DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR FEBRUARY  2009

+A Meditation for the Month in which The ArchConfraternity honours Our Lady of Victories+

Our Lord is our Advocate and Mediator of redemption with God the Father. It is by Him that we ought to pray, in union with the whole Church triumphant and militant. It is by Him that we have access to the Majesty of the Father, before Whom we ought never to appear except leaning on the merits, and indeed clothed with the merits, of His Son. But have we not need of a mediator with the Mediator Himself? Is He not God in all things equal to His Father, and by consequence the Holy of Holies? If, by His infinite charity, He has made Himself our bail and our Mediator with God His Father, in order to appease Him and to pay Him what we owed Him, are we on that account to have less respect and less fear for His Majesty and His Sanctity? Let us say boldly with Saint Bernard, that we have need of a mediator with the Mediator Himself, and that is Mary who is the most capable of filling that charitable office. It is by Mary that Jesus Christ came, and it is by her that we may go to Him. If we fear to go directly to Jesus Christ our God, whether because of His infinite greatness, or because of our vileness, or because of our sins, let us boldly implore the aid and intercession of Mary our Mother.. In seeing her, we see our own pure nature. She is so charitable that she repels none who ask her intercession, no matter how great sinners they have been. She is so powerful that never have any of her petitions been refused. She has but to pray her Son on our behalf and straightway He grants her desires. All this is drawn from Saints Bernard and Bonaventure. To mount nearer God, let us go to Mary who, as a creature herself, is nearest to us and the most suited to our capacity. The human mind loses itself when it reflects seriously on the Incarnate Wisdom, Who has not willed, though He might have done, to give Himself to men directly, but through the Blessed Virgin.
(Blessed Louis Marie de Montfort)
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Bishop Anthony writes: As Blessed Louis says, Jesus became Man through Mary. As God Himself, He could have chosen to enter the world as a perfect adult, independent of others. Instead He came as a poor baby, dependent on the love and nourishment of His holy Mother. He is the Infinite Wisdom Who came to save mankind and to glorify His Father – yet He found the perfect means of doing this, that is by submitting Himself to Mary for the first thirty years of His life! And we also glorify God when, like Jesus, we submit ourselves to Mary. When Blessed Louis says that in seeing Mary we see our own pure nature, he means that we see ourselves as we should be, yet in this earthly life cannot be. Mary was born without original sin; she is immaculate. Jesus and Mary are united in Heaven for all eternity in a bond of perfect love. We go to Mary because Jesus wants us to! She is the Lady of all Victories.

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Let us pray: Almighty and merciful God, Who for the defence of the Christian people didst in the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Victories, wondrously establish a perpetual help: graciously grant that we, being strengthened by her sure protection, as we strive in life, may hereafter have strength to win the victory over the malicious enemy.  Through Christ our Lord. +Amen+

And a Passing Thought

Love for Christ pierced Mary’s heart in such a way that no part of it was left unkindled. Mary thus fulfilled the first commandment of love in all its fullness and without the slightest imperfection.
(Saint Bernard)

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HAIL HOLY QUEEN, OUR MISTRESS, AND MOTHER OF ALL MERCIES!
JESUS! LET US BE AS FAITHFUL AS MARY WAS, AND SO SHARE HER GLORY WITH THEE!
OUR LADY OF VICTORIES, PRAY FOR OUR SALVATION AND OUR PEACE!

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Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us and lead us to Jesus! Amen