Quotes Worth Contemplating for September 8
(Taken from page 267 of The Wondrous Childhood of the Most Holy Mother of God by St. John Eudes)
Consider that an innocent person is one who knows not what it is to injure another, or, in other words, to sin. For it is sin alone that dishonors God and wrongs men.
Consider that, among all pure creatures, the Immaculate Virgin alone was conceived, born and lived, until Her last sigh, in perfect innocence. She was not only preserved from all sin, but was in reality impeccable. The goodness of God had placed Her in the happy impossibility of sinning: firstly, by a singular favor of His divine Providence, which kept Her from all perils and occasions of danger, as much by His immediate protection as by the ministry of millions of Angels who accompanied Her everywhere and guarded Her most carefully. This was only suitable to the dignity of the Mother of the Saint of Saints and Sovereign Monarch of the universe.
Secondly, the great and marvelous light within Her soul showed Her, with unerring clearness, the tiniest atom of imperfection, and the superabundance of the grace which filled Her made Her able to vanquish the very shadow of sin. St. Augustine says: “Ad vicendum omni ex parte peccatum.” [That is, “Toward conquering sin from every side.”]
Thirdly, the sacred fire of divine love so inflamed Her Heart that She lived in the continual exercise of the most pure love, without fatigue or interruption. This held Her will under a moral inability to adhere to any fault, even the slightest.
Thank God for the marvelous innocence with which He clothed this most holy Virgin from the first moment of Her life. Ask the grace to imitate as far as you are able this innocence, carefully avoiding any offense against God, against your neighbor, against your own soul. And for this end, endeavor to apply yourself as much as possible to the exercise of divine love. For the greater your love for God, the farther removed you are from sin.
