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1 of 2 Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother ~ September 5th That word ‘woman’ Jesus was to say to one holier still than the Canaanite and of greater faith. And that time too He was to do what the Woman wished. So much is obvious at Cana. But it is true of other incidents wherein it is not visibly seen, wherein the express desire of the Virgin was not granted. For her deepest desire, the one to which she held closest, was not that which she expressed in words. Beneath all else her desire was to be like her Son. And if He must be set apart for the salvation of the world, she in her turn will be as lonely as He. In their very separation from each other there was a profound unity. She was to follow Him to the very heart of His redemptive work, so that she was to be called Co-Redemptrix . . . (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother ~ September 4th Herein then Jesus is less merciful than His disciples. What of the poor mother? Must she lose heart? ‘But she came and adored Him, saying: Lord, help me. Who answering, said: It is not good to take the bread of the children and to cast it to the dogs.’ It was a cruel word, and seemed to leave her no course but to find some lonely place where she might weep the tears of her despair. But she did not despair. ‘She said: Yea, Lord: for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the tables of their masters.’ Where did that poor bruised heart with its poor spurned grief find so instantly all the love that inspired so sublime an answer? Surely it was Jesus who poured that love into her soul at the very moment when by word and gesture He was repulsing her. For in that repulse He brought her love to a higher and higher pitch, just as we dam a river to multiply its power. Assuredly it was Jesus who was working within her, and that is why her faith was marvellous — so marvellous that the Artist is in admiration of what He has made and in some sort falls captive to the beauty of His work: ‘Then Jesus answering, said to her: Oh woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt: and her daughter was cured from that hour.’ ~ Charles Journet, Our Lady of Sorrows. Tr. F.J. Sheed. (1939)

1 of 2 Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother ~ September 4th In the Gospel we find the secret of the surprising harshness that Our Lord often shows to great souls. Consider another instance where He humbles, almost tramples upon, the love of a mother. The episode of the Canaanite woman (Matt, xv, 22-8) sheds a great light. ‘And behold a woman of Canaan who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to him: Have mercy on me, oh Lord, thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously troubled by a devil.’ It was not for herself she was praying, but for her daughter. ‘Who answered not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying: Send her away, for she crieth after us: And He answering, said: I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the House of Israel.’ (continued)

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2 of 2 Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother ~ September 3rd We cannot but be struck as we read the Gospel at the discovery that whenever Jesus meets His Mother, it is always to break something in her, to wound more deeply that poor tenderness of emotion wherewith the heart of the most loving and most holy of mothers was wrung. Yet that tenderness was utterly legitimate. It seems that she received her heart of flesh only that it might be wounded by the Child for Whom alone it beat. It seems as though Jesus treats her with an amazing, an inconceivable harshness. In the natural order no man could be so harsh to such a mother without being guilty of sin, for no mere man could in the very moment of natural harshness be supernaturally so tender. The tenderness of natural love is holy, and each time Jesus wounded it afresh it was to bring to a more burning intensity the flame of the supernatural charity that bound them. Amazing and inconceivable as His harshness may be, it is nought else but the instrument of a tenderness more amazing and more inconceivable still. It is a mask covering the mystery of the tenderest and mightiest of loves. ~ Charles Journet, Our Lady of Sorrows. Tr. F.J. Sheed. (1939)

1 of 2 Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother ~ September 3rd All the rigour that the heavenly Father used towards the Son in Whom He was well pleased, His Son seems in turn to have used towards the Mother He loved. With His own hands He offers to His Mother the chalice which He likewise had to drink in spite of His three supplications. (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother ~ September 2nd Yet even in the first instant it was wonderful. Combined in it were the most marvellous outpourings of the order of Nature and of the order of Grace. In the order of Nature, it was the love of Mary for a Child which in the very act that made her mother did not violate her virginity but consecrated it: she brought Him into the world without travail, as effortlessly as a ray of light passing through a window. In the order of Grace, it was the love of a heart supernaturally pure, which had known no stain of sin, which from the first moment beat only for God—a heart filled with Charity to overflowing like a stream running bank-high and ever growing to become a great river. The love of the Virgin for her Son was thus perfect from the beginning yet could grow. Its first perfection was the perfection of the seed. And the seed must blossom and come to the perfection of the fruit. Now everything moved in harmony for this end. Consider first her docility — a docility delicate, clear-seeing, ready at each moment to find some deeper depth as God’s demands were progressively manifested to it. This docility increased in a marvellous manner in that moment when, to the angel who came to reveal her vocation, the Virgin replied in words and in her heart, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy Word’ (Luke i, 38). It would continue to grow, and grow mightily until her death. It had to be so. For at the instant of the Incarnation, she bore within her Him Who had come to teach men the unimaginable demands of love. Of her He asked more than of all others, for thus it was that He caused love to grow in her. No love here below is as dear to Him as this love of His Mother. Its growth He Himself would direct. In all other cases, it is the mother who gives, the child who receives. Not so here, for the Child is the Master of love. He was to lead her by ways so high, so mysterious, so sorrowful that it is manifest to us that He made the same choice for His Mother that His heavenly Father had made for Him: “I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptised; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished” (Luke xii, 50). Let us study, in the visible signs left us in the Gospel, the mysterious law governing the mighty upward movement of love in Our Lady. ~ Charles Journet, Our Lady of Sorrows. Tr. F.J. Sheed. (1939)

1 of 2 Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother ~ September 2nd INTRODUCTION LET us think upon the love that there was between Jesus and His Mother. His love for her could know no increase. In the first moment it filled His soul in full measure and overflowing. Thus it will remain for all eternity. It is so mighty that nothing can be added to it. Her love for Him could know increase. (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother ~ September 1st In her liturgy for the feast of Seven Dolours she ventures to comment upon it, compassionately and tenderly and reverently. She does not forbid even the humblest of her children to comment likewise, provided that this be done with humility, claiming no more than to stammer out some tiny part of all that could be said in order that men’s souls may be preserved from error or forgetfulness. But the Church knows better than any that the inspired words, when they are received with living faith and contemplated in the light of the gifts of understanding and wisdom, have a power of their own to lead souls to the heart of the revealed mystery where words themselves are powerless. This is the secret of her liturgy wherein the great texts of the Gospel pass before our eyes in the recurrent cycles of the years ~ Charles Journet, Our Lady of Sorrows. Tr. F.J. Sheed. (1939)

1 of 2 Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother ~ September 1st FOREWORD THE sorrow of the Mother of God is immeasurably beyond what human words can say. It remains a secret between the Virgin and her Son. Revelation contains that small hint of it which has been divinely communicated to the world. This the Church preserves lovingly. (continued)

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September ~ Month of The Sorrowful Mother Here ends our meditation for now, dear Subscribers, on Mary's Immaculate Heart by Fr. John F. Murphy. Today, September 1st, we will begin to explore the Sorrowful Heart of Our Lady the through the writings of Charles Journet in his book Our Lady of Sorrows, translated by Frank J. Sheed and published in 1939. Please continue to visit Virgo Potensfor a new post each day. May God bless you!

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 31st The first church dedicated to the Heart of Jesus, that of the Seminary of Coutances in Normandy (1672), was at the same time jointly dedicated to the Heart of Mary. In the years 1674 and 1675 St. John Eudes, in favor of his confraternities, obtained six bulls from Pope Clement X solemnly authorizing devotion to the admirable Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. During the years 1668 to 1805 there sprang up everywhere confraternities of the Heart of Mary and of the Sacred Hearts, approved and indulgenced by the Sovereign Pontiffs. The scapular of the Immaculate Heart was approved in 1877, and that of the Sacred Hearts in 1900. The first Saturday devotion was indulgenced by Pope Pius X in 1912. From 1703 to 1924 we have evidence of at least 8 religious congregations of men and 30 of women under some title of the Heart of Mary. These include, after the Eudists, the congregation founded by the Venerable Libermann in 1843, four years later amalgamated with the Holy Ghost Fathers; and the Picpus Fathers, the Congregation of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, founded in the year 1805. In 1849 St. Antonio Maria Claret founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This Congregation, approved definitively by Pope Pius IX in 1870, has done much to foster devotion to Mary's Heart. In the nineteenth and early years of the twentieth century we have instances of local and limited consecration of individuals, families, and dioceses to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but these consecrations were in no way universal. Hence in 1942 the devotion received a great impetus in the action of the Holy Father, Pius XII, who on October 31 of that year consecrated the entire world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This consecration was renewed at St. Peter's solemnly on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the following December, not as a spontaneous act, but as the consequence of historical developments of high moral significance. The Holy Father's action was the crowning of a vast movement of souls springing from a heritage of no few years and showing the highest of tributes to our Lady on the part of the Church. As we mentioned, it was in order to keep alive and meaningful in the minds of the faithful the import of this solemn consecration, that Pope Pius XII extended the feast of the Immaculate Heart to the whole Churchto be celebrated on the Octave Day of the Assumption. After a consideration of the meaning of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart we will see more clearly the profund implications of this consecration and the importance of the institution of the feast in our own day. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

Cœur Immaculè de Marie, refuge des pécheurs, priez pour nous. Immaculate Heart of Mary, refuge of sinners, pray for us. 1 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 31st NONLITURGICAL CULT With the incorporation of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart into the liturgy there followed quite naturally many instances of religious confraternities, congregations, and societies dedicating themselves to the service of God and the honor of Mary under the title of the Most Pure or Immaculate Heart. In 1648 St. John Eudes himself founded several confraternities in honor of Mary's Heart. In 1654 the House of Refuge at Dijon was dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Mary. In 1666 Alexander VII approved the Confraternity of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary erected in the city of Morlaix. (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 31st The first church dedicated to the Heart of Jesus, that of the Seminary of Coutances in Normandy (1672), was at the same time jointly dedicated to the Heart of Mary. In the years 1674 and 1675 St. John Eudes, in favor of his confraternities, obtained six bulls from Pope Clement X solemnly authorizing devotion to the admirable Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. During the years 1668 to 1805 there sprang up everywhere confraternities of the Heart of Mary and of the Sacred Hearts, approved and indulgenced by the Sovereign Pontiffs. The scapular of the Immaculate Heart was approved in 1877, and that of the Sacred Hearts in 1900. The first Saturday devotion was indulgenced by Pope Pius X in 1912. From 1703 to 1924 we have evidence of at least 8 religious congregations of men and 30 of women under some title of the Heart of Mary. These include, after the Eudists, the congregation founded by the Venerable Libermann in 1843, four years later amalgamated with the Holy Ghost Fathers; and the Picpus Fathers, the Congregation of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, founded in the year 1805. In 1849 St. Antonio Maria Claret founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This Congregation, approved definitively by Pope Pius IX in 1870, has done much to foster devotion to Mary's Heart. In the nineteenth and early years of the twentieth century we have instances of local and limited consecration of individuals, families, and dioceses to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but these consecrations were in no way universal. Hence in 1942 the devotion received a great impetus in the action of the Holy Father, Pius XII, who on October 31 of that year consecrated the entire world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This consecration was renewed at St. Peter's solemnly on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the following December, not as a spontaneous act, but as the consequence of historical developments of high moral significance. The Holy Father's action was the crowning of a vast movement of souls springing from a heritage of no few years and showing the highest of tributes to our Lady on the part of the Church. As we mentioned, it was in order to keep alive and meaningful in the minds of the faithful the import of this solemn consecration, that Pope Pius XII extended the feast of the Immaculate Heart to the whole Churchto be celebrated on the Octave Day of the Assumption. After a consideration of the meaning of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart we will see more clearly the profund implications of this consecration and the importance of the institution of the feast in our own day. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

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2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 30th In the ensuing years we see the liturgical cult gaining popularity, due partially to the success of the cause with which it was in earlier decades united — that of the Sacred Heart. But it was a number of years later and due to various influences that the Office and Feast of the Immaculate Heart received full acknowledgment, for finally Pope Pius XII in 1944, to commemorate the special solemn consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on December 8, 1942, extended the feast to the whole world, to be celebrated with a special Office and Mass on the twenty-second of August as a double of the second class. It was decided that the Office and Mass approved by Pius IX would not be suitable for a feast of this rite extended to the universal Church since there were already some secondary feasts of the Blessed Virgin, e.g., the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Feast of the Seven Dolors, which had fully proper Offices and Masses. Hence from the Office of the Most Pure Heart of Mary the only parts retained were the antiphon to the Magnificat, the oration with the word Immaculati replacing the word Purissimi, and the Fourth and Fifth Lessons of the Second Nocturn taken from a sermon by St. Bernardine of Siena. In the Missal an almost completely new text was was prepared. The new Office and Mass therefore give a new orientation to the cult of the Immaculate Heart. It is of interest to note that the Gospel, in emphasizing the love of the Immaculate Heart for mankind, stresses a point on which in earlier years there had been some difference of opinion. Where by special indult the Feast of the Most Pure Heart was already celebrated, the new Mass should now be used. Even where the Mass of the Most Pure Heart was already granted by special indult as a votive Mass, the new Mass replaces it. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

1 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 30th It was not until 1805 that a general papal approbation was granted. Pope Pius VII gave the faculty for the celebration of the Feast of the "Most Pure Heart of Mary" on the Sunday after the Octave of the Assumption to all dioceses and religious institutes which asked for it. In 1855 under Pope Pius IX a complete proper Office and Mass for this feast was approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites. The Office of St. John Eudes universally used in France for over a hundred years was finally approved for the Eudists in 1861. The Office which we find in the Appendix of the old Roman Breviary was granted in the year 1857. (continued)

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 29th Certainly after the hypostatic union there is no other union closer than that of the Heart of Jesus with the Heart of His Mother, but this close association and the full import of the "Divine Heart of Mary" is best seen and understood by saints and theologians such as St. John Eudes. Without perfectly understanding the full content of the "Divine Heart, however, we can safely include some of the ideas associated with it in the immediate object of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart, always realizing that they belong properly to the person of Mary. Insofar, however, as St. John Eudes by the "Divine Heart" meant the Heart of Jesus living in Mary, it cannot be included in the immediate object of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart. Regardless of a limitation in the complete acceptance of St. John's ideas on the Divine Heart and much of his purely devotional writings in connection with the Heart of Mary, we still recognize in his efforts the major single influence in the theological history of the devotion. It was certainly from this great saint that two other outstanding early apostles of the devotion, Fr. Gallifet, S.J., and Fr. Pinamonti, S.J., received their inspiration. As early as 1644 St. John Eudes wished to observe the Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary as the patronal feast of his congregations of priests and nuns; he celebrated it on the twentieth of October. The first public feast in honor of the Heart of Mary was celebrated in Autun in 1648, the result of the saint's efforts and with episcopal approval. The Holy See, when petitioned in 1669, refused approbation of this Office and Mass. However, by this time many French bishops, according to custom and what was then considered within episcopal rights, were allowing the feast to be celebrated in their dioceses on February 8. By 1672 the feast was celebrated more or less throughout all France. In 1729 the Holy See when petitioned again refused official approbation of the proposed Office and Mass, although the Papal Legate to France had approved an office as early as 1668. Somewhat later, in 1773, a proper office for the first time received papal approval; this by Pope Clement XIV. The feast received further papal approbation when Pope Pius VI, in 1787, permitted the nuns of Notre Dame de Corbeil to celebrate the Feast of the "Most Holy Heart of Mary" as a double of the first class on the twenty-second of August. In 1799 the same Pontiff conceded the feast to some churches of the diocese of Palermo. —— Footnotes omitted. ~ Fr. John F. Murphy, Mary’s Immaculate Heart. (1951)

1 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 29th Beyond the ordinary saint who might say, "It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20), from the very inception of Mary's existence she lived always in the unitive way, most intimately associated with the Godhead. The nature of this transforming union could very well prompt St. John Eudes to say, “Jesus lives in her (Mary’s) soul and body. . . . His Heart abides in her Heart, His soul in her soul. . . . His virtues, mysteries and divine attributes are living in her Heart. . . .” (continued)