breath is a sigh, and a sigh meant for our Mother to hear. Well would it
be for us if this were true! It would change the character of our exile.
A sigh meant for Our Blessed Lady could not be one of discontent and
murmuring and rebellion against our lot. The very fact that it is
intended for her would make it full of love and hope and submission to
GOD'S will. It would be like the sigh of a child whose mother has
promised it some little pleasure. The time seems very long to the little
one, and as she sits patiently by her mother's side, a sigh escapes her
now and then--a very marked and intentional sigh! What does it mean? It
means that though she will not speak or do anything that her mother
might not like, yet she would remind her mother of her presence and let
her know that she is feeling the time very long. Does the mother mind
the sighs? Oh no, for each one tells her of the love of her child, and
makes her anxious to shorten the time of waiting if she can.
GEMENTES ET FLENTES. The sighs become more audible--_groaning_ and
_weeping_--the exiles are _mourning_ the loss of things they can never
have again till they get home. It is one of the times when they feel
that the harps must be hung up, (Ps. cxxxvi.), when mirth and joy are
altogether out of place. Such times will come in our land of exile; and
these are the times when we shall do well to cry out to our Mother.
O Mary, look upon thy weeping children, and as the great wail of
suffering humanity rises up to thee, "show thyself a Mother," the Mother
of Consolation. Come to the suffering hearts that cry for thee, and make
them understand that joy and gladness is for them, even in the land of
their exile ever since the Sun of justice has risen over it "with
healing in His wings." Whisper to each heartbroken one, words of hope
and consolation; tell of reparation, of mortification, of detachment, of
the immense value of suffering, till the sorrowing heart is willing, yea
_glad_, to suffer.
IN HOC LACRYMARUM VALLE. In this _vale_. Our land of exile is a Valley
of Humiliation. It was here that JESUS came to stay, when He _humbled_
Himself even to the death of the Cross; and here it is that He would
have each one of His children wait till the humiliations of the valley
have taught them to conquer self-love. "Be you humbled, therefore, under
the mighty hand of GOD, that He may exalt you in the time of
visitation." (1 Pet. v. 6.)
It is a vale of _tears_--a vale where JESUS wept; a vale which has been
sanctified by the tears of a Magdalen, and a Peter, and of multitudes of
others who have learnt here to be saints; a vale where every tear shed
by His children is treasured by GOD. "Thou hast set my tears in Thy
sight." (Ps. lv. 9.)
We read of two occasions on which JESUS wept--once for the sorrows of
His friends (St John xi. 35), and once for the sins of His enemies. (St
Luke xix. 41.) I need not then be ashamed of tears--not even if I have
to say with the Psalmist: "My tears have been my bread day and night."
(Ps. xli. 4.) But I must be careful that they resemble those of JESUS,
that the cause of them is never self-love or self-pity, but sorrow for
my own sins and those of others, and for anything which grieves the
Heart of JESUS. "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy," for He
Himself "will wipe away all tears from their eyes." (Ps. cxxv. 5, and
Apoc. vii. 17.)
EIA ERGO ADVOCATA NOSTRA. _Therefore_, just because of our misery and
need--it is our only plea, and one which appeals more than any other to
a Mother's heart--we appeal to her as _our Advocate_: one who will plead
our cause, who will speak to the King for us and tell Him of our needs,
as she did long ago at Cana of Galilee. Had ever banished children such
an advocate--one to whom the Judge has pledged Himself: "I must not turn
away thy face!"
O _Advocata nostra_, plead for me with thy Son when I stand before Him
to be judged! In that terrible moment remember my _Salve_, for I shall
be unable to say it then.
MISERICORDES OCULOS AD NOS CONVERTE. _Turn thy merciful eyes upon us._
We only ask her to _look_. It is quite enough for a mother to see her
child in trouble. She does not need to be told what to do.
ET JESUM BENEDICTUM FRUCTUM VENTRIS TUI NOBIS POST HOC EXILIUM OSTENDE.
Here we get to the point of the prayer--the sighs, and groans, and
cries, and tears of the banished children are all because they want to
see JESUS. _And after this our exile show unto us the Blessed Fruit of
thy womb, JESUS._ "We would see JESUS" (St John xii. 21), and we come to
ask His Mother to show Him to us. This is her great work; and she turns
to the children and says: "Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye," and
you shall see His Face one day.
_After this our exile._
"When the voyage is o'er, O stand on the shore
And show Him at last to me."
It is because I cannot see JESUS that I am so often in trouble in the
land of exile. If my faith were strong enough I should see Him
continually, and sorrow would flee away. We have not got to wait till
the voyage is o'er before seeing Him. Many and many a glimpse of the
Blessed Fruit of her womb does our Mother give us. To be near her means
that we are near Him too. Each Communion, each absolution--yea, each
humiliation and sorrow is our Mother letting us see JESUS if we will
only look; and when she stands on the shore to show Him _at last_, we
shall see that it is the "same JESUS" Who so often walked with us in the
land of our exile, though our eyes were for the most part holden by our
want of faith, and we did not recognise Him.
O CLEMENS, O PIA, O DULCIS VIRGO MARIA. _O clement, O loving, O sweet
Virgin Mary._ We multiply our words in trying to express to our Mother
something of what we feel towards her, but they all mean the same
thing--that she is a _Mother_. Her sweetness is as ointment poured
forth, and attracts all to it. Her kindness and love, too, have been
known to all since she stood at the Foot of the Cross, and received all
her banished children into her stricken heart. Never in vain can we
appeal to our sweet Mother. And so with renewed confidence we will say
our _Salve_, rejoicing even in this vale of tears because we have a
Mother who knows all about us, and who will never forget us; whose one
desire is to show us the Blessed Fruit of her womb, JESUS; who will
teach us to sing the Lord's song in a strange land, even as she sang her
_Magnificat_; and who will one day, when the days of our exile are over,
sing with us the ever "new song" of Redemption to "Him Who loved us and
washed us in His Blood."
Till then, dear Mother, help us to be patient, and help us to learn the
lessons of the valley, remembering that they will never be learned at
all if they are not learned here.
_Colloquy._ The _Salve Regina_.
FOOTNOTE:
[Footnote 1: _Note._--There are times when we get a little tired of
Preludes and Points, and feel that a change of method would be a help to
our Meditation. St Ignatius knew this, and knew also that to some minds
Preludes and Points would be a positive hindrance; and so he has given
us, in his book of the _Spiritual Exercises_, "Three (other) methods of
prayer." Our Meditation to-day is according to the _Second Method_,
which "consists in considering the signification of each word of a
prayer." (Text of the _Exercises_.) St Ignatius says that if one or two
words give us sufficient matter for thought and spiritual relish and
consolation, we are not to be anxious to pass on, even though the whole
time of the Meditation be spent on _one_ word, but leave the rest till
the next day. So we may take to-day as many words of the _Salve Regina_
as we find spiritual relish for. This method, St Ignatius tells us, may
be applied to "_any other prayer whatsoever_."]
_Dei Genitrix, intercede pro nobis._
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious spelling and punctuation errors were repaired, but unusual
period spellings and grammar uses were retained. Original placed
punctuation such as semi-colons outside closing quotation marks; this
was retained.
Table of Contents entries do not always agree with chapter headings in
the original; these differences were retained.
Gospel references throughout the main text begin with "St" as in "St
Luke." In two exceptions--P. 23 and 97--the "St" was missing and has
been added by the transcriber for consistency. The preface, by a
different author, does not use "St" before gospel references.
A few uses of "God" were left out of small-caps in the original. These
were placed in small-caps to agree with majority use.
Three uses of "ch." were changed to match three uses of "chap." for
consistency.
P. 53: Transcriber added a paragraph break between "sacrifices." and (1)
for consistent treatment of numbered paragraphs.
Blocking of numbered paragraphs on P. 70-71 and 73 is faithful to the
original.