DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR MAY 2010

+A Meditation on Our Lady for the Merry Month of May+

There has been no other name given under heaven, except the name of Jesus, by which we can be saved. God has laid no other foundation of our salvation except Jesus Christ… If, then, we establish the solid devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only to establish more perfectly the devotion to Jesus Christ and to put forward an easy and secure means for finding Jesus Christ.  Divine Majesty! The greater part of Christendom does not know the necessary union which there is between Thee and Thy Holy Mother!
Thou, Lord, art always with Mary, and Mary is always with Thee, and she cannot be without Thee, else she would cease to be what she is. She is so intimately united with Thee, that it were easier to separate the light from the sun, the heat from the fire.  I say more: it were easier to separate from Thee all the angels and saints than the divine Mary, because she loves Thee more ardently, and glorifies Thee more perfectly than all other creatures put together.  Does devotion to Thy holy Mother hinder devotion to Thyself?  Is it that she attributes to herself the honour which we pay her? Does it displease Thee that we should try to please her?  Is it to separate or to alienate ourselves from Thy love, to give ourselves to her and to love her?  So we say with Saint Augustine: “Let not that man presume to look for the mercy of God, who offends His holy Mother.”     (Blessed Louis de Montfort)
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Bishop Anthony writes: As we have said in many of these ArchConfraternity Devotional pages which concern our Lady, if we do not love and honour Mary, we cannot say that we love Jesus! Mary is the Mother of God precisely because Jesus is, with His Father and the Holy Spirit, the Living God. Jesus and Mary are intimately and eternally united – she whose spotless womb gave earthly life to God and she who suffered anguish of soul and mind as she watched Him die in agony on the Cross.  If we trust to be with Jesus for all eternity, then we shall also be with Mary for all eternity!  Mary is so utterly conformed to the Will of Jesus that it has to be the case that all the devotions which we offer to our Lord, all the love we give Him, involves our Blessed Lady as well. Conversely, the more we love Mary and sing her praises, the more we are giving Jesus our love and worship automatically. At the heart of our Religion is the generosity of God – God our one and Last End.  And Mary herself is intrinsically bound up in our Salvation because she said “Yes!” to God. Every praise we offer to Mary pleases God and brings us nearer and nearer to God.
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Let us pray: Almighty and merciful God, Who for the defence of Christendom didst marvellously establish a perpetual Help in the most Blessed Virgin Mary: grant us this boon, that we who are fortified by her protection during life’s battle, may, in death, achieve victory over all our enemies. Through our Lord and Redeemer  Jesus Christ.      +Amen+
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And a Passing Thought
He who wishes to have the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, must have the tree of life, which is Mary
(Blessed Louis Grignon de Montfort)

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IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, QUEEN AND MISTRESS, O BE OUR SALVATION!
OUR LADY, HELP OF CHRISTIANS, DEFEND US AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF HOLY CHURCH!
VOUCHSAFE THAT WE MIGHT EVER PRAISE THEE, O SACRED VIRGIN!

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There stood mournful by the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, holy Mary, Queen of Heaven and        Mistress of the world.   [from the Gradual of the Mass of Our Lady of Sorrows]
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