Day #16: Renouncing the Demon
THE SOUL: I know that in holy Baptism I renounced the demon and I?m happy with that renunciation. The demon is so repulsive that I really would not want to make friends with him! …
Yet so many times I?ve been overcome by his suggestions and by sinning I?ve preferred him to God himself. How awful is my ingratitude and how revolting is my foolishness!
The demon is a degraded being, … he is a monster, without order, without happiness, without life! In his fall he didn?t lose his natural qualities, but what are they worth? They are also the greatest torment for him.
An angel is a spirit who lives by truth and admirable activities; now the demon lives by lies because he is forever far from the eternal and essential Truth; he lives without real activity, but in toilsome agitation.
No, I will not go near his promptings, never more, and I beg your solid support, O Mary, to overcome him. You are the conqueror of the demon; you crush his head. You have been lifted up as the morning star of the world and your Immaculate Conception represented the most splendid triumph over the demon. Widen your mantle, O Mary, receive me, defend me from the snares of the demon! You are the all-pure, the all-beautiful, the all-gentle, … you are my mother!
Unfortunately so many times, I have made myself the slave of the demon and for this reason I now fear my weakness.
Queen of the angels, protect me, remove far from me the specter of evil, the delusions of my senses, the attractions of pride, the impulses of my corrupt nature.
Go far away from me, Satan, pasture of death, go far away from me. I enjoin this on you in the name of Mary Immaculate, who triumphantly crushed your momentary and disastrous power! Go far away from me because I already belong to my God and I have been purified by his mercy. Go far away from me; I command this of you in the name of Jesus who conquered you with his Blood! In this divine Blood I have found life again and you will no longer have dominion over me!
ASPIRATION: You are all-beautiful, O Mary, and there is no stain in you; you are my Mother.
LITTLE WORK: When you are tempted, make the sign of the Cross and call on the names of Jesus and Mary.
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!
