Every year at this time I rediscover with wonderment the magnificent hymn given us by the Church for the Office of Readings on the — for the O.Cist. — Solemnity of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Veni, praecelsa Domina. The hymn dates from the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Remarkably, each of its six strophes begins with the word, Veni: Come!
The Spirit and the Bride
The first thing that struck me about this hymn is how deeply it resonates with the prayer of the Church during Whitsuntide. Just as, over and over again, we call upon the Holy Spirit, crying Veni — I am thinking of the Veni, Creator Spiritus and of the Golden Sequence the Veni, Sancte Spiritus — so too do we address the Virgin Mary, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, singing Veni today. Here is the text of the hymn as I translated it:
COME, Lady upon the heights;
Mary, visit us,
you who already brought such joy
to the house of your kinswoman.
COME, Help of the World
remove the stains of sin
and, in visiting your people,
take away the threat of punishment.
COME, Star and Light of the Sea,
pour forth a ray of peace;
set straight what is crooked,
give innocence of life.
COME visit us, we pray you,
strengthen our vigor
with the energy of a holy impulse,
lest our soul waver.
COME, Royal Sceptre,
bring back the wave of those in error
to the unity of the faith
by which the citizens of heaven were saved.
COME, that together with you
we may ceaselessly praise the Son,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit;
may they give us their help. Amen.
The Advent of the Virgin
The work of the Mother of God is closely associated with that of the Holy Spirit. Compare the graces asked of Mary in this lovely hymn with those asked of the Holy Spirit in the Veni Creator and, again, in the Veni Sancte Spiritus. The advent of the Virgin brings joy, restores purity, sheds light, sets things right, restores innocence, strengthens the weak, quickens the flagging, reconciles the separated, and raises our spirits in praise to the Trinity.
An Exhalation of the Holy Spirit
Where the Virgin Mary goes, the Holy Spirit follows. Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort says that as soon as the Holy Spirit finds Mary in a soul, He hastens there. We see that clearly in today’s Gospel. No sooner did Mary greet Elizabeth than she was filled with the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1:41). Even the infant John in his mother’s womb is quickened by the Holy Spirit and mysteriously sanctified at the sound of the Virgin Mary’s voice (cf. Lk 1:44). The salutation of Holy Mary, full of grace, is an exhalation of the Holy Spirit.
She Salutes Us With Grace
If you would experience the grace of Mary’s salutation, then greet her often. There is in a lovely episode in the life of Saint Bernard that demonstrates this. It took place while he was visiting the Abbey of Afflighem in Belgium. Saint Bernard raised his eyes to an image of the Blessed Virgin, saying, Ave, Maria, and the Mother of God, looking upon him with inexpressible sweetness, said, Ave, Bernarde. Mary's salutation, says Saint Bonaventure, will always take the form of some grace corresponding to the needs of the person who greets her: "She gladly salutes us with grace, if we joyfully salute her with the Hail Mary."
Always the Rosary
This is why the repeated salutations of the Rosary are so powerful. The Ave, Maria tirelessly repeated opens the heart to the gentle irrigation of the Holy Spirit, to the living water promised by Jesus to those who believe in Him (cf. Jn 7:38). The Rosary is one of the surest ways of obtaining the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. One who invokes the Mother of God invokes the Holy Spirit, for she never visits us apart from the Holy Spirit who overshadowed her at the Annunciation, spoke through her at the Visitation, inspired her at Cana, descended upon her from the mouth of the Crucified on Calvary, and filled her with fire at Pentecost.
You may find it helpful during Whitsuntide to pray those mysteries of the Rosary in which the relationship between the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit is more clearly revealed: 1) the Annunciation, 2) the Visitation, 3) the Wedding Feast at Cana, 4) the Death of Jesus on the Cross, 5) the Retreat in the Cenacle and the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Veni, Maria!
Today, ask the Mother of God to visit you and to visit those most in need of her motherly presence. Take your inspiration from the prayer of the Church, and repeat over and over again: Veni, veni, veni, Maria! She will come. She will visit you. And with her visitation will come the grace of the Holy Spirit.
His Excellency, the Bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma has given
Father Mark a special mandate to live in adoration before the Most
Blessed Sacrament, in a spirit of thanksgiving and intercession, that he
might make reparation before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus for all his
brothers in Holy Orders. At the same time, he is available to the
priests and deacons of the Diocese for spiritual and sacramental
support in their pursuit of holiness.
This post, Dom Mark, reminds me of a beautiful tradition we have in Communion and Liberation when we conclude our prayers. It is without fail that the entire group gathered prays the words: “Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam� This dogmatic phrase synthesizes our reception of the sacraments of Initiation, our Christian life and our liturgical year; it is the Catholic memorial of our entire life in Christ.
As Monsignor Luigi Giussani said to the Memores Domini in 2001: “‘Veni per Mariam’ indicates, synthesizes, the finger pointing to everything, everything that our human eye can let us see and that the consciousness can readily understand. Because Our Lady is the synthesis of all humanity… not only of humanity but also of everything that creation brings with it from all eternity, for all eternity. From all eternity everything is the Father’s; in the Mystery every thing was born, every speck of dust, even the grain of sand on the earth, every thought and every feeling man has. Mary synthetically expresses this link between the Mystery and the things the Mystery Himself created (this is why the Holy Spirit is called Redeemer and Savior), because Our Lady is the only possibility of synthesis, in man’s heart, of everything that happens, has happened and will happen, which is faith, which unfolds a hope, and hope makes us live the aurora of the eternal. It makes us live the aurora of the eternal! Who knows, who knows if the Lord and Our Lady will give me more health and will renew again the energy to communicate things to you, according to an experience that, with time, grows greater and greater, ever greater and greater!�
Today’s feast begins it all . . .
Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort presented the essence of the invocation, "Veni, Sancte Spiritus, veni per Mariam" in The Secret of Mary and in the Treatise on True Devotion. And one mustn't forget the contribution of the Servant of God Frank Duff along the same lines.
About twenty-five years I wrote a study of the Holy Spirit and the BVM in the Collection of 46 Masses of the BVM. Don't know where it is, now. I think that my friend, Msgr. Calkins has also written on Our Lady and the Holy Spirit. This was also one of the themes developed by Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe.
Dear Father,
if you ever find that study i know there are many of us who would love to read it !! i have found the collection of Masses for the BVM to be a wonderful resource for prayer and lectio....especially the prefaces are so rich in marian spirituality.
after all these years our parish still did not even have a copy, so i purchased one for them and they still have not used it.....VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS!
I second Patrick's request, if you find the study it would be good if you made it available to others, perhaps find a publisher (or self publish it). Also, can you ask Msgr about his work on the Holy Spirit and the BVM.
Patrick is right, of course, the Masses of the BVM are great for prayer and lectio; too bad it's not utilized more often in Church. At Saint Mary's in New Haven the Dominican friars often use the BVM Masses.
Excuse my ignorance and my laziness for not looking up SG Frank Duff on google, but who is he?
The Servant of God Frank Duff (1889-1990) founded the Legion of Mary. In 1917 he came to know the Treatise of St. Louis Marie de Montfort on the True Devotion to Mary, a work which changed his life completely.