Meditations for the Feast and Octave: of the Holy Heart of Mary: The Vigil of the Feast (3): The Holy Heart of Mary is Our Treasure

The Holy Heart of Mary is Our Treasure

Our benign Saviour has given us the Sacred Heart of His beloved Mother as the inestimable treasure of an infinity of good. If St. Chrysostom calls the very charitable heart of St. Paul, "a fountain of innumerable blessings" for the Christians who invoke the help of this divine apostle, what words must one use in speaking of the incomparable heart of the Queen of Apostles?

It is a treasury in which immense riches are locked, because the most blessed Virgin. kept hidden in her Heart, while on this earth, and will continue to do so eternally in heaven, all the mysteries of the life of her Divine Son our Redeemer, mysteries which are the price of our redemption, the source of the sanctification of the Church Triumphant and the consolation of the Church Suffering.

Her Heart is a treasury which conserves in itself all the graces merited and acquired for us by our Saviour through His sufferings and death on earth. Therefore our Lady is called by all the saints, "the admirable treasure of the Church ... .. the treasury of God's graces," "the most holy treasure of all sanctity," and "the treasure of salvation." Our Lord has enclosed in her breast and Heart all the treasures of His graces, which arc given to us through her mediation; therefore, St. Bernard said that all God's gifts to mankind pass first through the hands of the Mother of Divine Grace: Nihil nos Deus habere voluit, quad per Mariae manu non transiret.

0 what joy it is to possess so rich a treasure! 0 what profound gratitude we owe to our very benign Redeemed But if we wish to enjoy the inconceivable blessings destined for us in this precious treasure, let us be careful to render to the Queen of heaven the honor and praise due her, and let us be careful to have respectful and confident recourse to her in all our needs. We shall find in this treasury the means to pay our spiritual debts, to satisfy all our obligations, to practise all Christian virtues, to live in a saintly manner, and to know and love God worthily.

The Holy Heart of Mary is Our Refuge

Our very loving Jesus has given us the divine Heart of His glorious Mary to be a tower of great strength, an impregnable fortress, an allpowerful refuge where we can take shelter against the enemies of our salvation. Have recourse to our Lady, tower of ivory, in all the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil because her heart is so filled with goodness for all kinds of people that never has anyone in need implored her help in vain. Do not fear that her heart will fad you. retire with confidence into this most beautiful refuge, and you will feel the effects of its strong protection.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"0 Heart of Mary, tower of strength, protect us." 0 Cor Mariae, turris fortissima, protege nos semper!

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The Holy Heart of Mary IS Our Rule, Our Heart, A Fountain

of Wine, Milk and Honey, and Our Oracle

The Holy Heart of Mary is Our Rule

THE sovereign Legislator has given us the august Heart of His glorious Mother as a holy rule which, if faithfully kept, will make us saintly. The Heart of Mary is a rule of the celestial life which we must live, a rule with which we must be clothed. Her heart encloses all the maxims we must follow, the saintly dispositions with which we must perform all our actions. It is a rule for the sentiments and affections which must abide in our hearts, and a rule of all our thoughts, words and actions. In one word, it is a rule to guide both our interior and exterior life.

Let us render thanks to the adorable Legislator for having given us a rule so holy, amiable, sweet and easy, filled with love. Your joy and pleasure must be in keeping it since this rule is simply the all sweet and loving Heart of our adorable Mother, who will never cease to obtain for us from God the graces necessary to observe it faithfully. Therefore, you must often scrutinize this divine rule , studying it carefully so that you may follow it honestly and exactly.

The Holy Heart of Mary Was Given to Us to be Our Heart

The Son of God gave us the holy Heart of His most cherished Mother, which is none other than His own true Heart, so that His children have only one Heart with their Father and Mother, and all the members of His family have only the heart of their adorable chief.

Let us remember that we constantly serve, love and adore God with a heart worthy of its infinite grandeur: Corde magno et animo volenti; with a heart all pure and holy, singing His divine praises and performing all our actions with saintliness, love, humility and with all the other holy dispositions characteristic of this beautiful Heart of Mary.

To accomplish this, at the beginning of each action, we must completely renounce our own heart, which means our mind, self-love and will, and we give ourselves to our Lord, to be united with the love of His Heart and the Heart of His most Blessed Mother. Let us work, then, to become detached from our own earthly, wicked and depraved heart, so that we shall gain a Heart truly celestial, holy and divine.

The Holy Heart of Mary is a Fountain of Wine,

Milk and Honey

Our most sweet Jesus has given us the very benign Heart of His precious Mother as a fountain of wine, milk and honey, from which we draw the charity, gentleness and meekness which we must show to our neighbor. Our Lord has also given us her Heart as an oracle to be devoutly consulted in all our doubts and perplexities, so that we may know and follow faithfully His adorable will.

Oh Mother of Fair Love, bind our hearts so closely to yours that they may never be separated! Pray that the hearts of your children may have no other sentiments than those of the most Immaculate Heart of their all-perfect Mother.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"Queen of our hearts, direct our hearts forever." Regina cordis, dirige cor nostrum in aeternum.

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The Holy Heart of Mary Is the Sanctuary

of the Human Passions

The Passions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Are

Deified Through the Hypostatic Union

Eleven passions are implanted in the human heart, namely: love, hate, desire and aversion, joy , sadness, hope, despair, boldness, fear and anger. Adore all these emotions in the divine Heart of our Saviour, where, according to the theologians, they have been exalted to divinity through the hypostatic union, and by sanctifying grace which reigns perfectly in the Son of God made man. Thank Him for the glory that He has rendered to His Heavenly Father, by His most holy use of His human body. Offer to the Adorable Father all the honor thus rendered to Him by His divine Son. Give your heart to Jesus, together with all its passions. Beg Him to unite your emotions with His, to bless and sanctify them through His and to grant you all the graces necessary to imitate Him in the holy use of these passions.

The Passions of the Holy Heart of Mary Are

Entirely Submissive to the Holy Spirit

These same passions existed in the amiable Heart of the Blessed Virgin, where they were so perfectly subjected to reason and to the spirit of God who possessed her entirely, that always her passions were under entire control. Her love was constantly for God above, and for the things God loves. She hated only the objects of God's hatred. She rejoiced in the things that were pleasing to His divine majesty. Nothing

was capable of bringing sadness to her except those things which could sadden her Well-beloved Son.

Her only fear was the filial fear of saying, thinking or doing anything displeasing to God. She had no other desire but to accomplish wholly and entirely His most adorable will. Her entire hope rested in God alone. It is a certainty that her Heart was filled with a saintly boldness and a marvelous generosity to undertake and to do the acts pertaining to the service of God no matter how difficult. She understood that she could do nothing of herself, and remained continually in a state of humiliation and in great scorn of herself, never having hoped or believed herself able to do anything through her own strength alone for the glory of His divine majesty.

That is why we must honor the very august Heart of the Mother of God, as the sanctuary of all passions, which human emotions were sanctified so excellently that they have been actuated only by the Holy Spirit, who possessed and animated them much more perfectly than human mind can conceive. Let us offer to God all the honor accorded to His majesty by the Holy Virgin in her perfect use of these same passions, and beg her to obtain for us all the necessary and suitable ~graces to enable us, through a faithful imitation, to govern our emotions according to the example of our divine Mother.

We Must Make a Fitting Use of Our Passions

Let us make an exact and careful examination of all our passions, in order to perceive our mistakes and abuse of them; humiliate ourself and ask pardon of God, begging Our Lord and His holy Mother to correct our errors and to take complete possession of our heart and all its passions. Beg them to teach you how to use your emotions for the love and glory of the Most Holy Trinity. Ejaculatory prayer: "My soul doth magnify the admirable Heart of Jesus and Mary." Magnificat anima mea Cor admirabile Jesu et Mariae! 262-

The Holy Heart of Mary Is the Kingdom and

Throne of All Virtues

The Holy Heart of Mary Possessed Perfectly

All Christian Virtues

THE Holy Spirit, having considered the most sacred Virgin from the moment of her Immaculate Conception as the one chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of God, infused in her Heart the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity; the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude, and all the other virtues: religion, humility, obedience, patience, meekness, purity , etc. The Holy Spirit bestowed the excellence of the virtues in her virginal Heart in a degree proportionate to the dignity and grace of the Mother of God. Therefore, this admirable Virgin possessed all these virtues from the first moment of her life, in such a high degree of perfection that the greatest saints never equalled her excellence even in the closing days of their heroic lives.

All these virtues flourished constantly in the Heart of the Mother of God, and from time to time during her life they were increased in merit. So much so that no mind can comprehend the degree of perfection attained when Mary left this world to be assumed into heaven.

0 Queen of Virtue, what great joy my heart feels in beholding thee as Queen of all virtue , supreme over all the angels and saints of Paradise! Oh my Jesus, I render Thee infinite gratitude for having given to your holy Mother a Heart that is most saintly and wholly consecrated to Thy divine love.

The Reign of Christian Virtues in

Not only did all virtue abide in the holy Heart of the Mother of our Saviour, but in addition i t established its throne there from the earliest moment of her life and reigns in her Heart forever in a most special manner. It reigned in a sovereign degree over her thoughts, words, actions, and over all her most intimate feelings, both interior and exterior; consequently, these perfect virtues made God reign more perfectly and gloriously in her Heart than in the empyrean world.

The all-perfect power of the Eternal Father ruled there through the admirable effects continually produced in her Heart: "He hath done great things to me" (Luke 1, 49).

The infinite wisdom of the Son of God reigned in the Heart of Mary through the Christian virtues that communicated to her great knowledge and light. The love and goodness of the Holy S pirit reigned in the Heart of Mary through the Christian virtues that enkindled in her great love and enthusiasm.

Infinite glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost for having established in the royal heart of the Queen of Heaven the throne of all the virtues and the sovereign kingdom of their incomprehensible glory! Oh how very fitting it is to render all possible honor and praise to this incomparable Heart, where the Most Holy Trinity is infinitely more glorified than in all the hearts of heaven and earth.

We Must Practice All the Christian Virtues

The Blessed Virgin is our Mother; therefore, having the honor of being her children, although greatly unworthy, we must try to resemble her as closely as possible. Consequently we must imprint in our hearts a living image of the virtues that reign in her heart.

To accomplish this, let each one of us make a careful and honest examination of his heart, i n order to know how far removed it is from

the virtues and sanctity of the Heart of our divine Mother, and to humiliate ourselves before God and her. We must make a strong resolution to begin in earnest to engrave on our hearts the semblance of the perfections of the divine heart of the Queen of the Angels.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"0 Heart of Mary, throne of all virtues, reign in our hearts forever." 0 Cor Mariae, thronus omnium virtutum, regna super cor nostrum in aeternum!

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The Holy Heart of Mary Is the Centre of Humility

Foundations of Humility in the Holy

Heart of Mary

Reflect on the fact that humility is the centre of the Heart of the most holy Virgin. Being the foundation stone of all virtue, it has occupied the first position in her Heart since her Immaculate Conception. Humility has always found in her breast complete rest and satisfaction, never having been attacked by its enemies, because it is established there on four solid foundations. The first is the perfect knowledge of humility possessed by this humble Virgin, so much so that she understood completely that being created by God from nothing as other creatures, she was nothing, had nothing, and would never be anything by herself. She knew very well that being the daughter of Adam she would have been conceived in original sin if God had not preserved her and, consequently, she would have been capable of all sins whose source is original sin.

The second foundation of her humility is her profound knowledge of all the gifts, graces and innumerable privileges which God showered upon her, and the infinite dignity of the Mother of God, with which God honored her. She knew well the rule that the Holy Spirit gave to all mankind in these words: Quanto magnus est, humilia te in omnibus, which point out, as St. Augustine says, that the humility of the creature must be proportionate to the favors that it receives from its Creator. That i s why the infinite grace of the Mother of God obliged that most blessed Virgin to humiliate herself most profoundly.

The third foundation is her understanding that the sovereign and infinite grandeur of God demands deep humility on the part of the

creature: Summae celsitudini summa debetur humilitas. Her ardent zeal for the honor and glory of God carried her to the point of consummate humility before His divine majesty.

The fourth foundation is that, beholding her Beloved Son plunged into the abyss of scorn, ignominy and shame, for the love of men, but much more for love of her than for all other children of Adam, she longed to abase herself below Him, thus her self-annihilation knew no end. It is thus that her Heart was the centre of humility.

0 very humble Virgin, thou wast chosen to crush the head of the serpent which is pride. Crush it completely then in my heart and enlighten me with thy divine wisdom so that I may imitate thee i n thy vast humility!

Effects of Humility in the Holy Heart of Mary

Consider the five prodigious effects of this humility in the Heart of the holy Virgin.

The first effect is that because God elevated her to the highest honor that a pure creature can attain, she never had any self-esteem, but always humiliated herself.

The second effect is that having stood constant and firm amid all the ignominies and insults she suffered in the passion of her Divine Son, her soul, remaining quiet even when it was pierced by a sword of sorrow, was greatly troubled by the praise of St. Gabriel, more insupportable than all her trials and sorrows.

The third effect is that the praise and benediction of St. Elizabeth at the time of the Visitation inspired her to disclaim all honor and give all the glory to God in her divine Canticle, the "Magnificat." The fourth effect of her boundless humility is that she concealed the extraordinary favor of the Divine Goodness so that God had to send an angel to St. Joseph to expressly communicate to him the mystery that his holy spouse was too humble to reveal.

The fifth effect is that she continually sought the company of the poor, sinners and other miserable people, and that after the Ascension

of her Divine Son, she sought the lowest place in the gatherings of the faithful.

What immeasurable glory thou hast tendered to God, by thy very profound humility, 0 most humble Virgin! May eternal praise be thine! Oh how I long to imitate thee in this holy virtue! Obtain for me, I beseech thee, from thy Beloved Son, all the graces that I need for this purpose.

Way to Acquire Humility

Examine carefully all your faults against humility-in your thoughts, affections, words and actions. Ask pardon from God, make a strong resolution of amendment, and pray constantly to the most sacred Virgin to obtain the grace to practise humility.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"0 Heart of Mary, centre of humility, intercede for us." 0 Cor Mariae, centrum humilitatis, intercede pro nobis!

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The Holy Heart of Mary b the Treasure of the Gifts

of the Holy Spirit

The Effect of the Gifts of Wisdom, Intelligence,

Counsel, and Fortitude in the Holy Heart of Mary

AFTER considering and revering the august Heart of the Queen of Heaven as the highest throne of all virtue, we must contemplate and honor her Heart as the richest treasure of the Holy Spirit, where He deposited immense and inestimable riches, among them seven incomparable graces which are commonly called the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost: the gifts of wisdom and understanding, counsel and fortitude, knowledge and piety and fear of the Lord.

There is this difference between the moral virtues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost: the moral virtues arc given to make our souls stronger, to help them to be docile and obedient to the light and commands of reason predisposed through grace, while the gifts of the Holy Ghost are qualities and perfections infused with sanctifying grace which they accompany everywhere, in order to dispose us to correspond promptly with all the divine inspiration, all the interior actions of the Holy Ghost, and to follow His guidance wherever He may call us. The gifts of the Holy Ghost are the saintly habits bestowed by God to raise our souls to a state of perfection higher than that which ordinarily proceeds from virtue alone, and to fortify us more strongly even than virtue into meeting the difficulties of life.

All these gifts of the Holy Ghost existed, with their Author, in the Heart of the Blessed Virgin from the moment of her Immaculate Conception, and to a degree, conformable to her destined dignity of becoming the Mother of God.

Let us consider the workings of these gifts in her virginal heart.

The gift of wisdom filled her Heart with such clear knowledge and engraved on it such a high esteem and love for God that all her contentment and joy were to contemplate His adorable perfection, to concern herself solely with divine and eternal things, whose contemplation gave her soul all possible delight. For this reason, she possessed a strong scorn for the foolish wisdom of the world and its terrestrial and temporal attributes.

Through the gift of understanding she gained the greatest knowledge of all the secrets and mysteries contained in the divine writings of the Old as well as of the New Testament; a greater knowledge than all the holy doctors of the Church ever had or ever will have.

The gift of counsel taught her to make fervent resolutions and to follow the inspiration of the Holy Ghost through His gifts of wisdom and understanding.

The gift of fortitude implanted in her heart great contempt of herself and attachment to God, i n Whom she placed all her confidence and strength, in virtue of which she surmounted all the difficulties and obstacles she encountered and bore patiently all her many persecutions and trials.

Offer to God all the glory that this divine Virgin has tendered to Him, through her most saintly exercise of these four gifts and beg her to make you a participant in them.

THE RESULTS PRODUCED IN THE HOLY HEART OF MARY By