La Fère

“ Although an alarming rumour reached them that the enemy, crowded into motor buses, had already reached St. Quentin, nothing disturbed their rest during the night, and by dawn the column was swinging along the road to La Fère. The men were always depressed and weary in the early morning. Their spirits never began to rise until eight or nine o'clock. ”

“ Choose, sire! and that, too, without delay. Whatever relics remain to you of the great nobility, guard them with a jealous eye; you will never be deficient in courtiers. Delay not—and send me to the Bastile with my friend; for, if you did not know how to listen to the Comte de la Fere, whose voice is the sweetest and noblest in all the world when honor is the theme; if you do not know how to listen to D’Artagnan, the frankest and honestest voice of sincerity, you are a bad king, and to-morrow will be a poor king. ”

“ My mother! mother of my soul! thou who, after God, lovest me and desirest my salvation more than all the world beside: O my Mother! show thyself to be indeed a mother.
Prayer of St. Bernard.
MOST sweet and amiable Mary, no one can pronounce thy name without feeling the greatest desire to love thee; and those who do love thee, cannot call thee to mind without being animated to love thee more. Pray for us to thy divine Son, that he may vouchsafe to strengthen our weakness: no one is better entitled to speak in our favour to thy God, and ours, than thyself, who art the nearest to him. ”

“ Passing a large German gun abandoned at the side of the road near Trugny and many dead Hun machine gunners at their tiny emplacements along the Verdilly-Epieds road, the Company marched with carts carrying their guns through Epieds, scarred by the devices of battle, up the hill to the east and then northeast again through the woods, shell-splintered and torn, about seven kilometers, to the Fere en Tardenois road, where the advance was halted. ”

“ MOST holy and immaculate Virgin, my Mother Mary, it is to thee, the Mother of my God, the Queen of the world, the advocate, the hope, and the refuge of sinners, that I have recourse to-day: I, who am the most miserable of all. I love thee, O most amiable Sovereign, and for the love I bear thee, I promise to serve thee always, and do all in my power to make others love thee also. I place in thee, after God, all my hopes. I confide my salvation to thy care. ”

“ Now, since nature itself has made the name of mother the sweetest name and in her has established the pattern, as it were, of tender and provident love, our tongue can scarcely express, though pious souls can truly feel, the intense flame of benevolent and active love that burns in the heart of Mary—in her who has been given to us not by men, but by Christ, as our Mother. ”

“ When in our prayers we fly to Mary, we fly to the Mother of Mercy, who is so disposed towards us that in whatever necessity we are struggling, especially in our striving after the attainment of life eternal, she is at once by our side, and indeed, quite spontaneously—without awaiting our appeal—and lavishes upon us gifts from the treasury of that grace of which she received from the beginning a full supply from God, Whose Mother she was worthy to be. ”

“ She is the Mother of so many virtues—of fair love, of knowledge, of good counsel, of holy hope, of divine grace—yes, and the Mother of Sorrows too; but here her children love to call her "Mother of mercy," of pity, for they are exiles, and it is she who can effect their ransom. Mercy—this is what they who say the Salve Regina need. They are poor, banished, weeping children, and they need the pity, the mercy, the sympathy of their Mother. How comes it that there is no sorrow with which the Heart of Mary cannot sympathise? ”

“ May our hearts burn with the love of thy divine Son, and of thee, His blessed Mother, not for a month alone, but for time and eternity; may we thirst and labor for the promotion of His glory and for thy greater veneration. Receive us, O Mary, thou refuge of sinners; grant us a mother’s blessing and a mother’s care, now and at the hour of our death. ”

“ Thou, then, art our mother. Ah, most sweet mother! most amiable mother! thy altars are surrounded by many people who ask of thee, one to be healed of some malady, another to be relieved in his necessities, one prays thee for a good harvest, and another success in some litigation. We ask of thee graces more pleasing to thy heart. Obtain for us that we may be humble, detached from earth, resigned to the divine will. Obtain for us the holy love of God, a good death, and paradise. Oh Lady, change us from sinners to saints. ”

“ Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take down the body of her divine Son from the cross, and deposit it in her arms.
O thou, whose grief was boundless as an unfathomable ocean, Mary, Mother of God, grant us a share in thy most holy sorrow for the sufferings of thy Son, and have compassion on our infirmities. Accept us as thy children with the beloved disciple. Show thyself a Mother to us; and may he, through thee, receive our prayer, who for us vouchsafed to be thy Son. ”

“ Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother.’ When hanging on the cross, too, and looking down on Mary and His beloved disciple John, He said, ‘Woman, behold thy son!’ and then, addressing His disciple, He said, ‘Behold thy mother!’ ‘And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.’ Not a word more does the Holy Spirit reveal to us of the history of the mortal mother of Jesus. ”

“ Truly worthy then of our veneration is this great mother of God, for God himself could not make her greater than he has done, by making her his mother. Oh, mother of God, and my mother, Mary, I adore thee, and would wish thee to be adored by all hearts, as that exalted Lady thou art. Have mercy on a poor sinner, who loves thee and trusts in thee. Virgin most venerable, pray for us: “Virgo veneranda, ora pro nobis.” ”

“ O blessed Mother, and Virgin undefiled, O glorious Queen of the world, plead for us before the Lord.
During Eastertide
Ant. O Queen of heaven, rejoice,
Alleluia, for He Whom
thou wast meet to bear, Alleluia,
hath risen, as He said, Alleluia;
pray for us to God, Alleluia.
During Advent
Ant. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, Mary; fear not, thou shalt hold within thy womb the Son of God, Alleluia.
From Christmas until Candlemas
Ant. How great the mystery of our inheritance! The womb of one that knoweth not man hath become the temple of God! ”

“ What relief do I feel in my miseries, and what consolation in my tribulation; what strength do I not find in the midst of temptations, when I remember and call thee, O my Mother, to my aid? O my most sweet and most holy Mother Mary, my own Mother, do thou console me! I see myself loaded with sins and surrounded by enemies, without virtue, and cold in my love towards God. Comfort me, and let me begin a new life, a life which will be pleasing to thy Son and to thee. ”

“ Mary at the manger, and Mary at the cross, opens a vista to an abyss of joy and of grief such as the world never saw before. Mary stood there not only as the mother, but as the representative of the whole Christian church, for which the eternal Son of God was born an infant in the manger, and for which he suffered the most ignominious death on the cross. ”

“ O my dear Sisters, Daughters of the Visitation of Our Lady and of St. Elizabeth, since you have Mary for your Mother, you should have nothing so much at heart as to imitate her particularly in her humility and charity. These are the two virtues which especially animated her when she visited the house of Zachary. Like her, you should visit, diligently and joyfully, your Sisters, when they are suffering, and endeavour to aid each other in your spiritual and temporal infirmities. Be most careful and diligent in those things in which humility and charity are most required. ”

“ Help us, Mary, with thy continual love that we, the children of thy sorrow, may with thee, the holy martyrs, and all the saints of God, follow thy crucified Son even unto death. Prove thyself a Mother, and after the crosses and sorrows of this life show unto us in heaven, Jesus, the blessed fruit of thy womb. ”

“ MOST holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, whom I love to honor under the lovely title of Mother of Perpetual Help, I, N., although most unworthy to be thy servant, yet moved by thy wonderful compassion, and by my desire to serve thee, now choose thee, in presence of my guardian angel and of the whole celestial court, for my queen, advocate, and mother: and I firmly purpose always to love and serve thee for the future, and to do whatever I can to induce others to love and serve thee also. ”

“ There is a wonderful vigor and tenacity in the life our Catholic Mother—our [516] Mighty Mother, ever ancient, ever new—imparts. When, by our own fault, we seem to have quenched the last spark of living fire which she kindled upon the altar of our hearts, a passing breath from heaven wafted gently through a fitting word kindly spoken, or the voice of hymn or prayer over the dying embers on the almost abandoned shrine, will awaken the flame anew, and draw the wanderer back to the forsaken source of life, of light, and of warmth. ”

“ O HOLY Mary, Queen of Virgins, through the most high Mystery of the Incarnation of thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, wherein our salvation was begun, obtain for us, through thy most holy intercession, light to understand the greatness of the benefit He hath bestowed upon us, in vouchsafing to become our Brother, and in giving thee, His own beloved Mother, to be our Mother also. ”

“ You have counted for a great deal in my life, Eliza. Do you remember saying that you intended to be Reverend Mother? And now you are Reverend Mother.'
'I don't think I said "I intended." But I felt that if I became a nun, one day or another I should be Reverend Mother; one knows most often than not what is going to happen—one's own fate, I mean.'
'I wonder if Mary knows?'
'If she does, I wish she'd tell us.'
'We'll have time to walk round the garden once more. ”

“ THE GRANDEURS OF MARY
By Frederick William Faber, D.D.
What is this grandeur I see up in heaven,
A splendour that looks like a splendour divine?
What creature so near the Creator is throned?
O Mary, those marvellous glories are thine.
But who would have thought that a creature could live
With the fires of the Godhead so awfully nigh?
Oh, who could have dreamed, mighty Mother of God,
That ever God’s power could have raised thee so high? ”

“ Poor mother! great is thy sorrow, yet not as that of another Martyr-Mother, whose story of anguish thou knowest well. It was at the foot of the cross that she bade adieu to her Son; there, too, must thou bravely stand by her side to say farewell to thine. The virtue of the cross will strengthen thee as it strengthened her; and when thy sacrifice is accomplished, thou wilt find a balm for thy wounded heart by uniting it to the broken heart of Jesus on the cross, and of Mary standing in its shade. ”

“ Almighty and merciful God, Who hast enabled us to venerate the picture of Thy beloved Mother under the special title of Mother of Perpetual Help, grant, we beseech Thee, that, amidst all the vicissitudes of this life, we may be covered by the constant protection of the immaculate and ever virgin Mary, so that we may merit the fruits of Thine eternal redemption. ”

“ Prayer.—O Sovereign Queen of Angels! you are the Mother of Orphans, as your faithful servant, St. Bonaventure, says: Mater Orphanorum. Sinners are truly orphans—for they have had the misfortune to lose their God, the most tender of Fathers. To you, therefore, I have recourse, O Mother of Mercy. I have had the misfortune to lose my true Father, by sin; and yet, since you have not abandoned me, O my Mother, I feel a lively hope that through your goodness you will deign to intercede for me, and reconcile me to my Father, Whom I have so grievously offended. ”

“ We know how the heavenly messenger bowed before his Queen and said, “Fear not, Mary; the Lord is with thee, for thou hast found grace before God. Behold thou shalt conceive and bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name, Jesus.” And we know when that young maiden, bowing her head in her heavenly humility, consented, saying, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to Thy word,” that the Holy Ghost overshadowed her, and “the Word was made flesh.” Truly she is blessed among all women, blessed among all mothers. By her blessedness all women are raised and ennobled. ”

“ Let every one consider, then, how much it must have cost Mary to sacrifice on the cross the life of a Son so amiable, and what strength of mind she must have exercised in this act. Behold the most fortunate of mothers, because she is the mother of a God, but she is at the same time a mother most worthy of compassion, because the most afflicted; being the mother of a Son whom she saw destined to the cross from the day when he was given her for a Son! ”

“ O Mary, I place in you a holy confidence, and from you I expect my salvation. I shall walk without fear in the midst of all my enemies, if you will deign to number me amongst those whom you protect. Sincere love of you is the safest weapon with which to fight and overcome; number me, then, amongst your children, for I have chosen you for my tender Mother. ”

“ However, though the brilliancy of precious stones does not diminish, yet it does not increase; whilst the love of the Most Holy Virgin never remained in the same state, but made continual and incredible progress until she entered heaven. With good reason, then, is Our Lady called the Mother of pure Love—that is to say, the most lovable amongst all creatures, and the most beloved by her only Son, Who is loved by her as the most lovable and loving of Sons. ”