Part 12

The Blessed Juliana had a special affection for this Canticle. Speaking of it one day to the Superior of a convent, she declared that she would not sacrifice the sweetness she experienced in reciting it for all the gold that the convent could contain. She repeated it nine times a day, in memory of the nine months that the Most Holy Virgin bore the Redeemer of the world in her womb; and she desired ardently that all would follow her example, believing it impossible that Mary would not hear those who share in the joy she manifests in this Canticle.

Cardinal J. de Vitry, in the life of Ste. Marie de Ogniez, relates that when this Saint was near death, and was singing the _Magnificat_, the Mother of God appeared to her and told her to receive Extreme Unction, and she remained by her bedside in company with her Divine Son until the Saint expired.

St. Anselm relates of himself that when he was afflicted with various infirmities, which occasioned him the most acute suffering, he was perfectly cured by reciting the _Magnificat._

_Prayer._--August Mother of God, you are the Queen of Mercy, and I am the most miserable of sinners, and consequently your subject. You should then have greater compassion for me than for anyone less sinful. _Eia ergo advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte._

O, our refuge and our advocate, turn one look of mercy towards us; interest yourself in our behalf; be moved to compassion for our evils, and obtain their cure. Deliver us from our miseries, and we shall never cease to sing the hymn of praise to your mercy, of which we have experienced the salutary effects. Amen.

_Ejaculation._--Pray for me, O Mother of Grace, O Mother of Mercy!

_Practice._--Whilst you fulfil the duties of your state in imitation of Martha, endeavour to have your mind and heart turned to Jesus as Mary had.

TWENTY-FOURTH DAY.

MARY IN HER SLEEP.

WE can begin to love God in this life, but it is only in the next that we shall be able to love Him perfectly. In the expression _we_ I do not intend to speak of the Most Holy Virgin, because she is the Daughter of beautiful Love, the one only dove, the perfect Spouse. Yes; the charity of Mary surpassed that of the Seraphim. 'If all the daughters have gathered riches, thou hast surpassed them all.'

The Saints and Angels are compared to stars, but Mary is beautiful as the moon, distinguished amidst the Saints as the moon amidst the stars. As her charity surpasses in heaven that of all the blessed, so did she exercise it with greater excellence on earth; for never having sinned, even venially, her love never met with any obstacle, and thus increased at every instant. What progress, then, must she not have made in the exercise of holy love? Say not that the Most Holy Virgin, like all men, was subject to the necessities of life. It may be said, in the words of the Canticles, that her sleep was the sleep of Love, the celestial Spouse saying, _'I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not nor awake my love till she please.'_

The Queen of heaven and earth granted to her chaste body that repose only which was necessary to restore its strength, in order to serve God more perfectly; and we may say that her sleep never interrupted the exercise of holy love, because it proceeded from an act of most excellent charity. Does not St. Augustine teach that we must love our body, that it may serve us in those works which God requires of us, and because it forms part of ourselves, and is one day to share our eternal felicity?

The Most Holy Virgin, indeed, had other reasons to love her body with a virtuous love, because it was not only pure, submissive, and docile to all the functions of holy love and embalmed by Divine sweetness, but it was, moreover, the living source of the Sacred Body of Our Saviour. Thus it belonged to her in an incomparably singular manner, so that before yielding to sleep she could truly say to it, 'Rest from your fatigues, O throne of the Divinity, tabernacle of the new Covenant, ark of all Sanctity; recruit your strength through the repose which I allow you to take.'

Ah! sweet Jesus! what must have been the thoughts of your Most Holy Mother whilst sleep refreshed her body and her heart was watching! We may imagine that her most frequent thought was of her Divine Son, Who had so often slept upon her bosom as the lamb reposes upon the soft wool of its mother. She would also feel that she rested in His adorable side, opened by the lance on Calvary, as a white dove rests in the cleft of a rock. Thus her sleep, which was a sweet repose and an agreeable solace to her body, became a kind of ecstasy to her soul, through the spiritual effects and operations it produced.

If she also represented to herself her future glory, like Joseph, the saviour of Egypt, and saw herself clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet--that is to say, surrounded by the glory of her Divine Son, and resplendent with the glory of the Saints who form her crown as she rules over the universe, of which she is the Queen; or if, like Jacob, she foresaw the wonderful fruits that Angels and men would obtain through the Redemption, O! conceive, if possible, children of Mary, the delights caused by such spiritual entertainments!

There is one kind of diamond which has this special property--that nothing can diminish its fine water or the brilliancy which nature has given it. The Heart of the Virgin Mother, like this diamond, never ceased to glow with the sacred fire of love that she had received from her Divine Son. However, though the brilliancy of precious stones does not diminish, yet it does not increase; whilst the love of the Most Holy Virgin never remained in the same state, but made continual and incredible progress until she entered heaven. With good reason, then, is Our Lady called the Mother of pure Love--that is to say, the most lovable amongst all creatures, and the most beloved by her only Son, Who is loved by her as the most lovable and loving of Sons.

SPIRITUAL FLOWERS.

Forgetfulness of God is the sleep of the soul. The soul has been asleep all the time that it has forgotten its God.--_St. Augustine._

The sleep of the Saints is a prayer before God.--_St. Jerome._

It is great blindness and misery to seek repose where it is impossible to find it.--_St. Teresa._

EXAMPLE.

_Devotion to the 'Salve Regina.'_

St. Bernard is celebrated for his love of the Blessed Virgin and for the praises he has rendered to her. His language is of such sweetness, that it surpasses that of all preceding ages for beauty and tenderness in discoursing of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This saint seems to have gathered together and made his own all the most loving affections of the most fervent servants. Mary was his ruling thought, and he could not restrain the transports of his heart when he spoke of her. The very mention of her name sufficed to render him ecstatic. With good reason, then, did Peter the Abbot of St. Remigius, at Rheims, say to one of St. Bernard's adversaries: 'If you have the courage to touch the pupil of Mary's eye, write against St. Bernard.'

This Saint was commissioned to preach the second general Crusade throughout Europe, and when he had traversed France, Belgium and the Rhenish countries, he retired to the Abbey of Effinghem, to recollect his soul in that pious solitude. One evening the Monks were moved to tears by a discourse of St. Bernard's in praise of Mary, and they begged him to intone the _Salve Regina_, which they sang every evening before her image. As the Saint could not excuse himself, he devoutly intoned the _Salve_ with his powerful voice, and was accompanied by all the Monks. When the sweet words _Et Jesum benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exilium ostende_ had been sung, all were silent (because at that time the anthem ended with these words). However, the inspired voice of Bernard continued, and he gave expression to the sentiments of his heart in the three invocations with which it is now concluded: _O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria!_ These words were afterwards adopted by the whole Church.

It is in commemoration of this event that the _Salve Regina_ is solemnly sung every evening in the Cathedral of Spire.

St. Vincent de Paul used to say that no prayer is so suitable to us miserable exiles in this valley of tears as this: _Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae . . . Ad te clamamus, exules filii Hevae._

St. Philip Neri, having heard the confession of a famous criminal, spoke thus to him: 'My son, I shall require but little from you, and if you fulfil it I assure you that you will be saved. Promise me to place all your confidence in the Most Blessed Virgin, the Mother of Divine Grace, and for this purpose recite the _Salve Regina_ seven times every day in her honour, and kiss the ground the same number of times, saying: "I may die this moment."' The penitent made the promise and kept it. He died holily fourteen years after, full of gratitude and love towards his good Mother Mary.

_Prayer._--Most amiable Heart of Mary, object of the complacency of the adorable Trinity, and worthy of the veneration of Angels and of men; Heart like unto that of Jesus Christ and its most perfect image; Heart full of goodness and compassion for our miseries! Oh, break the ice of our hearts, turn our affections towards the adorable Heart of Our Saviour, and impress on them the love of your virtues. Watch over Holy Church, protect it, and be to it an impregnable fortress, so that it may be secure amidst all the assaults of its enemies. Be you our way to God, our succour in our trials, our consolation in sufferings, our strength in temptations, and our refuge in persecutions. Above all things assist us at the point of death, when hell will exert all its efforts for our eternal ruin. Let us then, indeed, experience the power you have over the Heart of Jesus, that we may find a secure asylum in the bosom of His Mercy, and then, with you, praise Him throughout ages and ages. Amen.

_Ejaculation._--I sleep, O Mother, but my heart watches.

_Practice._--Endeavour to be reflecting upon some eternal truth when you fall asleep.

TWENTY-FIFTH DAY.

MARY ON CALVARY IS THE MOTHER OF ALL CHRISTIANS.

OUR Beloved Saviour had instituted the Sacrament of Love that He might remain amid His children. He had poured forth all His Blood for us, and He wished moreover to bequeath us a legacy in the last Testament of His Love. But what more could He give us? He casts a compassionate look upon His tender Mother, who stands immovable at the foot of the Cross with His beloved disciple. It is not to enrich her with His grace, for she already possessed it most excellently; nor is it to promise her glory, she was sure of it; but it is to infuse into her heart, before He died, a more tender and ardent love for men than she yet possessed. 'Woman,' says He to her, pointing to the beloved disciple, _'behold your son!'_ What an exchange was this! The servant instead of the Only Son--the creature in place of the Creator! And yet she does not refuse it, well knowing that she accepted for her children, in the person of John, all the followers of the Cross of Jesus, and that she was to become the beloved Mother of all Christians.

Although Our Lady gave birth to none but our adorable Saviour, yet, in a spiritual sense, she brought forth all Christians in the Person of Our Saviour; because this Blessed Seed has begotten us all by His death. A seed when planted produces a tree, from which are produced other seeds, all of which may be said to belong to the original fruit from which the tree came forth. Thus, as the Most Holy Virgin brought forth this mystic Seed, which when cast on earth, budded and brought forth many other seeds, she has consequently brought us all forth and has become the Mother of us all. How much we ought to love the Son and the Mother! for they are our Divine parents, and it is impossible to love one without loving the other. [1]

As Holy Church wishes to teach us to go to Jesus through Mary, she directs that the Angelical Salutation should follow the _Our Father_, that we may thus petition, through her, for all benefits, both spiritual and temporal, as far as these latter are conducive to our eternal salvation. We also implore the intercession of Mary in order to receive the Holy Ghost, as it was through her that St. Elizabeth received His gifts.

Honour and revere with especial love the holy and glorious Virgin Mary, for she is the Mother of Our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and therefore our most excellent Mother. Let us then have recourse to her as little children; let us cast ourselves upon her bosom on every occasion, and at every moment, with perfect confidence. Let us appeal to her maternal love, endeavour to imitate her virtues, and cherish in our heart the true sentiments of children.

In the ancient Law much honour was paid to the Ark, in which were preserved the manna, the rod of Aaron, and the tables of the Law. With much greater reason should we honour this living Ark of the new Covenant. Indeed, what does the manna prefigure but the Divinity of the Son of God, come down from heaven to unite Himself with our humanity? He is, also, the Miraculous Rod and the Living Stone upon which the commandments of the Law of Grace were written, being engraved upon His Sacred Body by the scourges, the thorns, the nails, and the lance. The immaculate bosom of Our Lady is then incomparably more worthy of honour than the ancient ark which prefigured it.

O Most Holy and Most Happy Lady, raised in Paradise to the highest degree of beatitude and happiness! we beg you to have compassion on us who groan in the desert of this world. You are in the abundance of delights, and we in the abyss of miseries; obtain for us strength to endure our tribulations virtuously, always leaning on your Beloved Son, the only pledge of our hopes and remedy of our evils. O Glorious Virgin, pray for the Church, assist the Holy Father, the Prelates, Bishops, and all Superiors; and assist England especially, which by your devoted servant St. Edward, was consecrated to you as your dowry: _Dota Mariae_. (Translator.)

You are the Mother of Jesus, Who has deigned to become our Brother, and hence you are our Mother; why, then, shall we not cast ourselves into your arms with perfect confidence, invoking your maternal love and imitating your virtues? O God, what a blessing for us to be sons of such a Mother! If we love and serve her with a truly filial love, she will enrich us with her favours. And, meanwhile, let us present her with the flowers of every virtue: but, above all, with the lily of purity, the rose of ardent charity, and the violets of holy humility and simplicity. She loves nothing so much as hearts deepened by humility, opened by simplicity, and enlarged by charity; and she prefers to be in the company of souls near the manger and at the foot of the Cross; that is, with the poor and the afflicted, in order to succour and console them.

[1] Happy the soul who, like a good child in regard of her parents, sees only Jesus and Mary, converses only with Jesus and Mary, and whose only joy and desire in this world is to know Mary in Jesus and Jesus in Mary. This is a wonderful means, given us by God, of spending our lives holily during our sorrowful sojourn in this present life.-- (J. J. OLIER.)

SPIRITUAL FLOWERS.

Mary is like a lily amidst thorns: she loves and suffers at the same time. When the thorns are blown about by the wind, they tear the lily on all sides; but it revenges itself by causing to exhale, through the apertures of its wounds, a sweet fragrance, which perfumes the thorns that have so cruelly wounded it. In imitation of Mary, figured by the lily amidst thorns, let your only revenge for your afflictions be to increase your love for those who are the cause of your pains.--_Pere Avrillion._

Mary is compared to the white lily, on account of her innocence and exemption from all sin; and as the lily is beautiful amongst the thorns where it has sprung up, so was Mary distinguished amidst the women of Judea. The lily loses nothing of its whiteness, although amongst thorns, and the august Virgin, tortured in the Person of her Son, by the Jewish Deicides, preserved the innocency of her soul and the purity of her heart, rendering good for evil.--_St. Francis of Sales._

Mary is that most beautiful and lofty cedar, from which God detached the finest branch, to transplant it on Calvary.--_The same._

Lose not sight of eternity, and the adversities of this life will not trouble you.--_The same._

EXAMPLE.

_The 'Regina Coeli.'_

Baronius and St. Gregory of Nyssa relate that in the year 690 the city of Rome was in danger of becoming a desert, on account of the number of persons who became victims to a terrible pestilence. St. Gregory, surnamed the Great, successor to Pope Gelasius II., who had fallen a victim to this disease, saw that all human precautions and resources were of no avail, and he resolved to have recourse to the Mother of God. He gave orders that the picture of the Most Holy Virgin--which is believed to have been painted by St. Luke--should be carried in a general procession of all the Clergy and laity, as far as Santa Maria Maggiore. The violence of the plague was such that eighty persons perished during the procession; but before its termination an Angel was seen in human form above Adrian's Tower (called afterwards the Castle of St. Angelo, in memory of this event), sheathing a sword tinged with blood, as in the time of David; and from that moment the pestilence completely ceased. At the same time many voices were heard in the air, singing: _Regina coeli, laetare, alleluia; quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia; resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia_-- 'Rejoice, O Queen of Heaven, for He Whom you deserved to bear has risen, as He said, from the grave; God be praised.' The Holy Pontiff immediately added: _Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia_--'Pray to God for us, God be praised.'

This having occurred at Easter, the Church from that time ordered all the Clergy and faithful to recite this Antiphon during Paschal season.

_Prayer._--Oh! most desolate of Mothers! what a sword has pierced your Heart! All the blows which wounded your Son Jesus fell upon you. By His pains you were tortured, by His wounds you were torn. His last adieu renewed all your sorrows; but when He breathed His last sigh with what anguish was your heart oppressed, O Mother of love and of sorrow! Obtain, I beg of you, that I may follow your example in loving and suffering! Yes, Queen of Martyrs, let me share your martyrdom. Love gave you the Cross, let the Cross fill my heart with love; and if, to enable me to love, it be necessary that I suffer and die, obtain for me this grace, that I may love all that comes to me from God, whether it be sorrows, afflictions, or death. Amen.

_Ejaculation._--Pray for me, O Queen of Martyrs!

_Practice._--When you are tempted to complain, or to be impatient under opposition, reflect upon Mary at the foot of the Cross.

TWENTY-SIXTH DAY.

MARY AFTER THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST.

GOD placed two beautiful luminaries in the heavens on the fourth day of the Creation; one called the _greater_, the other the _lesser light_; the former to rule over the day, the latter, over the night. Although God decreed that darkness should succeed the day, He, the increated Light, would not allow the night to be entirely deprived of light. When, in His Providence, He wished to create the spiritual world in His Church, He placed in it, as in a Divine firmament, two great luminaries. The greatest is Jesus Christ, Our Saviour and Master--an abyss of light, and the source of splendour, the true Sun of Justice; the lesser luminary is the Most Holy Mother of this Divine Saviour; a most glorious Mother, resplendent and beautiful as the moon.

The Son of God came down upon earth, like the sun upon our atmosphere, to clothe Himself with our humanity, and formed our light and day; a most longed-for day, which lasted about thirty-three years, during which time He illumined the Church with the splendour of His miracles, His example and His doctrine. But the hour having at last arrived when this precious Sun was to set and cast Its rays over the other hemisphere--that is, heaven--what else could remain on earth but darkness and obscurity? And, in fact, night quickly spread around--the night of the many persecutions raised against the Apostles. But that its darkness might be more tolerable, it also had its luminary in the person of the Most Holy Virgin, who remained with the disciples and the faithful, after the Ascension of her Divine Son. This we learn from St. Luke: the Most Holy Mary was with the disciples in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, and persevered with them in communion and prayer.

Jesus Christ would leave her still in the world: firstly, that as a luminary she might be the comfort of the faithful immersed in the night of tribulations; secondly, that by surviving her Divine Son she might acquire greater merit, so that it might be truly said of her-- many daughters have gathered riches, you have surpassed them all; thirdly, that her presence might be a convincing proof against the heresy that arose after the Ascension of Our Lord, which held that He had not taken a natural Body but one merely in appearance. Thus, even in her lifetime, were verified in her regard the words of Holy Church, 'You, august Virgin, have destroyed all heresies.'

The Most Holy Virgin lived after the Ascension of her Divine Son until she reached the age of sixty-three; and thus this mystic Ark of the new Covenant dwelt under tents in the desert of this world.

Our Divine Lord, wished that His Most Holy Mother should, after having been an example to virgins and to mothers, become the model of widows by her modesty and her love for the hidden life. Widows may be compared to the little lowly violet, which has no brilliancy in its colour but has a scent which, without being too strong, is marvellously sweet. Oh, what a beautiful flower in the Church is the Christian widow! Lowly, through humility, and without splendour in the eyes of the world, since she flies from it; she is unable to meet the gaze of men when her heart no longer desires their love.

The Apostle St. Paul orders his disciple St. Timothy, to honour those _who are widows indeed;_ that is, those who are so in heart and mind. 'Blessed,' says Our Lord, 'are the pure of heart and poor in spirit.'

Widows in spirit and in desire are deserving of the highest esteem; for what means the word 'widow' but need and destitution. Honour, then, be rendered to those who are such in mind and heart, for they are humble and their Protector is the Lord!

SPIRITUAL FLOWERS.

Let it be your desire to see God, your fear to lose Him, your sorrow not yet to possess Him, and your joy to do everything that can lead you to Him; you will then live in the abundance of peace.--_St. Teresa._

Remember that you have but one soul; that you will die but once; that you have but one life, and that a very short one; but one glory, and that eternal; your heart will then detach itself from everything.-- _The same._

The soul that loves God lives more in the next world than in this; because the soul lives more in the object of its love than in the subject which it animates.--_St. John of the Cross._

The true widow of the Church is a little March violet. By her devotion she spreads a sweet perfume. She usually keeps herself hidden under the leaves of her abjection, and her mortification is seen by her quiet, modest demeanour.--_St. Francis of Sales._

EXAMPLE.

_A Courageous Son of Mary._