CHAPTER VII THE NINE PLENITUDES IN MARY, WHICH REPRESENT
THE NINE CHOIRS OF
THE ANGELS IN GLORY
Ave, gratia plena. It was not enough for the Arch angel
simply to commend
the grace of Mary; he wished also to insist emphatically
on its fullness,
when he said: "Gratia plena." O truly full, and
fully full! Gabriel had not
yet said: "Behold, thou shalt conceive in the
womb." He had not yet said:
"The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee." If,
therefore, before the coming
upon her of the Holy Ghost, before the conception of the
Son of God, Mary
was full (of grace), how much more so afterwards?
Therefore Anselm aptly
says of her fullness and of the fullness of her
gratitude: "She, being
already a thousand times full (of grace), was saluted by
the Angel, filled
with the Holy Ghost, breathed upon by the divine
plenitude." Well,
therefore, is Mary said to be full of the illumination of
wisdom, of the
outpouring of grace, of the riches of a good life, of the
unction of mercy,
of the fecundity of a pious offspring, of the perfection
of the Church, of
the redolence of fair fame, of the resplendence of divine
glory, of the joy
of eternal gladness. Let us consider these nine
plenitudes in Mary, which
represent the nine plenitudes of the angelic orders in
glory.
First let us consider that Mary is full of the
illumination of wisdom and
understanding. She may aptly be symbolized by that which
is said in the
Book of Proverbs: "My husband is not at home, he is
gone on a very long
journey. He took with him a bag of money: he will return
home the day of
the full moon" (VII, 19 f.) This is that Man of whom
Jeremias saith: "The
Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth, a woman
shall encompass a
man" (XXXI, 32.) The woman is Mary--a woman indeed
in sex, not in
corruption; a mother of virtue, who encompassed Our Lord
in her womb,
clothed Him with our nature. This Man--if indeed, as
Josephus saith, it be
lawful to call Him a man-- has three houses. It belongs
to imperial majesty
to have three mansions in the palace, namely, a
reception-room, a supper-
room, and a bedchamber. The reception-room is the place
for conversation
and discussions; the supper-room, for food; the
bedchamber, for rest. So
our Emperor, who rules the winds and the sea, has His
reception-room, which
is the world; He has His refreshment-room, which now is
the Church, and was
of old, the Synagogue; He has His place of rest, namely,
the rational soul
of man. But alas! this Man, the Lord of hosts, had been
very far distant
from His house of the world, His house of the synagogue,
His house of the
soul, for "far from sinners is salvation" (Ps.
CXVIII, 155.) This Man was
not in His house when Jeremias complained: "I have
forsaken my house, I
have left my inheritance" (Jer. XII, 7.) He took the
bag of money with him
when He hid the treasure of His mercies and His grace
from the world. But
lo! this Man came back on the day of the full moon--of
that moon, I say, of
which it is said in the Canticle of Canticles: "Fair
as the moon." This
moon, therefore, is Mary. The full moon is Mary full of
grace. Well is Mary
compared to the moon, because by the Eternal Sun she is
fully illuminated
with the light of wisdom and truth. Therefore, the name
Mary is well
interpreted illuminatrix or illuminated. For she, who is
our moon and our
lamp, was illuminated by the Lord, and she was the
illuminatrix of the
world, according to that prophetic word: "For thou
lightest my lamp" (Ps.
XVII.)
In the fullness of this moon, the Man came back to
his house, when
Christ came into this world in the flesh. O truly
wonderful fullness of
this moon! Behold, if Mary was full of the light of
wisdom, which she
received from the Eternal Sun, before she conceived Him;
how much more full
was she, when she so wonderfully conceived this Sun, and
so entirely
received Him within herself ! Well, therefore, saith St.
Bernard, when
commending the fullness of the wisdom of Mary:
"Heavenly wisdom built for
Himself a house in Mary: for He so filled her mind that
from the very
fullness of her mind her flesh became fecund, and the
Virgin by a singular
grace brought forth that same Wisdom, covered with a garb
of flesh, whom
she had first conceived in her pure mind."
Secondly, let us consider that Mary is full of the
outpouring of grace in
her affections. For such was the inundation of grace, so
great was its
depth and magnitude in Mary, that she could well be
called a full sea
according to that word: "Let the sea roar, and the
fullness thereof" (I
Par. XVI, 32.) As in the sea there is a gathering
together of waters, so in
Mary is a gathering together of graces. Therefore it is
written: "The
gathering together of the waters was called (Vulg.
"he called") seas" (Gen.
I, 10.) It is also said in Ecclesiastes: "All the
rivers run into the sea"
(I, 7.) All the rivers are the gifts of the graces, which
entered into
Mary, according to that word of Wisdom: "In me is
all grace of the way and
of the truth" (Ecclus. XXIV, 25.) How full is this
sea, how full of grace
is Mary, St. Jerome declares, saying: "Truly full,
because on others it is
only bestowed in part, but on Mary the whole plenitude of
grace was
outpoured at once." This sea, therefore, being full,
let us hear it roar
against vices. Let the sea roar, therefore, and the
fullness thereof, let
the full sea, let the full Mary, roar. Let it roar
against luxury, preach
chastity, and say: "How shall this be done, for I
know not man?" Let it
also roar against pride, by humility, saying:
"Behold the handmaid of the
Lord." Let it roar against ingratitude, giving
thanks and saying: "Behold
the handmaid of the Lord.... My soul doth magnify the
Lord." Of the
fullness of this sea it is likewise said in the Psalm:
"Let the sea be
moved, and the fullness thereof." Let the sea be
moved, let Mary be moved,
let her be moved by our sighs and mortifications, let her
be moved by our
tears and prayers, let her be moved by our alms and our
other acts of
veneration. Let her be moved fully, I say, that she may
pour out on us of
her fullness. Let us note what St. Bernard says in
speaking of her: "If a
vessel full of liquid is moved, it is easily spilt, and
lets drop its
contents. So the Blessed Virgin Mary, if she is moved by
our prayers, pours
forth graces upon us."
Thirdly, let us consider that Mary is in very truth full
of the riches of a
good life. Of this plenitude we can truly say: "The
earth is the Lord's."
By the earth is signified Mary, of whom we read in
Isaias: "Let the earth
be opened, and bud forth a savior!" What more lowly
than the earth ? What
more useful ? We all tread the earth under our feet, and
draw from it the
nourishment of our life. Whence have we food and
clothing, bread and wine,
wool and thread, flax. and all the necessaries of life
except from the
earth, and from the fullness of the earth? What,
therefore, is more lowly,
what more useful than the earth? In like manner, what is
more humble, what
more useful than Mary? She by her humility is the very
least of all; by her
fullness of grace, the most useful of all. For we have
all that is needful
for our spiritual life through Mary. Well therefore doth
St. Bernard say:
"Let us look more deeply and see with how great a
depth of devotion He
wishes Mary to be honored by us who hath placed the
fullness of all good in
Mary, so that if we have any ground for hope, or for
salvation, we should
know that it is from her it springs." ("Serm.
de Aquaeductu.") Hear now the
Psalmist: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness
thereof." The fullness
of the earth consists in fruits and divers riches,
according to the
Psalmist: "The earth is filled with Thy
riches." The fruits and the riches
of this most full earth, Mary, are the works, the
examples, and the divers
merits of the most holy life of Mary. The Lord filled her
with such riches
and with so great gifts that it is said: "The Lord
looked upon the earth,
and filled it with his goods" (Ecclus. XVI, 30. )
St. Jerome, speaking of
this fullness, says: "It was fitting that the Virgin
should be pledged with
such gifts, that she should be full of grace, she who
gave glory to the
heavens, God to the earth, who restored peace, who gave
faith to the
nations, put an end to vices, brought back order to life,
and discipline to
manners."
Fourthly, let us consider that Mary is full of the
unction of mercy and of
the oil of piety. Therefore she may be signified by that
woman who, having
closed the door of her house and gathered together within
all her vessels,
they were miraculously filled with oil, according to what
Eliseus had
prophesied to her, saying: "Thou shalt take them
away, when they are full"
(Kings IV, 4. ) This woman is Mary, who was called
"woman" by her Son in
the Gospel of St. John, where we read: "Woman,
behold thy Son." The vessels
of this woman are her affections and her deeds, her
desires and her
benefits, which in Mary are all full of the oil of mercy.
Well, therefore,
doth St. Bernard say of this oil: "No wonder, Lady,
if the sanctuary is so
copiously anointed with the oil of the mercy of thy
heart, when that
inestimable work of mercy, which God had predestined from
all eternity in
our redemption, was first of all effected in thee by the
Maker of the
world. Let us, therefore, say to Mary: 'Give us of your
oil.' Let us beg
for the oil of her mercy in this world, lest we should
ask in vain at the
judgment." That the house in which the vessels were
filled should also have
been closed, is admirably suited to Mary, of whose
spiritual enclosure
Ezechiel says: "This gate shall be closed, and it
shall not be opened, and
no man shall pass through it; for the Lord God of Israel
has entered
through it" (XLIV, 2.) The gate of Mary was closed
by the lock of
virginity; no man had passed through it by way of
conjugal embrace; the
Lord God came forth through her by a singular manner of
birth. But
certainly, because for the multiplication of the oil,
vessels not a few
were collected from the neighbors; therefore by these
vessels may be
signified all those who have been partakers of the
mercies of Mary. Who
these are, St. Bernard declares when he says: "Mary
has opened the bosom of
her mercy to all, that all may receive of her fullness:
the captive,
redemption; the sick, healing; the sad, consolation; the
sinner, pardon;
the just, grace; the angel, joy; in fine, the whole
Trinity, glory; the
person of the Son, the substance of human flesh."
Fifthly, let us consider that Mary is full of the
fecundity of the divine
offspring. Of this plenitude we may understand that word
of Isaias: "I saw
the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and elevated, and
the earth was full
of His majesty" (Is. VI, 1.) That house on the
throne of which God sits is
the Blessed Virgin, on the throne of whose mind the Lord
rested. O truly
blessed and stable throne, as it is said in the third
Book of Kings: "Thy
most firm throne for ever" (VIII, 13.) This most
high throne is in the
intellect, raised up on the affections. It is also most
high above men,
raised up over men. On this throne, therefore, of Mary,
on the throne, I
say, of her mind, the Lord was seated, and the house of
her body was full
of the majesty of the Incarnate Word. Of this ineffable
fullness St.
Ambrose says: "Well is she alone said to be full of
grace, who alone
obtained the grace which none other ever had, of being
filled with the
author of grace." O truly happy house, full of so
happy a fecundity! For
St. Bernard saith: "Well was she full of grace, who
both kept the grace of
virginity and acquired the glory of fecundity." The
Lord, therefore, sat on
the throne of the mind of Mary by grace, and filled the
house of her body
with His majesty by His assumed nature. Therefore, it is
said in the third
Book of Kings: "The glory of the Lord had filled the
house of the Lord"
(VIII, II.) Then saith Solomon: "The Lord hath said
that He would dwell in
the cloud" (ibid., 12.) Mary, therefore, the house
of the Lord, was filled
with the glory of the Divine Majesty by the cloud of the
humanity assumed
by God--that cloud, I say, of which we read in
Ecclesiasticus: "The healing
of all is in the hastening of the cloud" (XLIII,
24.) And again: "Like the
morning star in the midst of a cloud." For like the
star in a cloud is the
Word in the flesh assumed by Him.
Sixthly, let us consider in what way Mary was full of the
perfection of the
universal Church. The Church had and has diverse and
marvelous perfections
and graces in her various saints, in whose fullness it
would seem that Mary
abode, that she might truly utter that word of
Ecclesiasticus: "My abode is
in the full assembly of saints." Truly was the abode
of Mary in the
plenitude of the saints, while in her own wonderful
perfection the fullness
of the perfection of the saints was not wanting to her.
As St. Bernard
declares, when he says: "Rightly in the fullness of
the saints was her
abode, to whom was not wanting the faith of the
patriarchs, the spirit of
the prophets, the zeal of the Apostles, the constancy of
the martyrs, the
sobriety of the confessors, the chastity of the virgins,
the fecundity of
the married, yea, nor the purity of the angels." For
it is written in the
book of Ecclesiasticus: "And shall be admired in the
holy assembly" (XXIV,
3.) On account of this, the abode of Mary is in the
fullness of the Saints,
not in the fullness of the impious; because Mary remains
willingly with
those who are full of sanctity, not with those who are
full of iniquity.
She not only abides in the fullness of the Saints, but
abides in fullness
with the Saints, lest their fullness should grow less.
She takes hold of
virtues, lest they fly; she takes hold of merits, lest
they perish; she
takes hold of demons and keeps them in check, lest they
do harm; she takes
hold of her Son, lest He strike sinners. Before Mary
there never was one
who could dare thus to take hold of the Lord, as Isaias
bears witness,
saying: "There is none that calleth upon thy name,
that riseth up and
taketh hold of thee" (Is. LXIV, 7.)
Seventhly, let us consider how Mary is full of the
redolence of fair fame.
As a field is full of the scents of various flowers, so
is Mary full of the
fair fame of fragrant sprinkling. Of her fullness we may
understand what we
read in Genesis: "Behold the smell of my son is as
the smell of a full
field, which God hath blessed" (Gen. XXVII, 27.)
This field is Mary, in
whom the treasure of the angels, yea verily, the whole
treasure of God the
Father is hidden. Happy is he "who sells all that he
has, and buys that
field." The full odor of this full field is the full
fair fame of Mary, her
full honor. Of this St. Jerome saith: "Because she
was filled with the many
odors of the virtues, there came forth from her a most
sweet odor,
rejoicing the angelic spirits." Of this odor she
herself, glorying, could
use the words of Ecclesiasticus (XXIV, 20): "I gave
a sweet smell like
cinnamon and aromatical balm." The good odor of Mary
was like cinnamon
externally, in the rind of her conversation; like
aromatical balm
interiorly, by the unction of her devotion; like myrrh,
in the bitterness
of her suffering. The good odor of Mary was also like
cinnamon in her
deeds; like balm in her contemplation; like myrrh in her
sufferings. O
truly rich, and exceedingly rich she who, besides other
aromas, was so full
of the odoriferous balm of the Holy Spirit that St.
Bernard, speaking of
that word, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee," says: "That precious balm
flowed in on thee with such copiousness and plenitude
that it overflows
most abundantly on all around thee." Well,
therefore, could God the Father
say: "Behold the odor of my Son is as the smell of a
full field," as though
He said: "Behold the smell of my Son, the honor of
my Son, is from the
honor and the good fame of His mother." St. Jerome
saith: "The maternal
honor is His, who was born from her."
Eighthly, let us consider how Mary was full of the reflection
or
resplendence, as it were, the expression of the divine
glory, according to
Ecclesiasticus: "The work of the Lord is full of His
glory" (XXIV, 20.)
Above all, the most wonderful work of the Lord is Mary,
of whom it is said
in Ecclesiasticus: "An admirable instrument the work
of the Most High"
(XLIII, 2.) Truly a wonderful work, for a similar one can
never be found.
Whence it is said of it: "There was no such work
made in any kingdom" (3
Kings X, 20.) None indeed in the kingdom of Heaven, none
in the kingdom of
earth, nor in that of hell; for there never was such a
work in Heaven, on
earth, or in the nether regions. For this work is full of
the glory of the
Lord, because this glory shines most fully in Mary, above
all pure
creatures. For after the humanity assumed by the Word,
there is no work, no
creature, in whom there is such scope for the divine
glory as in Mary. For
the Lord has through Mary glory because of the
restoration brought about in
Heaven, glory in the Redemption accomplished in the
world, glory for the
deliverance wrought in hell --this glory He has in the
fullness of grace in
Mary. Therefore, well does St. Anselm say: "I speak
to thee alone, Lady;
the world is full of thy benefits; they have penetrated
hell, and surpassed
the Heavens. For by the fullness of thy grace those who
were in limbo
rejoice in their deliverance, and those who were above
the world have joy
in their restoration." Therefore, full of the glory
of the Lord is His
work, Mary, because, as it is said in Isaias, "The
earth is full of His
glory" (Is. VI, 3.) Full indeed is the whole earth,
full is Mary of the
divine glory, which shines in her most fully. Rightly
above all the
aforesaid is she said to be full of grace, who is most
pleasing to all who
are not ungrateful, as St. Bernard shows when, speaking
of the words, Ave
gratia plena, he says: "Well is she fully pleasing
because she is pleasing
to God, to the angels, and to men; to men by her
fecundity, to the angels
by her virginity, to God by her humility."
Ninthly, consider how Mary is full of the joy of eternal
happiness. Who is
ignorant that she is of those of whom her Son said:
"Ask, and you shall
receive, that your joy may be full"? If, therefore,
the joy of the
Apostles, of all those who are reigning with God, is
full, how much more is
the joy of the Mother of God full and complete? Of this
plenitude St.
Jerome says: "Full indeed of grace, full of God,
full of virtues, she could
not but possess most fully the glory of eternal
splendor." What wonder,
then, that plenitude that it overflows most abundantly on
all around thee."
Well, therefore, could God the Father say: "Behold
the odor of my Son is as
the smell of a full field," as though He said:
"Behold the smell of my Son,
the honor of my Son, is from the honor and the good fame
of His mother."
St. Jerome saith: "The maternal honor is His, who
was born from her."
Eighthly, let us consider how Mary was full of the
reflection or
resplendence, as it were, the expression of the divine
glory, according to
Ecclesiasticus: "The work of the Lord is full of His
glory" (XXIV, 20.)
Above all, the most wonderful work of the Lord is Mary,
of whom it is said
in Ecclesiasticus: "An admirable instrument the work
of the Most High"
(XLIII, 2.) Truly a wonderful work, for a similar one can
never be found.
Whence it is said of it: "There was no such work
made in any kingdom" (3
Kings X, 20.) None indeed in the kingdom of Heaven, none
in the kingdom of
earth, nor in that of hell; for there never was such a
work in Heaven, on
earth, or in the nether regions. For this work is full of
the glory of the
Lord, because this glory shines most fully in Mary, above
all pure
creatures. For after the humanity assumed by the Word,
there is no work, no
creature, in whom there is such scope for the divine
glory as in Mary. For
the Lord has through Mary glory because of the
restoration brought about in
Heaven, glory in the Redemption accomplished in the
world, glory for the
deliverance wrought in hell --this glory He has in the
fullness of grace in
Mary. Therefore, well does St. Anselm say: "I speak
to thee alone, Lady;
the world is full of thy benefits; they have penetrated
hell, and surpassed
the Heavens. For by the fullness of thy grace those who
were in limbo
rejoice in their deliverance, and those who were above
the world have joy
in their restoration." Therefore, full of the glory
of the Lord is His
work, Mary, because, as it is said in Isaias, "The
earth is full of His
glory" (Is. VI, 3.) Full indeed is the whole earth,
full is Mary of the
divine glory, which shines in her most fully. Rightly
above all the
aforesaid is she said to be full of grace, who is most
pleasing to all who
are not ungrateful, as St. Bernard shows when, speaking
of the words, "Ave
gratia plena," he says: "Well is she fully
pleasing because she is pleasing
to God, to the angels, and to men; to men by her
fecundity, to the angels
by her virginity, to God by her humility."
Ninthly, consider how Mary is full of the joy of eternal
happiness. Who is
ignorant that she is of those of whom her Son said:
"Ask, and you shall
receive, that your joy may be full"? If, therefore,
the joy of the
Apostles, of all those who are reigning with God, is
full, how much more is
the joy of the Mother of God full and complete? Of this
plenitude St.
Jerome says: "Full indeed of grace, full of God,
full of virtues, she could
not but possess most fully the glory of eternal
splendor." What wonder,
then, that she has full and overfull joy and glory in the
kingdom, who had
grace full and overflowing in her exile upon earth? What
wonder if both in
Heaven and on earth her fullness was above that of every
creature, from
whose fullness every creature has life ? Therefore St.
Anselm saith: "O
Woman full and overfull of grace, of the overflowing of
whose plenitude
every creature gains new life !"
Thus you see in Mary the fullness of illuminative wisdom,
the fullness of
overflowing grace, the fullness of a fruitful life, the
fullness of helping
mercy, of the perfection of the Church, of good fame, of
divine glory, of
eternal joy. Now, therefore, O Virgin full of grace,
deign to make us, who
are so empty, partakers of thy fullness, that we may at
last attain to
eternal fullness. By Our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.
CHAPTER VIII MARY SHARES ALL GIFTS WITH THE LORD
"Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum." It
has been shown above how Mary,
because of the purity of her life, is rightly saluted by
the Ave. It has
also been shown how, because of the abundance of her
graces, she is rightly
called "full of grace." We have now to show
how, because of a most special
presence of God within her, it is rightly said to her:
"The Lord is with
thee." But tell us, in what measure, O great
Gabriel, thou bringest tidings
of a great thing to the great Mary from the great God!
But tell us, in what
measure, or how He is with her ? Behold St. Augustine
answering this
question, as it were in the person of Gabriel: "The
Lord is with thee, but
more than with me. The Lord is with thee, but not as He
is with me. For
although the Lord is in me, the Lord hath created me; but
by thee the Lord
is to be born." The Lord, therefore, O Mary, but
who, how great? The Lord
of the earth and of all things in general, the Lord who
is especially the
Lord of mankind, the Lord who is thine in a singular
manner, O Mary. The
Lord, I say, of all creatures in general, the Lord in a
special manner of
rational creatures, the Lord especially of thy virginal
court, O Mary. We
must consider, therefore, that this Lord, who is with
thee, is in general
the Lord of all creatures. Judith says: "The Lord of
the heavens, the
Creator of the waters, and the Lord of all
creatures" (IX, 17.) And the
Wise Man: "The Lord of all things loved her"
(Wisd. VIII, 3.)
Therefore,
the Lord of all things universally, of all things visible
and invisible.
This universal Lord of all things was in Mary in such a
manner that He made
her the universal Lady of all things--the Lady, I say, of
Heaven, and the
Lady of the world. St. Anselm saith: "The Queen of
heaven, and the Lady of
the World, to the Mother of Him, who cleanseth the world,
I confess that my
body is exceedingly impure." But lo! this universal
Lord of all things is a
most powerful Lord, a most wise Lord, a most rich Lord, a
most unfailing
Lord. A lord without power, without wisdom, without
wealth, without
permanence, would be a most imperfect lord. A feeble
lord, one needy and
insipid, or unable to keep his position, would be little
esteemed. But Our
Lord is universal, most powerful, most wise, most
wealthy; His eternity is
unfailing.
First note that the universal Lord, who is with Mary, is
a Lord most
powerful in will, and it is well said of Him: "All
whatsoever the Lord hath
willed, the Lord has done, . . . even in all
abysses" (Ps. CXXXIV, 6.)
Therefore, neither in Heaven, nor on earth, nor in all
the infernal
abysses, can anyone resist the will of so powerful a
Lord, as Mardochai
testifies, saying: "Lord King Almighty, in thy
dominion are all things, and
there is none who can resist thy will" (Esth. XIII,
9.) Behold, Mary, how
great, how powerful is the Lord who is with thee! And
because He is a most
powerful Lord, He is most powerfully with thee:
therefore, art thou most
powerful with Him, by Him, through Him, so that thou
canst truly say, "My
power is in Jerusalem" (Ecclus. XXIV, 15 . ) Jerusalem
signifies the Church
triumphant in Heaven; it signifies also the Church
militant upon earth. For
truly both in Heaven and on earth the Mother of the
Creator has power. How
very powerful she is, Anselm recognizes when he says:
"Hear us, loving one;
be with us, be favorable to us; help us, most powerful
one, that our minds
may be cleansed from stains and our darkness
illuminated." The Lord,
therefore, is with thee, O most powerful Mary.
Secondly, note that the universal Lord, who is with Mary,
is a Lord most
wise in truth. For He is the Lord, of whom it is said in
the Psalm, "Great
is our Lord, and great is His strength, and of His wisdom
there is no
number" ( Ps. CXLVI, 5. ) Oh, how wise is the Lord,
whose wisdom nothing
can deceive, nothing can be concealed from, because He
knows all things.
All our works, both good and bad, all our words, good and
bad, all our
thoughts and all our desires, good and bad, the Lord
knows. Whence St.
Peter says: "Lord, Thou knowest all things."
Behold, Mary, what kind of a
Lord, what a most wise Lord, is He who is with thee. And
because the most
wise Lord is most wisely with thee, therefore, thou too
art most wise with
Him and through Him. Thou art typified by that Abigail,
of whom it was
said: "She was a woman most prudent and most
beautiful." Mary was so
prudent and so beautiful that St. Anselm does not
hesitate to say of her:
"All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in
Mary." The Lord,
therefore, is with thee, O most wise Mary.
Thirdly, consider that the universal Lord, who is with
Mary, is most
wealthy in His possessions, as the Prophet testifies,
saying: "The earth is
the Lord's, and all that dwell in it." Not only is
the earth and its
fullness the Lord's, but also the Heavens and their
fullness. For Thine, O
Lord, are the Heavens, and thine is the earth, because
"the heaven of
heavens is the Lord's." Everything is the property
of this Lord, Heaven and
earth, bodies and spirits, all nature, all grace, all heavenly
glory, all
is the Lord's own. Therefore, the Lord is most rich, as
the Apostle says:
"He is the Lord of all, rich unto all that call upon
Him" (Rom. X, 12.)
Behold, Mary, how rich, how great is He who is with thee
! And because the
most rich lord is with thee so richly, therefore art thou
most rich
together with Him and because of Him, so that it can be
truly said of thee:
"Many daughters have gathered together riches, thou
hast surpassed them
all" (Prov. XXXI, 29.) The daughter Agnes, the
daughter Lucy, the daughters
Catherine, Cecilia, Agatha, and many other holy virgins
and just souls,
have gathered together riches of virtue and grace, of
merits and rewards,
but thou, O Mary, by thy universal riches hast surpassed
them all. Oh, how
rich is Mary in glory, who was so rich in misery! Oh, how
rich is she in
Heaven, who was so rich in this world! Oh, how rich is
she in her soul, who
was so rich in her body, that even St. Bernard exclaims:
"O Mary, rich in
all and above all, of whose substance a small part being
taken, was enough
to pay the debt of the whole world!" The Lord is
with thee, therefore, O
Mary most rich.
Fourthly, consider that the universal Lord, who is with
Mary, is the
unfailing Lord of eternity. Whence we read in Exodus:
"The Lord will reign
in eternity and beyond." And in the Psalm it is
said: "But thou, O Lord,
remainest for ever." Behold, O Mary, how great a
Lord, how unfailing a Lord
is He who is with thee ! And because He is unfailingly
with thee,
therefore, thou also art unfailing with Him in eternity.
For thou art that
unfailing, that everlasting throne, the throne of the Son
of God, of whom
the Father saith by the Prophet: "His throne is like
the sun in my sight,
and like the moon perfect for ever and truly in
eternity." Hence, we cannot
only say with truth: "Thou, O Lord, endurest for
ever," but we can also
truly say: "Thou, O Lady, endurest for ever."
What wonder if Mary, in her
Son, remains forever, when even the benefits of Mary in
her servants remain
forever ? For St. Bernard says: "In thee, O Mary,
angels find joy, the just
grace, sinners pardon forever." The Lord, therefore,
is with thee, O
neverfailing Mary! Rejoice, O Mary, rejoice! Behold the
most powerful Lord
is with thee in such a manner that thou art most powerful
with Him. The
most wise Lord is with thee in such a way that thou art
most wise with Him.
The most rich Lord is with thee in such wise that thou
art most rich with
Him. The never-failing Lord is with thee in such wise
that thou, together
with Him, shalt never fail or be deficient.
Now, therefore, most powerful Lady, be a helper to us who
are so impotent !
Now, most wise Lady, be to us who are foolish a helper
and a counselor ! O
most wealthy Lady, be to us who are poor a benefactress !
O most unfailing
Lady, be to us feeble, failing creatures a perpetual
support in every good
deed!
CHAPTER IX "THE LORD IS WITH THEE"
We must now consider that this Lord, of whom it is said, "The
Lord is with
thee," is in a special manner the Lord of rational
creatures, as man, the
rational creature himself, says in the eighth Psalm:
"O Lord, our Lord,"
etc. He is the Lord of all men; He is especially our
Lord. As it is said in
Isaias: "The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our
lawgiver, the Lord is our
king" (Is. XXXIII, 22.) The Lord is our lawgiver in
this world; the Lord is
our judge at the last judgment; the Lord is our King who
will crown us in
Heaven. This particular Lord of ours was with Mary in
such a manner that He
made her also our special Lady. Which St. Bernard
acknowledged when he
said: "Our Lady, our mediatrix, our advocate,
reconcile us to thy Son,
commend us to thy Son, present us before thy Son."
But behold, this Lord of
ours is a most loving, a most just, a most sure, a most
renowned Lord. A
Lord who was not loving in benefits, just in judgments,
true in promises,
nor renowned among his people, would not be thought much
of. But Our Lord
is most loving in liberality; most just in equity; most
true in fidelity;
most renowned in fame.
First, therefore, we must note that our own Lord, who is
with Mary, is a
most loving Lord in His infinite mercy. For He is the
Lord of whom the
Prophet saith: "Thou, Lord, art sweet and mild, and
of much mercy to those
who invoke Thee" (Ps. LXXXV, 5.) He is a Lord of
much mercy in many
temporal benefits, also in spiritual and eternal ones,
which out of his
great mercy He has bestowed upon us, and never ceases to bestow.
Would that
we were not ungrateful for so great mercies ! Would that
to such a merciful
Lord we were very grateful as Isaias was, who said:
"I will remember the
tender mercies of the Lord, the praise of the Lord for
all the things that
the Lord hath bestowed upon us" (Is. LXIII, 7.)
Behold, Mary, what a Lord
He is, how loving, how merciful, the Lord who is with
thee. And because
this most merciful Lord is so merciful with thee,
therefore thou art most
merciful with Him, and truly of thee can it be said:
"A throne shall be
prepared in mercy, and one shall sit upon it in
truth" (Is. XVI, 5.) The
throne of divine mercy is Mary, the Mother of mercy, in
whom all find the
solace of mercy. For as we have a most merciful Lord, so
have we a most
merciful Lady. Our Lord is of much mercy to all who
invoke Him, and our
Lady is of much mercy to all who invoke her. Therefore
St. Bernard
excellently saith: "Let him be silent on the subject
of thy mercy, O
blessed Virgin, who, having invoked it in his
necessities, found it
wanting." The Lord, therefore, is with thee, O most
merciful Mary.
Secondly, note that our own special Lord, who is with
Mary, is the most
just Lord of equity, as it is well said in the Psalms:
"The Lord is just
and hath loved justices" (Ps. X, 8.) And again:
"Thou art just, O Lord, and
Thy judgment is right" (Ps. CXVIII, 137.) The Lord
is most certainly just
in all His judgments, in all causes, in all His deeds, as
it is once more
said in the Psalms: "The Lord is just in all His
ways" (Ps. CXLIV, 17.) The
Lord is so just in every path of justice that for no one
will He depart
from the way of justice. And therefore it is well said:
"God will not
except any man's person, neither will he stand in awe of
any man's
greatness, for He made the little and the great, and He
hath equally care
of all." Behold, O Mary, what kind of a Lord He is,
what a just Lord, the
Lord who is with thee ! And because the Lord is most just
with thee,
therefore art thou most just together with Him. For thou
art the rod of
Aaron, straight, erect, flowering and fruitful; straight
and erect, by
justice and equity; flowering, by virginity; fruitful, by
fecundity. For
who would be the straight rod or stem, the upright rod or
stem, if the rod
of Aaron were not upright? What soul would be just, if
Mary were not just ?
This is why St. Bernard says: "Who is just, if not
the just Mary, from whom
sprang the Sun of Justice?" The Lord is, therefore,
with thee, O most just
Mary.
Thirdly, note that our own special Lord, who is with
Mary, is most sure in
fidelity and most faithful in surety, as the Prophet
testifies, saying:
"The Lord is faithful in all His ways." Think,
therefore, upon those words
of His, in which He has promised a crown to the just and
hell to the
wicked; and know that the faithful Lord will keep His
words faithfully. He
will faithfully do what He has spoken, as Ezechiel
testifies: "I the Lord
have spoken, and I will do" (Ezech. XXX, 12.) The
most faithful Lord will
most faithfully keep His words, as He Himself says in the
Gospel: "Heaven
and earth shall pass away," etc. Behold, O Mary,
what kind of a Lord He is,
what a faithful Lord He is, the Lord who is with thee!
And because the most
faithful Lord is faithfully with thee, therefore art thou
most faithful
together with Him. For thou art that most faithful dove
of Noe, who hast
most faithfully stood forth as mediatrix between the Most
High God and the
world submerged in a spiritual deluge. The crow was
unfaithful, the dove
most faithful. So also was Eve unfaithful; but Mary was
found faithful. Eve
was the unfaithful mediatrix of perdition; Mary was the
faithful mediatrix
of salvation. St. Bernard saith: "Mary was the
faithful mediatrix, who
prepared the antidote of salvation for both men and
women." The Lord,
therefore, is with thee, O most faithful Mary.
Fourthly, note that our special Lord, who is with Mary,
is the Lord who is
most renowned for fame. He is of a great name, as St.
Jerome testifies,
saying: "There is none like to Thee, O Lord, and
great art Thou, and great
is Thy name" (Jerem. X, 6.) The name of the Lord is
indeed of great fame
and of great praise among all peoples, as the Royal
Prophet testifies:
"Kings of the earth, and all ye people, princes and
all ye judges of the
earth, young men and maidens, the old and the young,
praise ye the name of
the Lord !" (Ps. CXLVIII, I 1-12.) The praise and
fame of the name of God
has extended not only to every people, but also to all
time, as is manifest
from the same Prophet who says: "May the name of the
Lord be blessed from
henceforth, now and forever." Likewise, the fame and
praise of the name of
the Lord has not only extended to every people and to all
Lime, but also to
every place, as the same Prophet says: "From the
rising of the sun even to
its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised"
(Ps. CXII, 2.) Behold,
O Mary, how great a Lord, what a renowned Lord, is He who
is with thee! And
because He is a renowned and famous Lord, who is with
thee in so renowned a
manner, therefore art thou most renowned together with
Him. For thou art
well prefigured by Ruth, of whom it is written: "Be
thou the example of
virtue in Ephrata, and have a celebrated name in
Bethlehem" (Ruth IV, 11.)
O Mary of the most renowned name, how can thy name not be
celebrated, which
cannot even be devoutly uttered by anyone without some
good coming to him ?
St. Bernard testifies to this, saying: "O great, O
loving, O most
praiseworthy Mary, thou canst not even be named, but thou
enkindlest love;
nor canst thou be thought of, without renewing the
affection of those who
love thee; thou canst never enter the portals of a loving
memory without
bringing with thee the sweetness which is divinely
inseparable from thee."
Mary, therefore, is well prefigured by that woman of
renown, Judith, of
whom it is written: "And she was greatly renowned
among all, because she
feared the Lord very much; neither was there any one that
spoke an ill word
of her" (Jud. VIII, 8.) Mary is indeed renowned
because of her virtues and
her praiseworthy example; but she is even more renowned
because of her
mercies and her unspeakable benefits, and more renowned
still because of
her graces and wonderful privileges. For what is more
wonderful than to be
a virgin mother, and the Mother of God ? What wonder if
Mary is renowned in
the world from so many thousand benefits of her mercy,
who is so renowned
for that one benefit which she bestowed on man? St.
Bernard says: "The
renown of thy highest favor is that bestowed on the
God-loving soul, who
was reinstated by thee." The Lord is, therefore,
with thee, O most renowned
Mary. Rejoice, rejoice! Behold the most loving Lord is
with thee in such a
manner that thou also art most loving. The most just Lord
is so with thee
that thou, together with Him, art most just; the most
renowned Lord is with
thee in such a manner that thou also, together with Him,
art most renowned.
O most loving Mary, save us impious souls by thy
merciful, loving kindness!
O most just Mary, save us unjust souls by thy just
equity! O most faithful
Mary, save us perfidious souls by thy fidelity! O most
renowned Mary, save
us by thy sweet renown!
CHAPTER X MARY THE DAUGHTER, MOTHER, SPOUSE, AND HANDMAID
OF THE LORD
We must now consider that this Lord, of whom it is said,
"The Lord is with
thee," is not alone in a general sense the Lord of
every creature, not
alone the Lord of the rational creature, but also in a
most special sense
the Lord of the virginal court of His most Holy Mother.
Mary is singularly,
both in body and in soul, the court of the Lord, the most
holy house of
God, of whom it is said in the Psalm: "Sanctity behooveth
Thy house, O
Lord." O singularly blessed House, who alone hast
merited so singularly to
have the Lord. St. Bernard saith: "Thou alone hast
been found worthy that
in thy virginal court the King of kings and the Lord of
lords, coming from
His royal throne, chose thee for His first dwelling among
the sons of men."
This singular Lord of Mary was with her in so special a
way that He made
her Lady, so that there never was one like her either
before or after her.
For she became in a wonderful and singular manner the
daughter of the Lord,
the mother of the Lord, the spouse of the Lord, and the
handmaid of the
Lord. If we wish to describe her relation to each Divine
Person, we can say
that the Lord who is with Mary is the Lord and Father,
the Lord and Son,
the Lord and Holy Ghost, the Lord who is triune and one.
He is the Father
and Lord, of whom Mary is the most noble daughter. He is
the Son and Lord,
of whom Mary is the most worthy Mother; He is the Holy
Ghost and Lord, of
whom Mary is the most just spouse; He is the Lord Triune
and One, of whom
Mary is the most submissive handmaid. Mary certainly is
the Daughter of the
Most High Eternity, the Mother of the Most High Truth,
the Spouse of the
Most High Goodness, the Handmaid of the Most High
Trinity.
First, therefore, note, that this Lord, who is so
singularly with Mary, is
the Lord of whom Mary is the most noble daughter. Of this
Lord and of this
daughter can be understood that which Booz said:
"Blessed art thou of the
Lord, my daughter, and thy latter kindness has surpassed
the former" (Ruth
iii, 10.) Therefore Mary is the daughter blessed by the
Lord; by the Most
High Lord, I say, whose daughter she is. O truly noble
daughter of the most
noble King, who hast been so abundantly adorned
interiorly with manifold
glory, that truly it can be said of thee: "All the
glory of the King's
daughter is from within" (Ps. XLIV.) Therefore Mary,
as the most true
daughter of the King, was most abundantly drawn to the kingdom,
as St.
Bernard testifies, saying: "Thou, a delicate
daughter, and full of all
grace, dearly beloved in thy delights, art drawn to the
glory of thy
beauty, and as a sign of love." This blessed
daughter surpassed her former
kindness by the latter; for great as the mercy of Mary
was while she was
still an exile in this world, much greater is her mercy
now that she reigns
in Heaven. Now by her innumerable benefits she shows men
a greater mercy,
for she now sees more clearly the untold miseries of
mankind. For the
splendor of her former mercy Mary was fair as the moon;
but for the
splendor of her latter mercy she resembles the sun. For
as the sun
surpasses the moon in the greatness of his splendor, so
the latter mercy of
Mary surpasses in greatness her former mercy. Who is
there upon whom the
sun and the moon do not shine ? Who is there upon whom
the mercy of Mary
does not shine? Hear what St. Bernard thinks of this:
"As the sun shines
indifferently upon the good and the bad, so when Mary is
petitioned, she
does not discuss the merits of the petitioners, but shows
herself ready to
hear them, is most merciful to all, and in fine she
compassionates the
misery of all with most abundant affection." The
Lord is with thee,
therefore, O Mary, as a father with a most noble
daughter.
Secondly, note that the Lord who is so singularly with
Mary, is the Lord
whose most worthy mother she is. Of this Lord and of this
mother Elizabeth
said: "Whence is this to me, that the mother of my
Lord should come to me?"
The Mother of the Lord, the Virgin and Mother, is a most
worthy mother. She
is the Mother who is most becoming to such a Son. She is
the Mother to whom
such a Son is most becoming. She is the one, than whom
God could make no
greater. God could make a greater world, God could make a
greater Heaven,
but a greater mother than the Mother of God He could not
make. St. Bernard
saith: "No other mother was becoming to God than a
virgin; nor was any
other son becoming to a virgin than God." A greater
among mothers than Mary
and a greater among sons than Jesus could not be born.
This mother is,
therefore, the flower of mercy, the mother of the Sun of
justice, the
mother of the Fountain of wisdom, the mother of the King of
glory. She is
the mother of Him, I say, whose mercy leads us to love,
whose justice to
fear, whose wisdom to know, whose glory to hope. Mary is,
therefore, the
mother of Him who is in fact our love by mercy, our fear
by justice, our
knowledge by wisdom, our hope by glory, so that she can
truly say: "I am
the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge,
and of holy hope"
(Ecclus. XXIV, 24.) But is Mary the Mother of Christ
only? Nay, what is
most joyful, she is not only the Mother of Christ, but
also the Mother of
all the faithful. St. Ambrose saith: "If Christ is
the brother of all
believers, is not she, who brought forth Christ, the
mother of all
believers?" Oh, dearly beloved, let us all rejoice,
and exclaim: "Blessed
is the Brother, by whom Mary is our Mother; and blessed
is the Mother, by
whom Christ is our Brother." St. Anselm says:
"Lady and Mother, by whom we
have such a Brother, what thanks, what praise shall we
pay to thee?" God
is, therefore, with thee, O Mary, as a son with a most
worthy mother.
Thirdly, note that this Lord who is so singularly with
Mary is the Lord
whose most beautiful spouse Mary is. To this Lord, as to
this spouse, we
can apply the word of Osee: "I will espouse thee to
myself in justice, and
in judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations, and I
will espouse thee
to me in faith; and thou shalt know that I am the
Lord" (Osee II, 19-20.)
Behold a beautiful spouse, beautiful in justice, and in
the judgment of her
looks, beautiful in compassion and in mercy in the regard
of her neighbors,
and beautiful in faith in the sight of God. Beautiful
indeed in the justice
of her life, and in the judgment of her conscience,
beautiful in mercy, in
affection, and in compassion in her deeds. Beautiful in
faith, whereby she
believed all that was to be believed above herself, and
whereby she
believed all that was to be done in her, according to
that word: "Blessed
art thou who hast believed, because all shall be
fulfilled in thee, which
has been said to thee by the; Lord" (Luke I, 45.)
But behold Mary, the
Spouse of the Holy Spirit, as she is and was most
beautiful in
conversation, so also is she most sweet in her address,
as it is said in
the Canticle of Canticles: "As a dropping
honeycomb," etc. Oh, what honey-
flowing words have those sweet lips of Mary often
distilled! Had she not
indeed milk and honey under her tongue in those two sweet
words which she
addressed to Gabriel? Had not Mary milk upon her tongue
when she said: "How
shall this be done, for I know not man?" (Luke I,
34.) Had she not honey on
her tongue when she uttered that honey-sweet word:
"Behold the handmaid of
the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word"
? From the sweetness of
this word, throughout the whole world, the Heavens have
dropped honey. Mary
had honey on her tongue in her eloquent words to God; she
had milk on her
tongue in her agreeable speech to her neighbor. Of how
great sweetness and
beauty is that Spouse of the Supreme Consoler ! Because,
as St. Augustine
says, "Who is this virgin, so holy that the Holy
Spirit deigns to come to
her ? So beautiful, that God chooses her for His
Spouse?" The Lord is,
therefore, with thee, O Mary, as a bridegroom with his
beloved spouse.
Fourthly, note that this Lord, who is so singularly with
Mary, is the Lord
whose most devout handmaid she is, as she herself
testifies: "Behold the
handmaid of the Lord." Mary is the handmaid of God
the Father, of God the
Son, and of God the Holy Ghost. What wonder if she is the
handmaid of that
Lord, when her son is the servant of this Lord, according
to the human
nature assumed from His mother? He Himself confesses it
in the Psalm, where
He says: "O Lord, because I am thy servant, and the son
of thy handmaid." O
what a good handmaid, and what a good son of the handmaid
! Alas, how many
are bad handmaids, and bad sons of the handmaids. But
what saith the
Scripture? "Cast out the bondwoman and her
son." We read in Genesis of the
handmaid of Sara that, seeing that she herself had
conceived, she despised
her mistress. Therefore, the evil handmaid Agar is puffed
up by her
fecundity; but the good handmaid Mary is made fecund by
her humility. That
proud handmaid despised her mistress; the Lord looked on
this humble
handmaid, as she herself says: "He hath regarded the
humility of his
handmaid." O Christian soul, handmaid of the Lord,
with Mary cultivate
fecundity in such a manner that you may not be wanting in
humility; that,
therefore, you may not be puffed up by your fecundity in
good works, notice
the humble handmaid, look upon the humble Mary.
"Behold," she says, "the
handmaid of the Lord." St. Ambrose says: "See
her humility, see her
devotion. She calls herself the handmaid of the Lord, she
who is chosen to
be His Mother; nor is she elated by the promise. O truly
admirable humility
! Behold in what manner Mary designs not only to be the
handmaid of the
Lord, but also the handmaid of the servants of the Lord.
For it is she who
is signified by Abigail, who sent messengers that she
might be brought to
David, saying: "Behold, let thy servant be a
handmaid, that: she may wash
the feet of the servants of my Lord" (I Kings XXV,
41.) By the blessed
handmaid Mary, how many servants of the Lord have been
washed, how many
faithful by her prayers have been cleansed from their
sins ! For she, as it
were, offered water for their feet when she obtained for
them tears of
compunction for their sins. The Lord is with thee,
therefore, O Mary, as
with a most devout handmaid. The Father is with thee; the
Son is with thee;
the Holy Ghost is with thee. St. Bernard says: "The
Father is with thee,
because He made His Son thine; the Son is with thee, who,
in order to work
in thee an admirable secret, in a wonderful manner
unlocked the secret room
of generation, and kept for thee the seal of virginity;
the Holy Spirit is
with thee, who together with the Father sanctified thy
womb. The Lord is,
therefore, with thee," the Lord, whose daughter thou
art, than whom none is
more noble; the Lord, whose mother thou art, than whom
none is more
wonderful; the Lord, whose spouse thou art, than whom
none is more lovable;
the Lord, whose handmaid thou art, than whom none is more
humble, nor ever
was, nor ever will be. Therefore, O Lady, because so
great a Lord is in
such a manner and so much with thee, grant that by grace
He may also be
with us.
CHAPTER XI MARY FOR HER OWN SAKE AND FOR OURS IS FITLY
COMPARED TO THE
AURORA
"Dominus tecum"--The Lord is with thee. That
devout client of Mary, St.
Anselm, alluding to these sweet words, says: "Mary,
I beseech thee, by the
grace by which the Lord wished so to be with thee, and
thee with Him, grant
for His sake, according to the same grace, His mercy to
me; grant that the
love of thee may be ever with me, and that my care may be
about thee; grant
that the cry of my necessity may be with thee, as long as
it lasts, and
that the look of thy loving kindness may be on me as long
as I live; grant
that my joy in thy beatitude may ever be with me, and
that compassion for
my misery may be with thee as far as it is expedient for
me."
The Lord is with thee, O Mary. Certainly with thee, as
the sun is with the
aurora which goeth before him; with thee as the flower is
with the stem
which produces it; with thee, as the King is with the
Queen going in to
him. For the Sun, which is the most lightsome of all
luminaries, the Flower
which is more precious than all flowers, and the King,
who is more glorious
than all kings, is Our Lord Jesus Christ. The aurora,
therefore, going
before this Sun with resplendent radiance, the stem
producing by a most
wonderful flowering this Flower, the Queen entering in to
the King in
solemn procession, is the most Blessed Virgin Mary. Of
all these points we
shall treat in order.
"The Lord is with thee." With thee, certainly,
as the sun is with the
aurora going before it, and preceding its rise, and
beginning the day by
its light. Truly, indeed, Mary, the aurora of the world,
prepared in a most
singular manner by the Eternal Sun, being thus
marvelously irradiated,
herself prepares the rising of this Sun, has wonderfully
inaugurated for
the world the day of grace of such a Sun, as St. Bernard
says: "Like the
aurora exceedingly resplendent hast thou come into the
world, O Mary, when
thou didst foreshew the splendor of the true Sun by such
a wonderful
radiance of sanctity that truly the day of salvation, the
day of
propitiation, the day which the Lord hath made, was
worthy to be begun by
thy bright light." Mary is, therefore, the aurora,
of whom it is said: "Who
is this, who cometh forth," etc. Fitly is she
compared to the aurora, as
well for herself, as for us; for herself especially, for
us in general.
Mary for herself is well compared to the aurora according
to Scripture;
first, because of the driving away of the night of sin;
secondly, because
of the approach of the light of grace; third, because of
the rising of the
Sun of justice; fourth, because of the place of her
throne of glory. First,
in her most full sanctification; secondly, in her most
bright conversation;
thirdly, in her most wonderful generation of her Son;
fourthly, in her most
glorious Assumption.
First, note that Mary is, as it were, a happy aurora
because of the absence
or happy driving away of guilt in her own sanctification.
Therefore Job,
cursing the night in which it was said: "A man is
conceived," said: "Let
the stars darken their light. Let it expect light and not
see it, nor the
rising of the dawning of the day" (Job III, 9.) What
is meant here by the
stars, by the light, by the dawn ? I say that the stars
are the souls of
the Saints; the light is the Holy of holies; the dawn is
the Queen of
Saints. The stars indeed are all the Saints, who never
abandon good order
and discipline of morals, the course of fervor and of a
good life, and so
they fight with vigor against the devil. Of these stars
it is well said in
the Book of Judges: "The stars remaining in their
order and courses fought
against Sisara" (Judg. V, 20.) Sisara is
interpreted, taking away the
departing one, and it signifies the devil, who takes
anyone that departs
from God. The light signifies the Holy of Holies, Jesus
Christ, as He
Himself shows, saying: "I am the light of the world,
who followeth Me,
walketh not in darkness" (John VIII, 12.)
Let us, brethren, follow this light, lest, walking in
darkness, we should
fall into the mire of sin and the pit of hell. Let us
follow not haltingly,
according to what is said, "How long will you halt
between two sides? If
the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal is, follow ye
him" (3 Kings XVIII,
21.) The dawn, whose rising the night does not see,
signifies the Blessed
Virgin, whose nativity was not initiated by the night of
original sin. For
the night which Job cursed, the night in which man was
conceived, is
original sin; in which we are all conceived. Hence the
Psalmist says: "In
sins did my mother conceive me." Because all the
Saints are conceived in
sin, they are born in sin, and hence it is rightly said
that this night has
seen no light.
Secondly, note that Mary is, as it were, a happy aurora,
because of her
happy progress in the light of grace, according to that
word: "Who is this
that advances like the aurora," etc. (Cant. VI, 9.)
For as the light of the
aurora progresses by gradually growing in brightness, so
Mary advanced by
advancing in the splendor of grace and of a good life.
She made progress
indeed by advancing in all virtues universally, so that
in all the glory of
all virtue she was, as it were, in herself the rising
aurora, fair as the
moon to her neighbors, as the sun towards God. She made
progress also by
advancing in special virtues, of which St. Bernard speaks
thus: "Charity
burned in Mary by seeking grace, virginity was
resplendent in her body, in
service she was eminent in humility." By the glory
of these virtues Mary
was, as it were, the rising aurora in her shining
virginity, fair as the
moon in her resplendent humility, clear as the sun in her
radiant charity.
Happy he who cultivates these three splendors, these
three virtues of Mary,
by which she conceived the God and Master of all virtues,
as St. Bernard
again testifies, saying: "She who was already full
of grace found grace,
that, being fervent in charity, intact in virginity,
devout in humility,
she might become pregnant without any intercourse with
man, and might bring
forth a child without the usual travail."
Thirdly, note that Mary is, as it were, a happy aurora,
because of the
happy rising of the Sun of justice. For the Sun of
justice, Christ Our
Lord, by means of His aurora, Mary, rose upon this world.
His rising was
unaccompanied by any cloud of sin; wherefore this aurora
was exceedingly
resplendent in the rising of her Sun, according to that
word: "As the light
of the morning when the sun riseth, shineth in the
morning without clouds"
(2 Kings, XXIII, 4. ) The light of this morning is the
holiness of Mary, by
which the Sun of justice, who was about to come forth
from her, deigned to
irradiate her. Of this St. Bernard well saith:
"Rightly, O Mary, hast thou
fulfilled the office of the morning. For the Sun of
justice, who was
Himself about to proceed from thee, preventing as it were
His own birth by
a certain morning splendor, copiously transfused thee
with the rays of His
own light." The light of this morning shone forth
wonderfully when the Sun
rose without clouds, that is, when Christ was born
without any of the
darkness of original sin. Behold, here it is said that
the sun rose without
clouds, and in Exodus we read that the bush was on fire
without being
burned; and in Daniel, that a stone was cut without
hands. What, therefore,
is signified by the sun, by the fire, by the stone, if
not Christ? For He
Himself is the sun enlightening the intellect, the fire
enkindling the
affections, the stone strengthening us against defect. I
say that Jesus
Christ is the sun illuminating the intellect, according
to Malachias: "The
sun of justice will rise upon you who fear my name"
(IV, 2.) See,
therefore, if thou fearest the Lord, for it is written:
"Who feareth God,
neglecteth nothing" (Ecclus. VII, 19.) Again Christ
is the fire enkindling
the affections, as the Apostle says to the Hebrews:
"Our God is a consuming
fire" (Hebr. XII, 29. ) This fire was not only in
the bush of the virginal
womb, but also in the bush of her devout heart. They have
felt this fire
who said: "Were not our hearts burning within
us," etc. Again, Christ is
the stone strengthening us against failings, if we are
well founded upon
Him. Therefore it is said in St. Matthew: "The rains
fell, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house,
and it fell not,
for it was founded on a rock" (VII, 25.) Behold,
neither the rain of
heretical eloquence, nor the floods of worldly
concupiscence, nor the winds
of human violence, could injure the house of a mind
founded upon the rock
of Christ. What does it mean, therefore, that the sun
rises without a
cloud, the bush is on fire without being consumed, the
stone is cut without
hands, unless it be that Christ, who is the sun of truth,
the fire of
charity, the stone of firmness or of eternity, is
conceived and born
without the cloud of original sin, without the fire of
carnal
concupiscence, without the agency of the marital embrace?
For in the
conception of Christ you will find neither sin in the
offspring, nor
concupiscence in the mother, nor the embrace of a father.
That this Virgin
conceived so miraculously, He could effect who sent
beforehand so many
wonderful things prefiguring this miracle, as St. Augustine
testifies,
saying: "He who wrote on the tablets of stone
without iron, made Mary with
child of the Holy Ghost; and He who produced bread in the
desert without
ploughing, impregnated the virgin without corruption; and
He who made the
rod to bud without rain, made the daughter of David bring
forth without
seed."
Fourthly, note that Mary is, as it were, a happy aurora
because of her
place in glory; and according to this Job well says of
the aurora: "Didst
thou . . . shew the dawning of the day its place ?"
(Job XXXVIII, 12.) Now
certainly, our aurora, Mary, elevated high in Heaven,
holds the place
nearest to the Eternal Sun. We may consider that the
throne of Mary in
Heaven has a threefold greatness. The first is that she
received Our Lord
spiritually; the second, that she received Him
corporeally; the third, that
she received Him eternally. Behold the threefold place of
Mary. I say that
the first place in which Mary received Our Lord
spiritually, is her mind,
tranquil and peaceful, according to the Psalmist:
"His place is in peace,
and His dwelling in Sion," which, interpreted, means
a mirror or
contemplation. Whoever wishes to contemplate God, or to
behold Him with the
eyes of the mind, must make Him a place in peace in his
mind; for without
peace of mind no one can arrive at the knowledge of
contemplation.
Therefore the Apostle saith: "Follow peace with all
men, and holiness,
without which no man shall see God" (Hebr. XII, 14.)
Oh, who shall relate,
or who can even imagine, in what contemplations daily
that Sion, that holy
mind of Mary, was employed, while she fervently revolved
in her mind all
those mysteries known to herself above all mortals ? Of
this St. Jerome
well says: "If there are in you any bowels of piety
or mercy, consider with
what love was crucified, with what desire this virgin
burned, while she
revolved in her soul all that she had heard and seen, all
that she had
known; with what emotions she was moved, being filled
with the Holy Ghost,
with the thrilling knowledge of heavenly secrets."
The place in which Mary
conceived corporeally was her holy womb, to which may be
applied the word
of Genesis: "The river which came forth from the
paradise of pleasure
(Jesus Christ from the Virgin's womb) was to water the
garden" (Gen. II,
10.) The special paradise is Mary; the universal paradise
is the Church.
Happy is the watering of both these gardens by the mystic
river from the
womb of Mary, Jesus Christ, who has said: "I will
water my garden of
plants" (Ecclus. XXIV, 42.) Well, therefore, doth
St. Jerome say,
commenting on these words: "I saw her coming up
beautiful from the banks of
the water." Well is it said, "above the rivers
of water," because the Lord
had nourished her on the waters of refreshment, and
brought her up on them;
from whom many rivers emerge, water all the land of
delights, and flow over
the garden of pleasure." Again, the place wherein
Mary received the Lord
when she was about to dwell forever in Heaven is the
place of glory, of
which the Lord said to Job: "Hast thou shown the
dawn its place?" (XXXVIII,
12), as if he said, "Not thou, but I." It does
not belong to thee to show
Mary, the dawn, her place in Heaven, but to me. Well doth
he say, her
place, as it were appropriating it to her, and
discriminating it from all
the other places of the Saints. Hence we read: "The
priests brought in the
ark of the covenant into its place" (3 Kings, VIII,
6.) This place is most
certainly above all the choirs of angels. Finally, this
place is the most
worthy in Heaven, as St. Bernard testifies saying:
"Neither was there in
the world a more worthy place than the bridal chamber of
the virginal womb,
in which Mary received the Son of God, nor in the heavens
one more worthy
than the royal throne to which the Son of Mary raised
her." Mary is
compared to the dawn; first, because she put an end to
the night of guilt,
in her most full holiness; secondly, because of the
advance of the light of
grace in her most bright conversation; thirdly, because
of the bringing
forth of the Sun of justice in her wonderful generation
of her Son;
fourthly, because of her taking possession of her place
in glory in her
most glorious Assumption.
Then we have to consider that the most lightsome Virgin
is compared to the
aurora, not alone for herself, but also because of us.
For as in Scripture
she is signified by the aurora, she is for us a mediatrix
with God, with
the angels a peace-maker, against the devils a defender,
to ourselves a
lightgiver.
First note that our aurora, Mary, is for us a mediatrix
with God, as is
signified in the Psalm: "Thine is the day and thine
is the night, thou hast
made the aurora and the sun" (Ps. LXXIII, 6.)
Thus St. Gregory well says: "The day is the life of
the just, but the night
is taken to mean the life of the sinner." And
therefore the Lord went
before the children of Israel by night in a pillar of
fire, by day in a
pillar of cloud, and because the cloud protected the
wicked from the fire
of His wrath, and He burns the wicked like fire.
Therefore the sun
signified Christ, who enlightens the elect and burns the
reprobate. He
sometimes burns them severely in this world, but more
severely at the last
judgment, and most severely of all in hell. Of this
threefold burning can
be understood that word of Ecclesiasticus: "The sun
three times as much,
burneth the mountains" (Ecclus. XLIII, 4), that is,
proud sinners. On this
account we are in need of a refreshment, of a mediatrix
between us and the
just Sun. And well, therefore, doth the Psalmist, in the
aforesaid verse,
place the aurora midway between the night and the sun,
because in the
natural order it certainly holds this place. The aurora,
therefore, is the
Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the most excellent mediatrix
between the night
and the sun, between man and God, between unjust man and
just God; she is
the best cooler of the wrath of God. St. Bernard bears
witness, saying:
"Man now has secure access to God, for he has as a
Mediator of his cause
the Son before the Father, and the Son before the Mother.
The Son shows His
naked body, with His wounds in hands, feet, and side to
His Father; Mary
shows her breasts to her Son. There can be no question of
a repulse, where
so many marks of charity appear in one, and present their
prayer."
Secondly, note that our aurora, Mary, is for us
peace-maker with the
angels, as it is signified in Genesis, where we read that
the angel who
wrestled with Jacob blessed him at dawn. For when the
angel said, "Let me
go, it is morning," Jacob would not let him go till
he had blessed him. In
the morning took place the struggle between the angel and
Jacob, the
discord between God, the angels, and men. For man by sin
had offended his
Creator; and the Creator being offended, every creature
was offended; how
much more she who is more closely bound to the Creator !
This struggle,
therefore, was perhaps a figure of that discord. But when
the aurora
appeared at the coming of Mary, men and angels were
pacified, because in
that dawn, in the Virgin Mary herself, man received the
angelic
benediction. For the angel said to the Virgin:
"Blessed art thou among
women," and by this blessing of the Virgin man
obtains the blessing of
peace and salvation in the Virgin's Son --that blessing
of which the
Apostle says: "Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us in every blessing in the heavenly places
in Christ," which
blessing the Son Himself will confirm when He will say:
"Come, ye blessed
of My Father," etc. As Jacob gave thanks at the
rising of dawn, let us,
therefore, thank Mary for that blessing by which we made
peace with the
angel. By the aurora, by the dawn, by Mary, men made
peace with the angels,
since the time when, by Mary, the depleted choirs of
angels were peopled by
men, as St. Anselm signifies, saying: "O wonderfully
singular and
singularly wonderful Woman, by whom the elements are
renewed, the injuries
of hell repaired, men are saved, angels are restored
!"
Thirdly, note that Mary, our dawn, is for us a defender
against the devils,
as signified in Job, where it is said of the murderer,
the thief, and the
adulterer, "He diggeth through houses in the dark,
as in the day they had
appointed for themselves, and they have not known the
light" (Job XXIV,
16.) "If the morning suddenly appear, it is to them
the shadow of death"
(Job XXIV, 17.) The murderer is a devil, the thief is a
devil, the
adulterer is a devil. The murderer, because he takes
human life; the thief,
because, whatever good thing he can rob us of, he; does;
the adulterer,
because he corrupts the soul, which is the spouse of God.
Alas, what evil
these wicked people do us, what evil the wicked spirits
do us! For
sometimes they dig in the darkness of ignorance, in the
darkness of
obscurity, the interior houses of our minds, the houses
indeed, of which it
is said in the Psalm: "God is known in their
houses" (Ps. XLVI, 14.)
Without doubt they dig into our souls by their piercing
temptations, those
houses in which He joyfully dwells who has said:
"Today I must abide in thy
house" (Luke XIX, 5.) And having dug through these
houses, having indeed
dug into the minds of men through to an unhappy consent
to sin, alas, how
great evils these wicked ones do in souls by murder,
theft, and adultery!
That we may evade such perils, let the dawn come, let
Mary help us! For if
the morning shall suddenly appear, if she quickly comes
to our aid, and if
her grace and mercy supervene, it will be as the shadow
of death to the
demons; they will tremble and fly; they will fear, as men
fear and fly the
shadow of death. Well doth St. Bernard say: "An army
of enemies does not so
much fear an immense host of armed soldiers, as the
powers of the air do
the very name of Mary, and her holy example; they fly and
melt like wax
before a fire, wherever they find the frequent invocation
of this holy
name, its remembrance and imitation."
Fourthly, note that Mary, our dawn, is, as regards
ourselves, a light-giver
to help us to do good. For from the first rays of light,
workmen begin to
work. Whence in the second book of Esdras it is said:
"And let us do the
work; and let one-half of us hold the spears from the
rising of the
morning, till the stars appear" (2 Esdras 21.) Two
things are needful to
us, namely, that we be earnest in our good works, and
therefore well do the
builders say: "Let us do the work." What work
is this, but that of which
the Apostle says: "While we have time, let us do
good to all, especially to
those who are of the household of the faith" (Gal.
VI, 10.) Well do they
say: Let us do the work, not our representatives. And in
another passage:
In all things let us show ourselves as the ministers of
God. But Mary did
not commission a nurse, or a representative, but showed
herself always a
handmaid to the Lord, as St. Augustine testifies:
"Mary without doubt was a
worker, who bore Him in her womb, and when He was brought
forth, nourished
and nursed Him, laid Him in the manger, and during the
whole of His infancy
served Him as a loving Mother, so that even to the death
of the cross she
never left Him." Not only did she follow Him by her
footsteps, as from the
love of a son, but also by the imitation of His life, as
out of reverence
for a Lord." It is needful for us, not only to be
instant in good works,
but also to resist vices; and therefore well do they add
that the lances
should be held; for we should hold the lance of zeal
against the attacks of
vice, against the attacks of the devil, the flesh, and
the world. Of these
lances it is well said in Jeremias: "Furbish the
spears, put on the coats
of mail." By the coat of mail of justice we are
protected, but with the
lance or spear of zeal we attack evil. If thou dost not
launch the spear of
zeal in this world against evil, God will use the lance
His zeal against
thee on judgment day. Therefore it is said in the Book of
Wisdom: "He will
sharpen His dire wrath as a spear" (Wisd. V, 21 . )
Oh, what a warrior was
Mary, whose holy zeal was her spear. St. Bernard says to
her: "Thou wert a
formidable warrior, for thou wert the first manfully to
attack him who had
supplanted the first Eve." Therefore, that we may
faithfully persist in
good works manfully resist vices, it is needful for us to
look on the
example of Mary, to implore the suffrages of Mary. Then,
as it were from
the rising of the morning, we work, when being irradiated
by the example
and the life of Mary, when being illuminated by the
patronage and the mercy
of Mary, we are incited to good. We ought to work well
till the rising of
the stars, that is, until our souls, having become
lightsome like stars, go
forth from our bodies and fly to the stars. But above
every star that ever
appeared, above every star that ever will come forth in
the heavens, the
most splendid is Mary, our aurora, our morning, as St.
Bernard testifies,
saying: "Thou art the most vivid image of the true
Sun, amongst the myriads
of stars that are before God, thou shinest forth
gloriously in Heaven by
thy virginal purity." Thus you see how fittingly
Mary is called the
morning, the aurora. The Lord is with thee, O Mary, as
the sun is with the
dawn. Therefore, O Lady, most sweet morning, our Lady,
most sweet Mary, let
us be with the Sun of Justice, our Lord Jesus Christ, thy
Son, who with the
Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth for ever
and ever. Amen.
CHAPTER XII MARY A ROD OR STEM, AND A FLOWERING STEM
"The Lord is with thee." Having seen how the
Lord was with Mary, as the sun
is with the dawn which goes before it, let us now see how
the Lord is with
Mary as the flower is with the budding stem. For Mary is
that rod of which
it is said in Isaias: "There shall come forth a rod
from the root of Jesse,
and a flower shall ascend from that root, and the Spirit
of the Lord shall
rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the spirit of
counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of
piety, and He
shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the
Lord" (Is. XI.) Let us
place these words before the eye of our mind, and direct
our consideration
first to the rod and then to the flower.
First consider, that this rod, this royal rod, is the
Virgin Mary, as St.
Ambrose testifies, saying in speaking to the Blessed
Virgin: "Thou thyself,
who hast brought forth the Lord, art of the land of
Israel; thou hast grown
into a rod, the rod from the root of Jesse; thou hast
arisen and flowered,
O rod of Aaron; thou hast flowered and brought
forth." For Mary is a rod
smoking with incense, a rod of wood, a rod of gold, a rod
of iron. Mary is
a rod smoking to beginners, a rod of wood to those who
are advancing, a rod
of gold to the perfect, a rod of iron to the incorrigible
and the demons.
I say that the Virgin Mary is as a smoking rod to
beginners and to
penitents. Of this rod it is said in the Canticle of
Canticles: "Who is she
that cometh up from the desert, as a pillar of smoke of
aromatical spices,
of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the
perfumer?" (Cant.
III, 6.) The desert is the heart of the sinner, which is
indeed devoid of
grace and virtue. The aromatical spice, the sweet incense
of the soul, is
the aspiration of hope for pardon. The Blessed Virgin
Mary, therefore, came
up from the desert as a pillar of smoke, when, by her
prayers, the heart of
the sinner received the smoking incense of pardon. This
smoke is generated
from the aromatical myrrh of contrition, and of incense
in confession, and
from all the powders of the perfumer in manifold
satisfactions. No desert
doth the Virgin Mary abhor, no sinner doth she despise;
but wherever she
passes, she spreads the sweet incense of pardon.
Excellently, therefore,
does St. Bernard say: "Thou dost not abhor or
despise any sinner, however
foul, if he but sighs to thee, and begs with a repentant
heart for thy
pardon; thou drawest him from the abyss of despair with
thy loving hand,
thou breathest upon him the remedy of hope, and embracest
him, the outcast
of all the world, with maternal affection, thou
cherishest him and dost not
desert him, until he is reconciled with the tremendous
Judge."
Again, Mary is the rod of wood, the rod which is
flowering to those who are
advancing. Of this rod it is said in the Book of Wisdom
that the rod of
Aaron, which was of wood, bore fruit and flowers. By the
flowers are
signified virtues, which, after the passing of the
devilish winter, rise up
in hearts, as it is well said in the Canticle: "Now
the winter is over and
gone, and flowers have appeared in our land." Let
the winter, therefore
pass, let that torpor in which charity grows cold, pass,
and then the
flower of virtue will appear again. Oh, with what flowers
the flowering
Virgin hath abounded, as St. Bernard says, speaking to
her: "Thou art as a
garden-plot of holy perfumes, planted by the heavenly
Perfumer, delectably
flourishing with the flowers of all virtues." As
flowers signify virtues,
so fruits denote the works of the virtues. Of these it is
well said: "By
their fruits you shall know them." When, therefore,
we advance in virtues
and in the works of the virtues, we advance by the
examples and merits of
Mary, and then the Virgin Mary is to us a rod of wood,
flowering and
fruitful.
Likewise the Virgin Mary is to the perfect and
contemplative a golden rod.
We read that Esther; with two maidens went to King
Assuerus, and when she
had become faint from exceeding fear, the King held out
to her the golden
scepter to console her. Esther means "raised
up" or "hidden," and is a
figure of the contemplative soul, whom God raises up in
contemplation and
hides in the hidden place of His face from the tumult of
men. This soul by
contemplation enters into Christ the King. The two
maidens by whose help
she enters are the two powers of the soul, the intellect,
which proceeds by
way of knowledge, and the affections, which follow by
love. The soul which
has thus entered into Christ, sometimes faints away by a
kind of stupor,
when she recognizes the inaccessible brightness of the
divine glory, or the
terrible severity of the divine justice. The golden rod,
the royal scepter,
is the Virgin Mary. Golden indeed by her charity, royal
by her nobility;
golden by her purity, royal by her justice; golden by her
incorruption and
virginal integrity, royal by her domination and power.
This is the happy
rod, which is extended with clemency to comfort the
contemplative soul,
when the happy Virgin Mary, by contemplation and devotion
of this soul,
which is so loving and sweet, enters into it; so that
from this the soul is
strengthened against fear of the divine splendor and
justice. The
contemplative soul of St. Anselm desired this rod to be
extended to it,
when he exclaimed: "O Virgin fair to look upon,
lovable to contemplate,
delightful to love, who transcendest the capacity of the
heart, give
thyself, O Lady, to the weak soul who followeth
thee."
Likewise the Virgin Mary is as an iron rod to the demons
and incorrigible
sinners. To this rod we may apply that word of the Psalm:
"Thou shalt rule
them with a rod of iron." O Mary, rod of gold to the
perfect, rod of gold
to the hard, rod of gold to men, rod of iron and hard to
the demons, keep
the demons from us I This, Lady, we ask, and we ask it
devoutly with
Innocent: "Hail, loving Mother of God, who from the
dignity by which thou
art Mother of God, hast power to restrain the demons,
restrain the demons
lest they hurt us; command the angels to guard us."
Thus, therefore, the
Blessed Virgin Mary is to us a rod of smoke or incense in
our conversion, a
flowering rod in our lives, a golden rod in our
contemplation, an iron rod
in our defense. St. Bernard, admiring and worthily
contemplating this rod,
saith: "O Virgin, sublime rod, to how great a height
thou raisest thy
summit even unto Him who sitteth on the throne, unto the
Lord of Majesty,
for thou castest deep down thy roots in humility."
Let us now consider the flower of this rod; let us
consider in the royal
rod, and in the Virgin Mary a fourfold flower, a precious
flower, a flower
of virginity, of virtuous reputation, of miraculous
fecundity, and of
glorious immortality.
Of this flower consider, first, in Mary the flower of
precious virginity,
which is virginity itself. Of this it is said in Isaias:
"The desert shall
rejoice and shall flower as a lily." Mary can
fittingly be said to be a
desert, who was so willing to be alone, who was in her
voluntary solitude
visited by an angel. Therefore St. Ambrose well says:
"Alone in the inner
part of her house, she whom no man could see, he found
her alone without a
companion, alone without a witness." In what manner
this desert, the Virgin
Mary, should rejoice, let her say herself: "And my
spirit hath rejoiced in
God my Savior." This desert of earth flowered like a
lily by virginity. O
angelical lily! O heavenly flower! O truly heavenly
flower! whom that
supercelestial Bee hath so loved. For St. Bernard saith:
"That Bee who
feedeth among the lilies, who dwelt in a flowering
fatherland, when He flew
to Nazareth, which is interpreted a flower, flew towards
thee, and came to
the sweet smelling flower of thy perpetual virginity, he
rested upon it, he
embraced it." The flower of virginity has as many
petals, so to speak, as
the conditions and praises of virginity. Oh, how greatly
the crowns of this
flower were multiplied by Mary! St. Ambrose says:
"In the whole world the
flower Mary weaves unfading crowns, and keeps the royal
court of purity
with immaculate affection, until integrity perseveres to
the palm of
victory, that in maidens it may grasp the trophy of
sanctity, and in the
footprints of the Virgin Mary, attain to the heavenly
bridal chamber."
Secondly, consider in Mary the flower of virtuous
reputation, of manners
and of life, and hear what she herself says: "My
flowers are the fruits of
honor and riches" (Ecclus. XXIV, 23.) Of these it is
also said: "Our bed is
flowering." Behold, we find flowers in the earth,
and in the bed. The earth
is the mind of the active (souls); the bed is the mind of
contemplatives.
The earth, I say, is the mind bearing fruit in good
actions; but the bed is
the mind seeking quiet in contemplation. Let the mind be
active, or let it
be contemplative, it should always be beautiful with
flowers. Note also
that the flower of honesty, of a good reputation, yea,
the flower of any
virtue has, as it were, as many petals as it has good and
meritorious works
to show. Oh, how flowering was that earth, how flowering
was the bed of
Mary, who in the flowering virtue of her life flourished
in the beauty of
every virtue, as St. Bernard testifies, saying:
"Thou art the casket of
holy perfumes, O Mary, gathered by the heavenly Perfumer,
delightfully
blooming with the beautiful flowers of every virtue,
among which three are
excellent above all, the violet of humility, the lily of
chastity, and the
rose of charity."
Thirdly, consider in Mary the flower of her miraculous
fecundity. This
flower is the Son of the Virgin, of whom it is said:
"There shall come
forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall
arise from its
root." Oh, how beautifully this flower came forth,
being born without sin,
and how sadly was it crushed by dying, as it were like a
sinner, according
to that word: "Like a flower he goeth forth and is
crushed." Oh, how white
in His going forth, and how ruddy in His bruising was
this flower! A
flower, I say, delightful to the angels and most useful
to men for life.
St. Bernard saith: "The flower is the Son of the
Virgin, a flower white and
ruddy, a flower on whom the angels long to look, a flower
by whose perfume
mortals live again." Happy the wood which produces
such a flower! Happier
the stem or rod which in the wood produces this flower !
Happy above all
the flower, without whom there can neither be wood nor
rod happy! Truly a
most happy flower, in which the Holy Ghost so rested that
without Him no
one could have the grace of the Spirit. St. Jerome
testifies to this,
saying: "The Holy Ghost, who in the vast wood of the
human race had found
no rest, at last rested upon this flower, so that without
Christ no one
could be wise, no one could have understanding, or
counsel, or fortitude,
or learning, or piety, or the fear of the Lord."
This flower has, as it
were, as many petals as it had ministries and examples.
If thou desirest to
have this flower, thou must bend its stem down to thee by
prayer. If the
flower is exceedingly high by its divinity, the stem is
flexible by its
love. And if the flower is most rare, because neither in
Heaven nor on
earth is there found another one, it is nevertheless most
common, like a
flower not enclosed in a garden, but in a field exposed
to all passersby.
Therefore, well could Christ say: "I am the flower
of the field." He can be
called a flower of the field, not only because it is
openly exposed to the
view of all, but also because it is produced without
human culture. This
St. Bernard hath in mind when he says: "The field
flourishes without any
human aid, it is not sowed by anyone, not harrowed by the
plough, not made
fertile with manure; thus indeed did the womb of the
Virgin flower, so did
the chaste and entire interior of Mary like pastures of
eternal greenness
produce Him whose beauty sees not corruption, whose glory
will never fade."
Fourthly, consider the flower of gracious immortality, of
which it is said
in Numbers that the rod of Aaron bore at the same time
both flowers and
fruit. The rod of Aaron prefigures the Virgin Mary. In
the straightness of
the rod is prefigured the integrity of Mary; in the
flower, the beauty of
her glorified body; and in the fruit, the beatitude of
her soul. It is to
be noted that in youth the body is most beautiful, as it
is said: "In the
morning it blooms and fades." But the flower perishes
in death, as it is
said in Isaias: "The grass is withered, and the
flower is fallen." It will
flower again in a glorious resurrection, according to the
Psalmist: "My
flesh has flowered again." This flower of the
glorification of the body
has, as it were, as many petals as the glorified body has
gifts and
rewards. And certainly the holy Doctors seem to hold it
as probable, and
strive with some show of reason to prove, and the pious
sense of the
faithful always held, that the Blessed Virgin was taken
up body and soul
into Heaven, and that her body and soul are now in glory.
St. Augustine
says: "I hold that Mary is in Christ and with
Christ; in Christ, because in
Him we live and move and have our being; with Christ,
because she is
assumed into glory." Therefore we worthily believe
that Mary rejoices with
ineffable joy both in body and soul, in her own Son, by
her own Son; nor
has she ever felt the sting of corruption because no
stain was communicated
to her integrity in bringing forth her Son, because she
begot Him who is
the whole and perfect life of all; let her be with Him,
whom she bore in
her womb; let her be with Him, who bore Him, nursed Him,
and fed Him. Mary
is the Mother of God, the servant of God, the nurse of
God, the follower of
God. According to this belief she can now say: "My
flesh hath flowered
again." And according to this she has at the same
time both fruit and
flowers: as flower, her glorified body; and for fruit,
her glorified
spirit. A flower indeed in the beauty of her glorious
body; and fruit in
the unspeakable pleasure of her soul. We must note that,
according to the
aforesaid fourfold flower, the Virgin Mary has a fourfold
flower of
virginity, and a fourfold flower of fecundity; she has
the flower of good
repute and the flower of humility; she has at the same
time in her Child
the flower of humanity and the fruit of the divinity; she
has at the same
time the flower of immortality in the body and the fruit
of blessed
pleasure in the soul. Let us, therefore, discern these
flowers in the
virginal rod, and gather these new flowers of joy from
the virginal garden,
which St. Bernard saw gathered and commended to us, when,
speaking to Mary,
he said: "Thy most holy womb, O Mary, is to us a
garden of delights;
because from it we gather the flowers of manifold joys as
often as we think
in our minds how great a sweetness flowed thence over the
entire world."
Therefore, most sweet Virgin Mary, behold, the Lord is
truly with thee, as
the flower is with the stem which produced it. Grant that
the Lord may also
be with me, yea, with all of us, and give to us this
flower, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen.
CHAPTER XIII MARY COMPARED TO A QUEEN ENTERING INTO THE
PALACE WITH THE
KING
The Lord is with thee, O Lady most dear to the Lord, most
intimate with the
Lord ! The Lord is with thee, O most well-fitted Lady,
most worthy of the
Lord ! The Lord is with thee: with thee most certainly,
according to what
has been said above, as the sun is with the dawn which
precedes it, as the
flower is with the stem which produces it, as the king is
with the queen
entering into his palace.
Having seen how Mary is as the dawn to the eternal Sun,
preventing the Sun
of justice; having seen also how Mary is as the stem or
rod to the eternal
flower, producing the flower of mercy; let us now
consider in what manner
Mary is the Queen of the Eternal King, entering into
glory.
Mary is that Queen entering in, of whom it is said that the
queen entered
into Jerusalem with a great company and with riches (3
Kings, X, 1.) Truly
Mary is a queen. St. Augustine says: "We truly
confess her to be the Queen
of Heaven, because she brought forth the King of
angels." I have spoken of
this Queen in my sermon, "The Queen stood,
etc."; therefore, I will now
speak of her entrance.
We are to consider, therefore, that we find Mary going
in, going forth,
going on, and going above. Her going forth was of nature,
her progress was
of grace, her entrance was into glory, her elevation was
in abundance.
She went forth by being born, she progressed by advancing
in grace and
virtue, she entered in by attaining, she surpassed all by
her sanctity. She
went forth without sin, she made progress beyond all
example, she entered
in without obstacle, she surpassed all without limits.
First consider that we find Mary going forth into the
world by her nativity
without sin....
Secondly, consider that we find Mary advancing without
equal by her grace.
Therefore it is said in the Canticle: "Who is she
that cometh forth as the
rising dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun?"
(Cant. VI, 9.) To these
three luminaries, that is, the dawn, the moon, and the
sun, Mary is fitly
compared, for three excellent perfections shine forth in
her. Resplendent
virginity was in her mind and heart in a superlative
degree; in her
virginity shone forth fecundity, and in her fecundity
shone forth a
singular pre-eminence. A refreshing dawn and one pleasing
to the birds was
Mary; for by her virginity she. cooled the ardor of the
flesh, as St.
Bernard says, speaking to her: "By the virtue of
chastity thou didst
extinguish in thy virginal flesh the ardor of the
forbidden concupiscence,
that He, in whose sight even the stars are not pure,
judged thy flesh to be
of such purity that He deigned to unite it to His own
divine purity." She
also by her virginity was pleasing to the birds of
heaven, that is, to the
angels of God, for, as St. Jerome says: "Virginity
is always related to the
angels." Therefore we read that the angel blessed
Jacob in the dawn. Jacob
may here signify a chaste spirit, because Jacob
supplanted his brother,
that is, the body, his body. He was blessed not only by
the angel, but also
by his father, in the dawn, or in the morning, that is,
in the chaste
Virgin Mary, to whom the angel said: "Blessed art
thou among women."
Likewise Mary was fair as the moon in the lightgiving
fecundity of her
virginity; for the beauty of the moon consists in the
light it receives
from the sun. Think, therefore, what a beautiful moon was
Mary, when that
Eternal Sun was wholly received and conceived in her.
Mary, therefore, is
that moon in whose fullness that Man returned to the
Church of whom it is
said: "In the day of the full moon he will return to
his house" (Prov. VII,
20.) The Blessed Virgin was the full moon, when it was
said to her: "Hail,
full of grace!" Again Mary was chosen as the sun in
the illumining
privilege of her fecundity, when not mere man alone, nor
a real angel, but
the Son of God Himself placed in her His tabernacle, when
He was conceived
in Mary. Without doubt it would have been most singular
if the Virgin had
conceived a mere man; but it would have been much more
singular if the
Virgin had conceived an angel. It was singular above all
that a virgin
conceived and brought forth God. Well, therefore, doth
St. Augustine say:
"Rightly is the Blessed Mary extolled by us with
extraordinary praise, who
has shown to the world so extraordinary a benefit, when
she is raised to so
sublime a height that, while the Word was from the
beginning abiding with
God, she should yet receive Him into her bosom from the
highest heavens."
The Blessed Virgin Mary, therefore, has advanced like the
rising morning,
in admirable virginity of mind and body; bright as the
sun, in the adorable
divinity of her virginal offspring.
Thirdly, consider that we find Mary entering into the
glory of Heaven
without obstacle. For what could have opposed such a
great queen advancing
with so great a retinue ? She was prefigured by the Queen
of Saba, of whom
it is said: "Entering into Jerusalem with a great
train, and riches, and
camels that carried spices, and an immense quantity of
gold and precious
stones" (3 Kings X, 2.) Consider in these words the
glory of Mary entering
into the heavenly Jerusalem. Consider, I say, the
excellence of her who
enters, her power and her wealth. Consider the excellence
of the primacy of
our Queen Mary, insomuch as she is compared to the Queen
of Saba, which
signifies a cry. For Mary is the Queen of the world,
where there is a cry
of mourning. She is also the Queen of Heaven, where there
is a cry of joy.
For the dwellers in Heaven cry out, as it is said in the
Apocalypse: "Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!" And this Queen of
those who cry out, ceases
not herself to cry out with the others, as St. Augustine
says: "Thou, O
Mary, fellow-citizen of the inhabitants of Heaven, being
endlessly
associated with the angels and archangels, ceasest not to
cry out with
untiring voice: "Holy, holy, holy!" She indeed
is the queen whom the
Psalmist describes, saying: "The queen stood on thy
right hand, in gilded
clothing, surrounded with variety" (Ps. XLIV, 10.)
All can follow this
Queen with confidence into the kingdom who have
faithfully served her in
this world. St. Bernard says: "Our Queen has gone
before us: she has gone
before us and has been so gloriously received that her
servants may
confidently cry out: 'Draw me after thee.' "
Likewise consider in the
entering in of our Queen the power of the retinue
accompanying her, for it
says: "with a multitudinous retinue." Mary
entered into the heavenly
Jerusalem with a multitudinous retinue of angelic powers.
St. Jerome says:
"We read how the angels have come to the death and
burial of some of the
Saints, and how they have accompanied the souls of the
elect to Heaven with
hymns and praises." And he adds: "How much more
should we believe that the
heavenly army, with all its bands, came forth rejoicing
in festive array,
to meet the Mother of God, surrounded her with effulgent
light, and led her
with praises and canticles to the throne prepared for her
from the
beginning of the world."
Likewise, consider in Mary the wealth of her merits, as
it were in a dower
of precious gifts: for she brought with her infinite gold
in her love of
God and of her neighbor, the precious gems of virtues and
gifts, the spices
of good works and examples. What I say of the treasures
of Mary is little
compared with what St. Bernard says. "In thy
hands," he says, speaking to
Mary, "are all the treasures of the mercies of the
Lord. God forbid that
thy hand should cease to give; for thy glory is not
diminished, but
augmented, when sinners are pardoned and the justified
are taken up into
glory." The Mother of God, therefore, entered into
glory, as the Queen of
Heaven, accompanied by a vast retinue of angels, with innumerable
riches of
merit.
Fourthly, consider that we find her surpassing all the
Saints in the
superabundance of her merits and rewards without end,
according to the
saying: "Many daughters have gathered together
riches, thou hast surpassed
them all." Thou hast indeed surpassed them in
nature, in grace, in glory;
thou hast surpassed all the daughters of men, all souls,
all angelical
intelligences, O Mary. I say that Mary in nature has
surpassed all the
daughters of men, for what nature does not admit of, she,
a virgin,
conceived, and brought forth, according to that word:
"Behold a virgin
shall conceive and bring forth a son." And it was
not this alone that is
above all nature, that a virgin should bring forth a son,
but that she
should bring forth God. Therefore, St. Jerome says:
"What nature does not
possess, what custom wots not, what reason knows nothing
of, what the human
mind cannot grasp, what the heavens fear, what the earth
is astonished at,
all this was what was divinely announced by the Angel
Gabriel to Mary, and
was fulfilled in Christ." Likewise, Mary surpassed
in grace all the souls
of the Saints, for she was not only full of grace, but
overfull
(superplena), as Gabriel signified, who said at first,
"full of grace," and
afterwards added: "And the Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee." If, therefore,
she was full of grace, whatever the Holy Spirit brought
her afterwards was
more than full measure; she was then more than full, she
was surpassingly
full (superplena). St. Bernard says: "While the Holy
Spirit was coming, she
was full of grace for herself (plena sibi); but when the
Holy Spirit had
come upon her, she was overfull and overflowed with grace
for our sakes
(superplena nobis)." So Mary surpassed in glory all
the angelical
intelligences; for she is the sapphire throne which, as
we read in
Ezechiel, is raised above the angelic firmament. St.
Bernard says: "Mary
ascended above every heavenly creature; up to the angels
and even above
these." So, therefore, Mary went forth, and
advanced, and entered in, and
went beyond all. She went forth, I say, by coming into
this mortal life;
she advanced in grace and privileges; she entered in by
attaining to the
Heavenly Kingdom; she surpassed all by exceeding the
glory of all the
blessed. Behold, therefore, O most sweet Virgin Mary, the
Lord is truly
with thee, as the sun is with the dawn which goes before
it, as the flower
is with the flowering stem, as the King is with the Queen
entering in. O
most sweet aurora, grant that the Sun of justice may also
be with us ! O
most sublime Rod, grant that with us also may be the
flower of grace! O
most powerful Queen, grant that the King of glory, Our
Lord Jesus Christ,
may stay with us!
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