3) May 19
Mary is the "Vas Honorabile," the Vessel of Honour
ST. PAUL calls elect souls vessels of honour: of honour,
because they are elect or chosen; and vessels, because, through the love of
God, they are filled with God's heavenly and holy grace. How much more then is
Mary a vessel of honour by reason of her having within her, not only the grace
of God, but the very Son of God, formed as regards His flesh and blood out of
her!
But this title "honorabile," as applied to Mary,
admits of a further and special meaning. She was a martyr without the rude
dishonour which accompanied the sufferings of martyrs. The martyrs were seized,
haled about, thrust into prison with the vilest criminals, and assailed with
the most blasphemous words and foulest speeches which Satan could inspire. Nay,
such was the unutterable trial also of the holy women, young ladies, the
spouses of Christ, whom the heathen seized, tortured, and put to death. Above
all, our Lord Himself, whose sanctity was greater than any created excellence
or vessel of grace—even He, as we know well, was buffeted, stripped, scourged,
mocked, dragged about, and then stretched, nailed, lifted up on a high cross,
to the gaze of a brutal multitude.
But He, who bore the sinner's shame for sinners, spared His
Mother, who was sinless, this supreme indignity. Not in the body, but in the
soul, she suffered. True, in His Agony she was agonised; in His Passion she
suffered a fellow-passion; she was crucified with Him; the spear that pierced
His breast pierced through her spirit. Yet there were no visible signs of this
intimate martyrdom; she stood up, still, collected, motionless, solitary, under
the Cross of her Son, surrounded by Angels, and shrouded in her virginal
sanctity from the notice of all who were taking part in His Crucifixion.
