Our Lady of Sorrows saves a youth from the Devil, Mary: Day 063

Our Lady of Sorrows saves a youth from the Devil

St. Alphonsus tells how a young man who had sold his soul to the Devil escaped from his clutches through wearing Our Lady’s scapular.

A young man in Perugia, I am told, promised the Devil that if he would enable him to attain a sinful goal he had in mind, he would give him his soul. The man then gave the Devil a written contract to this effect, signed in his own blood.
When the crime had been committed, the Devil demanded that the young man keep his promise. For this purpose, he led him to the brink of a well. At the same time, the demon threatened that, if the young man didn’t throw himself in, he himself would drag him, body and soul, to hell.

The wretched youth, thinking that it would be impossible to escape from the Devil’s hands, climbed up to cast himself in. But terrified at the prospect of death, he told the Devil that he lacked the courage to take the leap. If the demon was determined that the youth must die, he would have to push him in.

The young man wore a scapular of the Sorrows of Mary. So the Devil said, “Take off that scapular, and then I will push you in.” But the youth, discover- ing in the scapular the protection still promised to him by the Mother of God, refused to do so.
Finally, after a heated argument, the Devil departed, filled with humiliation. So the sinner, grateful to his sorrowful mother, went to thank her. Penitent for his sins, he presented a painting of what had taken place, as a votive offering for her altar in the church of Santa Maria la Nuova in Perugia. —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Do I wear a scapular as a sign of my devotion to Mary? If not, have I consid- ered wearing one? Do I recognize that such sacramentals, through the power of
the Church’s prayers, can dispose me to receive the grace of divine protection from Satan?

CLOSING PRAYER
From a prayer of St. Alphonsus: Most sorrowful of all mothers, only this thought can console you: Jesus, by his death, conquered hell and opened heaven, which until then had been closed to us; and he has gained so many souls.
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