Manual of meditations preparatory to the feasts of our Lady's immaculate conception, of St. Joseph

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Preface

TO satisfy the repeatedly expressed wish of many of our Sisters, it has been thought advisable to republish the little "Manual of Meditations" for the three yearly Triduums, and those preparatory to the feast of Pentecost.

To them have been added Meditations for the feasts of St. Francis de Sales and St. Teresa, the two great patrons of our Congregation.

In the preparation of this little volume, special pains have been taken to arrange the Meditations in conformity with the spirit and intentions suggested by our Constitutions, and much has been added from various great Saints and other approved Authors, so as to render the little Manual as helpful as possible, towards deriving from these annual seasons of grace and benediction all the devotion and spiritual profit, desirable for the souls of those who make use of the same.

4 Preface.

To enable our Sisters to become more intimately acquainted with the venerated Founders of our Congregation , a brief sketch of them, as obtained from the most authentic, reliable sources, will supplement the present little volume.

Mother House, South St. Louis, Month of St. Joseph, 1899,

Table of Contents,

Page.

Triduum preparatory to the feast of the Immaculate

Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin 7

i. Meditation — The Immaculate Conception of

Mary 8

2. Meditation— Mary, the Immaculate Virgin is

our Mother *3

3. Meditation— Our Immaculate Mother is the hon-

or and glory of the Church Triumphant, the hope and joy of the Church Militant and the comfort and succor of the Church Suffering.... 22 Triduum preparatory to the feast of our glorious

Patron St. Joseph 33

1. Meditation— St. Joseph is our Model 35

2. Meditation— St. Joseph is our Guide 42

3. Meditation— St. Joseph is our Patron 53

Triduum before the feast of the Visitation of the

Blessed Virgin, preparatory to the Renovation of Vows 58

1. Meditation— Promptitude and obedience of our

blessed Mother in this Mystery 59

2. Meditation— The graciousness Charity in the

conduct of the Blessed Virgin Mary 67

3. Meditation— The Renovation of our holy Vows 78

Meditation for the feast of St. Francis de Sales 90

Meditation for the feast of St. Teresa 101

Devotions and Meditations for the Novena preparatory to the feast of Pentecost 114

Short sketch of the Founders of the Institute of St.

Joseph of Puy l8 7

Grttmum

preparatory to tbe ffeast ot tbe Immao

ulate Conception of tbe JBlessei)

X&iVQin jflDar$*

When Rev. Father John Paul Medaille, S. J. , our venerated Founder, first wrote the Constitutions for his little Congregation of St. Joseph, he desired particularly to impress upon the Sisters a true love and devotion towards the Most Holy Virgin, Mother of God. From her they were to learn, and through her powerful intercession seek to obtain, the grace of fidelity to all the graces the Holy Spirit granted to them.

Among the three Triduums prescribed during the year, two are in honor of our Blessed Mother — that preceding the feast of the Immaculate Conception being the first in the order of time, in the Ecclesiastical year.

Let us, therefore, in the spirit of our saintly Founder, offer these days of recollection and prayer that the Immaculate Virgin may obtain for us a great purity of intention in our actions and whole conduct, and a great fidelity to all the graces, the Lord may deign to confer upon us.

Let us also ask that we may conceive great designs, and entertain ardent desires for the dear interests of Jesus and the salvation of souls.

FIRST MEDITATION.

Mary's Immaculate Conception.

First Prelude : Let us devoutly reflect on this great and singular privilege of Mary and, uniting with Holy Church, let us participate in the universal joy and admiration to which she gives expression in her sacred Liturgy on the vigil of this feast, when she sings : " Who is she that cometh forth as the morning, rising fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array? "

Second Prelude : Ask through the powerful intercession of our Immaculate Mother that you may obtain a true knowledge of her greatness in reference to Grod, and learn to duly appreciate her merciful and compassionate goodness towards us, her sorrowing children, still in the exile of this world.

I. POINT.

Mary is the chosen one of the Ever Blessed Trinity — the elected daughter of the Father, — the predestinated Mother of the Son — and the chosen Spouse of the Holy Grhost.

All qualities, natural, as well as supernatural that were becoming the Mother of God, were lavished upon her. These were hers from the first moment of her existence, and she was the object of God's peculiar love and complacency. It was fitting that, she who was to be the Mother of the Godman should be, in every way, worthy of Him. Never did sin, nor the breath of sin tarnish the bright mirror of her matchless purity. "Thou art all beautiful, O Mary, and the original stain is not in thee," sings Holy Church in the Mass of this great feast. And again: "Glorious things are said of thee, Mary: and He that is mighty hath done great things for thee." "Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honor of our people."

How truly great and admirable are the privileges of Mary ! But among the glorious array of all her gifts none shines forth with such heavenly splendor, as that of her Immaculate Conception. It is the most beautiful gem in her queenly crown.

Let us rejoice in the glory of our Immaculate Mother and return our fervent thanks to the Most Holy Trinity for all the gifts and graces bestowed upon her, but chiefly for the priceless privilege of her Immaculate Conception. Let us ask our heavenly

Mother to obtain for us great purity of heart, of soul and body, a great hatred of sin, and the love of mortification and penance, — virtues which will help us, always to preserve the priceless treasure of holy purity.

II. POINT.

Jesus, the Eternal Sun of justice who came into the world by Mary, to enlighten them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, wishes that we also should go to Him through her. He will not fail to enlighten us by means of that beautiful star — our true 'Star of Jacob' — who, as the great St. Bernard says, is the clear and brilliant star which is raised far above the wide and spacious sea of this world.

Over this she shines by the lustre of her virtues, her merits, her beautiful examples. — This benignant Star sheds brilliancy not only by innumerable proofs of her incomparable power, but especially by the countless multitude of her favors, and by her exceeding compassionate goodness and mercy towards us. "Hail full of grace 7 ' and "thou hast found grace with the Lord" said the Angel who announced to her the Incarnation of the Word. If Mary is laden with gifts and graces, it is that she may give us of her superabundance. Grladly will she make us partakers in her treasures, if we only ask her for them.

What has been the measure of our confidence in Mary during the past? What have we done, to practice and promote devotion to her ? In times of trial, in our conflicts with Satan, the world and our own unhallowed passions, have we been faithful to call upon Mary? Have we looked up for light and guidance in the darkness of our exile to our beautiful ocean-star, shining with the brightness of her Son who is the true light of the world ?

We are sailing upon a raging sea full of dangerous rocks. How greatly do we need light to direct us into the secure way! Let us beseech Mary to enlighten our minds which are merged in darkness.

Let us ask her to make us docile to the truth. She is our Mother, and a Mother most merciful who will not fail to compassionate her sorrowful children, and direct their course into the safe haven of endless peace and rest.

Let us often salute the Angels of Mary, and humbly ask them to carry our messages of love and gratitude and our petitions to her. Our blessed Mother, who never leaves any act of devotion to her unrewarded, cannot fail to be pleased with these childlike marks of affection and confidence.

III. POINT.

Life is a perilous passage. Grod is its end. We cannot have a safer guide than Mary. She is the model of all virtues. She is also the treasurer of Grod's graces and is ready and willing to bestow them on us. We cannot stray in following her. If we think of, honor and pray to her we are sure to triumph over the devil. It suffices not, to navigate safely; we must also reach the port of salvation. Mary who knows the way perfectly well, will conduct us thither. She entered there herself by her fidelity to grace. We are invited and encouraged to follow her by our venerated Founder, and it is this fidelity to grace that he wishes us to obtain through our blessed Mother T s powerful intercession, as one of the chief fruits of this Triduum consecrated to her honor.

Are we faithful in instilling devotion to our Immaculate Mother in the minds of the persons we instruct, the children whom we educate; into the sick whom we nurse, the poor and unfortunate whom we visit and succor. What more powerful motives of consolation and encouragement than to show them Our Immaculate Mother, as the comfortress of the afflicted, the health of the sick, the refuge of sinners, the help of christians !

Let us teach them, and ask them to teach others that well-known and beautiful prayer, called the Memorare of Saint Bernard.

In writing of Mary, this great Saint expresses himself thus: " When we think of and follow Mary, we cannot go astray. When we pray to her, we need never despair of being heard. When she upholds, we cannot fall. When she protects, no danger can betide us. When she leads, our following can never weary. In our perils, in the strait and tortuous ways, let us have recourse to Mary. When we invoke her holy name, we find ourselves at once relieved and delivered from our pains. "

Colloquy with the Saints who were especially devout to the Blessed Virgin. Ask them to obtain for you a true devotion to the great Queen of Heaven.

SECOND MEDITATION.

Mary the Immaculate Virgin is Our Mother.

First Prelude : Imagine you hear our Blessed Mother giving praise and thanks to Grod in the voice of Holy Church who in the

Gradual of the Mass for the vigil of this great feast sings thus: "Come and attend to me all you that fear Grod, and see how much the Lord hath done for my soul !

Eejoice in Grod all the earth, sing psalms unto his holy Name: give glory unto Him."

Second Prelude: Humbly beseech Mary to obtain for you a grateful heart, and a cheerful, generous spirit of unselfishness and sacrifice.

I. POINT.

Our whole life ought to be a continual succession of acts of thanksgiving and gratitude to Grod for all His mercies and undeserved kindness towards us. But descending into particulars, we should thank Him every day for having made us children of the true Church. Ah, if we could but thoroughly understand this inestimable grace !

" After all," said St. Teresa on her death-bed in an extasy of joyous gratitude, " After all, I am a child of the Holy Catholic Church."

Then, what praises do we owe our Lord for having led us so sweetly into the i enclosed garden' of holy religion where we are swimming, so to say, in an ocean of graces: where we are daily breathing the atmosphere of holiness: where we are securely sheltered from the poisonous vapors rising out of the whirlpool of a perverted and perverting world for which the Son of G-od 'would not pray' on the eve of His sacred passion.

And what a mother has He not given us in Maiy! — His own Immaculate Mother! — What a father and patron in the person of His own Foster-father, by whose name He desires us to be known in His Church!

Shall we ever be able to thank Him for the least of His benefits? Let us humbly supplicate the Sacred Heart of Jesus to offer to His Heavenly Father, for our shortcomings His own most worthy praises and thanksgivings and those of His Blessed Mother in her glorious canticle — the Magnificat.

All our Lady's feasts, but especially that of her Immaculate Conception, ought to be for us seasons of joy and affectionate thanksgiving: not only on account of all that we have received through her immaculate hands, but also because of the advancement of the dear interests of Jesus, and of the joy and glory that redounds to God in the possession of at least one creature who is and ever has been all His own. On her He can look with unmixed favor. Never has the enemy had any part in her. She is a flower in His garden on whose snowj petals there is no stain.

One of the humiliations of this life is to find nothing perfect in it. There are always limitations and infirmities, something even in the best and holiest which we have tc bear with and forgive. But in thinking oi our Immaculate Mother, we are able to rest our hearts on a spotless ideal, on a ilosI perfect creature.

Let us rejoice in our Lady's gifts and graces, and give thanks to Grod for them. By doing so we shall oblige and please her, who is the most grateful of God's creatures,

II. POINT.

By giving Mary to us as our Mother, hei Divine Son has so ordered things that she is in closer and more real relations with us than any other creature : for there can be no tie so close as that of mother and child.

Now, this all-pure and spotless Mother in whom sin has absolutely no part, is at the same time the Refuge of Sinners. She reflects in a peculiar way, and by a peculiar privilege, the boundless compassion of Grod. The Saints are saints only in so far as they are like God : and the more they are like Him, the greater is their sanctity.

But none are so like Him as those whose hearts are full of compassion for sinners — for the wretched — for the miserable of all kinds. This is the great distinguishing feature in the character of all the great servants of Grod. They do not judge, they do not hold themselves apart , they do not despair of sinners. They are their advocates and servants. They are ready to live and die, as their Master lived and died, for their salvation. " Jesus Christ/ 7 says the Apostle, "came into the world to save sinners/' and this being so, his servants must do the same. Should not the spouses of Jesus Christ be in some sort regarded as the refuge of sinners ! Like our sweet Immaculate Mother they should have a wonderful tenderness for weak and wandering souls. How many souls may be saved by only caring for them ! And what else should we have in view, when caring for the bodily wants — when nursing the bodily ills of our neighbor, but the salvation of his soul? Is it this chiefly, that we seek? Then, let our eyes roam, just for a moment, over this broad land of ours with its millions of souls who know nothing of Grod, — souls perishing for the want of that bread which gives and sustains life — souls hungry for the word of Grod who, for the want of missionaries and means, could not as yet be reached. These are confided to the compassionate charity of the spouses of our Lord. They are given to us that we may bring them to the sheepfold of Christ, the true and loving Shepherd of the flock purchased with His Blood.

How can we do it? By humble fervent prayer and supplication accompanied by acts of mortification and self-sacrifice ; by being zealous in instructing children in catechism ; by making use of every opportunity to instruct in the truths of our holy religion, those who apply to us, and by being really and entirely what we pretend to be: — true religious not unworthy of the name that, according to the words of the gospel, "our light may shine before men, in order that they may praise our Father who is in heaven. "

If catholics in general, and religious in particular were always true to their colors, really unworldly and animated by a spirit of faith, how soon would the eyes of those around us be opened to the truth !

How can we better honor our Immaculate Mother who is the duly-chosen Patroness of our country than by taking a lively interest in the salvation of the souls that dwell therein ! Let all such souls find in us help and pity. Very often they can only be reached through their body. Let us do willingly and cheerfully what we can to help and console them, never thinking we do too much : nor ought we ever to measure our devotion to them by their gratitude. Jesus, our divine Saviour with His Immaculate Mother and St. Joseph ought to be our only models in the exercise of our charity.

As our Lord has committed to His blessed Mother the ministry of his loving kindness, so He seems to have done something the same for his spouses. He has made religious the ministering angels, not of justice, but of charity and long-suffering, that true mercy, which really means having a heart for the miserable.

May our dearest Mother obtain this grace for us, so that as we cannot imitate her in her one great privilege of being exempt from sin, we may yet become like her in her merciful compassion.

III. POINT.

Our Blessed Mother never tires of our importunities. She permits us to take all sorts of little liberties with her. Of course, what explains it is that she is a great vessel of compassion.

It is her characteristic, as it was that of her Divine Son whose perfections she reflects. One of our Lord's favorite sayings was "I have compassion on the multitude. " In working his most wonderful miracles, "He was moved with compassion. "

But we need not seek scripture proofs to assure us of the loving compassion of Grod. Our own personal experience can bear out this testimony, a hundred and a thousandfold.

But have we ever sounded the depths of the mysteries of the Divine Compassion? Let us consider what it implies. Our Blessed Lady will teach us. Nothing really could do our heart more good, than to meditate often on the compassion of God and His Blessed Mother.

Let us especially often and seriously reflect on the parable of the servant who would not forgive his fellow-servant a hundred pence, when his Lord had had compassion on him and forgiven him ten thousand talents. The apostle tells us, not only to be of one mind, but to be 'having compassion one for another 7 not merely to be compassionate to the poor and sick whom we visit, or find begging at our door, but compassionate one to another.

In the forty-fourth Psalm the Royal Prophet says to our Lord : "Grace is poured forth on thy lips" — words which are daily repeated in the Office of the Blessed Virgin, and which signify that the words uttered by our Lord and His blessed Mother were gracious, tender, compassionate.

When we are tempted to say, we cannot work with one, or get on with another — that one is so trying and another so irritating, all would be remedied with a little more compassion, forbearance, pity for each other's defects and infirmities.

Let us consider our compassionate Lord who always took the part of those whom others complained of. He took the part of Mary Magdalen, when Martha complained of her ; praised her, when Judas the traitor, would have condemned her lavishness : the part of His Apostles against the Pharisees, and although He could not excuse the sin of the poor creature whom these had brought to Him, yet He would not condemn her. the boundless compassion of God towards His poor, erring creatures! These are lovely examples for us to reflect and meditate on.

We cannot imitate our Lord in His miracles ; but in His Divine Compassion we can and must, if we do not wish to be separated from Him and His blessed Mother forever.

Would it not be very inconsistent to call ourselves children of Mary, if we bore no sort of resemblance to our Mother? If she could just take her place in a religious community for a month, would she not turn it into a heaven on earth, simply by the daily exercise of that sweet loving compassion which would make her tender, pitiful, courteous, long-suffering and tolerant with the least of God's creatures with whom she lived.

Let us ask her to teach us all the sweet graciousness of charity, and then this little corner of St. Joseph garden will daily bud forth fresh flowers flagrant with the odors of Paradise.

Colloque with St. Raphael Archangel — the angel of joy and gladness — the healer and comforter in human sorrows, the ministering spirit of God's comforts to man.

THIRD MEDITATION.

Mary Immaculate is the Honor and Glory of the

Church Triumphant, the Hope and the Joy

of the Church Militant, and the Comfort

and Succor of the Church Suffering.

First Prelude: Imagine you hear the magnificent chant of Holy Church during the Mass of this great feast who, addressing Mary, sings thus :

"Thou art all beautiful, Mary, and the stain original is not in thee! " Alleluja!

And again: "Glorious things are said of thee, thou City of Grod! Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honor of our people! "

Second Prelude : Humbly ask our Blessed Lady that according to the words of our saintly Founder "You may conceive great designs for the advancement of Grod's glory and the salvation of souls. "

With all possible fervor and child-like confidence ask this as the special fruit of this meditation.

I. POINT.

0, how great is the honor and glory reflected upon all the inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem by the singular privilege of Mary's Immaculate Conception ! All heaven rejoices, the earth is made glad and hell trembles at seeing the sign of the "woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet and crowned with twelve stars. " Holy Mother Church here on earth celebrates this feast with great splendor. It will also be gloriously solemnized in heaven. But how paltry our earthly celebrations and ceremonies must appear, when compared with those of the heavenly Jerusalem ! Yet they have this advantage : that by devoutly entering into the spirit of this great solemnity with the dispositions of our Blessed Mother, we shall not fail to obtain a special participation in the graces flowing from this mystery and an augmentation of merit for eternity. The Saints in heaven cannot merit any more. Their time for gathering eternal treasures is past. They are now enjoying what they have earned during their life time: while we, exiled children of Eve, being still in this land of trial, have it in our power, by constant and persevering fidelity to grace, to increase our merits and ensure our reward in the life to come.

Let us ask our Blessed Mother to help us to make a good and holy use of our present opportunities. The past we cannot recall ; but by humility and repentance we may obtain pardon and mercy for graces so wilfully neglected. It is only in the living present that "we can make our calling and election sure."

Ascending to-day in spirit into heaven, let us with the eyes of a lively faith contemplate the glory of our Immaculate Mother in the midst of the angels and saints — happy subjects of her imperial realm. With what joy do they contemplate her beauty, with what exultation celebrate her praises ! She is loved and cherished by the Most Blessed Trinity, served by the angels, blessed by the patriarchs, admired by the prophets, revered by the apostles, glorified by the martyrs, honored by the confessors, followed by the virgins and praised by all the saints of Gi-od. Let us unite with them all in giving praise and thanks to the Ever Blessed Trinity for all the graces and favors granted to Mary, but especially her Immaculate Conception — a privilege with which she alone in all the earth, was favored. Hence, Holy Church in the Mass of this great feast, congratulating her, addresses her thus :

"Blessed art thou, O Mary, by the Lord Grod, most high, above all the women of the earth!

Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honor of our people!"

In thanking our Lord for the gifts granted to our Lady, let us remember that in her, as in a fruitful soil, they grew and increased without any impediment, and fructified a hundred and a thousandfold even to the perfection of consumate sanctity : and it was her perfect fidelity to grace which obtained for her such immense glory in heaven.

After congratulating our Blessed Mother on the feast of to-morrow, on her graces and privileges, her joys and her glory, let us beg of her to obtain for us a faithful correspondence with the graces, our Lord may deign to confer on us : ask the gift of final perseverance, and perseverance in our holy vocation. These are graces we cannot merit: — but they will be granted to persevering fervent prayer. May our Immaculate Mother obtain them for us, that we may one day have the happiness of seeing and praising her in the glory of paradise.

II. POINT.

The honor of our Lord is greatly promoted by the honor shown to His Blessed Mother. The whole history of the Church, from the Apostles down to the present, shows how near and dear devotion to her is to His Divine Heart : while the facts of all ages, but especially those truly great and strikingly wonderful events which have taken place in our own times, clearly demonstrate, how much and how intimately Mary is connected and identified with the interests of Jesus and the salvation of souls.

Jesus has placed His Immaculate Mother in the front of His Church to be its bulwark : — A token of all good, and a stumbling block of His enemies. Within our own century, at a period, when society saw itself on the eve of one of the most terrible political and moral convulsions, when, owing to the unhappy dissemination of pernicious literature, thousands of christian families were threatened with loss of faith and becoming demoralized, our Blessed Mother, in pity descended among the children of men to warn, to exhort and fortify them against the seductions of the enemy of mankind, the flattery of the world and the opposition of their own unruly passions.

With what refinement of maternal tenderness does she not employ every means to rescue her poor erring children from the slavery which threatens and from dangers and chastisements which menace them!

The multiplied wonderful conversions consequent upon the establishment of the Archconf raternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary — the numberless extraordinary favors, temporal as well as spiritual, following the manifestation of the Miraculous Medal to one of the daughters of St. Vincent de Paul, and a few years later, the apparition of our Blessed Lady on the Mountain of La Salette, where she wept over the crimes of men, and deplored the unhappy lot of sinners, promising mercy and pardon to the repentant and threatening with chastisement the impenitent and obdurate : — all these events speak loudly of the maternal love of Mary for the children of the Church engaged in deathly struggle with, powerful enemies, where the outcome is, for certain souls, often so hazardous, so uncertain. But they also tell of her unspeakably great influence with her Divine Son, and the immense power she wields over Satan and his rebel crew. Mary is the treasurer of the graces flowing from the Sacred Heart from which she can draw at pleasure, to distribute, to her needy children.

She is truly the hope and the joy of the Church Militant who in her beautiful Antiphon, the " Salve Regina" which is repeated daily by millions of the faithful, invokes Mary as "our life, our sweetness and our hope."

Let us rejoice that we are children of the Holy Catholic Church which Glod never ceases to visit, with which he ever continues to dwell in the Holy Eucharist, and whose interests have a most powerful advocate in our heavenly Mother.

Among all the wonders operated through Mary in our times, none are so striking as those of Lourdes. In the miracles of Lourdes God prepared a new glory for the Immaculate Conception. It is in honor of, and by the favor of the Immaculate Conception that cures shall gush forth from that miraculous fountain, and sinners shall find the joys of mercy in the graces flowing from the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother.