{"id":12976,"date":"2026-05-22T01:04:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/?p=12976"},"modified":"2026-05-22T16:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T16:36:07","slug":"may-devotions-to-the-blessed-virgin-mary-week-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/2026\/05\/22\/may-devotions-to-the-blessed-virgin-mary-week-4\/","title":{"rendered":"MAY DEVOTIONS TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (WEEK 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This year, for each day in the month of May, we will be posting excerpts of the book The May Book of the Breviary<\/em>, by Father John Fitzpatrick, O.M.I., published by R&T Washbourne, London, 1904.\u00a0 Nihil Obstat:\u00a0<\/em>Father Thomas Dawson, O.M.I., and Imprimatur:<\/em>\u00a0Cardinal Francis Alphonsus Bourne, dated April 14, 1904.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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AUTHOR’S PREFACE<\/a><\/p>

THE SECOND EVE, by St. Irenaeus<\/a><\/p>

THE SECOND EVE, by St. Augustine<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tREADINGS AND PRAYERS FOR THE FOURTH AND FINAL WEEK<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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May 22nd \u2013 The Blessed Virgin\u2019s Martyrdom<\/b>
<\/strong>from Saint Bernard<\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The Blessed Virgin’s martyrdom is put before us in Simeon’s prophecy, and also in the history of the Passion of our Lord.\u00a0 \u201cBehold, this Child is set,\u201d says the holy old man of the Infant Jesus, \u201cfor a sign which shall be contradicted; and thy own soul,\u201d he says to Mary, \u201ca sword shall pierce\u201d (Luke 2:34,35). \u00a0And, indeed, O Blessed Mother! it did pierce thy soul; for, unless it had passed through thy soul first, it could never have penetrated the flesh of thy Son. \u00a0Yea, when thine own Jesus had given up the ghost, the cruel lance that pierced His side did certainly not touch His soul, but as certainly it pierced thine through and through; for His soul was no longer there, while thine could thence be even torn away. \u00a0The power of sorrow, then, went through and through thy soul, so that we may, and not untruly, call thee martyr, since in thee the pain of thy compassion exceeded the sufferings of sense. \u00a0Was not that word, \u201cWoman, behold thy Son!\u201d sharper than any sword to thee, transpiercing as it did thy soul, and \u201creaching even unto the division of the soul and the spirit?\u201d (Hebrews 4:12). \u00a0Ah, what an exchange!\u00a0 John is given thee for Jesus, the servant instead of the Lord, the disciple in the place of the Master, the son of Zebedee for the Son of God, a mere man for the very God. \u00a0The words that fell upon thine ears, how could they but transpierce thy most loving soul, seeing that our stony hearts – nay, our iron hearts – are broken by the mere remembrance of them?
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wonder not, my Brethren! that Mary is said to have been a martyr in her soul; or let him only wonder who does not remember to have heard Saint Paul mentioning, as among the greatest crimes of the Gentiles, that they were without affection. \u00a0It was far otherwise in Mary’s heart. \u00a0Let it be far otherwise with her lowly servants. \u00a0But someone, perhaps, may say: Did she not foreknow that Jesus would die? \u00a0She did with certainty. \u00a0Did she not hope that He would at once rise again? \u00a0Faithfully she hoped. \u00a0And yet she wept over Him when He was crucified? \u00a0She did vehemently. \u00a0If you think differently, who are you, my Brother! and whence this wisdom of yours, that the compassion of Mary should seem to you more strange than the Passion of Mary’s Son? \u00a0Is it to be said that He could even die in the body, and that she in her heart could not die along with Him? \u00a0The one thing was done from a love greater than which no man has had, and the other from a love the like of which has never been since then.<\/p>

Let us pray
<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 O God! in whose Passion, according to the prophecy of Simeon, a sword of sorrow transfixed the most tender soul of Thy most glorious Virgin-Mother, Mary, mercifully grant that we who, with veneration, call to mind her Transfixion and her sorrow may, by the intercession of the glorious merits and prayers of all the Saints who stood faithfully beneath the Cross, experience the happy effect of Thy Passion. \u00a0Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. \u00a0Amen.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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May 23rd \u2013 Our Lady’s Seven Words<\/b>
<\/strong>from Saint Bernardine of Siena<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Had he not the Word of God to sustain him, what mortal would attempt, with his polluted lips, to say much, or even to say a little, about the very Mother of the God-Man, whom before all ages God the Father predestinated to be the most worthy ever-Virgin; whom the Son chose for His Mother; whom the Holy Ghost prepared as the home of all grace? \u00a0In what words, then, shall I \u2013 poor man! \u2013 set forth the profoundest sentiments of that virgin heart which her most holy lips expressed, seeing that no tongue of man nor even of angel could suffice for such a task? \u00a0For the Lord says: \u201cA good man out of a good treasure (of his heart) bringeth forth good things\u201d (Matthew 12:35). \u00a0But of all our human kind who can be conceived better than she, who merited to become the Mother of God, who in her heart and in her womb received the very God as guest? \u00a0What treasure is better than divine love itself, with which the Virgin’s heart was all on fire? \u00a0From this heart, as from a furnace of divine heat, the Blessed Virgin brought forth good words \u2013 I mean, words of the most ardent charity. \u00a0For, as from a vase full of the choicest wine only choicest wine can be poured, or as from a furnace of greatest heat only burning fire can come forth, so from the heart of the Mother of Christ no word can issue but of the highest and the most highly divine life and fervour.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Seven words only \u2013 so far as we read \u2013 of wonderful judgment and virtue were spoken by the most blessed Mother of Christ. \u00a0She spoke twice, and only twice, with the Angel. \u00a0With Elizabeth twice also. \u00a0And twice again with her Son. \u00a0And she spoke once to the waiters at the marriage-feast. \u00a0These seven words, expressive of seven acts of love, and spoken with gradation and order, are, as it were, seven flames from her heart. \u00a0And the pious mind, meditating upon these words, says with the Prophet: \u201cHow sweet are thy words to my palate!\u201d (Psalm 118:103) \u2013 that is to say, how sweet to all my affections! \u00a0Moreover, this sweetness which the devout mind feels in the words of the Blessed Virgin is an ardour of devout piety which the soul finds in them from experience. \u00a0Let us, then, put separately, and in their sequence, these seven flames of love in the Blessed Virgin’s words.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The first is the flame of discerning love \u2013 when Mary said to the Angel (of the Annunciation): \u201cHow shall this be done, because I know not man?\u201d \u00a0The second is the flame of transforming love \u2013 when Mary consented to the mystery of the Incarnation, saying, \u201cBehold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word.\u201d \u00a0The third is the flame of the communion of love \u2013 when Mary saluted Elizabeth. \u00a0The fourth is the flame of love’s exultation \u2013 her Magnificat<\/em>. \u00a0The fifth is the flame of the savour of love \u2013 when she said to Jesus, who had been lost in Jerusalem: \u201cSon, why hast Thou done so to us? \u00a0Behold, Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing.\u201d \u00a0The sixth is the flame of love’s compassion \u2013 when she said to Jesus at Cana: \u201cThey have no wine.\u201d \u00a0And the seventh is the flame of love’s consummation \u2013 when our Lady said to them who were waiting on the will of our Divine Lord: \u201cWhatever He shall say to you, do ye.\u201d<\/p>

Let us pray
<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 Almighty and everlasting God! who didst prepare, in the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a worthy dwelling for the Holy Ghost, mercifully grant that, while with pious mind we commemorate this most pure Heart of hers, we may be able to live according to Thy Heart. \u00a0Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the same Holy Ghost, God, world without end. \u00a0Amen.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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SEE ALSO:<\/span><\/em><\/p>

READINGS AND PRAYERS FOR MAY 1-7<\/a><\/p>

READINGS AND PRAYERS FOR MAY 8-14<\/a><\/p>

READINGS AND PRAYERS FOR MAY 15-21<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The cover image (on the homepage) is an apricot rose photographed on 6 June 2019 by Erstmal_Pause<\/a>.<\/em><\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This year, for each day in the month of May, we will be posting excerpts of the book The May Book of the Breviary, by Father John Fitzpatrick, O.M.I., published by R&T Washbourne, London, 1904.\u00a0 Nihil Obstat:\u00a0Father Thomas … Continuar lendo <\/i><\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liturgical-calendar"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12976"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12998,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12976\/revisions\/12998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}