26th day of "Month of Mary", prayer book by Bl. Francisco Palau OCD.
I. The vanilla. This plant fills the whole garden with a very strong fragrance; its flower has no beauty, but it serves to adorn the bouquet and perfumes it. It can not stand by itself, it needs someone to support it. II. Continence 2. Temperance, as the principal virtue, together with abstinence, sobriety, chastity, virginity, with penance and other mortification of the flesh, regulates the strongest passions of a person. Continence checks the passions of the lower order, and to achieve its objective it has at its disposal clemency, meekness, modesty, humility and moderation in pleasures and merrymaking. Continence depends on temperance: it is temperance that checks the passions of the lower order; hence, the vanilla plant neither has beautiful flower nor could it stand by itself. III. Continence in Mary 3. Since Mary's passion did not rebel, this virtue -- continence -- was given to her with all the perfection that …More