Ritual Intention

"There was nothing in it, but then I offered it to God"...

The ceremony would be empty, meaningless and without effect, if we did not perform it for the loving sake of God. It is the purity of our intention alone, which transmagnifies the ritual and makes it real. In the offering of our efforts to God we make them holy, and sanctify the smallest thing. Even the highest is exalted by our praise.

The Virgin Mary herself would be powerless to intercede for us, if her simple appearance were not enough to excite our subtlest affection, inspiring within us the recollection of God and His Love.

How beautiful is the Holy Mother of God? Beauty itself is ugly beside Her; She is beauty when beauty is not. No speech can convey the splendor of Her gestures. Never a heart mistook Her intention; none failed to yield Her its utmost. O, Blessed Virgin, magnify the sensitivity to beauty in our hearts, that we may receive you in the fullness of perfection which is yours!

All the power in a cross is the substance of remembrance; for we have within us the memory of the true cross, of which the outer is a servant and faithful reflection.