568. August 5, Dedication of Basilica of St Mary Major

Meditations no. 499 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The Blessed Virgin’s love for holy purity.

Today’s liturgical feast commemorates the consecration of a Roman basilica, St Mary Major, dedicated to our Lady of the Snows.

This name recalls the reason for its construction. In the fourth century, during the pontificate of Pope Liberius, a Roman nobleman named John decided to leave his entire estate to the Mother of God, since he was childless. He prayed insistently to our Lady, asking her to show him what to do with his possessions.

Our Lady heard his prayers. A pious tradition has been handed down to us that, in the month of August, always the hottest period in Rome, snow fell at night and covered part of the Esquiline hill. On that same night the Mother of God told John and his wife in separate dreams that they should build a church dedicated to the name of the Virgin Mary on the spot that they would find covered with snow.

In the symbolism of this account we can see the great love for the virtue of purity that made holy Mary-alba sicut nix, as pure as snow-very pleasing in God’s sight. Ne timeas, Maria! “Do not be afraid, Mary!” Our Lady was troubled at the presence of the Archangel.

And I want to throw away those safeguards of modesty that are the shield of my purity!

I think of this virtue as the wings which enable us to carry God’s teaching, his commandments, to every environment on this earth, without fear of getting contaminated in the process. Wings, even in the case of those majestic birds which soar higher than the clouds, are a burden and a heavy one. But without wings, there is no way of flying. I want you to grasp this idea clearly, and to decide not to give in when you feel the sting of temptation, with its suggestion that purity is an unbearable burden. Take heart! Fly upwards, up to the sun, in pursuit of Love!

The Blessed Virgin was preserved from all sin by a special privilege of God. We, in contrast, always bear within us the ‘body of death’ that cries out for its lost privileges. Our Lady offers us a sure support in our struggle: The holy Virgin Mary, Mother of Fair Love, will bring relief to your heart, when it feels as if it is made of flesh, if you have recourse to her with confidence.

We must guard and love this virtue.

My children, our Lord carries out that great deed of charity towards the Samaritan woman, towards that sinner. The holy Gospel tells us that the Apostles arrived and mirabantur quia cum muliere loquebatur (Jn 4: 27); they were surprised to see him speaking alone with a woman. … What care! What great love for the enchanting virtue of holy purity, which makes us more manly, stronger, more hardy, more fruitful, better able to work for God, to do great things.

My child, do you have the same concern? Do you know how to flee, to prevent your heart from being tied down? I am already old, and I have to be careful; I have to avoid the same occasions. I repeat to you those words of Scripture: cavendum!-one must be careful. You and I must be quick to cut off any ties. This area is very tricky. Besides, when a person gets trapped here, he never realizes it: he finds an excuse based on charity, on human and even supernatural refinement, but as false as Judas. Have the courage to be cowards: flee! Neither letters, nor replies, nor dealings, nor looks, nor conversations, nothing. Children of my soul: we have given our hearts to God! Let us not get enmeshed.

In my lifetime of dealing with people, how many persons have told me, ‘Oh, if only I had broken it off at the start’! And they are filled with remorse and shame. My children, if there’s anything that’s not right in your life, break it off, cut it off now! Let us ask our heavenly Mother to help us. ‘My Mother, protect me. You are the Queen of heaven. You are the Queen of purity’! Do you see why I have such a great devotion to the Mother of Fair Love? It’s because I have a heart like yours. I have passions like yours, as all the saints did too. Yet they were able to say, possumus! (Mk 10: 39). We too can say the same.

You will never find happiness outside your way, my sons. If someone were to go astray, he would end up with a deep remorse. For a person who abandons his vocation, even the things that bring people a relative happiness become as bitter as gall, as sour as vinegar. Each of you, and I as well, are going to tell Jesus: Lord, I want to struggle, and I know that you don’t lose battles. But if I ever do lose one, it’s because I’ve strayed from you. Hold me by the hand, and don’t trust me, don’t leave me.

You may say to me: Father, I’m so happy with my vocation, I love Jesus Christ. Although I’m made of clay, I want to be holy with the help of God and his Mother in heaven! I know, my son, I know. But I tell you these things just in case, should you go through a bad time. Never forget it: let us learn from others’ experience.

We have the means to win out in our struggle.

What are the means to always win out in our struggle to be chaste?

In our statutes I used a comparison that now doesn’t seem right to me; and as the Father, I think I should acknowledge this. I wrote that the purity of the members of the Work had to be angelic, because that’s the way people talk, just as one says that the sun ‘rises’ and ‘sets.’ But now I find the comparison distasteful. We must behave, not like angels, but rather like clean, strong, normal men and women! I love the angels a lot, and have an enormous devotion to them. But I don’t like comparing them to us, since the angels have a different nature from ours, and such a comparison would be right.

We have to be as clean as we can, with respect to the body, without fear, since sex is something holy and noble; it is a participation in God’s creative power, destined for marriage. Thus, by your clean life and without fear, you will bear testimony in your apostolic activity to the beauty of Christian purity.

And what means do I advise? The ones that you already live: presence of God, dealing with our Lord in the Eucharist, assiduous and filial recourse to the Blessed Virgin, intense and constant work, humility, sincerity, temperance, mortification and penance; and always, fleeing from dangerous occasions… .

Three things, my children, fill us with joy on earth and gain us the eternal happiness of heaven: a firm, refined, cheerful and unquestioned fidelity to our faith, vocation and purity. Whoever gets caught in the brambles along the way, remains entangled only by his own will. And he will know he is a coward, since he has turned his back on Christ’s Love. I tell you once again that we all have miseries. But they should never lead us to turn our back on God’s call, but rather to welcome it, to vest ourselves in this sign of God’s goodness, like the warriors of old in their armour. Our defence is found in those words from Scripture: ecce ego quia vocasti me (1 Sam 3: 6), here I am, for you have called me. It makes no sense to reject God’s call because we have miseries; rather we must attack our miseries, since God has called us.

There is another wonderful means that you should take very good care of every day: the three Hail Mary’s for our purity and that of your brothers, which we pray every night with our arms open in the form of a cross. Take care of this custom! Pray those three Hail Mary’s with devotion, without rushing! And be sure that we’ll be victorious if we don’t stray from the Mother of God’s hand, if we don’t react with pride, if-sincerely and without fear-we speak clearly in the fraternal chat, if we put ourselves in God’s hands, saying ‘since you’ve given me a vocation, in spite of all this wretchedness, with your grace I’ll conquer and I’ll be holy.’