May, month of Mary: meditation day 17

MOTHER OF PERSEVERANCE

17 DAY
Holy Mary.

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

MOTHER OF PERSEVERANCE
In the Gospel it is said: «Whoever perseveres to the end, he will be saved! »(St. Matthew, XXIV, 13).
The Lord requires not only the principles of the good life, but the end, and will give the prize to those who have persevered. Perseverance is rightly called the door to Heaven.
The human will is weak; now he detests sin and later commits it; one day he decides to change his life and the next day he resumes bad habits. Persevering without falls or slowdowns is a grace of God, which must be asked persistently in prayer; without it, you put yourself in danger of damaging yourself.
How many, as children, were little angels and then in their youth they became devils and continued their bad life until death!
How many pious and exemplary girls and young ladies, in a certain period of their life, because of a bad opportunity, have given themselves to sin, with scandal from the family and the neighborhood, and then they have died in impenitence!
The sin that leads to the final impenitence is impurity, because this vice takes away the taste of spiritual things, little by little it makes you lose faith, it binds so much that it no longer detaches you from evil and often leads to the sacrileges of Confession and Communion.
Sant'Alfonso says: For those who have had the habit of an impure vice, fleeing the next more dangerous occasions is not enough, but he must also keep away the remote occasions, avoiding those greetings, those gifts, those tickets and the like ... - (S. Alfonso - Apparatus to death). "Our fortress, says the Prophet Isaiah, is like the fortress of the tow placed in the flame" (Isaiah, I, 31). Whoever puts himself in danger with the hope of not sinning, is like that madman who pretended to walk on fire without burning himself.
It refers in ecclesiastical stories that a holy matron performed the pitiful office of burying the Martyrs of the faith. Once he found one that had not yet expired and brought it to his home. That man healed. But what happened? On the occasion, these two holy people (as I was then able to call each other) gradually also lost their faith.
Who can be self-confident when thinking about the miserable end of King Saul, Solomon and Tertullian?
The anchor of salvation for all is the Madonna, Mother of perseverance. In the life of Saint Brigida we read that one day this Saint heard Jesus speaking to the Blessed Virgin thus: ask me as much as you want, since any of your questions can only be answered. Nothing you, oh Mother, have denied me by living on earth and nothing I deny you now, being in Heaven. -
And to the same Saint Our Lady said: I am called the Mother of mercy and such I am because such has made me Divine Mercy. -
We therefore ask the Queen of Heaven for the grace of perseverance and ask her especially during the Consecration, in the Holy Mass, reciting a Hail Mary with faith.

EXAMPLE

A very significant fact is reported. While a priest confessed to a church, he saw a young man take a seat a few steps from the confessional; it seemed that he wanted and did not want to confess; his uneasiness appeared from his face.
At a certain moment the priest called him: Do you want to confess? - Well ... I confess! But my confession will be long. - Come with me to a lonely room. -
When the confession was over, the penitent said: As much as I confessed, you can also say it from the pulpit. Tell everyone about the mercy of Our Lady towards me. -
So the young man began his accusation: I believe that God will not forgive me my sins !!! In addition to the countless sins of dishonesty, more out of spite to God than satisfaction, I threw a crucifix out of contempt and hatred. Several times I have communicated myself with sacrilege and have trampled on the Holy Particle. -
I will also narrate that passing in front of that Church, he had felt a great impulse to enter it and, unable to resist, had entered it; he had felt, being in the Church, a great remorse of conscience with a certain will to confess and for this reason he had approached the confessional. The priest, amazed at this amazing conversion, asked: Have you had any devotion to Our Lady in this period? - No, Father! I thought I was damned. - Yet, here must be the hand of the Madonna! Think better, try to remember if you did some deed of respect to the Blessed Virgin. Do you hold something sacred? - The young man uncovered his chest and showed the Abitino of Our Lady of Sorrows. - Oh, son! Don't you see that it was Our Lady who gave you grace? The Church, where you entered, is dedicated to the Virgin. Love this good mom, thank her and don't go back to sinning anymore! -

Foil. - Choose a good work, to be done every Saturday, so that Our Lady can help us to persevere in goodness until the end of life.

Ejaculation. - Mary, Mother of perseverance, I close myself in your Heart!