Meditation for September 12, The Name of Mary

And the name of the Virgin was Mary.

St. Bernard in the homily that the Church has chosen as a lesson for the second Nocturn of today's feast gives us this triple counsel: Call upon Mary; Look at Mary; Think of Mary.

Call on Mary every time a difficulty arises or sorrow strikes. St. Bernard says that as the sailor when he has lost his way and his compass during a storm at sea, seeks to guide himself by the arch of the heavens which from time to time reveals a star, so ought we, when the tempest lets loose upon us, seek in the heights her whom the Church calls Stella Maris, Star of the Sea.

We must not only call on Mary when all goes wrong, but try to look upon her when all goes well, to seek her presence; to claim encouragement; to offer her our effort; to unite our love with hers. What occupation could be sweeter than to gaze on Mary? Is there any creature in the world, after Jesus, who has such appealing beauty?

And when I say look, I do not mean merely to gaze upon her features, but to measure all her inward wealth. What splendor in her immaculate perfection; what magnificence in the plenitude of the divine life she encompasses from her birth; what grandeur in her attitude of loving service throughout her life; in her heroic oblation at the foot of the cross! Look, consider all that in long and quiet contemplation.

And what does it mean to think of Mary?

It means that when I do not have her benign image to look at, her memory at least will encompass me. Quite naturally, then, her memory will evoke her person, and her name will come to my lips.

O Mary, give me devotion to your Name!
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)