The Way > Our Lady > Chap.

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Love for our Mother will be the breath that kindles into a living flame the embers of virtue
hidden in the ashes of your indifference.

Love our Lady. And she will obtain for you abundant grace to conquer in your daily
struggle. And the enemy will gain nothing by those foul things that continually seem to
boil and rise within you, trying to engulf in their fragrant corruption the high ideals, the
sublime determination that Christ himself has set in your heart. Serviam, I will serve!

Be Mary's and you will be ours.

We go to Jesus and we 'return' to him through Mary.

How people like to be reminded of their relationship with distinguished figures in

literature, in politics, in the army, in the Church!... Sing to the Immaculate Virgin,
reminding her: Hail Mary, daughter of God the Father: Hail Mary, Mother of God the Son:
Hail Mary, Spouse of God the holy Spirit...
Greater than you, none but God!

497

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499

Say to her: Mother, my Mother yours, because you are hers on many counts may
your love bind me to your Son's Cross: may I not lack the Faith, nor the courage, nor the
daring, to carry out the will of our Jesus.

All the sins of your life seem to rise up against you. Don't lose confidence. Rather, call on
your holy Mother Mary, with the faith and abandonment of a child. She will bring peace to
your soul.

Mary, the most holy Mother of God, passes unnoticed, as just one more among the
women of her town.
Learn from her how to live with 'naturalness'.

500

Wear on your breast the holy scapular of Carmel. There are many excellent Marian

devotions, but few are so deep rooted among the faithful, and have received so many
blessings from the Popes. Besides, how maternal this sabbatine privilege is!

501

502

When you were asked which picture of our Lady aroused your devotion most, and you
answered with the air of long experience 'all of them', I realized that you were a
good son: that is why you are equally moved 'they make me fall in love', you said by
all the pictures of your Mother.

Mary, teacher of prayer. See how she asks her Son, at Cana. And how she insists,
confidently, with perseverance. And how she succeeds.
Learn from her.

503

Mary's loneliness. Alone! She weeps, forsakenly.

You and I should keep our Lady company, and weep also, for Jesus has been fixed to the
wood, with nails our sins.

504

505

The holy Virgin Mary, Mother of Fair Love, will bring relief to your heart, when it makes
you feel that it is of flesh, if you turn to her with confidence.

Love for our Lady is proof of good spirit, in organizations and in individuals.
Distrust the undertaking that lacks this characteristic.

506

507

The Virgin of Sorrows. When you contemplate her, look into her Heart; she is a Mother
with two sons, face to face: He... and you.

The humility of my holy Mother Mary! She is not to be seen amid the palms of Jerusalem,
nor at the hour of the great miracles except at that first one at Cana.
But she doesn't escape from the contempt at Golgotha; there she stands, juxta crucem
Jesu, the Mother of Jesus, beside his Cross.

508

Marvel at Mary's courage: at the foot of the Cross, with the greatest of human sorrows
there is no sorrow like her sorrow filled with fortitude.
And ask her for that same strength, so that you too can remain beside the Cross.

509

Mary, teacher of the sacrifice that is hidden and silent!

See her, nearly always in the background, co-operating with her Son; she knows, yet
says nothing.

510

You see how simply she said it? Ecce ancilla, 'I am the handmaid of the Lord!' And the
Word became flesh.
That is how the saints worked: without any outward show. What there was, was in spite of
them.

511

Ne timeas, Maria.' Do not be afraid, Mary!' Our Lady was troubled at the presence of the
Archangel.
And to think that I want to throw away those details of modesty, that are the safeguard of
my purity!

512

Mother, Oh Mother! With that word of yours fiat,' be it done' you have made us
brothers of God and heirs to his Glory.
Blessed art thou!

513

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Before, by yourself, you couldn't. Now, you have turned to our Lady, and, with her, how
easy it is!

Have confidence. Return, call on our Lady and you will be faithful.

So your strength is fast failing you? Why don't you say to your Mother, 'comforter of the
afflicted, help of Christians... our hope, queen of apostles' ?

516

Mother! Call her again and again. She is listening, she sees you in danger perhaps, and
with her Son's grace she, your holy Mother Mary, offers you the refuge of her arms, the
tenderness of her embrace. Call her, and you will find yourself with added strength for the
new struggle.