Virgo Potens

✯¸.•´*¨`*•✿ ✿•*`¨*`•.¸✯ August 26th, 2026 Dear Telly-gram Friends, I am going to be running behind with posting for the next few days. I will do my best to post something each day, and hope to be caught up sometime next week. Thank you for your patience! ✯¸.•´*¨`*•✿ ✿•*`¨*`•.¸✯

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 25th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 11. (continued) Finally, it is the Heart of our great Queen, our most bountiful Sister and our most amiable Mother, to whom all power is given in heaven and on earth and who holds in her hands for distribution to men all the treasures of her beloved Son, cui vult, quando vult, et quomodo vult, says St. Bernard; "to whomever she wills, whenever she wills, and however she wills." ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 24th [151]. continued] Hypocrisy is always a mortal sin when we pretend to be spiritual and holy, and try to appear as such, when we are not so at heart, caring more for the opinion of men than for the opinion of God; and it is worse still when we affect sanctity in order to further our own advancement and to acquire credit in order to reach and to work evil; or else to obtain some honour, or other temporal good. (continued) ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 24th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 11. (continued) Mary's Heart is constantly mindful of us and the little things that concern us. Her Heart is so filled with kindness, meekness, mercy and genrosity that never has anyone been known to invoke this Mother of Goodness in humility and confidence without receiving comfort in her presence. It is a Heart full of wisdom and enlightenment which possesses a perfect understanding of all our needs and of all that is most fitting for us to have. It is a most generous Heart, strong and mighty to fight our enemies, to repulse and crush whatever oppresses us, to obtain from God whatever it asks of Him, and to shower us with all kinds of blessings. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 23rd [151]. continued] There is no vice against which Jesus Christ has inveighed so much in His Gospel as against this one [Matt. vi, 7, 15, 21], condemning it with eight cries of “Woe unto you,” which are eight maledictions. And St. Gregory remarks that the hypocrites, blinded by pride and hardened in their sins, generally die impenitent without ever being enlightened, for a reason which is perhaps taken from St. Peter Chrysologus, because while we can see that the remedies to the amendment of other vices do good, the disease of hypocrisy is so pestilential that it affects the very remedies themselves, so that they only serve to foment and increase the evil. “Brethren,” says the Saint, “this pestilence must be avoided that turns remedies into diseases, medicines into maladies, holiness into vice, saintliness into sinfulness.” ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 23rd TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 11. In all your affairs, necessities, perplexities and afflictions, have rescourse to the most benign Heart of Mary, regarding it as your refuge in every need, and as a refuge, fortress and safeguard which God has given you as a shelter in the midst of all the miseries engulfing man in this valley of tears, this place of exile and banishment. Yes, the most bountiful and gentle Heart of Mary is truly solarium exiIii nostri, "The solace and comfort of our exile." Whoever has recourse to it with respect and confidence will feel the marvellous effects of its incomparable goodness. There glows in the maternal Heart of our most charitable Mother more love than in all the hearts of the fathers and mothers of all time past, present and yet to come. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 22nd 151. Hypocrisy is a vice by which we affect to demonstrate externally a virtue and a sanctity which we do not possess; and he is really a hypocrite who, being full of wickedness within, pretends in his outward appearance to be good. ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

ASPIRATION Placez dans mon cœur ô Marie quelque unes des fleurs qui ornent le votre. Place in my heart, O Mary, some of the flowers that adorn thine.

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 22nd TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 10. Pay some special honor daily to the royal Heart of the sovereign Lady of the universe. This may be done through an act of devotion or a prayer offered for that intention, in imitation of Blessed Herman of the Order of St. Dominic, who each day used to recite an Ave Maria in greeting to the most amiable Heart of Mary. Even though, following the example of this holy religious, you were to say only one Ave Maria each day in honour of the admirable Heart of the Mother of God, you would be doing something highly pleasing to her and most advantageous to your own soul, since the great Suarez, that wonder of learning and piety, said that he would rather lose all his knowledge than lose the merits of a single Ave Maria. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 21st [150]. continued] It can be a mortal sin when we boast of some sin which we have committed; when we praise ourselves, despising others; or else when we praise and exalt ourselves through an excess of pride which abounds in the heart. The Angelical Doctor notes that this is an ordinary and not an infrequent case, and that the habit is easily formed. [2a 2æ, qu. lxii, art. 1. See also 2a 2æ, qu. cx, art. 2; qu. cxii, art. 1; et qu. cxxxii, art. 5 ad 1; et qu. clxii, art. 4 ad 2] ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 21st To this end strive earnestly, at least at the beginning of your principal activities, to renounce yourself entirely and to give yourself to Jesus so that you may become united with His divine Heart, which is one and the same with the Heart of His Holy Mother; thus may you enter into its love, charity, humility and holiness, so that you may do all things in the holy dispositions which have always filled it. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 21st TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 9. Our Saviour has given us His divine Heart, together with the holy Heart of His Blessed Mother, not only to be our rule, but also to be our very Heart, so that as members of Jesus and children of Mary we may share but one heart with our adorable Head and our incomparable Mother. This privilege should help us to perform all our actions with the Heart of Jesus and Mary, that is, in union with the holy intentions and dispositions that motivated Jesus and Mary in all their actions. (continued)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 20th 150. Boastfulness is a vice by which man, desiring to be supremely honoured above all others, begins to praise and exalt himself, exaggerating and amplifying things so as to make his own merit appear greater than it is. It is also called ostentation, self-praise or forwardness; and St. Augustine calls it “The worst of all pests”; [Lib. 1 De Ord. cap. xi] and St. Ambrose calls it a net spread by the devil to catch the strongest and most spiritual: “The devil lays snares such as entrap the strongest”; [Lib. in Luc.] and this is a vice which is beyond measure, because in vaunting ourselves for that which we have not, we lie to our own conscience and to God; and as God said of Moab by the prophet: “He is exceeding proud; I know his boasting, and that the strength thereof is not according to it.” [Jer. xlviii, 29, 30] ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 20th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 8. Remember what has been said above: that Our Saviour has given us His own divine Heart, along with the most holy Heart of His Blessed Mother, to be the model and rule of our lives. Make a careful study of this divine rule, therefore, in order to follow and keep it faithfully. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 20th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 8. Remember what has been said above: that Our Saviour has given us His own divine Heart, along with the most holy Heart of His Blessed Mother, to be the model and rule of our lives. Make a careful study of this divine rule, therefore, in order to follow and keep it faithfully. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 19th He who suffers from vainglory is in danger of losing his faith also, according to the saying of Christ: “How can you believe who receive glory one from another?” [John v, 44] St. Augustine reflecting upon this, and how little this great evil is known, affirms that none is wiser than he who knows that this love of praise is a vice: “He sees best who sees that love of praise is a vice.” [Lib. 5, De Civ. Dei., cap xiii. See also St. Thomas 2a 2æ, qu. xxi, art. 4; et qu cccv, art. 1; et qu. cxxxi, per tot.; et qu. clxxviii, art. 2] ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).

2 of 2 Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 19th from Part 7, Chapter III The Holy Spirit has also inspired many saints to show forth by word and example a most special devotion to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is true that every saint belongs to the court of the Queen of all Saints; nevertheless there are certain ones who stand out as being very closely associated with the royal Heart of Mary, their sovereign Lady. First, of course, is St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, incomparably dear to her holy Heart. Even her parents, St. Anne and St. Joachim, cannot dispute the first place of St. Joseph in her heart, having conceded it during their lifetime, when they entrusted the Virgin Mary to his care. Then comes St. John the Baptist, truly the eldest son of Mary in the life of grace. St. Gabriel the Archangel had the inestimable privilege of being the Guardian Angel of the immaculate Mother of God. And what can we say of St. John, the disciple most dear to the heart of Our Lord, to whom Our Saviour entrusted the life and heart of His Beloved Mother from the cross? St. Luke the Evangelist also belongs to the Heart of Mary because he was chosen by her to reveal the sublime secret to mankind, that “she kept all those words in her heart.” There are many saints who have consecrated themselves under the special designation of spouse of the Queen of Angels. Among these I name as examples St. Edmund of Canterbury, St. Robert, St. Stephen, St. Alberic, Founder of the Cistercian Order, St. Bernard, St. Dominic and his disciple Blessed Alanus, Blessed Herman the Premonstratensian, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bernardine of Siena, and so many others whose names are inscribed in the Book of Life. St. Mecthilde and St. Gertrude, noted daughters of St. Benedict, in the revelation of their surpassing devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, have shown most clearly the beauties and mysteries of devotion to the loving Heart of the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 19th TWELVE METHODS OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION (continued) 7. Cultivate particular devotion to all the saints who enjoyed some special relationship with the most lovable Heart of the Mother of God, for example, those mentioned in Part Seven, Chapter Three. (continued)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 18th [148. continued] This is, in short, always a very dangerous sin, not so much because of its gravity as on account of its grave consequence and because it prevents the soul from receiving the help of grace, and disposes it to various mortal sins: “Vainglory is said to be a dangerous sin, not so much on account of its gravity, as because it is a disposition to grievous sins in so far as it gradually disposes a man to the loss of all inner good.” [D. Th. 2a 2æ, qu. cxxxii, art. 3] (continued) ~ Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo (1660-1753), Humility of Heart. Tr. Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (1903).