Devotional bulletin of the Rosary Crusade in Canada

May 2001 Issue #5

Hymn to our Blessed Lady Mother or Mercy! day by day My love or thee grows more and more; Thy girts are strewn upon my way, Lite sands upon the great sea-shore. Through poverty and wort and woe The masters or my lire may he, When times are worst, who does not know Darkness is light, with love or thee? But scornful men nave coldly said Thy love was leading me from God; And yet in this I did but tread The very path my Saviour trod. They know hut little of thy worth Who speak these heartless words to me; For what aid Jesus love on earth One half so tenderly as thee? Get me the grace to love thee more; Jesus will give if thou wilt plead; And, Mother!   when life's cares are o'er, On I snail love thee then indeed! Jesus, when His three hours were run, Bequeath'd thee from the cross to me; And oh! how can I love thy Son, Sweet Mother; if I love not thee? by Fr. Fredrick William Faber.

Editorial

Our hearts seek after good, so that we might love the good and possess It. It Is the duty of our understanding to recognize the highest, most perfect good. In the proper order, the mind will then inform the heart what it must love.

Our senses bring us experience of the many good things in the world, and especially at this season of Spring, our senses are thrilled and, in a manner re-vivified, by the beauties of the natural world. At this time many men are drawn to an appreciation of noble natural goods; the marvel of fresh growth from hard and dormant wood, and the delicate petals of flowers remind men to seek a more perfect good. At best, this is turned to the glory of God, as in Catholic poetry.

We must use our understanding to see through the natural world. Moved by the beauty of a flower, we should not praise evolution or blind fate, but the Wise Creator whose Providence prepared this growth and new life. Then our hearts will seek the highest Good, and we will use every lesser good in His service. For this reason offer flowers to our Lady, especially the "roses" of the rosary.

United to you in devotion to the Blessed Virgin, I am,

Rev. Mr. Herkel

 

Aim of the Month of May

Why is this called the Month of Mary; what is the end of this devotion; and what advantages can we derive from it?

The Month of Mary, as we all know, is the month of May which pious custom has consecrated to honour the Holy Virgin in a more special manner than during the rest of the year. But why is the month of May chosen in preference to any other month? We can give many reasons: May is the month of flowers, the part of the year when earth promises us its treasures; the Holy Virgin having been to the world the announcement of the coming of its Saviour she is called by the Church, Mystical Rose; it is a tribute due to her to consecrate the flowers of our gardens to the adornment of her altar. This month, which commences the most beautiful season of the year, is also the time when very frequently we find around and within us dangers against which the all-powerful protection of the Mother of God is our safeguard.

The end of the Month of Mary is to honour this most Holy Virgin, and to increase our love for her. And who then is this Holy Virgin whom at this time the whole Catholic world unites to honour, and whose protection it invokes? Was she not a poor young girl of Judea, whom no person, in the times when she lived, thought worthy of attention? What has she then done that she should be called the Queen of Heaven and earth?

She was chosen by God, from all eternity, to be the Mother of His Son, who was to become man to save us. For this cause she was preserved from the stain of original sin, in which we are all born. It was in her womb that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was to assume a body like ours, and for that reason, she, in coming into this world, was preserved pure and spotless. She nourished Him with her virginal milk, she watched over His infancy, she took part in His labours, she consented to His death, and thus it was that she participated in the work of our salvation. It was because the death of Jesus Christ was to save us, that Mary could behold His sufferings, could witness the death of her only Son with so much courage; she is then our Mother at the same time that she is the Mother of God. Do we need other motives than these to induce us to consecrate to her our hearts, and to decide us to honour and serve her by every means in our power? We know now what is the end of the Month of Mary, it remains for us to examine in what consists this devotion, and how it can be of advantage to us.

For all Christians the devotion of the Month of Mary consists in consecrating each day some little time to practices in her honour. Those among us who can should assist at the daily public devotions in church, - an advantage that should be most gratefully seized, because the united prayers, made by all assembled at the foot of her altar, are most pleasing to our Mother, and most sure to profit our own souls by their certainty of gaining her protection. Yet many may be hindered by just reasons from taking part in these meetings so fruitful in graces; important business engagements, the care of children or the sick, or other calls of charity, legitimately dispense from the public services; but surely none of these reasons need hinder any person from making at least some little prayer in her honour, in addition to his usual morning devotion and petitions for help and protection; and certainly every one can have a picture or statue of our Lady in some place of honour, and by adorning it and offering flowers though this month, prove his desire to make himself agreeable to her, all, in short can, before retiring to rest, cast themselves on their knees before this image and recite some little prayer to Mary. These simple practices are easy for all.

Yet there is another way of honouring the Holy Virgin, more especially in the power of every one, - it is to offer asacrifice. What is undeniably the most pleasing to her is the correction of our faults; it is not meant that we should undertake the extirpation of all that is wrong in ourselves in one month, - that would be far beyond our strength, - but that we should take some one fault, and that the one our conscience tells us gives her the most dissatisfaction to see in us. Against this we must declare war, and so strive that not a day of this blessed month shall pass without our having made some progress in correcting it. This practice is one that nothing need prevent any one from following, and, assuredly, the most acceptable that it is in our power to offer to the most Holy Virgin.

We see, then, in what consists the devotion of the Month of Mary, and we may imagine how greatly, and in how many ways, its practice will conduce to our advantage. It obtains for us the particular protection of the Blessed Virgin, it helps us to make ourselves pleasing to God, and destroys in our souls that which displeases Him.

We should, therefore, commence the Month of Mary, by praying with all our hearts to the Holy Virgin, that she will aid us to pass it well, by determining in our minds what practices we will offer this month, and by promising faithful perseverance in them.

Devotion to the Holy Virgin has been the mark of all the souls most especially chosen by God; all have honoured and loved her as their Mother, and thus she is called the Queen of All Saints. Saint Louis, King of France, had a deep and tender devotion to Mary, which he tried to show by a variety of pious practices. He collected in his palace, every Saturday, a great number of poor persons; after the example of our Saviour, he washed their feet himself, made them eat at his table, and distributed afterwards an alms in honour of the Blessed Virgin. He had always a great desire to die on a Saturday, and it was granted to him; this day, consecrated to Mary, was also that when her faithful servant received the recompense of his virtues.

Let us not separate today without first asking the Holy Virgin to bless us, and putting under her powerful protection our resolution to labour courageously during this Month of Mary, to correct those of our faults that are most displeasing to her.

From Ave Maria, May 2,1868.