Flower of Devotion

When, in the Mass “Salve sancta parens” (Hail or Holy Mother), St. Mechtilde greeted the Blessed Virgin and asked her to obtain forgiveness of her sins from the Lord, she thought she saw Mary standing before God. Then she fell at her feet, touched the hem of her garments, which fell to the ground, and pressed him to her face. When she got up again, she saw a multitude of virgins standing around her, and when she wanted to know who they were, the Blessed Virgin said to her, “All these virgins have served me on earth.”
The first is holiness, which served Me already in the womb of My Mother by filling Me with the Holy Spirit. The second is foresight; it served Me in my childhood that I never committed anything childish that could go against the will of God. The third is purity, which served Me at the angel’s greeting. Overwhelmed by my love for her, I gave this answer to the angel. The fourth is humility, which has made me the Mother of God, whose handmaid I have acknowledged to be. The fifth is love; it brought the Son of God from the womb of His Father into My womb, and as the hearts of mothers are usually weakened by hardship and suffering, so My Heart was weakened by the immensity of love. As a deer thirsts for springs of water, so I longed for the Son I carried. The sixth is foresight; it served Me in all My works that were necessary for My Son, who was to be born, so that in all things I fulfilled the Father’s will in Him. The seventh is patience; it served Me from the first hour of My Son’s birth until the day of His Passion and Death. Eighth, the holy fear of God has been My nurse and has never allowed Me to stumble on the path of My life.
When St. Mechtilde said, “O Lady, obtain for me these virtues!” Our Lady answered, “Go to my Son and ask them of Him!” The Lord sat on a golden chair resting on two pillars of sapphire and gold. The saint fell at the Lord’s feet, asking Him for these virtues for herself and for all those who are troubled by temptations. Then the Lord nodded in agreement, as if he were handing over the virgins to her. When the saint turned to them and looked at them,
she saw that each of them had a small sharp dagger in her hand. The sharpness of this dagger signified the constancy with which a man should resist vice. Around these daggers were golden cymbals, which made a sweet sound with every movement; denoting the thoughts by which a man is victorious when he overcomes temptations; and which before God produce wonderfully beautiful tones. And then she saw a multitude of saints and angels standing around her, and the Lord said, “All those who stand in the thousands of thousands will be the defenders of those who will fight for me against every temptation of the enemy.”