Virgin Most Serene

Have recourse to her in thy temptations,
And the serenity of her countenance will strengthen thee
(Psalter of the BVM II)

Catholics often explain their devotion to Our Lady by saying that it is easier to gaze upon the moon than it is to look directly at the sun. That is to say that we know that the source of light and strength, love and wisdom is God and that He has, through Jesus, made it easy for us to approach Him. Nonetheless when we think how hideous and ugly we have made ourselves by our self-willed wickedness and repeated failures to act as we know we should our heart fails us. Reason and the teachings of the Church make it clear that we can turn to Our Lord but the heart has its own logic and will not be convinced by mere words and thoughts.

Knowing this weakness of ours and longing for us to turn to Him the Good God has given us Mary to be our companion, guide and teacher on the path towards Him. As the moon receives all its light from the sun so to the Mother is a perfect mirror of the virtues of her Son. The moon  has its own features and characteristics, likewise Mary unites her own maternal solicitude to the light of the Spirit which illuminates her from within. Her purpose is to bring us to Jesus and our purpose in turning to her is to be covered by her mantle so that we may appear before Him without shame.

St Bonaventure (to whom the Psalter of the BVM is attributed) wisely advises us to draw strength from the serene countenance of the Blessed Virgin when assailed by the storms of temptation. How can we do this? One option is to take his advice literally. Never be far from an image of Mary, a picture, an icon, a statue, and when the need arises stop what we are doing and simply look at her. Focus our attention on the Virgin in her serenity until the storm subsides and we can resume our normal business.

We can also through our prayers meditate on her countenance as reflected in her life. The mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary or those of the Seven Sorrows, her attributes mentioned in the Litany of Loreto and the accounts of her in the Gospel are things we can spend time with. Immersing ourselves in these will weaken the hold of satan upon us and help to drive temptation far away.

Most profoundly we can, in the depths of our hearts, wordlessly and silently simply contemplate the one who can say of herself "I am the Immaculate Conception." Looking at the night sky on a clear, still night can fill us with a wonderful sense of the infinity of the universe. Similarly gazing with the eyes of the heart upon the Immaculata can open up to our sight the wonders of the Blessed Trinity to whom no one is closer than Mary, daughter of the Father, spouse of the Spirit, mother of the Son. In the battle against darkness Our Lady of Light, the Most Serene Virgin Mary, is a powerful ally and source of strength.
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The painting is The Immaculate Conception by Carlo Crivelli 

First Sorrow of Mary: Simeon's Prophecy

Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.

(Luke 2:34-35)

Hail Mary, who accepted that your own soul would be pierced by a sword for love of your Son.

There are forty days between Christmas and the Presentation in the Temple. Out of the thirty-three years that Mary was mother to Jesus on earth these were the only days of unalloyed joy. After that she could never be entirely clear from the shadow of the Cross. Doubtless there were many moments, perhaps whole weeks when the shadow was only at the back of her mind but it never departed entirely. She knew. She could not help but know. Her beautiful Son would be a source of scandal to the world and because she loved Him so entirely everything which fell upon Him would fall upon her also.

Since humans are weakened by sin and by their vulnerability to temptation human love is an imperfect thing. If we examine it closely we see it is a compound made up of a mixture of emotions and desires, some selfless some demandingly selfish. Mary was sinless so her love was pure and therefore perfect. She loved her Son as no other mother could love a son. This meant that the pain she felt when He was hurt is something beyond the scope of our sinful human imagination to grasp in its entirety. This applies also to the pain by anticipation which she would have experienced when she heard the words of old Simeon and on the many occasions afterwards when she would have pondered them in her heart.

When Mary uttered her fiat to Gabriel "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word." (Luke 1:38) she did not know in detail what it would entail but she did commit herself freely and completely to do the will of the Father in everything concerning the mission He had entrusted to her. From Simeon she had now learnt in part what this would mean. This did not cause her to retreat from or to regret her commitment. Flesh and blood might not be able to face up to such an ordeal, it would seek to escape or be crushed by despair. But Mary, like all of us, was more than mere flesh and blood she was spirit too and in her case spirit full of Grace. God who sent her both the gift and the trial also sent her, in the Holy Spirit, the means to endure and to triumph. Her obedience to the Father, love of the Son and strength from the Spirit would help her in her sorrow. If we, now, today, in the 21st century gaze upon the Blessed Virgin as a mirror for ourselves then, learning from her, imitating her and imploring her intercession we too can fulfil our particular missions relying not upon ourselves but upon Mary's Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
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The painting is The Presentation in the Temple by Alvaro Pirez from the Met Museum