To Jesus Living in Mary

O Jesus, living in Mary,

come and live in Thy servants.

in the spirit of Thy holiness,

in the fullness of Thy power,

in the perfection of Thy ways,

in the truth of Thy virtues,

in the fellowship of Thy mysteries,

rule Thou over every adverse power

in Thy spirit, for the glory of the Father.

                                             Amen.

This efficacious prayer sums up living the interior life. If a soul desires to live a holy life and to profit from the means of sanctification offered by the Church, then it must draw into the interior dispositions of Jesus. What better way to do this than to do it with, through and in Mary, the most perfect living image of Christ.

The object of this prayer is the interior life, a life that is a participation in the life of Jesus.

"Because Jesus is the source of all holiness, we ask Him to live and to act in us, in order that He may communicate to us His Own sanctity: In the spirit of thy holiness."

"Since we are unable to acquire such an exalted sanctity through our own efforts, we beg Him to come to us in the fullness of his power."

"Since holiness cannot be attained without the imitation of Our Divine Model, we beg Him to make us walk in the perfection of His ways, that is to say, to make us able to imitate His conduct, His exterior and interior actions, in all their perfection."

"In the truth of thy virtues. The virtues we ask for are real virtues...What Jesus comes to bring us therefore are interior virtues, crucifying virtues: humility, poverty, mortificaton, perfect chastity of mind, heart and body; and unifying virtues; the spirit of faith, of confidence and of love."

"Jesus practices all these virtues especially in His mysteries, and on this account we pray Him to make us partake in the grace of His mysteries: in the fellowship of thy mysteries....

---the Incarnation, which invites us to put off all self-love in order to consecrate ourselves entirely to the Father in union with Jesus.

---the Crucifixion, Death and Burial which express so many degrees of the total immolation of self by which we crucify our disordered nature and seek to put off and bury our evil inclinations

---the Resurrection and the Ascension, which are the symbols of a perfect detachment from creatures and of the altogether heavenly life which we desire to lead in order to reach heaven."

"We can not assuredly attain such perfection unless Jesus comes to vanquish our powerful enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil: to rule over every adverse power."

"Lastly, in order to obtain this grace more readily, we proclaim the with Him we have but one end in view, to procure the glory of the Father under that action of the Holy Ghost: by the spirit unto the glory of the Father."

(The Spiritual Life by Rev. Adolphe Tanquerey, S.S., D.D.. Tan Publishers)