Although we are sinners, we beseech you, hear us, Lord.
For you to forgive us,
That you may deign to quicken and sanctify all members of the Church,
That you deign to grant us the gift of true piety, devotion and prayer.
That you may deign to inspire us with sincere affections of mercy and charity,
That you may deign to create in us a new spirit and a pure heart,
So that you deign to grant us true peace and tranquility of the heart,
That you deign to make us worthy and strong, to endure persecutions for justice,
That you may deign to confirm us in your grace,
That you may deign to receive us in the number of your elect,
So that you deign to hear us,
God's spirit,
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, send us the Holy Spirit.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, send us the promised Spirit of the Father.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, give us the good Spirit.
Holy Spirit, hear us.
Consoling Spirit, listen to us.
V. Send your Spirit and everything will be created.
R . And you will renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray.
God, who instructed the hearts of your faithful, with the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us that in the same Spirit we may know what is right, and always enjoy its consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
LADAINHA OF OUR LADY
Lord have mercy on us.
Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord have mercy on us.
Jesus Christ, listen to us.
Jesus Christ, listen to us.
God the Father in heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God the Holy Spirit,
Most Holy Trinity, that you are one God,
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God,
Holy Virgin of Virgins,
Mother of Jesus Christ,
Mother of divine grace,
Mother pure,
Most chaste mother,
Immaculate Mother,
Mother intact,
Loving mother,
Admirable mother,
Mother of good advice,
Mother of the Creator,
Mother of the Savior,
Most prudent virgin,
Venerable Virgin,
Commendable virgin,
Mighty Virgin,
Benign virgin,
Faithful Virgin,
Mirror of Justice,
Thirst for wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spirituality,
Honorific Vase,
Vignette of devotion,
Mystic Rose,
Tower of David,
Ivory Tower,
Gold House,
Ark of the Covenant,
Heaven's Door,
Morning Star,
Health of the sick,
Refuge of sinners,
Consoling of the afflicted,
Aid of Christians,
Queen of Angels,
Queen of Patriarchs,
Queen of the prophets,
Queen of Apostles,
Queen of Martyrs,
Queen of Confessors,
Queen of Virgins,
Queen of all saints,
Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen of the Holy Rosary,
Queen of Peace,
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, forgive us, Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, hear us, Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
V. Pray for us, holy Mother of God.
A. That we may be worthy of Christ's promises.
Let us pray.
Lord God, we entreat you to grant your servants to achieve perpetual health of soul and body; and that through the glorious intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary, let us be free from the present sadness and enjoy eternal joy.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
III
SECOND WEEK
employed in acquiring the knowledge of the Blessed Virgin
Litany of the Holy Spirit (above).
Ave, Maris Stella (above).
A rosary or at least a third (see below for the method for reciting the holy rosary with fruit).
IV
THIRD WEEK
employed in acquiring the knowledge of Jesus Christ
Litany of the Holy Spirit.
Ave, maris Stella ..
Prayer of Saint Augustine. See in the treaty.
LADAINHA OF SS. NAME OF JESUS
Lord have mercy on us.
Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord have mercy on us.
Jesus, listen to us.
Jesus, listen to us.
God the Father in heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God the Holy Spirit,
Most Holy Trinity, that you are one God,
Jesus, Son of the living God,
Jesus, splendor of the Father,
Jesus, purity of eternal light,
Jesus, King of glory,
Jesus, sun of justice,
Jesus, Son of the Virgin Mary,
Kind Jesus,
Admirable Jesus,
Jesus, strong God,
Jesus, Father of the future century,
Jesus, Angel of the great council,
Jesus most powerful,
Jesus very patient,
Jesus obediently,
Jesus, meek and humble of heart,
Jesus, lover of chastity,
Jesus, our amateur,
Jesus, God of peace,
Jesus, author of life,
Jesus, an example of virtues,
Jesus, caretaker of souls,
Jesus, our God,
Jesus, our refuge,
Jesus, Father of the poor,
Jesus, treasure of the faithful,
Jesus, good Shepherd,
Jesus, true light,
Jesus, eternal wisdom,
Jesus, infinite goodness,
Jesus, our way and our life,
Jesus, joy of angels,
Jesus, King of the patriarchs,
Jesus, Master of the apostles,
Jesus, Doctor of the Evangelists,
Jesus, stronghold of the martyrs,
.Jesus, light of confessors,
Jesus, purity of virgins,
Jesus, crown of all saints,
Be favorable to us; forgive us, Jesus.
Be favorable to us; hear us, Jesus.
From all evil, deliver us, Jesus.
Of all sin,
Of your wrath,
Of the devil's snares,
From the spirit of impurity,
Of eternal death,
From the contempt of your inspirations,
Through the mystery of your holy incarnation,
By your nativity,
For your childhood,
For your most holy life,
For your work,
Through the. your agony and passion,
Through your cross and helplessness,
Because of your anxieties,
For your death and grave,
By your resurrection,
For your ascension,
For your institution of ss. Eucharist,
For your joys,
For your glory,
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, forgive us, Jesus.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, hear us, Jesus.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, Jesus.
Jesus, listen to us.
Jesus, listen to us.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, you said: ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and open yourself there, we beg you to grant us, to ask you, the affective feelings of your divine love, so that we love you with all our hearts and that this love transcends our actions, without let us stop loving You.
Allow us, Lord, to always have an equal fear and love for Your holy name; for you do not cease to rule those you establish in the steadfastness of Your love. You who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.
LADAINHA OF S. HEART OF JESUS
Lord have mercy on us.
Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord have mercy on us.
Jesus Christ, listen to us.
Jesus Christ, listen to us.
God the Father in heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God the Holy Spirit,
Most Holy Trinity, that you are one God,
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father,
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the bosom of the Virgin Mother,
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God,
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty,
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High,
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven,
Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity,
Heart of Jesus, receptacle of justice and love,
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,
Heart of Jesus, King and center of all hearts,
Heart of Jesus, in which are all the treasures of wisdom and science,
Heart of Jesus, in which the fullness of divinity dwells,
Heart of Jesus, in which the Father gives his compliments,
Heart of Jesus, whose fullness we all share,
Heart of Jesus, desire of the eternal hills,
Heart of Jesus, patient and merciful,
Heart of Jesus, rich for all who call on you,
Heart of Jesus, source of life and holiness,
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, saturated with reproach,
Heart of Jesus, troubled because of our crimes,
Heart of Jesus, made obedient to death,
Heart of Jesus, pierced by the spear,
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection,
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation,
Heart of Jesus, victim of sinners,
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in You,
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who breathe out in You,
Heart of Jesus, delight of all the saints,
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, forgive us, Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, hear us, Lord.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
V. Jesus, meek and humble in heart.
A. Make our hearts similar to Yours.
Amen.
CONSECRATION OF YOURSELF
To Jesus Christ, Wisdom incarnate, through the hands of Mary
O eternal and incarnate wisdom! O most lovable and adorable Jesus, true God and true man, the only begotten son of the eternal Father, and of the always Virgin Mary, I adore you deeply in the bosom and splendors of your Father, for eternity, and in the virgin bosom of Mary, your Mother most dignified, at the time of your incarnation.
I thank you for having annihilated yourself, taking the form of a slave, to free me from the devil's cruel captivity.
I praise and glorify You for having wanted to submit to Mary, your most holy Mother, in all things, in order to make me your faithful slave. But alas, ungrateful and unfaithful creature! I did not keep the promises that I solemnly made to You at baptism. I did not fulfill my obligations; I do not deserve to be called Your son or Your slave, and since there is nothing in me that has not deserved revulsion and anger from You, I do not dare to approach Your most holy and most august majesty myself. It is for this reason that I resort to the intercession of Your most holy Mother, who gave me as mediatrix to You, and it is by this means that I hope to obtain from You the contrition and forgiveness of my sins, the acquisition and conservation of wisdom.
Hail, therefore, O Immaculate Mary, living tabernacle of Divinity, where the eternal hidden Wisdom wants to be worshiped by angels and men!
Hail, O Queen of heaven and earth, to whose empire all that is under God is subjected!
Hail, O safe haven for sinners, whose mercy no one lacks! Respond to my desire for divine Wisdom, and I received, for this purpose, the vows and offerings, presented by my lowliness.
I, N ..., unfaithful sinner, renew and ratify today, in your hands, the vows of baptism.
I renounce Satan forever, his pomp and his works, and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, Wisdom incarnate, to follow him carrying my cross, in all the days of my life. And, in order to be more faithful to you than I have hitherto been, I choose you this day, O Most Holy Mary, in the presence of the whole heavenly court, for my Mother and my Lady.
I give you up. and I consecrate you, as a slave, my body and my soul, my inner and outer goods, and even the value of my good past, present and future works, leaving you full and entire right to dispose of me and everything what belongs to me, without exception, to your taste, for the greater glory of God, in time and in eternity. Receive, O most benign Virgin, this little offering of my slavery, in union and in honor of the submission that Eternal Wisdom wanted to have to your motherhood; in honor of the power that you both have over this wicked and miserable sinner; in thanksgiving for the privileges with which the Most Holy Trinity favored you. I protest that I want, from now on, as your true slave, to seek your honor and obey you in all things. O admirable Mother, present me to your beloved Son,as a perpetual slave, so that, having redeemed me for you, you may also receive me favorably. O Mother of mercy, grant me the grace to obtain the true Wisdom of God, and to place myself, for this purpose, in the number of those whom you love, teach, guide, sustain and protect as your children and slaves. O faithful Virgin, in all points make me such a perfect disciple, imitator and slave of incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ, your Son, that I may one day, through your intercession and by your example, reach the fullness of your age on earth and his glory in the heavens.you support and protect as your children and slaves. O faithful Virgin, in all points make me such a perfect disciple, imitator and slave of incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ, your Son, that I may one day, through your intercession and by your example, reach the fullness of your age on earth and his glory in the heavens.you support and protect as your children and slaves. O faithful Virgin, in all points make me such a perfect disciple, imitator and slave of incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ, your Son, that I may one day, through your intercession and by your example, reach the fullness of your age on earth and his glory in the heavens.
So be it.
THE HOLY ROSARY
Method for praying the Rosary with fruit, according to Blessed Luiz Maria
I join with all the saints in heaven, with all the righteous on earth, with all the faithful souls who are in this place. I join you, my Jesus, to praise your holy Mother with dignity and to praise you, in her and for her. I renounce all the distractions that come to me during this Rosary, which I want to recite with modesty, attention and devotion, as if it were the last of my life.
We offer you, Most Holy Trinity, this Creed, to honor all mysteries of our faith; this Pater and these three Ave-Marias, to honor the unity of your essence and the trinity of your people. We ask of you a living faith, a firm hope and an ardent charity.
Creed, Our Father, three Hail Marys, Glory.
Joyful mysteries
I
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this first decade, in honor of your incarnation in the bosom of Mary; and we ask you, for this mystery and for your intercession, for a profound humility. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of the incarnation, I descended into our souls. So be it.
II
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this second decade, in honor of the visitation of your holy Mother to her cousin, Elizabeth and the sanctification of St. John the Baptist; and we ask you, for this mystery and the intercession of your most holy Mother, for charity towards our neighbor. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of visitation, I descended into our souls. So be it.
III
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this third decade, in honor of your birth in the stable of Bethlehem; and we ask you, for this mystery and for the intercession of your most holy Mother, for the detachment of earthly goods, the contempt for riches and the love of poverty. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of Jesus' birth, I descended into our souls. So be it.
IV
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this fourth decade, in honor of your presentation in the temple, and of the purification of Mary; and we ask you, for this mystery and for your intercession, a great purity of body and soul. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of purification, I descended into our souls. So be it.
V
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this fifth decade, in honor of your reunion with Mary; and we ask you, for this mystery and for your intercession, for true wisdom. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of Jesus' reunion, I descended into our souls. So be it.
Painful mysteries
vi
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this sixth decade, in honor of Your mortal agony in the Garden of Olives; and we ask you, for this mystery and for the intercession of your most holy Mother, for the contrition of our sins. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of Jesus' agony, I descended into our souls. So be it.
VII
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this seventh decade, in honor of Your bloody scourging; and we ask you, for this mystery and for the intercession of your Most Holy Mother, for the mortification of our senses. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of Jesus' scourging, I descended into our souls. So be it.
VIII
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this eighth decade, in honor of your crowning of thorns; and we ask you, for this mystery and for the intercession of your most holy Mother, for the contempt of the world. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of the crowning of thorns, I descended into our souls. So be it.
IX
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this ninth decade, in honor of the carrying of the cross; and we ask you, for this mystery and for the intercession of your Most Holy Mother, for patience in all our crosses. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of carrying the cross, I descended into our souls. So be it.
X
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this tenth, in honor of your crucifixion and ignominious death on Calvary; and we ask you, for this mystery and for the intercession of your most holy Mother, for the conversion of sinners, the perseverance of the just and the relief of souls in purgatory. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of Jesus' crucifixion, I descended into our souls. So be it.
Glorious mysteries
XI
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this eleventh, in honor of your glorious resurrection; and we ask you, for this mystery and for the intercession of your Most Holy Mother, for the love of God and the fervor in your service. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of the resurrection, I descended into our souls. So be it.
XII
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this twelfth decade, in honor of your triumphant ascension; and we ask you, for this mystery and for the intercession of your most holy Mother, a burning desire from heaven, our dear country. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of the ascension, I descended into our souls. So be it.
XIII
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this thirteenth decade, in honor of the mystery of Pentecost; and we ask you, for this mystery and for the intercession of your Most Holy Mother, for the descent of the Holy Spirit into our souls. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of Pentecost, I descended into our souls. So be it.
XIV
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this fourteenth decade, in honor of your mother's resurrection and triumphal assumption into heaven; and we ask you, for this mystery and for your intercession, for a tender devotion to such a good Mother. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of the assumption, I descended into our souls. So be it.
XV
We offer you, Lord Jesus, this fifteenth decade, in honor of the glorious coronation of your most holy Mother in heaven; and we ask you, for this mystery and for your intercession, to persevere in grace and the crown of glory. So be it.
Our Father, ten Hail Marys, Glory.
Thanks to the mystery of Mary's glorious coronation, I descended into our souls. So be it. I greet you, Mary, beloved daughter of the eternal Father, admirable Mother of the Son, very faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit, august temple of the Most Holy Trinity; I greet you, sovereign Princess, to whom everything is subject in heaven and on earth; I greet you, safe haven for sinners, Our Lady of Mercy, who never repelled anyone. Sinner that I am, I bow at your feet, and I ask you to obtain from Jesus, your beloved Son, the contrition and forgiveness of all my sins, and divine wisdom. I dedicate myself completely to you, with everything I have. I take you today for my Mother and Lady. So treat me like the last of your children and the most obedient of your slaves. Answer, my Princess,heed the sighs of a heart that wishes to love you and serve you faithfully. Let no one say that, of all those who have come to you, let me be the first helpless. O my hope, O my life, O my faithful and immaculate Virgin Mary, defend me, nourish me, listen to me, instruct me, save me. So be it.
SMALL CROWN OF SS. VIRGIN
V. Grant me that I praise you, Holy Virgin.
A. Give me value against your enemies.
I believe in God.
I
Our Father.
Holy Mary.
You are blessed, Virgin Mary, who took the Lord, Creator of the world, into your bosom; you gave birth to the one who formed you, and you are a perpetual Virgin.
A. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
V. Rejoice a thousand times.
Holy Mary.
O holy and immaculate virginity, I do not know with what praise I can exalt you; for whoever the heavens cannot contain, you have taken him into your bosom.
A. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
V. Rejoice a thousand times.
Holy Mary.
You are all beautiful, Virgin Mary, and there is no stain in you.
V. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
A. Rejoice a thousand times.
Holy, Maria.
You have, O Most Holy Virgin, as many privileges as there are stars in the sky.
V. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
A. Rejoice a thousand times.
Glory to the Father.
II
Our Father.
Holy Mary.
Glory to you, Empress of heaven; lead us with you to the joys of paradise.
V. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
A. Rejoice a thousand times.
Holy Mary.
Glory to you, treasurer of the Lord's graces; give us part in your treasure.
V. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
A. Rejoice a thousand times.
Holy Mary.
Glory to you, mediator between God and men, make us all-powerful.
V. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
A. Rejoice a thousand times.
Holy Mary.
Glory to you, who crush heresies and the devil: be our kind guide.
V. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
A. Rejoice a thousand times.
Glory to the Father.
III
Our Father.
Holy Mary.
Glory to you, refuge for sinners: intercede for us before the Lord.
V. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
A. Rejoice a thousand times.
Holy Mary.
Glory to you, Mother of orphans; make the almighty Father favorable to us.
V. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
A. Rejoice a thousand times.
Holy Mary.
Glory to you, joy of the just; lead us with you to the joys of heaven.
V. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
A. Rejoice a thousand times.
Holy Mary.
Glory to you, our most helpful helper in life and death; lead us with you into the kingdom of heaven.
V. Rejoice, Virgin Mary.
A. Rejoice a thousand times.
Glory to the Father.
Let us pray.
Hail, Mary, Daughter of God the Father.
Hail, Mary, Mother of God the Son.
Hail, Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit.
Ave, Maria, temple of the Holy Trinity.
Holy Mary,
My lady, my dear, my love, Queen of my heart,
Mother, Life, sweetness and hope my dearest, my heart and my soul. I am all yours, and all that I have is yours, O Virgin over all blessed. So let your soul be in me to magnify the Lord; let your spirit be in me, to rejoice in God. Place yourself, O faithful Virgin, as a seal on my heart, so that, in you and for you, I may be found faithful to God.
Grant, O Mother of Mercy, to find me in the number of those you love, teach, guide, sustain and protect as children. Make him, through your love, despise all the consolations of the earth and aspire only to the heavenly ones; until, for the glory of the Father, Jesus Christ, your Son, be formed in me by the Holy Spirit, your most faithful Bridegroom, and by you, his most faithful Spouse.
So be it.
SUB TUUM
We seek your protection, Holy Mother of God; do not despise our pleas for our needs; but deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.
PRAYER TO JESUS LIVING IN MARY
O Jesus who live in Mary,
come and live in your servants,
in the spirit of Your holiness,
in the fullness of your strength,
in the perfection of Your ways,
in the truth of your virtues,
in the communion of your mysteries,
rule over all enemy power,
in Your spirit stop.
glory of the Father. Amen.
PRAYER TO JESUS
My lovely Jesus, allow me to address you, to testify to you the recognition for the grace you have given me, giving me your holy Mother for the devotion of slavery, to be my advocate with your majesty and the universal Complement of mine. great misery. Unhappy with me, Lord, I am so miserable that without this good Mother I would be infallibly lost. Yes, in everything Mary is needed by me: necessary, to appease you in your just wrath, for I have offended you so much, every day; necessary to end the eternal punishments of your Justice, which I deserve; necessary, to look at you, to speak to you, to ask you, to make you favorable and to please you; necessary to save my soul and that of others; necessary, in a word, to always do your holy will and seek your greatest glory in everything. Ah!if I could publish this mercy that you had with me throughout the universe; if everyone knew that without Maria, I would already be doomed; if I could give worthy thanksgiving for such a great benefit. Maria is in me, haec facta est mihi. Oh! what a treasure! What a consolation! And after that, wouldn't I give myself over to her? Oh! what ingratitude, my dear Savior! Better to die than this misfortune! I would rather die than live without being all of Mary.I would rather die than live without being all of Mary.I would rather die than live without being all of Mary.
A thousand and a thousand times I took it for all my good, as Saint John the Evangelist at the foot of the cross, and other times I surrendered myself to it. But, my good Jesus, if I have not yet done it according to your wishes, I do it now as you want me to do it. If you see anything in my soul and body that does not belong to this august Princess, I ask you to pull it out and throw it away, because everything that does not belong to Mary is unworthy of you.
O Holy Spirit, grant me all these graces; and plant, sprinkle and cultivate in my soul the lovely Mary, who is the tree of true life, so that it grows, blossoms and bears fruit in abundance. O Holy Spirit, give me a great devotion and a great predilection for your divine Spouse, a great support in your mother's breast and a continuous resource in your mercy, so that in her you may form Jesus Christ in me, great and powerful, to the fullness of your perfect age.
So be it.
Prayer to Mary for her faithful slaves
Hail, Mary, beloved daughter of the eternal Father; ave, Mary, admirable Mother of the Son; ave, Maria, most faithful wife of the Holy Spirit; bird, Mary, my dear Mother, my lovely Lady and powerful sovereign; bird, my joy, my glory, my heart and my soul!
You belong to me all out of mercy, and I belong to you all out of justice; but I don't belong to you yet; again I give myself to you whole, as a perpetual slave, with nothing to reserve for me or anyone else. If you see anything in me that does not belong to you, I beg you to take it away now, and to make you the absolute Lady of all that I have; to destroy and uproot and annihilate everything that displeases God; and to plant everything and promote and operate everything you like. May the light of your faith dispel the darkness of my spirit; may your profound humility take the place of my pride; may your sublime contemplation sustain the distractions of my vagabond imagination; may your continuous view of God fill my memory with his presence; that the fire of your heart expands and burns the lukewarmness and coldness of mine;let your virtues replace my sins; may your merits be my ornament and supplement before God. Finally, very dear and well-loved Mother, make sure, if possible, that you have no other spirit than yours, to know Jesus Christ and his divine wills; who has no soul but yours, to praise and glorify the Lord; who has no other heart than yours, to love God with a pure and ardent love like you. I do not ask you for visions or revelations or enjoyments or pleasures, not even spiritual ones. It is your privilege to see clearly, without darkness; enjoy fully, without bitterness; triumph gloriously at your Son's right hand in heaven, without any humiliation; dominate absolutely over angels, men and demons, without resistance, and, finally, to dispose of all the goods of God, without any restriction. Here, divine Mary,the great part that the Lord has given you that will not be taken away from you; and this delights me greatly. For my part, I want nothing on this earth but what you had, namely: to believe purely, without enjoying or seeing anything; to suffer happily, without the consolation of creatures; continually die to myself, without relaxation; and work resolutely, until death, for you, without any interest, as the most vile of slaves. The only grace that I ask of you, out of pure mercy, is that, every day and moment of my life, I say Amen three times: So be it to all that you did on earth while you lived on it. So be it, everything you do now in heaven. So be it, to all that you work in my soul, so that only you are in it to fully glorify Jesus in me, in time and in eternity. So be it.and this delights me greatly. For my part, I want nothing on this earth but what you had, namely: to believe purely, without enjoying or seeing anything; to suffer happily, without the consolation of creatures; continually die to myself, without relaxation; and work resolutely, until death, for you, without any interest, as the most vile of slaves. The only grace that I ask of you, out of pure mercy, is that, every day and moment of my life, I say Amen three times: So be it to all that you did on earth while you lived on it. So be it, everything you do now in heaven. So be it, to all that you work in my soul, so that only you are in it to fully glorify Jesus in me, in time and in eternity. So be it.and this delights me greatly. For my part, I want nothing on this earth but what you had, namely: to believe purely, without enjoying or seeing anything; to suffer happily, without the consolation of creatures; continually die to myself, without relaxation; and work resolutely, until death, for you, without any interest, as the most vile of slaves. The only grace that I ask of you, out of pure mercy, is that, every day and moment of my life, I say Amen three times: So be it to all that you did on earth while you lived on it. So be it, everything you do now in heaven. So be it, to all that you work in my soul, so that only you are in it to fully glorify Jesus in me, in time and in eternity. So be it.without enjoying or seeing anything; to suffer happily, without the consolation of creatures; continually die to myself, without relaxation; and work resolutely, until death, for you, without any interest, as the most vile of slaves. The only grace that I ask of you, out of pure mercy, is that, every day and moment of my life, I say Amen three times: So be it to all that you did on earth while you lived on it. So be it, everything you do now in heaven. So be it, to all that you work in my soul, so that only you are in it to fully glorify Jesus in me, in time and in eternity. So be it.without enjoying or seeing anything; to suffer happily, without the consolation of creatures; continually die to myself, without relaxation; and work resolutely, until death, for you, without any interest, as the most vile of slaves. The only grace that I ask of you, out of pure mercy, is that, every day and moment of my life, I say Amen three times: So be it to all that you did on earth while you lived on it. So be it, everything you do now in heaven. So be it, to all that you work in my soul, so that only you are in it to fully glorify Jesus in me, in time and in eternity. So be it.The only grace that I ask of you, out of pure mercy, is that, every day and moment of my life, I say Amen three times: So be it to all that you did on earth while you lived on it. So be it, everything you do now in heaven. So be it, to all that you work in my soul, so that only you are in it to fully glorify Jesus in me, in time and in eternity. So be it.The only grace that I ask of you, out of pure mercy, is that, every day and moment of my life, I say Amen three times: So be it to all that you did on earth while you lived on it. So be it, everything you do now in heaven. So be it, to all that you work in my soul, so that only you are in it to fully glorify Jesus in me, in time and in eternity. So be it.
MAGNIFICAT
My soul magnifies the Lord.
And my spirit is carried in holy joy in God my Savior.
Because he set his eyes on his humble slave; so all generations me
they will call it blessed.
Great wonders did the omnipotent, whose name is holy.
Whose mercy extends from generation to generation in all who fear him.
Thus he flaunts the power of his arm, upsetting the designs of the proud.
Overthrow the powerful from their seat, and exalt the humble.
Fill the needy and the rich with goods, leave them empty.
He decreed to exalt Israel his people, remembering his mercy.
To fulfill the promise he made to our parents, Abraham and all his
descendants.
Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Just as it was in the beginning, now and always, and for all
the centuries of the centuries. Amen.
PRAYER
Blessed Luiz de Montfort asking God for missionaries for his Company of Mary
Remember, Lord, remember your Congregation that belonged to you from the beginning, and that you have thought of from all eternity; that you hold in your omnipotent hand, when, with a word, you take the universe out of nothing; and that you were still hiding in your heart when your Son, dying on the cross, consecrated her for her death, and gave her, as a precious deposit, to the request of her most holy Mother: Memor esto Congregationis tuae quam possedisti ab initio .
Respond to the purposes of your mercy, raise up men of your right hand, such as you showed to some of your greatest servants, whom you gave prophetic lights to, a Saint Francis of Paula, a Saint Vincent Ferrer, a Saint Catherine of Sena, and to so many other great souls, in the last century and even in this one, in which we live.
Memento : Almighty God, remember this Company, bearing on it the omnipotence of your arm, which has not diminished, to give it light and produce it, and to lead it to perfection. Innova signa, immuta mirabilia, sentiamus adjutorium brachii tui.
O great God! that you can make from Abraham's stones many other children of Abraham, say one word like God, and good workers will soon come for your field, good missionaries for your Church.
Memento: God of goodness, remember your old mercies, and, for those same mercies, remember your Congregation; remember the repeated promises you have made to us, through your prophets and your own Son, to always respond favorably to all our just requests.
Remember the prayers that, for so many centuries, your men and women for this purpose have directed you; your vows, your sobs, your tears and your spilled blood, come to your presence and powerfully request your mercy. But remember above all your beloved son: Respice in faciem Christi fu i.
Behold your agony, your confusion, your loving complaint in the garden of Olives, when you said: Quae utilifas in sanguine meo ? His cruel death and highly shed blood cry out to you for mercy, so that, through this Congregation, his empire may be established on the rubble of that of his enemies.
Memento: Remember, Lord, this Community in the effects of your justice. Tempus faciendi, Domine, dissipaverunt legem tuam : it is time to fulfill what you promised. Your divine faith is transgressed; your despised Gospel; abandoned, your religion; torrents of iniquity flood the whole earth, and drag your servants; the whole land is desolate: Desolatione desolata est omnis terra ; wickedness is on a throne; your sanctuary is desecrated, and abomination has even entered the holy place. And so will you leave everything to abandon, righteous Lord, God of vengeance? Will everything eventually become like Sodom and Gomorrah?
Will you always shut up? Is it not for your will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven, and for your kingdom to come to us?
Did you not show some of your friends in advance a future renewal of your Church? Shouldn't Jews convert to the truth? Is this not the expectation of the Church?
Do not all the saints in heaven cry out to you: " Justice! Come ?" All the righteous on earth do not tell you: Amen, veni, Dominate ! Do not all creatures, even the most insensitive, groan under the weight of Babylon's innumerable sins, asking for your coming to restore all things? Omnis creatura ingemiscit.
Lord Jesus, memento Congregationis tuae . Remember to give your Mother a new Company, in order to renew all things for her, and in order to end the years of grace for Mary most holy, just as you started them for her.
From Matri tuae liberas, alioquin moriar : give children and servants to your Mother: when not, make me die. Da Matri tuae . It is for your Mother that I implore you. Remember your insides and your breast, and do not reject my pleas; remember who you are Son, and listen to me; remember what it is to you and what you are to it, and fulfill my vows. What do I ask of you? nothing in my favor, all for your glory. What do I ask of you? what can you, and even dare to say, what you must give me, as the true God that you are, to whom all power was given in heaven and on earth, and as the best of children, who love your Mother infinitely.
What do I ask of you? frees: Priests, free from your freedom, detached from everything, without a father, without a mother, without brothers, without sisters, without relatives according to the flesh, without friends according to the world, without goods, without embarrassment, without care, and even without will own.
you release : Slaves of your love and will; men according to your heart, who, without their own will to defile and stop them, execute all your wills and overthrow all your enemies, like new Davis, with the staff of the cross and the sling of the most holy rosary in their hands: In baculo Cruce et in virga Virgine .
liberas : Souls high from the earth and filled with the heavenly dew, which, without obstacles, fly from all sides, moved by the breath of the Holy Spirit. In part, it was from them that your prophets became aware when they asked: Qui sunt isti qui ut nubes valant? - Ubt erat impetus spiritus, illuc gradiebantur.
You release : Souls always at your hand, always ready to obey you, at the voice of your superiors, like Samuel: Praesto sum ; always ready to run and suffer everything for you and with you, like the apostles: Eamus et nos, ut moriamur cum eo.
Liberas : True children of Mary, your most holy Mother, begotten and conceived by her charity, brought to her breast, attached to her breast, nourished by her milk, educated by her solicitude, supported by her arms and enriched by her graces.
Liberas : True servants of the Blessed Virgin, who, like many others are Dominic, go everywhere, with the lucid and burning beam of the holy Gospel in their mouths, and in their hands the holy rosary, barking, like faithful dogs, against wolves who only seek to tear apart the flock of Jesus Christ; that go, burning like fires, and lighting the darkness of this world as suns; and that, through true devotion to Mary most holy, that is, an inner devotion, without hypocrisy; outside, without criticism; prudent, without ignorance; tender, without indifference; constant, without versatility, and holy, without presumption, crush, wherever they are, the head of the ancient serpent, so that the curse you cast on it is entirely fulfilled.lnimicitias panam inter te et mulierem, et semen tuum et semen illius; ipsa will contain caput tuum.
It is true, great God, that the world will lay, as predicted, great snares on the heel of this mysterious woman, that is, the small Company of her children that will appear near the end of the world; it is true that there will be great enmities between this blessed posterity of the most holy Mary and the cursed race of Satan: but this is an all-divine enmity, the only one that you are the author of: pan amnimicitias . However, these combats and persecutions of the children of Belial's race against your Most Holy Mother's race will only serve to better make the power of your grace shine, the courage of the virtue of your servants, and the authority of your Mother, since that of these, from the beginning of the world, the mission of crushing that proud, through the humility of his heart: Ipsa will contain caput tuum.
Alioquin moriar. It is no better for me to die than to see you, my God, every day so cruel and with impunity offended, and to see myself every day at risk of being swept away by the torrents of iniquity that increase at every moment, without anything. oppose them? Ah! a thousand deaths would be more tolerable to me. Send me help from heaven, or else call my soul. Yes, if I did not have the hope that, sooner or later, you will hear this poor sinner, in the interests of your glory, as you have heard so many others: lste pauper clamavit et Dominus exaudivit eum , I would ask you in the same way as the prophet: Tolle animate meam.
The confidence I have in your mercy, however, makes me say with another prophet: Non moriar, sed vivam, et narrabo opera Domini ; until with old Simeon he can say: Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine ... in pace, quia viderunt oculi mei, etc.
Memento: Divine Holy Spirit, remember to .produce and form children of God, with Mary, your divine and faithful Spouse. You formed Jesus Christ, head of those predestined with her and in her, and with her and in her you must form all her members; no divine person engenders Divinity, but only you, only you, form all divine persons, outside of Divinity, and all the saints who have existed and will exist until the end of the world, are so many products of your love united to Most Holy Mary. The special kingdom of God the Father lasted until the flood, and was ended by a flood of water; the kingdom of Jesus Christ was ended by a flood of blood, but your kingdom, Spirit of the Father and of the Son, is continuing at present, and it will be ended by a flood of fire, love and justice.
When will this deluge of fire of pure love come, which you must ignite throughout the land so gently and so vehemently that all nations, Turks, idolaters, and the Jews themselves will burn and convert? You are not absent from heat and jus.
Accendatur : Let this divine fire be ignited that Jesus Christ came to bring to the earth, before you ignite the fire of your anger, which will reduce everything to ashes. Emitte Spiritum tuum, et creabuntur, et renovabis fadem terrae. Send that Spirit of fire to earth, to create priests of fire in it, whose ministry is on the face of the earth renewed and reformed by your Church.
Memento : Congregationis tua e: It is a congregation, an assembly, a selection, a choice of predestined ones that you must make in the world and the world; I chose the world. It is a flock of peaceful lambs that you must gather among so many wolves: a company of chaste pigeons and royal eagles among so many crows; a swarm of laborious bees among so many drones; a herd of swift deer among so many tortoises; a battalion of fearless lions among so many timid hares. Ah! Sir: It congregates in nationibus; gather us together, unite, that all glory may be yielded to your holy and powerful name.
You have predicted this illustrious Company to your prophet, who speaks of it in very obscure and mysterious, but divine terms: " Pluviam voluntarily segregate, God, hereditati tu.e, et infirmata est, tu vero perfecisti eam. Animalia your habitabunt in ea. Parasti in ea. dulcedine your pauperi, God Dominus dabit verbum evangelizantibus virtute fine, Rex virtutum, dilecti dilecti, et speciei domus dividere spolia. If dormiatis inter medias cliores, pennre columbre deargentat.e, later dorsi ej us in pallore auri. super eam, level dealbabuntur in Selmon. Mons Dei, mons pinguis; mons coagulatus, mons pinguis; ut quid suspicamini montes coagulatos? mons in quo beneplacitum est Deo habitare in eo, etenirn Dominus habitabit in finem " (Ps 67,10-17) .
What, Lord, is this voluntary rain that you have separated and chosen for your weakened inheritance but these missionary saints, sons of Mary, your Spouse, whom you must gather and separate from the world, for the sake of your Church, so weakened and tainted by the crimes of your children?
Which animals and poor people will live in your inheritance, and be nourished there with the divine sweetness that you have prepared for them, if not those poor missionaries abandoned to Providence and overflowing with your divine delights; these mysterious animals of Ezekiel, who will have the humanity of the 'man, for his disinterested and benevolent charity towards his neighbor; the lion's courage for his holy wrath and for his ardent and prudent zeal against the demons and children of Babylon; the strength of the ox for its apostolic works and for the mortification against the flesh; and finally the agility of the eagle, for its contemplation on God?
Such are the missionaries you want to send to your Church. They will have the eyes of a man for their neighbor, the eyes of a lion against your enemies, the eyes of an ox against themselves, and the eyes of an eagle for you. These imitators of the apostles will preach, virtute fine, virtute magna , with great strength and virtue, and so great, so splendid, that they will move all spirits and all hearts wherever they preach. You will give them your word: Dabis verbum , and even your mouth and your wisdom: Dabo vobis os et sapientiam, cui non poterunt resistere omnes adversarii vestri , which none of your enemies can resist.
Among these favorites of yours, O most lovable Jesus, it is that you will take your complacencies as King of virtues, since in all your missions they will have nothing but object to give you all the glory of the victories they have achieved over your enemies: Rex virtutum dilecti dilecti, et speciei domus dividere spolia.
For their abandonment to Providence and for their devotion to the Most Holy Mary, they will have the silver wings of the dove: inter medios cleros, pennae columbae deargentatae: that is, the purity of doctrine and customs; and the back is golden, et posteriora dorsi ejus in pallore auri : that is, perfect charity towards others, to endure their defects, and great love for Jesus Christ, to carry his cross.
Only you, O Jesus, as King of heaven and King of kings, will you separate these missionaries from the world, like so many other kings, to make them whiter than the snow on Salmon mountain, mountain of God, abundant mountain and fertile, strong and coagulated mountain, a mountain in which God is delighted, and in which He dwells and will dwell until the end.
What, Lord God of truth, is this mysterious mountain that you tell us so many wonders, if not Mary, your most beloved Wife, whose base you have placed on top of the highest mountains?
Fundamenta ejus in montibus sanctis ... Mons in vertice montium.
Happy and a thousand times happy are the priests that you have so well chosen and predestined to live with you in this abundant and divine mountain, to become kings of eternity there, through the contempt of the earth and the elevation in God; to become whiter than snow there by joining Mary, your wife, all beautiful, all pure and all immaculate; to enrich themselves there with the dew of heaven and the fruitfulness of the earth, of all the temporal and eternal blessings of which the Most Holy Mary is full.
It is from the top of that mountain that they will launch, like new Moses, by their ardent pleas, darts against their enemies, to prostrate them or to convert them; it is on this mountain that they will learn from the very mouth of Jesus Christ, who is always there, the intelligence of his eight beatitudes; it is on that mountain of God that they will be transfigured with him, as in Tabor, that will die with him, as in Calvary, and that will rise with him to heaven, as in the mountain of Olives.
Memento: Congregationis tuae. Only you are responsible for forming this assembly by your grace; if a man gets to work before you, nothing will be done; if you want to mix what is his with what is yours, you will ruin everything, you will destroy everything. Your Congregationis : it is your work, great God: Opus tuum fac, do a work that is all divine; gather, call, summon your chosen domains from all parts to make an army of them against your enemies.
See, Lord God of armies, the captains who form complete companies, the potentates who gather numerous armies, the navigators who assemble entire fleets, the merchants who congregate in large numbers in markets and fairs! How many bandits, wicked, drunks, and libertines are massively united against you every day, and this with such ease and readiness! Just let out a whistle, beat a drum, show the blunt end of a sword, promise a dry branch of laurels, offer a piece of yellow or white soil; in a nutshell, a smoke of honor, an interest in nothing, a petty animal pleasure that is in view, is enough to gather bandits, gather soldiers, gather battalions, summon merchants, fill houses and markets, and cover the land and sea of an innumerable crowd of reprobates, who,although all divided among themselves, either by distancing themselves from places, or by the diversity of geniuses, or by their own interests, they unite, however, and bond until death, to make war with you under the banner and under the command of the devil .
And us, great God! although there is so much glory and so much profit, so much sweetness and advantage in serving you, will hardly anyone take your side? Will almost any soldier enlist in your ranks? Almost no Saint Michael will cry out, in the midst of his brothers, full of zeal for your glory: Did you God?
Ah! let it cry out everywhere: Fire! fire! fire! help! help! help! Fire in the house of God! fire in souls! fire even in the sanctuary! Help, they murder our brother! help, beheading our children! help, who stab our good Father! Si quis est Do mini, jungatur mihi: come all the good priests who are scattered throughout the Christian world, those who are currently at war, and those who have withdrawn from the battle to plunge into deserts and wilderness, come all these good priests and unite with us.
Vis unita fit fortior, so that we form, under the banner of the cross, an army in good battle order and well disciplined, in order to attack the enemies of God who have already touched the rebound: " Sonuerunt, frenduerunt, fremuerunt, rnu ltiplicati sunt Dirumpamus links eorum et p rojiciamus to nobis jugum ipsorum. That habitat in crelis irridebit eos. Exsurgat Deus, et issipentur inimici ejus. Exsurge, Domi.ne, quare obdormis? Exsurge ".
Arise, Lord: why do you seem to sleep?
Arise in all your might, in all your mercy and justice, to form a select company of guards who will watch over your house, defend your glory and save so many souls that cost all your blood, so that there is only a sheepfold and a shepherd, and may all give you glory in your holy temple: Et in Templo ejus omnes dicant gloriam.
Amen.