The Month of Mary, According to the Spirit of St. Francis of Sales. Saint de Sales Francis
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Название: The Month of Mary, According to the Spirit of St. Francis of Sales

Автор: Saint de Sales Francis

Издательство: Bookwire

Жанр: Языкознание

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isbn: 4064066154240

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СКАЧАТЬ has this holy Virgin been called elect as the sun, because as the sun shines resplendent above all the stars, through the excellence of its prerogatives, so there is no one amongst all the Saints who has obtained, or can ever obtain, graces superior to those bestowed upon Mary. There are Saints who have received signal graces from our Lord, and these, compared with the rest of the world, are like queens crowned with charity, and occupy a distinguished position in the love of our Divine Saviour. But His most blessed Mother is the Queen of all Queens, for she is not only crowned with charity, but with the perfection of charity, and to use an expression of the Holy Spirit, Who says that the Son is the crown of the Father; her crown is in truth her Son; that is to say, the sovereign object of charity, the Eternal Love, forms her crown.

      SPIRITUAL FLOWERS.

      How lovely is the rose! and yet it causes great sadness in my soul. It reminds me of my sin, on account of which the earth was condemned to produce thorns.—St. Basil.

      Mary, conceived without sin, is compared to the incorruptible cedar, the scent of which puts serpents to flight.—St. Alphonsus Liguori.

      How great will be our happiness in heaven, where we shall be able to contemplate Mary, to love her and be loved by her; for she alone forms a paradise of delights. Mary is truly, after God, all that is beautiful, sweet, glorious and amiable in that celestial realm; all is in Mary, all through Mary, all, in fine, is hers.—St. Bonaventure.

      Nothing is of greater service to our soul, nor more sustains and strengthens it, than the frequent thought of Mary.—St. Teresa.

      EXAMPLE.

       Devotion of St. Francis of Sales to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

      Of all the festivals of the most holy Virgin there was none more dear to the tender piety of St. Francis of Sales than the Immaculate Conception. When but a subdeacon he instituted a confraternity of penitents, under the title of the Immaculate Conception. Every year he prepared for this feast by fasting and prayer, and his zeal induced him to proclaim this day a festival of obligation throughout his diocese. In order to place his episcopate under the protection of the Immaculate Virgin, he chose this solemnity for the day of his consecration, and during the ceremony he was rapt in ecstasy, and saw the most Holy Trinity working in his heart all that the Bishops were doing exteriorly, and moreover, he saw the most holy Virgin take him under her protection.

      Once, as he was making the visitation of his diocese, he arrived at the foot of a steep and rugged hill, upon the summit of which was the church of the most Blessed Virgin of Nancy-sur-Cluses. He climbed it with great difficulty, whilst blood streamed from his feet; but in reply to those who would dissuade him from the attempt, he said: 'It is true that I am almost sinking from fatigue, but whilst I am ashamed to be so unaccustomed to labour for the service of God, I feel the greatest joy to shed my blood in honour of the Mother of God.'

      Continuing his visitation he found three parish churches in succession which were dedicated to Mary. 'What a consolation I feel,' said he, 'to see so many churches in my diocese dedicated to the Mother of God! Whenever I enter a place consecrated to this august Queen, well do the beatings of my heart tell me that I am in the house of my Mother; for I am the son of her who is the refuge of sinners.'

      Prayer.—O Mary! Immaculate Lily of Purity, I rejoice with you that you have been filled with grace, endowed with the use of reason, and have loved God more than the Seraphim from the first instant of your Immaculate Conception. May the most Holy Trinity be eternally thanked and adored for so many and such rare privileges bestowed upon you. I humble myself profoundly before you, seeing that I am so devoid of graces and poor in merits. O my most loving Mother, make me a partaker of the graces which you have received so abundantly, that I also may be able to love God ardently during life, and not be separated from Him in death. Amen.

      Practice.—Recite three Paters, three Aves, and three Glorias, to thank the most Holy Trinity for the grace of the Immaculate Conception conferred upon Mary.

      Aspiration.—O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.

       Table of Contents

      MARY, A MODEL OF PERFECT SELF-DENIAL FROM HER BIRTH.

      LET all who are devout to the most holy Virgin approach the cradle in which lies the royal infant, Mary. Consider attentively this sacred child, and you will see how perfectly she practises every virtue. Ask the Angels, the Cherubim and Seraphim, who surround her, if they equal this little creature in perfection, and they will all reply that they are immensely inferior to her in graces, in merits, and in virtue. Contemplate, Children of Mary, those heavenly spirits around her cradle, and you will hear them repeat in ecstasies of admiration of her beauty the words of the Canticle of Canticles: Who is she that goeth up by the desert as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices of myrrh, and frankincense … Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array?

      This virgin child is not yet glorified, but glory is already promised her; she expects it, not like others, in hope, but with certainty. On this account the celestial spirits, enraptured by such incomparable perfection, cease not to celebrate her praises.

      Meanwhile, this most perfect Virgin lies in her poor crib, and there practises, in a most special manner, the virtue of self-abnegation. Consider, I beseech you, how, amidst angelic praises, she wishes to appear like all other children of Adam. Who will not be filled with admiration and love, to behold Mary in her cradle, full of grace, endowed with the perfect use of reason from the first instant of her Immaculate Conception, able to meditate upon the perfections of God, filled with His love, and entirely resigned to His holy will; and yet, notwithstanding such privileges, wishing to be considered and treated as a poor little infant, without in any way manifesting the precious gifts she possessed? O my God! how attractive is such a spectacle; and not only attractive, but wonderful; and how clearly does it convince us of her perfect renunciation of all that savours of worldly pomp and glory and ambition!

      The second kind of abnegation which this august Virgin teaches us to practise, is the renunciation of the flesh, of which in her nativity and infancy she offers us most moving examples. Children are obliged to make many sacrifices, and the more they are attended to, the more are their affections and inclinations opposed. These mortifications, nevertheless, are not occasions of merit to them, for they have not yet acquired the use of reason. But the most holy Virgin, being endowed from her infancy with the perfect use of reason, exercised the virtue of self-abnegation in a wonderful degree, enduring voluntarily all these contradictions and mortifications.

      The third kind of renunciation is that of our own judgment and will, even in things which seem to us better than those that are commanded us. This includes what is most difficult and meritorious in the way of Christian perfection. How excellently did the most holy Virgin practise this abnegation in her nativity! Although possessed of the use of reason, she never made use of her liberty to manifest it. We always see in her a constant state of dependence. When she goes to the Temple she is led by her parents; through obedience to them she gives her hand to a humble carpenter, although she had consecrated her virginity to God. She leaves Nazareth for Bethlehem, flees into Egypt, and returns to Nazareth; and in all these journeys, as well as in all the other vicissitudes of her life, she maintains perfect subjection and docility. She even assists at the death of her Son and her God, through submission to the decrees of Heaven, her will being perfectly united to that of the Eternal Father. It was not by constraint, but with the full СКАЧАТЬ