Mary, our Hope.
STORY
St Gregory relates that there was a young woman named Musa, who was very devout to the Mother of God; to whom, when she was in great danger of losing her innocence by the bad example of her companions, Mary appeared one day with many saints, and said: “Musa, do you also wish to be one of these?” On her answering “Yes,” she added, “Well, withdraw from your companions, and prepare yourself, for in a month you shall come.” Musa did so, and related the vision. On the thirteenth day she was at the point of death, when the most Blessed Virgin again appeared, and invited her to come. She replied, “Behold, I come, O Lady,” and sweetly expired.
PRAYER
O Mother of holy love, our life, our refuge, and our hope, you well know that your Son Jesus Christ, not content with being himself our perpetual advocate with the eternal Father, has willed that you also should interest yourself with him, in order to obtain the divine mercies for us. He has decreed that your prayers should aid our salvation, and has made them so efficacious that they obtain all that they ask. To you therefore, who are the hope of the miserable, do I, a wretched sinner, turn my eyes. I trust, O Lady, that in the first place through your intercession, I shall be saved. Of this I am certain; and my confidence in you is such, that if my eternal salvation were in my own hands, I should place it in yours, for I rely more on your mercy and protection than on all my own works. My mother and my hope, abandon me not, though I deserve that you should do so. See my miseries, and, being moved thereby with compassion, help and save me. I own that I have too often closed my heart, by my sins, against the lights and helps that you have procured for me from the Lord. But your compassion for the miserable, and your power with God, far surpass the number and malice of my sins. It is well known to all, both in heaven and on earth, that whosoever is protected by you is certainly saved. All may forget me, provided only that you do remember me, O Mother of an omnipotent God. Tell him that I am your servant; say only that you defend me, and I shall be saved. O Mary, I trust in you; in this hope I live; in it I desire and hope to die, repeating always, “Jesus is my only hope, and after Jesus the most Blessed Virgin Mary.”
