Twenty-ninth Day. the Blessed Virgin the Model of Obedience
Our Lord became obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross, in order that we might, after His example, labor to acquire and practise the virtue of obedience. The perfection to which Mary carried the obedience due to her Creator has been implied in treating of the love of God with which her heart was inflamed; it was the source of her perfect conformity to the divine will. What an example of obedience does she not give us in the presentation of Jesus in the Temple! Mary was exempted from the obligation common to all women to go to the Temple to be purified. Nevertheless, as her divine Son was pleased to submit to circumcision, so she would submit to the law of purification. The person who obeys merits very much while doing little, because obedience springs from the spirit of perfect self-abnegation, which is the most agreeable holocaust to God. Thomas à Kempis says, “Whoever willingly obeys his superiors for God’s sake, performs an heroic action as a valiant soldier of Jesus Christ, for he will receive with the martyrs the palm of a glorious immortality.”
Prayer.
My most sweet Lady and Mother, I am a vile rebel to thy great Son; but I come repentant to thy mercy that thou mayest obtain pardon for me. From thee I hope for every good, forgiveness, perseverance, and heaven. I hope to be one of those, who, in the kingdom of the blessed will most praise thy mercies, O Mary, for having saved us by thy intercession. Amen.