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!
