CHAPTER III. Holy Virgin Of Virgins.
"Blessed art thou among women" (Luke I— 28). Mary, ever virgin, is the blessed among women, of whom the prophet Isaias, some seven hundred years prior to her day, announced: "Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel" (Isaias VII—14). "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David His father; and He shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. And of His kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke I—32 and 33). In God's own time, He sent the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, to announce to her, that she should conceive in her womb and bring forth a son. "How shall I become a mother," said Mary to the Angel, "for I have consecrated myself to God; I have taken a vow of virginity; I wish to continue faithful to my promises; I am a virgin, and I desire to remain a virgin!" How Mary loved her virginity! How she cherished the beauty of her pure soul! She preferred the loveliness of her most chaste heart to the honor albeit wondrous, of becoming the Mother of God, if she should lose it, even though it be to enjoy such a glorious privilege.
Mary was the first of all women to consecrate her virginity to God. Without being bound by any precept, counsel or example, she made the offering of herself to the Almighty, and in so doing, became the Virgin of Virgins, the Mother of Virgins, who, following her example, take upon themselves to live in this holy, happy and exalted state.
It was only on the condition that she should remain a virgin, that Mary would give her consent to become the Mother of the Saviour. The Angel assured her that she would remain a virgin always, for: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and, therefore, also the Holy One who shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke I—35).
With the assurance that she would not place in jeopardy her virginity, the Virgin of Virgins exclaimed: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word" (Luke I —38). Mary conceived and brought forth a Son, without the loss of her virginity. Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, was born of her, having regard to her virginity, wherein she eclipsed the purity of the Angels.
"I am," says the Virgin Mary, prefigured by the spouse of the Canticles, "the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys" (Cant. II—1).
Of her, it is said, in the book of Wisdom: "She is a vapour of the power of God, and a certain pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty God, and, therefore, no defiled thing cometh into her."
"For she is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God's majesty, and the image of His goodness" (Wisd. VII—25 and 26).
For she is the Immaculate from her Conception. She is without spot, the fairest flower of the field, the whitest and purest lily of the valleys.
This is the Virgin spoken of by the Prophets, whose beauty of body and soul dims the loveliness and purity of the brightest angels. She is the Virgin before whom the archangel prostrated himself. She is that Virgin of Virgins whom all generations shall call blessed.
CHAPTER IV. Mother Of Christ.
In the eternal designs of the Creator, the Saviour whom He promised to our first parents in the garden of Paradise, ere He bade them to depart forever from it, and in the sweat of their face, earn their livelihood, was none other than His Divine Son, Jesus.
He it was who should crush the head of the serpent, through whose malice sin entered our human nature. This Saviour of men will be of the seed of the woman, and will, therefore, take unto Himself of her flesh and blood. He will tabernacle in her chaste womb. He is called Christ: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. XVI—16). Mary is, therefore, His Mother, for He did in reality descend into her virginal womb, took unto himself of her flesh and blood, and was born of her. Albeit true God, He is true man also, of the substance of the Virgin Mary. ^
Between Christ and Mary there is the real relationship of Mother and Son. Mary is His Mother; Jesus is her Son. He was, in His hunanity, subject to the Blessed Virgin, as every dutiful son is reverent and obedient to his mother. "He went down to Nazareth and was subject to them" (Luke II—51). Christ loved His Mother tenderly while on earth, and loves her now devotedly in Heaven.
The first public miracle performed by Jesus, the first manifestation of His Divine power was in obedience to the wish of His Mother, at the marriage feast of Cana, when He changed the water into wine.
After His cruel, bitter passion, after His trying journey to Mount Calvary, after being nailed to the gibbet of the cross, even in the very throes of death, the loving heart of the Child went out to His Mother, whom he sees sorrowful beneath His Cross, and He prays His beloved Apostle, Saint John, to care for her, and take her as his own mother.
When He had provided for the best, the greatest and dearest of His treasures on earth, His Mother, He is prepared to give up His spirit into the hands of His Heavenly Father for our redemption; bowing, therefore, His head, he spoke the word: "It is consummated," and died.
"What more can I do than give my life for you." These words of Christ are especially applicable to His Mother Mary, for whilst He died for the redemption of all men, it was through the anticipated merits of His holy passion and death that His Mother, Mary, was conceived immaculate, and thus made worthy of the sublime dignity to which she was called.
The relationship between Christ and Mary, the ever glorious Blessed Virgin, exists now, though both are in the Kingdom of Heaven, as well as it did while they lived on earth.
In the world Christ obeyed and revered her, and this same obedience and reverence He still owes her in Heaven. His filial affection for her never wanes, His respect for her is that of a devoted Son, while His love for her is greater than for all the blessed in Heaven.
With all confidence can we appeal to the Mother of Christ, our life, our sweetness and our hope, that she pray and intercede for us, at the throne of her Divine Son, for Christ will not turn a deaf ear to the supplications of His Mother, the ever spotless Blessed Virgin Mary.
chapter v. Mother Of Divine Grace.
Jesus is the source of every grace that comes to us from the throne of mercy. Through Him all of Heaven's blessings are vouchsafed to us. From His sacred heart flowed His life's blood, as an offering acceptable to His Heavenly Father to placate His just anger and cause Him to throw wide open the gates of divine grace and rain down His choicest favors upon mankind.
Our Redeemer paid a great price for those heavenly favors. He left the bosom of His Father, became man and sojourned among men for three and thirty years. He shared in their labors, participated in their sufferings, and died upon the cross, to merit for them redemption and life everlasting.
All happiness, all graces come to us through Him. But Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ, right well, therefore, is she called the "Mother of Divine Grace."
What wonder, then, that the Angel should salute her: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee" (Luke I—28). Mary abounds in grace, she is a veritable ocean of graces. As the waters of all the rivers are swallowed up in those of the sea, so the graces of the Angels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins and of all the Saints are centered in Mary, "full of grace."
"The Most High sanctified His tabernacle" (Psalm. XLV—5). His Mother is that tabernacle. The Word was made flesh in her womb; the body of Jesus Christ was formed out of the substance of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, and this dignity necessarily entitled her to the plenitude of all graces.
"In Him (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporally" (Col. II—9). But Christ took up his abode in Mary, hence the fulness of the divinity was in her, and with it the abundance of grace, so that when she became the Mother of Christ, she became the Mother of Divine grace.
Mary surpasses the greatness of the world, for He, whom the world cannot contain, was conceived in her; she eclipses the vastness of the Heavens since she gave a home to Him, whom the Heavens are unable to hold. The fountains of grace that embellish the souls of the Saints, making them holy before God, have their source in Mary. Of her, it is written in the Holy Scriptures:
"I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and a cypress tree on Mount Sion.
"I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and a cypress tree on Mount Sion.
I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho:
As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted:
I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon, and aromatical balm; I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh:
And I perfumed my dwelling as storax and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm.
I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace.
As the vine, I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.
I am the mother of fair love, and of fear and of knowledge, and of holy hope.
In me is all grace of the way, and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue" (Eccles. XXIV—17-25).
All that is here written by the inspired writer and applied to Mary, the Mother of our Lord, portrays in beautiful language her eminent sanctity, exalted virtue, and the fulness of grace that adorns her soul.
Whilst Christ is the way, Mary, mother of divine grace, leads us to it; though He be the truth, she, who is full of wisdom, guides us in the way of truth; albeit, He is full of life, in her is all hope of life and of virtue.
What we are, we are by the grace of God. Of ourselves we can do nothing worthy of life eternal. We are worthy of God's grace through the merits of Christ. But Mary is the Mother of Christ, and as such the Mother of divine grace, for every grace from Heaven comes to us through Jesus Christ, her Divine Son.
CHAPTER Vi. Mother Most Pure.
Mary, though a mother, remained always a virgin, hence always most pure. It was fitting that her purity should be the greatest after that of Jesus, her Divine Son.
So pure is Mary that she became disturbed at the presence even of an angel. When the messenger of God announced to her that she was chosen to become the Mother of God, she hesitated, and would have declined the honor, had it entailed the loss of her virginal purity, which she prized above all honors.
It was becoming her dignity as the Mother of God, that she should shine forth in purity of both body and soul, unequalled by angel or saint. Applying to her the words of the Book of Wisdom, she is called "a vapour of the power of God and a certain pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty God: and therefore no defiled thing cometh into her" (Wisd. VIII— 25).
The laws of nature were suspended in her regard. She conceived and gave birth to a son, the Son of God, still she continued a virgin without spot or stain in her. Because of her great purity, Mary has been likened to the dove, the holy Jerusalem, the sublime throne of God, the ark of sanctification and the house built by Eternal Wisdom.
She is spoken of as the queen filled with delights, resting upon her beloved, and who came from the mouth of the Most High all perfect, all beautiful, all pure in His sight.
For this did God salute her in the words of the Archangel, "Hail, full of grace." The same reason actuated Saint Elizabeth to greet her, "Blessed art thou among women."
She is blessed among women because of her incomparable purity of body and soul, whereby she outranks all the saints and angels.
Saint Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, exhorts the faithful to keep their bodies pure. "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God" (Rom. XII—1-2).
He will have us to offer our bodies to God, and to make them worthy to love and honor Him; to have them a "living sacrifice," that is to keep our body free from all unholy things.
"Know you not," says the same Apostle, "that your members are the temples of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own. For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body" (1 Cor. VI—19-20).
Mary, of all women, is the only one who so bore God in her body, as to give of her substance to frame for Him a body, that He might become man. Her body was truly sanctified, and profitable unto the Lord, for there was no blemish in it, but it was a veritable vessel of honor, a body all holy, all pure.
"Blessed," said our Lord, "are the clean of heart for they shall see God" (Matt. V—8). They shall see God here by His grace; in Heaven, through the beatific vision, possessing and enjoying eternal glory.
Mary is "full of grace," hence the most pure. Even now she is blessed with the beatific vision and eternal glory, the reward of those who die in the Lord. It is meet and just that she should possess God for all eternity because she is His most pure Mother.
As no defilement ever marred the immaculateness of either her body or soul, it is her right and privilege that her body should not turn to dust, but be with her most pure soul in the kingdom of her divine Son.
No wonder, then, that we firmly believe with the Doctors and Fathers of the Church in the assumption of Mary into the kingdom of Heaven.
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