Part three (5): Another Method of Saying the Divine Office with Devotion

Xxxiii. Another Method of Saying the Divine Office with Devotion

Here is another exercise which may he of great help to you in chanting or reciting the Divine Office with devotion.

1. Prepare yourself in the manner suggested above. Then lift up your mind to heaven, and consider with what love, attentiveness, purity and sanctity the Son of God is there ceaselessly praised, blessed and glorified by His Father, Himself, His Holy Spirit, His Blessed

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Mother and all His angels and saints. Unite yourself with these loving praises and blessings, as follows:

During the first psalm, unite yourself with all the praises that the Eternal Father gives to His Divine Son and with all the love with which He glorifies Him forever, offering all these praises to Jesus Christ in satisfaction. or reparation for all your failures to praise and glorify Him during your life.

During the second psalm, unite yourself with all the glory Jesus gives to Himself by His Divine Person and by His sacred humanity, offering Him all this glory in reparation for your deficiency i n praising Him.

During the third psalm, unite yourself with all the blessings which the Holy Spirit renders to Jesus Christ offering Him all these blessings in reparation for the maledictions which your sins caused Him to suffer on earth.

During the fourth psalm, unite yourself with the praises given by the Most Blessed Virgin to her Son, for of herself alone she praises Him more worthily than all the angels and saints together. Unite yourself with all her attention, her very great love and all her other holy dispositions as she sings His praises without ceasing, offering her praise to Jesus in satisfaction for all your negligence.

During the fifth psalm, unite yourself with all the praises of the seraphim, eternally offered before the throne of Jesus Christ, and with all the fervor~r and love of their endless chant of adoration, offering Him these praises in reparation for your coldness, distractions and lack of devotion.

And so, as you recite each psalm, unite yourself successively with each choir of angels and order of saints, one after another, in their perpetual chorus of praise to the Son of God. Here is a list of them, which it would be well to memorize for your use in the present exercise.

The nine chairs of angels: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels and Angels.

The orders of saints: Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Priests, Confessors, Virgins, Widows, Innocents.

2. Next, descending from heaven to earth, unite yourself with all the

praises of Christ proclaimed by the various orders of Holy Mother Church, that is: by the order of pontiffs and bishops, the order of pastors and priests, the Orders of St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Norbert, St. Francis, St. Dominic, St. Theresa, St. Ignatius of Loyola, by all religious orders and the many good souls who are in the world and there greatly glorify Our Lord.

Consider how many people there are in the world who have no knowledge of the Son of God, who do not love Him and, instead of blessing Him, do nothing but dishonor Him. Then stir yourself up to bless and glorify the divine Redeemer on their behalf.

You should likewise rejoice in the thought that all the irrational creatures and inanimate objects i n the universe are engaged in blessing and magnifying their Creator without interruption, with their entire being. The beloved disciple St. John assures us that he heard all the creatures in heaven, on earth, in the sea and under the earth, that is, in hell, giving blessing, honor and glory to God and to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, each according to his state. Some praised God out of love and of their own will, others by a happy necessity, others again by compulsion and by force. Unite yourself with all these blessings given to Jesus by all creatures.

3. Leaving the earth, descend in spirit to purgatory, to unite yourself with all the praises that are given to the Son of God by the holy souls in that blessed place of purification. Go down also in spirit to hell, there to adore and praise Jesus in the midst of His enemies and to glorify Him with a fervor and attention at least equal to the intentness of those unhappy souls in blaspheming Him. Unite yourself with all the glory and praises given in hell to the infinite justice of Jesus Christ by His Eternal Father, the Divine Judge, and His Holy Spirit. In conclusion, you should desire that everything in heaven, earth and hell, and especially everything that is in yourself, in your body or your soul, may be transformed into praise, benediction and glory for Him who can never be blessed or glorified enough. The words of David, the holy psalmist, should be your inspiration: Benedic anima mea Domino, et omnia quae intra me sunt, nomini sancto ejus, "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul: and let all that is within me bless his holy name" (Ps. 102, 1).

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Xxxiv. Devout Recitation of the Office of Our Lady

The preparation suggested for the Canonical Office may also serve to stimulate the right dispositions for saying the Little Office of Our Lady. There you may use the following method, assisted by Our Lord's grace. In saying the Canonical Office, it is possible in the course of the day to honor the whole life of Jesus; so too, in reciting the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, you may honor in each day her whole beautiful life, or, to express it more aptly, the whole life of Jesus in Mary and of Mary in Jesus. Thus you may never separate the Son from the Mother, nor the Mother from the Son, and you may behold nothing but Jesus i n Mary and Mary in Jesus. Here is the way to do this:

Offer Matins to Jesus in honor of His life in the Blessed Virgin, and her life in Him, from her Immaculate Conception to her Nativity. For, from the very first, the Son of God was abiding in the mind and soul of the Blessed Virgin. He dwelt in her, sanctifying and illuminating her from the moment of her conception, beautifying her soul with glowing virtues, utterly filling her with grace, sanctity and love. And she in turn was living a most holy and admirable life in Him; and her mind ' her soul and her heart indeed dwelt more in the divine object of her sacred love than in her own self.

Offer Lauds to Jesus in honor of His life in the most holy Virgin and hers in Him from her birth to the time of His Incarnation by the wonderful works of grace, virtue, light and love which the Son of God effected during this time, without interruption, in the holy soul of this blessed child, as well as by the faith, hope, desire, contemplation, love and praise of Him which were the constant occupation of the divine soul of the most holy Virgin.

Offer Prime in honor of the wondrous and most delectable life of Jesus in Mary and Mary in Jesus during the nine months in which He dwelt in her sacred womb.

Offer Tierce in honor of the life of Jesus in Mary and Mary in Jesus from the birth of Jesus until the end of His Childhood, that is, until He was twelve years of age.

Offer Sext in honor of the life of Jesus in Mary and of Mary in Jesus until the end of His hidden life - that is, until He was thirty.

Offer None in honor of the life of Jesus in Mary and of Mary in Jesus from the beginning of His public life and ministry until the beginning of His life of glory, that is, from the time He was thirty until His Resurrection.

Offer Vespers in honor of the life of Jesus in Mary and of Mary in Jesus from His Resurrection and Ascension until the Assumption of the Blessed Mother. For even though Jesus had ascended to His Father i n heaven, He nevertheless remained with His Blessed Mother and in her until her Assumption. And in a certain sense He lived more fully in her than in heaven during this time, because He was ever producing i n her greater graces and more love than in all the citizens of heaven. So, too, she was more truly in heaven with her Son than on earth, and lived more fully in the life of her glorious Son than in her own.

Offer Compline in honor of the glorious and immortal life of Jesus in Mary and of Mary in Jesus amid the joys of paradise.

As you recite each part of this office, you should consider quietly, without too much mental exertion, the particular part of the life of Jesus in Mary and of Mary in Jesus honored by each hour Of the office. You should meditate on the intercourse of Jesus and Mary in that part of their life: their sentiments, dispositions and relationship toward each other, their holy discourses and conversations, their divine actions, their most eminent virtues, as well as how the Mother uninterruptedly contemplated, glorified and loved the Son, and how the Son filled the soul of His Mother with light, grace and divine love.

Then you should reflect upon yourself, and when you see how remote is your life, full of sin and imperfection, from that most holy and most perfect life of Jesus and Mary, whom you should regard and imitate as your father and mother, you ought to humble yourself profoundly and beg Jesus for forgiveness. You should offer Him all the honor which His most Blessed Mother gave Him, or, rather, which He gave to Himself through her by His most perfect life in her, and hers in Him, to atone for the dishonor you have given Him by your

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sinful and imperfect life. And finally implore him to cause your whole life, past, present and future to render eternal homage and glory to His most adorable life and the most lovable life of His Blessed Mother, destroying all in you that goes against this glory.

XXXV. ANOTHER METHOD OF SAYING THE OFFICE OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN W ith

Devotion

The second method suggested for the recitation of the canonical Office may also be applied to the Office of the Most Blessed Virgin, uniting the Mother and the Son in the following manner:

When you say the first psalm, unite yourself with all the praises which the Eternal Father ever gave and shall give forever to His Son Jesus and to the most Blessed Virgin, offering to the Son and the Mother all these praises to satisfy for your many failures to praise and glorify them.

When you say the second psalm, unite yourself with all the glory Jesus ever gave and shall give forever to Himself and to His Mother most worthy of honor, offering to the Son and to the Mother all this glory in ' satisfaction for your faults.

At the third psalm, unite yourself with the Holy Spirit in all the praises He ever gave or ever shall give to Jesus and Mary, offering them these praises in reparation for your negligences.

At the fourth, unite yourself with the seraphim, with all the other choirs Of angels, with the glorious company of saints and with the orders of creation, as outlined in the second method of reciting the Divine Office.

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The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin

Xxxvi. This Devotion is Very Holy and Pleasing to God

Only mental blindness or prodigious ignorance of the things of God could lead us to doubt that the devotion of the Rosary of the Most Blessed Virgin came from heaven and was inspired by God. It is approved and practised by the universal Church; it contains the holiest prayers anyone could possibly say, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Creed, and it is a most excellent means of honoring the first mystery of the life Of Jesus, the greatest wonder God ever accomplished on earth, the miracle of the Incarnation of the Son of God in the most holy Virgin Mary. This incomparable wonder and admirable mystery, which perpetually enraptures all heaven and is there adored without interruption, should be adored just as incessantly on earth, because it transpired On earth for the benefit of the dwellers of the earth, and because the Church Militant is bound to follow and imitate the Church Triumphant in heaven.

The mystery of the Incarnation is indeed continually adored on earth, in several different ways, especially by the three Hail Marys of the Angelus, repeated three times a day at the sound of a bell, in the morning, at noon and in the evening, and by the recitation of the Rosary, made up of fifty-three Hail Marys. Each devout repetition of the Hail Mary commemorates and honors that ineffable mystery, which was effected in the Blessed Virgin by the divine salutation, "Hail, full of grace," pronounced by the Archangel Gabriel when he greeted her on behalf Of God and announced to her the coming and Incarnation of the Son of God, and her reception Of the most lofty dignity of Mother of God.

Hence, you can not too often utter words so holy and so pleasing to the Son of God, so Prized and honored by His glorious Mother, words which should be so cherished and highly revered among you. The Son of God delights in these words because He is well pleased that His most noble Mother should be hailed and honored, because all

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honor given to her returns again to Him and everything done for her is done for Him, even more than anything done for the least of His little ones. Then, too, these sacred words recall to mind the first mystery of His life, the mystery of His exceeding great love for His Father and for us. They are most dear to and most honored by His Blessed Mother because they brought her the greatest and most sublime message of all time. These words should be highly valued and loved because they tell of the coming of One so eagerly awaited, so desired and prayed for On earth for five thousand years, the Redeemer descending to earth to deliver mankind from the tyranny of Satan and of sin, to reconcile man with God and to effect in each soul such great and marvelous things for love of men.

For these reasons the practice of reciting the Rosary, composed of repetitions of this holy and angelical salutation, is most holy, most pleasing to God and to the Mother of God, and it ought to be the customary practice of all true Christians.

I am very much afraid that those who shall be overtaken by death without this symbol, which is one of the characteristics of the servants and children of the Mother of God, may easily be disowned by her, and consequently rejected by her Son, as unworthy to share in the mercies of the Son or the favors of the Mother. But it is not enough simply to own and carry a rosary. The main thing is to say it well. And here i s the way to do so.

Xxxvii. Devout Method of Reciting the Rosary of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary

First kiss the cross of your rosary and make the sign of the Cross with it in honor of and in union with the exceeding great love of the Son of God when He kissed and took upon His shoulders the burden of the Cross, thereby accepting and prizing in union with His love, all the crosses, trials and afflictions He may send you in your whole life. After that, say the Credo on the Cross.

In reciting the Creed, that apostolic summary of our faith, we must give ourselves to Jesus in union with the exceedingly ardent love with which He died for us and with the love of all the holy martyrs who died for Him. We must, I repeat, in union with that same love,

offer ourselves to Him to die and shed our blood a thousand times, were it possible, for His pure love, for the glory of His mysteries, and in preference to the slightest deviation from the faith of His Church. So also, we must surrender ourselves to Him to be filled with a great love and devotion for all the mysteries of His life and of His Church, that He may implant and glorify them in us according to His holy will.

With the recitation of the Our Father and the three Hail Marys introducing the first decade, we should annihilate ourselves at the feet of the Son of God and His holy Mother, considering ourselves most unworthy to appear before them or to think of them, or to have them think of us. And we should give ourselves to Jesus, imploring Him to annihilate us Himself, and to take up His abode in us, that He Himself may honor His most blessed Mother on our behalf, for He alone can give her fitting honor. Each One of us must also unite himself to His zeal, love and devotion for her. Then we should offer our prayer to the Blessed Virgin, in union with the devotion, love, humility and purity of her Dear Son and in union with all the devout prayers and all the glory and praise, past, present and future, ever addressed to her Son and herself.

This should be offered for the accomplishment of their heavenly design, especially on behalf of ourselves.

After that, as each decade of the Rosary is said, we should offer it to the Son and the Mother, in honor of one or another of their most eminent virtues, never separating Jesus from Mary or Mary from Jesus. The offering of the decades proceeds as follows:

The first decade should be offered to Jesus and Mary in honor of the deep humility that characterized all their thoughts, words and actions.

The second decade should be said in honor of the perfect purity of the Heart of Jesus and Mary. This virtue consists chiefly of two elements, namely: first, a very great hatred, horror and flight from sin, together with perfect detachment from all that is not God; and second, a most holy union with God and the pure glory of God, which existed most eminently in the holy soul of the Son of God and that of His most holy Mother.