CHAPTER XXXVI.
Comforter Of The Afflicted.
"All ye that pass by the way attend and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow" (Lam. I—12).
The prophet Jeremias here laments the misfortune that came upon his people. Having been among them and experienced the afflictions that befell them, he was able to comfort and console them as none other could have done. The heart that has passed through the fires of tribulation can compassionate and encourage those that are being tried more effectually than one that has but little or no experience worth speaking of in the way of suffering.
Intensely applicable are the words of the prophet to the ever Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Man of Sorrows: "All ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow."
Did not the holy man Simeon address her in these words: "Behold, this Child (Jesus), thy own soul a sword of sorrow shall pierce" (Luke II—35). Great beyond all comprehension was the anguish inflicted by this sword that pierced the heart of Mary. It was her Son whom she had loved more than herself, who underwent most fearful agonies in all His senses. The same was endured by her through sympathy for her Divine Son, since love is the measure of sorrow. Christ suffered all His life long until He gave up His spirit into the hands of His Father on the Cross. Mary, His Mother suffered with Him. And when the Saviour cried out in agony from the rood on which He was expiring, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me" (Matt. XXVII—46), the Blessed Virgin, the sorrowful Mother, stood erect beneath the Cross, breathing forth the same prayer.
In the Acts of the Apostles we find that Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas were zealous in "comforting the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith; and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts XIV—21).
The Apostles consoled those who were in distress, pointing out to them that it was by many tribulations, "they could expect to enter into the Kingdom of God." "For whom the Lord loveth, He chastiseth and He scourgeth every one whom He receiveth" (Heb. XII—6). "For power," He tells us, "is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful" (2 Cor. XII—9-10).
His soul goes out to all who are subjected to trials, sufferings or sorrows, pleading with them to bear patiently their hardships as they see Him do, who is called on to endure even more than they.
He consoles them by reminding them of what they may expect: "For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us" (Rom. VIII—18). "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. IV—18). He encourages them to be patient under present distresses, but to look forward to what they will bring, the joys of eternity.
"The life of man upon earth is a warfare," says the holy man, Job, "and his days are like the days of a hireling" (Job. VII—1).
"Man," he adds, "born of woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries" (Job XIV—1).
"If I lie down to sleep, I shall say, When shall I arise? And again I shall look for the evening and shall be filled with sorrows even till darkness" (Job. VII—4).
In the midst of his greatest afflictions, he sought to comfort those about him and glorify the name of God: "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job. 1—2).
The holy man Tobias, in offering comfort to his people, exclaimed: "Thou art great, O Lord for ever, and thy kingdom is unto all ages: For Thou scourgest and Thou savest, Thou leadest down to hell, and bringest up again."
The Lord "hath chastised us for our iniquities: and He will save us for His own mercy" (Tob. XIII—1-2-5).
How beautiful, how consoling, the words of wisdom spoken by the mother of the Machabees, who had witnessed the martyrdom of six of her sons, to her youngest son, who was to suffer death also rather than offend God: "My son, have pity upon me, that bore thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee suck three years, and nourished thee and brought thee up unto this age.
I beseech thee, my son, look upon Heaven and earth and all that is in them, and consider that God made them out of nothing, and mankind also: So thou shalt not fear this tormentor, but being made a worthy partner with thy brethren, receive death, that in that mercy I may receive thee again with thy brethren" (Macha. VII— 27-28-29).
If the holy men and women of God, the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Saints and Martyrs, tried as gold in the furnace of affliction, were able to comfort and encourage their brethren, what incomparable solace cannot she give to the mournful, who is the Mother of the "Man of Sorrows."
"All ye that pass by the way, attend and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow." Mary, the most perfect of all God's creatures, is loved by Him more than all others, and yet she is the most bitterly tried of all.
Her soul was pierced with a sword of sorrow from the moment she offered her Divine Son, the infant Jesus, in the temple, to God, until standing beneath the Cross of the Saviour on Calvary's mountain, she completed her offering in giving him as a living victim to the Eternal Father, as the clean oblation which was to appease the anger of an outraged God, redeem man and reopen Heaven to him. Having drained the cup of sorrows to the last dregs, she is truly the Mother, the Comforter of the afflicted.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Help Of Christians.
A Christian imitates Jesus Christ, unites himself with Him, lives the life of Christ. A Christian is expected to resemble our Lord; he must be the living image of the Saviour, another Christ.
He seeks to resemble God. Adam was made, as attests the Holy Scripture, to God's image: "Let us make man to our image and likeness: and God created man to His own image" (Gen. I—26, 27). Christianity tends to restore man to his primitive state, to his first greatness and happiness, to an intimate union with his Creator.
To be a Christian is to be kind to all; to bear patiently with injuries; to help the unfortunate; to compassionate with those in distress; to share in the sorrows of our neighbors as if they were our own; not to close our door upon the poor; to be deprived of all in the eyes of the world, but rich in the sight of God; to serve and love God with all our mind, with all our strength, with all our heart.
He is a Christian, whose soul is meek and just, whose heart rests in God, and who places all his confidence in Jesus Christ. Whosoever tramples under foot the things of earth for the glory of Heaven, despises the world rather than offend God, is a Christian.
As of old, the Israelites were God's chosen people, so today Christians are His chosen people. They were purchased by the precious blood of His Divine Son, Jesus Christ is their King, and Mary, His Mother, is their Queen. Her interest in them knows no bounds, her assistance is never wanting to them in any of their needs. She is a help to them, through her extraordinary example of every virtue. She, "full of grace," is all pleasing in the sight of God and most beloved by her Divine Son. In the midst of the gloom and misery caused by sin, she serves them as the light and the way, to follow in the footsteps of the Saviour, pointing out to them that they must take up their cross and follow Him. She teaches them that to love Him is to love all that is good and holy, that separation from Him is misery and death; that to be with Him is happiness and life.
She helps them by her prayers and intercession before the throne of Jesus. If, while on earth, at her simple announcement that wine was wanting at the marriage feast of Cana, Jesus was pleased to perform His first public miracle, by changing water into wine, how much more powerful is her prayer now, seated, as she is, on a throne at the right hand of the Saviour in the kingdom of Heaven.
He obeyed her on earth, He will not now, in His heavenly home, turn a deaf ear to her pleading for us. If, by prayer, Queen Esther, in approaching the king, was able to save her people, will not Mary, the Queen of Heaven, in approaching the throne of Jesus and supplicating Him for her people, obtain for them what they humbly ask her to procure from the King of Kings, her most Divine Son.
Mary is the help of Christians, because of her co-operation with the Redeemer in the salvation of the world. She, all beautiful in His sight, refused Him nothing, gave Him of her own substance, cared for Him, suffered with Him, and with Him offered His precious blood to God, as a holocaust to appease His wrath and save all men and nations.
Can He now refuse to listen to her prayer in behalf of those, for whom He died, and who call upon her for assistance? Throughout all the past ages of Christianity we have signal evidence of her help to Christians, in times of temptation, of distress, of wars, of pestilence, and of all manner of calamities.
She comes to the help of the poor, the afflicted, the sinner and the saint. All experience her powerful influence at the throne of God. As King Pharo sent all who came seeking help in their need to Joseph, so now Jesus graciously grants the help we seek at His hands, through His Mother, Mary, who is also our Mother, and she pleads for us in all our necessities.
She helps us to know Jesus, to serve and to love Him, to live for Him, that we may reign with Him, magnify His holy name and call her "blessed" throughout the eternal years.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Queen Of Angels.
In the gospel of Saint Matthew we read that: "If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray; doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains and go to seek that which is gone astray" (Matt. XVIII—12).
It is generally understood that the ninetynine sheep left in the mountains are the holy angels, who remained faithful to God in Heaven.
The one sheep that went astray is held to be the human race that sinned in Adam. To redeem man, and bring him back in the way of salvation, Christ left the angels, came down from Heaven, and became man. As such He is their Saviour, though not their Redeemer. He is both Redeemer and Saviour of men.
For the angels He gained grace and glory, election, vocation, all helps, all merit, and increase of grace and beatitude. He is the meritorious cause of all blessings. They had a lively faith in Christ incarnate and were thereby justified. Mary is the Mother of the Saviour of the angels, and, as Queen of Heaven, she is their queen, as well as ours. "The queen stood on Thy right hand, in gilded clothing, surrounded with variety." "And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty" (Psal. LXIV—10, 12).
The queen spoken of by the Psalmist is Mary. By her divine maternity she became the queen of Heaven and the queen of earth, of angels and of men. All Christians look upon her as their queen, and consider themselves happy to be her subjects.
The dignity of queen is above all other dignities, since it is next to that of the King.
The ever blessed Virgin, being the Queen of Heaven and earth, surpasses in dignity all men and angels. She towers above not only each individual among them in grace, in merit, in greatness, but above all of them united. The doctors of the Church teach us that should we place on one side of the balance, all the graces, merits, dignities and glories of men and angels, and on the other, those of Mary, the balance would show a very great preponderance of weight, in favor of the incomparable Queen of the Angels. She is more pleasing to God, more precious in His sight, and more loved by Him than are all His other creatures. Her divine maternity claims for her this prerogative. In this capacity she occupies a throne in Heaven beside her Son, Jesus.
A mother is more elevated than all the servants or children in the houshold. She commands and they obey. The angels ministered to Mary and were subject to her. They were as ministers bearing messages between her and her Creator.
One of them venerated her, and bowing before her, admired her queenly beauty. From that moment until they accompanied her to the throne prepared for her in Heaven, they were subject to her as their queen. "The temple of God was opened in Heaven: and the Ark of His testament was seen in His temple" (Apoc. XI— 19). The Ark of the Testament is Mary. "And a great sign appeared in Heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (Apoc. XII—1).
This woman is the spotless Virgin Mary ascending into Heaven, and taking her place in the eternal mansions of God as the queen of the angels. No wonder that all the choirs of angels bewildered with admiration, gave expression to their ecstasy of wonderment on beholding their queen: "Who is this, that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?" (Cant. VI—9). Who was it? None other than the Immaculate Virgin Mother of their Saviour, their queen.
The Father welcomed her and bestowed upon her a power, due to His Mother; the Son hailed her coming and crowned her queen of Heaven; the Holy Ghost received her and showered honors upon her, His most chaste spouse. All the choirs of angels and Saints of God went before her, and acclaimed her their most pure, most amiable, most loving queen.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Queen Oe1 Patriarchs.
The Creator, though compelled, because of His infinite holiness and justice, to inflict condign punishment on man, on account of his sin, was nevertheless pleased in keeping with His infinite mercy, to give him the promise of a Redeemer.
Man must go forth from the paradise of pleasure God had fitted out for him, repent of his wrong doing, and do penance. Though burdened with many tribulations, which he brought upon himself and his posterity, he lived with the hope, that one day his deilverer would come, and restore to him the friendship of his Maker. 'Twas God's word to him ere He bade him go out into a world, cursed alike in his sin, and in the sweat of his face gain his livelihood until he should return to the earth, of which he was made. But Adam was not to live until the advent of the promised Redeemer. Thousands of years were to intervene between his day and that wherein the glad tidings of the coming of the Redeemer would be heralded by the angels, and his star that would appear in the East. The promise given to Adam must come down through his descendants to the generations of men, as they would be born into the world, for it was the only light of Heaven that glimmered for them through the darksome clouds that hovered over them; the only comfort to cheer them on their journey of life; the one hope that held out to them the dawn of brighter days.
The depository of the promise was to be, for generations, in the person of the Patriarchs, whom God had chosen to be the leaders of His people, and to remind them of it. They were good, holy men, who feared God and found favor in His sight. To each in turn was committed the custody of God's assurance to man of a Redeemer.
Now, Jacob, one of the Patriarchs, who had gone into Egypt with his family, whither Joseph, his youngest son, had been taken into bondage, but who, by his virtue had pleased God and became, under the king, ruler over all the land, seeing that his day had come, wherein he was to be gathered to his fathers, assembled his twelve sons around his bedside to tell them the things that should befall them in the last days.
When Juda's turn came, he said: "The scepter shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till He come that is to be sent, and He shall be the expectation of the nations" (Gen. XLIX—16). Referring to these words of the holy Patriarch, Jacob, in his allusion to the Redeemer who was to come from the seed of Juda, St. John says in his Gospel: "Doth not the Scripture say; that Christ cometh of the seed of David and from Bethlehem, the town where David was" (John VIII—42). Here was David born, and here came into the world, Christ, David's antitype.
The promise given to Adam of a Redeemer in the terrestrial paradise, was now given to Juda by his father, the great Patriarch, Jacob. The Christ, the Son of Mary, of the seed of David, was the promised Saviour. He was the king who should rule over the people of Israel. This would come to pass when the sceptre would be lost to the house of Juda.
Mary, the humble handmaid of the Lord, received from the Angel, the announcement of the fulfillment of that promise, when she was saluted upon the part of God. "Hail, full grace, the Lord is with thee." She is the woman whose seed shall crush the head of the serpent according to the promise made to Adam on the threshold of a paradise he had lost, and this promise was the only connecting link between it and a paradise to be gained through the seed of the great and glorious Virgin Mary, whose offspring was Jesus, the Redeemer and Saviour of the world.
Mary is queen of the Patriarchs, not only because she became the repository of the promise, but even more because in her it found its fulfillment, as she was from all eternity chosen to be the Virgin Mother of the Redeemer.
CHAPTER XL.
Queen Of Prophets.
The prophets were men of God, whom He raised up from time to time amongst His people, to keep alive in their breasts the promise of a Redeemer, which He had made to the Patriarchs before them.
The people of Israel were a peculiar, fickle nation. They would serve God for a time; then fall away from Him and stray off into strange, erroneous ways. It was only by the strong arm of God outstretched upon them, by many and diverse calamities that He could recall them from their wanderings, have them to repent, to do penance and be restored to His favor. They often turned from the true God, to the worship of idols. They would complain of the God of Israel and blame Him for the hardships they had to undergo.
No sooner had they been brought back to a sense of duty, than again they would rebel and abandon the service of the only true God, to give themselves over to the worship of false gods. To have them return from their waywardness, God chose at times to send among them His Prophets, whom He had inspired to speak to them and warn them of the terrible chastisements that must inevitably come upon them, unless they again turned to Him. The prophets reminded the people of God's promise to Adam, to their father, Abraham, and the other Patriarchs, of a Redeemer who would bring blessings again to them. Isaias tells them: "Behold, I will lay a stone in the foundation of sin, a tried stone, a corner stone, founded in the foundation" (Isa. XXVIII—16).
The prophet here makes reference to the promised Messiah, the Christ, who will come and save his people. To this prophecy, Christ referred when He said: "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone, which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner.' By the Lord, this has been done; and it is wonderful in our eyes" (Matt. XXI—42). The chief priests and Pharisees knew well of whom our Lord spoke, and would have then laid hands upon Him, but they feared the multitudes who looked on Christ as a prophet. "And thou," says the Prophet Micheas, concerning the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, "Bethlehem Ephrates art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out of thee shall He come forth unto me, that is to be the ruler in Israel, and His going forth is from the beginning from the days of eternity" (V—2).
The prophet speaks here of Christ as man, who shall rule over Israel; and as God, for His going forth is from the days of eternity. He portrays plainly the promised Redeemer, Jesus Christ, true God and true man. When the wise men came from the East to Jerusalem to find the new born King of the Jews, Herod assembled the chief priests and scribes of the people to know of them something about the Christ. Where was He to be born?
They said to him: "In Bethlehem of Juda, for so it is written by the prophet: 'And thou, Bethlehem, the land of Juda, art not the least of the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come forth the Captain, that shall rule my people Israel'" (Matt. II—5, 6).
The great mission of the prophets was to turn the people of Israel from their ungodly ways, and keep before them the promise of the Messiah, who was to be born from among them. But Mary also prophesied. And in dignity, in rank, in the magnitude of her prophecy, she is the Queen of Prophets.
Inspired by the holy spirit of truth, after she had conceived the Saviour in her womb, she bursts forth in that grand anthem, the Magnificat, wherein she proclaims that "all generations shall call me blessed" (Luke I—48). All peoples and places bear testimony to this prophecy; the churches, chapels, monuments, altars, religious orders and congregations instituted in her honor, confirm it; the prayers, supplications, chants and pilgrimages to her shrines of the faithful throughout the world, to obtain her intercession, proclaim it.
She is more invoked and honored than the angels and saints combined. To her only is given the hyperdulia cult; on the seas, in the valleys, on the mountains, prayers are offered to her. The generations bless her and will magnify her name forever, because of her virginity, her humility, her obedience, her patience, her holiness, her power, her beauty, her mercy, the favors she obtains for her servants, the miracles that are wrought through her intercession, her immaculateness, her divine maternity.
Veneration for her will last, as long as there are men, angels and her Divine Son to pay it to her, as long as God shall be God, throughout all eternity.
She was an object of prophecy, and great among the prophets, by reason of her own prophecy. She is the mother of the inspirer of prophets, the Queen of Prophets.
