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"EX MARIA VIRGINE"

"Apud me est fons vitae." [In me is the Source of life.]

1st. Prelude. Mary, just after the Angel had departed from her.

2nd. Prelude. Grace to understand Mary's part in the Incarnation.

Point I. Mary shares all with her Son

All the joy that the Incarnation brought to the Blessed Trinity, Mary to a great extent must have shared. There was the joy of God the Father, because He saw His designs in creating man fulfilled, His justice satisfied and a human creature doing Him perfect homage and bringing Him so much glory. There was the joy of God the Son, because at last He was united to our human nature, because He being God had nevertheless a human Soul and a human Body, to which He could unite all the Divine perfections, and by means of which He could carry out all His Father's designs for the lost human race. There was the joy of the Holy Spirit Who had overshadowed Mary and by His Divine power created in her a Soul and a Body so beautiful that they were worthy to be taken by the Eternal Word and for ever united to the Divinity. The Holy Ghost saw now a human Soul into which He could pour all the grace that would be needed by the whole human race. Of His fulness all were to receive (St. John i. 16).

And what was the means whereby all this joy was given to the Blessed Trinity? The Body which had been formed from the most pure flesh and blood of Mary. She had lent herself at God's request to be the instrument used, and now she was the Tabernacle where the God-Man lay hidden. As He shared His life with His Mother, since it was her blood which was coursing through His Veins, so He shared all His acts with her. That first perfect act of adoration made by a human Soul to God was shared by Mary – she adored too. That first whole-hearted oblation of a human Soul to God was shared by Mary when she said her: "Fiat mihi secundum verbum Tuum." That first perfect act of love from a human Heart was shared by Mary for how close was the union between the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the most pure heart of Mary! When Jesus made acts of reparation of humility, of conformity to His Father's Will, Mary made them too – she could not but do so, for her life was so closely bound up with that of her Son; He became the mainspring of all she did. It was the charity and humility in His Heart that made her go to visit her cousin Elizabeth and make herself her handmaid; it was His salutation that made hers so powerful with regard both to Elizabeth and to the infant John; it was the thanksgiving in His Heart which overflowed into hers and made her sing her Magnificat. That Mary spent the nine months in adoration we may well believe, but she spent them also in union with her Son, sharing all with Him and giving us a perfect model of the interior life – which means not only that God shares in the acts of the soul, but also that the soul shares in the acts of God, Emmanuel – God with us – in order that we may be "with the King for His works" (1 Paralip. iv. 23).

Point II. Mary my Example

He was incarnate for me, and His Mother is my Mother; it is to her that I must look now to teach me how to spend these days before His birth. Teach me, my Mother, to follow the great example which you set. Teach me, too, to rejoice in the wonders of the Incarnation. Who should be more filled with joy than I for whom He was incarnate? Teach me what the interior life means, teach me to allow Him to be the mainspring within me of all I do, so that the life which I live is not mine but His, the words which I speak not mine but His, – Jesus acting, thinking, speaking through me. This is the interior life which Mary understood so well and lived so perfectly during her time of waiting. There is, however, another side to the interior life, and this is the one we want to meditate about more especially, while we are thinking of the Son of God incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. He has taken human nature, my nature, and joined it to the Godhead. He has made Himself a partaker of my human nature in order that I may be a partaker of His divine nature. I must not only think, then, of His working in and through me, but of my working in and through Him. Mary entered into and shared not only His Acts of adoration and love and praise, but also the work He had come to do, His plans for the Redemption of the world. "They dwelt with the King for His works, and they abode there" (1 Paral. iv. 23). How true this was of Mary! It is in this that I must try to copy her. "I will abide in the Tabernacle of the Most High," and I will offer myself for His works, His interests shall be mine, He shall feel that one soul at least, sympathizes and cares and intends to co-operate in the great work He has come to do.

Let me, then, as the season of Advent is fast passing, ask myself once again: Am I doing all I can for the spread of the Kingdom which He came to this earth to set up? Am I trying to look at the world with the eyes of love with which He regarded it, when He first made Himself incarnate for it? Am I helping His poor, tending His sick, instructing His ignorant, bringing Home His sheep, loving His little ones, comforting His sorrowful ones? Such are "His works," and if I would do them, I must dwell with the King and learn to do them in His way – I must live an interior life.

Point III. All passes through Mary

It is only those who do not understand the Incarnation who stumble over this statement. What could be more natural? If He chose to redeem the world through Mary, to do all His great works which depend on the Incarnation – such as the foundation of the Church with all her Sacraments – through Mary, is it strange that when I want to help the King in His works, I should do the same and put my little gifts for the King into her hands? Rather would it be strange if I wanted to work on a different plan from my King's. She is the Janua coeli, the Turris Davidica, the Sacrarium Spiritus Sancti; the Tabernacle where He was incarnate for me. Through her and by means of her, He hands me all the graces I receive. What more natural than that I should make use of such a messenger to take back my offerings? And do they lose in the transaction? Surely they must gain, first because she will purify them and add to them her own merits and graces, and secondly because a gift presented by His own Mother cannot but be enhanced in value.

Blessed Grignon de Montfort says: "God has chosen her for the treasurer, steward and dispenser of all His graces, so that all His graces and all His gifts pass through her hands; and according to the power she has received over them, as St. Bernardine teaches, she gives to whom she wills, as she likes, and as much as she likes, the graces of the Eternal Father, the virtues of Jesus Christ and the gifts of the Holy Ghost." We may, if we like, "do all our actions with Mary, in Mary, by Mary, for Mary, in order to do them more perfectly with Jesus, in Jesus, by Jesus, and for Jesus, our Last End."¹

If I am a child of Mary in anything more than in name, I shall not hesitate to use this great privilege which is offered to me, knowing that by so doing, not only will the value of my prayers and penances and actions be enhanced in God's sight, but my merits and graces will be increased. Mary will see to it that her children who thus trust her have a Benjamin's portion.

Colloquy with Mary, asking her to obtain for me during this waiting time the grace to trust her with all my secrets for her Son.

Resolution. To dwell "with the King for His works" to-day.

Spiritual Bouquet.Janua coeli, ora pro nobis.

"THE LORD IS NIGH"

"Brethren, rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men. The Lord is nigh. Be nothing solicitous; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

(Phil. iv. 4-7).

(The "Epistle" for the Third Sunday of Advent).

1st. Prelude. Before the Tabernacle.

2nd. Prelude. Grace to remember the Presence of God.

The Lord is nigh because by His grace He is within us, because by His omnipresence He is "not far from every one of us" (Acts xvii. 27), because in the Blessed Sacrament He is with us "all days, even to the consummation of the world" (St. Matt. xxviii. 20) and because it may be to-day that He will come in judgment. In consequence of this nearness of our God to us, from whatever point of view we regard it, St. Paul tells us that there are certain practices which are incumbent upon us.

Point I. "Rejoice in the Lord always."

To rejoice always– this is my duty, because the Lord is nigh. When joy is absent from me, it is because faith in His nearness is absent. When clouds hide the Sun of Justice, and I am disposed to be sad and despondent, let me make an Act of Faith in His Presence: My God, I know that Thou art within my soul, because I have reason to believe that I am in the state of grace. My Jesus, I believe that Thou art there in the Tabernacle. My God, I believe that Thou art truly present behind every person and every circumstance and every trial. My Jesus, I believe that it may be to-day that Thou wilt summon me to stand before Thee as my Judge… I shall find that Acts of Faith, such as these, will help to dispel the despondency and send me on my way rejoicing. How can I do anything but rejoice when I think of the Divine Inhabitation? Can I be sad when I realize the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and all that means to me? Can I allow circumstances and trials to depress and crush me when I know with what infinite love and care they have been arranged for me by Him who hides Himself in each one of them? And if the thought that the Lord is nigh in judgment can hardly in itself be a thought that brings joy, yet, when I know how much value He sets on joy, I should like Him to find me rejoicing when He pays that always unexpected visit to my soul. The Lord is nigh, therefore rejoice. To rejoice in the Lord is always possible, it only means a realization of the supernatural, and as soon as that is realized, everything is seen in a different light. "In Thy light we shall see light" (Ps. xxxv. 10), and "at Thy right hand are delights even to the end" (Ps. xv. 11). It is just because the Lord is nigh that I cannot but rejoice, and it is only when I forget His Presence that the clouds have the power to chill and depress me and rob me of my joy. St. Paul is afraid that I may forget, and so he adds: "Again I say: Rejoice."

Point II. "Let your modesty be known to all men."

The Greek word which is translated "modesty" means more, it means fairness, kindness, gentleness, moderation, self-restraint, not insisting on strict justice. These are the qualities by which I am to be known to all men, because the Lord is nigh. He is within me – always if I will by His grace and often by the Blessed Sacrament. I may truly be said to "bear God in my body." What follows? I am His representative to the world; He is living His life in the world through me; if people want to know something about God and what He is like, they ought to be able to find out by watching my life.

The Lord is nigh – my gentleness has to recall this fact to others. "The servant of the Lord must not wrangle, but be mild towards all men." (2 Tim. ii. 24). He must not stand up for his rights, though strictly speaking he may have them; he must not be wedded to his own opinions and ever anxious to give them; he must not argue and strive to show that he is in the right, which means that everybody else is in the wrong. No, if he does these things, he is giving an altogether false representation of Christ Who is within him, of the Lord Who is so nigh.

Some people are gentle by nature, but it is not this natural quality of gentleness, often a mark of weakness of character and will, which is to be known to all men. It needs a strong will and much self-restraint to show the gentleness of Christ; it means the temper kept in check when slighting, insulting or unkind words are said; it means keeping silence when misjudged or falsely accused because "Jesus was silent;" it means keeping back the cutting word or the stinging sarcasm and letting them die away before His Presence; it means giving up a cherished plan or desire and letting no one except Him Who asks for the sacrifice know what it costs; it means being able to let a matter drop, though we may be in the right – such is the gentleness of Christ, which we have to make known so that by our behaviour others may be attracted to Him Who is so nigh. What a point it would give to our preparation for His Coming this Advent, if each day found us striving to let our gentleness win others to Him and make them long to know the Babe of Bethlehem.

Point III. "Be nothing solicitous."

Take no thought, for your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need. Do not be solicitous, careful, anxious about anything, there is no need for the Lord is nigh. He knows what is best for His child. He can alter things if He likes, leave all to Him. All worry and anxiety only come really from want of faith. Does a child worry when its father is near? No, it leaves everything to him without any care. The Lord is nigh, be nothing solicitous. The way may seem blocked, but it is not blocked to Him; the Lord is still nigh, "He knoweth my way" (Job xxiii. 10), is it not enough?

Let me love and trust and continually talk to Him Who is so near; let me remember that I am never alone, that the difficulties and problems and sorrows of life concern two, that the responsibility is shared, that the important business of life is a joint one. Surely with such a Partner, One who is never absent but always nigh, I need be in nothing solicitous.

Point IV. "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

let your petitions be made known unto god."

The conclusion I arrived at in the last point is a just one, but I am not on that account to do nothing. He must have my active co-operation and whether I am working for my own salvation or for the salvation of others or, which ought to be the case, for both, I must in everything I do, let my petitions be made known unto God, that is, I must never act on my own responsibility. I am going to see such and such a person, come with me; I have this letter to write, tell me what to say; I have a difficult matter to settle, give me the necessary wisdom and tact; I am going to rest, or to take my food or my recreation, I want Thee with me all the same – such must be my requests. What about my mistakes, the things I forget and leave out, the faults that I mean with all my heart not to commit, but which I am always falling into all the same? Ah, it is here that the inestimable benefit of having such an all-powerful Partner comes in. Instead of bewailing my incapability, which only makes me still less capable, I must make my requests known to Him. What sort of requests will these be? I have committed that fault, made that same mistake again, please forgive me and correct it; I have forgotten to say something I meant to say, please say it for me; I have been stiff, unyielding, ungracious, discourteous, harsh, severe, please make up for my deficiencies and whatever happens do not let them judge Thee by Thy representative, make them understand that He for whom I am working is never anything but gracious and gentle, that He never breaks the bruised reed nor quenches the smoking flax; do not let me spoil Thy work. Such are the prayers and supplications by which I should continually be making known my needs to Him Who is always nigh.

And what about the thanksgiving? This is most necessary, otherwise, ashamed though I am to confess it, I shall be attributing the successes to my own powers and skill and capability! It seems hardly credible, but unfortunately past experience tells me that it is all too true. In order to guard against such a distorted and absurd view of things, St. Paul tells us not to forget the Thanksgiving. The Lord is nigh, let me turn to Him and say: Deo gratias, for it is He Who has prevented my awkwardness from spoiling His work. He loves to be thanked and He notices when He is not. Let me be thoroughly persuaded that the work is all His, and that if anything succeeds that I do, it is only because He has allowed His success to pass through me, thus thanksgiving will not only be easy but natural. But who is ever going to persuade me that no glory is due to me? "Who is sufficient for these things?" He Who condescends to be my Co-worker. He can do even that, if I love Him sufficiently to want Him to have all the glory.

Point V. The result – Peace

"The peace of God which passeth all understanding (shall) keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." This will be the result, not of Our Lord being nigh, but of our realization of His nearness. A great peace will keep, that is, take possession of, our hearts and minds. Everything will be right because it comes straight from God's Hands. "My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth do I give unto you" (St. John xiv. 27). God's peace passes the understanding of the world, it has nothing to compare with it. It passes the understanding of God's children too. It is one of the mysteries with which He blesses His own and makes life possible for them in a world of turmoil.

Colloquy with Him Who is nigh.

Resolution. To remember that I am never alone.

Spiritual Bouquet. "The Lord is nigh."

THE INTERIOR LIFE. (1)

Humility

"I am Thy servant, I am Thy servant and the son of Thy handmaid."

(Ps. cxv. 16).

Janua coeli, ora pro nobis.

1st. Prelude. The Gate of Heaven.

2nd. Prelude. Grace to enter that gate and learn.

We are going now to keep very close to Mary. She is passing all these precious days in communion with her Son and He is teaching her what conformity to Himself means. But she has Him not for herself alone but for all those for whom He has made Himself incarnate and has come to die. The time passed within that "Gate of Heaven" was the first stage of His earthly journey and He was there for me, for my learning. He was already my Model. Let me go, then, to-day to the "Gate of Heaven," go to Mary and ask to be allowed to study some of those heavenly lessons which were so dear to her heart. Janua coeli, ora pro nobis. "Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any who implored thy help or sought thy intercession were left unaided. Inspired with this confidence I fly unto thee… O, Mother of the Word Incarnate despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me."

Point I. The Humility of JESUS

We cannot contemplate this stage of Our Lord's life without being struck first of all by the humility and self-abasement of it, by the way in which in some sense He annihilated Himself that He might do His Father's Will. St. Paul says: "He emptied Himself … being made in the likeness of men" (Phil. ii. 7). He stripped Himself, robbed Himself of all that He possessed: Semetipsum exinanivit. We know that Mary, His created Home, was chaste and pure, that no breath of sin had ever touched her, that the Holy Spirit Himself had overshadowed her and had undertaken the preparation and the adornment of the earthly Tabernacle of the Word; but pure and holy though she was, Mary was only a creature and He was the Creator. He was God and she was one of the human race. His place was on the highest throne of Heaven and yet "He abhorred not the Virgin's womb" but there lived hidden from the sight of all, like any other infant and yet wholly unlike, because He had full possession of His faculties and intelligence. In the manger He will be seen, and so will be loved, pitied and worshipped; there will be many consolations which will go far to lessen and soften His humiliations, but here, He is alone, hidden; His very existence not even suspected. He has annihilated Himself, made Himself nothing. He could have taken our nature, had He so wished, without all these humiliations; why then did He despise not the Virgin's womb? Because this is to be His principle all through His life, He will love "unto the end." He will leave nothing undone that He could possibly do. He came to do His Father's Will and He will do it thoroughly. He will bear all the humiliations because He wants to be my Model and to teach me that there is only one way of learning humility.

Point II. The Humility of Mary

Mary, though she cannot see Him, is sharing intimately all His humiliations. She knows as no one else can all He is going through; and because she is His Mother she feels more intensely than anyone could what His humiliations are, she can never forget them. She shares all with Him and He lets her; her sympathy is His consolation. Of all the virtues of the interior life, humility is the one which is the most strongly marked in Mary, and perhaps more strongly during these nine months than at any other time. It was her humility which attracted the Eternal Word from Heaven to take up His dwelling in His earthly Tabernacle. It was her humility which made her visit her cousin Elizabeth. It was her humility which made her sing in her Magnificat of the great things God had done for her and how He had regarded the low estate of His handmaid. It was her humility which made her ready to suffer any humiliation rather than disclose God's secret to St. Joseph. It was her humility which made her incapable of resenting all the humiliations she had to bear at Bethlehem on Christmas Eve – and all this humility, all this power to bear humiliations, came from the fact that she was living an interior life, living a hidden life with her Son, looking at everything from His point of view and not from her own.

Point III. "Learn of Me."

Now let me turn from the interior life of Jesus and Mary to my own. Jesus lived His interior life for me. If He allowed Mary to share it, He will allow me, for He said once that He counted as His Mother all those who do His Will. His Will is quite clear: "Learn of me for I am humble." Dare I go to the "Gate of Heaven" and say that I want to learn to be humble, that is, that I want to copy Jesus and Mary in their humiliations? It takes a great deal of courage to ask for humiliations, and perhaps it is almost impossible to do so without some pride lurking in the request; but what I can do is to be so anxious to learn to be humble as He bids me, that I ask for strength to bear the humiliations that He sends. How do I bear them? Do I say: Oh well, it is a humiliation, I must bear it! or, Oh well, I shall never learn humility without humiliations! or: I am always getting humiliations, some people are, but I gladly accept them! All such speeches have their source, not in humility but in pride. Can we imagine Mary talking like this? Humiliations will never do their blessed work of making me humble if I thus use them to attract attention to my supposed virtue. A humiliation is spoiled the moment it sees the light; it has no strength left in it wherewith to produce humility. Do I want to be humble? Then let me go to that quiet retreat where Jesus is humiliating Himself for me, let me take all my humiliations there. When I am left out, forgotten, despised, when my help is unasked, my opinion disregarded, when things are said of me that are hard to bear, when reflections are made on my actions, let me go at once to where Jesus is hidden and hide myself and my pain there, my one fear being lest anyone but He should suspect my pain, and this not from stoicism or natural self-restraint, so pleasing and consoling to self, but because I am afraid of spoiling my chance and preventing the humiliation from doing its work. If I can only deposit it safely in His Heart before another sees it and robs me of my jewel, all will be well. He who suffered all those humiliations for me, will know how to ease my pain, He will tell me what a consolation it is to Him that His child understands and is trying to make a faithful copy.

Colloquy. O Mary, "Gate of Heaven" keep the gate wide open and beckon me in whenever you see me in danger of falling through my pride. You know the dangerous moments, please forestall them for me, and when I am safe, and listening to the Sacred Heart beating for me, the pain of the humiliation will be turned into joy and perhaps I shall make Him feel that His humiliations have not been in vain.

Resolution. To examine myself to-day on how I take my humiliations and to resolve how I will take them for the future.

Spiritual Bouquet. "Learn of Me for I am humble."