DAY 32 OF 33 TOTAL CONSECRATION

[Dawn Marie]

Begin With The Following Prayers:

Come Holy Ghost...

The Holy Rosary...

The Magnificat...

 

 

Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis: Book 2, Chapter 7

Of the Love of Jesus above All Things

Blessed is he that understandeth (Psalm 119:1,2) what it is to love Jesus, and to despise himself for Jesus' sake. Thou oughtest to leave thy beloved, for thy beloved (Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37; Cant. 2:16); for that Jesus will be loved alone above all things.

The love of things created is deceitful and inconstant; the love of Jesus is faithful and persevering. He that cleaveth unto a creature, shall fall with that which is subject to fall; he that embraceth Jesus shall be made strong for ever.

2. Love Him, and keep Him for thy friend, who, when all go away, will not forsake thee, nor suffer thee to perish in the end. Some time or other thou must be separated from all, whether thou wilt or no. Keep close to Jesus both in life and in death, and commit thyself unto His faithfulness, who, when all fail, can alone help thee.

Thy Beloved is of that nature, that He will admit of no rival; but will have thy heart alone, and sit on His throne as King. If thou couldest empty thyself perfectly from all creatures, Jesus would willingly dwell with thee.

 

From True Devotion To the Blessed Virgin Mary, Nos. 257-260

There are some very sanctifying interior practices for those souls who feel called by the Holy Spirit to a high degree of perfection. They may be expressed in four words, doing everything through Mary, with Mary, in Mary, and for Mary, in order to do it more perfectly through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus, and for Jesus.

Through Mary

258. We must do everything through Mary, that is, we must obey her always and be led in all things by her spirit, which is the Holy Spirit of God. "Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God," says St. Paul. Those who are led by the spirit of Mary are children of Mary, and, consequently children of God, as we have already shown. Among the many servants of Mary only those who are truly and faithfully devoted to her are led by her spirit. I have said that the spirit of Mary is the spirit of God because she was never led by her own spirit, but always by the spirit of God, who made himself master of her to such an extent that he became her very spirit. That is why St. Ambrose says, "May the soul of Mary be in each one of us to glorify the Lord. May the spirit of Mary be in each one of us to rejoice in God." Happy is the man who follows the example of the good Jesuit Brother Rodriguez, who died a holy death, because he will be completely possessed and governed by the spirit of Mary, a spirit which is gentle yet strong, zealous yet prudent, humble yet courageous, pure yet fruitful.

With Mary

260. We must do everything with Mary, that is to say, in all our actions we must look upon Mary, although a simple human being, as the perfect model of every virtue and perfection, fashioned by the Holy Spirit for us to imitate, as far as our limited capacity allows. In every action then we should consider how Mary performed it or how she would perform it if she were in our place. For this reason, we must examine and meditate on the great virtues she practised during her life, especially: 1) Her lively faith, by which she believed the angel's word without the least hesitation, and believed faithfully and constantly even to the foot of the Cross on Calvary. 2) Her deep humility, which made her prefer seclusion, maintain silence, submit to every eventuality and put herself in the last place.

 

 

Reading Taken from The Glories of Mary

by Saint Alphonse De Liguori

Mary Saves Her Clients from Hell

IT is impossible for clients of Mary to be damned, if they faithfully honor her and commend themselves to her. At first sight some may think this statement exaggerated. But I would ask them to first read what I am going to say about it.  When we maintain that clients of Mary can never be lost, we are not speaking of persons who abuse this devotion so that they can sin more freely. Those who disapprove of preaching so much about Mary's mercy toward sinners, because they say it makes the wicked take advantage of it to sin more freely, are unfair in their judgment, for a sinner who presumes like this deserves punishment for being so rash, and not mercy at all.

We are speaking of those clients of Mary who sincerely determine to do better and are faithful in honoring her and recommending themselves to her. I say it is morally impossible for such people to be lost.  I find that Father Crasset says the same thing in his book on devotion to the Mother of God. And before Crasset, Vega puts it down in his Marian Theology, along with Mendoza and other theologians. To show that these were justified in what they said, I will set down what some of the Doctors and Saints have said on the subject.

St. Anselm, for instance: "Just as it is impossible for persons to be saved who have no devotion to Mary and are not protected by her, so it is impossible for any who recommend themselves to her, and are therefore watched over by her, to be lost." St. Antonine repeats this idea in practically the same words. Pay particular attention to the first part of this opinion, and let all tremble for their salvation who make but small account of their devotion to the Mother of God, or grow careless and give it up: it is impossible for anyone not protected by Mary to be saved. Many others say the same thing --- for example, St. Albert the Great: All those who are not your servants, O Mary, shall perish. Or St. Bonaventure: Those who neglect our Lady will die in their sins. And in another place: Those who do not call on you in life will never get to Heaven.  Long before him, St. Ignatius the Martyr said this: No sinner can be saved except through your help and favor, O Virgin Mary; for those who would otherwise be damned through God's justice are shown mercy and are saved through your intercession.

Some doubt whether St. Ignatius is the real author in this case, but at any rate St. John Chrysostom adopted the opinion as his own. Even the heretic Oecolampadius considered little devotion to the Mother of God a sure sign of reprobation; and therefore he said: Let it never be said of me that I reject Mary. So it is that the devil does his utmost to make sinners give up their devotion to Mary after they have lost the grace of God. When Sarah saw Isaac playing with Ishmael, who was teaching him evil ways, she asked Abraham to banish both Ishmael and his mother Hagar: Drive out that slave and her son (Gn. 21:10).

She was not satisfied with having the son driven out of the house without also driving out the mother, because she feared the boy would keep returning to the house as long as his mother was there. In the same way, the devil is not content with a soul banishing Jesus Christ, unless it banishes His mother too.  He fears that the Mother will bring back the Son by her intercession. And he has good reason to fear, because those who continue their devotion to the Mother of God will soon get back to God Himself. 

She has the will to save us, for she is our Mother and desires our salvation more than we can desire it ourselves.  If this is so, then how can clients of Mary ever be lost? They may be sinners, but if they recommend themselves to this good Mother with perseverance and purpose of amendment, she will obtain for them the necessary help to get back to the state of grace, to have true sorrow for their sins, to persevere in virtue, and at the end of all to die a happy death. Is there any mother who would not save her child from death, if all she had to do was ask the favor from the judge? And can we imagine that Mary, who loves her clients with the tenderest love a mother ever had, would not save her children from eternal death, when she can do it so easily? Hence St. Ephrem was right in calling devotion to our Blessed Lady the charter (or passport) to liberty, and Mary herself the protectress of the damned. Mary has both the power and the will to save us.  She has the power --- it is impossible for a Mother of God to pray in vain.  Her requests can never be refused; she obtains whatever she wills.

What rage fills the devil when he sees a soul persevering in devotion to the Mother of God! We read in the life of Father Alfonso Alvarez, who had great devotion to Mary, that once, when he was praying and was troubled by the devil with impure thoughts, the devil said to him: "Give up your devotion to Mary, and I will leave you alone." God revealed to St. Catherine of Siena that, out of His infinite goodness and the love He bore to the Incarnate Word, He had granted this favor to the Mother of His Son: no one, not even sinners, who devoutly recommend themselves to her, would ever fall into Hell. No one for whom Mary has once prayed will taste the sorrows of Hell. 

If I have the Mother of Mercy to defend me, who will dare to say that the Judge will refuse me mercy when I come before Him? Blessed Henry Suso used to say that he had put his soul in Mary's hands. Therefore, if his Judge wished to condemn him to Hell, her most loving hands would have to handle the sentence. I will hope for the same kindness for myself, O most holy Queen. And I will repeat the words of St. Bonaventure: "In you, O Lady, I have placed all my hopes." I have therefore the utmost assurance that I shall never be lost, but shall praise and love you forever in Heaven.

 

[Dawn Marie]

Amazing isn't it Tim...

Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us now and at the hour of our death

Amen

I am convinced the best book ever written was and is The Glories of Mary.

[Dawn Marie]

We are speaking of those clients of Mary who sincerely determine to do better and are faithful in honoring her and recommending themselves to her. I say it is morally impossible for such people to be lost.