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[Editors Note: This work is a revised version of From a Full Heart, published by the North American Center for Marianist Studies in CD format in 2004. Published in an online format in 2011.]
Dedicated to "The August Virgin Mary": the Mother, the Queen, and the Patroness of the Society of Mary in the Centennial Year of the Spiritual Sons of Father Chaminade in America.
PREFACE
Though his voice has long been silent, Father William Joseph Chaminade. (1761-1850), the saintly Founder of the Society of Mary (Marianists) and the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, continues to speak eloquently and forcibly to his disciples through the telling words that he pronounced or wrote during his long life of eighty-nine years. His golden words have been collected and preserved by his disciples and form no insignificant part of the precious heirloom transmitted to them.
Like most religious founders, Father Chaminade “was not of an age but for all time.” His words and his directions have an utter timelessness. Now as then—when his thoughts were first crystallized in words—Father Chaminade sometimes soothes and enlightens; at other times, he admonishes and corrects; and again, he encourages and inspires.
The present booklet contains selected thoughts from the voluminous letters, notes, conferences, and publications of Father Chaminade, which have been assigned to each day of the year. The words of Father Chaminade—when read and mulled over—will help to perpetuate a basic spirit of faith; a deep trust in God’s fatherly Providence; an unflinching loyalty to Christ, our Head, Master, and Model; a manly love and devotion to the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God and Mother of all. . . .
Grateful acknowledgement is expressed to all those who, by assistance and encouragement, have helped in the preparation of this publication. Particularly singled out are the Brothers of Maryhurst Novitiate or at Marynook who during the past ten years expended some time in the furtherance of this project.
FOREWORD
Born in Perigueux, in the Southwest of France on April 8, 1761, William Joseph Chaminade was the last of a family of thirteen children, four of whom were destined to enter the priesthood and the religious life. After his classical studies in the College of Mussidan he took theology at the University of Bordeaux. In 1782 he spent a few months in Paris in preparation for holy orders under the direction of the priests of St. Sulpice. There he was initiated into the spirituality of Father Olier who conceives the interior life as a life of union with Our Lord, the divine Mediator, to be attained through devotion to Mary, Mother of God and Our Mother. It is from the works of the founder of the Society of St. Sulpice that he drew his rules for the direction of souls.
At the outbreak of the French Revolution Father Chaminade was a member of the faculty of the College of Mussidan. He retained his functions till 1791, when his refusal to take the oath of the schismatic Constitution of the Clergy led to the secularization of that school. When the persecution became violent, he took refuge in Bordeaux and, during the years of the Terror, he was the guide, comforter, and co-laborer of the loyal priests who continued, at the peril of their lives, to minister to the faithful. An interlude of peace after the fall of Robespierre in 1794 gave him the opportunity to reconcile to the Church many of the priests who had taken the schismatical oath. In the years 1795-97, in cooperation with a valiant Christian woman, Marie-Thérèse de Lamourous, and two others who were all dedicated to devotion to the Sacred Heart, he helped lay the foundation of three religious institutes of women. A renewal of the persecution in 1797 drove him into exile, and it was at the foot of the statue of Our Lady of the Pillar, in Saragossa where he had taken up his residence, that he received his vocation “It is She,” he writes, “who has conceived this foundation, who has prepared its elements, and who continues to watch over and direct its work.”
Father Chaminade began his work immediately after his return to Bordeaux in 1800, with the establishment of a Sodality, with a branch for men and another for women. He chose the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin to dedicate to the cult of the Immaculate Conception the first twelve members of the Men’s Sodality who pledged themselves “to honor Mary and to make Her honored as the Mother of youth.” These members were taken from all classes of society and banded into a militia which was to be used as an instrument of religious and social reconstruction. Later on priests were affiliated into the men’s branch of the Sodality.
It is from this Sodality that grew the two religious Institutes which proclaim Father Chaminade as their Founder: the Daughters of Mary Immaculate who devote themselves to the teaching of Catholic doctrine and practice by means of sodalities, classes of instruction, and retreats, and the Society of Mary in which priests and brothers are associated in the same apostolate of Christian education and its complementary works. The main object of the two Institutes is to “multiply Christians.” Among their early achievements were trade schools and the first public normal school in France after the Revolution. Both Societies have prospered and spread their activities all through the Catholic world. It is just a century since the Society of Mary arrived in the United States.
Father Chaminade died on January 22, 1850. His main legacy to his followers is substantially a total consecration of self to the Blessed Virgin by the religious profession, enriched by the special perpetual vow of irrevocably belonging to her. Basing his teaching upon the essential duty of imitating the divine Model, and upon the fact that all members of Christ’s Mystical Body “make with him but one Son of Mary,” he urged his disciples to reproduce Christ’s filial piety toward his Mother in all its aspects but especially by an active participation in her apostolate.
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN REFERENCES
Believe = Do I Really Believe? (Lebon-Resch)
Circ. = Circulars of W. J. Chaminade
Const. = Constitutions of the Society of Mary (1839 and 1937)
Knowledge = Our Knowledge of Mary (Chaminade)
Letters = Letters of Father Chaminade, vols. 1-8. (Chaminade)
Spirit = Spirit of Our Foundation, vol. 104. (Chaminade)
Vow = Vow of Stability (Lebon)
WJC = William Joseph Chaminade (Rousseau-Garvin)
CALENDAR OF QUOTES
JANUARY 1
My dear children, I have no wish to live but for you; I want to lead you to Jesus Christ and his august Mother. To you I have consecrated, and do consecrate anew on this New Year’s Day all the labors and all the moments of my life. I desire that between our hearts there be complete correspondence, that all of us constitute but one and the same family, intimately united by mutual sentiments of friendship and religion (Spirit 2, § 731).
JANUARY 2
As the pseudo-reform of Luther and his accomplices was met by an order justly renowned, assuming the name and standard of Jesus, so too Providence will now assign to its militia the name and standard of Mary, enabling the knights of the new crusade to hasten to and fro at the beck of their Queen, to diffuse her worship and, by the fact, to extend the Kingdom of God in souls (Spirit 1, § 136).
JANUARY 3
At the beginning of the year, let the interior man in you be renewed, and gather strength enough to combat the old man, to hold him in continual subjection, until you succeed in crucifying him; in a word, may you become a man of faith (Spirit 1, § 369).
JANUARY 4
An unruly tongue is a dangerous wound to religious life. It is a plague of communities. We cannot portray all the evils it is accountable for! It is a two-edged sword wounding the hand that wields it and the person it aims at, as also the witness to the deed (Spirit 2, § 770).
JANUARY 5
You will be real religious since you will make the vows of religion and must practice the virtues that they require and which support them. Mary, the great Mother of Jesus, must be your model as she also is your patroness. Hence, the various essential practices of religious life (Spirit 1, § 75).
JANUARY 6
We have the source of all graces in Jesus Christ who is within us, who belongs to us, and we have the means of drawing from this source: this means precisely faith. We also have the means of increasing our faith, of rendering it always more active, and this means good works. Good works have something long-lived in them, something proper to becoming the food of faith. When you once get to understand these first principles, you will no longer say: “It is difficult” (Letters, no. 598).
JANUARY 7
For the true religious, interior life is a continual mental prayer, and I cannot understand how anyone can arrive at this stage without making good meditations (Spirit 1, § 256).
JANUARY 8
Those who have had the happiness of being called to the religious state must be persuaded that God has withdrawn them from the world, not simply to live in peace in community; in reality, he has called them to a complete detachment from the things of the world, and in particular, to die constantly to their own will (Spirit 1, § 410).
JANUARY 9
Vocation to the religious state in general is a grace, but the dispensation of Providence which calls a religious to a life of manual labor, is a grace of predilection, both because such a special vocation withdraws the religious still farther from the world, and because that intercommunion with God which all true religious love so well, becomes much easier (WJC, 383).
JANUARY 10
Mental prayer is “the pivot upon which the whole Christian and religious life turns” (Spirit 1, § 257).
JANUARY 11
It has always been noticed in the past and the future will always teach, that for the religious to maintain himself in fervor and regularity, it is necessary to be faithful to his vow of poverty (Spirit 2, § 549).
JANUARY 12
Let solid religious instruction be the basis of faith and virtue (Spirit 1, § 64).
JANUARY 13
Oh, if you could but all attain the virtue and the perfection to which you are called, every year of your life would be a happy one and the eternity to follow unspeakably so (Spirit 1, § 43).
JANUARY 14
The real poor are heard in prayer before they move their lips; the good Lord will at all times hear the prayer of the poor. In the world we ask the poor to obtain the grace of God for us; we also ask the prayers of good religious whose hearts are detached from the riches of this world, because God can refuse them nothing (Spirit 2, § 500).
JANUARY 15
Devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament is a virtue dear to every Christian; it ought to be more conspicuous in the religious, the faithful imitator of Mary (1839 Const., art. 91).
JANUARY 16
We must provide against all species of spiritual wants, and we must fulfill a thousand duties toward God: mental prayer is intended to meet these two ends (Spirit 1, § 260).
JANUARY 17
Let us observe silence and we shall be recollected; let us meditate faithfully and we shall burn with the flame of the divine love; let us watch over our looks and our affections and God will impart to us his own delights; let us detach our hearts from every object, even as trifling as a picture, and we shall enjoy a great peace (Spirit 2, § 746).
JANUARY 18
Even whilst teaching other branches, the religious will habitually think that the pupils have been confided to him to inspire them with the fear and love of God, to preserve and turn them from vice, to attract them to virtue and make good Christians of them (Spirit 1, § 64).
JANUARY 19
All members of this family of Mary love each other tenderly and are habitually united to the heart of the august Mary. If the difference of characters, if the appearance of some personal defects should at times cause friction between them, to restore peace, union, and charity they need but remember that they are all brothers, all engendered in the maternal womb of Mary (Spirit 2, § 657).
JANUARY 20
Be really faithful to the Lord, not as a slave through fear, but as a good son through love. Often penetrate yourself with the thought of all that he has done and suffered for you, as well as of all the graces he has accorded you. May he always reign in you! May you always love to depend entirely upon him and to do nothing except it be for him and his good pleasure. Always keep yourself in the company of the Blessed Virgin, but especially during your prayers, your meditations and at Holy Communion (Letters, no. 1042).
JANUARY 21
A man of mental prayer never permits himself to be disheartened by trials and afflictions and knows how to overcome the greatest obstacles; he never loses the peace of his soul; the blows he receives make but a passing impression on him, and he at once regains his calmness; he finds mildness and peace of heart, as soon as he has recourse to mental prayer. Therefore the most violent temptations cannot defile a soul that continually purifies itself by mental prayer, which keeps itself pure and holy by keeping at a distance whatever could in any way defile it (Spirit 1, § 262).
JANUARY 22
The real means of success is to empty yourself of yourself, and to give yourself entirely over to the spirit of the Lord. The protection of the most Blessed Virgin will be of the greatest utility to you in this twofold task (Letters, no. 966).
JANUARY 23
Mary and Joseph were too intimately united on earth to be easily separated in our devotions. Their lives were passed in the sweetest intimacy, and their souls, as though bound into one by their love of Jesus, blended harmoniously in their union of thoughts and sentiments (Spirit 2, § 989).
JANUARY 24
Always apply yourself assiduously to meditation, and to good meditation: without mental prayer what outlook for success can there be for yourself and for others? . . . Endeavor to advance in mental prayer: for thence you will draw courage and strength and whatever else you stand in need of (Spirit 1, § 253).
JANUARY 25
Fulfill your duties, try to please God, and remain at peace! (Letters, no. 677).
JANUARY 26
What a powerful incentive to resemblance with Jesus Christ it is to have for Mother the very Mother of Jesus Christ! (Spirit 1, § 456).
JANUARY 27
. . . You will never fulfill so well the whole round of your duties as when you pray well, and when you make your exercises of piety with great recollection and faith (Spirit 1, § 256).
JANUARY 28
. . . Devote enough time to mental prayer: there only will you find that adequate peace of soul which you should never lose: there you will learn resignation and patience under the manifold difficulties and contradictions which are not wanting in any establishment that is to do much good (Spirit 1, § 256).
JANUARY 29
[Let us] remain closely united. Our strength will be in our union because the good God will bless it. He will bless it, especially if it has as principle, charity and humility, which are the first fruits of faith (Letters, no. 557).
JANUARY 30
The temptations, the dryness during mental prayer, the involuntary distractions, even the involuntary sleep, will in no way harm your meditations and especially their efficacy, if you always unite yourself to our Lord Jesus Christ. It is he, my dear son, who prays for us and who is himself our prayer. Keep yourself always close to the Blessed Virgin in her love and confidence. All your happiness is in your union with our Lord Jesus Christ by faith and love. Do not desire consolations, nor this fervor which is so delicious. Our Lord doubtless sees that you would be proud if he gave you these, but be invariably faithful to him and remain in peace (Letters, no. 854).
JANUARY 31
You believe that God is your last end; that he created you only for himself, and that only in him can you find the supreme and eternal happiness that your heart desires. Love the design of your Creator in your creation, as well as in the preservation of your being; but at the same time, love the duties which this blessed destiny entails; all your thoughts, all your actions, and all the concerns of your life, must be referred to the last end of your creation (Spirit 1, § 215).
FEBRUARY 1
Nothing is more capable of maintaining fervor among the Children of Mary than the reading of pious books (Spirit 2, § 1013).
FEBRUARY 2
It is incontestable that, among all the elect, Mary enjoys preeminence in the power of her intercession for us (Spirit 1, § 126).
FEBRUARY 3
I desire that the love of God continue to grow in your heart, in such a way that you no longer see yourself only a miserable nothing or the most unworthy of creatures. You will find no exaggeration in the expression “the most unworthy of creatures,” when you better recognize the goodness of God in your regard and your modicum of love, of gratitude toward him (Letters, no. 1137).
FEBRUARY 4
An excellent means of leveling all pride is to place yourself in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in a true spirit of humiliation and annihilation in which the Sacred Humanity of Jesus is found in the Holy Eucharist before the divine Majesty. Nothing will arouse in you the desire of humiliation and the horror of human esteem more than your union with Jesus annihilated. Then you will bring forth true acts of adoration (Spirit 2, § 614).
FEBRUARY 5
Faith is the root of all virtues; it is from it that they draw the sap which makes them sprout and grow, as the root supplies the tree with the sap which gives it life. The more the roots spread themselves, the stronger the tree grows, so the greater our faith, the stronger our virtue becomes. Let us multiply our acts of faith during the day (Spirit 1, § 221).
FEBRUARY 6
Every form of infidelity and impurity places an obstacle to union with the good God. To succeed in making mental prayer, try, while beginning it, to renounce every form of worldly affection, unite yourself to Jesus Christ, as our Head and Mediator before God, so as to pray by him and with him. Unite yourself also with the Most Holy Virgin, who will dispose her adorable son to serve as your Mediator (Letters, no. 761).
FEBRUARY 7
True humility . . . is the result of the love of God, or of faith animated by charity. Thus, love God to the point of complete contempt for yourself; love God, and you will be pleased to be despised by all, firmly convinced that they do justice to you in despising you; love God to the point of receiving with pleasure any ill treatment to which you might be subjected (Spirit 2, § 614).
FEBRUARY 8
You tell me that you would need the patience of an angel. Well, I shall add that you need a divine patience: Christian patience is a participation in the patience of Jesus Christ (Spirit 1, § 380).
FEBRUARY 9
Your Institute is the way which is to lead you [to heaven]. The preparation virtues are, in the Institute, what has formed great saints elsewhere. The virtues of purification are proposed to the predestined: the third order of virtues; the virtues of consummation, are the virtues of Jesus Christ and of Mary (Letters, no. 186a).
FEBRUARY 10
By faith, our enlightened mind no longer thinks but as Jesus Christ thinks: it is Jesus Christ who unites himself to our heart; by faith our guided will no longer acts but as Jesus Christ acts; it is Jesus Christ who united himself to our will. Thus the new man is formed within us (Spirit 1, § 243).
FEBRUARY 11
We may venture to assert that the entire body of the elect, which is naught else but the mystical body of Christ, was conceived first of all in Jesus Christ, then in Mary, by the fact that Jesus would have everything transpiring in him first to transpire in his Most Holy Mother, thus making her participant in all his mysteries (Marian Writings, vol. 1, § 75).
FEBRUARY 12
What immense treasures we have in Jesus Christ! We unite ourselves to Jesus Christ by the faith we have in him; we draw from these treasures by this faith, since these treasures are ours. Do we stand in need of humility, of patience, etc.? After having recognized our pride, our impatience, etc., let us perceive in our treasury the humiliations and the love of humiliations, the suffering and the love of suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ (Spirit 1, § 224).
FEBRUARY 13
You are to conduct yourself throughout your life, according to the evangelical maxims, as a little child who willingly does without any reasoning or questioning what he is ordered to do. Obedience, practiced in a spirit of faith, attacks pride directly. You are busy, for example, with some kind of work. You are not doing it to attract to yourself the esteem of men, from the time that you do it through obedience, but to obey God who asks it of you through your superiors (Letters, no. 924).
FEBRUARY 14
The spiritual life consists of living as Jesus, of Jesus, and in Jesus (Spirit 1, § 380).
FEBRUARY 15
We must love what we believe. We have all-powerful motives for credibility—to submit our reason to faith; all we need is to be reasonable. This submission is already a great gift of God; but it does not more than precede the submission of the heart, and the heart becomes submissive only when it loves. At least, this is the way I see the thing, and it would seem to me very dangerous not to see it so in actual practice (Letters, no. 661).
FEBRUARY 16
If you would come to Jesus, the practice of mortification well understood will give you a fair start, will continue the work, and will crown it with success. But above all, it must have these two qualities: it must be constant and universal (Spirit 1, § 375).
FEBRUARY 17
Give them only examples of exactitude and fervor. This duty of yours is a blessed obligation (Letters, no. 260).
FEBRUARY 18
Silence is one of the supporting columns of the temple of the Lord. We cannot construct this temple but upon an exact observance of silence, and it will fall into ruins as soon as we leave its holy practice (Spirit 2, § 769).
FEBRUARY 19
Strengthen yourself in the practice of true virtue, especially in the spirit of mental prayer and of faith, and in self-denial (Spirit 1, § 370).
FEBRUARY 20
Let us all lay hands to the work of the Lord with genuine self-abnegation! (Spirit 1, § 369).
FEBRUARY 21
The incense of mental prayer sends forth its perfume only through the fire of mortification (Spirit 1, § 370).
FEBRUARY 22
You speak the truth if you are mortified, especially with interior mortification: and if you are a man of mental prayer—and you can never be the one without the other—you will supply for all your deficiencies (Spirit 1, § 370).
FEBRUARY 23
All the graces with which we are favored bear some relation to our duties of state; we cannot therefore expect to make progress in perfection if we do not profit by all the graces that we receive (Spirit 1, § 461).
FEBRUARY 24
Our bishops, successors of the Apostles, are the Apostles of the time in which we live. They have a high mission. . . . There only remains for me to answer as in the time of the apostles—and God wants it thus! This is obeying and giving to the summons everything in my power (Letters, no. 230).
FEBRUARY 25
Strive to possess your soul in peace; remember that generally the sword wears out the sheath rather than that the sheath spoils the sword (Spirit 1, § 406).
FEBRUARY 26
Patience, which makes us endure the ills that we cannot avert, gives us strength to persevere in our state; it is so necessary both in private and common life (Spirit 1, § 423).
FEBRUARY 27
Do all that depends upon you to enter completely into the peace of God and to adore in all things the dispositions of Providence. Men’s views are narrow and uncertain. Let us abandon ourselves to the amiable providence of God. Let us try to realize as best we may those of his views which he deigns to make known to us, and let us dwell in peace (Spirit 2, § 633).
FEBRUARY 28
Spiritual reading is the aliment of mental prayer . . . We should listen interiorly to what we are reading as to an exhortation coming from Jesus Christ (1937 Const., arts. 109, 111).
FEBRUARY 29
It is through contradiction that we learn to overcome ourselves, and to distinguish true and solid virtue from that which is apparent or illusory (Spirit 1, § 422).
MARCH 1
It is impossible to separate the devotion of St. Joseph from that of the divine Mary, his august spouse (Spirit 2, § 988).
MARCH 2
Our cooperation is required, not our success. All the glory to God; all the pain and confusion to us, miserable co-workers (Spirit 2, § 633).
MARCH 3
God shows clearly the necessity of contradiction and trials by placing before us his divine Son crucified, and telling us that Christ had thus to suffer in order to enter into his glory. If therefore we wish to enter into his glory by following the Spouse, we must, after his example, suffer and suffer valiantly and generously whatever may be pleasing to him, without choice or condition on our part (Spirit 1, § 422).
MARCH 4
Mortification must consist essentially in not following any of the inclinations of corrupt nature. If some of these inclinations may be in the order of Providence, however, you do not follow them because they are natural, but because God orders it. Such are, for example, the inclinations to eat, to drink, to sleep, etc. These you mortify by means of privations of whatever might be excessive or ill-regulated in their regard; and, otherwise you sanctify them by means of the good sentiments and ideas with which you follow them (Letters, no.1029).
MARCH 5
You will never do anything in the way of salvation without the spirit of prayer, and with this spirit you can succeed in all things (Spirit 1, § 424).
MARCH 6
The spirit of humility, which is truth and justice, shows the Christian heart its lowliness, incapacity, powerlessness, and even, original and personal unworthiness; on the other hand, the spirit of faith, which is a spirit of total trust in the grace of Jesus Christ, buoys us up, overcomes obstacles unconquerable by nature, pushes on and gains the victory by the grace which accompanies obedience (Spirit 2, § 611).
MARCH 7
When a soul follows Jesus completely, when it desires only Jesus, seeks and loves him only, and wishes only to live of Jesus, and for Jesus, and sacrifices all to him, then Jesus Christ is all to it, and the soul is all unto him. The soul then rejoices only in Jesus Christ, and speaks, thinks, and acts solely for him. The soul has Jesus Christ reigning in it, and, by the constant practice of every virtue, retraces within itself the very virtues of Jesus Christ (Spirit 1, § 446).
MARCH 8
Always take courage, and let this courage be sustained by the pure love of God. We shall live eternally in the bosom of God, and by his love, the very love with which he loves himself. For this reason the saints led a most divine life. Here on earth we must strive to lead the life that we shall lead in heaven (Spirit 1, § 450).
MARCH 9
Humility is truth. In heaven we shall find the reign of perfect humility, because in heaven no one reflects on himself, all concentrating on God alone (Spirit 2, § 604).
MARCH 10
The children [of Christian schools] generally make such rapid progress and become so docile and Christian that they carry the good odor of virtue and religion into their respective families. The children become, as it were, apostles to their parents, and their apostolate always produces some happy fruit. That is what makes me call the schools a means of reforming people (Letters, no. 203).
MARCH 11
The name of Joseph shall be our protection during all the days of our life; but above all at the moment of death we shall say: Jesus, Mary, Joseph (Spirit 2, § 1091).
MARCH 12
Mary is depository of all graces, but who can better induce her to open the celestial treasury, than Joseph, her glorious spouse? A servant of Mary will therefore have a tender devotion to St. Joseph, and by his pious homage of respect and love, will endeavor to merit the protection of this great saint. He will beg of him the grace of dying as he himself did, with the kiss of Jesus and in the arms of Mary (Spirit 2, § 989).
MARCH 13
The glorious functions with which God entrusted St. Joseph, and the rare examples of humility, wisdom, patience, fidelity, obedience, and submission which this great saint has left us, ought to inspire us with an exalted idea of his holiness and with a great devotion to him (Spirit 2, § 989).
MARCH 14
Having been chosen by God to cooperate in the execution of his eternal designs, Joseph was placed in the Holy Family as the guardian of the chastity of his spouse, as the foster father of Jesus, and as the support and protector of Mary. The Mother and Son were subject to him here below—what must be today the power of his influence in heaven! (Spirit 2, § 989).
MARCH 15
Our destiny is in the hands of St. Joseph. What a motive for hope, and what a happy foreboding! Joseph! The guardian of his Lord and the spouse of his queen! Joseph! The foster father of Jesus and the head of the Holy Family! Joseph has deigned to accept us as his children and to permit us to call him our father! (Spirit 2, § 998).
MARCH 16
St. Joseph gives to the Incarnate Word the name Jesus which was brought from heaven; it is he who directs, commands, etc. . . Is he less powerful, now that he is in heaven? (Spirit 2, § 1091).
MARCH 17
Let us pray to St. Joseph with fervor and confidence. Great power has been given to him in heaven and on earth. He can obtain for us from the august Mary all that we stand in need of, even in the temporal order, and he wishes us all possible good. Let us therefore have a truly filial devotion to him, and may his blessed name be ever in our hearts and on our lips with those of Jesus and Mary (Spirit 2, § 998).
MARCH 18
We must point out clearly how Saint Joseph is the father of all Christians, a prerogative which he does not share with any other, and which alone would suffice to sanction the particular devotion which the Church has to Saint Joseph (Spirit 2, § 1091).
MARCH 19
Who among the sons of men was ever chosen for a more elevated position! For St. Joseph was made the guardian and protector of God’s own Mother, and he was to share with the Almighty the honor of being called father by the Eternal Son of God (Knowledge, 11).
MARCH 20
When we are wanting in the practice of these virtues of poverty and mortification, we must humiliate ourselves for the fact asking pardon of God, taking the resolution of greater watchfulness over ourselves, but of not worrying and thinking we have failed against the obligation of tending toward perfection. We must, in general, preserve a great liberty of mind and heart in the practice of the Christian and religious virtues (Letters, no. 924).
MARCH 21
The Rule is a secure path and assured pledge of holiness: Look to the faithful observance of our holy rules, that you and your brethren may thus become true religious of Mary! (Spirit 2, § 741).
MARCH 22
By depriving us of grace, sin took from us the supernatural life. By his death on the cross our divine Savior gave back this life to us, and thus became the father of our souls (Knowledge, 47).
MARCH 23
Let us strive to raise ourselves to the faith of Abraham, and to believe against all hope. Besides, we work really only when we work for God (Spirit 1, § 226).
MARCH 24
No one can promise himself a serene and cloudless life, and even those who revel in wealth and honors are often the most unfortunate (Spirit 1, § 426).
MARCH 25
What a sublime vocation was that of Mary, destined as she was from all eternity to give birth to Jesus Christ! But take note . . . God does not make use of her for this glorious ministry simply as a channel, but as a voluntary intermediary that contributes toward its fulfillment, not only by her superior qualifications, but furthermore by a direct act of her will . . . her charity. God suspends the enactment of his decrees until Mary consents. O blissful “Fiat”! (Spirit 1, § 106).
MARCH 26
What is a true religious? . . . A religious is one who by vow, has renounced the world and all it contains, lives only for God, and occupies himself only with things eternal (Spirit 1 §373).
MARCH 27
. . . The end that we propose to ourselves [is] to multiply Christians, to propagate above all the true principles of religion and of virtue . . .(Chaminade, Letters, no. 353 to Georges Caillet, June 28, 1825; vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 48).
MARCH 28
The saints in heaven, and good religious on earth, lead the life of the Spirit, I mean the Spirit of Jesus Christ, with this difference, however, that the saints live of the Spirit of Jesus in his glory, and religious, of the Spirit of Jesus on the cross (Spirit 1, § 445).
MARCH 29
The religious transforms his soul into a temple of the Lord; he there erects an altar, upon which he offers to God the sacrifice of his will; he never loses sight of the divine presence, but entertains himself sweetly and familiarly with God, who has established his resting place there. The religious, furthermore, consecrates his heart to Mary, as a sanctuary, whence arise most fervent prayers addressed to her (Spirit 1, § 179).
MARCH 30
You may join to the practice of the Three Hail Mary’s that of pronouncing nine times the holy name of Mary in honor of the nine months that the Most Blessed Virgin had the happiness of carrying the divine Child in her chaste womb (Spirit 1, § 149).
MARCH 31
If the illusions of nature and of the senses obscure the vivid light of faith in the soul; if the taste for spiritual things is blunted; if the Bread of Life, the practices of piety, and the religious exercise excite in us only disgust; if the wind of tribulation blows; if misfortune pours out its cup of bitterness—Mary is present (Knowledge, 57-58).
APRIL 1
I shall not terminate this answer without exhorting you to be more patient, and to try to understand that it is in the general order of Providence that founders and co-founders of the great works of God had much to suffer and that their perspiration, their pious sighs before God, are as the dew that is to cause the seeds to germinate and to spring forth (Letters, no. 1225).
APRIL 2
Have courage and work steadily at the mission you have received, yet without prejudice to the interior life which you are to lead and in which you are to make steady progress. A superioress who would be guided wholly by human wisdom, in an Institute such as the one you have embraced, would hardly get very far (Letters, no. 76).
APRIL 3
The devil, a special enemy of Mary, is the same for all her children. Still, do not fear (Letters no. 77).
APRIL 4
Continue your way of making mental prayer, since it is analogous to your physical and moral qualities, but always in union with our Lord Jesus Christ and with Mary (Letters, no. 905).
APRIL 5
Obedience shall free you from many an interior trouble. When a question has once been decided, do not bring it up anew. You ought at all times to act in conformity with the maxims of the Holy Gospel, as a child that willingly and without further reasoning does whatever it is told (Spirit 1, § 428).
APRIL 6
Since fervor is much more an interior than an exterior quality, we must particularly try to produce in the depth of our hearts most ardent acts of love of God (Spirit 1, § 434).
APRIL 7
I was pleased to learn from your letter that at times you must put up with much contempt. I was pleased, not because you had to suffer (God knows that I wish you to be happy!), but because opportunities have thus been thrust in your way to overcome human respect, which is one of our greatest enemies (Spirit 1, § 425).
APRIL 8
All of us have but one and the same aim, the same purpose, the same interest, which is to work with all our might at the maintenance and the propagation of the faith, each one in the position assigned to him for the purpose. We must always remain perfectly united (Spirit 2, § 692).
APRIL 9
Now is the time to cling fast to the buckler of faith; it alone is impervious to the darts of our enemies, whatever their nature or force (Spirit 1, § 425).
APRIL 10
Let us rejoice, and let us display our joy; but let it ever be holy. Let us rejoice only in the Lord (Spirit 2, § 792).
APRIL 11
We shall never be happy or have peace of soul, unless our wills are in absolute conformity with the will of God. May submission and resignation to the workings of Providence secure in us an unruffled calm under whatever circumstances! (Spirit 1, § 425).
APRIL 12
Let not natural activity injure that interior life which leads us to seek God and God alone in all things (Spirit 1, § 425).
APRIL 13
That which seems to distress you and to reduce your energy should, on the contrary, inflame your charity and your zeal. I do not disapprove of the consciousness of your inability and of your natural and acquired defects, but I disapprove of the discouragement that this feeling seems to evoke in you (Spirit 1, § 76).
APRIL 14
Let us be united with Mary in our meditation, praying to her who knew her Son so well and who studied him so thoroughly, who gathered and preserved so religiously in her heart all the words he uttered, to make him known to us (Knowledge, 90).
APRIL 15
It is in the Holy Eucharist that the soul acquires, even better than on Calvary, the practical science of the cross (Spirit 2, § 1061).
APRIL 16
In choosing us as instruments of his mercies, the good God arranges all for our own salvation, and that is the main reason for this continual alternation of trials and consolations, of successes and reverses (Letters, no.193).
APRIL 17
Become the slave of the Lord, the special son and the missionary of the august Mary, you are abundantly participating in the liberty of the children of God, and you are experiencing with delight the precious effects of the consecration of your being to his service (Letters, no. 1202).
APRIL 18
I might as well tell you that I shall never cease to annoy you, until I see you smile at poverty, suffering, and humiliations. You will reply: Do you consider these three terrible sisters so amiable? (Spirit 1, § 425).
APRIL 19
From the cradle to the grave, from childhood to old age, in joy and in sorrow, the Christian owes everything to Mary. He receives from her maternal kindness the grace of baptism and of a religious education, the grace of conversion or of perseverance, the grace of strength and courage in the struggle, the grace of protection and defense in temptation, the grace of refuge and consolation in misfortune, the grace of counsel and of wisdom in the choice of a state of life and in the transaction of business affairs, the grace to do good and to avoid evil, in a word, all that he needs to sustain or restore within him the life of Jesus Christ (Knowledge, 57).
APRIL 20
We call generosity and sacrifice devotedness to God, as if the soul were able to lose something in giving itself to the one who gives himself to it in exchange! It is then not a sacrifice, but an acquisition that you are going to make, and what an acquisition: Heaven, divinity itself, and its ineffable joys here below! (Letters, no. 1190).
APRIL 21
No man is perfect . . . However, he has been working a long time at the correction of his imperfections. One must not expect anything else in this world, for it is with this that God does everything. He does the good with very imperfect instruments. I perhaps realize this truth more than anyone else (Letters, no. 408).
APRIL 22
Grace, which unites us, is a bond by far stronger than nature. We must reproduce in ourselves the union of the Father with the Son, and of the Son with the Father (Spirit 2, § 676).
APRIL 23
I must admit, nevertheless, to the glory of Saint Joseph, that there is no piece of misfortune that does not result in some good. Prayers continue every day, and for some time there has been an extraordinary fast each Wednesday (Letters, no. 108).
APRIL 24
In vain do we flatter ourselves as loving God, if we do not practice fraternal charity toward one another. Reciprocally, all the good that we might do to our neighbor would not be true charity if it were not done for God’s sake, and if it did not proceed from love of him (Spirit 2, § 677).
APRIL 25
How often and with what zeal did not our Lord urge us to watch and to apply ourselves to prayer! How powerfully St. Mark exhorts us when he tells us to take heed and reflect carefully upon our dispositions! And again he exhorts us often to consider these truths, paying special attention to the point of view of faith! (Spirit 2, § 1030).
APRIL 26
I have put all into the hands of St. Joseph, of him who is gifted with such a high degree of supernatural prudence. I have placed into his hands persons as well as things—you especially, so that by his mediation you may no longer act by yourself nor for yourself and that you may seek the very works of God, but only for God and in the manner he asks them to be done (Letters, no. 674).
APRIL 27
It grieves me to know that you are so much influenced by your sensibility and allow difficulties and contradictions to overcome you. What we need is self-possession and the control of our imagination (Spirit 1, § 419).
APRIL 28
The part that Mary took in the mystery of the Incarnation is the motive that impels us to have recourse to her at all times and for all kinds of graces. It was Mary’s love that made her cooperator in the plan of salvation, by giving the world a redeemer (WJC, 213).
APRIL 29
The first means of practicing fraternal charity is no longer to see anyone but Jesus Christ in the person of our neighbor, to whom he has ceded all his rights. Jesus will have us render to our brethren all the services that he does not need himself, but which he knows to be necessary to our neighbor. He promises to consider as done to himself whatever is done to our neighbor (Spirit 2, § 674).
APRIL 30
The second means of preserving fraternal charity is patiently to suffer other people’s defects. Being convinced that there will always be defects in ourselves and in others, we make up our minds to bear with them, for we cannot hope to correct them all; nevertheless, it is not permissible to hate anyone on account of his defects. Therefore there is absolute need of bearing with them patiently (Spirit 2, § 678).
MAY 1
The Church spreads the cult of Mary with all the eagerness of filial love. No human tongue will ever be able to reveal to us the fullness of Mary’s exalted dignity and greatness. “Let us praise her, and never cease to praise her,” we may say with one of the greatest doctors of the Church, “and spread ourselves in glorifying the Mother of God, without fear that our praises will ever equal her incomparable greatness, for she is above all praise” (Knowledge, 72).
MAY 2
And how consoling to the true child of Mary is the realization that our century presents the evidence of a real and genuine movement toward the cult of Mary! In all the world today the sweet and powerful impulse of the Spirit of God is leading the nations to the feet of our heavenly Queen. In very truth we must say, “the finger of God is there” (Knowledge, 6).
MAY 3
God has placed the treasury of graces procured by his blood into the hands of Mary, who, as the mother of a great family, distributes them according to our needs, our circumstances, and our fidelity. Thus nothing comes to us from heaven except through the mediation of the Blessed Virgin. She is the channel that receives and transmits to us the beneficent waters of divine grace (Knowledge, 56-57).
MAY 4
In the enthusiasm of our gratitude, our hearts burst forth into a glorious hymn of love and admiration. Who indeed could adequately praise Mary? Or should anyone fear to exceed due limits in exalting a creature so supremely privileged? (Knowledge, 73).
MAY 5
Oh, if we could but realize the exalted dignity of the Mother of God; if we could but grasp the full extent of the maternal solicitude with which she looks down upon us, her children, whom her divine Son has confided to her care; if we could but read in her Immaculate Heart all the designs of her loving tenderness for saving the world from the universal deluge that menaces the faith and morals of the nations; we should be more intensely devoted to her service, her name would be more frequently and more lovingly in our hearts and on our lips, and we should experience, with great joy and thankful remembrance, the wonderful effects of her magnificent power and love (Knowledge, 7).
MAY 6
We are accused of pompously eulogizing Mary and are blamed for the honor we render her . . . Can we really assert too much, do too much, provided that we do not declare her equal to the Divinity, provided that we make a distinction between worship of her and that of the Divinity? What hath God said of Mary? What hath he done for her? He is our model! (Spirit 1, § 143).
MAY 7
Mary is present. She is watching over us with maternal solicitude, making herself all to all, and apportioning her help according to our needs. She is the strength of the weak, the foot of the lame, the eye of the blind, the ear of the deaf. She enriches the poor, protects the timid, disarms the angry, touches the heart of the ungrateful, and never abandons anyone. Virtue, it is true, is the object of her complacency; yet the sinner finds in her a shelter and a refuge against the wrath of heaven (Knowledge, 58).
MAY 8
One of the earliest doctors of the Church has truly said: “There is no father like God.” May we not borrow his words and say of the august Virgin Mary that there is no mother like Mary? (Knowledge, 54).
MAY 9
The secret of success in any work, whether it be for one’s own perfection or for the support of religion and the propagation of the faith, is to interest the Blessed Virgin in it, to refer all the glory of it to her in accordance with the views and sentiments of our Lord Jesus Christ (Knowledge, 92).
MAY 10
Let us therefore join with heart and mind in the universal homage that is being paid to Mary. Let us honor her, let us kneel in deepest reverence before her altars, and pour out our humble supplication with filial confidence in her powerful mediation (Knowledge, 6).
MAY 11
Happy those who, not content to belong to Mary like the rest of men, consecrate themselves soul and body to her special service! How her heart abounds in love and joy to see them enroll under her banners! What a tenderness and predilection she feels for them! How she lavishes upon them with profusion the treasures of grace and faith! (Knowledge, 68).
MAY 12
Mary is presented to us as the copy of the divine Exemplar, a copy that we must endeavor to reproduce in ourselves. It follows from this that by the imitation of Mary we shall imitate Jesus; for, he alone shall resemble the Son who shall be like the Mother. It follows furthermore that he alone shall be saved who shall have imitated Mary in that measure of perfection which has been marked out for him by divine justice (Knowledge, 62).
MAY 13
The Church, the Fathers, Catholic tradition—all bid us look up to Mary as our advocate and mediatrix. Thus the Church always applied to Jesus the example of the great King Solomon who, in the days of his glory and his wisdom, entrusted to his mother the exercise of his royal authority. Likewise, throughout the centuries, Christians have ever regarded Mary as their Queen, their helper in every need, their life, and their hope (Knowledge, 62).
MAY 14
Mary has the greatest and dearest claims to our homage and praise. She is not the mother of a mortal king, but the Mother of the Prince of the eternal empire. She is the Mother of mankind, the Co-Redemptrix of men, the salvation of the world. She is a descendant of David, and royal blood flows in her veins; yet this title to greatness which would be permanent in any other mortal, fades into nothingness in Mary, being eclipsed by her dignity and her divine prerogatives (Knowledge, 73-74).
MAY 15
Never before was Mary’s powerful mediation manifested more strikingly than in our day, and never perhaps, did she show herself more truly the Woman who was to crush the head of the infernal serpent. Religious hatred and indifference assault her in vain: she will triumph over these today, as she has so gloriously triumphed over them in the past (Knowledge, 5).
MAY 16
It is this grace of the Incarnation that makes us Christians, children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, heirs of heaven. Neither earth nor heaven counts any just souls whose justice and glory is not attributed to Mary. God, so to say, subordinated the execution of the mystery of the Incarnation to the will, to the charity of Mary; we are thus all debtors to this incomparable Virgin (Spirit 1, § 106).
MAY 17
Let us entrust all to the protection of Mary to whom her divine Son has reserved the last victories over hell: “And she shall crush thy head.” Let us be, in all humility, the heel of the Woman (Notice historique, 7).
MAY 18
Mary, Mother of God! Mary, the New Eve, and, as such, cooperating with the New Adam at the regeneration of man, consequently, too, the Mother of Christians, fulfilling the mother’s duty in their regard! Mary, our mediatrix with her divine Son! Finally, Mary raised, because of her virtues, to the most exalted heights of which a creature is capable! Such are her prerogatives that we must ponder over and admire (Spirit 1, § 104).
May 19
The tender heart of Mary must have been deeply moved by the sweet appellations of Mother of Christians, Mother of the Predestined, applied to her throughout the ages. Heaven is ever in her bosom, ever budding forth and growing the wheat of the elect. But at the present day, it is in a manner a new glory given to her in the new title that innocent souls are eager to attribute to her: how often each day is not this Spotless Maid invoked under the loving title Mother of Youth! (Spirit 1, § 107).
MAY 20
Did we but know Mary, did we but understand her tender solicitude for the children whom God confided to her care, could we but divine all the tender ingenuity of her loving heart to avert the universal deluge menacing the faith and morals of mankind, we should be far more devoted to her; her name would more frequently and more hopefully pass our lips, and with keener delight would we partake of her sweet bounty (Spirit 1, § 104).
MAY 21
“Serve ye the Lord with gladness.” For who has better reason to be and to appear happy and content than the man consecrated to God under the auspices of Mary? (1937 Const, art. 230).
MAY 22
If the penitent sinner owes his conversion to Mary, the just man owes to her his perseverance in justice. All the saints form her crown because she contributed in a most active manner in making them what they are today (Knowledge, 67).
MAY 23
Unite yourself ever more closely to our Lord and to the Blessed Virgin. Keep yourself constantly in the company of the Blessed Virgin, especially in your prayers. But this union, be it with our Lord or with the Blessed Virgin, must proceed more from the heart than from the mind. It is in this union that you are to place all your confidence against the perversity of your nature, and against the temptations of the devil (Letters, no. 897).
MAY 24
Mary, the Mother of God! Indeed, the divine Maternity of Mary is a profound and incomprehensible mystery. To think that it was given to a feeble creature to call God her son, and to share not indeed with a mortal spouse, but with the Eternal Father himself the propriety, I dare say, of receiving the homage and filial tenderness of Jesus Christ. Yet this is the teaching of faith: Mary is the Mother of Jesus. Let us learn, then, through the Son to know his Mother (Knowledge, 34-35).
MAY 25
Ours is a great work, a magnificent work. If it is universal, it is because we are missionaries of Mary, who has said to us: “Whatever he shall say to you, do ye” (Letters, Circular Letter no. 1163).
MAY 26
Daily we speak of Mary, we flock to her altars; we glory in being her children; yet whatever we do know of her is but a trifle, a faint idea of what she is in reality regarding God and ourselves, in the order of faith (Spirit 1, § 104).
MAY 27
In proportion as your devotion to Mary increases, you will become more skillful in inspiring others with it (Spirit 1, § 145).
MAY 28
We must win clients for the Blessed Virgin . . . and let those with whom we live understand how sweet it is to belong to Mary . . . For such must be our zeal that, whilst working at our own perfection, we also induce others to follow in our footsteps (Spirit 1, § 145).
MAY 29
What appears to me to be without precedent among the known institutions is, I repeat, that it is in the name of Mary and for her glory that we embrace the religious life; it is in order to consecrate ourselves, all that we have and are, to her to make her known, loved, and served, in the intimate conviction that we shall not bring men back to Jesus except through his Most Holy Mother, because with the holy doctors we believe she is our only hope—tota ratio spei nostrae—our mother, our refuge, our strength, our help, and our life (Letters, Circular Letter no. 1163).
MAY 30
We must conclude that Mary is our Mother not merely by adoption, but also and above all, by spiritual regeneration. It follows likewise that she became our Mother when she conceived the Son of God. The Incarnation, therefore, considered in its necessary result, is the necessary fruit of the divine espousal of the Holy Ghost and the august Virgin (Knowledge, 50-51).
MAY 31
In the womb of Mary, Jesus Christ prepared her, by a profusion of grace, to become the Mother of his mystical body, as she was the Mother of his natural body; for he wished us to receive through her the life of his body; that we depend on her for the maintenance and increase of our spiritual life, as he depended on her for the maintenance and increase of his corporal life. What a fortunate dependence! (Spirit 1, § 106).
JUNE 1
It is solely in the Sacred Heart of Jesus that we must seek the reason and the motives for his sufferings. It is neither the treachery of a disciple, nor the envy of the priests, nor the fickleness of the people, nor the weakness of Pilate, nor the cruelty of the executioners that put him to death: it is his love. That divine love which consumes his heart is the only flame that kindles the pyre upon which he is to immolate himself (Spirit 2, § 985).
JUNE 2
Let us work, with all our strength at the work of the Lord, but let us not forget ourselves! Let us often recall the counsel of St. Bernard to Pope Eugene, his former disciple: “Be a reservoir and not a channel” (Letters, no. 752).
JUNE 3
. . . A general exercise helpful toward progress in the virtue of penance, mortification, and humility, is to be united in a spirit of faith and love with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, suffering, mortified, and humbled (Spirit 1, § 380).
JUNE 4
When the substantial union ceases in him who has communicated, faith preserves a moral union so intimate between the wills that it is not at all astonishing that the mutual influences form a continual and very real spiritual communion; and that is precisely the consequence of a very lively faith in the Blessed Sacrament, the victim immolated on the cross (Spirit 1, § 224).
JUNE 5
For a long time, I have breathed and lived only for the spread of the worship of this august Virgin, and thus to have her family ever increase and multiply (Letters, no. 381).
JUNE 6
“Mary of whom was born Jesus.” Nourished and reared by her, he did not leave her during the whole course of his mortal life; he was subject to her, and he associated her with all his labors, with all his sorrows and with all his mysteries. Devotion to Mary is, therefore, the most salient point in the imitation of Jesus Christ (Spirit 1, § 440).
JUNE 7
The Blessed Virgin Mary is undoubtedly our model and this because she is a very exact and perfect copy of Jesus her divine Son. It is the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ which leads to the knowledge of Mary, as truly as the knowledge of the Blessed Virgin Mary leads to the higher knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (Spirit 1, § 440).
JUNE 8
Let us seek in Jesus Christ himself the motives of that humility which we mean to have in our hearts. The life of Jesus Christ is altogether a life of humility. Let us behold him in the crib, at his coming into the world; let us behold him especially at his leaving the world, girding himself with a cloth, washing the feet of his apostles, and wiping them on his knees, not excepting Judas, although he knew him to be a traitor at heart. And let us hear him saying that he has not come to be served, but to serve (Spirit 2, § 601).
JUNE 9
Slight breaches weaken the strongest walls. Say three words during silence time today and tomorrow you will say twenty; and soon afterward you will have lost the habit of silence. The soul relaxes, its buoyancy lessens; and if grave difficulties arise, it cannot or will not withstand them (Spirit 2, § 746).
JUNE 10
Mary will introduce you to this adorable heart, and studying the heart of Jesus you will learn how we should love and honor Mary (Spirit 2, § 982).
JUNE 11
Accustom yourself to watch over your heart. Direct all its movements toward God alone, and toward his holy service, not by an intense application of your mind, but through love (Spirit 1, § 182).
JUNE 12
Advance in the love of God and the contempt of yourself, i.e., of the child of Adam in you. Enter more and more into the beautiful paths of the perfect love of God by complete self-denial; may you become a pliant and faithful instrument in the hands of God to do the work ordained by him for the glory of the Incarnate Word and his august Mother (Spirit 1, § 379).
JUNE 13
Our hearts beat between two spirits that try to capture us by contrary impulses; our hearts are constantly drawn one way and the other; it seems as if the spirit of God and the spirit of Satan are contending for the possession of our hearts . . . Never will you make any worthwhile progress in virtue if you do not learn how to recognize the spirit that draws you . . . (Believe, 144).
JUNE 14
Persistent patience is . . . the most salutary means we can use to bear up to the end under all opposition to natural inclinations, and at the hour of death we shall rejoice at having been able thus to have merited the crown of life. Then perfect compensation will be ours; and if, after all, we could have a regret, it would be not to have suffered more (Spirit 1, § 422).
JUNE 15
Make a law unto yourself, never to begin any action without making some act of faith . . . and offer your action to God (Believe, 11).
JUNE 16
In heaven, the saints, separated from the false goods of the earth, enjoy God solely, and in God only they generally find all that is good: Omne bonum. God is their life, their glory, their joy, their treasure, and in general, he is everything to all and to each of them: Omnia in omnibus (Spirit 2, § 465).
JUNE 17
Revive your faith; make many acts of faith daily. If you habitually follow the course it marks out for you, it will infallibly lead you to heaven, and throughout the entire way or journey to your destination, you will enjoy the greatest peace of mind (Spirit 1, § 205).
JUNE 18
When rising in the morning the thought of our perfection should be before us; and when retiring in the evening the same thought should occupy our minds (Spirit 1, § 43).
JUNE 19
Surely, you need both physical and moral repose. The bow that is constantly bent will lose its elasticity. Take advantage of this time and use it well . . . But let me remind you that in all this you must be guided by faith and sound reason (Circ., 18).
JUNE 20
The care we should take of our reputation does not require that we seek applause of men, or even that we desire some sort of recompense for virtue in this world; such views should be far removed from our minds while tending toward Christian perfection. The object of this essential care is to glorify God in this world and to edify our neighbor, whilst forgetting ourselves. It is from this point of view that we do good before the world in all times and in all places (Spirit 2, § 1115).
JUNE 21
Despite the difficulties that might occur, you must save your soul, you must serve God in the manner he asks of you, and you must endeavor to make amends for the past (Spirit 1, § 43).
JUNE 22
Take heed lest temporal affairs encroach upon the spiritual. Of what avail is temporal prosperity if you fail to advance in the Christian and religious virtues? (Spirit 1, § 43).
JUNE 23
The greater the amount of work, or the number of occupations and the bulk of business of every kind, the greater also the need of prudence, patience, meditation, and recollection (Spirit 1, § 182).
JUNE 24
Since God delights in giving his graces during prayer, we must profit by these sweet moments to ask for help in all our spiritual and temporal needs; we ought especially to ask for a lively faith, for it is faith that raises us to the throne of God (Spirit 1, § 198).
JUNE 25
Henceforth we shall advance together upon the narrow path that leads to life. Jesus Christ is this path, as he is also the door leading to it: we shall strive to follow Jesus Christ, but always in the company of our august Mother, the divine Mary (Spirit 1, § 133).
JUNE 26
Blessed be the name of Jesus! Blessed be the name of Mary, forever and ever! To thee, O Lord, I look for refuge; never let me be ashamed of my trust. To thee, O Lady, I look for refuge; never let me be ashamed of my trust! (Spirit 1, § 128).
JUNE 27
I never feared; my confidence in God never failed. But, without worry or anxiety, we must do whatever lies in us, not to tempt Providence . . . Courage! We need means; it is true. But you know our principal resource, go and draw frequently from it . . . It is not our business with which we are engaged, but that of our Savior and his Blessed Mother (Spirit 1, § 7).
JUNE 28
The grace of a retreat is a grace of predilection. In his infinite mercy, God has special designs in regard to those whom he calls to a retreat (Spirit 2, §1079).
JUNE 29
The more faith you have in Jesus Christ, God and man, a faith that approaches that of Saint Peter when he answered our Lord who had questioned his apostles: “Thou art Christ, the son of the living God,” the more you will penetrate yourself with his annihilations, especially in the Most Holy Sacrament where he is God and man in complete reality (Letters, no. 1210).
JUNE 30
Let us follow the order of Providence in peace, and all will go well (Letters, no. 291).
JULY 1
Let us hope for all kinds of success from the protection of our Mother. Under her auspices we have here succeeded in matters far more difficult (Letters, no. 35).
JULY 2
A sermon on the protection of Mary may be thus divided; part first, the efficiency of Mary’s protection; part second, the willingness of the heart of Mary to protect us. There is no need of going beyond the mystery of the Visitation to prove both: Mary is both able and willing to protect us (Spirit 1, § 170).
JULY 3
Wherever you may be, honor the perfect moderation of the august Mary, whose name you bear and may the whole universe know that we are true children of Mary, especially by our purity (Spirit 1, § 125).
JULY 4
The Church of Jesus Christ is composed of groups varying greatly, still closely united with one another; she is an army exceedingly well-organized and happily battling under the standard of the cross . . . Unto death all must follow the standard under which they have enrolled (Spirit 1, § 82).
JULY 5
In the ordinary design of Divine Providence the works of God will be opposed, attacked, and assaulted on all sides. Do we not, both you and I, deserve chastisement from the great Master whom we serve? Let us be submissive and adore his designs. Let us profit by it all. If the good Master is satisfied with us, we should also be satisfied with him (Spirit 1, § 419).
JULY 6
Perfection consists in putting off the old man and putting on the new. Now, what is the old man? It is our corrupt nature, which we have received from our first father as an inheritance. This nature must be annihilated, and put off entirely to make room for the new Adam, that is, Jesus Christ (Spirit 1, § 432).
JULY 7
The spirit of the Institute is the spirit of Mary: this explains all. If you are children of Mary, imitate Mary (Spirit 1, § 125).
JULY 8
The spirit of faith will become a spirit of confidence in God, a spirit of zeal, a spirit of courage and of generosity, etc. (Letters, no. 271).1
JULY 9
It is humility of the heart that the Lord demands of us. “Learn of me because I am meek and humble of heart.” I look upon humility as one of the first fruits of faith of the heart. Humility makes progress in proportion to growth in faith (Letters, no. 661).
JULY 10
I have no other policy than that of having daily recourse to the Blessed Virgin (Letters, no. 575).
JULY 11
In centuries gone by the corruption had attacked only the heart; but today, mind and heart are gangrenous, and the distemper of the mind is infinitely more dangerous and incurable than that of the heart. In this time of desolation . . . the yet unborn generation, as also others yet to come, are threatened with destruction by irreligion and impiety . . . How it must fascinate a soul thirsting for the glory of God and the salvation of men! (Spirit 1, § 69).
JULY 12
When Rebecca of old, the mother of Jacob, wished to obtain the blessing of Isaac, she clothed her beloved son in the garments of Esau. In like manner, Mary is unceasingly striving to clothe us in the semblance of Jesus Christ, by endeavoring to inculcate into our hearts the thoughts and sentiments of Jesus, and to bring us to a realization of our title as Christians, that is as disciples and imitators of Jesus Christ (Knowledge, 60).
JULY 13
In the performance of my duties, I shall be guided by motives derived from religion, never by vanity or mere habit (Spirit 3, § 160).
JULY 14
The Lord afflicts us in diverse ways; let us profit by all our tribulations. Let nothing shake our confidence and fidelity; it is amid contradictions and tribulations that the works of God prosper, are purified and strengthened (Spirit 1, § 419).
JULY 15
God is strong for our defense; but we must desire to be defended. Your salvation and your peace are in his hands; ask for them (Spirit 2, § B495).
JULY 16
When Mary consented to the Incarnation of the Word, she evidently understood the work and plan of redemption to the fullest extent, and as such she lovingly accepted it. She understood that in conceiving Jesus she conceived him in his entirety, that is to say, in his natural as well as his mystical Body. She could not separate him from what was to form one with him (Knowledge, 47-48).
JULY 17
May the thought of that perfection which God desires of us stimulate our courage and our faith. In the morning upon awakening, far from giving way to our natural levity, let us say to ourselves: “O my soul, consider your work of this day; God calls you to perfection; through his intimate union with you he wishes to make you a participator of his divinity. What an honor and what a glory! O my God! I shall hasten and I resolve to employ well this new day which you are about to grant me” (Spirit 1, § 432).
JULY 18
I shall make the most strenuous efforts to remain in the state of grace, and try to sanctify each day as if it were the last one of my life (Spirit 3, § 160).
JULY 19
We do not pretend that much is to be expected of men; on the contrary, we acknowledge that all our help is in the name of the Lord, with whom the Blessed Virgin Mary, his divine Mother, is our great intermediary; we look upon men merely as the objects upon whom we can fully exercise our charity (Spirit 1, § 26).
JULY 20
God in his goodness vouchsafes to strew our labors with trials and tribulations. Blessed be his holy name! (Spirit 1, § 419).
JULY 21
Jesus deigned to assume a form resembling ours, and we should in turn shape ourselves to his likeness, conform our morals to his, our inclinations to his inclinations, our life to his life (Knowledge, 93).
JULY 22
You meet with contradictions; well, who does not experience them, particularly in great enterprises? (Spirit 1, § 418).
JULY 23
We repeat and confirm what has already been said that the second object, zeal for the salvation of souls, proceeds directly from the first with which God has inspired us, namely, with his grace, to imitate Jesus Christ and to offer ourselves to Mary as her most humble servants and ministers (Spirit 1, § 51).
JULY 24
Never, do I think, have I so ardently prayed for you to the Blessed Virgin, as ever since the time that I know you to be ensnared in the toils of self-love and of Mary’s enemy who is ever alert to fan it and to justify it by all manner of illusions. Watch and pray (Spirit 1, § 140).
JULY 25
The religious life is to Christianity what Christianity is to humanity. It is just as imperishable within Christianity as Christianity is imperishable in the world. Without the religious life the Gospel could never be applied in its entirety to human society (WJC, 280).
JULY 26
May you become a pliant and docile instrument in the hands of God for the works he ordains for the glory of the Incarnate Word and his august Mother! (Spirit 1, § 147).
JULY 27
We are dealing with a jealous God, who will not share our souls with anyone else, since he had no associate when creating us or when redeeming us: the extent of his rights is the foundation of his jealousy (Spirit 1, § 48).
JULY 28
Let this thought encourage us: let us not be vanquished by our weakness, but let us vanquish it. If our work frightens us, then let the eternal reward promised give us new vigor (Spirit 1, § 422).
JULY 29
I went to see a good priest who was my Director, and when I asked him how I was to act, he told me: “Our Lord would not have done that . . . Our Lord did this.” Indeed, this was an excellent answer (Spirit 1, § 442).
JULY 30
Faith, especially this faith of the heart, is a great gift of God. It is for this reason that we always need to say: “Lord, increase my faith.” God, so to say, easily grants this grace, when we devote ourselves to works of faith. “The just man lives by faith.” What happiness for us if we walk for the rest of our lives on the beautiful pathways of faith, acting only by faith, and living only by faith! (Letters, no. 661).
JULY 31
It is fortunate that we do not work for men or for our own interests, but for our great Master and the honor of his august Mother (Spirit 1, § 147)
AUGUST 1
We have been consecrated to the cross through the grace of Baptism . . . To bear the cross with Jesus must be for the Christian not merely a duty but also an honor and a glory (Spirit 1, § 426).
AUGUST 2
The assistance of our divine Patroness will not fail you; love to work for the glory of her adorable Son, and to make the Blessed Virgin known and loved wherever you can (Spirit 1, § 145).
AUGUST 3
In general, we must maintain a great freedom of mind and heart in the practice of the Christian and religious virtues. The laws of Jesus Christ are not laws of servitude; however strict they may be, they are the laws of grace and of love. “We have been called,” says St. Paul, “to the liberty of the children of God” (Spirit 1, § 428).
AUGUST 4
O truly happy life! God grant that we may live and die of love! This ought to be the ultimate purpose of all our prayer and all our actions (Spirit 1, § 432).
AUGUST 5
We expect wisdom in our counsels from the grace of the Lord and the protection of the Holy Virgin for whose glory we desire to labor till death calls us. Ad majorem Dei gloriam Virginisque Deiparae (Spirit 1, § 147).
AUGUST 6
Jesus Christ is the exemplar for all the saints: his life is the pattern for all that is to happen to the Church in general and to each of the faithful in particular to the end of
time (Spirit 1, § 442).
AUGUST 7
The path of perfection is narrow and difficult for the worldly-minded only; the servants of God find it broad and comfortable . . . The yoke of the Lord is sweet, if we take it upon ourselves generously and bear it with constancy (Spirit 1, § 433).
AUGUST 8
The path of perfection is not so well frequented as the way of the Commandments, but it is far safer (Spirit 1, § 433).
AUGUST 9
The path of perfection is the shorter way to salvation (Spirit 1, § 433).
AUGUST 10
Our perfection, as God understands it, does not consist in doing many or extraordinary things; the perfection to which God calls us depends on the care with which we perform our most ordinary actions (Spirit 1, § 433).
AUGUST 11
To perform all our actions well we must be exact, fervent, and persevering (Spirit 1, § 433).
AUGUST 12
Fervor consists: 1) In fulfilling all our duties well; 2) In performing supererogatory works; 3) In turning to advantage every opportunity for good, as a skillful merchant does for profit; 4) In employing our time well; 5) In performing our actions in the right spirit, and as well as we can. Since fervor is much more an interior than an exterior quality, we must particularly try to produce in the depth of our hearts most ardent acts of the love of God (Spirit 1, § 434).
AUGUST 13
The imitation of Jesus Christ consists in forming Jesus Christ within us . . . Blessed is he who bears the character and livery of Jesus Christ! (Spirit 1, § 442).
AUGUST 14
The august Mary, you may be sure, will derive great glory from your generous sacrifice. God had predestined you for the service of his divine Son, under the banner of his Most Holy Mother. To Mary Jesus presents you as his faithful minister and valiant soldier (Spirit 1, § 139).
AUGUST 15
The King of heaven enrolls you forever in the bodyguard of the Queen. Henceforth you will serve him by serving her whom he associated in his crown and in his glory, and you shall be in a special manner a soldier and missionary of Mary Immaculate for the people of God (Spirit 1, § 49).
AUGUST 16
You no longer belong to yourself, but to God, to the Blessed Virgin and to religion. Follow without fear; follow with joy, what such masters ask of you (Letters, no. 273).
AUGUST 17
We must belong entirely to God just as the saints belong entirely to him, to think only of him, to love him alone, to live for him only (Spirit 1, § 449).
AUGUST 18
What does it mean to love God with one’s whole heart? It means to prefer him to all creatures, to love him alone, to act and suffer for him alone (Spirit 1, § 463).
AUGUST 19
What does it mean to love God with one’s whole soul? It means to love him as long as we live; it means to be ready to sacrifice one’s life in his service, rather than to disobey; it means to bring the sacrifice of all the passions (Spirit 1, § 463).
AUGUST 20
The knowledge of Jesus Christ, we know, is of absolute necessity for attaining salvation, for he is our Mediator with God the Father, and his words are “the words of eternal life.” Without, however, detracting from this fundamental principle, it is our firm belief that the intimate knowledge of Mary is most useful for the attainment of our salvation, for she is, in the beautiful words of St. Bernard, “our hope, our sweetness, and our life” (Knowledge, 2).
AUGUST 21
What does it mean to love God with one’s whole strength? It means to observe all his laws, to conform to his will, to employ in his service, without reserve, all that we possess, and to be devoted to his service with all the fervor and all the intensity of which our nature is capable (Spirit 1, § 463).
AUGUST 22
You have entered, at times, into the heart of our good Mother; have you found therein other interests than those of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, her adorable Son, her firstborn, our elder brother? The ardent love which Mary has for us is in proportion to our conformity with her Firstborn . . . (Spirit 1, § 440).
AUGUST 23
Not to recognize Mary in the mysteries of Jesus Christ is to betray our ignorance of the whole economy of religion (Spirit 1, § 118).
AUGUST 24
Christ has so ordained all concerns of religion that Mary participated and cooperated in all of them. If other proofs were wanted, would we need aught else but to mention that Mary is the Mother of Jesus and of all those that are born of Jesus? All the graces that we receive from Jesus pass through the hands of Mary and are at her disposal: and does not Jesus, by the very fact, furnish us an additional proof of his incomparable love for mankind? (Spirit 1, § 118).
AUGUST 25
Mary’s rank is that of Mother of God. If there is no one above the Mother of God but God himself, the worship we render to Mary must so far surpass every other worship as the dignity of Mother of God surpasses all others; it is inferior but to that due to God alone (Spirit 1, § 118).
AUGUST 26
The time that we devote to mental prayer is the most precious time of our lives (Spirit 1, § 255).
AUGUST 27
What does it mean to love God with one’s whole mind? It means to walk in his presence, and to think often of him; it means to exercise our zeal, and to put forth our best endeavors so as to make him loved; it is to do what pleases him, and to avoid what displeases him, and to conform all our thoughts to his divine wisdom (Spirit 1, § 463).
AUGUST 28
The essential for us is to cultivate the interior spirit: but by what means? By three
means: first, by reproducing in ourselves the traits of Jesus; second, by reproducing those of Mary; third, by shaping our lives according to the Rule of our Institute (Spirit 1, § 125).
AUGUST 29
What can we not do under the auspices of our august Mother and Patroness? What eminence of virtue may we not attain! (Spirit 1, § 129).
AUGUST 30
The attainment of perfection and of the salvation of souls is possible only by the special help of the Blessed Virgin. This is the maxim of our Institute (Spirit 1, § 129).
AUGUST 31
What ought not to be our confidence in Mary knowing, as we do, that she is all-powerful; not of herself, it is true, but because of her influence with her divine Son; knowing, that she is our Mother, our true Mother, nor merely by adoption, since she has adopted us at the foot of the cross, but furthermore because she has given birth to us by grace, through her divine Son! Oh! how blessed is the man who places his trust in Mary! (Spirit 1, § 130).
SEPTEMBER 1
One of the marks of true humility is a great distrust of self. Jesus Christ has given us an example of this distrust by the precautions of all kinds that he took: his watchings, his mortifications, his fasts, his prayers, his temperance, his modesty, his poverty, etc. Nothing but trust in God will increase the distrust and fear of self (Spirit 2, § 602).
SEPTEMBER 2
The first and greatest of man’s weaknesses is pride. Pride is that hidden opinion man has of his own excellence, which causes the desire of his elevation or a complacency in what he believes to perceive in himself. To know the depth of this first weakness, let us consider the depth of the humiliations of the Son of God in his Incarnation (Spirit 2, § 601).
SEPTEMBER 3
The spirit of faith, in which you are always to make progress, will be in you your regulator in all and for all. The spirit of faith is in direct opposition to the spirit of the world. It is not surprising that the world looks on the true religious with a sort of astonishment. For he is, as it were, a man from another world (Letters, no. 915).
SEPTEMBER 4
We have embraced the cross of Jesus—to disengage ourselves from it by a thousand and one exemptions, indiscreetly asked of those in authority, is to deny the cross of Jesus and not oneself (Spirit 1, § 381).
SEPTEMBER 5
Providence ordinarily uses the initiative and activity of men to realize its designs. It follows that the Immaculate Virgin stood in need of soldiers ready to fight the battles of the Lord under her auspices. Providence must call forth such apostles; it must inspire them from on high; it must enroll them under her banner as her ministers and soldiers (Spirit 1, § 136).
SEPTEMBER 6
The more you know yourself, the less you will trust in your own strength, and if divine light should become bright enough to allow you to penetrate into the double abyss of your nothingness and your miseries, your trust in God will be your only stay. How strong then will you be! God communicates his strength to us in proportion to the interior convictions of our own weaknesses. This conviction is a great grace (Spirit, 2, 610).
SEPTEMBER 7
How is it possible to find Jesus without Mary, since Jesus himself did not come to us
except with the consent of Mary! . . . We reach Jesus but through Mary, as Jesus came to us but through Mary (Spirit 1, §142).
SEPTEMBER 8
Let us then, whoever we may be, bless forever the divine goodness which gave us Mary as our Mother, our spiritual nurse, and our mediatrix (Knowledge, 67-68).
SEPTEMBER 9
Take courage, the crown is promised to victors only: tear out the very last fiber of self-love and peace will be yours. Let the interior man in you be renewed and gather strength enough to combat the old man, to hold him in continual subjection, until you succeed in crucifying him; in a word, may you become a man of faith (Spirit 1, § 369).
SEPTEMBER 10
Since God delights in giving his graces during prayer, we must profit by these sweet moments to ask for help in all our spiritual and temporal needs; we ought especially to ask for a lively faith, for it is faith which raises us to the throne of God (Spirit 1, § 198).
SEPTEMBER 11
Why do some complain of being tempted so frequently? It is because they are not faithful in little things. If we despise the grace of God in little things, he will not aid us in those that are greater (Spirit 2, § 746).
SEPTEMBER 12
I need not mention to you that the name of Mary should be found, naturally, so to say, everywhere: whether you pray alone or in community, whether you exhort, whether you instruct others, whether you hold meetings of the sodalities, etc., let nothing please you unless the name of Mary appear in it (Spirit 1, § 134).
SEPTEMBER 13
God speaks to the heart of those who are recollected and silent in order to hear him (1937 Const., art. 163).
SEPTEMBER 14
True wealth, true glory, true joy is to be found in the cross. Happiness is necessarily linked with the cross since Jesus Christ declared this truth. But we look upon such truths as impenetrable mysteries. This is a temptation of the devil, to prevent us from pondering over them, because upon examining the cross of Christ, we would find it lovable and worthy of our embrace (Spirit 1, § 381).
SEPTEMBER 15
At three o’clock in the afternoon all shall transport themselves in spirit to Mount Calvary in order to contemplate the Heart of Mary, their tender Mother, pierced by a sword of sorrow, and to recall the happy moment in which they have been born anew (Spirit 1, § 154).
SEPTEMBER 16
Although I am the most cowardly and sensual of men, I nevertheless have a firm faith that those who suffer are happy. I believe it as firmly as I believe in the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity (Letters, no. 19).
SEPTEMBER 17
We must act simply, as though there were no witness; gravely, as performing an important action; holily, as acting in the presence of God, giving to each action such attention that the passion of calumny itself dare not suspect failings to which no fair-minded person would give credence (Spirit 2, § 1115).
SEPTEMBER 18
It is in the Lord, that is, in the exact and faithful observance of your rules and of your vows, and in the fervent performance of all your religious exercises that you will seek and find rest (Circ., 17).
SEPTEMBER 19
Maintain yourself with respect before the august Sacrament, and consider these divine annihilations in the light of faith, and this light of faith will produce in you a profound sentiment of annihilation. Your faith will increase little by little and will make you fulfill, as it were, habitually, at least in your heart, the first duty of Christians toward God, that of adoration and annihilation (Letters, no. 1210).
SEPTEMBER 20
In your conversations, do not forget that God who hears you will require a strict account of every idle word. Avoid, therefore, whatever is contrary to charity and justice, and let all your words and deeds be worthy of a heavenly reward (Circ., 19).
SEPTEMBER 21
Our soul is God’s; it is a beam of his love, it is his throne. Our liberty is God’s; he has ransomed us from the slavery of the devil. Our body is God’s; it is his temple. All that we have, within and about us, is his (Circ., 80).
SEPTEMBER 22
This is Mary, the Woman par excellence foretold at the same time as her divine Son. The mystery of the divine maternity is naught else but the mystery of the Incarnation of the Virgin of Virgins; it is a compendium of all the wonders of the Most High (Spirit 1, § 119).
SEPTEMBER 23
Of Mary we may assert the same as the apostle does of heaven: Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the transcending excellence of the august Mother of God (Spirit 1, § 119).
SEPTEMBER 24
Oh, the blindness and illusion of Christians who give to Mary what does not belong to her. When calling Mary our hope, let us remember that it is through Jesus that she is our hope. When invoking her as the Refuge of Sinners, let us remember her as protectress only of those willing to give up their sins, not of those loving them. She is the Mother of Mercy, because she has given to the world him who is all mercy (Spirit 1, § 143).
SEPTEMBER 25
The religious profession must be considered a sort of consecration by which the religious is reserved exclusively for a holy use, viz., the glory of God and of his Blessed Mother (Spirit 1, § 93).
SEPTEMBER 26
Recreation is an exercise for diverting the mind in order that it may afterward turn all the more forcibly towards God. It is also the occasion for a reunion of the community in which to strengthen the more the bonds of charity that should bind together the different members; for in this exercise, more than in any other, we can show marks of mutual affection (Spirit 2, § 792).
SEPTEMBER 27
If you want to carry your burden with ease, unite in spirit with our savior Jesus Christ, who will give you new courage and strength, and will render sweet and light what is now bitter and oppressive (Spirit 1, § 413).
SEPTEMBER 28
To Mary is reserved a great victory in our day: hers will be the glory of saving the faith from the shipwreck with which it is being threatened among us (Letters, Circular Letter no. 1163).
SEPTEMBER 29
Mary is today as she was formerly, the incomparable Woman, the promised Woman who was to crush the serpent’s head (Letters, Circular Letter no. 1163).
SEPTEMBER 30
Do simply as well as you know how, as well as you can, and do not worry. We are in a vale of tears in more ways than one (Spirit 2, § 634).
OCTOBER 1
Love towards Mary manifests itself better in action than can be described in words. The soul remains wholly united to the Mother of God. In that state it wishes to act and to think as she does. It desires nothing but her. It loves her attributes to such a degree as not only not to offend against them, but to be unwilling to permit others to do so (Spirit 3, § 141).
OCTOBER 2
We must entertain and reflect upon the good thoughts that come to our minds; for it is the Blessed Virgin who sends them to us through the ministry of our Guardian Angel, or of any other of the angels who are at her service (Spirit 2, § 1003).
OCTOBER 3
True missionaries must place their trust in the help of the grace accompanying their mission, and also in the protection of the Blessed Virgin (Spirit 1, § 130).
OCTOBER 4
He who possesses God possesses all; in possessing all without God, you have nothing but trouble and despair (Spirit 2, § 495).
OCTOBER 5
All seems to be perishing at the same time: our Savior seems to intervene in order to subdue us. He chastises us, but to purify us: we must serve him exceedingly well, not as we like, but as he wishes to be served. If he strikes us, it is certainly not to destroy us; and I believe that the Blessed Virgin to whom we belong in such a special manner, would not permit it (Spirit 1, § 7).
OCTOBER 6
All the good that we effect in others depends on the assiduity and care that we bring to meditation; for, even if we would do some good by means of the grace of our state, which is attached to the character with which we are invested, it would be very little in comparison with what God would have done through us if we had been faithful (Spirit 1, § 355).
OCTOBER 7
The imitation of Mary is the surest, the shortest, and the easiest way for the imitation of Jesus Christ (Spirit 1, § 124).
OCTOBER 8
Far from discouraging us, our sufferings and embarrassments should unceasingly inspire and strengthen us in the work undertaken which we believe to be the work of God (Spirit 1, § 7).
OCTOBER 9
That must be a dreary meditation in which the Blessed Virgin Mary plays no part (Spirit 1, § 132).
OCTOBER 10
A work of God or a work of the supernatural order ought to be conducted with the same views and with motives of the same order (Letters, no. 271).
OCTOBER 11
This is Mary, the Mother of God! . . . In her presence let every knee be bent in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. Oh, the depth of the riches of God! . . .The Eternal deigns to be born of a woman, to owe her his life, and, by the fact, honor and obedience; the creature conceives her Creator . . . (Spirit 1, § 119).
OCTOBER 12
It is in the virginal womb of Mary that Jesus Christ has deigned to assume a form resembling ours, and there, too, we should shape ourselves to his likeness, conform our morals to his morals, our desires to his desires, our life to his life (Spirit 1, § 112).
OCTOBER 13
I cannot remember ever having started any work without having previously examined whether it was so willed by Providence (Spirit 1, § 8).
OCTOBER 14
But one thing should be sought in religion, and that is, to serve God alone. Without that simplicity of intention, peace will never be found there, and the risk is taken of working much and for a long time in vain (Spirit 2, § 629).
OCTOBER 15
I imagine I see the courageous St. Theresa saying without interruption in a spirit of faith: “Yes, poverty is better than riches; it is the road to heaven. The Spouse of virgins had nowhere to lay his head. Humiliation is the germ of eternal glory, and the fairest livery of the Christian. It was only through humiliation that Christ entered into glory, etc.” (Spirit 1, § 226).
OCTOBER 16
The children of Mary are ready to go to the confines of the earth and to shed their blood, in order to save one soul; God calls us, not only to sanctify ourselves, but to regenerate the faith in France, in Europe, and in the whole world (Spirit 3, § 55).
OCTOBER 17
We have the honorable obligation to hear Mass solely because we are the mystical members of Jesus Christ, and as such form part of the Victim, immolated on the altar (Spirit 2, § 1053).
OCTOBER 18
May the Spirit of the Lord animate you: he alone can give you the necessary courage (Spirit 1, § 425).
OCTOBER 19
To observe the five silences—speech, signs, memory, imagination, passions—is to be already far advanced in perfection (Spirit 2, § A871).
OCTOBER 20
No one can get to the Son but through Mary, and no one can get to the Father but through the Son (Knowledge, 88).
OCTOBER 21
Let us accustom ourselves to offer every action to God who is present and who observes us; at the end of the action, let us enter into ourselves by way of examen as though rendering an account to ourselves of the manner in which we performed the action (Spirit 2, § 1027).
OCTOBER 22
We say that the Mass is the mystical representation though real, of the bloody sacrifice of Calvary. Would it not be proper, then, to assist at Mass by uniting ourselves to Jesus Christ who is immolated mystically on the altar, and to the Blessed Virgin who offered him on Calvary, and who most assuredly continues to offer him at all the holy sacrifices of the Mass? (Spirit 2, § 1053).
OCTOBER 23
A child of Mary will avail himself of all possible opportunities to induce others, who, like himself, have the happiness of being consecrated to the purest of Virgins, to practice virtue . . . A good counsel, an edifying talk, a timely advice, given pointedly in a friendly manner, may sometimes strengthen the wavering virtue of a young man (Spirit 3, § 174).
OCTOBER 24
We have made the sacrifice; all that we have is at Mary’s service. We have given ourselves to her with all that we have and with all the faculties of our being. May she do with us whatever she wishes for the greatest glory of her Son (Vow, 16).
OCTOBER 25
The old Adam is terrestrial, being formed on earth; the new Adam is celestial, having come down from his heavenly home. The former seeks only the things that satisfy nature; the latter is happy when deprived of these satisfactions. The one looks for the esteem of creatures; the other for naught but their contempt. The former toils for transitory things and clings to the earth; the latter despises all earthly things, rising unceasingly to things eternal, to his heavenly home, to God his Father (Spirit 1, § 432).
OCTOBER 26
The essential is the interior, and we must be most earnestly occupied with it; as regards the rest, we shall receive whatever it may please God to bestow (Spirit 1, § 176).
OCTOBER 27
We are but the transient witnesses of the doctrine taught by Jesus Christ. He has commanded us to teach in season and out of season. He foresaw that the world would not always listen to our words, but for all that, we must give testimony to the truth whilst time and strength are still ours. God will cause our words to bear fruit when it pleases him, so that no one might reproach us with negligence (Spirit 3, § 154).
OCTOBER 28
Our union exists in the names of Jesus and Mary. In their names we intend to multiply Christians. All those who join us in this work will be led and directed by the same views and the same spirit. We shall all have the same interests. Does that exclude all discord? Oh, yes, out with those who have not these views, this spirit, these interests, out with them, out with them! And for evermore let the love of Christ unite us! (Spirit 2, § 676).
OCTOBER 29
Accustom yourself to watch over your heart. Direct all its movements toward God alone, and toward his holy service, not by an intense application of your mind, but through love. Your natural activity may prove harmful to this interior life, which impels us to seek God in all things and to seek him alone (Spirit 1, § 182).
OCTOBER 30
Our dependence on Mary is complete. Could we be independent of her in any matter, her maternal solicitude in this particular matter would be nullified, the very idea of which would be repugnant to the works of love, gratitude, and obedience which her divine Son had operated in her (Spirit 1, § 118).
OCTOBER 31
Mary’s ambition—if we may use this expression with regard to the holiest of creatures—is that all the children which her charity has brought forth after Christ, be so united with him that with him they may be but one Son, one and the same Jesus Christ (Spirit 1, § 440).
NOVEMBER 1
Yes, undoubtedly, God loves us, and we shall never be able to state how great this love is, for all that we could say would be as nothing compared with that love. Now if God loves us with a generous, unvarying, persevering love that recoils before no obstacle and finds no sacrifice too great, it is with this love that the saints have loved him, and that we ought to love him, if we wish to partake of the glory that Jesus Christ has merited for us with the saints (Spirit 1, § 449).
NOVEMBER 2
Do not forget our dear departed! Those beloved Brothers have gone before us in the holy career that is open to us. They have given us the example and they have a claim upon the assistance of our prayers (Spirit 2, § 697).
NOVEMBER 3
Jesus, who shed the last drop of his blood for the salvation of man, and Mary who became their Mother at the foot of the cross . . . what can they desire but that we immolate ourselves to save souls that are so dear to them? (Spirit 1, § 51).
NOVEMBER 4
The Council of Trent styles faith: “the origin, the foundation, and the root of all our justification” (Spirit 1, § 237).
NOVEMBER 5
A sure mark by which we may know our love to be thus supernatural is that we love all men, without distinction of friend or enemy, of relatives or strangers, and that, when wishing well, when doing good, we do so, as much as possible, to everybody. We do not possess this love of charity, without which we cannot be in God’s grace, unless we extend it to all men (Spirit 2, § 677).
NOVEMBER 6
We shall never do anything in the order of salvation without the spirit of prayer, but with it we can succeed in everything. However, you must not content yourself with asking for it; rather make yourself severe on the subject of prayer. If you are really faithful in praying with faith and humility, the temptations . . . will weaken little by little; and, besides, you will always grow stronger in resisting them (Letters, no. 744).
NOVEMBER 7
However busy you may be, apportion sufficient time for meditation; it is thus only that you will find the true peace of mind that ought ever to buoy you up; thus you will learn to be resigned and practice patience amidst the numerous difficulties and contradictions inseparable from establishments destined to do much good. Often adore interiorly, and adore always and in all things the workings of Divine Providence (Spirit 1, § 419).
NOVEMBER 8
Bear the trial bravely and you will come forth from the crucible as the purest gold (Spirit 2, § 1031).
NOVEMBER 9
The Sodality is a society of fervent Christians who, in imitation of the Christians of the early Church, try by means of their frequent reunions to have but one heart and soul, to form one great family not only as children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, members of his mystical body, but also as children of Mary by a special consecration to her service and by an open profession of faith in the doctrine of her Immaculate Conception (WJC, 131).
NOVEMBER 10
All virtues are, indeed, very useful, especially to religious; but we can find none that is more useful than faith. With this virtue there is no room for illusion or self-love; for everything passes between God and the soul, whereas, in the case of the other virtues, there unhappily creeps in a spirit of self-love which robs them of all merit (Spirit 1, § 198).
NOVEMBER 11
Sound the depths of your heart, often question your soul in order to know whether it allows itself to be influenced by anything but God . . . Oh! If I only had the happiness to see your heart devoted to the divine love and interested in God alone (WJC, 93-94).
NOVEMBER 12
Mary is really our Mother in the order of grace, for she has given us the life of grace. We are so accustomed to judging only by the evidence of the senses that we are hardly influenced by anything but the external, and yet how far superior is the life of grace! We shall live but a short time in the order of nature; but in the order of grace we are destined to live forever (WJC, 213-14).
NOVEMBER 13
The sacrifices which obedience will oblige you to make will cost you little in proportion that faith of the heart grows in you. What happiness, on the contrary, to be assured of doing the will of God with one’s heart! How amiable are these words: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” (Letters, no. 661).
NOVEMBER 14
You understand now the difficulty of realizing the import of the offering that you have made of yourself. The more you try to understand it, the more will nature rebel against it; it might then defend itself like a victim that is being strangled in sacrifice. But your faith, your love for the Lamb of God slain upon the cross, the knowledge of the value of the sufferings and the humiliations which Christ glorified by his adorable passion . . . if all these were well impressed upon your mind, you would smile at afflictions which would otherwise seem great enough to crush you (WJC, 92).
NOVEMBER 15
Every age of the Church has been marked by the combats and the glorious triumphs of Mary. Ever since God placed enmity between her and the serpent, she has been triumphant over the world and over hell. Every heresy has quailed before the Virgin most powerful, and little by little she reduced them to silence and nothingness (WJC, 412).
NOVEMBER 16
A virtuous life has its sufferings but also its sweetness which makes us easily forget the sufferings (Spirit 1, § 48).
NOVEMBER 17
We do not go to Mary as our god, but we go to God through Mary, as faith tells us he came to us through her (Spirit I, § 126).
NOVEMBER 18
For was it not through Mary that our redemption has been wrought? It is precisely for this reason that the honor of Mary is so intimately connected with the honor and glory of Jesus, so that, to deny the one is at the same time a denial of the other. In a word, one cannot be a faithful follower of Christ if he attempts to separate the Mother and the Son (Knowledge, 3).
NOVEMBER 19
Pray yourself and have others pray that we enter in all things into the views of God (Letters, no. 475).
NOVEMBER 20
The sad condition of present-day society clamors for a betterment. Hardly anything different can be expected except under the standard of the religion of love. This religion helps itself whilst bringing aid to every happy, bright, and virtuous mind (Spirit I, § 74).
NOVEMBER 21
The Holy Ghost vivifies in every possible manner the devotion toward his Immaculate Spouse. The faithful vie with each other to render her an homage, at once special and conspicuous, which her dignity as Mother of God requires. Her Immaculate Conception, in particular, is the subject of a most exclusive veneration (Spirit 3, § 139).
NOVEMBER 22
When we truly love we do not reckon the cost. If God would not give us what we merit, what would become of us? And should we dread to make a sacrifice to please him and to secure our salvation? (Spirit 2, § 746).
NOVEMBER 23
Attention may be given to the work in hand, but the intention must always be directed toward God, just as a person cannot help feeling the heat of the sun when he is exposed to its rays (Spirit 1, § 312).
NOVEMBER 24
What he (the obedient man) is doing today, what he will do tomorrow, where he will pass his life and how long it will last nowise disquiet him; he has but one thing at heart—to do always and everywhere the holy will of God (1937 Const., art. 52).
NOVEMBER 25
Our school teachers are missionaries to the rising generation, and it is important that they should enlighten and develop the intellect of the young, and form their hearts to the practice of virtue (WJC, 341).
NOVEMBER 26
Let us count as synonymous the expressions saint and child of Mary! (Letters, no. 188).
NOVEMBER 27
Our vow of stability unites us to Mary in a more special manner than other religious; we have an additional title, and a peculiarly strong one, to her preference. She adopts us with more privileges; she delights in receiving our special promises to be forever faithful and devoted to her; lastly, she enlists us as her militia and consecrates us as her apostles. How sacred is this combat, how rich in benefits for ourselves! (Letters, Circular Letter no. 1163).
NOVEMBER 28
We die but once, and this is true; but how many lessons do we not receive from Divine Providence announcing the approach of death and preparing us for it! Each of these lessons is death in some way. What must the faithful soul do amid the chaos of events which seem to engulf it? It must brace itself steadfastly with that faith (which by making us adore the eternal designs of God) teaches us that everything turns unto good for them who love him (Spirit 1, § A425).
NOVEMBER 29
Let everyone always remember, both for himself and for others, what he professed by his act of consecration: that Mary deserves a special worship which is due to none but her; that she is the mistress of the world, the queen of men and angels, the channel of all graces, the ornament of the Church . . . that, in contracting with Mary an alliance which is as intimate as that between mother and child, they have also bound themselves to certain duties (WJC, 210).
NOVEMBER 30
All the blessings that we have ever received bear the impress of Mary’s tenderness and love towards us. Hence we owe her continual thanks; for her solicitude and care for us is continual (Spirit 1, § 118).
DECEMBER 1
Let us then be united with Mary in our meditation, praying to her who knew her son so well . . . to make him known to us (Knowledge, 90).
DECEMBER 2
We all have been conceived in Mary; we must be born of Mary and be formed by her to resemble Jesus Christ, so as to live only of the life of Jesus Christ, that with Jesus Christ we be other Christs, Sons of Mary: Cum Christo, unus Christus (Spirit 1, § 440).
DECEMBER 3
True missionaries should not count on themselves, their talents, or their industry, but they should put all their confidence in the grace of their mission and the protection of the Blessed Virgin, devoting themselves to that work for which she was raised to the divine maternity (Vow, 34).
DECEMBER 4
Devotion to Mary comprises a high and loving esteem of her perfections, a full and unlimited confidence based upon her powerful influence with God and her tender interest in our welfare; an ardent zeal to advance her honor, to spread her worship, and to exalt her prerogatives. If to these sentiments, we join the practice of her virtues, we shall truly merit the title of children of Mary, and all the beneficence of her sweetness and power (Spirit 1, § 90).
DECEMBER 5
In the transport of her ardent desire, Mary called upon him who was to come, the savior of mankind. By the intensity of her burning love advancing as it were the time of his coming, she would draw him to her heart (Knowledge, 31).
DECEMBER 6
It was Mary who was thus prepared and chosen, and who was, even before the creation, in the prevision of her incomparable dignity, the object of the Most Holy Trinity. It pleased God, therefore, to sketch in broad outlines her magnificent prerogatives, now under one figure in the history of his chosen people, now under another, in order to keep the world prepared for the coming of her who was one day to be its hope and its glory (Knowledge, 27).
DECEMBER 7
Let us ever labor for the glory of the good master, and of his august Mother, in spite of contradictions, sufferings, and embarrassments of all kinds (Spirit I, § 147).
DECEMBER 8
What a happy omen is this tender devotion to the Immaculate Mary! It is a true sign of predestination; it will be enriched with all the gifts of wisdom. The Virgin seems to mingle with those that walk in the paths of prudence and justice but to make them partakers of the heavenly blessings. Woe to youth that does not run after the odor of the perfume exhaled by the knowledge of the virtues of this incomparable Virgin (Spirit 3, § 139).
DECEMBER 9
Oh, how you will love God, once he has deigned to make you know and to feel a little how good and how merciful he is! Goodness is the very nature of God. It is then you will love our Lord Jesus Christ; that you will also love the Most Holy Virgin with all your heart. It is impossible to love God, without loving Jesus Christ and his holy Mother. However, you will love well, only in proportion as you despise yourself and all that is in you (Letters, no. 1089).
DECEMBER 10
If you were recollected during your occupations, they would not impair your meditation. All our different occupations ought to be only a continuation of mental prayer (Spirit 1, § 322).
DECEMBER 11
The great Christian poet Dante said of her: “Mary’s humility is the measure of her greatness.” Three kinds of humiliations may be recognized in the life of Mary: humiliations of privations, of dependence, and of confusion. Each of these humiliations has its reward in a glory of elevation and excellence, of might and authority, of veneration and homage (Spirit 2, § 596).
DECEMBER 12
Woe to the unnatural child who renounces Mary and deserts her family! Happy, on the contrary, a thousand times happy he that is faithful (Letters, Circular Letter no. 1163).
DECEMBER 13
We must never desist from obeying; we must obey until our last breath (Spirit 2, § 580).
DECEMBER 14
Faith—that is, the sacred words of Scripture pronounced with a lively faith—is the best weapon to overcome temptation (Spirit 1, § 225).
DECEMBER 15
I thank the Lord that during your retreat, he has given you to understand humility . . . If you succeed in taking the correct view of it and putting it into practice, you will have progressed not a little on the road to salvation (Spirit 2, § 594).
DECEMBER 16
You must mortify your eyes and forbid them the freedom of curiosity for which they crave (Circ., 119).
DECEMBER 17
You must practice mortification at your meals, in your repose, and in the care of your body, in fact, everywhere and under all circumstances (Circ., 120).
DECEMBER 18
Your fervor will augment in proportion as you are divested of self, loving and seeking God alone. I do not make fervor consist in sensible emotion, but solely in the practice of the love of God (Spirit 1, § 379).
DECEMBER 19
You must pray always, watch constantly, and at all times practice humility and mortification (Circ., 127).
DECEMBER 20
Him whom the heavens cannot contain, Mary has conceived and borne in her chaste bosom. If then we cannot sound the depths of the mystery of Mary’s divine maternity, let us, with pious interest, contemplate the Blessed Virgin before, during, and after her elevation, in the light in which faith presents her to our filial love and affection (Knowledge, 26).
DECEMBER 21
O Holy Virgin, we are thine. Under thy protection we shall battle through life and spread thy worship. Must we go to the ends of the earth? Here are thy missionaries. Must we submit to persecution? Here are thy martyrs (Spirit 1, §130).
DECEMBER 22
Pride in man must have been truly profound, his desire for elevation very ardent and unruly, to induce the Son of God to submit to such humiliations to cure him. Let us then annihilate ourselves by following him, and let us give our annihilation its utmost depth, or rather, let us ask for a participation in the love of Jesus Christ for abasement and humiliations. Faith will serve as a channel to pass it from his heart to ours (Spirit 2, § 601).
DECEMBER 23
. . . Mary is today, as she was formerly, the incomparable Woman, the promised Woman who was to crush the serpent’s head: and Jesus Christ in never addressing her except by this sublime name, teaches us that she is the hope, the joy, the life of the Church, and the terror of hell (Letters, Circular Letter no. 1163).
DECEMBER 24
Throughout the ages mankind has toiled on amid the most fatal experiences of human weakness and misery, and the patriarchs and prophets had sighed for the advent of the Lord, but now the time has come when at last the “clouds shall rain down the Just One, and the earth shall bring forth the Savior” (Knowledge, 30-31).
DECEMBER 25
As the Son of God chose to take upon himself human nature, he wished, like unto man, to be born, to suffer, and to die. He must therefore become the child of a human mother, to be nourished and reared by her; and this privileged woman was to be the Mother of God who would also be subject to her as a child to its mother (Knowledge, 24).
DECEMBER 26
If it be true that to work is to pray, then also, and with greater truth can it be said that, to suffer is to pray (Spirit 1, § 393).
DECEMBER 27
Three kinds of apparent and deceptive goods seize, occupy, and amuse the hearts of the great multitudes that compose the world, namely, riches, pleasures, and honors. This it was that made St. John, the well-beloved disciple of Jesus, say: “All that is in the world is concupiscence of the eyes, or love of riches, and concupiscence of the flesh, or love of pleasures, and pride of life, or love of honors (Spirit 2, § 465).
DECEMBER 28
Children of a guilty father, we cannot expect to find happiness on this earth, where he, through his sin in paradise, has incurred the wrath of God. And who is the man that can claim exemption from suffering? Even infants, newly born, announce by their cries that they feel the miseries of this life (Spirit 1, § 426).
DECEMBER 29
Prayer has a kind of superiority over the almighty word of God: God exercises his power only over creatures; prayer acts upon God himself (Spirit 1, § 350).
DECEMBER 30
All evil proceeds from the will and the heart; therefore, regulate the heart and the will by obedience, and the source of evil will be stanched and gradually dried up (Circ., 61).
DECEMBER 31
Take courage! Time and years speed on; we are advancing in our career, . . . the strength of our bodies is disappearing, and we have not yet done anything. There is question, now, of starting in good earnest and of doing something for the glory of Jesus Christ, our kind Master! (Spirit 1, § 425).
MAUNDY THURSDAY
All science, all wisdom, and all counsel can indeed be learned on Calvary in the divine tragedy of our crucified Savior. But the sacred host is the selfsame crucified Savior. Let us then study in the sacred host all the sublime lessons of sweetness, humility, obedience, and patience, and resignation to the will of God (Spirit 2, § 1061).
GOOD FRIDAY
In all simplicity the religious should be an image of Jesus crucified . . . The good religious is attached to the cross by his vows, his rules, and the regulations. What occurred to Jesus occurs to him: some lukewarm religious would have him come down from the cross . . . People of the world scoff at him . . . He is tempted by his own nature. . . . But after all, God destines me to resemble his crucified Son, and does he not give me the strength to accomplish his design? (Spirit 1, § 381).
HOLY SATURDAY
A reason for the consecration of any Saturday to the Blessed Virgin is the circumstance that the light of faith remained burning especially in the Blessed Virgin on Holy Saturday. As Holy Scripture says of the wise woman: “Her lamp shall not be put out in the night” (Prov. 31:18). This accounts for the lights that are burnt in honor of the Blessed Virgin (Spirit 1, § 151).
EASTER SUNDAY
If Jesus Christ desires his disciples to die to the world, it is to make them partakers of his life and to transform them into other Christs. “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). This is what constitutes the happiness and the glory of the religious: he must feel within himself only Jesus, and what Jesus has felt: “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:5) (Spirit 1, § 377).
EASTER MONDAY
After his resurrection, Christ only upon rare occasions showed himself; and when he did appear it was only for a short time, and in consequence of a zeal or charity. In like manner a religious ought not to be seen in the world except when the glory of God and salvation of his neighbor prompts him to leave his seclusion, and even then he should remain but a short time and be eager to return to his place of retirement (Spirit 2, § 1108).
MAY
THE FATHER,
AND THE SON,
AND THE HOLY GHOST,
BE GLORIFIED IN ALL PLACES,
THROUGH THE IMMACULATE VIRGIN MARY!
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SOURCES CITED IN ORIGINAL WORK
From a Full Heart, Francis J. Greiner, SM, 1949)
- William Joseph Chaminade. Circulars of V. Rev. W. J. Chaminade. Kirkwood, MO: Maryhurst Normal, 1945.
- William Joseph Chaminade. Constitutions of the Society of Mary 1839. Translated by Herbert G. Kramer, SM. Honolulu, HI: Marianist Province of the Pacific, 1967.
- F. J. Kieffer, Superior-General. Constitutions of the Society of Mary 1937. Dayton, OH, 1937.
- Henri Lebon, SM. Do I Really Believe? Meditation on the Apostles’ Creed. Translated by Peter A. Resch, SM. St. Meinrad, IN: The Abbey Press, 1944.
- William Joseph Chaminade. Letters of Father Chaminade, vols. 1-8. Dayton, OH: Marianist Resources Commission, 1976-86.
- John B. Fontaine, SM. Our Knowledge of Mary. Translated by Louis A. Tragesser, SM. Kirkwood, MO: Maryhurst Normal Press, 1930.
- William Joseph Chaminade. The Spirit of Our Foundation, vols. 1-4. Dayton, OH: St. Mary’s Convent, 1911.
- Henri Lebon, SM. The Vow of Stability and the Consecration to Mary in the Society of Mary. Translated from Apõste de Marie, Organ of the Works and of the Missions of the Society of Mary, by Ernest Avellar, SM. Dayton, OH: Mount Saint John, 1925.
- Henry Rousseau, SM. William Joseph Chaminade, Founder of the Society of Mary. Translated by J. E. Garvin, SM. Dayton, OH: Mount St. John, 1914.
(Note: Brother Francis Greiner, SM, used sources current in his time. In this edition of From a Full Heart, we have used current translations whenever possible).
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CITED IN REVISED EDITION
From a Full Heart, Francis J. Greiner, SM, updated 2004)
- William Joseph Chaminade. Circulars of V. Rev. W. J. Chaminade. Kirkwood, MO: Maryhurst Normal, 1945.
- William Joseph Chaminade. Constitutions of the Society of Mary 1839. Translated by Herbert G. Kramer, SM. Honolulu, HI: Marianist Province, 1967.
- F. J. Kieffer, Superior-General. Constitutions of the Society of Mary 1937. Dayton, OH, 1937.
- Henri Lebon, SM. Do I Really Believe? Meditation on the Apostles’ Creed. Translated by Peter A. Resch, SM. St. Meinrad, IN: The Abbey Press, 1944.
- William Joseph Chaminade. Letters of Father Chaminade, vols. 1-8. Dayton, OH: Marianist Resources Commission, 1976-86.
- William Joseph Chaminade. Marian Writings, vol. 2. Translated by Henry Bradley, SM, and Joseph H. Roy, SM. Dayton, OH: Marianist Resources Commission, 1980.
- [Jean-Philippe Auguste Lalanne]. Notice Historique sur la Société de Marie de la Congrégation de Bordeaux. Saint-Cloud: Belin, 1858.
- John B. Fontaine, SM. Our Knowledge of Mary. Translated by Louis A.Tragesser, SM. Kirkwood, MO: Maryhurst Normal Press, 1930.
- William Joseph Chaminade. The Spirit of Our Foundation, vols. 1-4. Dayton, OH: St. Mary’s Convent, 1911.
- Henri Lebon, SM. The Vow of Stability and the Consecration to Mary in the Society of Mary. Translated from Apõste de Marie, Organ of the Works and of the Missions of the Society of Mary, by Ernest Avellar, SM. Dayton, OH: Mount Saint John, 1925.
- Henry Rousseau, SM. William Joseph Chaminade, Founder of the Society of Mary. Translated by J. E. Garvin, SM. Dayton, OH: Mount St. John, 1914.
(Note: Variations from the original text are the result of having made every attempt to find the most current translation or correct source for each selection cited in this work).
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