Ad Jesum per te, Maria : 9/33

The Psalms of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak: heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.

Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam infirmus sum; sana me, Domine, quoniam conturbata sunt ossa mea. [Ps. VI. 3]

By way of preparation for the great Feast of the Annunciation, I am re-posting a daily commentary on each of the Psalms of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin. The commentary includes text published by Father Ethelred L. Taunton in 1903.

 

To read the commentary on today's Psalm, click on the following link:

 

👉  Psalm 96

Here is an excerpt:

Qui diligitis Dominum,odite malum : custodit

Dominus animas sanctorum suorum, de manu

peccatoris liberabit eos.

O ye that love the Lord, hate ye the evil : The Lord preserveth the souls

of His saints: He shall deliver them from the hand of the ungodly.

Here is a test of true love of God; not only abstaining from evil, but hating it, shunning it for its repugnance to the holiness of God, and not only because of the danger of indulging in it. The Evil is sometimes taken to mean the Evil one, the father of lies. St. John Chrysostom says : Let no man deceive himself ; God and the devil cannot be loved alike by one person, for either the devil is hated, or God is loved; if the devil is loved, it must needs be that God is despised. Now, then, can we find out whether we do truly love God ? St. Bernard shall answer : You must ask your heart, your tongue, your work, whether you truly love God. Your heart, because it thinks often on what it loves, and if you do not often think of God, you will know you do not truly love Him ; and if you think more of the world than you do of God, you love the world more than God. Ask your tongue if

you love God, for it gladly speaks of what the heart loves ; therefore he whose conversation is chiefly of the

world is hereby proved to love it more than God. Ask your work whether you love God ; for if fire be placed amidst straw it will burn, and if the fire of Divine love be in the heart it will show itself in action.

The Lord preserveth the souls of His saints. Here we may note two things He makes no promise at all as to

the bodies, nor yet as to the souls of any but His saints. The torments of the martyrs did not move their souls. He

offers salvation to all who will accept it. He will never allow a soul that trusts in Him to be separated from His

love. How freely He gives not only His help, but His very self, we hear when He comes to us in Holy

Communion : “ May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy soul into everlasting life.”

And He shall deliver them out of the hands of the ungodly. Not only by His grace and the protection of His

holy angels here, but, says the Carmelite, by saving them from the accusations of the enemy in the Doom, and

appointing them to be where no minister of evil can ever trouble them more.

Lætamini justi in Domino : et confitemini memoriæ sanctificationis ejus.

Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous : and give thanks for a remembrance of His holiness.

Holiness is not only an attribute of God, but is also a grace communicated by Him to His people, for which they are to give thanks. It is Justification ; it is the Sacrament of Penance ; it is Holy Baptism, say various commentators. The Carmelite takes the words of the Blessed Sacrament, wherein we bless and thank Him, by the Eucharistic worship, which is His Own memorial Rite wherein He is Priest and Victim, Host and Guest.

St. Thomas thus writes in the Adoro te :

O memoriale mortis Domini,

Panis vivus, vitam præstans homini,

Præsta meæ menti de te vívere,

Et te illi semper dulce sapere.

O most sweet memorial of His death and woe,

Living Bread which giveth life to man below,

Let my spirit ever eat of Thee and live,

And the blest fruition of Thy sweetness give.

 

Previous Psalms

Psalm 8            Psalm 18            Psalm 23            Psalm 44            Psalm 45            Psalm 86            Psalm 94

Psalm 95

Prayers 

The following prayers follow the model written by St Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort and are recited in preparation for the renewal of consecration* to Lord Jesus Christ our King, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on the Feast of the Annunciation. *PEEKPTEE&A[E]

Veni Creator Spiritus [To see a translation of this hymn to the Holy Spirit, click here:  👉 Veni Creator Spiritus ]

Ave Maris Stella

 

Magnificat

 

Gloria 

+       +        +

The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen. 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting. Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv. 30-31.