Several Means Of Honouring Our Lady And Testifying Our Love To Her.
CORREGGIO
Madonna della Scala
c. 1523
Several Means Of Honouring Our Lady And Testifying Our Love To Her.
The First, and moft acceptable, is to
have her example before our eyes, and
to endeavour to imitate her as our dear
Mother, Lady, and Miftrefs. Now, though
(he was eminent in all virtues, yet the following ones are thofe (he valued moft,
and what will render us moft dear to her
Divine Son, and herself.
The First is her Humility, which made
her most pleasing to God, as she fays in
her Canticle: God has bad regard to the
Humility of bis Servant therefore all Nations shall call me blessed. And St. Bernard
fays (he pleased God by her Virginity,
but (he conceived him by her Humility.
The time we ought chiefly to pradife
it, is when we are to communicate;
Communion being, as it were, a new
Incarnation, for the fame Son of God,
whom the Angel called Son of the moft
High, and whom our Lady then conceived,
comes into our breast by Communion:
we must therefore endeavour to make our
Humility fuch, that it may supply for
what we want of purity, (though we have
cleansed our conscience by confesion) and
in imitation of our Blessed Lady, we must
believe, as (he did, that all that is foretold
us of the wonderful effects of this Sacrament, will, through the mercy of God,
be accomplished in us, although it seems
impossible to us. Then, with a profound
Humility and fenfe of our unworthiness,
let each of us fay: Behold the handmaid
of our Lord, me his unworthy creature,
let it be done to me according to his merciful designs ; it is to obey his Will that
I approach to receive him, though l am
most unworthy of the favour.
The Second Virtue we must imitate is
her constant and perfect obedience to the
Will of God. Be it done to me according
to bis word. The fame we ought to say
in all occasions, whether we be in peace
or in trouble, whether we have sensible devotion or not; and in fine, whatever circumstances we are in, God's Will be done,
readily obeying it, which way forever it
be made known to us. This our Lady
always did, by which {he conceived and
carried him in her heart, before (he conceived him in her womb. And this fpi-
ritual Conception of him was more available than the corporal, which only made
her Mother of God, whereas the other
rendered her the worthy Mother of God.
This Privilege we may enjoy, according
to our dear Lord's own words, who fays, those that do the Will of my Father are
my Sifter, Brother and Mother. Nothing
will make us more pleasing to our
Lady, than the imitating her in this vir-
tue; it was the advice (he gave at the
marriage feast of Cana in Galilee bidding
them perform whatever her Divine Son should order them.
The Third Virtue we must try to imitate, is her invincible Courage and Patience in all she suffered in the Passion of
her Divine Son. To know what that was,
we must measure it by the greatness of
her love; her love for her dear Son surpassed that of all other Mothers, and she
had a clear knowledge of what her Son
suffered; for besides being informed of it
by the Prophets and by that Divine Son
himself, she beheld it with her own eyes,
and felt in her heart what she suffered in his Body, None can conceive the greatness of her sufferings, which she bore with
an infinite Patience, standing all the while
by her Son on the Cross: her grief was
without comparison! None but her Divine Son could surpass it, and therefore she is deservedly styled Queen of Martyrs.
What obligation have we to love and
ferve her, who for our Salvation consented
to the death of her own Son! She could
with less difficulty have given her own
life. Can we, after this, think much of
sacrificing, for her sake, whatever is most dear to us?
Moft dear Lady, and Mother of my Saviour, obtain me the Grace to imitate you
in these Virtues, especially in patiently
bearing whatever fufFerings of mind and
body Almighty God {hall permit to fall
upon mcp and that with an un(haken con*-
Aancy, never yielding to dejedion in any
of them» thereby to imitate the example
you have given me.
Other means of honouring our Lady and testifying our love to her, are:
1st. To consider her as our Mother, and
make recourse to her as such.
The last thing our dear Saviour recommended on the Cross to us, in the Person
of St. John, was Ecce Mater tua, behold
your Mother; let us ever do so; especially
when it pleases God to permit us to suffer, that we may learn of her how to
comport ourselves therein. What an honour is it to have the Mother of God for
our Mother! We must endeavour not to
render ourselves unworthy of it, and therefore must avoid sin, for that only can
make us unworthy of her Adoption and
Love. O most dear Lady! shew yourself
a Mother to my soul, for the sake of your
dear Son I beg it, and then my Salvation
will be secure.
2nd, To respect and honour her in her
Pictures, Images, and little Altars dedicated to her.
3rd, To fast the Vigils of her Feasts,
or do some Penance and (if a secular)
give Alms.
4th, To confess and communicate on
her Festivals,
5th, To let no day pass without practising some Devotion or duty in her Honour as faying our Beads Hearing Mass
in her Honour, &c.
6th, To get Mass said in thanksgiving
to Almighty God for creating her so
perfect : and for the immense treasure
of Grace, Sanctity, and Glory, which he
has conferred on her incomparable Soul,
For as there is no proportion between a
limited thanks, and a gift of infinite value so by doing this, God himself becomes the
Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for
his own gift. This will be a most agreeable token of our love to her; all the Saints together cannot give her a greater
nor a more acceptable one.
Lady Lucy Herbert
Prioress of the English Austin Canonesses at Bruges
(1668-1744)
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