A story for every day...

One day, or rather one evening, two unfortunate young men, who no longer retained any religious feeling and who had lost even the memory of Mary their Mother, were walking sadly like orphans in whose hearts an immense emptiness had been created, when they were drawn out of their worldly reverie by chants that started from a chapel close to them. Curious, they entered the sanctuary. One choir sang: “Holy Mary, pray for us”; the other choir answered: “Holy Mother of God, intercede for us”, etc. And they themselves were surprised to feel moved to the depths of their souls. In spite of themselves, tears flooded their eyes, they knelt down, and, in a confusion as delicious as it was inexpressible, they mixed their voices with the transports of the assembly. They had come as enemies to the house of God; they had entered with the smile of impiety on their lips, with the contempt of irreligion even in the insulting noise of their march; they had begun by casting a mocking look of superiority on the faithful kneeling at the feet of Mary, and here they suddenly shared the holy enthusiasm of the multitude, and glorified themselves in a loud voice the holy Mother of God who had overcome them.