VII — MARIAN LIFE

Presence of God. — O Mary, sweetest Mother, by your humility and your maternal love toward all creatures, make my heart humble.

Meditation

1 — The great place Mary, in her quality as Mother, occupies in the work of our sanctification fully justifies the desire for a life of intimacy with her. As a child willingly stays with his mother, so the Christian willingly lives with Mary and therefore uses many small means to keep the remembrance of her alive in his mind. He seeks, for example, to keep her image before his eyes, accustoming himself to greet her lovingly each time he meets it. But then, with the gaze of faith, he goes far beyond images, all the way to Mary living in glory and who, through the beatific vision, sees us, follows us, knows all our needs, helps us with her maternal aid; and thus, through faith, the soul remains in continual contact with Our Lady. Spontaneously, then, it multiplies during the day little practices of piety in her honor, invocations, ejaculatory prayers, and all this serves to intensify its relations with her. Saturday, the month of May, her numerous feasts are as many occasions to remember her in a special way, to meditate her prerogatives, to contemplate her beauties, to fall ever more in love with her. In fact, it is not possible to carry Mary’s sweet figure in mind and heart without feeling moved to love her, without feeling the need to show her the reality of one’s love by seeking to please her, that is, by living as her true children. In this way “Marian” life, that is, the life of intimacy with Mary, can penetrate the whole of our “Christian” life and lead to greater fidelity in fulfilling all our duties, because nothing can please the Mother more than to see us fulfill with love the will of her Son. And, on the other hand, Christian life, lived thus beneath Mary’s maternal gaze, acquires that special sweetness and gentleness that spring spontaneously from the continual company of a sweetest Mother who surrounds and sustains us.

2 — Another aspect of Marian life is imitation of Mary. Jesus alone is the “way” that leads us to the Father; He is the only model. But who is more similar to Jesus than Mary? Who more than Mary can say she bears in herself Christ’s very sentiments? “O Lady,” exclaims St. Bernard, “God dwells in you and you in Him. You clothe Him with the substance of your flesh and He clothes you with the glory of his Majesty.” Dwelling in the Virgin’s most pure womb, Jesus clothed her with himself, communicated to her his infinite perfections, infused in her his sentiments, his desires, his affections, his wills; and Mary, who totally abandoned herself to his action, was fully transformed into Him, so as to become his most faithful copy. “Mary,” sings the liturgy, “is the most perfect image of Christ, vividly painted by the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit, who is Jesus’ Spirit, taking full possession of Mary’s most pure and sweetest soul, engraved in it, in the most complete and delicate way, all the lineaments and characteristics of Christ’s soul, so that one can rightly say that to imitate Mary is to imitate Jesus. It is precisely for this that we choose her as model. As we do not love Mary for herself, but in relation to Christ whose Mother she is, so we do not imitate her for herself, but in relation to Christ, of whom she is the most faithful image. Jesus is the only way that leads us to the Father, and Mary is the safest and easiest way to arrive at Jesus. Jesus, by incarnating in himself the Father’s perfections, made their imitation possible for us; and Mary, by copying in herself Jesus’ perfections, made them more accessible to us, brought them more within our reach. And, on the other hand, no one more than she can say to us: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (I Cor. 4, 16). As Jesus came to us through Mary, so it is right that we go to Jesus through her.

Colloquy

“O my sweetest Mother, You call me and say to me:

“‘If anyone is little, let him come to me.’ Children always have their mother’s name on their lips, and in every danger, in every fright, in every difficulty they immediately call her. O sweetest Mother, O most loving Mother, this is precisely what You desire: that, like a little child, I always call You, always have recourse to You... Allow me then continually to invoke You and say: my Mother, my most lovable Mother. This name consoles me completely, softens me, reminds me of the obligation I have to love You. This name encourages me to trust in You. My Mother, thus I call You, and thus I always want to call You. After God, You are my hope, my refuge, my love in this valley of tears. O my sweet Lady and Mother, who with the love You show your children seize their hearts, seize also, I beg You, my poor heart that desires so much to love You. You, my Mother, by your beauty have enamored a God and made Him descend from heaven into your womb, and shall I live without loving You? No, I shall have no rest until I am certain of having obtained a true love, a constant and tender love toward You, my Mother. Yes, I want to love You, sweetest Mother, but at the same time I fear not loving You, for I hear it said that love makes lovers similar to the persons loved... Therefore, if I see myself so dissimilar from You, is that a sign I do not love You? You so pure, I so impure! You so humble, I so proud! You so holy, I so iniquitous! But this is what You must do, O Mary, in order that I may love You: make me similar to You. You have all power to change hearts; take then my heart and change it. Show the world how great your power is in favor of those whom You love! Make me holy, make me a worthy son of yours” (cf. St. Alphonsus).