A Salute to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Hail, holy Lady, most holy Queen,
Mary, Mother of God, ever Virgin.
You were chosen by the Most High Father in heaven,
consecrated by Him, with His most Holy Beloved Son
and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.
On you descended and still remains
all the fullness of grace and every good.
Hail, His Palace.
Hail His Tabernacle.
Hail His Robe.
Hail His Handmaid.
Hail, His Mother.
And Hail, all holy Virtues, who, by grace
and inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
are poured into the hearts of the faithful
so that from their faithless state,
they may be made
faithful servants of God through you.

… As he was living there by the church of our Lady, Francis prayed to her who had conceived the Word, full of grace and truth, begging her insistently and with tears to become his Advocate.

Jesus…” the origin of my Will is eternal. Never did sorrow enter into It; among the Divine Persons this Will was in highest harmony; or rather, It was one. In every act It issued forth, both “ad intra” and “ad extra“, It gave Us infinite joys, new contentments, immense happiness. And when We wanted to deliver the machine of Creation - how much glory, how much honor and harmony did It not give to Us? As soon as the FIAT was unleashed, this FIAT diffused Our beauty, Our light, Our power, order, harmony, love, Sanctity – everything; and We remained glorified by Our own virtues, in seeing, through the FIAT, the blossoming of Our Divinity concealed in the whole Universe. Our Will did not stop; swollen with love as It was, It wanted to create man; and you know his story, therefore I move forward.

Ah, he was the one who caused the first sorrow to my Will; he tried to embitter the One.

For Us, to give is to make Ourselves happy, and to make happy the one who receives from Us; it is to enrich without being impoverished; it is to give what We are by nature, forming it within the creature by grace; it is to go out of Ourselves to give what We possess… In giving, Our Love pours Itself out, and Our Will makes feast. If We were not to give, why would We form the Creation? Therefore, just being unable to give to Our children, to Our dear images, was like a mourning for Our Supreme Will. Just in seeing man work, speak, walk, without the connection of Our Will, because it had been broken by him, and that currents of graces, of Sanctity, of science, etc. would have run to him, had he been with Us, but could not – Our Will took the attitude of sorrow. Every act of creature was a sorrow for Us, because We saw that act empty of divine value, deprived of beauty and of sanctity – completely dissimilar from Our acts.

Oh, how the Celestial Little One understood this great sorrow of Ours, and the great evil of man in withdrawing from Our Will! Oh, how many times She cried hot tears for Our sorrow, and for the great misfortune of man! Therefore, fearful, She did not want to concede to her own will even one act. This is why She remained little: because her will had no life in her – so how could she grow? But that which she did not do, Our Will did: It raised Her all beautiful, holy, divine; It enriched Her so much as to make Her the greatest of all creatures. She was a prodigy of Our Will – a prodigy of grace, of beauty, of sanctity. But She always remained little; so much so, that She never came down from Our arms. She took on Our defense; She repaid all the sorrowful acts of the Supreme Will. Not only was She completely in order with Our Will, but She made all the acts of the creatures Her own; and absorbing into Herself all of Our Will rejected by them, She repaired It, loved It, and keeping It as though deposited in her virginal Heart, She prepared the food of Our Will for all creatures.

Do you see, then, with what Food this most loving Mother nourishes Her children? It cost Her all Her life, unspeakable pains, and the very Life of her Son, to prepare within Her the abundant deposit of this food of my Will, and to keep It ready to nourish all her children as a tender and loving Mother. She could not love Her children more; by giving them this Food, Her love reached the ultimate degree. Therefore, among the many titles that She has, the most beautiful title that could be given to Her is that of “Mother and Queen of the Divine Will“.

Mary’s Virginal Motherhood in God’s Plan; CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: 502-511; (p.127-128)