On the honouring and invoking of the saints.
Since it is through the ministry of angels that we often receive good inspirations from God, it is also through them that we ought to address our aspirations to Him, as likewise through the saints, men and women, who, being now like unto angels in the glory of God, as Our Lord saith, continually present to Him their desires and prayers on our behalf.
Let us therefore join ourselves, O Philothea, to these heavenly spirits and these blessed souls; let us do as the little nightingales, who learn to sing with the great ones: let us maintain a pious intercourse with the saints, and we shall know much better how to pray and sing the divine praises. _At the sight of the angels_, said David, _I will sing the praises of God._
Honour, revere, and respect with a special love the holy and glorious Virgin Mary; she is the mother of our sovereign Father, and consequently our grandmother. Let us therefore have recourse to her, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her lap with perfect confidence, at all times and on every occasion. Let us call upon this gentle mother, invoke her maternal love, and, striving to imitate her virtues, cherish towards her a truly filial heart.
Make yourselves very familiar with the angels: regard them as truly present at all your actions, though in an invisible manner. Love and respect above all the angel of the diocese wherein you are, the angels of the persons with whom you live, and especially your own: pray to them often, offer them frequent praises, and avail yourselves of their good help in all your affairs, both spiritual and temporal, that they may cooperate with your intentions.
Since it is through the ministry of angels that we often receive good inspirations from God, it is also through them that we ought to address our aspirations to Him, as likewise through the saints, men and women, who, being now like unto angels in the glory of God, as Our Lord saith, continually present to Him their desires and prayers on our behalf.
Let us therefore join ourselves, O Philothea, to these heavenly spirits and these blessed souls; let us do as the little nightingales, who learn to sing with the great ones: let us maintain a pious intercourse with the saints, and we shall know much better how to pray and sing the divine praises. _At the sight of the angels_, said David, _I will sing the praises of God._
Honour, revere, and respect with a special love the holy and glorious Virgin Mary; she is the mother of our sovereign Father, and consequently our grandmother. Let us therefore have recourse to her, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her lap with perfect confidence, at all times and on every occasion. Let us call upon this gentle mother, invoke her maternal love, and, striving to imitate her virtues, cherish towards her a truly filial heart.
Make yourselves very familiar with the angels: regard them as truly present at all your actions, though in an invisible manner. Love and respect above all the angel of the diocese wherein you are, the angels of the persons with whom you live, and especially your own: pray to them often, offer them frequent praises, and avail yourselves of their good help in all your affairs, both spiritual and temporal, that they may cooperate with your intentions.
The celebrated Peter Lefèvre, the first priest, the first preacher, the first professor of theology of the holy Society of Jesus, and the first companion of blessed Ignatius, who was the founder of that society, returning one day from Germany, where he had laboured much for the glory of God, and passing through this diocese, where he was born, related that, having crossed several heretical countries, he had always found himself very well served by greeting, upon arriving in a parish, the angels who protected it; and that he evidently owed it to this practice that he had escaped the snares of the heretics, and had found souls so gentle and so docile in receiving the doctrine of salvation. He spoke of this with such deep feeling that a young lady, then but a child, who had herself heard him relate the story, repeated it only four years ago—that is, more than sixty years later—with an extraordinary sense of piety. For my part, I was greatly consoled last year to consecrate an altar at the very place where God caused this holy man to be born, in the little village of Villaret, amid the most inaccessible of our mountains.
Choose some saints whose lives you would most like to meditate upon and imitate, and in whom you place your trust more especially. The one whose name you bear is already assigned to you by your baptism.
Choose some saints whose lives you would most like to meditate upon and imitate, and in whom you place your trust more especially. The one whose name you bear is already assigned to you by your baptism.