_Most pleasing to Our Blessed Lord is our Devotion to His Mother._
St. Teresa relates the following:
'Don Bernadino de Mendoza, to testify his devotion to the Most Holy
Virgin, came to offer me his house, at Pico de Olmos, near Valladolid,
for a Convent of Our Lady of Carmel. To say the truth, I felt some
repugnance to found a religious house far from a town, yet the
offering had been made so cordially, and for so holy a purpose, that I
considered I ought not to refuse it, and thus deprive the young
gentleman of so much merit.
'About two months afterwards he was seized by a mortal illness,
deprived of the power of speech, and died without having been able to
make his confession. The Divine Master then said to me: "His
salvation, my dear daughter, was in great danger; but I showed him
mercy, in reward of the house he had made over for the foundation of a
Convent consecrated to My Mother, under the title of Carmel. However,
he will not be released from Purgatory until the first Mass is
celebrated in that Convent."
'From that time my mind was ever occupied with the thought of his
sufferings. The foundation of Valladolid could not be formed as
quickly as I desired. One day, when I was stopping at St. Joseph's, at
Medina del Campo, whilst I was at prayer, Our Lord said to me: "Make
haste, because this soul suffers much." After this nothing could
induce me to delay. Being arrived at Valladolid, although the house
was unhealthy, I prepared some cells, just for the time being, and
provided merely what was absolutely necessary. When Sunday arrived,
notwithstanding the delay of the formal authorization, permission was
granted to have Mass celebrated on the spot which was destined for the
Church. I did not, indeed, believe that the promise of Our Lord
regarding this gentleman would be fulfilled then; on the contrary, I
was persuaded that the words, _until the first Mass_, related to that
Mass when the Blessed Sacrament would be reserved for the first time
in the Church. But when the Priest turned towards us, with the sacred
ciborium in his hand, to communicate us, and I had approached the
Altar to receive the sacred Host, I saw the gentleman by the side of
the Priest, full of joy and resplendent with light. He thanked me for
all I had done to deliver him from the flames of Purgatory, and then
ascended to heaven.
'Oh, how precious is any service, however small, that we are able to
render the Most Holy Virgin! Who can tell how pleasing it is to Our
Lord, and how mercifully He rewards it?'
_Prayer._--O Mother! full of love and clemency towards us, you are
penetrated with the same sentiments as your Divine Son, and you also
say with Him: 'Whenever the sinner returns to me with sincere sorrow
for his offences, he always finds me ready to receive him with
kindness and tenderness. I think not of the malice, or the number of
his sins, but I only look at the desire he has to be converted; and I
am always disposed to implore a remedy for his wounds, because I am,
in deed and in name, the Mother of Grace and of Mercy!'
O Mary! since you never reject the sinner who returns to you with a
resolution to amend, and since you have the power, as well as the
will, to obtain the cure of all the wounds of the heart, behold me at
your feet, full of confidence. Behold, I beseech you, the deep and
cankered wounds of my soul, and if you will deign to offer your
prayers to your Divine Son for me, I shall hope everything for my
eternal salvation. Amen.
_Aspiration._--Through your intercession, O tender Mother, I hope to
obtain the eternal happiness of heaven!
_Practice._--Let all the good works of this day be directed to obtain
the conversion of sinners.