Cooperating with Jesus
154. Queen of all missionaries. I would be failing in my duty and my special affection for the Blessed Virgin if I did not take advantage of every possible occasion to speak about her. Our Lady is the Queen of all missionaries. To speak about her is a blessing – we collaborate with her in carrying out her prophecy: “All generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1,48). There is no town or village without a church, an altar or a shrine to Our Lady. Marian devotion is founded on the Gospel. Was there anyone who loved and honored Mary more than Jesus? At her request He performed His first miracle at the wedding feast in Cana. The Church applies to the Blessed Virgin the scripture passage: “Whoever finds me finds life and the favor of the Lord” (Proverbs 8,35). Devotion to Mary is a necessity. If you have no devotion – and not just devotion but tender devotion – to Our Lady you will never become saints.
155. “Ad Jesum per Mariam”. Our Lady’s intention was to cooperate with the Lord lest her Son’s blood be shed in vain. With Our Lord she is the Co-Redemptrix; she too bore the weight of our sins. Anything that wounds Jesus will wound and hurt Our Lady. She has chosen to give her name to our Congregation and to help save as many souls as possible. Anyone who wants to save himself and bypasses the Blessed Virgin is making a serious mistake. You can only reach Jesus through Mary: “ad Jesum per Mariam” – to Jesus through Mary!
Marian devotion is a sign of predestination. This is because Our Lady wants nothing more than the salvation of souls. We sometimes ask ourselves with wonder: “How is it that after many years of dissipation an individual is converted and dies at peace with God?” The answer is always this: he was devoted to Mary. I knew of someone who had abandoned all religious practice for more than forty years except for reciting three Hail Mary’s every day. Our Lady saw to it that he was given the grace of a good death. I am not saying that we need only say three Hail Mary’s and then do what we want; what I am saying is that Our Lady will lead us to repentance even after thirty or forty years if we honor her only a little.
Marian devotion is not just a guarantee of predestination it will make us saints. Anyone who wants to become a saint without Our Lady is someone who wants to fly without wings. The more we turn to her for grace and holiness the more we please Our Lord. All the saints were devoted to Our Lady. St. Jerome’s most beautiful homily is on Mary. It is hard to believe that this caustic saint could be so tender when he spoke of Our Lady. St. Bernard said that Mary is a spring and a channel. She is a fountain of grace – we need only draw from this fountain. She is a channel because all graces come to us through her. What God does through His omnipotence Mary does through prayer. Our Lady is omnipotent through grace. In God and with God she can do all things. She is the treasurer and dispenser of all grace. The saints called her – prayerful omnipotence.
156. We can never be too devoted to Our Lady. Her motherly tenderness is part of her Son’s plan. She is aware of the price He paid for us and she knows God’s specific will that all be saved. Never be afraid of being too devoted to Our Lady or of giving her too much honor. The more we love her, the more we have recourse to her the more we please Jesus. She is worthy of all the honorific titles Christian piety assigns to her; she well deserves her reputation as the Mother of mercy and compassion. She is honored and addressed as the Protectress of the holy souls in Purgatory. She is truly the Blessed Virgin and Queen, Mother and Comforter of the souls in Purgatory. Remember without devotion to Our Lady we will never accomplish anything for ourselves or others.
We must look on Our Lady as out true mother. St. Joseph Cafasso said: “In Mary you have a second mother. She may not take your first mother’s place but she may possibly love you more.” We trust and love our mother. We must foster a son-like love for Mary and this love must grow in intensity; we must call her affectionately, “Mother.” How can we not like our mother? And if we like our earthly mother why should we not like our heavenly mother?
St. Louis Grignon de Montfort teaches that to make any progress on the path to holiness we must become slaves of Mary just as Francis Xavier was a slave of Jesus. We prefer to think of ourselves as children of Mary; we are in any case voluntary “slaves.” Our slavery consists in a total giving of ourselves to Mary. As a practical consequence we do everything with and through Our Lady – everything we have we receive from her. St. Joseph Cafasso told us to make Mary our “associate” in all things. “When you go to preach,” he said, “always take Our Lady with you. Go to preach the two of you together. Say to her: I will be the voice but you will do the preaching.” He called Our Lady his “associate.” To tell the truth I wanted to use some other word – but “associate” was the word he wanted. To do everything with Mary means taking Our Lady as our model in all things: how would Our Lady perform this action? Let us give ourselves totally to Our Lady, body and soul, so that she may do with us what she pleases and will help us to become saints.
Sons and daughters of Our Lady, the Consolata
157. The apple of her eye. Behind her many titles there is but one Blessed Virgin; we especially should be devoted to her under the title “Consolata.” Is not Our Lady – under this title – our Mother and are we not her sons and daughters? She is our very tender mother who loves us like the apple of her eye; she is the inspiration of our Congregation; she has supported us both materially and spiritually all these many years and she is always quick to respond to our needs. Our real Foundress is Our Lady.
Undoubtedly everything we accomplish is the work of Our Lady, the Consolata. She performs daily miracles for our Congregation; she has made the stones cry out and rain money. In out times of trial Mary has always intervened miraculously. I have seen so much, so very much … and if you watch closely you too will see and understand that our community’s spirit, our eagerness to become good missionaries – all of this is a gift from Our Blessed Lady, the Consolata. This does not even include the many gifts she gives us all year long – even material gifts: our daily bread. I believe Our Lady is responsible for this too – our daily bread. I have never lost sleep or appetite worrying about the enormous expenses of our Congregation or the missions. My prayer to Mary, the Consolata, is: “You worry about these things! We know you will do what is necessary.”
158. Ours in a special way. The Consolata is ours in a special way and we should be proud to have her as our Patron, piously proud of the fact that our Congregation is called “Consolata Missionaries.” We are a living manifestation of the miracles Our Lady performs. We must strive every day to be worthy of the name we bear: we are the sons and daughters of the Consolata. We must look on the fact that we bear Our Lady’s name as a blessing. When you are out in the world people do not refer to you simply as “missionaries” but rather as “Consolata missionaries.” They cannot refer to you without mentioning Our Lady. Everyone thinks of us as the “Benjamin’s” [youngest and favorite offspring] of Our Lady and as such they trust our prayers.
I say again we must be piously proud to belong to Our Lady the Consolata – many envy us. And many more love us because we are Consolata Missionaries! Your name should be an incentive to become all that you ought to be. Repeating the words of St. Bernard, “Show yourself a mother” is almost offensive! She does not need us reminding her to be a mother. It would be more appropriate for her to say: “Show yourself to be my son/daughter.” We are the beloved sons and daughters of the Consolata – but do we always act as such? Filial love is of its very nature tender. Just as children are always turning to their mother we must have constant recourse to her all day long. Anyone without strong feeling or special love for the Consolata is heartless and if there is one thing we need it is heart.
159. Novena and Feast of the Consolata. I would be offending you if I urged you to make the novena in preparation for the feast of the Consolata especially well. All we need remember is that we are approaching the feast of our very dear Mother – this says it all. Is this feast especially important for us the beloved sons and daughters of the Consolata? For us it is everything! I do not urge you to prepare for this feast – I know you are already convinced of the need to make the novena and celebrate this feast enthusiastically. Our heart dictates what we must do for our Mother. We must be committed to this special homage. We have so many favors to ask of her: first of all that we may grow in numbers and grace so that we can better respond to her call. This feast should make us want to please Mary more – to pay homage as her sons and daughters. Since we celebrate all the feasts of Our Lady with intense love how much more we should celebrate this feast which is especially our own.
160. Joseph Allamano’s prayer to the Consolata. “I thank you, Mary, for the thirty-five years you have protected this sanctuary … and what have I done during these thirty-five years? … If someone else had done this job what would have been accomplished? … But I do not even want to think about that. If I had done so poorly you would not have kept me here so many years! This is certainly an indication of your special favor! … If I have done poorly you will take care of it, you will repair the damage, and that will be the end of it. Please accept everything as if I had performed perfectly. I do not want to rationalize – I will accept things as they are; but since you have kept me here you must be satisfied with my work.” I believe Our Lady smiled at this.
Marian Mysteries
161. The Immaculate Conception. The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a joyful mystery. It is a feast that touches our heart. Our Lady’s feasts are a series of celebrations one more beautiful than the other. Even though I was a child at the time I remember the enormous celebrations of 1854 when the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed. Later as the spiritual director in the seminary I urged everyone to celebrate the novena and feast with devotion. So many years have gone by and by God’s will I find myself urging the same thing. We should be happy that our Mother was immaculate from the very moment of her conception. A child rejoices at the virtues of his mother. Let us rejoice with Our Lady: “Thou art all beautiful, Mary, and there is no original sin In you.” God preserved you from original sin in view of the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lady was not inclined to evil and could not sin. From the very first moment of her life she was filled with the Holy Spirit, she was full of grace and above all other creatures.
“Its foundation is on the holy mountains” (Psalm 86,1). The Fathers referred this psalm to Our Lady. On this feast day the Church celebrates all the privileges Our Lady received. “You are all beautiful, O Mary!”; “Full of Grace!” When we say these words we know they were not just addressed to Mary – they have meaning for us: “Come close to me you who are hungry and have your fill of my abundance” (Sirach 24,18). We must approach Our Lady always and with confidence. The Lord has made her a source of grace.
Genuine love of Mary is not a thing of sentiment – no it is a readiness to do everything the service of God and her honor requires. Tenderness is not superfluous – it is necessary. We must pray to and imitate the Immaculate Virgin – above all in the purity of our intentions. We are the favored children of Our Lady and one day we will be jewels in her crown. Jewels, however, must be polished and consequently we must allow ourselves to be polished and worked on as are precious gems.
162. The Presentation of Mary in the Temple. The feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple has always been celebrated in the east where devotion to Our Lady flourished and was promoted by the great Fathers, John Damascene, John Chrysostom, etc. The feast was celebrated in the west, but only privately. Pope Sixtus V extended it to the whole Church. I like this feast very much and I have proposed it as the patronal feast for the novitiate. In this mystery Mary is the very model of religious, priestly and missionary formation. She is a model of the hidden life, of obedience, work and charity. By practicing these virtues she prepared herself for the dignity of Divine Maternity. You must similarly prepare yourselves for your future mission.
In the mystery of her presentation in the Temple the Blessed Virgin’s offering of herself to the Lord was eager, total and irrevocable. It was above all eager. In paintings she is depicted mounting the steps to the Temple – almost running. She responded eagerly to God’s call: God loves the early ones: those who respond immediately – those who respond more than once. Were we eager to respond to the Lord’s call? At least now let our response be eager. Mary’s offering was total, she held nothing back. She offered her whole self and all her resources to total and eternal consecration to God. She remained in the Temple determined to refuse the Lord nothing. Have we given everything to the Lord: our mind, heart, soul? If after so many graces and insights we remain much the same it is because we have not given ourselves totally to the Lord. Finally Mary offered herself irrevocably. Do we do the same? Our offering too must be irrevocable. We must move forward without looking back. Falling is not so harmful as not getting up again. We must always begin again without losing heart. The Lord has been generous with us but He wants us to be equally generous with Him In return. He Is our chosen portion. Let us ask Our Lady for this grace: that our response may be eager, total and irrevocable.
163. The Annunciation. Christmas is a great feast but the real feast of the Incarnation of the Word is the Annunciation! Mary is addressed as “Full of Grace”; she is told the Lord is with her and that she would become the mother of Jesus. Bowing her head to the will of God she replied, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” What should we do to live this mystery? In particular we be especially fervent when we repeat at Mass those beautiful words, “and the Word was made flesh.” We should pray the Hail Mary with special fervor – it commemorates the mystery of the Annunciation. We should thank the Holy Trinity for this gift above all other gifts: the Divine Incarnation. We should offer up the little sacrifices of our lives and congratulate Our Lady for having been chosen to become the Mother of the Incarnate Word.
164. The Visit to Elizabeth. The Church celebrates the mystery of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth. During her three-month visit Mary led an apparently ordinary life – but internally it was anything but ordinary. She did what all women do for their neighbors in these circumstances. You too must sanctify yourselves in this way: by doing everything well and for the love of God. It is so very hard to do everything with the proper intention. Doing a great deal is not as important as doing everything well.
This mystery teaches us that Mary is a channel of grace. At the very sound of her voice the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leapt and was sanctified. Elizabeth addressed her as “Blessed among women.” Mary then gave glory and honor to God with her canticle, the Magnificat. Father Henri Didon wrote: “The Magnificat surpasses all human capacity; it is the most splendid cry of joy that has ever burst forth from the human heart. Mary thinks only of her lowliness and exalts only God. She predicts her own glory but sees it only as God’s triumph.”
The Magnificat is made up of words from Scripture. It is ten verses long and is divided into three parts. In the first part Mary rejoices at the benefits God has conferred upon her, especially the Divine Motherhood: “My soul magnifies the Lord because he has looked upon his handmaid …” The Lord looked at her lowliness, at the nothingness of His handmaid; He raised her up and accomplished marvelous things in her so that all generations will be filled with wonder and will call her blessed! In the second part Mary rejoices in the benefits God has bestowed on mankind over the centuries: “His mercy extends from generation to generation …” First to the chosen people and then to the gentiles and all who fear the Lord. “The Lord has done great things with his arm …” What are these great things? He has humbled the proud and lifted up the lowly; He has satisfied those who hunger for justice and truth. “He has filled the hungry with good things …” This means the Lord is always ready to fill with good things those who desire Him. In the third part Mary speaks of the sovereign benefit of the Redemption that through the conception of Jesus has begun in her and will extend to all future generations, “as He promised to Abraham.” In Abraham all generations had been blessed because from his seed would come the Redeemer. We should meditate often on the Magnificat; we should pray and sing it with the spirit and enthusiasm of Our Lady; we should share her feelings.
165. Our Lady of Sorrows. On September 20 I celebrated my first Mass – it was the liturgy of Our Lady of Sorrows. We must be devoted to Our Lady of Sorrows. Devotion to the sorrows of Our Lady is dear to Mary’s heart and of great benefit to us. We must often reflect on how close we are to Our Lady and she was intimately united to the Passion of Our Lord: all His sufferings reverberated in her, in her heart. From the moment she was chosen to be the Mother of the Redeemer God made her foresee – through Simeon’s prophecy – the bloodless martyrdom she would have to endure. The whole life of Our Lady, like that of her Son, was the Cross and martyrdom. Mary, in the delicacy of her heart, shared her Son’s great sufferings. The Mother as well as the Son will be pleased at our devotion. This is a duty for all Christians but especially for us who are the sons and daughters of the Consolata. We have a special duty to comfort our Mother and make her the consoled one – the Consolata. This is why we bear this name.
St. Alphonsus referred to Mary as the Queen of Martyrs because her martyrdom was more prolonged and painful than that of all the other martyrs combined. St. Bernard tells us that Mary was a martyr in her soul. She suffered all things for us and for our salvation. When we think of Our Lady’s sorrows we must say to ourselves: “She did this for me.” We must foster this devotion not just out of love and gratitude to Our Mother but for our own benefit as well. St. Joseph Cafasso tells us that this devotion is helpful throughout life and at the moment of death. As Christians and especially as missionaries we will all suffer. Who will support us in our suffering? Our best help will come from Mary. She will be at our side when we encounter sacrifice; she will win us genuine repentance for our sins – and at the moment of death she will come to our assistance.
When we pray the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary let us think of Our Lady’s sufferings united to the sufferings of Our Lord. She is at his side in the journey from Gethsemane to Calvary. Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows will break the hardness of our hearts and make us appreciate prayer. Let us honor and comfort our Lady of Sorrows since we are the sons and daughters of the Consolata.
166. Assumption. From the earliest centuries this has been the most solemn of all the feasts the Church celebrates in honor of Mary. St. Ambrose wrote: “Since Mary is the mother of Jesus, the head of the Church, she is in a sense the Mother of the Church.”
This feast commemorates the transition and assumption, body and soul, into heaven of the Blessed Virgin. In the Apocalypse St. John wrote about a heavenly woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet. On her head was a crown of twelve stars (Cf. Apocalypse 12,1). The woman is a symbol of the Church and the twelve stars are the twelve apostles. The Fathers saw Mary in this woman who shone like the sun. She shines in heaven like the sun (Jesus) because she stands at His right hand. “At your right hand is the queen in gold of Ophir” (Psalm 45,9). The best way to celebrate this feast is to imitate the way she lived which merited the glory she now enjoys in heaven. Imitation involves repeated acts of detachment from the world and the things of this world; we must live every day as if it were the last day of our life. It would be our great good fortune to die like Mary out of love of God!
In the Liturgy of the Hours we sing that beautiful antiphon: Hail Queen of Heaven. We must sing and pray it often with feeling and joy; we must rejoice that our dear Mother has been raised on high and made the Queen of Heaven! Take courage! Our eyes and hearts are fixed on heaven. Not just today but always.
Marian Prayers
167. Hail Mary. The most excellent prayer to Our Lady is surely the Hail Mary. How did it originate? The angel Gabriel was sent by God and said to our Lady: “I greet you, o full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1,28). St. Elizabeth inspired by the Holy Spirit uttered the words: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1,42). With the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the Church provided the additional words.
How often we pray the Hail Mary! Three times a day in the Angelus and fifty times in the rosary. How many times do we say this prayer in a single day, month or year? How many Hail Mary’s will we recite throughout our life? St. Alphonsus believes this greeting revives the joy Mary felt at the moment of the Annunciation. We must always pray it well and make the sentiments of Gabriel, Elizabeth and the Church our own. Every time we say this prayer we should say it with such enthusiasm that our heart leaps within us. If we really prayed it with love and delight we would linger over every word and not rush through it.
168. Hail Holy Queen. After the Hail Mary the most beautiful and useful Marian prayer is the Hail Holy Queen. St. Alphonsus called the Salve “the most fervent of prayers: it describes wonderfully the mercy and power of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” The prayer is made up of three parts. The first part, “Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope!” is an introduction and addresses Mary with five honorific titles. Our Lady is both Queen and Mother. She is a “Queen” – a title repeated so many times in the Litany of Loreto. She is the “Mother of Mercy” given to us by Our Lord. She shares the other three titles with Jesus who is our true “life,” “sweetness,” and “hope.” The second part of the prayer is a petition. We ask Our Lady to assist us in this “vale of tears” and be our advocate with her Son. We ask her to grant us the grace we need here on earth so that we may one day see and enjoy the blessed fruit of her womb: Jesus! The third part of the prayer is an appeal. It is said that these final invocations come from St. Bernard of Clairvaux. People were singing the Salve Regina in a church and when they reached the end St. Bernard cried out “O clement, o loving, o sweet Virgin Mary!” The saints loved this prayer as they did the Hail Mary.
169. The Rosary. We have so often heard speak of the excellence of the Holy Rosary in itself and in the respect both popes and saints have shown it. It has been a channel of spiritual and temporal favors for us and all mankind both in time and in eternity. The Rosary is simultaneously a mental and an oral prayer. The oral part of the prayer involves the Our Father which St. Augustine described as a short prayer that nonetheless covers all our needs. Father Giuseppe Bruno[1] would often repeat the words attributed to Tertullian that the Our Father with its seven petitions is a synthesis of the Gospel. We have already talked about the Hail Mary. These two prayers are the very best we can address to Our Lord and Our Lady.
The Rosary is also a mental prayer. It is the best possible meditation on the lives of Our Lord and Our Lady and this meditation makes the prayers recited all the more sweet. It is not necessary that we spend all our time thinking about the mystery – but it would be better if we could. Nor is it necessary that we restrict this or that set of mysteries to the day prescribed. In private recitation one is free to do as one pleases. St. Augustine tells us that in meditation we must give our heart free rein. Prayed in this fashion the Rosary will nourish both our heart and our soul; we should feel a new eagerness to say this holy prayer.
Some object that we repeat the same prayer over and over! Love, Lacordaire tells us, has but one word: the more it is repeated the sweeter and newer it becomes. When someone loves his mother he does not seek new and different words. Can one ever tire of saying the Hail Mary? We could go into ecstasy all day long just saying these words: Hail Mary! The repetition is only boring for someone who does not love Our Lady, for someone without soul. If I say it with fervor the first time I will say it with enthusiasm the second. Love and respect this practice and never think of it as a burden. Engrave it on your hearts and make it part of your plans.
170. Month of Mary. As sons and daughters of the Consolata we must celebrate the month of Mary with special fervor. Everyone should love Our Lady but missionaries even more so. Let us sanctify this month by honoring her and growing in our love for her. Above all pray well – as well as you can – and be one with Mary and the Lord all day long. Pray with all your heart and enthusiasm the Hail Holy Queen, the Angelus, the Rosary and all the other Marian prayers. I really want Our Lady to be happy with us.
To make sacrifices in honor of Our Lady is no mean thing but it is even better to imitate her virtues. During this month – a month of special grace – we must strive to make progress in those virtues Our Lady teaches us. To honor Our Lady during this month we must pray, pay her homage and practice her virtues. At the same time we must ask the Lord for a constant, strong and confident love for her – she is our mother. How beautiful and full our lives will be if we are devoted to Mary. I want you to celebrate the “month of Mary” all year long – you must be overflowing with devotion to Our Lady. She continues to show her love for our Congregation. I have named her our Patron and Guardian and she is doing what is expected of her. We have images of the Consolata everywhere – let us honor them from our hearts.
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[1] Father Giuseppe Bruno (1826-1907) was an Oratorian and the zealous pastor of St. Eusebius Church (known also as St. Philip’s) in Turin. Allamano learned his love of ceremonies – even the least important – from Canon G.M. Soldati and Father Bruno. Cf. the anonymous biography Chi era il P. Bruno, Turin 1908. Allamano frequently quoted Bruno’s text, Conferenze al Clero, Turin 1909, 347 pp.