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There is no better preparation for Holy Com?munion than to entrust it all to the Immaculata:? She knows best how to prepare our hearts, and thus we may be certain that we afford Jesus the great?est pleasure, that we show him the greatest love. Even without this actual oblation we are hers, because we have dedicated ourselves to her and never revoked our dedication.
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The Immaculata suggests a thousand ways to her children. For example, someone may desire to give her the greatest joy of which he is capable. What does he do? He borrows the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and then he is sure that he has infi?nitely outrun all men and angels taken together in his love of the Immaculata. In turn, he loves Jesus with her heart, or rather she in him and through him loves Jesus, for example, in Holy Commun?ion.
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Prayer, prayer above all, is an effective weapon in the fight for freedom and happiness of souls.
Only supernatural means lead to a supernatural end. Heaven, or, if I may say so, the divinization of the soul, is something supernatural in the full sense of the word. With natural powers one is in?capable of reaching it. One needs a supernatural means, the grace of God. One gains this grace by humble and confident prayer. Grace, and only grace, illuminating the intellect and strengthening the will, is the reason for conversion, or freeing the soul from the fetters of evil.
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The saints claim that whoever prays to the Mother of God during a temptation will surely not sin. Whoever turns to her throughout life with con?fidence will surely be saved. Much patience and confidence in the Immaculata is necessary, and much prayer in dif?ficulties, or the invocation of the sweetest name of Mary, or “Hail Mary.” In more difficult and more important situations, five decades of the Rosary will not be out of the way. Yes, every difficulty or suffering will change itself into a source of merit.
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My dear brothers, let us remember and often recall that a single turning to the Immaculata will suffice, either by word or glance or only a thought, so that she would repair all that we have ruined both in ourselves and those around us. She will guide us at the present moment and take our fu?ture and the results of our future work under her care. For that reason let us often have recourse to her. ?The entire fruit of our activity in the direction of converting and sanctifying souls depends upon prayer.
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Without regard for what kind of sins we have on our conscience, we can rise from them if only we turn with all confidence to the Immaculata. ?The cause of the Immaculata is to be our ac?tivity. We cannot permit that other purposes displace our main purpose: to win the whole world for the most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculata. Every?thing must measure up to that purpose, because these are divine affairs. Here we need to get on our knees, with the attitude that all prayer, ejaculations, all our imperfections are to be burned for her, so that we love her, draw near to her, throw out from ourselves what is not hers. ?One who cannot bend his knees and beg her in humble prayer to know who she is, let him not expect to learn anything more intimate about her. You know the story of the prayer of Duns Scotus: “Permit me to praise you, 0 Most Holy Virgin; give me strength against your enemies.” ?We see how the first part of this prayer is humble: “Permit me to praise you.” But in the sec?ond part we see how strong and resolute it is: “give me strength against your enemies.” Hence the sec?ond part of the prayer is strength and manliness, strength against one’s enemies.
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Prayer is not for prayer’s own sake, but to help us unite our will with the will of God. Al?ways and everywhere prayer is necessary, but as a means, not an end. ?We are to win the whole world for the Immaculata; therefore we must strongly support ourselves by prayer. If anyone is physically weak, he must nour?ish himself better and more often. In the same way those spiritually sick need more of the nourishment of grace, which can be obtained through prayer. Let us always remember that we will know the Immaculata more in humble prayer and in the loving experiences of daily life, than from learned definitions, distinctions and arguments, even though we are not allowed to ignore these. ?A soul without the spirit of prayer may be convinced that it does much, but it is like a ship that sails very rapidly in order to break itself on a rock.
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I have experienced that only prayer obtains the grace of conversion.
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