"Let men confess that they have but one Advocate in Heaven, and that is you, O Mary!" - Saint Augustine"Let men confess that they have but one Advocate in Heaven, and that is you, O Mary!" - Saint Augustine
We, all of us, have an important suit to plead before the Judge of all justice; and this Judge is the person offended, this Judge is our God, our Creator, our Redeemer; it is against Himself, against His authority we have conspired. In His eyes, no one is just, no one is innocent, not even the infant of a day; the Angels were not found clean in His sight, and even our justices require expiation. A day will come when we shall be cited before His tribunal; no one can escape His judgment. He has observed all our ways He has examined our footsteps, nothing is concealed from Him. None can controvert His decrees; and if we venture to argue with Him, of a thousand accusations brought against us, we cannot refute a single one.
What shall we do, miserable that we are? Whither fly, where conceal ourselves? Who shall dare to speak for us, who become defender of a cause so desperate? Even she, the Mother of the Judge, the Mother of the culprit, Mary, who has constituted herself the Advocate of Christians. O sinners, whosoever you be, if the enormity, the horror of your crimes cause you to lose courage, if doubt entering into your soul, lead you also to say - "My sin is too great to be forgiven, my chastisement is due to God's justice;" in this excess of despondency, turn your eyes on Mary, and know that next to the title of Mother of God, there is none in which she glories more, than in that of Advocate of Sinners. The more desperate the cause you confide to her, the more worthy it is of her, the more pleasure God takes in suffering Himself to be disarmed, in s order to prove the credit His Mother enjoys in Heaven.
Children of God, children of Mary, be not afraid to discover to this charitable Advocate all the wounds of your soul; to reveal to her the most secret motions of your heart, even those you dare not avow to yourself. The Heart of Mary is more sensible of your infirmity than you are; the more apparently irremediable it is, the more she is touched, the more eloquently she will plead in your favour.
Saint Gertrude one day invoking the aid of Mary by these words of the Salve Regina - "Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us," it appeared to her that this tender Mother was attracted to bend down towards her as if by powerful chains. And Mary made her understand that every time she is invoked as our Advocate, her maternal tenderness is so touched, that it is, as it were, impossible for her to resist such prayers. Our Lord Himself added, that whoever would invoke Mary, at least once a day in the same words - "Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us," would undoubtedly derive succour at the hour of death.
Full of confidence in Mary, say then - "O Mother of Mercy, who, after your Divine Son, has had greater solicitude for poor mortals? Who consoles us like you in our afflictions? Who fights for sinners, who takes up arms in their defence like you, O Mary?" "Oh, how efficaciously, how lovingly this skilful Advocate pleads the cause of our salvation!" "She never wearies of defending us." So also Saint Augustine, meditating on this zeal of Mary, cries out - "Let men acknowledge that they have in Heaven one only Advocate, and that is you, O Mother of Mercy!"
Dry your tears then, all you in tribulation; take courage, you whose cause is so desperate as to seem already lost; you who find none on earth to defend you, raise your eyes to Heaven; there you have an Advocate ever ready to speak in your favour; an Advocate so tender, so powerful, so ingenious in succouring you, that her Divine Son cannot condemn those whom she undertakes to vindicate. Then prostrate yourselves at her sacred feet, hold them in your embrace, and declare that you will not depart till she has spoken in your behalf, till she has blessed you.
Practice
Make after each of your actions, or from hour to hour, "the examen of recollection." It consists in disavowing the faults that momentarily escape one, and placing oneself again in God's presence by renewing the desire to please Him. Saint Ignatius, and many others after his example, attained to sanctity by assiduity to this practice of frequently turning to God. Alas! can we but feel alarmed at our want of circumspection in the affair of salvation, seeing the precautions, the means, employed by the Blessed Virgin herself and by the Saints to secure theirs?
Aspiration
Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us!
Example
In the year 1572 the learned Baronius was attacked by a severe illness, which reduced him to extremity. He had received the last Sacraments, and every moment was expected to be his last; but he had a Saint for his Superior and friend, Saint Philip Neri, who had already recalled him from the gates of death. "Philip put himself in prayer to obtain anew the life of his cherished disciple. Presently Baronius fell into a sweet slumber, in which he beheld his Superior prostrate at the feet of the Saviour and of His holy Mother, imploring his restoration to health in these terms - 'Lord, give me Baronius, restore him to me; I desire it, I wish it.' As Christ refused, he turned to His Mother; and Mary having interceded for him, he knew at once that he was heard. At the same moment Baronius awoke, with an internal con- viction that he should not die of that illness. And, in effect, he recovered that very day, owing to his beloved Father his life and his doctrine, as he fails not to tell us in his Annals.
So far the power of the Saints over Mary's Heart. But even sinners can count on its fidelity in the hour of need. A soldier having passed forty years in the forgetfulness of God and his religious duties, at last went in quest of a Priest and made his confession. The confessor, astonished, demanded whether he had not preserved some pious practice. "Do you know the 'Our Father'?" "I have forgotten it." "The 'Hail Mary'?" "I forget it also." "What prayer, then, do you say?" "I say none." "Impossible! search your memory well. No one who has gone so far astray as you have, returns without having retained some religious custom." "I do not remember having done more than repeat occasionally these words, which I had heard sung in childhood -
In thee, O Mary, I confide,
Be thou my helper and my guide;
My soul from all its foes defend,
O Virgin, keep me to the end.
And when at last the hour is come
Which shall decide my eternal doom,
Obtain that I may tranquilly
Breathe forth my soul to God and thee.
I hoped, too, to be converted some day, and through our Blessed Lady's intercession to obtain the grace of a happy death."
Visit to the Blessed Sacrament
I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee to devour thee. - Ezekiel 28:18
What is this fire, announced by one of Your Prophets, O Jesus! this fire which should consume us, make us at once live and die? Is it not that of which You have said - "I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what will I, but that it be enkindled" - that it should burn, should inflame all hearts? - Ignem veni mittere in terrain, et quid volo nisi ut accendaturt This fire is the love with which You burn for us, which You desire to kindle in our hearts. This fire is Yourself, O God of Love! it is the Blessed Eucharist! O Furnace of Love! Your dwelling place is this tabernacle, it is there is lighted that divine flame in which all your true servants behold all their terrestrial bonds consumed; it is in the participation of this adorable Sacrament, they sing in the depths of their hearts a song of gratitude and praise more harmonious to Your ears than that of the Three Children. My God! if You are a fire, how comes it I am not warmed, how do I not burn when You enter into my heart? If You are a consuming fire, how does it happen that the rust of my vices resist your action? If you are a jealous God, why not command Your rivals to quit the sanctuary of my heart, where You alone should reign? My God, work this miracle. You can do it. I implore it by Your excessive love.
O Mary, you have prepared the way for Jesus in my heart. Your love has been the fire in which my chains were melted, and which made me aspire to the love of Jesus; complete your work, my Mother!
- taken from The Month of May Consecrated to the Glory of the Mother of God, The Queen of Heaven