Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Mt. Carmel Novena, Day 4-- Mother of Fair Love



"I am the Mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge,and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue." Ecclesiasticus 24: 24-25

In the Roman rite there are many beautiful votive Masses in honor of Our Lady. One of them is "Mother of Fairest Love." I once heard it celebrated around the feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, and in the homily the priest quoted St. John of the Cross saying that if one wants to have a great love, all one must do is desire a great love, in order to possess it. When our hearts feel cold and dry, and it seems we have no love of God within us, much less love of neighbor, then we can love with the Heart of Mary. Her love can supply for what we lack, and this can happen just by willing it, since love is not a feeling, but an act of the will, a decision.

In the words of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort in True Devotion: "Mary is the sanctuary and repose of the Holy Trinity, where God dwells more magnificently and more divinely than any other place in the universe, not excepting his dwelling between the Cherubim and Seraphim." Before receiving the Eucharist, the saint counsels: "You must implore that good Mother to lend you her heart, that you may receive her Son there with the same dispositions as her own....You will ask her for her heart by these tender words: 'I take thee for my all. Give me thy heart. O Mary.'"

Novena Prayer to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
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