THE INTERIOR LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

April 12th: a Traditional Memorial on the Interior LIfe of Mary

Mary was created immaculate, and therefore the grace of God streamed into her soul without check or hindrane. She began her journey along the road to perfection at a height to which other Saints arrived only at the end of a long life of saintliness.  An intimate union with God, a continual and joyful remembrance of His presence, a perfect agreement of will with Him was the beginning of His gifts to Mary.

Introit:

The Lord hath greatly desired Mary's beauty; for He is her Lord; and she shall be the throne of God for ever and ever, the sceptre of uprightness, the sceptre of His kingdom. Alleluia, alleluia.

Ps. 44 : All the glory of the King's Daughter is within; in golden bor­ders, clothed round about with varieties. Glory be to the Fath­er and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost...

Collect:

O GOD,  Who made the Blessed Vlrgm Mary surpass all creatures as perfect partaker and image of Christ's interior virtues, grant we pray, that we may so venerate Mary's interior life as to become through her conformed to Christ and through Him perfectly united to Thee. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ. Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth forever and ever.

Sequence:

All the beauty of the King's daughter,

who is a marvel of fullness of grace, comes to her from within.

More precious than her title of Mother,

than the flower of her virginity, is the charity of her pure heart.

There purity reigns, and peace that nought can trouble,

and light without the slightest cloud.

Seek where you will recall any moment of her life,

nowhere is there any stain. 

Before He is enshrined, in her chaste womb,

God already resides in her loving heart,

and this last the greater grace.  

Already full of grace she is, and yet what abundant gifts

the Son pours out on His Mother!

Vile in her own esteem, humble,  magnanimous,

she is pleasing in the eyes of God. She believes and understands; 

she hopes and immediately reaps the fruits of her unwavering faith.

As she accepts the joyful mes­sage, so she submits completely to the painful sword.

She put away her mortal dwelling and puts on immortality,

for she cannot bear the force of love. 

Now you no longer die of love; you burn with heavenly flames; 

you possess what you so ardently desired. 

You love the more perfectly be­cause above all Saints you are ele­vated to peerless glory.

 O Lord, may the Holy Ghost, Who wounded the heart of Thy Son's Mother and set it on fire with so much love, also per­fecdy possess our:hearts; in order that, as He always acted freely in her, He may crucify our flesh with its vices and concupiscences and thus also operate our sanctifica­tion. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ ...

Communion prayer:

This place is holy and in it the Priest prays for the failings and sins of the people, alleluia.

Postcommunion prayer:

May the Son repose within us, o Lord, and find there His delights; and just as Thou didst make Him ours through the Vir­gin Mary, in whom He dwelt and found His delight, so may we be worthy through her and in Thy Son to be Thine always and every­where. Through the same our Lord. Amen