Tag: the titles and functions of mary

Thought for the Day – 10 May – The Imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary By Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)

Extracts from The Imitation
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
By Thomas à Kempis CRSA (1380-1471)
Imprimatur 17 February 1947

PART ONE
THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES
Chapter II
OUR DUTIES TO MARY

SERMON
The Titles and Functions of Mary

I. Our duties toward Mary flow from the titles and functions of Mary herself. Her titles are the most beautiful and the most sweet – firstly, that of mother which one lovingly says at any age;
next, the title of model which one considers with admiration and joy.

II. Her functions are, in relation to her titles – the names
given by God are, at once, an evocation and a creation of the qualities signified by the names and titles themselves. Thus Mary, in virtue of her titles, exercises her functions of mother
who consoles, supports and nourishes, of advocate who counsels, directs and defends and lastly, of model, who exalts and attracts.

III. In a prayer exultant with joy and full of love, the faithful beg Mary to teach them to pray, as the Angels pray.
Prayer, here on earth, cries, weeps or is silent; prayer, in Heaven, is a vision, a contemplation and an ecstasy.

MEDITATION
The Supernatural Life

To live is to rise, it is to rise above the earth – see the flowers which live and those which are dead. Man loves to live so fully that he wishes to live a double life – hence, arises love which is the most beautiful possession on the earth.
This earthly existence is not, however, all of life.
There is the life of the soul, without which love itself is nothing.
Love which seems not to be immortal, does not satisfy the heart. The life which does not die is the supernatural life, the life of grace.
Mary has been given to us for a model and for a mother in this new life added to the earthly life.
He, who has not known this desire to rise still higher, has not as yet lived.
Let us live then, not in order to die but in order to attain immortality.

Practice: Reciting the Rosary, or simply carrying it, is a practice which aids the soul to rise to heavenly thoughts.

Thought: To live with Mary is to live in the security and the happiness of Heaven.
“He walks well and securely, who carries Mary in his heart.
Bene et secure ambulat qui Mariam in corde portal.”

Fr and Dr Célestin Albin de Cigala (1865-1928)
Faculty of Paris (1947)
Doctor of Theology and Philosophy