Mater Christi: Meditations on Our Lady. St. Paul Mother
she was the Mother of the Author of grace.
2. Because of her correspondence to grace. She was always faithful to grace. She never let one single opportunity pass by her unused. The more faithful I am to the inspirations of grace, the fuller shall I be of grace. It is a question of my fidelity, not of God's generosity. He never fails – the grace is always there waiting for me.
3. Because she was always meriting grace. Each correspondence to grace entitled her to more, as it does me. It is by virtue of her merits that she can obtain from her Divine Son all the grace that her children need. Confidently may they appeal to her, for she is the "Mother of Divine Grace."
"In me is all grace of the way." (Ecclus. xxiv. 25.) So Mary says to her children, and she has all I need for the way – that is, for my journey through life. The way is hard – it is the Highway of the Cross, the way that Jesus trod before me. Let me never attempt to tread it alone – not for a single hour, for the pitfalls are many; but let me ask Mary to accompany me – Mary with her never-failing supply of grace. It was Jesus Himself Who gave me His Mother, and He gave her also all the grace that He knew I should need for the way. What a provision He has made for me! If I drew upon my stores more confidently, I should be much fuller of grace than I am.
Hail Mary! full of grace, thou art my Mother. Let me put my hands in thine and keep close to thee. So shall the way have no terrors for me, and so shall I be able to tread in the Footsteps of thy Son, along His Own Highway of the Cross.
The Lord is with thee. These words were often said of or to those to whom God was about to entrust some special work. He was "with Joseph" while he was in Putiphar's prison, preparing him for the great work of serving the nation during the famine. (Gen. xxxix. 21.) "I will be with thee," God said to Moses at the burning bush, when He told him that it was he who was to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. (Ex. iii. 12.) And to Josue, who had to bring the chosen people into the promised land, He said: "As I have been with Moses, so I will be with thee. Fear not, and be not dismayed: because the Lord thy God is with thee in all things whatsoever thou shalt go to." (Jos. i. 5-9.) "The Lord is with thee, O most valiant of men." This was the message the angel brought to Gedeon at the threshing floor, for he was to leave his wheat and go to deliver God's people from idolatry and from their enemies. (Jud. vi. 12.)
And now when Mary is being singled out for the greatest work that was ever entrusted to any child of Adam – that of being the Mother of Him Who was to save not one nation only, but the whole world, God sends an Archangel and bids him say to her: The Lord is with thee. God was with Mary always; but now all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity are to be with her in a very special way, to enable her to co-operate with God's designs for her. But the message goes further: "Blessed art thou among women." Gabriel tells her that God's message to her is that she is blessed, and more blessed than all other women! It is praise indeed, and praise from God Himself. But God can trust Mary with praise. She is full of humility, for she is full of grace; and God knows that she will look at things from His point of view – not from her own.
I may get some consolation from these words for myself. God sometimes gives me work to do for Him. How blessed I am to be picked out and chosen by Him! And I may be quite sure that He is with me for it. It is His own work, and He will look after it Himself; but He needs an instrument. The workman is never far from his tools, unless he has thrown them on one side as useless. "The Lord is with thee." If I see to it that I am an instrument fit and ready for His service, I need have no other anxiety. He will use me when He wants me; the responsibility of the work will be all His, and He will be with me, doing His work by means of me.
O Mary, my Mother, help me to see things from God's point of view, as thou didst. Obtain for me the grace to be full of confidence about any work with which God may entrust me. And while I rejoice to be amongst those blessed ones whom He picks out to do His work, obtain for me the grace of humility. And if the Workman should allow any words of praise to be given to the instrument, may it be because He can count on the humility of His instrument – because He knows that the praise will all be passed on to Himself.
Colloquy with my Mother as we walk along "the way" together – a colloquy about correspondence to grace, about being never alone in my work, about the blessedness of being chosen by Him, about humility.
Resolution. To let my Rosary recall some of these thoughts to-day.
Spiritual Bouquet. "Among the blessed she shall be blessed." (Ecclus. xxiv. 4.)
Mary's First Word
"And Mary said to the Angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?" (St Luke i. 34.)
1st Prelude. A picture of the Annunciation.
2nd Prelude. That my love for God may be great enough to separate me from all else.
We do not know what Mary was doing when the heavenly visitor arrived with his message. She is generally represented as kneeling in contemplation. She may have been: or she may have been about her work. In any case, she was engaged in prayer, for Mary's heart and mind were ever lifted up to God; and that is prayer. And God can reveal His secrets just as easily to those who are working as to those who are given up to contemplation.
No wonder Mary's attention is arrested, for not only does she see one of God's Archangels, but it is to her that he has come, to her that he is showing such reverence and honour, to her that he is now delivering his message: "Hail! … full of grace; the Lord is with thee… Blessed art thou among women." Each sentence of the message seems more wonderful and startling than the last. Mary does not speak, but she is troubled, as she thinks within herself what manner of salutation this is. Her intelligence is perfect, and she knows at once what the message means. It means that she, the one woman who has cut herself off from every prospect of being the Mother of the Messias; that she, who has felt herself so utterly unworthy that legend tells us she used to pray that she might be His Mother's servant; that she has been singled out by God as the one who was to be blessed among women. And she is troubled. It is not the presence of the Angel nor the dignity of his message which is disquieting her – her trouble goes deeper; but still she does not speak – she waits in silence for God to explain Himself or to direct her.
How much wiser in most cases it would be for me, if I kept silence, for a time at any rate, when I am face to face with trouble, or difficulty, or perplexity. Of one thing I may be sure – that the trouble is a message from God, and if I wait patiently, He will reveal more to me, and throw light upon what seems so obscure. Nothing is gained by making complaints, and losing my calm and self-possession. Much is gained by silence; for silence to man, at such times, generally means converse with God, and to obtain this more intimate union with my heart is one of His chief reasons for sending me His messages.
Gabriel, seeing that she is troubled, hastens to reassure her: "Fear not, Mary." He is God's messenger, and he is giving God's consolation, so he calls her by her name. Consolation is never far off when it is to God alone that we turn for it. Gabriel then tells her quite plainly what are God's intentions concerning her, if she gives her consent and co-operation – that she is indeed to be the Mother of the Messias; that she is to call Him Jesus; that her Son is to be great, and is to be called the Son of the Most High; that God will give Him a throne and a kingdom; and that of His kingdom there shall be no end.
She has pondered in her heart, and now she speaks: "How shall this be done?" St Bernardine, who calls the seven recorded words of Our Lady, "Seven Flames of Love," calls this first word "A Flame of Separating Love" (flamma amoris separantis). Let us try to find out why.
"How shall this be done?" Her question shows clearly what is the cause of her trouble. It is the thought of her vow of virginity – that precious offering which, as a little child, she had made to God. This it is which forces Mary, who so values silence, to speak. "How shall this be done," and yet my vow be left intact? To it at any cost I must be faithful. Mary, by her first word, shows that her love for God is so intense that it separates her