"O Mary, you will, and all things are accomplished." - Saint Bernard"O Mary, you will, and all things are accomplished." - Saint Bernard
O God alone be honour and glory! He alone is great; He alone can do all things. Nevertheless, all power has been given to Mary in Heaven and on earth. Wherefore? Because she is the Mother of the Almighty, Who has placed in her hands the fulness of His authority. Jesus Christ Himself deigned to be subject to her upon earth, in quality of Son. "For if it may be said of other virgins, that 'they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth,' it may be said of Mary that the Lamb followed her on earth everywhere she went, according to these words of Saint Luke - 'He was subject to them.'" In Heaven she no longer commands her Divine Son, yet he has preserved to her all her prerogatives. Jesus is all-powerful by nature, Mary by grace; it is for us, for our interests, she employs this unlimited authority. A single word of Mary's here was omnipotent with Jesus. The hour of this Divine Master was not yet come: Mary knew it; yet, touched with compassion for that privileged couple whose union she blessed by her presence, she said to Him, "They have no wine." Then, certain of being heard, notwithstanding the mysterious response that she received, she bade the servants to do all that He should tell them, and the miracle was accomplished. Let us then go, we also, to Mary; she will obtain a revocation of the sentence passed in Heaven against our sinful souls. If she was so touched at the confusion of her hosts, and rewarded with such liberality the invitation she had received, what will she not do for those devoted to her, who press her to abide in their souls, not temporally or occasionally, but all the days of their pilgrimage? Oh! in what lively colours will she paint their spiritual necessities to her Divine Son, saying once more - "They have no wine!" The wine of charity, of piety, fails them, pour it into their hearts; their steps are tottering, strengthen them; their arms fall through lassitude, uphold them; their heart wavers, give them a share of your immutability; they can do nothing of themselves, give them that ardent faith which renders all things possible.
Yes, what God effects by His will, Mary obtains by prayer: she is (as a holy Father says) that all-powerful suppliant who may not be refused. Jesus could not be deaf to the prayers of His Mother, and has imposed upon Himself a law, to grant all her requests. It is related in the Revelations of Saint Bridget , that she heard our Lord thus address His Mother - "Ask, O Mother, whatever your wish; never shall your petitions be without effect . . . Since you denied Me nothing while I was on earth, I will refuse you nothing in Heaven." Saint Gertrude beheld the Queen of Heaven bearing in her hand a scroll, on which were inscribed those words so frequently addressed to her by the Church: "May the Virgin intercede for us" - Ipsa inter cedat pro peccatis nostris. And she heard our Lord say to Mary - "In virtue of My omnipotence, O My revered Mother, I have delegated to you the faculty of remitting, as it shall please you, the sins of all who devoutly implore your compassionate succour."
O Mary! you have then but to will, and all things are accomplished. You command, and nothing resists you. Bid, then, my soul come forth from the state of sin, of languor, of tepidity, in which it groans, and happiness and peace shall once more be its portion; command my enemies to take flight, and they shall be humbled, they shall be confounded.
Practice
Mary, without doubt, desires and has the power to assist us; but how many there are who, by their coldness of heart and irresolution of will, frustrate this tender Mother's solicitude for their salvation! Ask, then, through Mary this constant, efficacious, ardent will, which entirely absorbs the soul in the pursuit of the sovereign good, which is God; that iron will which breaks, overthrows, tramples under foot every obstacle; in a word, this goodwill to which the Angels promised, on the part of God, a peace which is the foretaste of the enjoyment of Heaven.
Aspiration
Thy will be done on earth in my irresolute heart, O Jesus, as it was unceasingly accomplished in the Heart of Mary!
Example
A zealous Missionary, famed for his winning and persuasive eloquence, had preached the Devotion of the Living Rosary at Perigneux without success. The Bishop, a Prelate highly commendable for his piety and truly episcopal virtues, had deemed it his duty to beg he would desist from urging it any farther, persuaded that this practice could not yet be established there. The time appointed by God had not yet arrived for this city. When the holy person destined by the Almighty to revive Saint Dominic's Devotion of the Rosary presented herself at Perigneux, she met opposition in all quarters. Nobody would introduce her to his lordship; people refused to speak in her favour to the Vicar General, and she spent her first day in knocking to no purpose at all the doors. At length, as evening drew near, she meets a Priest and inquires if he can introduce her to the Vicar General.
"I am he," replied the clergyman.
"I am M. P," she said; "and wish very much to have a conversation with the Bishop."
"Certainly, it will afford him great pleasure to see you." He accordingly escorted her to the episcopal residence.
The Prelate, on seeing her enter, exclaimed - "Welcome, Miss P. I was impatiently expecting you, as I knew you were to pass through Perigneux. You are probably aware that I deemed it prudent some months since to defer the establishment of the Rosary here; but now I have just written to all the Parish Priests of the diocese to propagate it. To this I have been induced by the following occurrence. Visiting the prisons one day in company with the Vicar here, for the purpose of administering some consolation to the inmates, after I had made the round of the dungeons, the gaoler told me there was only one more, in which was confined an unfortunate criminal who was to be executed that very day; but that it would be risking my life to enter, he was so furious; no one dared even to bring him food. 'Only the greater reason I should go to his assistance; open the door, I command you,' I said. The door opened, and revealed to us the wretched man, who in his despair had climbed, no one could say how, up into the window, which was more than eight feet high, and was trying to dash out his brains against the iron bars. When he perceived us, his fury redoubled; he cast himself precipitately down, expecting to crush us in his fall, at the same time uttering reproaches and blasphemies. We had just time to retire hastily and lock the door. I then sent word to all the Religious Communities in the town that, ceasing all occupations, they should recite the Rosary for this unfortunate man. The Vicar and I recited it likewise. The prayer terminated, 'Come.' said I, 'let us return to the prison: our man is converted.' They endeavoured to dissuade me. The gaoler refused to open the door, on the plea that he would be accountable should an accident occur. However, I ordered him to obey, adding that I took on myself all the consequences. We entered at last, and what did we behold? O prodigy of grace! the wolf has become a lamb - he was on his knees in prayer. Seeing us, he cast himself at our feet, bathed in tears. 'Ah! my lord,' he said, 'forgive my conduct, grant me your blessing. Our Lord deigned to pardon the thief on the Cross; He is not less powerful now that He is in Heaven. Yes, I hope He will grant me remission of all my sins.' He then asked to confess. The Vicar spends two hours with him; the sobs of the culprit accompanied the avowal of his crimes. He received absolution with the deepest sentiments of contrition and gratification. The officers of justice arriving shortly after, proceeded to read his sentence. 'Stay, gentlemen,' interrupted he, 'here begins my Way of the Cross; this is my first Station.' Then, placing himself on his knees, in this humble posture he listened to his death-warrant; after which he said aloud, 'My God, I accept death with all my heart, in atonement for my crimes.' Then, accompanied by the Vicar, who would not leave him, he followed the officers. At the foot of the prison stairs he prostrated himself once more, and prayed for a short time; and thus he continued stopping from time to time in the streets and squares of the city. Arriving before a church, he requested the procession to halt. Then, with his face bowed down to the ground, he cried out - 'My God, I am not worthy to enter Your holy temple, but I desire to make reparation at the door for all the insults and sacrileges of which I have been guilty.' He did this in so feeling a manner, that the spectators were affected to tears. He arose and walked to the place of execution, where he again prayed for a moment. Then the Vicar, raising his voice, said to the crowd surrounding the scaffold - 'Let us say a Pater and Ave for the criminal.' The entire assembly fell on their knees; emotion, joy, grief, admiration, choked their utterance - naught but sobs were to be heard. With the termination of the prayer, the penitential course of the unfortunate culprit had also ended."
"Judge if, after this," said his lordship to Miss P, "I ought not to propagate the Devotion of the Rosary."
Visit to the Blessed Sacrament
'Master, where dwellest Thou?' 'Come and see.' - John 1:38
My Lord and Master, tell me where You dwell! I hear You reply with admirable sweetness, as to the two disciples of the Precursor, who first addressed this question to You - Come and see. But where shall I go to contemplate the magnificence of Your palace? Doubtless to Heaven, where beholding You glorious and triumphant, I shall cry out with one of Your Prophets - "O Israel, how great is the house of God, how vast the extent of His dominion! How happy are the courtiers of the Lord, who behold Him with their eyes, who dwell for ever in His presence!" But, O my Jesus* if descending from this splendour, ravished with admiration, deprived of words to express it, I come to this tabernacle, Your dwelling upon earth, what must be my astonishment, my gratitude, my love? You so great in Heaven, so little in this Host; so rich in the kingdom of glory, so poor on earth; so powerful, so honoured, so loved in Sion; so weak, so despised, so forgotten within the tabernacle.
This then is where You reside through love for me, during my exile, in order to encourage me by Your Presence, by Your example. I will dwell in heart and mind for ever with You, here in this humble abode. What would be my ingratitude if I forgot You?
O Mary, lead me back to this place of delight each time I withdraw from it; teach me to keep faithful company with that God, a thousand-fold good, Who is here shut up, inclosed for love of me.
- taken from The Month of May Consecrated to the Glory of the Mother of God, The Queen of Heaven