Chapter 9 : Devotion – an eighth feature of the gratitude we owe the Mother of God
Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré’s Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac (Poggi, 2020) |
§ 2. Second sign of devotion : to approach the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar frequently and with every tender affection
10 The third point about making a good Communion comes from the same Blessed Virgin. It was prohibited under the old law[1] to cook a young goat in the milk of its mother. Under the new law however, there is no better seasoning for this divine meat – where we eat Him who, making himself like unto us, was compared to a goat[2] – than taking the milk of devotion from the breasts of His own Mother. For this very reason we should first and foremost seek her favour and her help. St John Chrysostom reminds us of this in his Liturgy when he requires the following prayer to be said before Communion
Lord, through the intercession of the Immaculate and ever Virgin Mary Mother of God, make me worthy of receiving thine immaculate gift; let it be unto the remission of my sins and for life everlasting, and not turn to my condemnation.
I feel certain that a humble and heartfelt invocation of this blessed Mother, by virtue of the merits she received when God first prepared her to receive His Son at the Incarnation, will be far more effective than anything else we could do in preparation for Communion.
Footnotes
[1] Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam. Exos. xxiii. 19.
[2] See Lev. xvi & Isai.liii.
11 So much for the proof of this truth that we have this sovereign gift of the most august sacrament thanks to the Holy Virgin and that all those who have a devotion for her must bear witness to it here. Let us now say a few words about the practice of receiving Holy Communion and the first is that we should never approach this sacrament without a feeling of loving gratitude towards her from whom and through whom we have received it.
Please consider, dearly beloved, says Blessed Peter Damien[1], just how much we are obliged to the Blessed Mother of God and how grateful we should be to her, after God. For we receive at the Holy Altar the same body this Blessed Virgin engendered, the same that she bore within her womb, that she wrapped in swaddling clothes and that she fed at her breast; we drink her blood in the sacrament of our redemption.
No : not all the praise we could muster would ever equal the singular benefit of having received from her flesh and from her womb this nourishment for our souls, namely Him who said of Himself[2]: I am the living bread which came down from heaven. Let us therefore say with love and affection:
Blessed be the womb that hath given us such fruit; blessed be the tree which bore for us this food of eternal life; blessed be the Mother who feedeth us with such wholesome bread. In truth, dear Mother, having engendered us all spiritually when thou didst engender the Son of God physically, thou didst not assign us to be fed by someone else as other mothers often do, but thou didst prefer to serve us thyself as our nursing mother, giving us the milk and honey of the children of God; and, what surpasseth all in goodness, thou didst nourish us with the flesh of thine own Son – and with thine own – so as to unite us more intimately to thee and to perfect the heavenly generation, by this means communicating to us thy spirit and thy life, which is none other than the spirit and life of thy Son. What mother has there ever been who would go so far as to do this? What greater witness could we want of thy tender affection and love!
Footnotes
[1] Tom. I, Serm. 61.
[2] Joann. vi. 51.
11 Next, we should try to imitate her virtues in our preparation. As the venerable Peter Damien says[1],
It is no less a miracle to receive Jesus Christ so many times as to receive Him only once;
and since, as St Thomas remarks[2],
a person who receives Communion is made like unto the Virgin Mother, receiving in the womb Him whom she didst conceive,
who cannot see that all those who receive Communion have a special obligation to mirror as closely as they can her preparation and disposition to conceive Him in a worthy manner? Come, ye dear infants of the Virgin, come and learn from your Mother how to provide a home within you for the Saviour!
To begin with, what shall we say of her wondrous purity? Alas! It took so many centuries to make her to be more pure than the Seraphim. It was necessary to go beyond the ordinary laws of nature and grace in order to exempt her from every stain and imperfection. It was necessary for the Holy Ghost to come in person in order to prepare her body and her soul with the graces that He held especially for her. After all this, the Church thought to offer high honour to the Holy Virgin through approval of the words : God didst not disdain the Virgin’s womb[3]. Does her purity not make you aware of your own great unworthiness? Or does it not rather serve as a powerful stimulus for you to seek out the purity appropriate to such a sublime mystery? Before God, we feel constrained to ask what holiness would a person need in his heart, what innocence in his gaze, what integrity in his hearing, what probity in the works of his hands, what purity in his understanding, what rectitude in his will – in order to join himself so closely to the principle of all holiness, of all innocence, of all probity and of all doctrine?
After you have tried to imitate the purity of the peerless Virgin, consider next her humility. Take heed that she who was chosen to be MOTHER OF GOD as well as Princess of Heaven and Earth, and to whom power was given over His Majesty’s entire realm, calls herself His little handmaid, places herself beneath the feet of everyone, and esteems herself the lowliest of all His creatures. Take heed of this and, if you cannot come near her wondrous purity, try at least to lower yourself to the depths of your nothingness in order to reflect in some measure her incredible humility.
Proceed now from these thoughts to the celestial fervour of divine love consuming her chaste breast, to the sighs she sends up to Heaven and to the ardent desire she has for the Incarnation of the eternal Word. Fix your eyes upon this Phoenix of holiness burning in the flames of her charity; and following her example, be filled with a holy patience to see yourself soon united to Him whom your hearts desire. From your holiest sentiments bring forth acts of love so fervent as to make Him hasten on his way in answer to your longing.
As for the act of receiving Communion, stir up your faith as much as you can so as to be first in line to pay homage to the King seated on His couch of repose[4]. Following the Virgin Mother’s example, may all the divine graces in her retinue – meaning all the holy habits and virtues, especially those found infused within your soul – come forward to adore Him. Above all, may your gratitude and acts of thanksgiving produce such a sweet harmony as to captivate the Angels of Heaven ; may they, alongside the Holy Virgin, sing with the various choirs the celestial Magnificat which she sang in the hill country of Juda; and may they call upon the musicians of the Chapel Royal in Paradise to accompany them. In short, let everything within you strive to receive in a holy manner the King of Glory who is also the Son of the Virgin. These are ideas and suggestions of the gentle ways which will help you to honour the Son and the Mother, and to be pleasing to both of them. You will soon learn through your experience the benefits of gaining their friendship and love.
Footnotes
[1] Serm. de Nativit. Virg.
[2] Opusc. de S. Sacram.
[3] See the Te Deum, the Ambrosian Hymn, now accredited to Nicetas, Bishop of Remesiana (4th century) : Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem, non horruisti Virginis uterum. / Thou, having taken it upon Thyself to deliver man, didst not disdain the Virgin’s womb.
[4] Cant. i. 11-15.
© Peter Bloor 2026
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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.
The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.
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.
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