FORTY-NINTH LESSON
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
"Behold thy mother."—ST. JOHN XIX. 27.
Most holy Virgin Mary, I am now about to speak to my children of thy glory and of thy love, about to teach them to cherish thee, to pray to thee. Thou knowest that the dearest wish of my heart would be to instil into their young minds that strong and tender devotion towards thee, which here below is both our safeguard and our support. But to ensure success, O Mary, I require the help of thy mighty protection, and I implore it today. Vouchsafe to bless this instruction, so that it may have the power to persuade and to save; vouchsafe also to bless these dear children, who will soon, I hope, love thee with the same veneration they bear their mother; grant that under thy protection they may grow in goodness and in innocence, by the side of the infant Jesus.
The whole of our devotion towards the Blessed Virgin may be wound up, in the two names so often given her by the Church: "Mary mother of God; Mary our Mother." We must therefore honor Mary as the mother of God and implore her power; we should love Mary as a tender mother, and confide in her goodness.
What grandeur is to be compared to that of being the Mother of God, my children? Have you ever thought of this? Will you ever be able to realize it thoroughly? The Blessed Virgin gave birth to God made man to save us. She nursed and carried in her arms the Holy One who created the world; and the God whom all obey in heaven and on earth was obedient to her. If we show great honor to princes, and to all those who rank high in the world, how much more respect, praise and honor, ought we not to show Mary, who is so far above all other creatures in her glory, to Mary the Queen of the Angels, seated in heaven beside the throne of God.
After glorifying the Blessed Virgin as the mother of God, let us, my children, have recourse to her divine protection; let us implore her power. Jesus was, on earth, the model of a good son; His first miracle was done at His mother's desire. It is for our good, that Jesus wishes His mother to be in heaven the instrument of His favors. He wishes her always to plead for us, without fear of being refused: and so, my children, see the confidence of all Christians in the power of the Blessed Virgin.
When the earth is drenched by too much rain, or dried up by the heat, so that the farmer is afraid of having a bad harvest; when a destroying plague rages over a whole city: every one calls aloud to Mary, her banner is raised up, and long processions follow it everywhere, while crowds surround her altars. Fervent prayers are addressed to Mary; to Mary, called by the Church at all times Help of Christians.
When a family is in grief and full of anxiety at seeing one of its members dangerously ill, to whom are prayers addressed, to obtain the loved one's return to health? To Mary, Health of the sick.
When any unhappy creature feels ready to sink under the weight of some deep sorrow, to whom does he open his bruised heart? To Mary, Comforter of the afflicted.
And last of all, the culprit who weeps over his fault, and who still fears God's justice, to whom can he turn for comfort? To Mary, Refuge of sinners.
Yes, my children, in all his wants, his troubles, his ailings, and, alas! in his shortcomings, at each instant of his life, and in the hour of death, the Christian turns to Mary. Her name alone comforts him, and gives him confidence: he loves to pronounce it. Can this surprise us? No my children, not in the least; Mary is all powerful, for she is the mother of God; she is also full of goodness, for she is our mother. What mother shows more tenderness to her children? Never is she implored in vain; never does she turn a deaf ear to our prayers. Thus it is that the faithful are eager to show their gratitude, by creating everywhere magnificent monuments to glorify her. In Catholic countries, there is not a village without a chapel, an altar, or some simple image consecrated to Mary; not a single place where she is not venerated under the names of Our Lady of Good Hope, Our Lady of Deliverance, Our Lady of Consolation, of Miracles, of Piety.
There are chapels where, at stated times every year, thousands of the faithful come on pilgrimages, from afar and on foot. My children, let us follow them. How happy are these good pilgrims when at the end of their long journey, they perceive in the midst of the trees the roof of the humble chapel in which they hope to obtain a long-wished-for grace! They enter it singing the praise of the Mother of God, and kneel in crowds on the stone pavement.
The faithful who have visited this chapel before them, have left affecting testimonies of their gratitude to Mary for the favors obtained through her prayers.
Numbers of pictures, inscriptions, votive offerings, cover the walls and the pillars. The statue of the blessed Virgin, placed above the altar, is covered with splendid garments, and on the neck of the infant Jesus, who is in her arms, hangs the modest silver cross, sole ornament of the poor fisherman's wife. Sailors saved from a dreadful shipwreck, offer Mary a little boat in carved wood. A poor young cripple, led formerly by his parents has in this holy place regained strength and health; in remembrance of his miraculous cure, he hangs up near Mary's altar his now useless crutches. The recollection of this miracle, the sight of these poor offerings, help to increase still more the fervor and confidence of the pilgrims.
At present, my dear children, you have neither a pilgrimage to make or a miracle to ask for; but you are in need of many graces, more precious still than those who have but health in view.
Unfortunately, you are still mastered by many faults which prevent your becoming the pious and dutiful child God wishes you to be. To be able to cure yourselves of them you must implore the Blessed Virgin. Pray to her unceasingly, address your-selves to her lovingly, with entire and filial confidence. You are, her children, both by the will of God, and by the wish of your own mother. At your birth, her piety consecrated you to the Blessed Virgin, and called down on your head her divine blessings. Poor mother! she was fully aware that her most devoted care, even the sacrifice of her life, could not preserve you from all danger, obtain for you every grace; that is why, from your earliest years, she wished to place you under the protection of Mary, the most powerful and best of mothers.
We cannot honor the Blessed Virgin better, my dear children, than by trying to reproduce in our conduct the virtues of which she has left us so many examples, for she prefers our sanctification to our homage. However, it is our duty to glorify Mary by the prayers the Church addresses to her, and by the holy practices established in her honor. Not being able to explain them all here, I shall merely speak of two of them: the Angelical salutation, and the holy Rosary.
The Angelical salutation is a part of our daily prayers. The Church places it in the lips of her children directly after the Lord's prayer, no doubt to show how dear it is to her. This prayer is called the Angelical salutation or Hail Mary, because it begins by the words the angel Gabriel addressed to the Blessed Virgin when announcing to her that she was to become the mother of God. We repeat the Angel's words, because we know of none more glorious for our mother. We hail from the depths of our heart this Virgin full of grace, so beloved by the Lord, mother of the divine Infant who came to save us; and then remembering our pressing need of her support, we add with the Church: Holy Mary, mother of God, be also our mother, pray for us, for us poor sinners, now that thy protection is so necessary to us, and also in the hour of our death; that we may be united to thee in heaven.
Amidst the practices of devotion towards the Blessed Virgin, one of those, which are the most generally adopted among Christians, is the Rosary, of which the Beads are an abridgment. This devotion is a very ancient one, my children; it was inspired to St. Dominic by God himself, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, as a powerful means to convert heretics, who were then very numerous; and who, unfortunately, used to attack religion in every country. Such miraculous effects were obtained by this prayer, that it soon spread all over the Church, and was adopted by the greatest saints and the most powerful sovereigns. I can not recommend to you too highly this holy practise: use it from your childhood. No doubt the whole of the Rosary would fatigue your attention, but a single decade, ten Hail Marys, said daily and piously, cannot be so very difficult, and will draw on you the blessings of Mary.
You will perhaps meet with some persons, who are not, like you, in the habit of practising this old and simple act of devotion "What is the good," will they say, "to repeat thus the same prayer? the rosary is of use only to those who do not know how to read, it is the prayer of the poor." Such is often the language of the world.
Why repeat always the same prayer? Well, my children, the poor blind man seated on the road by which Jesus was to pass, did not vary his prayer more than we do, when he implored our Lord: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" and he was cured.
The rosary is only good for those who know not how to read: it is the prayer of the poor! What then, O Lord! are there to be prayers for the wealthy and prayers for the poor? At the foot of thine altar ought not holy equality reign? Are we not, O my God, all of us in thine eyes poor creatures, covered with sins, overwhelmed with wants? The rosary is the prayer of the poor! but that is exactly what makes it so dear to me, and that is why I love to say it, so much the better, yes—so much the better, my children, if, thanks to the simplicity of our prayers, and at sight of the humble rosary we hold in our hands, the Lord may take us for some poor people! Blessed, a thousand times blessed, should we be if we have some kind of resemblance to those good poor, who are themselves the image of Jesus Christ.
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