Produced by Karina Aleksandrova, JoAnn Greenwood and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) MATER CHRISTI MEDITATIONS ON OUR LADY _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ With a Preface to each volume by the Rev. JOSEPH RICKABY, S.J. SPONSA CHRISTI. Meditations on the Religious Life. PASSIO CHRISTI. Meditations for Lent. DONA CHRISTI. Meditations for Ascension-tide, Whitsun-tide, and Corpus Christi. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS MATER CHRISTI MEDITATIONS ON OUR LADY BY MOTHER ST PAUL HOUSE OF RETREATS, BIRMINGHAM AUTHOR OF "SPONSA CHRISTI," "PASSIO CHRISTI," ETC. WITH A PREFACE BY REV. JOSEPH RICKABY, S.J. _Mater Christi, ora pro nobis_ NEW IMPRESSION LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON FOURTH AVENUE AND 30TH STREET, NEW YORK BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS 1920 All rights reserved =Nihil obstat= JOSEPHUS RICKABY, S.J. _Censor deputatus._ =Imprimatur= [+] EDUARDUS _Archiep. Birmingamien._ _Die 31 Oct. 1918._ PREFACE _JESUS CHRIST, yesterday and to-day, the same also for ever._ (Heb. xiii. 8.) His salvation extends to all generations. _My salvation shall endure for ever, and My righteousness shall not fail._ (Isaias li. 6.) Also He says: _My words shall not pass away_. (Matt. xxiv. 35.) He is the Teacher of all times, and that as well by His actions as by His words, by what He said and by what He did. It was His _to do and to teach_. (Acts i. 1.) It is ours, ours in this twentieth century, to listen to what He says, and to mark what He does. It is ours to hear Him and to see Him, spiritually. That we do by reading of His gospel, by listening to sermons, and very particularly by meditation, or by what St Ignatius calls "contemplation" of the mysteries of His life. To "contemplate" in the Ignatian sense is to make yourself present at some scene of our Saviour's life and behold it all, as it were, re-enacted before your eyes. It is the process called in modern philosophy "visualisation." These Meditations are composed on the Ignatian plan of _visualising_ what Our Lord did, said, and suffered. _Blessed are they who hear the word of GOD and keep it._ (Luke xi. 28.) Blessed are they who take pains thus to _hear_ what their Saviour _says_, to _contemplate_ and _visualise_ what He _does_. They are the persons most likely, with Mary, to _keep all these words in their heart_ (Luke ii. 51), and in their measure to fulfil the teaching of the _Teacher of all nations_. (Matt. xxviii. 19.) JOSEPH RICKABY, S.J. _20th October 1918._ _Dignare me laudare te, Virgo sacrata_ CONTENTS PAGE