Consecration Aids: 15: Give Her (Mary, Mother of God) a Chance!
Fr. Christopher Lee, SMM
Note to Reader:
This article was directed to other priests and their preparation for Mass. The lesson, however, also applies to all children of Mary. Give her the chance within your own lives.
W henever anyone asks me if it is all right to ask Our Lady to assist him at Mass, I am reminded of the time I, myself put a similar question to a venerable old priest friend of mine. I was only a young priest at the time. My question was something like this: “Is it quite orthodox for me to ask Our Lady to assist me in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?”
The kindly old priest looked up at me with evident surprise. For a moment a slight frown skimmed the surface of his already wrinkled brow. Then a smile crossed his normally serene countenance – the kind of smile that meant: ”You don’t mean to tell me that you’ve completely missed the great lesson of Calvary!”
Reaching to the edge of his desk for his breviary, he thumbed through it slowly, not uttering a word all the while. I wondered what he could find in that book as an answer to my question. I soon noticed that he was paging through the last section of the breviary – the section that contains prayers to be said on various occasions, such as prayers before and after Mass, etc. His smile now broadened into a grin as he handed me the book and bade me read aloud to him the Oratio ad Beatam Mariam Virginem ante Missam : Prayer to the Blessed Virgin before Mass.
I read the prayer. It was in Latin. I had read it before, but although I knew Latin, I had never really grasped its full theological import. This time I read it aloud and, as I read on, my voice grew softer and softer. When I had pronounced the final Amen, it seemed that the veil of mystery had been lifted.
O Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of goodness and of merc y, I, a wretched and unworthy sinner, come to thee with my whole heart and soul, and I beseech thee in thy kindness that just as thou didst assist thy most sweet Son hanging on the Cross, so do thou assist me, a wretched sinner, and all the priests, here and throughout the world who will offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass today to that, aided by thy grace, we may worthily offer up a pure and acceptable sacrifice in the sight of the most high and undivided Trinity. Amen.
When I handed back the breviary to him, Father X eyed me keenly and waited for me to say something. But I was so happy that my ”problem” had been cleared up so satisfactorily that I could only smile – and somewhat sheepishly at that.
”Are you still worried about its orthodoxy?” he queried trying hard to keep from smiling.
”I guess I should have been worrying about my own orthodoxy all the while!” I confessed.
”I suppose you’ll never forget now,” he added smiling broadly, ”that it was quite orthodox for our Blessed Savior to ask His Mother to assist Him, in her own subordinate way of course, in offering up His Infinite Sacrifice on Calvary!”
Author: Fr. Christopher Lee, SMM
This is the fifteenth in a series of articles covering Consecration Aids.
The immediate result is that I no longer rely on my own dispositions and merits when I pray, adore or thank God.
I must admit that from that day on my scruples quickly vanished. And I have since learned of, and practiced many ways of assisting at (and offering) the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in union with Mary.
Here’s a method you might like and which I have found most beneficial to my spiritual life. Of course, it’s not the only method. Fr. de Montfort assures us that the Holy Ghost Himself ”will furnish you an infinity of other thoughts … if you are thoroughly interior, mortified and faithful to this grand and sublime devotion.” (T.D. No. 273)
For example, before beginning to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, I humble myself profoundly before God, confessing my unworthiness in His sight. This naturally leads me to renounce my own sentiments and dispositions, that is, any motive, affection or movement which may proceed from me alone. Thus I am forced, so to speak, to turn to Mary for help and assistance. I beg her to give me a share in the sentiments and dispositions that animated her while she was still on earth—especially on Calvary.
All my acts of adoration, thanksgiving, prayer and satisfaction will consequently take on a Marian color. More, in a certain sense, they are her actions since they are the actions of one who has given all to her.
The immediate result is that I no longer rely on my own dispositions and merits when I pray, adore or thank God. To quote Fr. de Montfort: ”A man no longer, as before, relies on his own dispositions, intentions, merits, virtues and good works; because, having made an entire sacrifice of them to Jesus Christ by that good Mother, he has but one treasure now, where all his goods are laid up, and that is no longer in himself, for his treasure is Mary.” (T.D. No. 145)
It is true that Mary’s intentions, dispositions, sentiments and merits are unknown to me. (For that matter, what angel could boast of knowing Mary perfectly! ) My faith tells me that she is the Mother of the Savior, the Co-Redemptrix of mankind and my Spiritual Mother. That is sufficient for me, a slave of Mary, to put my whole trust in her dispositions, merits and intentions.
Besides, come to think of it, what slave has a right to know his master’s motives and intentions? What business is it of his to pry into the secrets of his master, especially if he is a good master? To an earthly, weak and sinful master, I can understand why one might hesitate, or even refuse to render total allegiance, such as would involve even the surrender of one’s own intentions. But, with respect to Mary, the holiest and kindest of God’s creatures, there can be no room for doubt or hesitancy. St. Louis reassures me when he writes that Mary’s intentions and dispositions are so perfect and so pure ”that she gives more glory to God by the least of her actions . . . than all the saints by all their heroic actions put together.” (T.D. No. 222)
Now, imagine what happens in my soul when I share in Mary’s intentions at Mass! Won’t you give this method a try, next time you assist at Mass? Or are you afraid that Mary will then really ”take over” in your life? Incidentally, that’s what she’s been trying to do for a long time now. Won’t you give her a chance?
