VIRGIN MOST FAITHFUL

(1) MARY, you were the Virgin Most Faithful to God. From your infancy to the day of your death, you carefully fulfilled His will in all things. You are said to have made a vow of perpetual virginity in your earliest youth, in order to dedicate yourself entirely to the Lord. Well aware that by becoming the Mother of God your whole life would be filled with sufferings, you, nevertheless, consented to accept this responsibility with as much humility as willingness: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word" (Luke 1,38). Because it was God's will that you should become the Mother of His Son, you were ready to make every sacrifice, even the greatest.

You were always doing some good deed: You never questioned whether God had commanded it, but only whether it was pleasing to Him. In this spirit you fulfilled all that the Law prescribed for the purification of mothers by taking Jesus to the temple of Jerusalem, though you could have disregarded that Law because you were without sin. How wonderful is the fidelity with which you devoted yourself to God in your childhood, youth, motherhood, and widowhood! You knew no other joy than that found in God; you had no other wish than to please Him in faithful service.

Virgin Most Faithful, help me to overcome my inconstancy in the service of God. Make me fervent in spirit that I may serve God with all my heart and with the most exact faithfulness.

(2) MARY, you were the Virgin Most Faithful especially to Jesus. At the word of the angel you arose with your Child and Joseph to make the long and difficult flight into Egypt. After Herod's death you returned into your own country and dwelt in Nazareth. How patiently you toiled and watched and suffered with your little Son! And when He was lost in Jerusalem at the age of twelve, you sought Him anxiously and prayerfully till you found Him in the temple. With mingled feelings of joy and sorrow, you asked, "Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold, thy father and I have been seeking thee sorrowing" (Luke 2,48).

You were faithfully at the side of your Son on the day of His greatest humiliation. When His disciples fled in terror and Peter denied Him, you fearlessly went to meet the murderers of your Son. You did not try to rescue Him from their hands, since you well knew that it was His Father's will, as well as His own, that He should die. But you followed Him and witnessed all His sufferings. Standing beneath the cross, you heard His last words and saw Him complete the sacrifice of redemption while you were spiritually crucified with Him. No human being has ever clung to Jesus with such fidelity, such love, such heroism!

Virgin Most Faithful, I vowed fidelity to my Savior in holy Baptism and have renewed this vow often in my life-time, but I do not always observe it. As long as I meet with no obstacle or suffering, I am a disciple of Christ and act according to His holy will. If, however, my fidelity to Jesus demands courage and sacrifice, I fail my Master. Help me to amend my life and to imitate your fidelity.

(3) MARY, you are also the Virgin Most Faithful to us, your children. You protect and assist us in life and in death, for you love us most tenderly, and desire nothing more ardently than that we should serve God and save our souls. You do all in your power to keep us from sin, or to raise us up if we have been so unfortunate as to fall. As the devil goes about seeking whom he may devour, you go about seeking whom you may save. You hasten to help struggling souls at the hour of death: You enlighten, comfort and strengthen them that they may overcome temptations, preserve the grace of God, and depart from this world in peace.

Virgin Most Faithful, teach me to be faithful in my devotion to you. Be faithful to me now and at the hour of my death.

May the kind intercession of Mary, Your glorious and ever Virgin-Mother, be our help, we beg of You, O Lord, that it may make those whom it has blessed with continual favors ever to know what should be done, and then strengthen them to carry it out faithfully. Who live and reign forever. Amen. (Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel, April 26)