"To understand the supernatural victory which Mary achieved in the oblation of this sacrifice," says the great St. Alphonsus, "it is necessary to know the nature of her love for Jesus. She was his mother. Now, maternal love is in general so strong that when a child is at the point of death, and the mother about to lose him, she forgets his defects and any uneasiness she may have suffered on his account, and feels pain beyond expression at the thought of being separated from him. But the love of mothers for the most part is divided among their children. Not so was it with Mary; she had but one Son, and He the most beautiful and excellent of all the children of Adam-loveable, obedient, virtuous, and innocent in his own supereminent degree-yea, more -her God and her all." How great, then, and how heroic was Mary's resignation. On Jesus she fixed all her affections; yet He is the victim whom she sacrificed, giving Him up to the most painful death the world ever wit nessed! Oh, let me gain a lesson from her conformity to the Divine will in anguish and sorrow! All, all of us have crosses to carry ; all have trials to bear-trials from friends as well as from enemies-trials of body, trials of mind. As with Mary in the Temple, so with us, there are times when nothing is to be seen but blighted prospects and the shadows of some great impending sorrow. Some indeed, like her, have grief and tribulation for their daily portion; and no one can escape suffering at times. Dispose of," says Thomas a Kempis, in his golden book of the Imitation of Christ, "and order all things as thou wilt and it may seem best to thee, thou wilt still find something to suffer, either willingly or unwillingly, and so thou wilt still find a cross." Ah, let me then take courage from the example of my Blessed Mother! I will wipe away my tears and imitate her in holy resignation to the most wise designs of Providence. I will say with her to the Heavenly Father: Heavenly Father! Thou art most wise in thy treatment of the sons of men. It is thy blessed will that this world should be to me a vale of tears. Here, like the Israelites in the desert, I taste the bitter waters of Mara, and spend my days in affliction and distress. Here, then, will I deny myself even what I might enjoy, and take up my cross after thy dear Son. Here will I follow my Jesus to Calvary; be it so. Do with me, O God, "not as I will, but as Thou wilt," afflict me as Thou pleasest. But permit me not to offend Thee again by sin. Thus wilt thou, my soul, like a true child of Mary, give honour and glory to the Most High, comfort the afflicted heart of thy sorrowful mother, and possess that inward peace which she enjoyed in the midst of her unutterable anguish, and which her Son promised "to men of good will." PRAYER. Behold me, dearest Mother, at thy feet. I admire thy profound humility in ful filling the laws of purification and presentation, from both which thou wast exempt in virtue of thy Divine Maternity. I repent of my pride-I implore of thee humility. Sincerely, with heartfelt grief, I condole with thee in the sorrow which overwhelmed thy pure soul when thou didst hear from the lips of holy Simeon the future sufferings of thy Divine Son: I beseech thee, let me be a sharer in it. I admire and contemplate thy wonderful fortitude, and thy exemplary resignation, in the offering thou didst make of thy Saviour and thy Child. humbly petition for the like resignation in all my trials and afflictions, and in the fulfilment of God's adorable will. I Mary, dolorous Mother! hear my prayers, and bless thy child, kneeling before thee. Amen. Ejaculation. Mother most sorrowful, obtain for me, from thy blessed Son, true humility and perfect resignation. |