Blessed Mary of the Passion, Virgin and Foundress
Liturgical memory: 15th November
Beatified: 20th October 2002 by H.H. Pope Jon Paul II
Decree of Beatification: Letter from the” Secretariate of State, First Section, General Affairs ” of 06/10/2003 Nº 530.580, signed by Mgr. Gabriéle Caccia, Magistrate, accompanying the original Decree of Beatification
Liturgy: optional memory; for the Institute: feast according to the “Instructio de Calendaris particularibus atque Officiorum et Missarum Propriis recognemdis ” issued on 24/06/1970 and published in AAS, Year and Vol. LXII, from pg. 651 to pg. 663. Mass and Office from the Common of Virgins or Women Saints, with a proper Prayer and Second Reading of the Office of Readings (approbation of the Congregation for Divine Worship, of 23/11/02.Prot. 1972/021.
Liturgy for the feast of Blessed Mary of the Passion
for Institute
THE EUCHARIST
Collecta latina (approuvé le 23/11/02, Prot. 1972/02L)
Domine Deus noster, qui Beatam Mariam, virginem, ad mysterii Filii tui contemplatione mirabiliter duxisti, concede nobis, ipsa intercedente, ut ad tuum salutis consilium cooperantes, semitas Evangelii alacriter percurramus.
Per Dominum..
Collect
O Lord our God, You who led Mary of the Passion, virgin, in an admirable way to contemplate the mystery of Your Son, grant that we too, through her intercession, may commit ourselves to follow the path of the Gospel, cooperating with your plan of salvation. Through Our Lord.....
First Reading: Col 1, 24-29
Psalm 26, 1.3.4.13-14
R. The Lord is my light and my help; whom shall I fear?
or else
First Reading: 2 Cor 4, 5-15
Psalm 115 (10.12.15-18)
R. My God, a thanksgiving sacrifice I make.
Gospel Acclamation (cf. 2 Cor 5,14. Lk 1,39)
Alleluia, Alleluia. Urged on by the charity of Jesus Christ, Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. Alleluia.
Gospel: Lk 1, 39-56
Office of Readings
Second reading
From the spiritual writings of Mary of the Passion (approuvé le 23/11/02, Prot. 1972/02L)
Love is God’s being God is my Father. He is always with me and all that He has is mine. If I want, He will always be with me and all that I have will be his.
In a way that is impossible for me to explain, I see within me the freedom of love which is none other than God himself. I see perfection, beauty, love making me a partaker in God in the measure in which I am love. On earth, in heaven! I see very well how I am in my Father through the Word, his knowledge, and through the Holy Spirit, their manifestation. I see within me the living Trinity that created me and that holds me in being. I see this presence within me even more palpably through the Eucharist. The incarnate Word, the knowledge of the Being of Love, shown to the earth and incarnate for its sake. All this has the splendour of a simplicity and a beauty which captivate and delight my soul., but it is not possible for me to explain this fatherhood of God producing within me his own being of Love, and in greater measure as I desire it more.
The truth is that we are called to love, that He is always with us and all that He has is ours. Everything is there.
I see God within me in an irresistible way. How I would like this presence to grow ever greater; this depends on me.
I will also try to make sure that my daughters have a large share in this paternal inheritance and for this I shall be the mother of the souls whose heavenly Father is my heavenly Father. I shall do everything so that even the most wretched may understand and return the love of their divine Father, and I shall remind myself that love can only make itself understood through love.
My soul, if you can understand, what will be your abandonment. Then you will be able to say like Francis: My Father and my all. A soul in sin, what a misfortune, in Hell, without God. One more degree of grace, what a splendour!
Spiritual notes, 29th January 1888 – NS 289
Office of Laudes
Psalm 62 - Night and day under your wings, I rejoice. With you, why should I fear?
(14.12.1888 – NS 323)
Canticle Dn - I saw the earth and everyone was saying” “The true power is gold”. But Jesus, the king of the poor, and Francis, the father of the poor, were saying: “The true power, is love, which is detachment, which is poverty, which is God”.
(Private correspondence, 24.12,1895)
Psalm 149 - The missionary spark is the love of what is good which is the glory of God, which embraces the whole world … God is so great! Let us not make ourselves small, for that is always to separate ourselves more or less from God.
(Letter to her daughters 11.02.1896 – JO 43)
Reading Ct. 8,6-7
Benedictus: Make my heart and the Institute a flame of fire enkindling the earth. The great missionary of the Institute, is Jesus exposed and adored. We have not sufficiently understood the power of the Eucharist and of prayer joined to action, for the conversion of peoples. (18.12.1888 – NS 341)
Office of Vespers
Psalm 121 - I saw love, truth, unity. I saw that to live one is to live the other. The happiness of being one with one’s God is a heaven; to share this happiness with others, is a heaven even nearer to heaven. (28.07.1885 – NS 208)
Psalm 126 - “Father, into your hands I abandon my soul”. For me, all perfection is there. (02.10.1884 – NS 173)
Cant. Eph 1 - The Passion is love extended to the uttermost limits … I am very willing for love to crucify me, but I no longer wish to crucify my love. (25.08.1882 – NS 3)
Reading Phil 3, 7- 8
Magnificat: Like Mary, I have a big open book in my heart wherein the Holy Spirit writes. “Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart”. It seems to me that I have only to read this book faithfully and act in accordance with what it says and then I shall be dear to Jesus. (29.04.1883 – NS 64)