Virgo Potens

Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother ~ September 5th Chapter I The Martyrdom of Mary (continued) The law of the Incarnation is a law of suffering. Our Blessed Lord was the man of sorrows, and by suffering He redeemed the world. His Passion was not a mystery detached from the rest of His life, but only the fitting and congruous end of it. Calvary was not unlike Bethlehem and Nazareth. It exceeded them in degree; it did not differ from them in kind. The whole of the Three-and-Thirty Years was spent in consistent suffering, though it was of various kinds, and not of uniform intensity. ~ Frederick William Faber, D.D., The Foot of the Cross (1857)

Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother ~ September 4th Chapter I The Martyrdom of Mary (continued) For the present let us shut ourselves up in the garden of Mary’s sorrows. It is one of God's choicest Edens, and we cannot work there otherwise than under the shadow of His presence, nor without the love of Jesus taking a marvellous possession of our souls. For love of Jesus is in the very viewless air of the place, in the smell of the upturned soil, in the fragrance of the flowers, in the rustling of the leaves, in the songs of the birds, in the shining of the sun, in the quiet tunes of the waterfalls as they dash down its rocky places. There for awhile, for our Lord's love, we will enclose ourselves as in a cloistered place, and let the world, in which we are of no great importance, and which is even of less importance to us than we are to it, miss us for a season from our post. ~ Frederick William Faber, D.D., The Foot of the Cross (1857)

Chapter I The Martyrdom of Mary (continued) But Mary is a world, which we cannot take in all at one glance. We must devote ourselves to particular mysteries. We must set aside certain regions of this world of grace, and concentrate ourselves upon them. We must survey them and map them accurately, before we pass on to other regions, and then we shall learn much, which a general view would have omitted to notice, and store our souls with spiritual riches, riches both of knowledge and of love, which will draw us ever more into communion with our dearest Lord. As God's blessed will still persists in keeping us alive, and for His own gracious purposes detaining us amid all this cold weariness and these dejecting possibilities of sin, let us at least determine to occupy ourselves with nothing but God; for we have long since learned that there is truly no other occupation which is worth our while. He has a thousand Edens still, even in the bleak expanse of this salt steppe of a world, where we may work, to the sound of running waters, not without colloquies with Him in the cool time of the day; and we may wander from Eden to Eden, either as the weakness or the strength of our love impels us. ~ Frederick William Faber, D.D., The Foot of the Cross (1857)

Chapter I The Martyrdom of Mary (continued) Now it is our daily task to love Jesus more and more. Year follows year; the old course of feasts comes round; the well-known divisions of the Christian year overtake us, make their impression upon us, and go their way. How we have multiplied Christmases, and Holy Weeks, and Whitsuntides, and there has been something or other in each of them which makes them lie like dates in our mind! We have spent some of them in one place, and some in another, some under one set of circumstances, and some under another. Some of them, all thanks to God! have been distinguished by remarkable openings of heart in our interior life, such as to change or to intensify our devotion, and materially influence our secret relations with God. The foundations of many buildings, which did not rise above ground till long afterward, have been laid almost unconsciously in those times. Yet whatever may have been the changes which these feasts have brought or seen, they have always found us busy at one and the same work, trying to love Jesus more and more: and through all these changes, and in all this perseverance at our one work, unerring experience has told us that we never advance more rapidly in love of the Son than when we travel by the Mother, and that what we have built most solidly in Jesus has been built with Mary. There is no time lost in seeking Him, if we go at once to Mary; for He is always there, always at home. The darkness in His mysteries becomes light when we hold it to her light, which is His light as well. She is the short road to Him. She has the “grand entry” to Him. She is His Esther, and speedy and full are the answers to the petitions which her hand presents. ~ Frederick William Faber, D.D., The Foot of the Cross (1857)

Month of the The Seven Dolors of Mary ~ September 1st THE beauty of Jesus is inexhaustible. Like the Vision of God in heaven, it is ever diversified, yet always the same, always cherished as an old and familiar joy, yet ever surprising and refreshing the spirit as being, in truth, perpetually new. He is beautiful always, beautiful everywhere, in the disfigurement of the Passion as well as in the splendor of the Resurrection, amid the horrors of the Scourging as well as amid the indescribable attractions of Bethlehem. But above all things our Blessed Lord is beautiful in His Mother. If we love Him we must love her. We must know her in order to know Him. As there is no true devotion to His Sacred Humanity, which is not mindful of His Divinity, so there is no adequate love of the Son, which disjoins Him from His Mother, and lays her aside as a mere instrument, whom God chose as He might choose an inanimate thing, without regard to its sanctity or moral fitness. ~ Fr. Faber, The Foot of the Cross (1857)

September ~ Month of The Seven Dolors of Mary / The Sorrowful Mother The Foot of the Cross or The Sorrows of Mary Fr. Frederick William Faber ~ 1857 Chapter I The Martyrdom of Mary

Here ends our meditation for now, dear Subscribers, on The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680) by Saint John Eudes. Beginning tomorrow, on September 1st, we will be exploring the Sorrowful Heart of Our Lady the through the writings of Father Frederick William Faber in his book The Foot of the Cross or The Sorrows of Mary (1857). Please continue to visit Virgo Potens for a new post each day. Also, please explore our sister channel Defende nos in proelio where we post Traditional Catholic prayers daily. God bless you!

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 31st But I must return to thee, O Mother Most Admirable, to exclaim that in thee are accomplished all things most perfectly, most gloriously, in union with thy Divine Son. Whether it be corporeal, spiritual or divine, His Heart is thine, He is the life of thy life and the heart of thy Heart. May He be blessed, praised and glorified forever by all creatures, because of the graces imparted to thee, O Mary, and all the greatness of His humanity and His divinity! ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 30th Especially useful is the most devout prayer of St. Augustine, the Anima Christi, Sanctifica Me. “Soul of Christ, sanctify me.” It will help you to attain your purpose at all times, but particularly after you have received Our Saviour within your heart, either during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or in Holy Communion. When you are speaking to the Divine Heart of Jesus, if you realize His actual and veritable presence within you, you will pronounce this prayer with greater fervor and receive greater blessing for its recitation. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 29th If the will of God is to become your will, and if the spiritual and corporeal faculties of the sacred humanity of Our Lord are to animate the faculties of your soul and body, what must you do? You must cooperate. First, you must seek the death of every activity of your soul and body that is displeasing to God, bearing in your body the mortification of Christ. Then, having mortified your faculties, their powers and exercise must be turned towards virtue. Above all, offer yourself frequently to the Son of God. Beg Him to deign to exercise the almighty power of His arm to destroy within you everything that is contrary to His Holy Will, and to establish over you the reign of His divine Soul and His Crucified Body. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 28th . . . I would have you realize, dear Reader, that Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Heart of the Eternal Father, willed to become the Heart or life-principle of His Most Blessed Mother, and He likewise wills to become the Heart of your own life. Having granted you the grace to become one of the members of His mystical body, He seeks to share your life so that you may say with St. Paul: “Christ liveth in me!” Such is the infinite plan of God, such His burning desire. Our Lord seeks to establish His life, not only in your soul, but in your body, that His spirit may become your spirit and His heart your heart, united in all its love, thoughts and actions, by self-surrender, even as His Heart was completely and perfectly the heart of His Admirable Mother. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 27th It means honoring and glorifying all the effects of light, grace, and sanctity which this divine Heart of Mary, who is Jesus Christ Himself, has effected, and all the movements of the heavenly life of which He was the principle in her soul, and also the great fidelity with which she co-operated, on her part, with all that His grace accomplished in her heart during so many years. What tongue could proclaim, what mind could conceive, what heart could worthily honor so many great and admirable wonders of grace! ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 26th This veneration of Mary means honoring the corporeal Heart, the spiritual Heart and the divine Heart of Jesus, who are also the Hearts, or rather, the one and only Heart of Mary. It means giving glory to Our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is the Heart of the Eternal Father, and has willed to become the Heart of His Holy Mother. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 25th It means above all to honor the great love and ardent charity of this Mother of Fair Love toward God and men, together with the effects which that love and charity produced in her thoughts, words, prayers, actions, sufferings, and in the exercise of every virtue. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 24th This admirable Heart it is, which receives our respect and praise, which must be esteemed an object of veneration for all Christians, for to honor Mary’s marvellous Heart means to honor countless holy and divine mysteries deserving of the eternal veneration of angels and men. It also means to honor all the functions of the corporeal and material life of the Queen of Heaven, of which the Heart is the principle, that life superlatively holy in itself and in every use she made of it. It means honoring the perfect functions of her memory, her will, her intellect, and the highest part of her spirit. It means honoring innumerable great and ineffable mysteries which were perfected in the superior part of her soul. ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ August 23rd The memory, intellect and will of Jesus are alive in the memory, intellect and will of Mary; his interior and exterior senses in her interior and exterior senses. His passions in her passions; His virtues, mysteries and divine attributes are living in her Heart. Nay, more than living, they hold sovereign sway, producing inconceivably marvellous effects and impressing a living image of themselves as her Heart mirrors His Sacred Heart. So it is that Jesus is the principle of life in His most holy Mother. So it is that He is the Heart of her Heart and the life of her life. St. Brigid once heard her say: “Every homage rendered to my Son is likewise rendered to me, and who dishonors Him dishonors me. We have always had such perfect mutual love that we seemed to have as it were but one Heart for both. Quasi cor unum ambo fuimus.” ~ Saint John Eudes, The Admirable Heart of the Most Holy Mother of God (1680)

A PRAYER O Heart of Mary, Mother of God and our Mother; Heart most worthy of love, in which the adorable Trinity is ever well-pleased, worthy of the veneration and love of all the Angels and of all men; Heart most like to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, of which thou art the perfect image; Heart, full of goodness, ever compassionate toward our miseries; deign to melt our icy hearts and grant that they may be wholly changed into the likeness of the Heart of Jesus, our divine Saviour. Pour into them the love of thy virtues, enkindle in them that divine fire with which thou thyself dost ever burn. In thee let holy Church find a safe shelter; protect her and be her dearest refuge, her tower of strength, impregnable against every assault of her enemies. Be thou the way which leads to Jesus, and the channel, through which we receive all the graces needful for our salvation. Be our refuge in time of trouble, our solace in the midst of trial, our strength against temptation, our haven in persecution, our present help in every danger, and especially in the hour of death, when all hell shall let loose against us its legions to snatch away our souls, at that dread moment, that hour so full of fear, whereon our eternity depends. Ah, then, most tender Virgin, make us to feel the sweetness of thy motherly heart and the might of thine intercession with Jesus, and open to us a safe refuge in that very fountain of mercy, whence we may come to praise Him with thee in paradise, world without end. Amen. An indulgence of 500 days. A plenary indulgence on the usual terms, provided that this prayer be devoutly recited every day for a month (S. C. Ind., Aug. 18, 1807 and Feb. 1, 1816; S.P. Ap., Sept. 15, 1934). (The Raccolta, 1943)