In The End
My Immaculate Heart will Triumph Helping Today’s Souls Live their Consecration To Jesus through Mary Issue 2 • June 2020 • facebook.com/beholdthymother
Who is Mary?
All of Mary. Fathers of the Company of Mary, 1953
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hat therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. (Mt. xix, 6) God particularly desired Mary as the new Eve of Christ, the new Adam. It is difficult to find a more complete definition of Her than the one that God Himself gave of Eve at the moment He created the first woman: “a help like unto himself.” Mary will be to Christ in the order of reparation and grace what Eve was to Adam in the order of fall and sin. To collaborate with Christ, She must be similar to Him in her
being. She will be similar to him not equal - for her exemption from original sin, for her own fullness of grace, and for the singular eminence of her virtues. To collaborate with Him in a habitual and official way, She will be united to Him by lasting and physical ties. It is evident that an ordinary marriage was excluded. God then, does something admirable: for Mary to be the spiritual Bride and the universal Collaborator of Jesus, He makes her His Mother according to the flesh, and thus definitively links her to Christ by the closest physical
ties that can be conceived. By this very fact, She is elevated to the plan and to the level of Christ, something indispensable for a perpetual collaboration. He is the Son of God, God Himself; She will be the Mother of God, dignity less than that of Christ, but dignity in a certain infinite aspect, which elevates Her, as much as possible, to the height of Christ, perfectly suiting her condition of new Eve. And from that moment, She is equipped to carry out, in union with Christ and in absolute dependence on Him, Her magnificent work of glorification of the Father and salvation of Humanity.
In this issue: • Who is Mary? • All Generations Shall Call Thee Blessed • The Angelus • Mary, Mother of the Mystical Body • With Mary: The Esteem We ought to Entertain for Sanctifying Grace • The Blessed Virgin Mary in Sacred Art • Dictionary of Mary. Collectible Cards • Consecration to Jesus Through Mary
natural motherhood, but with a real motherhood and not only metaphorical. In the divine order of life, She exceedingly fulfills the mission and all the functions that an ordinary mother exercises in the life of her child. Mary is, therefore, Mother of souls, for being Mediatrix of all graces.
She will be, above of all, Coredemptrix with Him, not only in the sense that by Her free consent She truly gives us the Redeemer; not only in that, through her merits and prayers, She contributes to the application of the fruits of the Redemption to souls; but Coredemptrix in the strict sense of the word: She forms with Christ a single moral principle of the redemptive act itself, taking part in the decisive Sacrifice, not as a principal element, but as an integrating cause by the free will of God. She is a secondary and a subordinate Victim of the Sacrifice of Calvary. The redemptive act of Calvary, to which the whole life of Christ is linked, and all the actions of Mary since she became Mother and indissoluble Partner of the Son of God, also have the aspect of merit, and therefore deserves all the graces necessary or useful for the salvation of humanity. Mary participates in this aspect of the Passion of Christ, like everyone else, and deserves, through merit of convenience, all the graces that will be imparted to humanity. Christ is the supreme Mediator of all graces, which He conquered at the price of his Blood; Mary takes part in 2 facebook.com/beholdthymother
this right of distribution of graces thanks to the collaboration that She contributed in its acquisition. As Coredemptrix, Mary is Mediator and Distributor of all graces, exercising this function by a moral causality of destination or consent, by a causality of prayer, and probably by a causality of physical production, subordinate and instrumental, but free and true. Grace is the life of the soul, its supernatural life. Mary is together with Christ, the beginning of all supernatural life, because, in dependence on Christ, she is the multiform cause of grace in souls. In thus truly giving life to souls, She is their Mother, their true Mother not according to a
To redeem souls, apply the fruits of the Redemption, communicate and grant them grace, and thus give birth to supernatural life, forming them and making them grow in it, it is a laborious work done against adverse forces united against God and against souls: the devil, the world, and the disordered faculties that, like an indestructible virus, original sin left in man. Redemption, sanctification, and vivification are a fight, an incessant fight. In this fight, Mary is the eternal adversary of Satan, behind whom Christ seems to hide. Mary is the eternal and always victorious Warrior of the battles of God. More than that: under Christ, She is the invincible General of the divine armies, because she leads and directs the combat. She is to the Church and to souls everything a general is to his army: She gives souls the lights to mislead Satan’s
ambushes and lead the battle; She sustains the spirits, unceasingly relaunches Her children to the fight, She provides them with the suitable arms that must assure them the victory. This is the work of grace: grace of light, of courage, of strength, of perseverance; and all grace, which after Christ, comes to us from Mary. For being Co-redemptrix and Mediator of all graces, She is the General “victorious in all the battles of God.” Finally, because she is the Mother of God, universal Partner of Christ and Coredemptrix of humanity, Mary is Queen of the Universe
together with Christ the King. She is Queen, as theologians unanimously admit, according to a true and effective royalty exercised over all creatures, of both angels and men, both in the natural order and in the supernatural order. A royalty that is a participation of Christ’s and extends as far as His. A royalty exercised in a manner analogous to His, but always remaining fully subordinate to Him. This is substantially the mission of Mary. We cannot here describe it further, nor prove it; but we had to remember it succinctly. Based on these magnificent truths, we will
study the singular worship that we owe to Mary, and answer the question: What attitude should we have towards the One that God has placed next to Christ in the very heart of the Mystery of salvation? Above all, we must establish the need and obligation of a basic Marian cult, and the great utility of a more perfect devotion to Mary. Then, after remembering the principles that will guide us in choosing the different forms of devotion to Our Lady, we must study how to exercise the Marian cult in the best way. May the Divine Mediator of all graces assist us in this study!
Excerpt taken from Todo de Maria, Fathers of the Company of Mary, Mechliniæ, 1953
All Generations Shall Call Thee Blessed Introduction to the True Devotion Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High, of which He has reserved to Himself both the knowledge and the possession. Mary is the admirable Mother of the Son, who took pleasure in humbling and concealing her during her life, in order to favor her humility, calling her by the name of woman (mulier), as if she was a stranger, although in His heart He esteemed and loved her above all angels and all men. Mary is the sealed fountain and the faithful Spouse of the Holy Ghost, to whom He alone has entrance. Mary is the sanctuary and the repose of the Holy Trinity, where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe, without excluding His dwelling between the Cherubim and Seraphim. Neither is it allowed to any creature, no matter how pure, to enter into that sanctuary without a great and special privilege. facebook.com/beholdthymother
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I say with the Saints, The divine Mary is the terrestrial Paradise of the New Adam, where He is incarnate by the operation of the Holy Ghost, in order to work there incomprehensible marvels. She is the grand and divine World of God, where there are beauties and treasures unspeakable. She is the magnificence of the Most High, where He has hidden, as in her bosom, His only Son, and in Him all that is most excellent and most precious. Oh, what grand and hidden things that mighty God has wrought in this admirable creature! How has she herself been compelled to say it, in spite of her profound humility: Fecit mihi magna, qui potem est! The world knows them not, because it is at once incapable and unworthy of
such knowledge.
“ Mary is the sanctuary and the repose of the Holy Trinity, where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than in any other place in the universe.”
The Angelus This prayer, so called from the Latin word with which it begins, is one of the most popular in use amongst the faithful and it has moreover received the approbation of several Popes. It is said three times a day, morning, noon and evening, in honor of the Incarnation of our Lord. It is composed of three Hail Maries, preceded by a versicle and response taken from the words which Holy Scripture uses in describing the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin, announcing to her that she was to become the Mother of God. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary — and she conceived by the Holy Ghost. Hail Mary, etc. Behold the handmaid of the Lord — be it done unto me according to thy word. Hail Mary, etc. And the Word was made flesh— and dwelt among us. Hail Mary, etc. 4 facebook.com/beholdthymother
The Saints have said admirable things of this Holy City of God; and, as they themselves avow, they have never been more eloquent and more content than when they have spoken of her. Yet, after all they have said, they cry out that the height of her merits, which she has raised up to the throne of the Divinity, cannot be fully seen; that the breadth of her charity, which is broader than the earth, is in truth immeasurable; that the grandeur of her power, which she exercises even over God Himself, is incomprehensible; and finally, that the depth of her humility, and of all her virtues and graces, is an abyss which never can be sounded. St. Louis de Montfort
The Incarnation is both the basis and the completion of Christianity. Without that mystery Christ would not be, and therefore His Religion could have no existence. Christ is the name not of the Eternal Word, but of the Eternal Word, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, made Man. If there had been no Incarnation, human nature would not have been assumed, and there would have been no Christ. What the world would have been without an Incarnate God we do not know, but we do know that it is now in possession of infinite treasures of grace, each of which is the germ of many degrees of heavenly glory, all of which proceed from the merits of Jesus Christ the Man-God. Hence all practical religion can be reduced to faith in the Incarnation and love of it. He who believes this Adorable Mystery with a living supernatural belief is irresistibly impelled by the religious cravings of his mind and heart to admit an infallible Church and the Mystery of the Blessed Eucharist. God’s works of love succeed each other in an increasing ratio; each seems to surpass its predecessor in its manifestation of divine beauty and condescension. The Law of Moses, though one of fear, was a greater revelation of love than the Law of Nature. Christ’s Law of Grace is the reality and the substance of which the Mosaic Dispensation was the type and the shadow. There are these three — Nature, Grace, and Glory, and of these the greatest is Glory.
had obeyed His voice and lulled themselves to rest, His feet had wandered through its fields and villages and towns, His words of peace and hope and love had echoed in the ears and spoken to the hearts of its people. But He stayed not always; He passed away from earth to His rest in the Bosom of His Father. Was God’s usual loving mode of procedure to be reversed? Were the world’s future ages to look upon the Incarnation as a past historic fact, just as the Patriarchs and the Prophets had looked forward to it as future? Men once had their Jesus amongst them, were they and their children to lose Him? Ah no! Our Lord is too good. He would not leave His children orphans. The Incarnation is an abiding fact on earth, in the Church.
Let us apply this canon of divine action to the Incarnation. Earth was once blessed with the presence of the God-Man. The mountain winds of Judea had heard the breathings of His midnight prayer, the storm-lashed waves of its lakes
The Angelus is the prayer of the Incarnation; this suffices to recommend it to the reverence and love of the faithful. The thrice-renewed daily sound of the Angelus bell is, in Catholic countries, the signal for general
prayer. From the soaring spire of Gothic Cathedral, from the modest belfry of the village church, from convent, school and hospital, the blessed notes of the Angelical salutation float out on the breezes of heaven. For a moment “labor ceases to knock with her hundred hands at the portals of morn, noon and even.” Prince and people, rich and poor fall on their knees and bend their heads in prayer; they hail the advent of the Word made Flesh. This beautiful devotion prevails to a great extent even among us, though so far removed in distance, but not in love, we trust, from the associations and traditions of Catholic Europe. The Angelus is regularly rung from our steeples, but still we do not obey the holy invitation to the extent we might. It is not required, of course, that we should expose ourselves and our religion to insult by kneeling down in the streets of a Protestant or infidel city at the sound of the Angelus bell, but does any valid reason exist why we should not facebook.com/beholdthymother
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say the prayer at home, faithfully and devoutly? Could we not say it when walking along the streets and even take off the hat at the versicle: The Word was made Flesh, without at all attracting observation?
Saturday evening and the whole of Sunday, but at all other times kneeling. In Lent, however, it is to be said standing on Saturday at noon, because first Vespers have already begun.
Benedict XIII, by a brief, dated Sept. 14, 1724, granted a plenary indulgence once a month, on the usual conditions to those who say the Angelus three times a day, and a partial indulgence of one hundred days for each recitation.
The anthem Regina caeli is to be said, in standing posture, in place of the Angelus, during the Paschal time, that is from Vespers of Holy Saturday to the 1st Vespers of Trinity Sunday. They who do not know the Regina caeli may continue to recite the Angelus and gain the indulgences. Persons residing in places where the
Benedict XIV has decided that the Angelus is to be said standing on
Angelus-bell is not rung, or who cannot hear it, do not lose the indulgences, if they are faithful to recite the prayer morning, noon, and evening. The Popes suspend indulgences for the living during the Jubilee or Holy Year, which occurs every twenty-fifth year. This is done in order to make the faithful more eager to gain the indulgence of the Jubilee. The Angelus, however, is exempted from this general regulation as a mark of the peculiar favor with which it is regarded by the Holy See.
Excerpt taken from The Sacramentals of the Holy Catholic Church, Fr. William Barry
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word.�
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Mary, Mother of the Mystical Body Excerpt taken from Mystici Corporis Christi, Encyclical of Pope Pius XII On the Mystical Body of Christ
Venerable Brethren, may the Virgin Mother of God hear the prayers of Our paternal heart - which are yours also - and obtain for all a true love of the Church - she whose sinless soul was filled with the divine spirit of Jesus Christ above all other created souls, who “in the name of the whole human race” gave her consent “for a spiritual marriage between the Son of God and human nature.” Within her virginal womb Christ our Lord already bore the exalted title of Head of the Church; in a marvelous birth she brought Him forth as the source of all supernatural life, and presented Him newly born, as Prophet, King and Priest to those who, from among Jews and Gentiles, were the first to come to adore Him. Furthermore, her only Son, condescending to His mother’s prayer in “Cana of Galilee,” performed the miracle by which “his disciples believed in Him.” It was she, the second Eve, who, free from all sin, original or personal, and always more intimately united with her Son, offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father for all the children of Adam, sin-stained by his unhappy fall, and her mother’s rights and her mother’s love were included in the holocaust. Thus she who, according to the flesh, was the mother of our Head, through the added title of pain and glory became, according to the Spirit, the mother of all His members. It was through her powerful prayers obtained that the spirit of our Divine Redeemer, already given on the Cross, should be bestowed, accompanied by miraculous gifts, on the newly founded Church at Pentecost; and finally, bearing with courage and confidence the tremendous burden of her sorrows and desolation, she, truly the Queen of Martyrs, more than all the faithful “filled up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ...for His Body, which is the Church”; and she continues to have for the Mystical Body of Christ, born of the pierced Heart of the Savior, the same motherly care and ardent love with which she cherished and fed the Infant Jesus in the crib.
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ay she, then, the most holy Mother of all the members of Christ, to whose Immaculate Heart We have trustfully consecrated all mankind, and who now reigns in heaven with her Son, her body and soul refulgent with heavenly glory - may she never cease to beg from Him that copious streams of grace may flow from its exalted Head into all the members of the Mystical Body. May she throw about the Church today, as in times gone by, the mantle of her protection and obtain from God that now at least the Church and all mankind may enjoy more peaceful days. facebook.com/beholdthymother
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“We must therefore in every action consider how Mary has done it, or how she would have done it, had she been in our place. For that end we must examine and meditate the great virtues which she practiced during her life…”
WITH MARY
Of the Esteem We ought to Entertain for Sanctifying Grace, by Abbot A. Joseph de Rouville
Mary exempt from sin from the
first instant of Her being. That is to say, she was conceived in the grace and friendship of God. As for us, wo are all, at our entrance into the world, the melancholy victims of the wrath of God. Mary alone, prevented with his love, entered the world as the most admirable work of his grace. Almighty God could not permit that the temple in which he chose to dwell should be defiled by the least spot or blemish. The honor of the Son required that his Mother should not, even for an instant, be the slave of the devil. But what a high esteem did Mary conceive of that signal favor? It was for her, as was wisdom in the eyes of Solomon, the source of all blessings.
The honor of the Son required that his Mother should not, even for an instant, be the slave of the devil. 8 facebook.com/beholdthymother
The Lord had possessed her in the beginning of her ways. Prov. viii. 22. This she valued above all earthly crowns. She was favored with many other prerogatives; but this was more precious to her than any other, because it rendered her more acceptable to God.
Her whole life was a continual testimony of her gratitude to God for this unspeakable gift, which no other pure creature ever partook with her. Christian soul, you received at your baptism the sanctifying grace which Mary received at the very instant of her conception. Through this grace you have acquired right to call God your Father, and Jesus Christ your Brother. You were made heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ. Rom. viii. 17. The kingdom, of heaven was destined for you.
infatuation, we give the last rank, in our opinion, to a grace which alone, properly speaking, deserves our esteem. We are zealous of preserving unsullied what the world calls illustrious birth; and we are not ashamed of degenerating from one which is spiritual and divine, by indulging groveling passions, and living a carnal life.
A second baptism still remains for you to recover the grace of adoption which you have lost. It is the baptism of penance.
Pure and immaculate Virgin, pray for us, that for the future we may always abstain from sin, and persevere with constancy in our resolutions, to repair the great loss we have sustained by abandoning ourselves to sin.
To the shame of Christianity, how few Christians are there who reflect upon them, and who endeavor, by the sanctity of their life, to support the dignity of their high calling!
We pride ourselves on the advantages of the world, and by the most unaccountable
Ungrateful souls, unfortunate victims of sin, whoever you may be, at least do not harden your hearts against the divine voice which again speaks to you.
Have recourse to it with sincerity and confidence. Your heavenly Father ardently wishes to restore his friendship to you. But lose no time; for, perhaps soon, time will be no more for you.
Do you well comprehend the excellency of these glorious privileges? And are you sensible of the whole extent of the obligations which they impose upon you?
How few are there, solicitous to preserve unspotted that robe of innocence with which they were clothed, and which is so striking a symbol of the candor, purity, and piety of the children of God!
We turn with avidity after earthly goods, and transitory riches, and the eternal possession of the kingdom of heaven we neglect, and even despise.
We boast of a pretended independency, and by a monstrous alliance with the devil, we do not scruple to enlist again under his banners, put on his livery, and relapse into the slavery in which we had the misfortune of being born.
Thy protection will obtain for us the grace of recovering entirely the friendship of God; and then, next to thy divine Son Jesus, our most amiable Savior and sole Redeemer, we shall praise and bless thee as the cause of our salvation. Abbot A. Joseph de Rouville
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T he Blessed Virgin Mar y in The Apostolic Ages: Sacred A r t The Virgin and Child is not a mere modem idea; on the contrary, it is represented again and again, as every visitor to Rome is aware, in the paintings of the Catacombs. Mary is there drawn with the Divine Infant in her lap; she with hands extended in prayer, He with His hand in the attitude of blessing. No representation can more forcibly convey the doctrine of the high dignity of the Mother, and, we will add, of her power over her Son. Why should the memory of His time of subjection be so dear to Christians and so carefully preserved? The only question to be determined is the precise date of these remarkable monuments of the first age of Christianity. That they belong to what certain Christians call “the undivided Church” is certain, but investigations have been lately pursued which place some of them at an earlier date than any one anticipated as possible. We have the Imagini Scelte of Rossi, published in 1863, and they are sufficient for our purpose. In this work he has given from the Catacombs, various representations of the Virgin and Child, the latest of which belong to the early part of the fourth century, but the earliest he believes to be referable to the very age of the Apostles. He comes to this conclusion from the style and the skill of the composition, and from the history, locality, and existing inscriptions of the catacomb in which it is found. However, although he does not insist upon so early a date, the utmost liberty he grants is to refer the paintings to the age of the first Antonines, that is, to a date within half a century of the death of S. John. Regina sæculorum, by Mary Léon Gautier
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The Prophet Isaiah with the Madonna and Child. This is the earliest known fresco of the Blessed Virgin, found in the catacombs cemetery of St. Priscilla. It is believed to belong to the latter half of the first century (a. d. 50-100). The prophet Isaias points to the Star of Balaam (Num. xxiv, 17), “A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a scepter shall spring up from Israel.”
The Angelus This prayer in honor of the Incarnation is said by reciting three Bible versicles which commemorate the Annunciation. Each versicle is followed by a Hail Mary. The morning recital began at Parma, Italy, in 1318, as a prayer for peace. The noon Angelus, originally used only on Fridays, was extended to other days by Pope Callistus III in 1456. An indulgence of 100 days is gained when the Angelus with three Hail Marys is said, and a plenary indulgence, conditional upon confession, communion, and prayer for the usual intentions, once a month for those who say it habitually.
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The Angelus
The Angelus is said in the morning, at noon, and in the evening, standing on Saturdays and Sundays, but kneeling at other times. During the Easter season it is replaced by the Regina Caeli.
Mystical Rose The title “Mystical Rose,” which the Church gives to Mary, expresses well the fact of the presence of the precious virtue of charity in the most holy soul of our heavenly Mother. Mary was without spot. Consecrated wholly to the Lord, her soul exhaled without ceasing, an exquisite perfume as of a sweet rose. She therefore pleased the King of kings to such a point that she was dearer to Him than all other creatures put together. “I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho” Ecclus. xxiv, 18
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The rose is considered the queen of flowers, the red rose symbolic of love, the white rose, of purity. Mary’s love for God was always perfect, while she was, and is, always the Immaculate. Mary is the mystical rose without thorn, the “Rose of Paradise,” the “Rose bringing salvation to all.”
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CONSECRATION TO JESUS THROUGH MARY Purification of the BVM
Our Lady of Lourdes
February 2
February 11
Starting: December 31
Starting: January 9
Queenship of Mary
Visitation of the BVM July 2
Mount Carmel July 16
Starting: April 28
Starting: May 30
Starting: June 13
May 31
Assumption of the BVM Starting: July 13
Seven Sorrows
September 24
Starting: August 13
Starting: August 22
Our Lady of the Pillar October 12
Starting: September 9
Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: Step 5:
March 25
May 13
Starting: February 20/21
Starting: April 10
Dedication O.L. Snow August 5 Starting: July 3
Most Holy
August 22
Nativity of the BVM
Name of Mary
September 8
September 12
Starting: July 20
Starting: August 6
Starting: August 10
Our Lady of Ransom
September 15
Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of
Immaculate Heart
August 15
Annunciation of the BVM
Holy Rosary of the BVM
Maternity of Mary
October 7
October 11
Starting: September 4
Starting: September 8
Presentation of the BVM November 21 Starting: October 19
Immaculate Conception
Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 8
December 12
Starting: November 5
Starting: November 9
Read the Treatise of the True Devotion by St. Louis de Montfort Pick a Feast of Our Lady Prepare for 33-days according to the method prescribed by Montfort Consecrate to Jesus through Mary on Her Feast Day and pay Her some tribute Decide if the True Devotion is right for you and start practicing the interior and exterior practices of the devotion.
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behold thy mother