CAUSE OF OUR JOY

(1) MARY, we greet you as the Cause of our Joy because you brought forth the Redeemer and thereby shared in the work of our redemption. Your Son Jesus is the only cause of our joy, for He alone redeemed us from sin and hell, reconciled us with God and opened for us a pathway to heaven. If our first mother Eve had not consented to the temptation of Satan, sin with all its evil consequences would not have entered into the world. Eve was the cause of sin and perdition.

Having given your consent to become the Mother of God, you also became the cause of our joy, for you cooperated in the work of our redemption. Your great sanctity consists in a perfect conformity of your thoughts and will with the thoughts and will of God. You shared with God that wonderful compassion in the sacrifice of His Son, and you gave and offered for us the Son of God, who was also your Son, with the same love and willingness as God did. Though you loved Jesus with all your heart, it was even your wish that He should suffer and die for us, because you knew that our redemption was only possible through His Passion and death.

You sacrificed your Son, whom you loved more dearly than heaven and earth and your own life. And I value my salvation so little that I will make no sacrifice for it! In order to save my soul, help me to overcome every evil habit and inordinate desire and to shun every dangerous occasion of sin.

(2) MARY, through you God distributes to us all the graces we need for our salvation. God made you His treasurer. He filled you with all graces that through you as through a channel men might obtain every blessing. God has deposited in you the fullness of all his blessings, to teach us that all hope, all grace, and salvation come to us through your hands. For this reason the Church applies to you the words of the Book of Wisdom: "In me is all hope of life and virtue;" "in me is all grace of life and of truth;" "he who finds me, finds life and draws salvation from the Lord."

Cause of Our Joy, how much God desires us to know you! How I should always have recourse to you and place my confidence in your help! May I always appeal to you when I desire to obtain a grace, that it may the more surely be granted to me and be a source of true joy to my soul. When I appeal to the Saints, or your Son, I know that the grace I receive from Him will be given to me through your hands.

(3) MARY, you take the deepest interest in our welfare and obtain for us pardon and salvation. You are like the rainbow which God caused to appear in the sky as a messenger of peace to men after the deluge and which rejoiced their hearts. As God on beholding the rainbow was reminded of His covenant, so through your intercession He forgives sinners their offences against Him and makes peace with them.

The Church applies to you the words of the Canticle: "Thou art fair as the moon." As the moon is between heaven and earth, so you stand between God and man, that you may pacify heaven, enlighten sinners, and lead them back to God. God Himself has given you the power of helping the miserable.

Cause of Our Joy, may my greatest happiness be to possess the love and grace of God; my greatest glory to be a disciple of Jesus and a child of yours. I rejoice in this happiness and exult in this glory. Let not human pride and worldly desires keep me from perfect devotion to you and your Son.

Lord Jesus Christ, Father of mercies and God of all consolation, grant in Your loving kindness that we who joyfully venerate on earth Mary, Your most pure Mother, as our comforter, may deserve to enjoy with her the unending happiness of heaven. Who live and reign forever. Amen. (Feast of Our Lady of Consolation, Wed. nearest Aug. 28)