Dear Friends and Benefactors,

This years marks the 150th anniversary of Pope Pius IX’s solemn pronouncement:

"That the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary was at the first instant of her Conception, by a singular privilege of God, preserved from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and is, therefore, to be believed by the faithful with firmness and constancy."

Let us prepare ourselves for this upcoming feast by examining our devotion to the Mother of God.

Devotion in honor of the blessed Mother is in a class all by itself. It is of a more intimate nature than our devotion to other saints, because she is our Mother, whereas they are only our friends. Hence the honor, reverence and homage we pay to her is second only to that given to God. We adore God as our Lord and Creator. The Blessed Virgin Mary we do not adore but we honor and love her as our Mother. Thus the reason why her praises are and should be sounded more than those of all other saints combined, as prophesied "all nations shall call her blessed".

Down through the ages there has arisen need for special devotion. But the most general devotion, which is not limited by time or circumstances, is devotion to our blessed Mother. In the catacombs we can still see her pictures adorning the walls. The early Christians looked upon these to gather strength for the great struggle they would undergo for the sake of her Divine Son.

In what however does this devotion consist? First of all it consists in a childlike love for our blessed Mother. A child will recognize the father as the head of the family but will be much attached to the mother. For, while the child expects all benefits from the father, as the provider, he will expect them more confidently if able to reveal his wants to the mother, depending almost as much upon her intercession as upon the father’s generosity.

This explains why we, as Catholics, have such an unbounded confidence in the ever blessed Virgin. She is our loving Mother and her love removes our fear or doubt. We ask favors of her that we feel almost unworthy to ask of our heavenly Father.

The love a child has for his mother does by no means lessen his love for the father. If anything, it tends to increase it. Likewise the love we have for our blessed Mother does by no means interfere with or lessen our love for our heavenly Father. The sublime love of God manifested by the blessed Virgin reminds her children that they can not truly love her without loving God even more.

Our love for our blessed Mother will find expression in saying the prayer she likes most –the Rosary. We show our love by wearing her scapular, and reciting the prayers she wants us to say. She likes us to carry a medal of her, to honor her picture, to observe her feast days. A devout child of Mary will not let a single day pass without saying some prayer and doing some good work in her honor. A good child will be so zealous in doing his mother’s will that he even knows by intuition what his mother wishes before she asks and does it as if commanded. In like manner we need not be told what our blessed Mother wants us to do and what she wants us to avoid.

Nor should we be content with only saying prayers in her honor, as this is only part of the devotion we owe her. The better part of our devotion will consist in imitating her holy life.

With not a stain of sin upon her, without original sin and its inclination towards evil to cloud her spotless purity, and with so many graces as to be called "full of grace," the life of the blessed Virgin Mother is indeed a worthy model for all mankind to follow. The various saints of our holy Church each excelled in some of the many virtues. In as far as human nature can be perfect she has attained perfection, not in one virtue only but in all of them. As Virgin she is most wise, most holy and most chaste. As Mother she is the most perfect of mothers. Our blessed Mother is therefore the most perfect model for all mankind. Young and old, rich as well as poor, male and female, married and single –all find in her a most worthy model to shape and form their lives upon. Nor is this imitation a matter of choice. We are bound to imitate her for the reason that, being her children, we should resemble her. Children will resemble their mother or father in various traits without realizing it. This will be not only in looks but also in various traits such as speaking, walking and acting like them. As a mother takes so much greater pride and satisfaction in her children the more they resemble her good qualities, so our blessed Mother will take pride and comfort in us when she can see that we earnestly try to resemble her more and more. The more we try to imitate her, the more she will be prompted to love us.

For this reason the benefits showered upon those who make a special effort to please her are manifold. One of them is purity of heart. Since purity of heart was the most beautiful of all her many virtues, our blessed Mother is desirous that her favorite children should imitate her above all in this particular virtue. We can never expect to remain pure of heart unless we entertain a childlike love for our blessed Mother. Indeed, our love for the virtue of purity grows in proportion to our love for our blessed Mother. It is simply impossible to be a devout child of our blessed Virgin Mother and at the same time to lead an impure life. Purity of heart and the devotion to our blessed Mother go hand in hand.

Another favor especially granted through the devotion to our blessed Mother is the grace of final perseverance.

It is the experience of the saints and their universal opinion that, as no soul is saved excepting through her glorious intercession, neither will a soul that has loved and served our blessed Mother be found among the number of the damned. If you want to know whether you are to be among the elect or the damned, just look at the quality of your devotion to our blessed Mother. If we love her and serve her sincerely and try to imitate her, we need have no fear of the final outcome. Our blessed Mother will take care of us. If, however, we are too indifferent to say even a little prayer in her honor, if we never think of her, then, indeed, we have reason to fear for our final salvation.

Your patron saint, your Guardian Angel, and other saints to whom you feel yourself drawn for some reason, they all expect some act of devotion from you every day. But the devotion to our blessed Mother should excel all these. Let us never consider the work of the day done unless we pay our blessed Mother, as best we can, the honor, reverence and love due to her. When all other tasks might seem burdensome, that one should prove pleasant and sweet.

Especially as we prepare to celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception during this anniversary year let us remember that if we serve her faithfully we may be sure that she will intercede for us now and at the hour of our death.

Sincerely yours in the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts,

Fr. John D. Fullerton