Part 6

Let us well understand this important truth. The grace of the Holy Ghost can never be granted to us in this life in such full measure that it cannot be augmented; therefore, let us beware of saying: 'It is enough; I am sufficiently enriched with graces and virtues. _Mensura conferta est_--the measure is filled up, further progress in mortification is unnecessary.' He who should speak thus would only show too clearly his misery, or, rather, his presumption, and the great danger to which he exposes himself. _Omni habenti dabitur et abundabit, ei autem qui non habet et quod videtur habere auferetur ab eo_. This text signifies that to him who has received much--that is to say, who has laboured much, and never gives up--much shall be given. Such a one believes that he has never done enough; but, conscious of his own misery, he continues to labour with holy and sincere humility. _He, then, who possesses much, shall receive with usury, and superabundantly;_ but from him who profits not by the grace received, letting it lie idle and fruitless, because he believes he is rich enough, _from him shall be taken that which he thinketh himself to possess and that which he does not possess_. This means, that graces already received shall be taken away, because he has not traded with them, and those which have been prepared for him shall not be bestowed upon him, since he has rendered himself unworthy of them by his negligence. All this, however, is not to be understood of _sufficient_ grace, which is never denied by God to anyone, but of _efficacious_ grace, which, by a just judgment of God, is not granted to tepid and ungrateful souls.

The thirst for riches and honours, by which worldlings are tormented, never allows them to say, _Enough_. And yet they ought to be contented with a little, for experience teaches us that the highest dignities and honours and great wealth frequently occasion the loss of souls. It is in regard of such temporal matters that we should say, _I have sufficient_. But, with regard to spiritual goods, let us never believe that we possess them in sufficient abundance, so long as we remain in this land of exile, but let us make every possible effort _to advance day by day from virtue to virtue_.

Experience teaches us that plants and fruits do not attain maturity until they have produced their seeds, which are necessary for the reproduction of their species. In the same way our virtues will never be sufficiently perfected, or reach their maturity, until they produce within us an ardent desire to make further progress. This desire is the spiritual seed which produces new degrees of virtue.

SPIRITUAL FLOWERS.

Mary is a most beautiful rose, which dared not open its petals even to the gentle breeze of an Angel!--_St. Ambrose._

How precious and how delicate a flower is purity! A sigh, a look, a word is enough to wither it! On this account chaste souls continually distrust themselves, and flee from the slightest occasions of danger.--_Nouet._

The rose is the symbol of love and charity; its petals are red, and formed like a heart. Such should be the actions of the spouses of Jesus Christ. They should have as many hearts as they have petals-- that is to say, hearts full of love, and like petals in the little esteem they should have of their actions.--_St. Francis of Sales._

EXAMPLE.

_Consecration of the Saturday to Mary._

Holy Church is ever desirous to maintain a tender devotion in the hearts of the faithful towards the Most Blessed Virgin, and from the earliest ages of Christianity she has encouraged the consecration of the Saturday to her. It is related that there was in the church of Santa Sofia at Constantinople a picture of the Mother of God which was veiled during the rest of the week, but on Friday evening the veil was raised without human aid, and lowered on the evening of Saturday. Thus did Almighty God manifest His Will that _Saturday_ should be dedicated to Mary. It was on Saturday she took so great a part in the work of our redemption, and it was fitting that on the morrow of the day when she so bitterly wept over the sorrowful scene of Calvary we should remember her tears shed for us in a special manner. Again, on Saturday God rested from His work in the creation of the world, and the Church consecrates this day to her, to honour the mysterious repose of the Holy Ghost in her Immaculate Heart, and that of Our Blessed Saviour in her chaste womb. Saturday is the introduction to Sunday--the symbol of eternal rest--and the Holy Virgin is truly invoked under the title of 'Gate of Heaven'--_Janua Coeli_.

Saturday, moreover, is the day between Friday, the day of mourning, and Sunday, the day of joy--and the Holy Virgin is the mediatrix between God, Who is Eternal Beatitude, and man, who is subject to endless evils and miseries. Mary is the way to arrive at Jesus, and Saturday is a prelude to the solemnity of Sunday. Saturday is as a magnificent portal consecrated to the Mother of God, by which we enter the Sanctuary of God Himself. The Saints held this day in great esteem--on it they redoubled their pious exercises--and many begged, as a signal favour, that they might die on a Saturday.

_Prayer._--O Sovereign Queen of Angels! you are the Mother of Orphans, as your faithful servant, St. Bonaventure, says: _Mater Orphanorum_. Sinners are truly orphans--for they have had the misfortune to lose their God, the most tender of Fathers. To you, therefore, I have recourse, O Mother of Mercy. I have had the misfortune to lose my true Father, by sin; and yet, since you have not abandoned me, O my Mother, I feel a lively hope that through your goodness you will deign to intercede for me, and reconcile me to my Father, Whom I have so grievously offended. O Holy Virgin! he alone can perish who does not have recourse to you. I confess, indeed, that I am a most unworthy sinner, and, nevertheless, to you do I fly, animated by sweet confidence in your love. Your mercy is greater than all my miseries; and, although my iniquities are enormous, they will never exhaust the treasures of your Son's mercy, nor your own. I sincerely detest, from my heart, all my sins, and hope, through your intercession, for a general pardon. Amen.

_Ejaculation._--O Mother of God and my Mother, the confidence I place in you is to me a pledge of my eternal salvation.

_Practice._--Let all your prayers and actions this day be offered in suffrage for the holy souls in Purgatory.

TENTH DAY.

BY THE VISIT OF MARY, ELIZABETH IS FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST.

LET us continue our Meditation on the sweet mystery of the Visitation.

The visit which this incomparable Virgin made to St. Elizabeth was not useless, nor, like the visits of worldly people, a matter of ceremony. Such visits result in harm to the conscience, in offences against chastity or charity. The Most Holy Virgin was induced to visit her cousin Elizabeth from pure motives of charity, and the days she spent with her were not employed in useless occupations, but in praising and magnifying God. How holy, pious, and devout was not this visit! It filled the whole house of Zachary with the Holy Spirit, and admirable effects were produced in St. Elizabeth. The first effect was humility. As soon as Our Lady appeared in the house of her cousin the Saint was filled with astonishment at such a favour, and exclaimed: _Unde hoc mihi ut veniat Mater Domini mei ad me?_--'Whence is this to me, that the Mother of my God should come unto me?' This is the virtue that the Holy Ghost first produces within us; a profound humility, which forces us to annihilate ourselves in the sight of the infinite greatness of God, and acknowledge our own baseness and worthlessness.

The second effect was to confirm St. Elizabeth in faith, as is gathered from the words she ad dressed to the Most Holy Virgin: 'Blessed art thou that hast believed; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb'--_Beata es quae crededisti; benedicta tu inter mulieres, et benedictus fructus ventris tui_. Indeed, one of the chief operations of the Holy Spirit is to ground us in faith and convert us entirely to God, and make us acknowledge Him as the Source of all the graces and blessings granted to mortal beings.

Truly may St. Elizabeth have said, you are blessed amongst all women, but your blessedness proceeds from the Fruit of your womb, the God of blessings. We do not usually praise the fruit on account of the tree, but the tree on account of the excellence of its fruit. Thus, although we ought to render to the Most Holy Virgin a worship or veneration beyond that which we render to the Saints, yet our homage and veneration should never equal that which we give to God. God alone should be sovereignly adored; but, as the Most Holy Virgin is the Mother of Our Saviour, and a co-operator in our redemption, she is worthy of such a special worship as all true Christians have ever given to her. When the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we love and praise God alone above all things, as our Sovereign Creator; and after Him, Mary, His Most Holy Mother.

The third effect that the Holy Ghost produces in those upon whom He descends is a complete change of heart, as is represented in the joy of the Baptist yet unborn: _Ecce enim ut facta est vox salutationis tuae in auribus meis, exultavit infans in utero meo_--'Behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears,' said Elizabeth to Our Lady, 'the Infant leaped in my womb.' Thus was St. John sanctified, going forth as it were out of himself, and casting himself before his Maker. And so it is with those who receive the Holy Spirit: they go out of themselves and lose themselves in God; that is to say, they live no longer according to nature and the senses, but they follow the inspirations of grace. If you desire, then, to know whether you have received the Holy Ghost, examine your actions.

It was through the intervention of Most Holy Mary that St. Elizabeth received the Holy Spirit. This teaches us that we should make use of her as a mediatrix with her Divine Son in order to obtain heavenly graces. It is true that we can address ourselves directly to God in our petitions, without employing the mediation of the Most Holy Virgin or the Saints; but this is not according to the order ordained by God, Who wished that there should be a communication between us and His Saints. Hence the Church militant and triumphant form but one Church, directed and governed equally, though differently, by God Himself; and He wishes us to have recourse to Him through the Most Holy Virgin and the Saints, and He bestows the most precious graces upon us by their intercession.

For the concluding point of this meditation we may add that it is of the greatest advantage to our souls to be visited by the Most Blessed Virgin; and her visits are always accompanied by many blessings and graces, as in the case of St. Elizabeth. O God! you will say, I do, indeed, desire that she would deign to honour me with one of her visits during prayer, since her visits fill the soul with sweet consolation. However, we must bear in mind that Mary often visits us with inspirations and interior lights, to aid our progress in perfection; and these are precisely the visits that we are unwilling to receive.

Endeavour to receive Holy Communion devoutly, and you will contract a spiritual relationship with the Most Holy Virgin, since the Most Precious Body of Our Saviour, which we receive in Holy Communion, was formed by the Holy Ghost of her most pure blood.

In this manner, and by the imitation of her virtues, the relationship which you will contract with her will be much more excellent and more pleasing to her than that of Elizabeth, which was merely of flesh and blood. Our Lord says: 'Whosoever shall do the will of My Father Who is in heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother' (Matt. xii. 50).

In order to have some share in the visits of this Holy Virgin, we must not look for consolations, but generously resolve to accept even contempt and sorrow. In fact, Mary did not visit St. Elizabeth until she had suffered the ignominy and humiliation of her sterility. It is impossible to lead a devout life without trouble, and merit is in proportion to suffering. Finally, if we desire to receive the favour of this visitation, we must be transformed; we must die to self, and live only to God and for God: in a word, we must humble ourselves profoundly, according to the example of St. Elizabeth. Be faithful then, pious souls, in this exercise, during this short and miserable life, that you may afterwards chant eternally in heaven with the Most Holy Virgin: _Magnificat anima mea Dominum!_--'My soul doth magnify the Lord!'

My God! how ashamed I am to be still so full of myself, when I have so often come to Holy Communion! O dear Jesus! may we always bear Thee in our hearts, that we may no longer breathe but Thee? How is it that I am so little united to Thee, since Thou art always in me? Why do I stray so far from Thee, whilst Thou art always close to me? Thou dwellest in my heart, how is it that I do not abide in Thine?

SPIRITUAL FLOWERS.

Chastity is the unblemished beauty of the Saints, which, like the rose, adorns the soul and body, and fills them with sweet and pleasing fragrance.--_St. Ephrem._

A slight breath of wind suffices to make the flowers fall from the trees in spring; and sometimes one flattering word, of itself, is enough to ruin a chaste soul, which is infinitely more delicate and tender than any flower.--_Nouet._

As the bee gathers from flowers the dew of heaven and the sweetest juice of the earth, forming it into honey and carrying it to its hive, so the Priest takes from the altar our Blessed Saviour (the true Son of God, Who descended like dew from heaven, and came forth from the Virgin Mary as a flower from the earth of our humanity), and places Him in your mouth, and He becomes to you a delicious and spiritual food.--_St. Francis of Sales._

EXAMPLE.

_Devotion of St. Thomas Aquinas to the 'Ave Maria.'_

The most tender devotion towards Mary was, as we may say, innate in St. Thomas Aquinas. One day, when he was a little child, his nurse observed that he kept a piece of paper in his hands, which she wished to take from him: but the child resisted with loud cries, and made every effort to retain it. This singular resistance excited the curiosity of his pious mother, the Countess Theodora. She therefore took hold of the piece of paper, opened it, and found, to her surprise, written upon it the Angelical Salutation. Whilst she was reading it, the infant redoubled his cries and tears, so that she was obliged to return it to him. Thomas had no sooner received it, than putting it into his mouth he swallowed it with great eagerness. This fact foreshadowed the devotion which the Saint ever had for the Angelical Salutation, on which he has left us a most pious and learned commentary, full of the praises of Mary.

_Prayer._--Holy Virgin and my tender Mother! You are the channel by which the graces of God reach us; you are the depositary of all celestial treasures, and you yourself declare to us that you possess all the wealth of heaven, to enrich those that love you: _ut ditem diligentes me_. O Divine Mother! you see that my poverty is great, and my indigence extreme; but remember, I beseech you, that I trust in you, and hope that you will be moved to compassionate my miseries, and to obtain for me a remedy. I love you, O Holy Virgin; you are, after God, the great object of my affections. Have compassion on me then, and never abandon me to the snares of the enemies of my salvation, but succour me during the whole course of my life, and above all at the moment of my death, so that I may come one day to your feet, in the abode of eternal happiness. Amen.

_Ejaculation._--O Holy Virgin, help those who groan in misery!

_Practice._--Mortify self-love, by some act of obedience or meekness.

ELEVENTH DAY.

HUMILITY OF MARY.

THE Blessed Virgin Mary surpassed all the Angels and Saints in perfection and merit; and of all creatures none as she was so pleasing to God. Who, indeed, ever possessed so ardent a charity and so profound a humility? Where shall we find humility equal to that which appeared in Mary when, in answer to Elizabeth, she confessed that the cause of her happiness was that the Lord had deigned to regard the humility of His handmaid, and that therefore all generations should call her blessed?--_Quia respexit humilitatem anciliae suae; ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generations_.

Many Doctors of the Church are of opinion that, when Mary said, 'the Lord hath regarded the humility of His handmaid,' it was not her intention to speak of her virtue of humility, because, although she was profoundly humble, she did not believe herself to be so; but that she thought only of her lowly state, her baseness, and abjection as a creature of God, and of the nothingness from which she had been drawn. There are others, however, who hold a contrary, and perhaps more probable, opinion, and say that Our Lady intended to speak of her virtue of humility, being well aware that it was this virtue that had attracted Our Saviour to her chaste womb. We may well believe that Mary was aware that she possessed this virtue, and that she had no fear of losing it, being intimately persuaded that it was the effect of the grace of God within her and not of her own merits.

Indeed, we find the great St. Paul acknowledging that he possessed the virtue of charity, and in such decisive terms as would seem in others presumptuous rather than humble. He writes: 'Who shall separate me from the charity of Christ?'--_Quis me separabit a charitate Christi?_ 'Shall tribulation, or distress, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or persecution, or the sword? I am sure that neither death nor life nor Angels shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' See Rom. viii. 35-39.

Notice the confidence with which this great Apostle speaks when he protests that there is no power in the world, or in hell, that is capable of separating him from the charity of his God. He believed that he possessed this virtue of charity; and in speaking thus he confided entirely in grace, and in his own merits _by grace_. The glorious Virgin knew well that the virtue of humility has more power to attract the Heart of God to our hearts than all other virtues. The Divine Spouse in the Canticles seems to signify this, when he expresses his admiration for the beauty of the footsteps of his beloved: _Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui in calceamentis, filia principis!_--'How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O Prince's daughter!' (Cant, vii. 1), and then enumerates her other beauties. Judith did not captivate Holofernes so much by the rare beauty of her countenance and the splendour of her attire as by her sandals, or her shoes, which were probably embroidered with gold.

In like manner the Eternal Father, considering the variety of virtues that adorned Our Lady, was in admiration of her beauty; but when He cast His eyes upon her sandals He was so pleased that He sent His Only Son to become Incarnate in her chaste womb. What is signified by these sandals or shoes of Mary but her humility? These articles are the least valuable part of our attire, and the soonest covered with dust. Now, the spirit of true humility continually abases the souls who possess it, and annihilates them in their own eyes, and keeps them under the feet of everyone. Such is the property of this virtue of humility, which is the foundation of the whole spiritual life. It was this lowliness that the Lord looked upon in the Most Holy Virgin with so much complacency, and this look of His formed her whole greatness: _Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae, ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generations_. All generations shall call her blessed _because_ God had regarded her.

Whichever of the two significations given to these words: God hath regarded _the humility of His Handmaid_ be accepted, we find that the Holy Virgin always spoke with so much humility as to leave no doubt whatever that she considered all her happiness to proceed from her Lord having looked upon her lowliness. On this account the words of the Spouse of the Canticles are applied to her: _Dum esset Rex in accubitu suo nardus mea dedit odorem suum_--'While the King was at his repose, my spikenard sent forth the odour thereof.' The plant on which the spikenard grows does not grow up high like the cedars of Lebanon. But lowly as it is, it delights all by the sweetness it diffuses around. What a precious plant was the Most Holy Virgin, who never sought to exalt herself, although enriched by God with the most signal favours! She was always penetrated by the sense of her own abjection and nothingness; and in virtue of this humility she spread around, like the spikenard plant, so sweet a perfume that it ascended to the Throne of the Divine Majesty, and attracted the Son of God to descend and take flesh in her immaculate womb.

We see, then, how dear humility is to God! Our Saviour taught this truth in His memorable reply to the woman who exclaimed aloud: _Beatus venter qui Te portavit et ubera quae suxisti_--'Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck.' 'Yea,' said Our Lord, 'rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it'--_Quinimmo beati qui audiunt verbum Dei et custodiunt illud_. That is to say: 'My Mother is indeed blessed on account of having borne Me in her womb; but more blessed is she on account of the humility with which she listened to the words of My Heavenly Father, and kept them.' And this He again taught when He said that they who heard the Word of God and practised it were to Him as His Mother and His Brethren.

SPIRITUAL FLOWERS.

Jesus Christ built His throne upon the ruins of the world. Before the fruits of grace can be gathered the flowers of prosperity must fall.

The present moment's grace may be that which will decide our eternity.--_Nepveu._

The Heart of Mary is a garden of delights, in which we can gather the most precious fruits. This most beautiful garden is closed against the impure spirit; it is full of Divine perfumes, cultivated by a Heavenly Hand, and adorned with the most charming flowers of virtue. Of these there are three which particularly attract our admiration, and fill the house of God with the sweetest fragrance--they are the violet of humility, the lily of chastity, and the rose of charity.--_St. Bernard._

The less you seek after praise and your own interests, the more do you deserve to be praised and rewarded by God.

EXAMPLE.

_Origin of the Rosary._

The Rosary of the B. V. M. in its present form was instituted by St. Dominic. But as early as the year 1094 Peter the Hermit had invented a kind of rosary of beads of wood, upon which the Crusaders, who were generally uneducated men, recited a certain number of _Paters_ and _Aves_, varied according to the solemnity of the feasts.

Historians also relate that even before that time pious persons were in the habit of reciting a series of _Paters_ and _Aves_ upon knotted cords. In the East it was the custom to present crowns of roses to persons of distinction. St. Gregory Nazianzen, moved by ardent piety towards the Mother of Our Redeemer, offered to her, instead of a material crown of roses, a spiritual crown of prayers. It consisted of a long string of the highest praises and most glorious titles and excellent prerogatives of Mary.