DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR FEBRUARY 2010

+Let us contemplate this month Our Lady of Victories in her Perpetual Succour+

Mary, from thy sacred image, With those eyes so sadly sweet,
Mother of Perpetual Succour! See us kneeling at thy feet.
In thy arms thy Child thou bearest: Source of all thy joy and woe;
What thy bliss, how deep thy sorrows, Mother, thou alone canst know.

On thy face He is not gazing,  Nor on us is turned His glance;
For His anxious gaze He fixes On the Cross, and Reed , and Lance.
To thy hand His hands are clinging   As a child would cling in fear,
Of that vision of the torments,  Of His passion drawing near.

And for Him thine eyes are pleading,  While to us they look and cry;
Sinners spare my Child! Your Saviour, Seek not still to crucify.
Yes, we hear thy words, sweet Mother,   But, poor sinners we are weak.
At thy feet thy helpless children thy Perpetual Succour seek.

Succour us when clouds of sadness  Hide the light of Heaven above;
Hope expires yet Faith still lingers,  And we dare not think of love.
In that hour of gloom and peril  Show to us thy radiant face,
Smiling down from thy loved image  Rays of cheering light and grace.
(A traditional Marian Catholic hymn, late 19th Century)
+++
Bishop Anthony writes: Christmass and Epiphany have passed again – yielding to Lent when we contemplate  the coming Passion and Crucifixion of our Redeemer. As I so often say, the Crib leads inevitably to the Cross, because it is only His Cross, then Resurrection, that caused His Birth! In this month of Our Lady of Victories (kept now because October is the month of the Holy Rosary) let us contemplate Our Lady of Perpetual Succour – a succour which is as much for Jesus, in His Infancy and throughout His earthly life, as indeed it is for us. The hymn speaks of Jesus as the source of all Mary’s joy and woe – woe because of her anguished soul as she stood on Calvary. In His Mother’s arms He is not gazing at her, but at the impending instruments of his torture and death, the cross, reed and lance: instruments which lead to our Salvation!  This same Mother of Perpetual Succour is now crowned in eternal glory and is indeed Our Lady of Victories who gave birth to God – God who won the final victory over death.    This Lent let us contemplate anew the real meaning of Christ’s Nativity!
+
Let us pray: Vouchsafe to our weakness, O merciful God, the help of Thy protection; that we who commemorate the Holy Mother of God, our Lady of all Victories, may, by the help of her powerful intercession, arise from our iniquities.  Through the same Christ our Lord.  +Amen+
+++
And a Passing Thought
Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of the risen Christ.
(Mother Teresa of Calcutta)
+

AFTER CHILDBIRTH, O BLESSED MARY, THOU DIDST REMAIN A PURE VIRGIN!
FOR BEHOLD FROM HENCEFORTH ALL GENERATIONS SHALL CALL ME BLESSED!
VOUCHSAFE THAT WE MIGHT EVER PRAISE THEE, O SACRED VIRGIN!
+

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt…For where your treasure is, there shall your heart be also  (Saint Matthew, Chapter 6)