Oct. 1 - Month of the Rosary begins; Memorial of St. Therese today also!

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

How very beautiful is God’s Providence., as we see Him working in the Body of Christ, His Church. September dedicated to the Sorrows of Mary leads us to ponder more of her Life with Jesus in all the Mysteries of Her Rosary now in October dedicated to the Holy Rosary. Certainly St. Therese of Lisieux pondered the Mysteries in her Rosary. I do not know if she read any of St. Louis de Montfort’s books : “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin” or “The Secret of the Rosary” but she said:

“There is still one thing I have left to do before I die”, she confided to her sister Celine. “I have always dreamed of saying in a song to the Blessed Virgin everything I think about her.” In May 1987, Sr. Therese wrote her very last poem: "Why I Love You, O Mary! Like St. Louis de Montfort, St. Therese was steeped in Scripture and her poem is based on Mary as she is “seen” “heard” and “understood” by her little daughter. I’ve posted the link to this poem many times, but today I will post a ink to the best book of her poetry that I have read and the finest translation:
https://www.amazon.com/Therese-Critical-Complete-Centenary-1873-1973/dp/0935216561

Let us listen to God speaking through all His saints and today continue to learn from “True Devotion” by St. Louis de Montfort:

1. The types and texts of the Old and New Testaments prove the truth of this, the opinions and examples of the saints confirm it, and reason and experience teach and demonstrate it. Even the devil and his followers, forced by the evidence of the truth, were frequently obliged against their will to admit it. For brevity’s sake, I shall quote one only of the many passages which I have collected from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church to support this truth. “Devotion to you, O Blessed Virgin, is a means of salvation which God gives to those whom he wishes to save” (St. John Damascene).
2. I could tell many stories in evidence of what I have just said.

(1) One is recorded in the chronicles of St. Francis. The saint saw in ecstasy an immense ladder reaching to heaven, at the top of which stood the Blessed Virgin. This is the ladder, he was told, by which we must all go to heaven.

(2) There is another related in the Chronicles of St. Dominic. Near Carcassonne, where St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary, there was an unfortunate heretic who was possessed by a multitude of devils. These evil spirits to their confusion were compelled at the command of our Lady to confess many great and consoling truths concerning devotion to her. They did this so clearly and forcibly that, however weak our devotion to our Lady may be, we cannot read this authentic story containing such an unwilling tribute paid by the devils to devotion to our Lady without shedding tears of joy.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Inbonum and avemariagratia,

Thanks so much for your “hearts” which witness to your love for Jesus through Mary and also let us know you appreciate the words of St. Louis de Montfort and words of St. Therese and other saints who have loved Those Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary with such fervor! Their words have helped many of us to Love Jesus and Mary more.

 

[hazcompat]

Second reading
From the autobiography of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, virgin
In the heart of the Church I will be love

Since my longing for martyrdom was powerful and unsettling, I turned to the epistles of Saint Paul in the hope of finally finding an answer. By chance the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of the first epistle to the Corinthians caught my attention, and in the first section I read that not everyone can be an apostle, prophet or teacher, that the Church is composed of a variety of members, and that the eye cannot be the hand. Even with such an answer revealed before me, I was not satisfied and did not find peace.

I persevered in the reading and did not let my mind wander until I found this encouraging theme: Set your desires on the greater gifts. And I will show you the way which surpasses all others. For the Apostle insists that the greater gifts are nothing at all without love and that this same love is surely the best path leading directly to God. At length I had found peace of mind.

When I had looked upon the mystical body of the Church, I recognized myself in none of the members which Saint Paul described, and what is more, I desired to distinguish myself more favorably within the whole body. Love appeared to me to be the hinge for my vocation. Indeed I knew that the Church had a body composed of various members, but in this body the necessary and more noble member was not lacking; I knew that the Church had a heart and that such a heart appeared to be aflame with love. I knew that one love drove the members of the Church to action, that if this love were extinguished, the apostles would have proclaimed the Gospel no longer, the martyrs would have shed their blood no more. I saw and realized that love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place. In one word, that love is everlasting.

Then, nearly ecstatic with the supreme joy in my soul, I proclaimed: O Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is love. Certainly I have found my place in the Church, and you gave me that very place, my God. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and thus I will be all things, as my desire finds its direction.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brother hazcompat,

Thanks for this beautiful quote from St. Therese’s Autombiography. I believe this conviction of hers is one of the many gifts God gave her for the Church and her strength in “pursuing Love” – God’s greatest of the three Theological Virtues given to us at Baptism and the one that will remain when and Faith are no longer needed in haevan – Divine Charity!

It is her staedfast Love that enabled Therese to say: “Love is the willingness to suffer”. Like Mary our Mother, St. Therese, St. Louis de Montfort and all the Saints were willing to give themselves completely – to die to self in order to Live in Christ!

Mary, Mother of the Church pray for us. St. Therese, St. Louis de Montfort and all the saints in heaven pray for us.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your Faithful. Kindle in us the Fire of Your Love. Jesus we trust in You!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Theresa and Mark,

Thanks to you both for your “hearts” - to let us know your love for Jesus through Mary and your love for All God’s Holy Saints through whom He shares His love with His Church.!