There is a small statue of Our Lady Help of Christians that has been with us for a long time. It is not a work of art, but a little plaster statue, one of those mass-produced ones that are found everywhere, of a religious style called Saint-Sulpician.
Why did I think I had made a find when I came across this image? She seemed to me to have a facial expression full of inner serenity, all stemming from temperance, a cardinal virtue by which one has the degree of appreciation or repudiation for each thing that is proportional to the circumstances. Nothing is ever desired more or less than it deserves, nor is anything detested more or less than it deserves.
This disposition of soul seemed to me to shine very brightly in the image. In a discreet way, her expression is so calm, so detached, and shows such self-control and such a readiness to take an attitude towards anything in an entirely proportionate way, that she seemed to me to be the very symbol of equanimity, which is the corollary of the virtue of temperance. And for this very reason She has something pure and virginal about her, which enchanted me, and at the same time something maternal, because she seems to be looking at her child, smiling and ready to wield the sceptre of the decisive Queen, depending on the request made.
She is truly the help of Christians, and with symbolism. The Child Jesus is in her arms with His arms open, smiling. You can see that Mary asked and He smiled; the open arms are the fruit of His Mother’s prayer.
Our Lady is looking on, pleased to see how a poor child of hers, kneeling there, is delighted to see her Son par excellence smile and open His arms. She is the help needed: the one who obtains for us, from the One who is the Author and ultimate source of all graces, everything we ask for.
Lily born in the mud, in the night, amidst the tempest
If the Virgin Mary had not helped us at all times, if we had not had recourse to her, feeling her maternal support, we would not have achieved anything at all. When our movement reaches its pinnacles and, for example, can contemplate beautiful results, it then ought to say that these are the deeds of Our Lady.
What kind of achievements?
First and foremost, those brought about in our own souls. That is to say, the fact that an organization like ours exists, with a number of members so scant, absolutely speaking, with this mentality, these customs, this form of piety, in the midst of the storm that rages around us, this is quite properly the lily born in the mud, which blooms at night, amidst the tempest.
But when we say “lily born in the mud”, we are only using the metaphor to express that something entirely unthinkable is happening, as inexplicable as an edelweiss sprouting in the Sahara Desert. It was therefore the Mother of Mercy, the Mediatrix of all favours, who presented our prayer to her Divine Son and had it answered.
Let us cling to the Blessed Virgin!
What prayer? Before all else, the prayer by which we ask her to give us the grace to love her more and more, to be hers, to trust her, to unite ourselves to her and for her to unite herself to us. The great and fundamental prayer is for Mary to make us devoted to her.
I imagine someone possibly saying: “But then the supreme devotion, the worship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, is relegated to a secondary plane? What is this revolt: the cult of hyperdulia replacing the cult of latria?”
I feel like replying: “What rubbish is this?” Our Lady is the necessary and only channel to reach Our Lord Jesus Christ. And if we applaud and venerate her in such a way, it is because we adore the One to whom She leads.
The Blessed Virgin is the way by which He came to us. In Mary, Jesus Christ became incarnate in order to redeem the human race; She is the Coredemptrix. When He ascended to Heaven, He left His Mother to alleviate a little of the sadness and immense emptiness that remained on earth.
With all this in mind, if we hold on tightly to Our Lady, we will go to Him; if we do not hold on to the Blessed Virgin with all the strength of our soul, where will we go? Down! And we know very well who is below…
Advice from a Jesuit priest
I remember that our Group was in one of its cruellest moments, in the struggle of In Defence.1 I had had a glimmer of hope that a certain publishing house in Montevideo, which was very important at the time, would publish it in Spanish. They had sent me a letter asking for permission to translate it into Spanish, and I had agreed. But the publisher sent me another letter saying they were no longer interested in publishing it…
Shortly afterwards I received another letter from Montevideo. I opened it thinking: “What new misfortune will this be?”
It was from an old Jesuit priest whom I did not know. In his letter, to summarize, he said the following: “The more you people are contested, the more I appreciate you and because of that I give you what I can: my prayers, in the first place; in the second place, a piece of advice. You are worth what you are worth because you are very devoted to Our Lady. Be more and more devoted and there is no good that will not happen to you; never diminish this devotion in the least degree, because in that case every evil could come upon you!”
I want to believe that the pious soul of this true son of St. Ignatius is at the feet of his founder in Heaven, enjoying the beatific vision and looking at Our Lady. I ask him to pray for all of us that we follow this advice. But for this to happen, one point is crucial: it is not enough to keep from diminishing in devotion to Our Lady; you either go higher every day, or you stop, and whatever stops, decays.
Let us not be afraid to exaggerate, as long as we remain faithful to Catholic doctrine regarding the cult of the Blessed Virgin, because de Maria numquam satis, of Our Lady there can never be enough.2
She accompanies us like an only child
Since She is the Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ and She is our Mother, She is always ready to come to our aid in everything we need. St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort3says that if there were only one mother in the world, who gathered in her heart all the forms and degrees of tenderness that all the mothers of the world could nurture for an only child, and this mother had only one child to love, she would love him less than Our Lady loves each and every person.
She is such a Mother to each one of us, She loves us so much – no matter how helpless, misguided, or spiritually lame we are and how little merit we may have – that if we turn to her, her first movement will be one of love and help.
Mary Most Holy accompanies us even before we turn to her, because She has knowledge of what happens to everyone, everywhere. She therefore is aware of our needs, and it is through her intercession that we have the grace to turn to her.
Our Lady asks God to grant us this grace, and He does. We come before her and the first question She asks is: “My son, what do you wish?”
I have heard a statement that was not made by a great theologian, but I have the impression that it is true: if Judas Iscariot himself, after selling Our Lord and while on his way to the cursed place where he would hang himself, had had a moment of devotion to the Blessed Virgin and prayed to her, he would have received support. If he had sought her out and said, “I am not worthy to come close to you, to look at you, or to address you. I am Judas, the vile one… But you are my Mother, have pity on me!” She would have received with kindness the man whose name is synonymous with the lowest and most loathsome turpitude, and whom no one utters without extremes of disgust, so to speak, without gasps of revulsion: Judas Iscariot… Even this one!
The beautiful “avenue of dead ends”
But we find it difficult to keep this in mind. Why is that? Because we do not see and, in our misery, we are often those who do not believe because we do not see. We do not doubt, but we forget. We feel so out of place that we say: “But is it really so? This, that, and the other thing happened to me. I asked her and I was not helped; why should I believe that now I will be aided? Mother of mercy… for me, sometimes yes, but sometimes no…”
At such times we should say: “Auxilium Christianorum, ora pro nobis!” At times when we do not understand, we have no idea what the outcome of the case will be, what will happen, we need to insistently repeat: “Auxilium Christianorum!” Because every case has a way out. Sometimes we do not see the solution, but Our Lady is providing a monumental way out of the problem.
Our Lady Help of Christians – Private collection
When I recall the history of our catastrophes, our resurgences, our painful and glorious “avenue of dead ends”,4 looking back I ask myself: “If She were to give me the choice of this route of dead ends or any other of the ones I imagined, which would I prefer?” I would reply: “My Mother, if you give me the strength, I will choose the ‘avenue of dead ends’.” It is the “avenue” of the inexplicable, of the apparent catastrophe, of defeat, of devastation, but of the victory that is affirmed.
How magnificent is the “avenue of dead ends”! Why? Because it is Our Lady’s triumphal avenue. She opens up the cul-de-sacs, transforms this monstrous thing – an avenue cut up into alleys – and turns it into an avenue. Thus, Mary’s providence is understood. It is a true marvel!
Our insufficiency proclaims her victory, sings of her glory. How can we not thrill at the idea that She made us so few in number so that She could be so widely glorified? It is obvious! This prayer should be on our lips at all moments: “Auxilium Christianorum, ora pro nobis!”
Let us pray, then, in every circumstance of our lives. And at the hour of death, when we are at our last breath and we can still say “Auxilium Christianorum”, Heaven will open up for us without delay. ◊
Taken, with adaptations, from:
Dr. Plinio. São Paulo. Year XXIV.
N.278 (May 2021), p.16-21.
Notes
1 Dr. Plinio published his first book [In Defence of Catholic Action] in 1943, warning against the surreptitious introduction of secularism and egalitarianism into ecclesial environments. The work had a preface by Msgr. Benedetto Aloisi Masella, then Apostolic Nuncio in Brazil, and received a letter of commendation from Pope Pius XII, signed by Msgr. Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Paul VI.
2 Cf. ST. LOUIS-MARIE GRIGNION DE MONTFORT. Traité de la vraie dévotion à la Sainte Vierge, n.10. In: Œuvres Complètes. Paris: Du Seuil, 1966, p.492-493.
3 Cf. Idem, n.202, p.620.
4 An expression coined by Dr. Plinio to illustrate the difficult circumstances that he and his work faced over the decades, in which repeatedly seemed to be in a hopeless situation, but which Our Lady always ended up solving.
