May, month of Mary: meditation on the fourth day

MARY FORCE OF THE WEAK

4 DAY
Holy Mary.

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

MARY FORCE OF THE WEAK
Stubborn sinners are those who neglect the soul and give themselves up to passions, without the will to cut off the life of sin.
The weak, spiritually speaking, are those who would like to maintain friendship with God, but are not determined and resolute to flee from sin and serious opportunities for sin.
One day I am of God and another of the devil; today they receive Communion and tomorrow they sin seriously; falls and repentance, confession and sins. How many souls are in this sad condition! They have a very weak will and run the risk of dying in sin. Woe to death if they seized them while they were in God's disgrace!
The Most Holy Virgin has compassion on them and is eager to come to their aid. Just as the mother supports the child so that it does not fall and prepares her hand to raise it if it falls, so the Madonna, mindful of human misery, is urged to support those who resort to her with confidence.
It is good to consider what are the causes that produce spiritual weakness. First of all, it is not paying attention to small faults, so they are often committed and without remorse. Those who despise small things will gradually fall into the big ones.
Thinking in temptations weakens the will: I can get this far ... This is not a mortal sin! At the edge of the precipice I will stop. - By acting in this way, the grace of God slows down, Satan intensifies the assault and the soul falls miserably.
Another cause of weakness is the saying: Now I sin and then I will confess; so I will remedy everything. - One is mistaken, because even when one confesses, sin leaves a great weakness in the soul; the more sins one commits, the weaker one remains, especially by offending purity.
Those who do not know how to dominate the heart and consequently cultivate disordered affections are easy to fall into sin. They say: I don't have the strength to leave that person! I don't feel like depriving myself of that visit ..-
Such sick souls, deepened in the spiritual life, turn to Mary for help, imploring her maternal mercy. May they make novenas and whole months of devoted practices in order to tear a great grace, that is, the willpower on which eternal salvation depends.
Many pray to Our Lady for the health of the body, for providence, to succeed in some business, but few plead with the Queen of Heaven and run novenas to have strength in temptations or to end some serious occasion for sin.

EXAMPLE

For years a young woman had abandoned herself to a life of sin; he tried to keep his moral miseries hidden. The mother began to suspect something and scolded her bitterly.
The unhappy, uncovered, opened her eyes to her miserable state and was beset by strong remorse. Accompanied by her mother, she wanted to go to confession. He repented, proposed e., Wept.
He was very weak and, after a short time, he engulfed himself again in the bad habit of sinning. He was already about to take a bad step and fall into the abyss. The Madonna, invoked by her mother, came to the aid of the sinner for a providential case.
A good book came into the hands of the young woman; she read it and was struck by the story of a woman, who hid serious sins in confession and, although she later lived a good life, went to hell because of the sacrileges.
At this reading she was shaken with remorse; she thought that hell was prepared for her too, if she hadn't remedied bad confessions and if she hadn't changed her life.
He thought seriously, began to pray fervently to the Blessed Virgin for help and it was decided to regulate conscience. When he knelt before the Priest to accuse his sins, he said: It was Our Lady who brought me here! I want to change my life. -
While at first he felt weak in temptations, then he acquired such a fortress that he no longer retreated. She persevered in prayer and in the frequency of the sacraments and inflamed with holy ardor towards Jesus and the Heavenly Mother, she left the world to close herself in a convent, where she made her religious vows.

Foil. - Examine the conscience to see how one confesses: if some serious sin is hidden, if the intention to escape bad opportunities is resolute and effective, if one really goes to Confession with the due dispositions. To remedy badly made confessions.

Ejaculation. Dear Mother Virgin Mary, make me save my soul!