CHAPTER XIV.
Mother Of Our Redeemer.
God created man in a state of innocence, and made him to His own image and likeness. He fitted for him a beautiful home, a paradise on earth, where he was to sojourn for a time only, to be thereafter translated into his true home, the celestial paradise.
That man's happiness should continue during his earthly pilgrimage and be his heritage throughout the eternal years in the mansions of Heaven, was consequent on his being faithful to the state of innocence in which he was created. To lose his innocence was to forfeit his happiness both for time and eternity.
In an evil hour man trespassed against the command of his Creator, by eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, of which he was forbidden to eat. Forthwith he was driven out of the garden of Eden, and in his transgression lost also his right to the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet, God did not leave man without hope. Before passing sentence of punishment upon him, he gave him the promise of a Redeemer, who would rescue him from the dreadful ruin he had brought upon himself and his posterity.
Man's transgression was infinite in its consequences, as it was an offense against the infinite majesty of an Almighty Being. An infinite reparation was necessary to make atonement for the outrage offered an Almighty God. Who shall be found whose merits will suffice to make this fitting and requisite reparation?
Shall it be a child of Adam? He, too, has sinned in the disobedience of his parent. All men are born in iniquity. May it be one of the bright spirits ministering at the throne of the Creator? But they are created, finite, therefore, in their nature; they are incapable of infinite merit.
God only can accomplish the work of man's redemption, for he alone is infinite. Will He condescend to repair a wrong done against His divine majesty? He will, for His promise was given our first parents that He would send them a Redeemer. He is the God of mercy, of charity, our God, our Father, who loves us, though sinful we may be, with an infinite love.
"By this," declares the Apostle Saint John, "hath the charity of God appeared toward us, because God hath sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him" (John IV—9). "For God so loved the world," says Jesus Christ, "as to give His only begotten Son" (John III—16).
By these words of the Holy Scripture we readily discern the burning love of our Heavenly Father for us. Now, lend your ears to the declaration of love for us by the Son of God in addressing His Father: "Sacrifice and Oblation thou wouldst not; but a body thou hast fitted to me. Holocausts for sin did not please thee." Then saith I: "Behold I come; that I should do Thy will, O God" (Heb. X—5, 7).
Our Divine Lord offered Himself to God for our redemption and He will come and save us. Hence, Saint Paul, writing to Timothy, says: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief (1 Tim. I—15). And again: "For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: 'Who gave Himself a redemption for all'" (1 Tim. II—5-6). To Titus the same Apostle avers that, "Christ Jesus gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good workers" (Titus II—14).
"The blood of Jesus Christ," asserts Saint John, "cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John I—7). "And He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world" (1 John II—2). "For this is good," writes Saint Paul to Timothy, "and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (Tim. II—3-4).
For this reason the same Apostle assures us that, "Christ died for all; that they also who live, may not live to themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again" (II Cor. V—15). In like manner to the Colossians he writes: "And you, when you were dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh: He hath quickened together with Him, forgiving you all offences, blotting out the hand-writing of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He hath taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross:
And despoiling the principalities and powers, He hath exposed them confidently in open show, triumphing over them in Himself" (Coloss. II— 13-15). In this wise did our Lord effect our reconciliation with our God. In the shedding of His blood is our victory over the devil, the world and the flesh.
"Thou art worthy," sang the angels in a new canticle, "O Lord, to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: because Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God, in Thy blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made us to our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign" (Apocal. V—9-10).
But how came our Saviour among us? What means did God choose to send into the world the Redeemer He promised to man in the earthly paradise? It was through the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation. Herein the Son of God became man. Having promised from all eternity to take unto Himself our human nature and become our Redeemer by suffering in the flesh and dying on the Cross for us, He descended from Heaven, took up His abode in the most pure womb of the humble Virgin of Nazareth, and was born of her.
God, equal to His Father and man, the only Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary, He was able, through His bloody passion and death as man, to raise the merits of His clean oblation to an infinite value by His union with the Godhead, thereby to satisfy the infinite justice of His Father, and accomplish the redemption of the world.
But Mary, most loving, most pure, Mary immaculate, is the Mother of the Son of God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, the Redeemer of men.
CHAPTER XV.
Virgin Most Prudent.
Saint Thomas teaches that prudence is the eye of the soul, the pilot of all its movements and actions. We should not wonder that the great Apostle warns us of its necessity. "See, therefore, brethren, how you walk circumspectly: not as unwise, but wise: redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, become not unwise, but understanding what is the will of God; and be filled with the Holy Spirit" (Ephes.V—15-18).
"My Son," says the Lord in the Book of Proverbs, "attend to My wisdom and incline thy ear to My prudence. That thou mayest keep thoughts and thy lips may preserve instruction" (Prov. V—1, 2). Following the counsels of prudence, we keep a watch upon our thoughts, that nothing take root in our mind but that which is godly; we have a guard over our words, that our speech be always holy and charitable, and we govern our actions so as to render them pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God.
When our Saviour sent His apostles to teach the maxims of the Gospel to men and nations, He bade them to be prudent: "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore as wise as serpents" (Matt. X—16). They are cautioned that whilst they are commissioned to carry the Evangel to all peoples, they must watch and pray and be prudent not to be deceived by their artful ways. Though in the world they must not be of it.
Prudence urges us to keep the law of God; to meditate upon it; to know the rewards that follow its observance, and the punishments that are meted out to those who transgress it, so that we may walk justly and piously before God. It purifies the soul, regulates the heart, overcomes excesses and gives us knowledge of things human and divine. It brightens our pathway through the world. It steers our fragile bark of life safely and serenely over breakers and hidden shoals.
"If thou shalt incline thy ear to prudence;" says the Book of Proverbs, "If thou shalt seek her as money, and shalt dig for her as for a treasure, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God. Because the Lord giveth wisdom, and out of His mouth cometh prudence and knowledge" (Prov. II—3, 6). Prudence teaches and inclines us to know, to love and to serve God with all our mind, with all our strength, with all our soul. It helps us to shun evil and to do good. It is the knowledge of the Saints.
"David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him" (1 Kings XVIII—10). Among the beautiful parables whereby our Saviour illustrated His teachings, there is one especially on prudence spoken privately to His apostles, that of the ten virgins. They were invited to a marriage feast and set out with their lamps to meet the bridal party. Five of them failed to carry with them any extra supply of oil, in case of an emergency, while the other five had a quantity of it in their vessels, besides what was in their lamps. When they reached the appointed place where they were to meet the bride and groom, a delay was occasioned, as the bridal party had not arrived. While awaiting, the ten virgins slumbered. Towards midnight they were awakened and told to be in readiness for the bridegroom was approaching. Quickly they arise and set about trimming their lamps. Five of them discover that while they slept the oil in their lamps became exhausted. They call upon the other virgins, who had some in their vessels to divide it with them. But these refuse, lest they, too, might not have sufficient to last them, and advise those who ran short of it to hie themselves to the venders and purchase what they might need.
During their absence the bridegroom came and was met by the five whose lamps were burning, and they proceed to the marriage. When those, who had to seek more oil, returned they found the door shut against them. They pleaded with the bridegroom to allow them to enter, but he answering, said, "I know you not."
The five virgins who brought oil in their vessels are called the five wise or prudent virgins, while the other five are known as the five unwise or foolish virgins.
Mary, the Virgin of Virgins, carried always with her, not only the oil that kept her lamp burning, but also a vessel overflowing with it, with which she might even supply others who would call upon her for it. For she is the Virgin, "full of grace," full of the oil of divine love of divine charity, of heavenly wisdom.
Prudence characterized all her words and works. Prudence was the talisman of her whole life. She loved and cultivated it day by day. She was never found without the oil of sanctity, holiness, immaculateness. Her prudence was a buckler that shielded her against the loss of her sublime virtues that made her so admirable in the sight of God. Hence, we hail her Virgin of Virgins, the most wise, most prudent Virgin Mary.
CHAPTER XVI
Virgin Most Venerable.
We read in the Book of Wisdom that, "venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years: a spotless life is old age" (Wisd. IV—8, 9).
From the words of Holy Scripture we are given to understand that it is not the locks of hair, whitened by the snows of many winters, that make us venerable, but rather the purity of our life.
We are not to reckon by the number of years one has lived to determine his worth, but how he has lived. Virtue and not our silver-like hair marks our old age. A venerable life is conspicuous for its merits. It is a spotless life; a life that goes on not for a few days or years, but for ages. Its length of days is without end. When our lives are irreproachable, they are venerable, whether they be of short or long duration.
The patriarchs were venerable, not so much for the length of their years as for their just lives. The prophets, apostles, martyrs, virgins, in a word, all the saints attained a venerable old age, whatever the number of their days, because of their holy lives. They live in the memory of men and will live through the endless ages in eternal glory.
If a spotless life makes venerable, how supremely venerable must be that Virgin of Virgins, Mary, ever Virgin, whose purity of body and soul transcends that of all the saints and angels more than the light of the sun surpasses that of all the stars in the firmament.
How infinitesimally small is the tiny snow flake that falls from the heaven in comparison to the vast gorges of it that fill up the mountain fastnesses! How incomprehensible the difference between the small drop of rain that falls to earth from the clouds and the immense body of water of the ocean! How incalculably insignificant is the grain of sand upon the seashore if you would compare it to the innumerable grains of sand that go to form the strands of the oceans of the world!
More apart than these is the chasm that exists between all the holy virgins of God and the immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ, our Redeemer.
If a spotless life is old age, is venerable, is not Mary the immaculate most venerable? At her birth the very angels cry out: "Who is she 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).
She is the daughter of the Father, the spouse of the Holy Ghost, the Virgin Mother of Jesus, and there is not a spot in her.
CHAPTER XVII.
Virgin Most Renowned.
In Heaven the virgins are especially privileged and hold a renowned place. "They sing as it were a new canticle before the throne; for they are virgins. These follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth. For they are without spot before the throne of God" (Apoc. XIV—3, 4, 5).
Virgins are more renowned than the angels. For when God promised them the highest place and the greatest name, he manifested His predilection for them over the angels. Virginity in the angels is not by virtue, they are by nature virgins, whereas those who, by choice and heroic virtue, select to live the life of a virgin are more venerable, more exalted before God.
The superiority of Mary's virginity is readily understood, since she of all virgins was chosen by the Creator on account of her supereminent virginity, to be the Mother of the Word made flesh. The plentitude of the divinity dwelt corporally in her. She was found "full of grace," worthy to conceive the Saviour, to bring into the world the life of the world and remaining always a virgin, to be the virgin most renowned.
Of herself she spoke the prophetic words: "All generations shall call me blessed" (Luke I—48). Blessed because of her virginity and divine motherhood. The prophecy has had its fulfillment in all past generations, as it will have in all future generations, and for all eternity.
The churches, chapels, shrines and altars erected in her honor; the praises bestowed upon her, the pilgrimages made to invoke her aid or thank her for favors received, the prayers that are daily offered to her by the faithful everywhere, are so many testimonials in verification of her prophetic words: "All generations shall call me blessed" (Luke I—48).
Not only among the generations of men has our most loving Mother Mary obtained renown, but she is eminent among all the angels in Heaven. She repaired the losses they sustained by the ejection from Heaven of the fallen angels. She changed the gloom and sorrow that rested upon man into hope and cheer; she broke the chains of slavery that manacled woman; she brought joy to those who died in the Lord by ending their captivity.
Her name is invoked by and honored among angels and men. The angels salute her as "full of grace." Men sing her praises because she is the Mother of their Saviour, Jesus. All call her blessed, who is Virgin of Virgins and Mother Immaculate. She is the most renowned of all of God's creatures.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Virgin Most Powerful.
The ever glorious and blessed Virgin Mary was prefigured in the Old Testament by many great and distinguished women. Among them we find the peerless heroine, Judith, who was especially renowned by the might of her arm.
Her people, the people of Israel, were in imminent danger of falling into the hands of Holofernes, who was subjugating all before him, obliging the conquered to bow down before the king Nebuchodonosor and worship him as their God. In his conquests he nears Bethulia, occupied by the Israelites, and sends his army to besiege the city. Consternation takes hold upon the people. They fear to fall into the hands of Holofernes, which meant that they should either worship the king or be put to a most cruel death. There lived among them a very holy servant of God by name Judith.
Filled with the spirit of God, she addressed the ancients of the people, she encouraged them to pray and to rely on the power of the God of Israel. They ask her to beseech the Lord for them, as she is a holy woman.
Judith took leave of them, retired to pray and to prepare herself for her undertaking. She besought the God of Hosts to grant her constancy in mind and fortitude in her purpose of overthrowing Holofernes. "For," she exclaimed, "this will be a glorious moment for Thy name, when he shall fall by the hand of a woman" (Judith IX—15).
She went forth into the camp of the Assyrians, was apprehended by them and taken to Holofernes. This is what she sought. Having ingratiated herself into the good will of the general, she, under God, accomplished her design, by decapitating him, and straightway returned to her people.
"Praise ye the Lord," she said to them, for "by me, His handmaid, He hath fulfilled His mercy, which He promised to the house of Israel; and He hath killed the enemy of His people by my hand this night. Behold the head of Holofernes, the general of the army of the Assyrians, the Lord our God slew him by the hand of a woman" (Judith XIII—20-26).
The achievement of Judith foreshadowed the power to be displayed in her day by the most powerful of the servants of God, Mary, ever Virgin, in the part taken by her in our Redemption. "But the Almighty Lord," said Judith, "hath struck him and hath delivered him into the hands of a woman, and hath slain him" (Judith XVI—7).
The time had come for God to fulfill the promise made to man in the garden of Paradise, to send him a Redeemer who would deliver him from the slavery of the most wicked one. For this he chose His handmaid, the spotless Virgin Mary, and through her He struck the wily serpent, and beneath her heel crushed his head by the fruit of her virginal womb, Jesus.
She, the humble Virgin of Nazareth, by her immaculateness, found favor in the sight of the Almighty God, who looked complacently upon the beauty and humility of His handmaid and gave her power over the enemy of His people, that she might overthrow him and free those in bondage.
Of her is born the Saviour, who put Satan to flight, conquered the powers of darkness, reopened heaven, and where sin abounded grace still more abounds. All was lost, now all is redeemed.
Not only one people is saved, but all men and nations are set free through Jesus, the Son of the Virgin of Virgins, Virgin most pure, most chaste. She is the Mother of Jesus, the Redeemer of all men, the Saviour of all the angels, the power of God's strong arm.
On earth and in Heaven, by men and by angels, she is hailed as the Virgin most powerful, since all have participated in the beneficent efficacy of the power that He who is almighty gave to her.
CHAPTER XIX.
Virgin Most Merciful.
Out of pure mercy, Jesus, from all eternity, spoke the word to His eternal Father: "Behold, I come." Out of pure mercy, Mary spoke the word to the Almighty: "Behold, the Handmaid of the Lord." By the word of Jesus the Redeemer of men was made possible; in the word of Mary, the way was at hand through which the Saviour could come into the world.
As the Apostle Saint Paul calls God, "the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort" (II Cor. I—3); Mary may well be styled the mother of all mercies and the queen of all comfort. Her feelings of tender love and ineffable tenderness for poor fallen humanity are as wings upon which she comes to the help of those who invoke her aid.
Saint Anselm assures us that salvation at times is more certain through the invocation of Mary most merciful Virgin, than by supplication to Jesus Himself. Jesus, as our judge, must inflict condign punishment, whereas Mary, our sweet, loving Mother, has only a feeling of mercy for us.
Saint Bernard has well said: "Let Him, O Blessed Virgin, deny your mercy who shall have called in vain upon you in the hour of distress! Who, O Blessed Virgin, can sound the width, the heighth and the depth of your mercy!" (Serm. IV. de Assump.).
It was through the compassionate mercy of Mary that Jesus performed His first miracle at the marriage of Cana, when he changed water into wine. Her mercy for us caused her to follow in the footsteps of her Divine Son, as he bore upon his bruised and bleeding shoulders the heavy weight of the cross, laden, as it was, with our sins.
Out of pure mercy for suffering humanity, she stood erect beneath the rood of her Son, Jesus, and made the offering of her heart's blood in that of the sacred heart of Jesus for our redemption. Did not her most loving soul repeat the words of mercy spoken by our Lord upon the Cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?". (Luke XXIII—34). She knew His innocence; she understood His generous heart; she was well aware that He was giving His life for those who persecuted Him and nailed Him to the Cross. No word of complaint or reproach escaped her lips, but with a heart full of mercy and a soul full of compassion, she pleaded with an outraged God for mercy upon the heads of an ungrateful people.
When the lifeless body of her Jesus was lowered from the Cross and laid in her arms, she pressed her dead Son to her mother's loving bosom, as she did so often in His life time during His infancy and childhood. Even in that trying moment she prayed that His mercy might go out to all the generations of men and through His infinite love for them, bring them to the throne of mercy, that with her they might bless for all eternity, Him whom they so unmercifully put to death.
While Jesus rose triumphant from the dead and ascended into Heaven to plead there with His Father for mercy for all men, Mary still remained on earth to be among them a merciful suppliant to Heaven for mercy.
With contrite and loving hearts we should constantly have recourse to her now that she is enthroned in glory beside her Divine Son, and say to her: O Mother of Clemency, our life, our sweetness and our hope, turn thine eyes of mercy towards us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the fruit of thy womb, our merciful Redeemer, Jesus.
CHAPTER XX.
Virgin Most Faithful.
"My meat," said Jesus to His Disciples, "is to do the will of Him who sent me." (John IV— 34). The faithful performance of the mission which he had received from His heavenly Father was the consuming object of the life of our Lord.
While prostrate in the garden of Olives, during the dreadful moment of His bitter agony, when the storm of sorrows that was soon to burst in upon Him, loomed up before Him, He prayed thus to His heavenly Father: "My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (Matt. XXVI—39).
"He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the Cross" (Phil. II—8). In the beautiful prayer He has taught us, He tells us to say: "Thy will, O my Father, be done on earth as it is in Heaven" (Matt. VI—10).
He was faithful to His word, given from all eternity, "behold, I come," when He came down from Heaven, assumed our human nature and dwelt among us. As a child He was obedient and faithful to His Mother and His Fosterfather, Saint Joseph, for "He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them" (Luke II—51). He was faithful in the home of His Mother, in the workshop of Saint Joseph; faithful in the work of His Father among the Jews, faithful to His will before the judge who condemned Him to death, before the uncouth soldiers who struck Him in the face, spat upon Him, scourged Him, crowned Him with thorns, placed the heavy load of the Cross upon Him and nailed Him to it, whereon He hung until He died.
Who among the servants of God, who among the followers of Christ will most closely follow the faithfulness of Jesus to the will of His Father? Shall it be one of the patriarchs or prophets; one of the apostles or martyrs; one of the confessors or saints? Or shall it be one of the ministering angels at the throne of God? The former had but few opportunities under the chastening hand of God, wherein to prove their fidelity to His word; the latter had but one to test theirs.
Is there no one to follow the faithful Jesus from the cradle to the grave? God be praised, there was one, the Virgin most faithful, His own Virgin Mother Mary. From the first instant of her immaculate conception, she was full of grace; in her childhood she consecrated herself to God, to do His will in all things.
In the midst of great perplexity of mind and soul, she exclaimed: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy word" (Luke I—38). She kept the secret of God in her heart until He Himself chose to reveal it to her chaste spouse, Saint Joseph. "Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. I—20).
Through His childhood, youth and young manhood, she continued still faithful to God's design upon the child, and revealed it not till Jesus Himself chose to do so. She was faithful to Him during the last three years of His life, when he went about doing the work of His Father.
What wonder, then, that He should have lauded her rather for her fidelity to God's word than for being His Mother, when He said to the woman who, on one occasion, cried out: "Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the breast that gave Thee suck;" "Yea rather," said our Lord, "blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it" (Luke XI—28). Mary treasured up every word of His and thought them all over in her heart.
With Christ, her Divine Son, she was faithful to God, even to the tragedy of the Cross, and would have died beneath it for love of Him, only that God sustained her in order that she might be faithful unto the end in her mission among men. Her whole life was one act of entire submission to His holy will.
She had no thought save to please Him; she spoke no word but to magnify His name; she performed no work but a work of mercy. She was faithful to her immaculate conception, to the graces bestowed upon her. She was faithful to the will of the Father, true to the love of her Spouse, the Holy Ghost, and constant in her devotion to her Divine Son.
