May the Passion of Christ be ever in our hearts!

The first canonized saint of the Western Hemisphere, Rose of Lima (1586-1617) might also be considered a type of the special vocation of contemplative-in-the-world.  Inspired by the example of St. Catherine of Siena, Rose became a Dominican lay tertiary and devoted herself to works of active charity while living a life of extreme austerity. 

When he was twenty-one, Dominic received the first direct inkling of what the Lord's plans for his future might be. He writes: "One of these days (I think it was one of the last of the year 1813) as I was saying my prayers, the idea came to me that God wanted me to be a priest, and that I was to go and bring the light of the Gospel to a foreign nation."

Mary was born to be the mother of the Savior of the world, the spiritual mother of all men, and the holiest of God's creatures. This is one of the three birthdays in the Church Calendar: Jesus, John the Baptist, and Mary. All three were born without original sin, Mary and Jesus being conceived without sin, and St. John being cleansed of original sin while in the womb at the Visitation of Mary. 

Paul Daneo confides to the Heart of Mary himself and the Congregation she has asked him to found.  Into her hands he makes a vow to promote with all his strength devotion to the Passion of her Son.  She had appeared to him, clothed as he is now.  From now on it would be up to her.  He has placed his future and that of his Institute forever in her care.

Mary then is Queen, first of all by the natural right of her divine motherhood.  Secondly, by right of conquest upon Calvary;  and thirdly, as Mediatrix and Dispenser of all the grace Jesus acquired by his death.  But the Queenship of Mary rests basically on what is called the principle of consortium---that is, the union of love between Jesus and Mary by which she lived the very life of her Son, and through a communion of pain and sorrow most properly deserved to become reparatrix of the sinful world.

We now reflect on Mary as the inspiration of our Congregation. “The most sweet Mother of God is the loving Custodian of every religious order….Yet there are some who are more particularly obligated to her, because she appears as the one who communicated the idea, showed the form of its habit and intervened in its foundation.”

The highest graces of Paul’s interior life came as an overflow from Mary’s heart. Devotion to Mary was like a sea of love and sorrow that surged in and engulfed his whole being. This devotion flooded over into his letters:  “Love this infinite Good with the sweet Heart of this great Lady.”  “Enter into that chamber of love, which is her sacred Heart.”

The Mother of Sorrows impresses her lessons on the souls of Passionists who contemplate her standing beside the cross of Christ.  We are to be citizens of Golgotha;  we make our home on Calvary in the company of Mary and John, the beloved disciple,and the holy women who remained faithful to Jesus when all others abandoned him.  

Mary’s instrumentality in grace is totally maternal, for she forms us to her likeness as a mother does.  The reproduction of her compassion for Jesus in our hearts is imparted to Passionists who learn to hide themselves within the heart-womb of this Mother of Sorrows.

On this vigil of our principal Marian feast, the feast of Our Mother of Sorrows, we will consider Mary as the directress of the mission of the Passionist Congregation. ‘The Blessed Virgin was drawn by Our Lord into consortium as a helpmate.  Her role is not vicarious.  She is a co-worker and companion, a sharer in the kingdom as she was sharer in the sufferings for the human race….’