Part VI. The Priest’s Liturgical Life; Devotion to Mary
I am resolved to live as my Mass, my Divine Office and my other liturgical functions require; that is, I will not merely “ go through them,” or fittingly perform them, but I will perform them so as to render them profitable to my interior life through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus, and to exercise my zeal for the praise and service of God in the name of the Church.
If the truths taught concerning the Holy Sacrifice — of the Mass but feebly impress my mind and my — faith, if each Mass does not clothe me more thoroughly with Jesus Christ by inspiring me with horror of sin, with humility, the spirit of sacrifice, love of God and ardent zeal for His glory, it is certain that J do not live my Mass. Nor do I live my Divine Office, if each of its “ Hours” does not 164 bring back to my mind the thought of the Holy Sacrifice, and urge me to fulfil this admonition of St. Paul: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2. 5). I do not live my liturgical functions, all of which contain a deep symbolical meaning, if I do not realize that the Church intends them to adopt men’s souls to the sacraments, and to enable them to maintain and increase the life of Jesus in souls, and also to increase in me the life of Jesus. If Iam of a truly liturgical spirit, I shall so perform these functions as to edify all assisting at them.
Reasons for this resolution. Pope Pius X says: “ The active participation in the holy mysteries and in the public and solemn prayers of the Church is the first and indispensable source of the true Christian spirit.” Besides the morning meditation, which teaches us that “ it behooves that Jesus should reign over us” (I Cor. 15. 25), we should during the day “‘ watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation” (Mat. 27. 41); and “it behooveth always to pray and not faint’ (Luke 18. 1), lest we fall into numerous venial faults. The Liturgy of the Church is a powerful means of avoiding sin and making progress in the interior life, for it keeps us in frequent intercourse with Jesus, and under His influence and protection.
The Mass, the Divine Office and the other liturgical functions enrich us spiritually by promoting in us piety, the spirit of prayer and union with God, and should preserve us from performing our priestly functions through the mere force of habit, as if they were a trade, a mere means of earning a living, or with only natural intentions. Our spiritual life should be animated with piety, otherwise our life would not resemble that of Christ, and would be but natural and devoid of all that is supernatural. Our Mass, Divine Office and our other liturgical functions, being intended by God and His Church as means of promoting our sanctification, should increase our spiritual life and enable us to spend ourselves generously for souls, without detriment to ourselves. But without mental prayer our liturgical life would be too speculative, and would have but little, if any, practical influence over our progress in the spiritual life, for, says Jesus Christ, “ not every one that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mat. 7. 21). “Without mental prayer,” says Pius X, “ priests will perform their sacred functions coldly, care- lessly, and perhaps even unworthily” (Encycl. to the Clergy, Aug. 4, 1908).
We should not consider the Divine Office as a burden, but as a nourishment of our piety, an adjunct to mental prayer. We should study its meaning, influence and usefulness, and seek to develop in ourselves the liturgical sense. At our ordination the bishop said to us:, “ Recognize what you are doing; imitate what you are handling.”
That priest leads a liturgical life, who knows how to make use of the Mass, the Divine Office and his official rites to increase his union with the Church, to make progress in the interior life and thereby more perfectly to reflect the virtues of Christ in the sight of the faithful. It is in the very bosom of the Most Holy Trinity, that we should contemplate the Eternal Liturgy, by which the three Divine Persons chant the Divine Life in the ineffable hymn of the Generation of the Word and the Procession of the Holy Ghost. The Incarnation is the substantial and living association of the whole work of God, the Creation and the Redemption, with that Liturgy. The Incarnate Word longs for the glorification of His Father and the diffusion of His Spirit. To excite this longing in men’s souls is the object of the Liturgy of the Church. An individual man, when he is isolated, can but very feebly glorify God; but when he is united to the whole Church by the Communion of saints, he enters, as a power of praise,'into the infinite, as it were, for he becomes one with all who chant the praises of the Blessed Trinity, that is, with the Lamb of God and Sun of heavenly Jerusalem, the choirs of Angels, the Court of the Elect, the souls in purgatory and the Church militant. Therefore his voice is united with the Divine Persons as well as with all Creation, and the exercise of praise becomes an official and, as it were, a divine Act.
The Church, being the Spouse of Jesus, whose life is supereminently one of adoration, reparation, thanksgiving and supplication, transmits to the priest’s soul the sentiments and even the very expressions imparted to her by the Incarnate Word directing her, and thus the Liturgy on earth becomes one with the Eternal Liturgy of the Most Holy Trinity. An isolated drop of water is but little more than nothing; but when united to the © ocean, it participates in its power and immensity. — The same happens to the soul praying through Jesus Christ, in union with the Church. The soul’s prayer thus becomes divine, as it were, and embraces all ages from the creation of the angels and their first adoration, to our own time; from Adam and his familiar conversation in the earthly Paradise with the Creator; from the offerings of Abel, Melchisedech, Abraham, the prayers and penances of David and the other Saints of the Old Law down to Calvary, the center of the Liturgy and the Eucharist, its loving Memorial. It comprises all the generations of holy souls the Church has brought forth since the Pentecost. But we should, moreover, bear in mind, that this prayer (Liturgy) is identified through the Divine Word and the Holy Ghost, with the eternal praises unceasingly issuing from the furnace of infinite Love, the Most Holy Trinity.
The liturgical soul participates more and more in the Life and Virtues of Jesus Christ, first, by perfecting the intercourse of the soul with God, for it increases in it the habit, or virtue, of Religion and develops the chief elements of the spiritual life; nd secondly, it associates the soul through the ycle of the Feasts with all the renewed phases of ur Saviour’s earthly life, such as: His Eucharistic nd glorious life and imparts simplicity, attractive- ness and efficacy to the habitual exercise of Charity, the mother and queen of all virtues. The virtue of religion places us in relation with God. By the Mass our divine Saviour instituted the greatest and holiest of sacrifices, the greatest act of religion dominating on earth whatever unites the creature to the Creator. The Church unites us to or fits us for this Sacrifice, by prescribing the rites of the Sacraments, instituting the Sacramentals and arranging the words, chants, acts and rubrics, which constitute the Liturgy.
The object of the virtue of religion is, as its name implies, to bind man again to God by inducing him, to give due worship to God, his Creator and Father. It develops in us the need of calling to mind the divine Presence and the fundamental spirit of adoration, which inspires us with sentiments of the deepest humility before the Divine Majesty, and causes us to offer Him our filial and unreserved homage. Jesus Christ declared that His mission was to form “true adorers of the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4. 23). He Himself is the prototype and model of these adorers, and therefore personifies the virtue of Religion. The theological virtues alone are superior to the virtue of Religion, for it is the most excellent of the moral virtues, being directly concerned with the worship of God. Devotion is its most essential act. It enables us to turn the regret of our unfaithfulness to God into contrition, and the thought of God’s benefits into spiritual joys.
The virtue of Religion disposes our soul for the gift of piety, which is so essential to the spiritual life, for, says St. Paul, “ Piety is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (I Tim. 4.8). Piety is also the base of the science of prayer. ;
- The Liturgy may be considered as a school for acquiring four fruits. First Fruit, the presence of God. With admirable abundance and variety the Liturgy reminds us of the Dogma of the Blessed Trinity ; and this mystery, by revealing to us God’s essential and intimate life, recalls our beginning and our final end and, consequently, God’s eternal life and the immortality of our soul. The liturgical soul lives by the thought of Eternity, and in the light of Eternity disposes her existence, reanimates her filial fear, her firm confidence in God and His Providence over all things. The soul, being so frequently reminded of the worship of God and His infinite per- fections, acquires an habitual attitude of reverence and adoration towards God. The soul, being thus in the presence of God, the Rewarder of the good and Punisher of the wicked, acquires a filial and cheerful obedience and submission in all things to His divine will, and a profound respect for God's rights and dispensations.
The second fruit of the Liturgy ts sorrow for sin. Fidelity to the Divine Law is the measure of participation in the divine life. The Liturgy constantly recalls this truth to the priest’s conscience, for its themes are unfaithfulness, or sin, the consequences of sin, its hideousness, death, its punishment, the certainty of death, the uncertainty of death, and its eternal consequences. Calvary and the Altar, placed between heaven and earth, enable us to acquire a happy eternity and give us the means of repairing our offenses of the Divine Majesty; all this exerts a most ‘beneficent influence over the soul living by the Liturgy. That soul, united to the satisfaction the Man-God gave for sin, repairs her offenses by a sincere sorrow, deep indeed, yet calm, confiding and childlike. Father Faber calls this sorrow the touchstone of devotion, and a true sign of a healthy soul in those who experience the need of sorrow and pray for it.
The third fruit of the Liturgy is joy. Devotion nourished by the Liturgy soon becomes a habit and makes the faithful priest conscious of being an adopted son of God, the brother, the friend, the minister of Jesus Christ, and the temple of the Holy Ghost. This will enable him to acquire not only “the peace surpassing all understanding ” (Phil. 4. 7), but also a spiritual joy, experienced even amid sore trials and sufferings, and causing him “to run in the way of God’s commandments ” (Ps. 118. 32). Schooled by the Breviary the liturgical soul becomes a Eucharistic soul, for it was after the Last Supper that Jesus said to His apostles: “ These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled” (John 15. tr). In the same school the soul acquires a deep and strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom the Church rightly calls, “Cause of our joy.”
The fourth fruit is prayer. He truly knows how to live well, who knows how to pray well, for, says St. Augustine, “the great science of life is the science of prayer.” In the Liturgy we find prayers adapted to every situation and circumstance in life. To him who lives his Mass, Breviary and Ritual so great a variety of resourceful prayers is offered, that he will find therein in every circumstance and want the necessary means to raise him to God, to praise him, to implore mercy and help. St. Alphonsus preferred one prayer of the Divine Office to a hundred private prayers. Louis Veuillot acknowledged that assisting in a church when the 118th Psalm in the “ Little Hours” was recited in choir, had a wonderful effect in reanimating his devotion. How consoling to the priest reciting the Divine Office is the assurance that he is praying as God wills, and that he is praying not alone, but with and through the Church, and in the name of the Church.
- Habitual exercise of the virtue of charity. By means of the Incarnation God intended to satisfy the need we feel of possessing Him in a visible manner, in order the more easily to love Him. This is what the Church means by chanting in the Preface of Christmas: “ That whilst we visibly know God, we may be drawn through Him to love things invisible.” ‘‘ Love,” says St. Thomas, “ is nourished
~ae both by the presence of the Beloved, which enables us to have a more intimate perception of his lovableness, and by the proofs of love which he gives us.”
Jesus present to us. The Incarnation, the descent of the Divine Life in our midst, is the most striking manifestation of God’s ineffable love for each of us. By means of the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, of His Church, His Gospel and the Sacraments, our Emmanuel continues to live among us, and to give us proofs of His inexhaustible love. Along with preaching, the Liturgy adapts souls for participating in the Divine Life, and does even more. In order to render our participation efficacious and continuous, the Liturgy explains and transfers to us the manifestation of this life of Jesus Christ in our midst, and keeps us in the atmosphere of Jesus. It speaks to us and enables us also to speak the language of our amiable Saviour, thus continuing, as it were, our Lord living among us, rendering Him ever present to us, atoning for us, praying and acting with us, and presenting Himself to us to manifest to us His infinite lovableness.
Jesus proves His love. Love and sacrifice are inseparable. Wherefore everything in Jesus gravitates around His cross, Everything in the Liturgy gravitates also around the Mass, the living chart of the proofs of the love of Jesus for each of us. Our Saviour’s whole life, says Bossuet, is summed up in the spirit of sacrifice. Wherefore everything in the Liturgy tends to cause the priest to correspond to the love of Jesus by a spirit of immolation, which is a feature of love. All the varieties and degrees of love are taught in the school of the Liturgy, such as the love of hope, of complacency, of benevolence, of preference, which penetrate into the soul through the admirable collects, psalms, prayers for the living and the dead, blessings, consecrations, ceremonies, etc.
Union with Jesus. It is Jesus Himself who con- — tinues His great lesson of love. The Liturgy represents Him to us as one we live with, and shows Him to us as the object, the term, the model of our love. Through the Eucharist He has been and remains the proof of what love demands, and offers — us unceasing opportunities to enable us to return to Him love for love.
The shepherd in Landes (France), crossing his swampy fields, has to look where he places his stilts; he is an image of those who, having a task to perform, are absorbed by its difficulty. On the other hand, the bird, coming to the same swamps to seek its food, scarcely skims over their surface. Such also is the priest who knows how to profit by the Liturgy; he always more and more takes as his motto the saying of the early Christians: “ Christ is my life” (Phil. 1.21). By his union with Jesus he can escape all hostile snares, for he can say with the psalmist: “He shall pluck my feet out of the snare” (Ps, 24. 15), and “my eyes are always fixed on the Lord” (Ibidem).
Everything for the Mass. For the priest endowed with the liturgical understanding, the sacrifice of Calvary is ever present to him, and everything brings him back to it. When he has to perform a heroic act of detachment, as some painful duty, a suffering or an insult to bear, he first sees Jesus claiming that sacrifice from him as a proof of his love; wherefore he finds therein but little difficulty, if any. For a priest who is convinced that Jesus lives in His Church and in each one of the faithful, religion is something more than a mere summary of doctrines and laws binding us again to God, for it is Christ offering Himself, living in His mystical body, everywhere present and demanding us to reciprocate His love. “I set always the
Lord in my sight; for He is at my right hand, that I be not moved” (Ps. 15. 8). And even when he is bruised by the trial, he is not sad, for he has found support and consolation, because Jesus is there, who, suffered and immolated Himself, and wishes to continue in the priest His life of suffering.
Per Ipsum (through Him). Everything happens to the priest through Christ. Through Jesus he goes to the Father, receives the vivifying sap imparting life to him in every form especially through sacrifice. Through Jesus he acts, because in all things he follows the spirit of Jesus, whom he endeavors to imitate.
Cum Ipso (with Him). The Emmanuel everywhere accompanies him; the Altar, the Sacraments, the Divine Office, dyed with the blood of the Lamb, maintain him in the company of Jesus, and facilitate the custody of his heart near the Heart of Him whom he adores, thanks or implores, and from whom he now hears the calls of grace.
In Ipso (in Him). For him the spiritual combat, the practice of virtue, and trials lose all that is painful and repulsive in them, for, says Msgr.
Gay, “ the cross is enlivened and becomes the Crucifix, and love is now in its place.” In fact, it is Jesus visiting him therein and inviting him to immolate himself. To the priest who lives his Mass, Divine Office and Ritual, duties, sufferings, humiliations now appear in their true light, as most affectionate marks of friendship of the Divine Heart of Jesus. And if a tendency to tepidity arises in the liturgical priest, the Judge present, to preserve in His love him who is consecrated to Him, fills him with a dread of yielding. The priest’s knowledge of his duties, of the practice of the virtues, may prove useful to him, but his progress in the interior life will be owing rather to his liturgical life and mental prayer. So long as he is faithful to them, Jesus is his prudence, His tactics, his strength and constancy, and for him the examination of conscience and the practice of mortification will be exercises of love. To such a priest we may apply the saying of Jesus to St. Catharine of Siena: “Thy measure shall be Mine.” These words are a commentary on this passage of the Imitation: “ Thy progress shall be proportionate to the violence thou dost to thyself.” The measure of Jesus is to repay a hundred-fold the slightest proofs of the love shown Him. How grand the reward of the — spirit of sacrifice!
The Glory of God. Because the praises of God hold an important place in the Liturgy, the priest is naturally led to connect his personal sanctification directly with his zeal for God’s glory. In the — psalms especially the liturgical soul unites herself to the reparative life of Calvary and the Altar, and — the many souls who know well how greatly sin is — opposed to the divine glory, offer themselves as vic- | tims of reparation for sin in union with Jesus crucified.
Union with heaven. The faithful priest loves — to contemplate the divine glory at the Altar, but especially in heaven. This he does eagerly, not only by the oft-repeated doxologies of the Mass and — the Divine Office, but also by his own habitual and intimate union with the Divine Dweller in the © tabernacle, for the living Heart of Jesus in the ciborium is the same that radiates in the Elect, and secures them in the consummation of love by the © vision and possession of God. The faithful priest can truly say with St. Paul: “ Our conversation is in heaven” (Phil. 3. 20). For him heaven is no longer an inaccessible region. He proceeds from the mystery of the Cross and the Life of which the Sacred Host is the source, to the fundamental devotion of the Blessed Trinity. These two principal thoughts in the Liturgy combine with the Communion of Saints and form that of our heavenly country. Consequently the Cycle of the feasts of Easter, of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints impart to the priest leading a liturgical life a real homesickness for his Heavenly Home, which Pope St. Gregory considers as a proof of the state of grace and a guarantee of predestination.
- Four practical means of realizing our resolution.
I now renew, and this more precisely, my resolution of being a liturgical soul, in order to be more intimately united with Thee, O Jesus, and thereby to render my apostolate more fruitful. The more my intimate life gravitates around the Divine Office and the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the more will Jesus reign in me. By an interior life I will glorify God and the apostolate so much as the Altar shall be the source of my devotedness, my sacrifices, my confidence and my official and private prayer. The liturgical words and rites shall powerfully as- sist me to live the great Divine Praise, to derive greater profit from the precious Blood and to put on Jesus Christ. When in danger of sinning, I will make use of the fear of God to preserve me therefrom, With the help derived from the Liturgy I will sacrifice myself wholly and unreservedly to God, in union with the Sacrifice of Calvary incessantly renewed on the Altar, and by my vigilance and efforts, I will succeed to cause Jesus to reign in me.
By the custody of my heart I will render my voice more pure and less unworthy of being associated with the prayers of the Church ascending heaven- — ward to God, through supplication and immolation. Wherefore the object of my liturgical life, the most noble life to which a human creature can aspire, is union with God by the efficacious, universal and loving reign of Jesus in me. But with regard to the apostolate, the object of my liturgical life is to live more perfectly my share of the social life of the Church.
For this object the Lord wishes, first, that I should, especially through the Liturgy, form my intimate life according to the life of Jesus, in order to train my faculties in a generous dependence on
God. If I exercise my apostolate through liturgical functions, my preaching and my works, both domestic and social, shall flow from them as from their cause. In this manner I shall become more and more a child of the Church, a member of Christ, and an apostolic laborer worthy of God, who can truly say with St. Paul: “Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2. 20).
- The liturgical formation. O good Master, give me a high esteem for the Liturgy and a holy eagerness to develop my liturgical understanding and thus enlarge my soul’s horizon. I will devote a portion of my reading to the study and consideration of the subjects and feasts of the Liturgy so as to derive spiritual profit from them. This will help me to acquire by means of mental prayer, purity, self denial, the spirit of prayer and a perfect control over my imagination and my senses and all the dispositions necessary to derive profit from the Liturgy and increase my union with God; and I shall then be able to say Mass and recite the Divine Office digne, attente ac devote without great effort. fore, devote a whole half-hour to saying Mass, so — that not only the Canon but all its parts may nourish i my picty. This is also the teaching of St. Alphon- — sus. Therefore I will disregard all the pretexts which Satan may suggest with regard to apostolic zeal, in order to induce me to hurry my Mass, and I will make due reparation for the faults 1 may — commit in this important matter. I will avoid all © hurry also in all other liturgical functions. As for the Divine Office I will fix a time for its recitation; and at the time appointed I will at once interrupt, or lay aside, every other occupation, and I am determined that my recitation of it shall be as a prayer from my inmost heart. O my Jesus, inspire me with a horror of all hurry and carelessness, whenever I represent Thee, or act in the name of the Church, for “cursed is he who doth the work of God fraudulently (precipitately) ” (Jer. 48. 10). 3. The Preparation. “ Before prayer prepare thy soul” (Eccli. 18. 23). The whole life of Jesus was a preparation for His sacrifice on the cross. Hence our daily (morning) meditation should be a preparation for our Mass. This serious thought: “T shall soon be in contact with the living Love it- self,” should stir up our fervor and preserve us from all carelessness and precipitation.1
Immediately before Mass and before our Divine Office we should reawaken a deep and energetic act of recollection. Father Olivaint, S. J., was wont to say: “I make my meditation well, so that I may say my Mass properly; and I say my Mass and the Divine Office properly, in order to make a good meditation on the following day.” May the spirit of faith take possession of my mind and heart, so that being intimately convinced of the presence of the heavenly spirits at my Mass and Divine Office, “I will sing to Thee, my God, in the sight of the Angels” (Ps. 137. 1) ; deign therefore to inspire me with the reverential awe, with which even Mary deigns to address Thee!
I am one with our Mediator Jesus, and one with the Church as her representative. This requires me to be devout and dignified, and to avoid hurry and levity in all my priestly functions. I will always be mindful of the words the bishop addressed to me at my ordination: “Agnoscite quod agitis; imitamini quod tractatis.” myself to celebrate Mass, and to recite the Divine Office, my whole being will concur in representing and glorifying Jesus, the Eternal Priest; my body, by its respectful attitude, the exact pronunciation of the words, somewhat more slowly in the principal parts, and the careful observance of the rubrics; my mind, in choosing from the words and rites whatever is apt to nourish my heart; the tone of my voice, and the manner in which I make the signs of the cross and the genuflections will manifest, not only that I am aware of Him whom I am addressing, of what I am saying to Him, what kind of an apostolate I am exercising, and also whether it is my faith that is prompting me. I am resolved to say Mass like St. Vincent de Paul and St. Alphonsus who said Mass so devoutly as to cause the assistants to say of each of. them: “How well and edifying does this priest say Mass!” Hence I will never say Mass, or perform any priestly function, so carelessly and hurriedly, as to occasion in the minds of those present doubts concerning my faith!2
When saying Mass and the Divine Office we may sometimes attend to the meaning of the words, to each word in particular, or briefly meditate on a word or sentence that impresses us. I will then follow the counsel of St. Bernard: “Our mind should agree with our voice.” At other times, the mystery of the feast, or some other pious thought may rivet our attention throughout, or only for a moment. During the Canon of the Mass and the Consecration we may offer ourselves in sacrifice to Jesus, so that as He is on the altar “ tanquam agnus occisus,’ we may unite ourselves to Him in a spirit of sacrifice; and during the day let us be patient and generous in our labors, crosses and difficulties for His sake, out of a spirit of penance.
Devotion To Mary Necessary To The Priest
The priest, in fact, every apostolic laborer stands in need of an ardent devotion to the Immaculate Virgin Mary. He should take St. Bernard as his Model in this — St. Bernard for nearly half a century exercised the apostolate among monarchs and nations, in assemblies and councils and with the Pope. Exalted by all for his holiness, genius, deep knowledge of Scripture and the penetrating unction of his sermons, and revered in the Church as the “ Last of the Fathers,” he is, moreover, the Chanter of Mary, of her power and mercy, and of her glories. — He furnishes matter for the praises of Mary to subsequent writers, to prove that all divine graces and favors come to us through Mary. “ Brethren,” he says, “ let. us consider with what sentiments of devotion God wishes us to honor Mary, for He has placed in her the fulness of every good. If we © have any hope, any grace or pledge of salvation, let us acknowledge that it all comes to us from her who superabounds in delights.
“ If the sun which imparts light to the world were taken away, all light would disappear on earth. Take away Mary, the Star of the sea, of our great and vast ocean, what will remain but a deep ob- © scurity, the shadow of death and a dense darkness. Wherefore it behooves us to honor Mary from our inmost heart, for such is the will of Him who willed — that we should obtain all we need through Mary. — Wherefore, whatever the apostolic man does for his © salvation and spiritual progress, and for the fecundity of his apostolate, will rest on a founda- — tion of sand, unless it rests on a very special devotion to Our Lady.”
For, in the first place, if the apostolic laborer, in his interior life, is not sufficiently devoted to Mary, his spiritual Mother, if his confidence in her lacks enthusiasm, if his homage to her is merely external, he will never sanctify himself. Like Jesus, her Son, who beholdeth the heart, Mary regards only our heart, and looks upon us as her true children, only when the strength of our love corresponds to hers. We should be firmly convinced of the incomparable grandeurs, privileges and functions of her, who is the Mother of God, and the Mother of men. We should be fully persuaded that our combats against our defects, the acquisition of the virtues, the reign of Jesus Christ in our soul and, consequently, all security of salvation and sanctification are proportionate to a degree of our devotion to Mary, and that, when we act with or through Mary, everything in our interior life becomes easier, securer, sweeter and is much sooner attained.
Our heart should overflow with childlike confidence in her in every occurrence, and we shall ex- _ perience her considerateness, kind attentions, tender love, mercy and generosity. “ Mary,” says St. _ Bernard, “is my greatest security, the whole base of my hope.” Our heart should be inflamed with love for her, our Mother, for she shares our joys, our trials. Let us listen to the beautiful words of
St. Bernard: ‘“‘O thou, who feelest thyself tossed — by tempests amid the shoals of the sea of this world, — turn not away thine eyes from the Star of the sea, if thou wouldst avoid shipwreck. If the winds of temptation blow, if tribulations rise up like rocks before thee, cast a look at the Star, heave a sigh towards Mary. If the waves of pride, ambition, calumny, jealousy seek to swallow up thy soul, turn thine eyes towards the Star, breathe a prayer to Mary. If anger, love of pleasure threaten thy frail bark, seek the protecting look of Mary. If horror of thine own sins, remorse of conscience, dread of the divine judgments overwhelm thee with sadness, seeking to plunge thee into the abyss of despair, cling closely to Mary. In thy dangers, in thy anguish, in thy doubts think of Mary, call on Mary. Let the sweet name of Mary be on thy lips, in thy heart; and whilst seeking the assistance of her prayers, lose not the sight of her example, of her virtues. So long as thou followest her, thou canst not go astray. So long as thou invokest her, thou canst not be without hope. So long as thou thinkest on her, thou wilt remain in the right path. So long as she sustains thee, thou canst not fall. So long as she protects thee, thou hast nothing to fear. If she favors thy voyage, thou shalt reach the harbor of safety without exhaustion.” Blessed Grignon de Montfort says: ‘“ With Mary we make in one month more progress in the love of Jesus, than we could make in many, were we less united to our good Mother.”
In the second place, whether the apostolic laborer has to draw souls out of sin, or to cause the virtues to flourish in them, it behooves him, like St. Paul, to have as his first object to cause Jesus Christ to live in them. But, as Bossuet declares, God haying determined to give us Jesus Christ through Mary, will not change the order He laid down, because He is unchangeable. Mary therefore in accordance with this order, having given birth to Jesus Christ, the Head of the mystical body of the Church, has also to give birth to its members. To isolate Mary from the apostolate, would be to misunderstand an essential part of the divineplan of salvation. Hence St. Augustine says: “All the predestined in this world are hidden, guarded, nourished and grow in the bosom of this good Mother, until she brings them forth to glory after their death.” “Since the Incarnation,” says St. Bernardine of Siena, “ Mary has ac- quired a kind of jurisdiction over the temporal mission of the Holy Ghost, so that no creature receives grace except through her hands.”
But he who is devout to Mary becomes, in his turn, all-powerful over the heart of Mary, his Mother. Consequently, no truly apostolic laborer should entertain any doubt as to the efficacy of his apostolate, if he has a true devotion to Mary, for he will be able to dispose of Mary’s omnipotent power over the Blood of the Redeemer. Experience confirms this, for all who have effected numerous conversions of sinners have been most devoted servants of Mary. How great and persuasive are the words and prayers of Mary’s devout clients, when they labor to draw souls out of sin, for they are as if identified with the Immaculate Virgin by their horror of sin and their love of holy purity. It was at the sound of Mary’s voice that the Precursor recognized the presence of Jesus Christ and leaped for joy. And what wonderful power have the words of the intimate servants of the Mother of Mercy to prevent despair from seizing those who have long abused grace! How admirably successful is the apostolic laborer, who is devoted to Mary, in moving hardened sinners to re- pentance and perfect conversion through Mary! Mary living in the heart of the apostolic laborer is the very eloquence that enables him to move powerfully souls hitherto unmoved! Jesus seems, by an admirable delicacy, to reserve to His Mother’s medifation the most difficult conquests of the apostolate, and to grant them to her devoted servants, so that we may truly say: “ Through them He hath reduced our foes to naught” (Judith 13. 22). We apostolic laborers should most tenderly love her, whom Pius IX called ‘‘ The Virgin Priest,” whose dignity excels that of priests and pontiffs. And this our love empowers us never to look upon as lost the work we have begun with Mary, and are willing to continue with her, that is, in a manner pleasing to her, Mary, in fact, is at the base and at the crowning point of every work that interests the glory of God through His divine Son.
But let us beware of imagining that we are working with Mary, if we limit ourselves to raising altars in her honor, or in having hymns sung in her praise. What Mary requires of us is a devotedness which enables us to assert in all sincerity, that we habitually live united to her and have recourse to her as the Mother of Good Counsel, that we strive to please her, and that all our prayers to God are made © through her intercession. Let us, however, be assured that Mary expects of us a devotion which will cause us to imitate the virtues we admire in her, and surrender ourselves into her hands, that she may enable us “ to put on Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13.
O my Lord Jesus Christ, how can I thank Thee enough for having called me to the same work that Thou didst Thyself on earth, that is, to labor for the salvation of souls? How have I deserved this honor, this reward after having so grievously offended Thee, and caused others also to do so? Thou dost, indeed, O my Lord, call me to help Thee in this great undertaking. I will serve Thee with all my strength. Behold, I offer Thee all my labor, and even my blood, in order to obey Thee. Nor do I by this aspire to gratify my own inclination, or to gain applause or esteem; I desire nothing else than to see Thee loved by all men as Thou deservest. I prize my happy lot, and consider myself fortunate, in having been chosen by Thee for this great work, in which I protest that I will renounce all the praises of men and all self-satisfaction, and will seek only Thy glory. To Thee be all the honor and satisfaction, and to me only all the hardships, the blame and the reproaches. Accept, O Lord, this offering which I, a miserable sinner, who wish to love Thee and to see Thee loved by others, make of myself to Thee, and give me strength to execute it. Most holy Mary, my advocate, who so ey lovest souls, help me. _ Amen.
Footnotes
Chapter 7 of 7