SATURDAY OF OUR LADY

Photo: R. Massaro Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine Euclid, Ohio

From St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary:

Are you in the miserable state of sin? Then call on Mary and say to her: Ave, which means "I salute thee with the most profound respect, thou who art without sin" and she will deliver you from the evil of your sins.

Are you groping in the darkness of ignorance and error? Go to Mary and say to her: Hail Mary: which means, "Hail thou who art bathed in the light of the Sun of Justice"--and she will give you some of her light.

Have you strayed from the path leading to heaven? Then call on Mary, for her name means "Star of the Sea, the North Star which guides the ships of our souls during the voyage of this life," and she will guide you to the harbor of eternal salvation.

Are you in sorrow? Turn to Mary, for her name means also "Sea of Bitterness which has been filled with sharp pain in this world but which is now turned into a Sea of the Purest Joy in heaven," and she will turn your sorrow to joy and your afflictions into consolation.

Have you lost the state of grace? Praise and honor the numberless graces with which God has filled the Blessed Virgin and say to her: Thou art full of grace and filled with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and she will give you some of these graces.

Are you alone, having lost God's protection? Pray to Mary, and say: "The Lord is with thee--and this union is far nobler and more intimate than that which He has with saints and the just--because thou art one with Him...

Do you hunger for the bread of grace and the bread of life? Draw near to her who bore the Living Bread which came down from heaven, and say to her: Blessed be the Fruit of thy womb Whom thou has conceived without the slightest loss of thy virginity.


O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!



Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS