Part 5

One day when John was in prison his disciples came and told him that they had heard that JESUS was working a great many miracles and that His fame was spreading all through the country. At Capharnaum He had healed a centurion's servant, and at Naim He had raised a widow's son to life; and the people were all glorifying God and saying: "A great prophet is risen up among us, and God hath visited His people" (St. Luke VII). This news sounded like music in John's ears; it was just what he wanted; it was a proof that his life's work had not been in vain: "He _must_ increase." The disciples however who brought the news did not take at all the same view of the case. They were not pleased that another should take the place of their master while he languished in prison. John knew that had they been quite sure that JESUS was the Messias, such thoughts could have had no place in their minds, and so to strengthen their faith he sent two of them to JESUS with the question: "Art thou He that art to come or look we for another?" hoping no doubt that they might see some miracles for themselves, or at any rate that personal contact with JESUS would clear away their doubts.

See the beautiful humility of John's character, there is no thought for himself; he is only anxious still to point out the Lamb of God and to remove all obstacles from His path in the hearts of all; he is still the voice crying with no uncertain sound. It happened (not by chance) that just when the two disciples arrived many miracles were being worked by JESUS, and in answer to their question, which they were probably now rather ashamed to put, He said: "Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen;" and He added: "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be scandalized in Me." Surely after that the disciples could never again stumble in their faith, and it must have been with joy in their hearts that they told their master of all they had seen and heard.

POINT II. CHRIST'S TESTIMONY OF JOHN.

When the messengers had gone, JESUS began to talk to the people about His faithful Precursor, whom they all knew so well. "What went you out in the desert to see?" He asked them. Was it "a reed shaken with the wind?" Was it "a man clothed in soft garments" and living delicately? Was it "a prophet?" On another occasion He spoke of him as "a burning and a shining light" (St. John V. 35). What praise this was on the lips of the Master! The four points He picked out are characteristics that He appreciates not only in John but in all who are preparing for His Coming. Let us see where we stand with regard to them.

1. _A determination of purpose._ "What went you out into the desert to see? A reed shaken with the wind?" No, but a man of one idea, and who pursued that idea through all difficulties and opposition and failure, not counting the cost. I want to copy John the Baptist. I want to prepare the way of the Lord in my heart, how shall I do it? Not by allowing myself to be a reed shaken with the wind, trying very hard for a day or two and then giving all up and saying it is no use; not by making good resolutions and then quietly dropping them because they have been broken. No, but by a steady, determined effort, in spite of many failures, to overcome in myself everything which I know will be a hindrance to my King pursuing His way in my soul. He is never disappointed by my failures; these are more than made up for directly I tell Him that I am sorry. What pains His loving Heart is cessation of effort, giving up the fight, running away from the enemy instead of standing up to be knocked down again, if my Captain thus wills to give me another opportunity of meriting, and of practicing humility. Saints are not made by victories all along the line, but by repeated failures humbly and patiently accepted, with a firm determination that each failure shall be the _last_. But what is the use when I know I shall fail again? I do not know; I need not fall, it is my own fault if I do. To do less than have a firm determination about the future, would be to lay down my arms. Every effort made for God leaves me holier, and as long as I keep on trying I am making progress in the spiritual life, though I cannot see it.

2. _Self-sacrifice._ "But what went you out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are in costly apparel and live delicately are in the houses of kings." John prepared for the Coming of his King by a life of self-sacrifice, every day giving up for the sake of Him Who was coming all the things that were just as dear to his nature as they are to mine. What part is self-sacrifice taking in my preparation for my King this Advent? I have no need to go into the desert or live the life of a hermit. It is the little tiny acts of self-sacrifice known only to my King and me which are so pleasing to Him. It is wonderful what notice He takes of little things which are done out of love to Him. If we could promise Him a certain number of these little acts every day--perhaps six or ten, or even _one_--and mark them down to ensure their being remembered, it would be a preparation very precious in His sight. To do a hard thing just because it is hard, to keep silent when I could say something sarcastic or clever but not quite charitable, to bear little physical sufferings without letting everybody know about them, to be cheerful and bright when I am feeling tired and moody, to accept all that happens to me as coming straight from God's Hands, especially all the little crosses that come to me through others--these are the things that will make me a saint and I cannot keep Advent or any other season better than by practicing them. Nothing is too small for my King to notice. Let me then be generous and give Him all I can, remembering that as long as the little act _costs_ me something, it is sure to be acceptable to Him; "He must increase, I must decrease," and it is by self-sacrifice that this great work will slowly but surely be accomplished in my soul.

3. _Fidelity to duty._ "But what went you out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet for ... amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he that is the lesser in the kingdom of God is greater than he." John was more than a prophet, because he not only prophesied of Christ as so many other prophets had done, but he was the last of the prophets, the immediate Forerunner of the Messias. No office could be greater than this and no one else ever held it, it was unique and made John "more than a prophet." Nevertheless, Our Lord said: "He that is the lesser in the kingdom of God is greater than he"--_lesser_ in holiness and in office, but _greater_ in dignity and privilege, because he is a member of the Holy Catholic Church and a partaker of her Sacraments. Thanksgiving that I am a member of the Holy Catholic Church should often find a place in my heart, and especially during Advent when the Church begins again to spread out before me all the treasures of her Liturgy and when my thoughts and meditations are centred round Him Who is coming to be incarnate for that Church, to die for it, to make a plan which will enable Him to be with it "all days, even to the consummation of the world" (St. Matt. XXVIII. 20), and finally to judge it that He may "present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. V. 27).

If my privileges are greater than those of St. John the Baptist, my responsibilities are greater also. As I think how faithfully he fulfilled one of the greatest offices ever entrusted to man, let me remember that I too have a special office given me to fulfil, and it is no less important for me to fulfil it faithfully, than it was for St. John. It may be that my office is a very lowly one, that I have only one talent, but JESUS is taking notice how I am trading with it. What have His messengers to say when He asks: "What went you out to see?" Let the season of Advent inspire me to be up and doing--faithful in that which is least, living as one who has to give an account of each talent, each occasion of merit, each opportunity of influencing another, each inspiration of grace.

4. _Light giving._ "He was a burning and a shining Light." This was the secret of John's greatness, of his humility, of his courage, of his zeal. His heart so burned with love for God and zeal for His service that it shone out on all with whom he came in contact.

Let me make one last examen on myself here. Do I feel sometimes that my influence on others is very small, that my light seems to be hidden under a bushel, that try as I will, I cannot make any impression? May it not be that I am thinking too much about the shining of the light and too little about the burning? The candle must _burn_ before it can _shine_. If my heart is in constant touch with the Sacred Heart of JESUS it will burn with His love and zeal, and the shining will follow as a matter of course, I need not trouble about it; but if I allow anything to separate my heart from His, even ever so little, the fire in my heart will die down; there may be a little glow left, unless I leave it too long, but there is not enough to "shine before men." "What went you out to see?" What answer would those with whom I live, those who know me best, have to give?

_Colloquy_ with JESUS and St. John the Baptist.

_Resolution._ To win the approval of JESUS to-day by the way in which I prepare for His Coming.

_Spiritual Bouquet._ "What went you out to see?"

"INCARNATUS EST"

Regem venturum Dominum venite adoremus. [Come let us adore the King our Lord Who is to come.]

_1st. Prelude._ Picture of the Annunciation.

_2nd. Prelude._ Grace to understand the mystery of the Incarnation.

POINT I. VENITE ADOREMUS.

"Come let us adore the King our Lord Who is to come." These are the opening words of the Invitatory which the Church uses every day at Matins during the first fortnight of Advent. Let us turn then from the Precursor, who has taught us so many lessons, to JESUS Christ Himself. What is He doing during these months of waiting before Christmas? He, too, is preparing, preparing for the work for which He has already come into the world, although He is not yet manifest. John the Baptist has pointed Him out to me: "Behold the Lamb of God!" Now I will do what his disciples did--leave "the Friend of the Bridegroom" for the Bridegroom Himself. He has become incarnate for me; it behoves me then to keep as close to Him as possible, to love Him with all my heart and to copy Him as far as I can. He is God and therefore there can be nothing imperfect about Him; from the first moment of the Word being made flesh in the womb of His Mother till "she brought forth her first-born Son" on Christmas day, His faculties, His reason, His intelligence, His sensibilities were all in a state of perfection; He knew the past, the present, and the future; and He, the Source of grace, was pouring forth grace on all around Him. Directly we understand this, we feel that we must draw near, not only to adore but to sympathize, to wonder, to love, to learn, to imitate. For those who understand the Incarnation, His work did not begin on Christmas Day, but on the Feast of the Annunciation, when Mary said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy word." What happened at that moment? The Holy Ghost overshadowed her, the Body of Our Lord was formed from her pure blood, God created the human Soul to dwell in it, and by the act of the Incarnation that Soul and Body became the Soul and Body of the Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity; Mary became the Mother of God and Gabriel worshipped before the Tabernacle of the Word made flesh.

Mary was the next to adore; Joseph, Elizabeth, John, Zachary followed, and there may have been other privileged ones to whom Our Lord Himself revealed His secret; but the world at large went on as usual--it "knew Him not." The same thing happens every day in our midst. When the priest with his God hidden on his breast passes on his way to give the Bread of Life to some sufferer, only a few privileged ones know the secret and offer their silent adoration. _Venite adoremus._

POINT II. DIVINE ADORATION.

It was a _new life_ that Our Lord entered upon at the moment of the Incarnation. He had had His Divine Life from all eternity, but God had never before been man. He now for the first time could express Himself through a human body. God could adore with human lips, could love with a human heart, could suffer through human senses, could plan with a human intelligence, could reason with a human mind. The consequence of the union of the two natures was that the human nature was perfect, more than perfect--it was Divine, and God received at the moment of the Incarnation, the first perfect human act of adoration, the first perfect human act of love, of humility and of all the other virtues. The God-Man could adore perfectly, because being God He knew God and knew what adoration was fitting for God; it was God adoring God and yet it was a human act, the act of a man like ourselves. At that moment God received what He wanted from one of the human race. The first breath drawn by His Son Incarnate made it worth His while to have created man in spite of the Fall. He received not only reparation but all He expected from the human race when He first created it. He was satisfied, and would have been satisfied even if that first moment had also been His last on earth. The Incarnation would have done its work, the justice of God could have required no more--a human will was perfectly submissive to His Will, a human heart beat in unison with His, a human creature offered itself as a victim for the race: "Behold, I come to do Thy Will, O My God," I have desired it. (Ps. XXXIX. 8, 9). God received at the moment of the Incarnation a higher act of worship than He had ever received from all the nine choirs of Angels, and that act was a _human_ act. Did the Angels who fell understand this and was this the cause of their rebellion? It is true that this first moment of the Incarnation would have more than satisfied God, but it was not enough for the God-made-Man. He would go on, on even to the death of the cross, not to satisfy His Father's justice, but His own love, and to show to those whom by His Incarnation He had made His brethren to what lengths love can go. Every breath He drew was as perfect as the first--a perfect offering, a perfect act of adoration; every beat of His Heart until He said: "Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit," was a perfect act of love; every act, every thought, every word perfect, because they were the acts, thoughts and words of _God_.

POINT III. THE PRACTICAL CONCLUSION.

What have I to do with these sublime truths? Everything, for He was incarnate _for me_. What does it mean? It means that He is my Brother and that He is giving to God what God must have, but what I cannot give Him; and that all I have to do is to unite myself to Him and to offer my imperfect acts of adoration, love, humility with His perfect ones. He has given Himself to me, that I may give Him back to God--a perfect offering with which God will be entirely satisfied. My God, I cannot adore Thee as I should, though I desire to do so with my whole heart, but JESUS is there incarnate for me, He is adoring Thee perfectly for me, accept His adoration and mine with it. My God, I love Thee, but I cannot love Thee enough, I cannot love Thee as I ought, I cannot love Thee as Thou deservest to be loved, but JESUS is incarnate for me, He has a human Heart which is loving Thee _perfectly_; I put my heart inside His, accept His love and mine with it. My God, I want to be perfectly submissive, perfectly humble, a perfect victim, but great though my desires are, I cannot arrive at the perfection which Thou dost require. Oh, look upon my Brother incarnate for me, accept all His perfections; let me offer my little struggles and desires and efforts with all that He is doing, for is it not all for me? "_Through_ Him and _with_ Him and _in_ Him."

Let me go to Nazareth to Mary; she will welcome me for she knows that He has become incarnate _for me_. The Angel has just left her to take back her _Fiat_ to Heaven. I will take his place and on bended knees before that holy shrine where the new Life has just begun, I will meditate. Never before perhaps have I so felt the need of thanksgiving, of adoration, of wonder, of love. All I offer now and from henceforth must pass through Mary to her Son, Who will offer my gifts with His own to His Father.

_Colloquy_ with God-Incarnate.

_Resolution._ To thank God often to-day for the Incarnation.

_Spiritual Bouquet._ "He was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man."

"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]