A story for every day...

A lawyer in the south of France had received a Christian education at first; but a godless and vicious teacher corrupted his mind and heart: the young man became an atheist. For seventeen years he abandoned himself to all his passions, and, furious at not finding happiness, he was for ten whole years pursued by the dreadful thought of suicide. At the age of thirty-two, an affair brought him to Paris, and there he saw himself humiliated in his two dearest passions, pride and libertinism. Out of himself, furious, desperate, he crossed the square of Notre-Dame des Victoires, not knowing where he was going. The door of the church is open; he throws himself there with all his fury. In his frenzy, he attacks God for his evils; he goes, the unhappy one, until threatening Him with his fist. “If it is true that You exist, he says, why am I so unhappy?” Here he sees the statue of Mary; he looks at Her with fury: “Relieve me, he says, if You can do anything.” O good Mary! She listens to this unworthy prayer: in that very hour the sinner’s agitation diminishes, and he calmly resumes, “O You, the consolation of the unfortunate, have mercy on me.” The Blessed Virgin indeed had compassion on this poor sinner: She inspired him to return many times to Her feet; She made him feel the emptiness of the passions and ungodly systems which he had blindly followed. The peace and happiness of his early years came back to his mind. He decided to go to confession, and soon he was able to receive Our Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Communion. He was, for the rest of his life, a model of edification and the propagator of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the refuge of sinners.