The apostle cannot claim to have a sufficient devotion to Our Lady if his confidence in her is not enthusiastic, and if his homage to her is almost entirely external. Like her Son, intuetur cor, she only looks at our hearts, and judges us to be her true children only by the power with which our love corresponds to hers.
She looks to find a heart that is firmly convinced of the glories and privileges and offices of her who is at the same time the Mother of God and the Mother of men:
A heart that is convinced of this truth: that the fight against faults, the acquisition of virtues, the Kingdom of Christ in souls, and consequently all guarantee of salvation and sancity, are in proportion to the degree of our devotion to Mary;
No one is saved except through thee, Mother of God. No one receives the gift of God except through thee, O full of grace! (St. Germain).
Holiness increases in proportion to the devotion that one professes for Mary (Fr. Faber).
A heart that is gripped with the thought that everything is easier, more delightful, and progresses more rapidly in the interior life when we act in union with Mary;
With Mary, we make more progress in the love of Jesus in one month than we could in years of living less united to this good Mother (St. Grignon de Montfort).
A heart full to overflowing of filial confidence, come what may, in her whose gentle tact, and wise anticipation of our needs, and whose tenderness and mercy and generosity we know by experience;
Filioli, haec mea maxima fiducia est, haec tota ratio spei meae.
My little children, she it is who is the foundation of all my trust and the whole reason for all my hope (St. Bernard).
A heart ever more and more on fire with love for her who is associated with all our joys, united with us in all our trials, and through whom all our affections pass.
All these sentiments give us a good picture of St. Bernard, who may be taken as the model for active workers. Who does not know the words that leaped forth from the soul of this holy abbot when, in his exposition of the Gospel “Missus est,” for the benefit of his monks, he cries out:
“O you who in the ebb and flow of this age are aware that you are tossed in the midst of storms and tempests rather than walking upon the earth, keep your eyes fixed on this star, so that you may not perish in the gale. If the winds of temptations are let loose, if you are striking on the rocks of tribulation, look to the star, call upon Mary. If you are flung about by the waves of pride, of ambition, of scandal, of jealousy, look on the star, call upon Mary. If anger or avarice or evil desires attack the frail bark of your soul, lift up your eyes to Mary. If, crushed under the enormity of your sins, in confusion at the horrible wounds of your conscience, alarmed by the horror of the judgment, you begin to be drawn into the whirlpool of sadness and despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary, invoke Mary. Let Mary never be far from your lips, never far from your heart; and to obtain the support of her prayers, do not forget the example of her life. In following her you shall not go astray; by praying to her you shall not despair; in contemplating her you shall not go wrong. With her support you fall not; under her protection you fear not; under her guidance, you do not grow weary; if she is propitious to you, you will reach the port.”
Obliged to limit this work, and yet desirous of offering our confreres in the apostolate a sort of summary of the advice St. Bernard gives to those who would like to become true children of Mary, we believe there is no better course for us to take than to offer the suggestion that they read with attention the solid and valuable little book of Fr. Lhomeau, “The Spiritual Life as Taught by Bl. Grignon de Montfort.”
La Vie Spirituelle à l’Ecole du Bienheureux Grignon de Montfort, Librairie Oudin. Fr. Lhomeau was Superior General of the congregation which St. G. de Montfort founded.
Along with the words of St. Alphonsus and Fr. Desurmont’s commentaries, the writings of Fr. Faber and of Fr. Giraud of La Salette, this book of Fr. Lhomeau gives an unusually complete exposition of the teaching of St. Bernard, whom it quotes at every turn. It has that strong foundation of dogma, that unction and practical character, and everything else that goes to achieve the result which the abbot of Clairvaux was always striving to obtain: namely to form the hearts of his children after the image of his own and give them what was the outstanding characteristic of all the great Cistercian writers: the need for habitual recourse to Mary and to lead a life of union with her.
Let us bring this to a close with the consoling words which the great Cistercian, St. Gertrude, whom Dom Guéranger calls Gertrude the Great, heard from the lips of the Most Blessed Virgin:
“They ought not to call my sweetest Jesus my only Son, but rather my first-born Son. I conceived Him first in my womb, but after Him, or rather, through Him, I conceived every one of you to be His brothers and to be my children, adopting you in the womb of my maternal charity.” Everything in the writings of this saint, the patroness of the Trappistine nuns, reflects the spirit of her Holy Father St. Bernard with regard to the life of union with Mary.
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