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Day #16: Renouncing the Demon

THE SOUL: I know that in holy Baptism I renounced the demon and I?m happy with that renunciation. (more…)

Day #15: The Spirit of Jesus Christ

MARY: Opposed to the spirit of the world, which is a mass of duplicity, resentment, struggles, presumption and degradation, is the spirit of Jesus Christ, (more…)

Day #14: The Spirit of the World

MARY: You live in the world and you cannot withdraw yourself from it materially, but you must be there
without living in its spirit. (more…)

Day #13: Holy Baptism

MARY: The grace of God has enriched you from your birth. (more…)

Day #12: The Channels of Grace

MARY: In his mercy God did not want to make the flow of his grace to you difficult and he gave you a channel through which you can enrich yourself with it in the holy sacraments. (more…)

Day #11: Mary’s Grace

THE SOUL: Hail, O Mary, full of grace! … From the wretched earth where I am, I raise up my glance to you to admire you (more…)

Day #10: The Grace of God

MARY: The mercy of God never abandons you, (more…)

Day #3: My Temperament

THE SOUL: In order to reform my heart I must study it intimately as it is, my good Mother. I look at it and I seem to see there a mass of confusion which doesn?t allow me to see it clearly. How full I am of darkness! You tell me what my temperament is, that is the fundamental character of my heart.

MARY: The temperament is the sum of the constant tendencies of the heart which propel it to act in the same way. You know your temperament from the defects into which you most often fall, from the spontaneous acts of your heart, from your habits …

Are you very easily given to anger, … do you get disturbed over nothing, do you react, show yourself offended? … Are you closed, taciturn, leaden; do you build so many castles in the air? … Are you insensitive, hard, egotistical, obstinate in your judgments? … Are you lazy, indolent, slow, negligent, pessimistic? … Do you see everything black and think that everyone is against you? Do you give too much weight to a word that innocently escapes from another and construe it to be an insinuation, an injury, a resentment? Do you easily hold a grudge, show resentment in small ways, react violently, backbite, grumble and even lie and calumniate? … Are you proud, full of yourself, vain, desirous of being admired, praised, given special consideration? … Are you greedy, attached to earthly things? Are you always looking for entertainment, ruminating about worldly ideals, hankering after your satisfactions, seeking after your tastes, complaining about your food, drink and clothing? … Examine yourself and where you perceive major lacks there you will discover your temperament and there is the field where you must exert more effort. It isn?t difficult to amend your ways; start a little at a time; begin to conquer yourself at least a few times every day
and you will see that your temperament will be modified and your heart will be changed.

ASPIRATION: O Mary, deliver me from the wretchedness of my character … from anger, from impatience …

LITTLE WORK: If it seems that a person who has offended you deserves to be reproved, don?t do it when you are still in a fit of anger, but wait until tomorrow to correct him.

About the Meditations

The daily School of Mary meditations come from the book, A Month with Mary. To obtain a copy of this or other books published by the Academy of the Immaculate, visit our on-line bookstore at http://www.marymediatrix.com/bookstore/academy

Ave Maria!

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Ave Maria! Here is the second one for today. From this point forward their will be on each day for the month of May.

Day #2: My Heart and the Heart of Mary

MARY: My little daughter, your mother is calling you and showing you what distinguishes her as Mother: the Heart! Draw near to my Heart, kiss it, and experience how burning is its love for you! God has submerged his mercies in it and wants it to be the center of regeneration for those children whom he has entrusted to me. You are my daughter and so entrust yourself to the Heart of your Mother who loves you so much.

THE SOUL: If you show me your Heart, Mary, I will also show you mine! How much smallness there is in my little heart! You are immaculate and pure, the delight of God and I am full of imperfections and faults! You love God immensely and I am so cold toward Him! You are so full of gifts and graces and I am your little poor one! … O my Mother, I place my heart in yours; work on it; lift it up into the holy love of God … reform it! It?s so ugly … even if I don?t really know it yet because I?m so blinded by pride … Tear the secrets from this heart; curtail its self-deceptions with your light; adorn it with virtues by the help of your grace so that I can truly call myself your child.

MARY: If you want to know your heart, measure it against mine. Don?t believe that all is evil within you nor
that all is good. Don?t be discouraged or presumptuous, but recognize your weaknesses with filial simplicity without hiding them from your sight and without getting irritated … Always remain in peace and I will help you to reform yourself.

ASPIRATION: O Heart of Mary, be my model and the refuge of my poor heart.

LITTLE WORK: Deprive yourself of something superfluous to which you feel attached.

About the Meditations

The daily School of Mary meditations come from the book, A Month with Mary, written by a holy Italian priest Father Dolindo Ruotolo (1882-1970). Originally written as spiritual thoughts to his spiritual daughter, the work is comprised of thirty-one meditations for the month of May.

Father Dolindo wrote A Month with Mary on pocket-sized pages joined into small fascicles of 8 to 12 pages. He sent them to Laura de Rosis every two to three days and later transcribed them with some modifications in volume III of his autobiography: The Story of My Life in the Plan of the Great Mercy of God, pp. 1140ff (cf. Epistolario 1:212n, 218n). This work is from 1912: one of those years which passed in the life of Father Dolindo with the cadence of a “Way of the Cross” … But he, serene as ever, loved Christ the more, loved Our Lady the more and reflected on this love in these few pages to which he wished to give the significant title: A Profound Reform of Heart in the School of Mary. These meditations are written in the style of the Imitation of Christ. (90pp. laminated gloss, saddle stitch)

To obtain a copy of A Month with Mary or other books published by the Academy of the Immaculate, visit our on-line bookstore at http://www.marymediatrix.com/bookstore/academy

Ave Maria!

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For this Month of November let us remember the Souls in purgatory and pray so that we too are prepared for our coming judgment. And for your meditation:

Mary Vitamin for August 23rd

Topic: Our Lady’s Joy in the Resurrection of Her Son

(The sixth mystery in the Franciscan Crown — Feast August 26)

Quote:

St. Teresa of Avila

One day after receiving Communion, it seemed most clear to me that Our Lord sat beside me; He told me that immediately after His resurrection He went to see our Lady because she then had great need and that the pain she experienced so absorbed and transpierced her soul that she did not return immediately to herself to rejoice in that joy. By this I understood how different was this other transpiercing, the one of my soul. But what must have been that transpiercing of the blessed Virgin’s soul! He also said that He had remained a long time with her because it was necessary in order to console her.

St. Teresa of Avila, Spiritual Testimonies, (ICS Publications: 1985), 390-91.

Quote used in Mary Vitamin #153

Meditation:

Imagine after days of painfully placing herself in God’s presence in prayer, with the agony of the Cross fresh before her mind’s eye, what a joy it was for our Lady to see the Lord in glory, alive and well and to speak with Him with no effort on her part.

I Peter 1:6-9

There is cause for rejoicing here. You may for a time have to suffer the distress of many trials; but this is so that your faith, which is more precious than the passing splendor of fire-tried gold, may by its genuineness lead t0 praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ appears.

When Our Lord appeared to Our Lady and “remained a long time with her because it was necessary to console her” did Our Lady ask about her holy spouse and parents? Did she receive “news” from the Lord about the happiness experienced by her beloved family members? Was this a part of Our Lady’s joy in the Resurrection? She saw her Son’s victory over death and the consequences for those she loved.

Resolution:

Today before beginning my usual prayers, I will call to mind the visit of Our Lord to Our Lady after the Resurrection. I will try to enter prayer with the joy of Our Lady and remember that it took her a long time with the Lord before she experienced the joy of the Resurrection.

Marian Vow:

Father Gabriel Allegra, O.F.M.

Precisely here is the essence of consecration: always to look carefully at the Immaculate Mother. Her mere look will indicate her wishes, will help one to put them into practice. And thus we will generously and easily do the will of the Father.

Mary’s Immaculate Heart, A Way to God, (Franciscan Herald Press: 1985), 76.

I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thanks be to God for graces received.

Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate

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Mary Vitamin is a daily Email support for Marian mental prayer. Each day (Monday through Friday) members will receive a brief Marian quote with a corresponding Marian meditation and resolution. The Mary Vitamin is designed to make mental prayer a little simpler and bring Our Lady into your day in a systematic way.

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Mary Vitamin for August 5th

Topic: The Woman of the Bible and Our Mother

Quote:

[Mary] is the real, physical Mother of the Messiah; she is the real mystical Mother of the Church, the new people of God. This is the thread, that, without a break in continuity, starts with Genesis and reaches to Revelation, passing through Cana and Calvary.

Father Stefano Manelli, FI, All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed, (Academy of the Immaculate: 1989), 356.

Meditation:

Fr. Stefano Manelli, FI

On this subject, a passage interesting and rich in insight, accurate as it is delicate, has been written by I. de La Potterie:

A very important insight of modern exegesis has brought to light how the mystery of Mary in some way forms a synthesis of all of the preceding revelation about the people of God, (more…)

Mary Vitamin July 30th

Topic: Fourth Sorrowful Mystery – Carrying of the Cross
In honor of the Month of the Precious Blood

Quote:
Then therefore [Pontius Pilate] delivered him to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him forth. And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha.
John 19:16-17

Meditation:
Father Frederick Faber
It was a dreadful thing for a mother to walk the streets over her own son’s blood. (more…)

Mary Vitamin for July 29th

Topic: Martha and Mary
Luke 10:38-42

Quote:
St.  Francis de Sales
The two women represent our Lady.
The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales on Our Lady, (Tan Books) 62.
Tan Books

Meditation:
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
John 11:5

Archbishop Alban Goodier, S.J.:
And the name of Martha comes first. He could not blame her zeal; He could not find fault with her self-sacrificing charity. Nevertheless (more…)

Mary Vitamin for July 28th

Topic: The Second Sorrowful Mystery – Scourging at the Pillar
In honor of the Month of the Precious Blood

Quote:
[Pilate said] “I am innocent of this man’s blood. Look to it yourselves.” And the whole people said in reply, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” Then he released Barabbas to them, but after he had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. MT 27:24-26 (more…)