Her Feet Shod With Holiness

And, if our faith had given us nothing more
Than this Example, of all Womanhood,
So mild, so merciful, so strong, so good,
So patient, so peaceful, loyal, loving, pure –
This were enough to prove it higher and truer
Than all the creeds the world had known before.
Virgin, who lovest the poor and lonely,
If the loud cry of a mother’s heart
Can ever ascend to where thou art,
Into thy blessed hands and holy
Receive my prayer of praise and thanksgiving
Let the hands that bore our Savior bear it
Into the awful presence of God;
For thy feet with holiness are shod,
And, if thou bearest it, he will hear it.

                      -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

For Reflection:

What qualities does Longfellow cite that underscore for him why Mary is the “Example of all Womanhood”? Which of these virtues do I most need to acquire? Why does Longfellow say Mary’s prayers are efficacious? Offer a prayer to her for the virtue you have said you need the most.

The Three Conversions in the Spiritual Life
by Rev. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
Pb 112 pgs
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Chapter I  page 1

The interior life is for all the one thing necessary.  It ought to be constantly developing in our souls; more so than what we call our intellectual life, more so than our scientific, artistic or literary life.  The interior life is lived in the depths of the soul; it is the life of the whole man, not merely of one or other of his faculties.