Considerations and Prayers for Every Day
First Day. Mary’s Immaculate Conception
“Thou art all fair, O My love, and there is not a spot in thee.”—Cant. iv. 7. These words are found in the Canticles of Solomon, and are applied to the Blessed Virgin. From all eternity she had been predestined to be the Mother of God, to give to the almighty God that body, that flesh and blood, which He was to assume for our redemption, and the creature that He selected for His Mother must have been all pure, all holy, and free from the slightest taint of sin. A few saints, such as John the Baptist and the prophet Jeremias, were sanctified in their mother’s womb. And if these men, because of their predestination, were born without sin, surely it cannot be supposed that God did not bestow on Mary a greater privilege—that He exempted her from the necessity of being even for one instant the slave of sin. O Mother mine, O Mother of the Church of God, I hail thee! Have pity on us, O Mary conceived without sin, and obtain for us the grace to struggle against our passions.
Prayer.
O holiest and purest of virgins, well dost thou merit this title! Thou who wast a virgin although a mother, pray for us. Take pity on us, thy children; intercede for us with Jesus, that He may have mercy on us, and grant us the grace to walk worthy of our vocation, that we may be His through time and eternity. Amen.