Godmother

“ But her Godmother, above all things, commanded her not to stay till after midnight, telling her at the same time that if she stayed one moment longer the coach would be a pumpkin again, her horses mice, her coachman a rat, her footmen lizards, and her clothes become just as they were before.
She promised her Godmother she would not fail of leaving the ball before midnight, and then away she drives, scarce able to contain herself for joy. The King’s son, who was told that a great Princess, whom nobody knew, was come, ran out to receive her. ”

“ We always stay with mother’s godmother for a month every summer in London, Mary and I, and mother comes for the last fortnight. Mother’s godmother is very kind, and we have very good music lessons—she gives us them—she is Lady Honor’s sister. ”

“ The godmother has the privilege of holding the babe until it is time to lay him in the clergyman's arms, the cap having been removed. The parents make the responses; after the naming the godmother takes the little one again, holding him until the close of the service. ”

“ I wrote a number of these dialogues upon all sorts of subjects when I was in the same mood, and, if you like them, and understand them, I can send them to you from time to time, to illustrate my meaning, for the finishing of your education, and the perfecting of your armory of weapons which must be of a sort which is not obsolete for the fight of life.
All godmothers writing to their godchildren—and indeed all women writing to the young—are very apt to be dreadfully serious and to give them only the heaviest fare, which must inevitably weary them. ”

“ Her godmother, who was a fairy, said to her, "You wish you could go to the ball; ”

“ The godfathers and godmothers of a child become, by their participation in the ceremony, relations to one another and to the priest who baptizes the child, and call one another ever afterwards compadre and comadre. ”

“ Her godmother simply touched her with her wand, and, at the same moment, her clothes were turned into cloth of gold and silver, all decked with jewels. ”

“ Indeed, "eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man," what the heavenly Father has prepared in the mansions of eternal bliss for His beloved Daughter, the Son for His Blessed Mother, and the Holy Ghost for His chosen Spouse. She is now queen of heaven and earth; of heaven, for she is the queen of all angels and saints; of earth, for as Mother of God she is the Mother of all mankind, the mediatrix between the Redeemer and the redeemed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And so the Angels open wide Heaven's gates again, to let in the Mother of the King—the Queen of Heaven—their Queen—who has earned her right to her throne; not by being the Mother of God, but by nobly fighting the battle against sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil. ”

“ O thou, blessed parent of God, ever maiden Mary, temple of the Holy Ghost, maiden before conception, maiden in conception, maiden after conception, great is thy glory on this festival among the beforesaid saints; because through thy pure childbirth holiness and heavenly honours came to them all. We speak of the heavenly queen, as is usual, according to her womanhood, yet all the faithful church confidently sing of her, that she is exalted and raised above the hosts of angels to the glorious throne. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It lieth afar, between mountains,
And God and His angels are there;
And one is the dark mount of Sorrow,
And one the bright mountain of Prayer.
[Pg 242]
MARY, VIRGIN AND MOTHER
By E. Seton
Oh, Virgin Joy of all the world art thou,
In whose white, fragrant steps the countless throng
On souls elect doth follow God with song:
Creation’s Queen, whose bright and holy brow
The multitude of Saints, like stars, endow
With changeful splendors, flashing far and strong:
The Maid unshadow’d by the primal wrong:
God’s Lily, chosen in His shrine to bow. ”

“ So come to me, my little one,— My years with thee I share, And mingle with a sister's love A mother's tender care. But keep the smile upon thy lip, The trust upon thy brow; Since for the dear one God hath called We have an angel now. Our mother from the fields of heaven Shall still her ear incline; Nor need we fear her human love Is less for love divine. The songs are sweet they sing beneath The trees of life so fair, But sweetest of the songs of heaven Shall be her children's prayer. ”

“ Let us adore the Eternal Son, saying a Pater, Ave, and Gloria, and then,
I adore Thee too, Eternal Son, in union with all the heavenly host, my Lord, my God, and my Redeemer, rendering Thee never-ending praises on the part of Mary, Virgin most blessed. Thy well-beloved mother, for every grace and favour Thou hast granted her, and above all, for the gift of deepest wisdom with which Thou didst glorify her on her Assumption into heaven. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In their pictures of Mary, the virgin mother, the beauty which melts and subdues the gazer is that of the soul and the affections, uniting the awe and mystery of that mother's miraculous allotment with the irrepressible love, the unutterable tenderness, of young maternity,—Heaven's crowning miracle with Nature's holiest and sweetest instinct. ”

“ When in a series of subjects from the life of the Virgin, so often met with in religious prints and in the Roman Catholic churches, we find her death and her assumption followed by her coronation; when the bier or sarcophagus and the twelve apostles appear below, while heaven opens upon us above; then the representation assumes a kind of dramatic character: it is the last and most glorious event of her history. The Mother, dying on earth, is received into glory by her Son who had gone before her, and who thus celebrates the consummation of his victory and hers. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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? ”

“ HOLY MARY, Mother of sorrows, whose heart was pierced with a fresh sword of grief at every station on the way of the Cross, obtain for us, we beseech thee, O most loving Mother, a perpetual remembrance of our blessed Saviour’s cross and death, and a true and tender devotion to all the mysteries of His most holy Passion; obtain for us the grace to hate sin, even as He hated it in the agony of the Garden ”

“ 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. ”

“ O MARY, with thee we magnify the Lord to-day and without ceasing, Who has done great things for thee, Who is mighty and holy in His Name. With the angel and with all generations we call thee blessed, we salute thee full of grace and conceived without sin whom the Triune God raised above all the angels and saints and chose for His own true Mother. With thee, O Mary, we offer thanks for thy privileges to the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Ghost. ”

“ A graveyard of nuns! O Mother Earth, all-bearing, passion-hearted mother! Thou that sendest love one for another into thy children, from the least to the greatest, as thou givest them life! Thou that livest by their loves and their myriad plightings of troth and myriad marriages! With what inconsolable sorrow must thou receive back upon thy bosom, the chaste dust of lorn virgins, whose bosoms thou didst mould for a lover's arms and a babe's slumbers! ”

“ The Virgin-mother, thus seated in her majesty, apart from all human beings, and in communion only with the Infant Godhead on her knee, or the living worshippers who come to lay down their cares and sorrows at the foot of her throne and breathe a devout "Salve Regina!"—is, through its very simplicity and concentrated interest, a sublime conception. ”

“ How He loves us—even to the extent of pledging Himself to answer the intercessory prayer of one who He knows will make full use of her privilege—one who is even now turning to me, her child, and saying: "I will speak for thee to the King." (verse 18) . Let me determine to have my share in this blessed compact between the Son and the Mother, by continually asking my Queen-Mother for her intercession. Sancta Dei Genitrix, ora pro nobis.
3. The Holy Ghost crowns her as His Spouse. "Come from Libanus, my spouse; come and thou shalt be crowned." (Cant. iv. 8.) "Faithful unto death" she had been ”

“ 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.” ”

“ If you fear and love Him, you will be rich enough. I entrust you to a heavenly Mother who will amply make up to you for my loss, for her power to serve you is far greater than mine. Love that dear Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary; be faithful to her; call on her as your Mother; turn to her in all your wants, reminding her that you are her child, and that she is bound to take care of your interests, and be sure that she will never forsake you. ”

“ O Mary, thou art the Queen of heaven and Mistress of all created things! Obtain for us the lively faith that animated thee, so that we may grow in love, persevere to the end, and hereafter, in company with patriarchs, prophets, and all the elect of God, glorify thee, together with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost through all eternity. ”

“ All then join her praise to sing;
Trembling sing the Virgin Mother,
Mother of our Lord and King.
Where we sing her awful glory,
Far above our fancy’s reach,
Let our hearts be quick to offer—
Love the heart alone can teach. ”