MAY DEVOTIONS TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (WEEK 2)

May 8th – The Mother of Divine Grace
from Saint Augustine

     The Angel says to the Virgin Mary: “Hail, full of grace! the Lord is with thee” – already is He with thee who shall be within thee.  Tell me, then, thou Messenger of God! “how shall this be done?”  See how she recognizes an Angel, and how she questions him with confidence!  And because he found her questioning him without diffidence, he consented to instruct her.  Listen how: Thy virginity shall remain inviolate; only give credence to the truth, and be still a maiden undefiled.  Because thy faith is inviolate, inviolate also shall be thy virginity.  And now, hear how this shall be done: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee,” for thou dost conceive by faith, by believing thou dost conceive virginally; “therefore the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).  What art thou, who shalt yet bring forth?  Whence thy deserts?  Whence hast thou gotten this?  How comes it that He who made thee shall in thee be made?  Whence, I say, whence comes to thee so great a good?  Thou art a Virgin, thou art sacred, thou hast vowed a vow: great is that which thou hast merited, yea, great indeed is that which thou hast received.  For how hast thou merited this?  He who made thee is made in thee; He through whom thou wast made in thee is made – yea, indeed, He by whom heaven and earth were made, by whom all things were made, the Word of God, is made incarnate in thee, assuming flesh, but not laying aside His divinity.  And the Word is united to flesh, the Word is wedded unto flesh, and thy womb is the nuptial-chamber of this great marriage – of this great marriage of the Word and our flesh, thy womb, I say, is the bridal-chamber – the bridal-chamber from which the Spouse came forth.  In His conception He found thee virgin, and in His birth He left thee virgin still.  He bestows fecundity; He takes not away virginity.  “Whence is this to thee?”  I seem too boldly to question the Maiden, and, with something like importunity, this voice of mine seems to knock at modest ears.  But I see a Maiden, blushing indeed, and yet answering, though admonishing me.  “You ask me, ‘Whence is this to me?  I blush to answer thee concerning this my good: listen to the Angel’s salutation, and acknowledge that in me is thy salvation.  Believe Him whom I have believed.  ‘Whence is this to me,’ you ask?  Let the Angel make answer. – ‘Tell me, Angel, whence is this to Mary?’ – ‘Already I have told you whence in my words of salutation, “Hail, full of grace!’”
     But when Mary said: “How shall this be done, because I know not man?” she said so inquiringly, not hopelessly.  Though she put a question, she did not doubt as to the promise made.  Oh, full of grace indeed! for so does the Angel salute her: “Hail, full of grace!”  Who will unfold what this grace was?  Who can give sufficient thanks for such a grace as this?  Man is made, and man perishes through his own free will; and He who made man is found to have become man, lest man whom He made should perish.  The Word who was in the beginning God with God, by whom all things were made, becomes incarnate: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us” (John 1:14).  The Word is made flesh; but flesh is assumed unto the Word, the Word in taking flesh did not cease to be.  Oh, what a grace!  How were we worthy that this should be ours?

Let us pray
     O God! who, by the fruitful virginity of the Blessed Mary, hast given mankind the grace of redemption, grant that we may enjoy for ever in heaven the happy companionship of her whom on earth we name the Mother of Grace.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.  Amen.

May 9th – The Visitation
from Saint Ambrose

     It is only right that all who ask us to believe in them should give us ground for our belief.  And so the Angel, when he announced his mystic message to the Virgin Mary, gave as a proof of what he said the example of how an older and a barren woman had conceived, to show that whatever is pleasing to God is possible to Him.  When Mary heard this, she was not incredulous of the oracle, nor uncertain as to the messenger, nor in doubt as to the example given her; but joyful because of her desire, and religious in the duty she was doing, she went into the hill-country, hastening for very joy.  For whither should she go, full of God as she was, but to the hills, and that with haste?  The grace of the Holy Ghost knoweth nought of tardy accomplishment.
      Mary, who had hitherto lived all alone in the privacy of home, was not deterred by her virginal shyness from appearing in public; nor did the rough mountain ways affright her; nor did the length of the journey retard her in the fulfillment of her duty.  The Maiden left her home and went into the hill-country with haste, mindful of her office, and not caring about the trouble, urged by her affection to that from which her maidenhood would have excused her.  Learn, ye maidens, not to run about between houses other than your own, not to loiter in the streets, not to fall into speech with others in public places.  Mary, loth to leave her home, hastens on her way once she has left it; and she remains with her cousin three months.
     Maidens! you have learnt a lesson from the modesty of Mary, learn a lesson also from her humility.  She came, as one relation comes to another, and as the younger comes to the elder; and not only did she come, but in her salutation also was she first.  For the purer a maiden is, the humbler also ought she to be.  She will know how to defer to her elders.  Let her who professes chastity be a mistress in humility.  This is the source of piety, and the rule of its teaching.  For here, as we must see, the superior comes to the inferior, that the inferior may be helped – Mary comes to Elizabeth, Christ to John.

Let us pray
     Grant, O Lord! we beseech Thee, unto Thy servants, the gift of heavenly grace, that as the Child-bearing of the Blessed Virgin was unto them the beginning of salvation, so the solemn commemoration of her Visitation may bring them an increase of peace.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.  Amen.

May 10th – Eve and Mary
from Saint Augustine

     Dearly Beloved Brethren! the day for which we have longed, the day of the blessed, and venerable, and ever-virgin Mary, has come; therefore let our earth rejoice with the greatest exultation, made illustrious, as it has been, by the birth of this glorious Virgin.  For she is the flower of the fields, from which the precious lily of the valley has sprung, and through her Child-bearing the nature we received from our first parents has been changed, and their fault has been blotted out.  At her person stopped short the unhappy sentence which was pronounced against Eve in these words: “In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children” (Genesis 3:16), for she in joy brought forth the Lord.
     Eve mourned, but Mary rejoiced; Eve bore tears, but the fruit of Mary’s womb was joy; for whereas the one gave birth to a sinner, of the other was born the sinless One.  The mother of our race brought pain into the world, but the Mother of our Lord brought salvation into the world.  Eve was the foundress of sin, but Mary was the foundress of merit.  Eve was baneful to us by her fall, but Mary wrought our good, giving us life again.  The one wounded us, while the other healed us.  The disobedience of the one was exchanged for the obedience of the other, and for a want of faith, faith was the compensation.
     And now let Mary wake the loud tones of the organ, and between its quick notes let the Mother’s timbrel sound.  Let the gladdened choirs sing with her, and let the sweet-sounding canticles mingle together in alternating antiphons.  But hearken now to our timbrel player’s song: “My soul doth magnify the Lord,” she sings, “and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.  Because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid; for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.  Because He that is mighty hath done great things to me” (Luke 1:46-49).  The miracle of a new birth has thus effaced the effect of weakness and error, and the singing of Mary has quite shut out the wailing voice of Eve.
     Mary is happy with a wondering joy at her motherhood, and she is jubilant that she has brought forth by the Holy Ghost; unwedded as she is, she is not afraid at her motherhood, but wonders and exults at it.  O Woman blessed above women! who knoweth not man at all, and yet compasseth a man within her womb.  Mary encompasseth a man from believing the Angel, for Eve was the death of a man by giving assent to the serpent.  Oh, happy obedience!  Oh, signal grace! which, humbly infusing faith, embodied within her Him who made the heavens.  By this she merited the glory which later she increased.  “Behold!” she saith, “from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:48).  O blessed Mary! who can ever pay thee in full the debt of gratitude we owe thee, and who can praise thee enough, since by thy sole consent thou didst come to the succour of the world that was lost?  What praises shall the frailty of the human race repay unto thee, for only through thy intervention has it found a way for its own renewal?  Accept, then, these thanksgivings, slight as they are, and so much less than thy deserts; and since thou dost receive our petitions, by thy own prayers win us the pardon of our sins.  Let our supplications enter into that audience-chamber where prayers are heard, and bring us back the antidote for our reconciliation.
     As we ask through thee, may we through thee be pardoned; may we be granted what we pray for in our trustfulness.  What we offer to thee, do thou receive; what we pray for, do thou grant; what we are afraid of, do thou have pardoned, for thou art the only hope of sinners.  Through thee we hope for the remission of our sins, and in thee, O thou most blessed One! is our expectation of reward.  Holy Mary! be thou a help to the unhappy, be an aid to the fearful, be a comfort to the sorrowful; pray for the people, plead for the clergy, intercede for all women who are vowed unto God.  May all experience thy succour who celebrate thy sacred birth.

Let us pray
    O God! who didst will that Thy Word, at the message of the Angel, should take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary grant to us, Thy suppliants, that we, who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercessions with Thee.  Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.  Amen.

May 11th – The Overflowing Fount of Grace
from Saint Jerome

     What manner of woman the blessed, and glorious, and ever-virgin Mary was is divinely made known to us by the Angel when he says: “Hail, full of grace! the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.”  In sooth, it was only fitting that that Virgin should be dowered with such gifts as should fill her full of grace, who gave glory to heaven, and our Lord to earth; who brought back peace once more, giving faith to the Gentiles, putting an end to vice, and tracing for us a way of life and a line of conduct.  And she is full indeed; to others grace was given only in measure, but the very fullness of grace poured itself forth at once on Mary.  Verily, full of grace is she; for though, as is our faith, the Patriarchs and the Prophets had grace, yet it was not in the same fullness as she, for into Mary there came a fullness of all the grace which is in Christ, though it is in her otherwise than it is in Him.  And therefore is it said: “Blessed art thou among women”; that is to say, blessed above all other women.  And thus the blessedness of Mary quite did away with anything resulting from the malediction upon Eve.
     It is in her praise that Solomon writes in the Canticle of Canticles: “Arise, my dove, my undefiled, for winter is now past, the rain is over and gone”; and again: “Come from Libanus, come; thou shalt be crowned” (2, 4).  And not undeservedly is she bidden to come from Libanus, for Libanus means whiteness.  For she was white with the many virtues she merited, and was made whiter than the whitest snow with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, showing forth in all things the simplicity of the dove; for whatever was wrought within her, was all purity and simplicity, all grace and truth, all mercy and justice looking forth from heaven; and therefore was she without stain, because in her nought have ever been corrupted.  She has encompassed a Man in her womb, as saith the holy Jeremias, and not from any other source has she gotten Him.  “The Lord” (he says) ‘hath created a new thing upon the earth: a woman shall compass a man” (31:22).
     A new thing it was, indeed, and a new thing surpassing all others in might, when God (whom the world cannot bear, nor any man see and live) so entered into the hostel of her womb as to leave her cloistral frame inviolate, and in such manner was borne therein that the whole Godhead was encompassed there, and so came forth from thence that, as Ezechiel confesses, the gate was closely shut the while.  Wherefore in the aforementioned Canticle of Canticles is sung: “A garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up – thine odours are a paradise” (4:12,13).  A garden of delights in very sooth, in which are set all kinds of flowers and the good odour of all virtues, and so enclosed as to be safe and inviolable from the corruption of all guileful deceits; yea, a fountain sealed with the seal of all the Holy Trinity.

Let us pray
    O almighty and eternal God! grant, we beseech Thee, that, venerating in joyful commemoration the most inviolate virginity of the most pure Virgin Mary, we may, by her intercession, attain to purity of both mind and body.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.  Amen.

May 12th – “Blessed Art Thou Amongst Woman”
from Saint Ildephonsus

     O my Lady and my Sovereign, who bearest rule over me, Mother of my Lord, handmaid of thy Son, who gavest birth to the Creator of the world!  I pray thee, I beg of thee, I beseech thee, that I may be endued with the spirit of thy Lord, the spirit of thy Son, yea, the spirit of my Redeemer; that I may give heed to things true and worthy of thee, that I may speak things true and worthy, that I may love all things whatsoever that are true and worthy of thee.  For thou wast chosen of God, assumed of God, called of God; thou art very near to God, thou cleavest to God, thou art bound unto God; thou wast visited by an Angel, saluted by an Angel, blessed by an Angel, made happy by an Angel; thou wast troubled at his words, astounded at thine own thought, confounded at his salutation, and in wonderment at what his words announced unto thee.
     Thou art told that thou hast found grace with God, and thou art bidden not to fear.  By this thou art strengthened in thy trust, thou art instructed in the knowledge of wonderful things, thou art borne forward to a new, an unheard-of, glory.  The Angel tells thee of thy Child to be – and after His birth thou remainest a Virgin still inviolate.  Then we are given the assurance of thy virginity; and the Angel imparts to thee the glad tidings that the Holy One, the Son of God, shall be born of thee, and announces to thee in his wondrous way the power of the new-born King.  Thou askest how this shall be – thou seekest to know the source of this, thou inquirest as to the reason of it, thou askest how it shall be, thou wouldst know in what order it shall be: Listen to an oracle hitherto unheard; look upon an unwonted work, behold this secret yet unknown, wait for this wonder hitherto unseen: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee” (Luke 1:35).
     By all the Trinity shall this conception be wrought invisibly within thee, but only the person of the Son of God shall take flesh from thee and of thy body shall be born.  And, therefore, the Holy Thing which shall be conceived in thee, which shall be born of thee, which shall come forth from thee, which shall bud forth from thee – “which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.”  For “He shall be great,” He shall be the God of power, the King of all ages, the Maker of all things.  Behold, “blessed art thou amongst women” – maiden among mothers, Lady among handmaids, Queen among thy sisters.  Behold, for this all generations shall call thee blessed, all the powers of heaven know thee to be blessed, all the prophets proclaim thee blessed, all the nations honour thee as blessed.  Our faith finds thee blessed, our souls find thee blessed, our love finds thee blessed; and I, I bless thee by the praise and the preaching of my lips.

Let us pray
    O almighty and merciful God! who, for the succour of the human race, didst will that the Blessed Virgin Mary should be the Mother of Thine only-begotten Son, grant us, we beseech Thee, that, by her intercession, we may be enabled to avoid all diabolical contagion, and to serve Thee with sincere mind.  Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.  Amen.

May 13th – Mary’s Fiat
from Saint Thomas of Villanova

     Desiring with all the desire of my soul to praise, as well as my mental insufficiency allows me, the admirable Mary, Mother of God, eminent in every virtue, I could hardly find in Sacred Scripture any words of praise which express to us to the letter her glory and her excellence.  For though many mystical things are said of her in the Prophets, and facts are everywhere read from which the greatness of her virtue may plainly be seen, yet in the writings of the Evangelists or the Apostles there is seldom any word said of her, and more rarely still any word of praise, although, to tell the truth, she is not passed over in silence to such a point that, in their writings, some faint ray of her virtues does not break out from certain chinks, as it were, between their words.  But from what should we be better able to judge of her glory, and her virtues, and the gifts with which her soul was dowered, than from that wonderful colloquy between herself and the Angel?  And in this, over and above the fact that by the Angel’s words she is deservedly proclaimed most full of grace and the first amongst all women, the riches of her praise shone out in a much more remarkable way from her own deeds and words.  The Angel, being come in with joy, saluted with reverence, saying; “Hail, full of grace! the Lord is with Thee”: full of grace – to be fulfilled with the Godhead, to be overshadowed with might: full of grace – “of whose fullness we have all received,” from whose abundance the whole world shall be filled; full, indeed, in whose soul no room had been left for sin, no way left open to iniquity.  “The Lord is with thee.”  And how with thee? – certainly, not as with me, but as nowhere else: with thee in thy body, with thee in thy mind, with thee in thy soul, with thee by His counsel, with thee in the womb, with thee by His help, with thee in His rising, with thee in His exit, with thee at the end, with thee without end.
     Having heard, then, the heavenly message, she thus speaks to the Angel: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38).  So it is that, by a great mystery and a most profound instinct of deity, when about to conceive God, she calls to mind her handmaid condition, that she may give up the Son who springs from her to the service of the world.  “Be it done unto me,” she says, “according to thy word”; and at her word the Word is made flesh within her womb.  Oh, mighty fiat!  Oh, effective fiat!  Oh, fiat above every fiat! to be venerated with honour without end.  By this word “fiat” the world was made.  By this word the Most High created heaven and earth; but such a fiat was not heard in the world, O blessed One! as that which now thou hast uttered.  For what was done?  Who can tell what was done?  Nature is astounded, the judgment hesitates, the sense grows dull, the tongue grows mute, the reason fails, the intelligence does not understand what was done in Mary when she said: “Be it done unto me according to thy word.”

Let us pray
    O almighty and merciful God! who hast given to sinners the blessed and ever-virgin Mary to be their refuge and their help, grant that, under her protection, and absolved from all sin, we may attain to the happy effect of Thy mercy.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.  Amen.

May 14th – “Virgo Praedicanda”
from Saint German

     “Hail, Mary, full of grace!” holier than the saints and higher than the heavens, more glorious than the Cherubim, more honourable than the Seraphim, more venerable than any other creature whatsoever.  Hail, O Dove! who dost bear unto us both the fruit of the olive and Him who will save us from the spiritual deluge, and dost announce unto us the harbour of salvation, whose “wings are covered with silver, and the hinder parts of the back with the paleness of gold” (Psalm 67:14), beneath the bright beams of the most holy and illuminating Spirit.  Hail, most pleasant human Paradise of God! now planted towards the Orient by His most bountiful and omnipotent right hand, and bringing forth unto Him the sweet-smelling Lily and the never-fading Rose, for the healing of them who in the Occident had imbibed the pestilential bitterness of death, which is mortal to the soul – Paradise in which, unto the knowledge of the truth, the tree of life has bourgeoned, of which if any man taste he shall attain to everlasting life.  Hail, most holily built, and spotless, and most pure Palace of the King, God Most High! adorned with all His high and royal magnificence, hospitably open to all, and refreshing them with mystical delights: Palace in which is set that spiritual bridal-chamber, bright with various beauty, that is not made with hands; in which the Word, willing to call back to Him the wandering human race, wedded flesh unto Himself, that He might reconcile to the Father those who by their own will were castaways.
     Hail, O rich and shady mountain of God! where was the pasture of the true Lamb who bore our sins and our infirmities – mountain from which hath rolled down that Stone not hewn with hands, which has broken the altars of the idols, and has become the main corner-stone, marvellous in our eyes.  Hail! thou holy throne of God, thou divine storehouse, thou temple of glory, thou beauteous ornament, thou choice treasure, thou mercy-seat of all the world, thou heaven which dost declare the glory of God.  Hail, O thou urn fashioned of pure gold! that containest that most delightful sweetness of our souls – I mean, that manna which is Christ.  O most pure Virgin, most worthy of all praise and all homage!  O treasury, dedicate to God, responding to all the needs of men!  Thou art an untilled earth, an unploughed field; thou art a vine in full flower, an overflowing fountain of waters, a Virgin bringing forth; thou art the Mother that knew not man, a hidden treasure of innocence, and the glory of holiness.
     By the most acceptable prayers, potent with thy maternal power, which thou addressest to the Lord God, the Creator of all things, thy Son, who had on earth no father, and was of thee alone begotten, guide, as with a hand on the helm, all the orders of the Church, and pilot her unto the port of peace.  Clothe most gloriously her priests with righteousness, and with the exulting gladness of spotless faith – a faith that is tried and true.  Rule thou, in prosperity and peace, the sceptres of orthodox princes who, far beyond all the splendours of their purple and their gold, and more precious far than pearls and precious stones, take thee for their diadem and royal robe, nay, for the most enduring glory of their realm.  Subject to these the infidel nations who blaspheme against thee and against the God who was born of thee, and strew them under their feet; and strengthen the people who are subject to them to continue, according to the commandment of God, in the homage of their meek obedience.  Crown this thy city, which has thee for tower and for foundation – crown her with the crown of victory, and, girding it round about with might, ever guard the temple of God, and keep inviolate the beauty of His dwelling-place.  Deliver from all difficulty and anguish of mind all them that praise thee; give liberty to the captive; to the wanderer, the homeless, and all who are destitute, be thou a consolation.  Stretch out thy helping hand to the whole world, that with joy and gladness we may celebrate thy solemn feasts as this which now we keep unto its close with such festive splendour.  Through Christ Jesus, the Ruler of all things, and our true God, to whom, together with the Father, who is the holy fountain of life, and the co-ruling, consubstantial, and co-eternal Spirit, be glory and power, now and for ever and ever.  Amen.

Let us pray
    O God! who, with unspeakable providence, dost rule and govern the whole world, grant to us, thy servants, that, by the intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever a Virgin, who pastureth us with watchful care, we may be protected from our enemies, satiated with the sweetness of Thy fruit, and led securely to the heavenly fatherland.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.  Amen.