Io Amo Gesù

Devotion to Mary in May: day 18 "prayer"

Da Paolo Tessione -

18 DAY
Holy Mary.

Invocation. - Mary, Mother of mercy, pray for us!

PRAYER
It is the duty of each soul to lift the mind and heart to God, to worship him, to bless him and to thank him.
In this valley of tears, prayer is one of the greatest comforts we can have. God urges us insistently to pray: "Ask and it will be given to you" (St. John, XVI, 24). "Pray, that you may not enter into temptation" (San Luca, XXII, 40). "Pray without interruption" (I Thessalonians, V, 17).
Doctors of the Holy Church teach that prayer is a means without which help cannot be obtained to save oneself. «Who prays, is saved, who does not pray, is damned, indeed it is not necessary for the devil to drag him to hell; he himself goes there with his feet "(S. Alfonso).
If what is asked of God in prayer is useful to the soul, it is obtained; if it is not useful, some other grace will be obtained, perhaps higher than that requested.
For prayer to be effective, it must be done for the benefit of the soul and also with much humility and great trust; the soul who turns to God is in a state of grace, that is, detached from sin, particularly from hatred and impurity.
Many ask for nothing but temporal graces, while the most useful and those that God willingly grants are the spiritual ones.
Ordinarily there is a gap in prayer; they usually ask only thanks. We must also pray for other ends: to adore the Divinity, to say it well, to thank it, both for us and for those who neglect to do this. In order for prayer to be more acceptable to God, present yourself by the hands of Mary, the most worthy of the throne of the Most High. We often pray to the mighty Queen and we will not be confused. We often recite the Ave Maria, before and after food and work, undertaking some important business or setting off on a journey. In the morning, at noon and in the evening we greet the Virgin with the Angelus Domini and do not spend the day without offering the recitation of the Rosary to the Madonna. Devout singing is also prayer and Mary welcomes the praises that are sung in her honor.
Besides vocal prayer, there is mental prayer, which is called meditation, and consists in reflecting on the great truths that God has revealed to us. Our Lady, as the Gospel teaches, meditated in her heart the words that Jesus said; imitiamola.
Meditation is not only a duty of a few souls who tend to perfection, but it is a duty of all those who want to stay away from sin: "Remember your new ones and you will not sin forever! »(Eccl., VII, '36).
Think therefore that you have to die and leave everything, that you will go to rot under the earth, that you will have to realize to God everything, even words and thoughts, and that another life awaits us.
In obedience to Our Lady we promise to do a little meditation every day; if we can't have much time, let's take at least a few minutes. We choose that book, which we consider most useful to our soul. Whoever lacks a book, learn to meditate on the Crucifix and the Virgin of Sorrows.

EXAMPLE

A priest, because of the sacred ministry, visited a family. An old woman, in her eighties, welcomed her respectfully and expressed her desire to do a charitable work.

  • I have advanced over the years; I have no heirs; I am single; I would like to help poor young people who feel called to the Priesthood. I'm happy too and my sister too. If you will, I'll go call her. -
    The sister, ninety-one years old, serene and sprightly, with perfect clarity of mind, entertained the Priest in long and interesting conversation: - Reverend, do you confess?
  • Everyday.
  • Never forget to tell penitents to do meditation every day! When I was young, every time I went to the confessional, the priest said to me: Did you do meditation? - And he scolded me if he sometimes omitted it.
  • A century ago, replied the Priest, he insisted on meditation; but today if you get it from so many souls who go to Mass on Sunday, who don't give themselves to immoral amusements, who don't give scandal ... it's already too much! Before there was more meditation and consequently more righteousness and more morality; today there is little or no meditation and souls go from bad to worse! -

Foil. - Do some meditation, possibly on the Passion of Jesus and on the pains of Our Lady.

Ejaculation. - I offer you, Holy Virgin, my past, my present and my future!