DEDICATION. To Mary, the ever Blessed and Glorious Virgin, Mother of God, are dedicated these selections from the written Word: Mary, who ever kept God's Word in holy silence and prudence, pondering it in her heart: Mary, whose sole testimony sufficed to establish the truth that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and whose prayer will ever be most lovingly applied to form Christ in our hearts: Mary, who is heard even if God's time is "not yet come," as when she said: Son, "they have no wine:" Mary, whose humility alone resembling that of Jesus, sought not her own glory, but remained "full of grace" under the shadow of the Most High; Mary, whose compassion is as great now, as when, standing at the foot of the cross, the sword pierced her Iminaculate Heart, and when by a supreme charity as mother of us all she accepted St. John for her son in the stead of her divine Jesus. O Mother of Him who will at the last day come in great power and majesty to judge the living and the dead by the Gospel's holy law, pray for us, that, rejecting the false maxims of a world at enmity with God, we may die to it, and to ourselves, and so, the Spirit of Jesus may alone live in us and direct us, to the glory of God the Father. Amen. |