Let us look at Mary...

 

     First of all, in the mystery of the Visitation all fraught with Mary's exquisite charity. She hastens to her cousin Elizabeth without being called. She does not hesitate to make a long and tiresome journey in order to render her services.

 

     At Bethlehem in the poor stable where she received the first adorers of Jesus, the Gospel speaks-only of shepherds and Magi, but reading between the lines of the holy book, we can surmise that besides these shepherds and kings, there surely came a stream of the curious from Bethlehem.

 

     Surely, the Virgin welcomed all these visitors graciously for all she has was a smile and a few words.

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     At Nazareth, Mary came in contact with many people. She loved to help them and to bear with them patiently. She was obliging and charitable to the unfortunate, the afflicted, and to the little ones. Even though absorbed in completion of her Jesus, she thought of others, "of the dear neighbor", whom her Son taught her, the first of all, to love as herself.  

 

     It was at the wedding feast of Cana, that Mary's kindness was revealed with the most exquisite refinement in a very special way. She wished to  spare the newlyweds a humiliation that would cause them pain. She was entirely aware of the situation which was for her important because it involved an act of charity.

 

     Let us listen to Mary...

 

     She spoke at Cana because there was a charitable deed to be done. Sweetly she whispered in the ear of Jesus "They have no more wine." Does she not know full well His goodness and omnipotence?

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     Let us imitate Mary...

 

     Jesus came to earth to teach the law of love, the law of charity. "This is my command", He said, and He taught it first of all to His mother.

 

     No one understood nor realized the testament of the Master than Mary; no one ever practiced charity with greater perfection, with greater tenderness, or to a greater extent than Mary did.

 

     It is therefore an obligation for a Child of Mary to make this divine charity pervade her whole life. It calls to me in many form, and at almost every moment of the day. I will practice it:

 

     In my mind...

• avoiding rash or severe judgements

• by driving away uncharitable thought

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     In my heart...

• how much touchiness, how much antipathy and wounded self love. I find in myself too sensitive, too self centered heart, so full of self esteem!  

 

     In my will...

• are there not petty grudges or paltry desires of revenge that turn my will away from the wide of road of Christian charity?

 

     In my words...

• I will watch especially over my tongue, this two-edged sword which can do so much good as well as so much evil. Harsh words, mockeries, slanders and calumnies are apposed to charity and often becomes grave faults.

 

     In my relation to others...

• the occasions are many; to lend a helping hand, to say a kind word, to yield place to another, to take pity on one suffering, to share in a joy or a sorrow, perhaps just to smile... Charity also presupposes the pardon and forgetting of ill treatment.

 

     Jesus prayed for His executioners he cast a long look of love on Peter, who denied Him. He called Judas "my friend..." 

 

     Mary forgot the indifference, the refusal the harsh words of the people of Bethlehem.

 

     What a contrast to my own conduct! I will try to the association of the "Luisa", by taking greater lead a life of active charity by joining, for example interest in the sick and poor.

 

     Thus shall I fulfill one of the desires most dear to the Sacred Heart of Jesus who has said "Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it unto me."