Saturday, December 22, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog:
Virtue, First Samuel 1;24-28, First Samuel 2:1- 8, Luke 1:46-56, The Practice of the Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity by Mary ImmaculateGood Day Bloggers! Joyeux Noelle et Bonne Annee!
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.
The world begins and ends everyday for someone. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge and free will,
make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in
Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to Purgatory and/or Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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December 2, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
Dear
children, with motherly love and motherly patience anew I call you to
live according to my Son, to spread His peace and His love, so that, as
my apostles, you may accept God's truth with all your heart and pray for
the Holy Spirit to guide you. Then you will be able to faithfully serve
my Son, and show His love to others with your life. According to the
love of my Son and my love, as a mother, I strive to bring all of my
strayed children into my motherly embrace and to show them the way of
faith. My children, help me in my motherly battle and pray with me that
sinners may become aware of their sins and repent sincerely. Pray also
for those whom my Son has chosen and consecrated in His name. Thank
you."
November 25, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
“Dear children! In this time of grace, I call all of you to renew
prayer. Open yourselves to Holy Confession so that each of you may
accept my call with the whole heart. I am with you and I protect you
from the ruin of sin, but you must open yourselves to the way of
conversion and holiness, that your heart may burn out of love for God.
Give Him time and He will give Himself to you and thus, in the will of
God you will discover the love and the joy of living. Thank you for
having responded to my call.” ~ Blessed
Virgin Mary
November 02, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children, as a mother I implore you to persevere as my apostles. I am praying to my Son to give you Divine wisdom and strength. I am praying that you may discern everything around you according to God’s truth and to strongly resist everything that wants to distance you from my Son. I am praying that you may witness the love of the Heavenly Father according to my Son. My children, great grace has been given to you to be witnesses of God’s love. Do not take the given responsibility lightly. Do not sadden my motherly heart. As a mother I desire to rely on my children, on my apostles. Through fasting and prayer you are opening the way for me to pray to my Son for Him to be beside you and for His name to be holy through you. Pray for the shepherds because none of this would be possible without them. Thank you." ~ Blessed Virgin Mary
"Dear children, as a mother I implore you to persevere as my apostles. I am praying to my Son to give you Divine wisdom and strength. I am praying that you may discern everything around you according to God’s truth and to strongly resist everything that wants to distance you from my Son. I am praying that you may witness the love of the Heavenly Father according to my Son. My children, great grace has been given to you to be witnesses of God’s love. Do not take the given responsibility lightly. Do not sadden my motherly heart. As a mother I desire to rely on my children, on my apostles. Through fasting and prayer you are opening the way for me to pray to my Son for Him to be beside you and for His name to be holy through you. Pray for the shepherds because none of this would be possible without them. Thank you." ~ Blessed Virgin Mary
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Today's Word: virtue vir·tur [vur-choo]
Origin: 1175–1225; alteration (with i < Latin ) of Middle English vertu < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin virtūt- (stem of virtūs ) maleness, worth, virtue, equivalent to vir man (see virile) + -tūt- abstract noun suffix
noun
1. moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.
2. conformity of one's life and conduct to moral and ethical principles; uprightness; rectitude.
3. chastity; virginity: to lose one's virtue.
4. a particular moral excellence. Compare cardinal virtues, natural virtue, theological virtue.
5. a good or admirable quality or property: the virtue of knowing one's weaknesses.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - First Samuel 2:1, 4-7, 8
1 Hannah then prayed as follows: My heart exults in Yahweh, in my God is my strength lifted up, my mouth derides my foes, for I rejoice in your deliverance.4 The bow of the mighty has been broken but those who were tottering are now braced with strength.
5 The full fed are hiring themselves out for bread but the hungry need labour no more; the barren woman bears sevenfold but the mother of many is left desolate.
6 Yahweh gives death and life, brings down to Sheol and draws up;
7 Yahweh makes poor and rich, he humbles and also exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust, he lifts the needy from the dunghill to give them a place with princes, to assign them a seat of honour; for to Yahweh belong the pillars of the earth, on these he has poised the
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Today's Epistle - First Samuel 1:24-28
24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, as well as a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and took him into the temple of Yahweh at Shiloh; the child was very young.25 They sacrificed the bull and led the child to Eli.
26 She said, 'If you please, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood beside you here, praying to Yahweh.
27 This is the child for which I was praying, and Yahweh has granted me what I asked of him.
28 Now I make him over to Yahweh for the whole of his life. He is made over to Yahweh.' They then worshipped Yahweh there.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Luke 1: 46-56
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| The Visitiation |
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; because he has looked upon the humiliation of his servant.
Yes, from now onwards all generations will call me blessed,
for the Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name,
and his faithful love extends age after age to those who fear him.
He has used the power of his arm, he has routed the arrogant of heart.
He has pulled down princes from their thrones and raised high the lowly.
He has filled the starving with good things, sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his faithful love
- according to the promise he made to our ancestors -
of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.
Mary stayed with her some three months and then went home.
Reflection
• The canticle of Mary was one of the canticles of the community of the first Christians. It reveals the level of awareness or consciousness and the firmness of the faith which animated her interiorly. Sung in the community, this canticle of Mary teaches us to pray and to sing.
• Luke 1, 46-50: Mary begins by proclaiming the change which is taking place in her life under the loving look of God, full of mercy. Because of this, she sings joyfully: “I rejoice in God, my Saviour”.
• Luke 1, 51-53: Afterwards she sings the fidelity of God toward his people and proclaims the change which the arm of the Lord was realizing in behalf of the poor and the hungry. The expression “arm of God” reminds us of the liberation of the Exodus. This is the force of salvation and of liberation of Yahweh which bring about the changes: he has routed the arrogant of heart (Lk 1, 51), he has pulled down princes from their thrones and raised high the lowly (Lk 1, 52), he has filled the starving with good things, sent the rich away empty (Lk 1, 53).
• Luke 1, 54-55: At the end Mary recalls that all this is the expression of God’s mercy toward his people and expression of his fidelity to the promises made to Abraham. The Good News seen not as a reward because of the observance of the Law, but rather as an expression of the goodness and of the fidelity of God to his promises. This is what Paul taught the Galatians and the Romans.
Personal questions
• The canticles are the thermometer of the life of the community. They reveal the degree of consciousness and of commitment. Examine the canticles of your community.
• Analyze the social conscience which comes from Mary’s canticle. In the 20th century after Christ, this canticle was censured by the military of Latin America because it was considered subversive.
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: Feria
Feast Day: December 22
Patron Saint:
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Today's Snippet I:
| Book 2, Chapter 3 The Mystical City of God, The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God OF THE VIRTUE OF FAITH AND HOW MOST HOLY MARY PRACTICED IT.
On account of this beauty and harmony regarding the habits of
virtue, the soul of the most holy Mary was so enlightened, ennobled and entirely
bent on the highest Good and last End of all creation; so alert, prompt,
efficient and joyful in the practice of virtue, that, if it were possible for
our weak insight to penetrate into the interior of her sacred soul, we would
there find a more wonderful beauty than that of all creatures combined and
inferior only to that of God himself. All the perfection of creatures were in
purest Mary as if in their own sphere and center, and all virtues reached in Her
the highest perfection, so that in no manner could it ever be said of Her this
or that is wanting in order to make Her altogether beautiful and perfect.
Besides the infused virtues, She possessed all the acquired ones, which She
augmented by practice and exercise. In other souls, one single act cannot be
called virtue, because many repeated acts are necessary to constitute virtue;
but in the most holy Mary each act was so efficacious, intense and consummate,
that each one was superior to the virtues of all the other creatures.
Accordingly, as her acts of virtue were so frequent and did not fall short in
the least point of the highest degree of perfection, how incomparably excellent
were not the habits of virtue, which the heavenly Mistress attained by her
personal exertion? The end for which something is done is that which makes an
act virtuous as being well done. In Mary, our Mistress, this end was God
himself, highest possible end of all activity; for She did nothing through which
She was not certain to advance the greater glory and pleasure of the Lord and
She looked upon this as the motive and ultimate end of all her actions.
The infused virtues are divided into two classes. To the
first belong only those, that have God himself for their immediate object;
therefore they are called theological virtues, being faith, hope, and charity.
To the second class belong all those other virtues, which have as their
proximate object some means or some honorable good, which advances the soul
toward its last end, namely God. These are called the moral virtues, because
they are intimately connected with established customs, and, although they are
many in number, they can be reduced to four, which are called the cardinal
virtues: prudence justice, fortitude and temperance. Of all these virtues and
their different species I will say farther on as much as I can in order that I
may make clear, how all of them and each one in particular adorned the faculties
of the most holy Mary. At present I only mention in general, that none of them
was wanting in Her and that she possessed all in the most perfect manner;
moreover they were supplemented by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the fruits of
the Spirit, and the Beatitudes. God did not fail to infuse into Her from the
first moment of her Conception, all of the graces and gifts conducive to the
highest beauty of the human soul and faculties; and this was true of the will as
well as of the understanding, so that She had as well the knowledge as the habit
of the sciences. In order to say it all in one word all the good, which the Most
High could give Her as the Mother of his Son and as a mere creature, He
conferred upon Her in the most exalted degree. In addition to all this her
virtues continually augmented: the infused virtues, because She added to them by
her own merits, and the acquired virtues, because She nurtured and multiplied
them by the intensity of her meritorious acts.
In few words the holy Elizabeth described the greatness of
the faith of most holy Mary, when, as reported to us by the evangelist Luke, She
exclaimed: "Blessed art thou for having believed, because the words and
promises of the Lord shall be fulfilled in Thee" (Luke 1, 45). The faith of
this great Lady must be estimated from the greatness of her good fortune and
beatitude, and from her ineffable dignity.
The faith of the most holy Mary was an image of the whole
creation and an open prodigy of the divine power, for in Her the virtue of faith
existed in the highest and the most perfect degree possible; in a certain manner
and to a great extent, it made up for the want of faith in men. The Most High
has given this excellent virtue to mortals so that, in spite of the carnal and
mortal nature, they might have the knowledge of the Divinity and of his
mysteries and admirable works: a knowledge so certain and infallibly secure,
that it is like seeing Him face to face, and like the vision of the blessed
angels in heaven. The same object and the same truth, which they see openly, we
perceive obscured under the veil of faith.
One glance at the world will make us understand, how many
nations, reigns and provinces, since the beginning of the world, have lost their
claims to this great blessing of the faith, so little understood by the
thankless mortals: how many have unhappily flung it aside, after the Lord had
conferred it on them in his generous mercy, and how many of the faithful, having
without their merit received the gift of faith, neglect and despise it, letting
it lie idle and unproductive for the last end to which it is to direct
and guide them. It was befitting therefore, that the divine equity should have
some recompense for such lamentable loss, and that such an incomparable benefit
should find an adequate and proportionate return, as far as is possible from
creatures; it was befitting that there should be found at least one Creature, in
whom the virtue of faith should come to its fullest perfection, as an example
and rule for the rest.
All this was found in the great faith of the most holy Mary
and on account of Her and for Her alone, if there had been no other creature in
the world, it would have been most proper, that God should contrive and create
the excellent virtue of faith; for according to our way of understanding, Mary
by Herself was a sufficient pledge to the divine Providence, that He would find
a proper return on the part of man, and that the object of this faith would not
be frustrated by the want of correspondence among mortals. The faith of this
sovereign Queen was to make recompense for their default and She was to copy the
divine prototype of this virtue in its highest perfection. All the other
faithful can measure and gauge themselves by the faith of this Mistress; for
they will be more or less faithful, the more or less they approach the
perfection of her incomparable faith. Therefore She was set as Teacher and
example of all the believing, including the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles and
Martyrs and all that have believed or will believe in the Christian doctrines to
the end of the world.
The intelligent love, with which She explicitly believed all
the divine truths, cannot be expressed in words, without misrepresenting its
intensity. The most holy Mary knew all that She believed and believed all that
She knew; for the infused theological knowledge of the credibility of faith's
mysteries, and the understanding of this credibility, existed in the wisest
Virgin Mother in the highest degree possible in a mere creature. Her knowledge
was kept in a constant actuality, and by means of her memory, like that of an
angel, She never forgot, that which once She had learnt. This gift and faculty
of the understanding She kept in constant operation in order to exercise her
deep faith; only at times, as already said, God suspended faith by other acts of
the mind. Except that She was not yet a comprehensor, nothing was wanting in
regard to her intelligence of the matters of faith and in regard to the clear
knowledge of the Divinity. In this regard She held a position far above that of
all the wayfarers and She by Herself constituted a class of such high degrees,
as cannot be attained by any other wayfarer to heaven.
And if the most holy Mary, while She exercised the acts of
faith and hope was in what might be called her most ordinary and therefore the
lowest degree of activity, and if in that state She excelled all the angels and
saints in merits by her faith and love, what must we say of the excellence of
her acts, her merits and her affections, during the time in which She was
exalted by the divine power to the blessed state of highest intuitive vision and
clear knowledge of the Divinity? If this is beyond the comprehension of the
angelic mind, how can an earthly creature ever hope to find words to describe
it? I therefore can only express the mere wish, that all mortals might come to a
knowledge of the precious value of faith, by leaving it from this heavenly
Original, in whom faith attained its ultimate perfection and where it completely
fulfilled the end for which it was created. Let the infidels, the heretics, the
pagans and idolaters approach this Mistress of faith, most holy Mary, in order
to be enlightened in their falsehoods and darksome errors and in Order to find
the sure way toward the last end of their being. Let also Catholics approach and
learn to understand the copious rewards of this virtue; let them ask the Lord
with the Apostles to, increase their faith (Luke 7, 5). Not that they ever can
reach the faith of most holy Mary, but let them ask for the desire to imitate
Her and follow Her, for by her faith She teaches us, and by her merits She helps
us to obtain this virtue.
Saint Paul calls the patriarch Abraham the father of all the
faithful (Rom. 6, 11), because he first received the promise, hoping against
hope (Rom. 4, 18); He wishes to extol the excellence of the Patriarch's faith
because he believed the promise of the Lord, that Sarah, his wife, would bear
him a son though she was sterile, and, according to the laws of nature,
incapable of conception; moreover, in offering his son as a sacrifice at God's
command, he relinquished at the same time the prospect of the countless
offspring, which the Lord had promised to him. This all, and many other sayings
and promises of the Lord were made impossible of fulfillment according to the
laws of nature, yet Abraham believed, that the divine power could execute them
in a supernatural manner. Therefore he merited to be called the Father of all
the believers and to receive the seal of his faith which justified him, namely
circumcision.
But our supereminent Lady, Mary, possesses much greater
rights and titles to be called the Mother of faith and of all the faithful. In
her hand is hoisted the standard and ensign of faith for all the believers in
the law of grace. First indeed, according to the order of time, was the
Patriarch and consequently he was ordained to be the father and head of the
Hebrew people: great was his belief in the promises concerning Christ our Lord
and in the works of the Most High. Nevertheless incomparably more admirable was
the faith of Mary in all these regards and She excels him in dignity. Greater
difficulty and incongruity was there that a virgin should Conceive and bring
forth, than that an aged and sterile woman should bear fruit; and the patriarch
Abraham was not so certain of the sacrifice of Isaac, as Mary was of the
inevitable sacrifice of her most holy Son. She is the One, who perfectly
believed and hoped in all the mysteries, and She shows to the whole Church, how
it must believe in the Most High and in the works of his Redemption. Having thus
understood the faith of Mary our Queen, we must admit Her to be the Mother of
the faithful and the prototype of the Catholic faith and of holy hope. And in
order to conclude this chapter, I will add, that Christ, our Redeemer and
Teacher, as He was a comprehensor and as his most holy soul enjoyed the highest
glory and the beatific vision, had no necessity or occasion for faith, nor could
He in his own actions give us an example of this virtue. But what the Lord could
not do in his own Person, He did in the person of his most holy Mother,
constituting Her as the Foundress, the Mother and the example of faith in his
evangelical Church. And thus on the day of universal accounting this
sovereign Mistress and Queen shall in an especial manner assist her most holy
Son in the judgment of those, who, in spite of such an example, have not
believed during their stay on earth.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The
Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)
My daughter, the inestimable treasure of the virtue of divine
faith is hidden to those mortals who have only carnal and earthly eyes; for they
do not know how to appreciate and esteem a gift and blessing of such
incomparable value. Consider, my dearest, what the world was without faith and
what it would be today if my Son and Lord would not preserve faith. How many men
whom the world has celebrated as great, powerful and wise have precipitated
themselves, on account of the want of light of faith, from the darkness of their
unbelief into most abominable sins, and thence into the eternal darkness of
hell! How many kingdoms and provinces, being blind themselves, follow these
still more blind leaders until they together fall into the abyss of eternal
pains! And they are followed by the bad Christians, who having received the
grace and blessing of faith, live as if they had it not in their hearts.
Do not forget, my dear friend, to be thankful for this
precious jewel which the Lord has given thee as a dower and a wedding gift of
thy espousal with Him, in order to draw thee to the bridal chamber of his holy
Church and afterwards in loving companionship with Him in the eternal beatitude.
Continually exercise this virtue of faith, for it places thee near to thy last
end, after which thou strivest, and brings thee near to the object of thy
desires and thy love. Faith teaches the sure way of eternal salvation, faith is
the light that shines in the darkness of this mortal life and pilgrimage; it
leads men securely to the possession of the fatherland to which they are
wayfaring, if they do not allow it to die out by infidelity and sinfulness.
Faith enlivens the other virtues and serves as a nourishment of the just man and
a support in his labors. Faith confounds and fills with fear the infidels and
the lax Christians in their negligence; for it convinces them in this world of
their sin and threatens punishment in the life to come. Faith is powerful to do
all things, for nothing is impossible to the believer; faith makes all things
attainable and possible. Faith illumines and ennobles the understanding of man,
since it directs him in the darkness of his natural ignorance, not to stray from
the way, and it elevates him above himself so that he sees and understands with
infallible certainty what is far above his powers and assures him of it no less
than if he saw it clearly before him. He is thus freed from the gross and vile
narrow-mindedness of those who will believe only what they can experience by
their own limited natural powers, not considering that the soul, as long as it
lives in the prison of this corruptible body, is very much circumscribed and
limited in its sphere of action by the knowledge drawn from the coarse activity
of the senses. Appreciate, therefore, my daughter, this priceless treasure of
the Catholic faith given thee by God, watch over it and practice it in great
esteem and reverence.
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Today's Snippet II:
| Book 2, Chapter 4 The Mystical City of God, The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God OF THE VIRTUE OF HOPE, AND HOW THE VIRGIN OUR LADY EXERCISED IT.
The virtue of hope naturally follows upon that of faith,
since it is ordained as its complement. For if the Most High instills in us the
divine light of faith, and if He wishes us, without regard to differences of
position and of age, to come into the infallible knowledge of the Godhead and of
his mysteries and promises, it is for no other reason than that each one of us,
knowing Him as our last end and object, and learning of the means of arriving at
it, may engender within himself the vehement desire to reach that goal. This
desire, which naturally carries with it the inclination to attain this highest
Good, is called hope and is infused into our will or natural appetite in
Baptism. For it belongs to the proper activity of the will to strive after
eternal felicity as its greatest good and blessing, to make use of divine grace
for obtaining it and for overcoming the difficulties which will occur in its
pursuit.
How excellent the virtue of hope is, may be learned from the
fact that its ultimate object is God himself, our highest Good. Although it
perceives and seeks Him as something that is absent, yet at the same time it
seeks Him also as something that is attainable through the merits of Christ and
through the proper activity of the one that hopes for it. The acts and
operations of this virtue are regulated by the light of divine faith and by the
prudent reliance on the infallible promise of the Lord. Thus hope, by means of
the reasoning powers, maintains the middle road between despair and presumption,
not permitting man to presume on his own powers for the attainment of eternal
glory or to set aside meritorious activity on his own part, nor allowing fear or
despondency to hinder Him from exerting himself toward it on account of the
Lord's promises and assurances of final success. In this security, guaranteed by
divine faith in all that pertains to these things and applied in prudent and
sound reasoning, man hopes without fear of being deceived and yet also without
presumption.
From this it can be seen that despair may arise both from a
want of believing what faith promises and also from a failure to apply to one's
own self the security of the divine promises, in which one believes, but which
one falsely supposes unattainable in one's own regard. Between these two
dangerous extremes hope directs us in the safe way, maintaining us in the
confident belief on the one hand that God will not deny to our-selves what He
has promised to all, and on the other, that the promise was not made
unconditionally and absolutely, but requires our exertion and effort to merit
its fulfillment as far as it is possible with the help of divine grace. For if
God has made man capable of the vision of eternal glory, it was not just that
any one should attain to such felicity by sinful abuse of the very faculties
with which he is to enjoy it; but that he use them in such a way as to befit the
end for which he received them. This proper use of the faculties consists in the
exercise of the virtues, which prepare man for the enjoyment of his highest
good, and in seeking it already in this life by the knowledge and love of God.
Now, in most holy Mary this virtue of hope reached the
highest degree possible both in regard to itself and in regard to all its
effects, circumstances and qualities; for the desire and the striving after the
last end, which is the vision and the fruition of God, was in Her more active
than in all other creatures; moreover this most faithful and prudent Lady did
nothing to impede these aspirations, but followed them up with all the
perfection possible in a creature. Not only did She possess the infused virtue
of faith in the promises of our Lord and its concomitant intensity of hope; but
over and above all this She enjoyed beatific vision, in which She learnt to know
by experience the infinite truth and fidelity of the Most High. And although She
did not have occasion to make use of hope, while enjoying the vision and
possession of the Divinity; nevertheless, after again resuming Her ordinary
state, She was impelled by the memory of what She had enjoyed, to hope and
strive after it with so much the greater force and avidity. Thus the longings of
the Queen of all virtues constituted a certain kind of new and particular kind
of hope.
There was another reason why the hope of the most holy Mary
excelled the hope of all the other faithful joined together: namely the
greatness of the prospective reward and glory due to this sovereign Queen, for
reward is after all the real object of hope and in Her it was to be far above
all the glory of the angels and saints; that is, proportionate to the knowledge
of this glory assured to Her in God was also her expectation and desire to
acquire it. Moreover in order that She might attain the highest summit of this
virtue, and that She might worthily hope for all that the powerful arm of God
would work in Her, She was befittingly furnished with the light of a supreme
faith and all the helps and gifts pertaining thereto, and with an especial
assistance of the Holy Ghost. What we have said of the virtue of hope in the
blessed Virgin in regard to its principal object must also be affirmed in regard
to its secondary objects, for the gifts and mysterious blessings enjoyed by this
Queen of Heaven were so great that they could not be amplified even by the arm
of the Almighty God in a mere creature. Now as the great Lady was to receive
these favors through the medium of faith and hope, these virtues were
proportionately great, and therefore the greatest that could possibly fall to
the lot of a handiwork of God.
Moreover if, as has already been said of the virtue of faith,
the Queen of heaven was endowed with an explicit knowledge and faith of all the
revealed truths and of all the mysteries and operations of the Most High, and if
the acts of hope corresponded to these acts of faith, who, except the Lord
himself could ever comprehend how many and how excellent were the acts of hope,
which the Mistress of virtues elicited, since She was aware of her own eternal
glory and felicity and of that, which was to be wrought in the rest of the
evangelical Church by the merits of her most holy Son? For the sole sake of
Mary, as we have before said of her faith, God would have created this virtue,
and for her sake He would have conferred it, as He really did, on the whole
human race.
On this account the holy Spirit calls Her the Mother of
beautiful love and holy hope (Eccli. 25, 24); for just as She became the Mother
of Christ because She furnished Him with the flesh of his body, so the holy
Spirit made Her the Mother of hope, because by her especial concurrence and
cooperation She conceived and brought forth this virtue for the faithful of the
Church. Her prerogative of being the Mother of holy hope was connected with and
consequent upon Her being the Mother of Jesus Christ our Lord, for She knew that
in her Son She would lay the foundation of all the security of our hope. On
account of these conceptions and births of the most holy Queen, She obtained a
certain dominion and sovereignty over those graces and the promises of the Most
High, which depended upon the death of Christ, her Son, for their fulfillment.
When She of her own free will gave conception and birth to the incarnate Word
She turned them all over to us and thereby gave birth to our hope. Thus was
accomplished in its legitimate sense that which the Holy Ghost said to Her:
"Thy plants are a paradise" (Cant. 4, 13); for all that came forth
from Mary, the Mother of grace, was to constitute our happiness, our paradise,
and our certain hope of being able to attain them.
The Church has a celestial and true father in Jesus Christ,
for He engendered and founded it by his merits and labors, and enriched it with
his graces, his example and his doctrines, as was to be expected from the Father
and Author of such an admirable work Therefore it was befitting that the Church
should have also a loving and kind Mother, who with sweet regalement and
caresses, and with maternal solicitude and assistance, should nurse the little
children at her breast (I. Cor. 3, 12), nourish them with tender and delicious
food as long as they cannot in their infancy bear the food of the robust and
strong. This sweet Mother was most holy Mary, who since the beginning of the
Church, when the law of grace was born in her yet tender children, began to give
forth the sweet milk of her enlightened teaching as a merciful Mother; and who
will continue to the end of the world thus to assist and intercede for
the new children, which Christ our Lord engenders every day by his merits and at
the petitions of this Mother of mercy. She it is for whom they are born, who
raises and nourishes them. She is our sweet Mother, our life and our hope, the
original of the blessings, which are ours, She is the example which we are to
imitate, She is our assurance in the pursuit of the eternal happiness, merited
by her most holy Son, She furnishes the assistance necessary for its final
attainment.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The Virgin
Mary speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)
Thou, my dearest, having received such great enlightenment
concerning the excellence of this virtue and the works which I practiced by its
help, shouldst work without ceasing to imitate me according to the assistance of
divine grace. Renew continually and confer within thyself the promises of the
Most High and, with unshaken confidence in their divine truthfulness, raise thy
heart to ardent desires and longings for their attainment. In this firm hope
thou canst assure thyself of arriving through the merits of my most holy Son, at
the blessed cohabitation in the celestial fatherland and at the companionship of
all those who there see in immortal glory the face of the Most High. With its
help thou canst raise thy heart above earthly things and fix thy
mind upon the immutable Good, to which thou aspirest; all visible things will
appear to thee burdensome and disagreeable, and thou wilt esteem them as vile
and contemptible; nothing wilt thou strive after except that most lovable and
delightful object of thy desires. In my soul there was an ardor of hope, such as
is possible only to those who have apprehended its object in faith and tasted it
by experience; no tongue and no words can describe or express its intensity.
Besides, in order to spur thee on still more, consider and
deplore with heartfelt sorrow the unhappiness of so many souls who are images of
God and capable of his glory, and who through their own fault are deprived of
the true hope of enjoying it. If the children of the holy Church would pause in
their vain occupations and would take time to consider and weigh the blessings
of unerring faith and hope, which separates them from darkness and which,
without their merit, distinguishes them from the followers of blind unbelief,
they would without doubt be ashamed of their torpid forgetfulness and repudiate
their vile ingratitude. But let them be undeceived, for most terrible
punishments await them; they are most detestable in the sight of God and the
saints, because they despise the blood shed by Christ for the very purpose of
gaining them these blessings. As if all were only a fiction they treat with
contempt the blessings of truth, hastening about during their whole life without
spending even one day, and many of them not even an hour, in the consideration
of their duties and of their danger. Weep, O
soul, over this lamentable evil, and according to thy power work and
pray for its extirpation through my most holy Son. Believe me that whatever
exertion and attempt thou makest toward this purpose shall be rewarded by his
Majesty.
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Today's Snippet III:
| Book 2, Chapter 5 The Mystical City of God, The Divine History and Life of The Virgin Mother of God OF THE VIRTUE OF CHARITY IN THE MOST HOLY MARY, OUR LADY.
The most excellent virtue of charity is the mistress, the
queen, the mother, the life and beauty of all the other virtues; charity
governs, moves and directs them to their ultimate and true end, charity leads
them on to their ultimate perfection, preserves them and makes them grow,
enlightens them and beautifies them, gives them life and efficacy. If the other
virtues confer each their measure of perfection on creatures, charity gives them
perfection itself and brings them to their full complement. Without charity all
is of small value, obscure, languid, lifeless and unprofitable, not being
endowed either with the essence or the appurtenances of true vitality. Charity
is kind, patient, meek, without emulation, without envy, without offensiveness,
desires not to acquire, but readily distributes all, is the cause of all good
and consents not to evil; as far as it is concerned (I Cor. 13, 4) it is the
fullest participation in the true and ultimate Good. 0 Virtue of virtues and
greatest treasure of heaven! Thou alone hast the key of paradise! Thou art the
dawn of eternal light, the sun of eternity's day, the fire which purifies, the
wine which inebriates with new delights, the nectar which rejoices, the
sweetness which satiates without surceasing, the chamber of rest for the soul, a
bond so intimate that it makes us one with God (John 17, 21), with the same bond
that unites the eternal Father to the Son, and Both to the holy Spirit.
On account of the nobility of this most excellent of all
virtues, our God and Lord, according to the Gospel of St. John, wished to honor
Himself or wished to honor it, by calling Himself Charity (I John 4, 15). There
are many reasons why the Catholic Church attributes the divine perfections of
omnipotence to the Father; of wisdom to the Son, and of love to the Holy Ghost.
For the Father is the beginning, the Son is engendered of the Father through the
divine intelligence, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from Both through the will. But
the name of Charity and the perfection which it implies is attributed to the
Lord himself without distinction of Persons, since the Evangelist says
indiscriminately: "God is charity." This virtue in the Lord has the
distinction of being the terminus or end of all his operations ad intra and
ad extra. For on the one hand all the divine processions (which are the
operations of the Godhead with Himself or ad intra), terminate in the
reciprocal union and love of the three divine Persons, and thus they constitute
an indissoluble bond of unity over and above the indivisibility of the divine
Essence, proper to it as being one and the same God. On the other hand the works
ad extra, namely the creatures, are an off-spring of divine charity and
are ordained towards it, so that, issuing from that immense sea of divine
bounty, they also return by charity and love to the source from whence they
sprang. It is peculiar to the virtue of charity in opposition to all the other
virtues and gifts, that it is a perfect participation of a divine virtue; it is
born of one source, is directed back to the same, and is more adapted to that
eternal source than all other virtues. If we call God our hope, our patience, or
our wisdom, it is because we receive them from his hand, and not because these
perfections are in God as they exist in ourselves. But we call God our charity,
not only because we receive it from the Lord, and because He communicates it to
us, but because He himself is essential charity, and the overflow of this divine
perfection, which we represent to ourselves as a form and attribute of his
Divinity, redounds in our souls, transforming it more perfectly and abundantly
than any other virtue.
This is in part the nature of Charity in its divine original,
God. Outside of God himself, however, we will find it in the fullest perfection
possible to a mere creature in none other than most holy Mary, and in Her we
find the model after which we are more immediately to copy our own charity. It
is evident that the light proceeding from the uncreated Sun of charity, where it
is contained without limit or circumscription, communicates itself to all
creatures even the most remote according to an order and measurement adjusted in
proportion to the proximity or distance of each from the divine source. And this
order manifests the fullness and perfection of the divine Providence; for
without it, this Providence would show a certain defect, confusedness and
discord in the creatures as far as the participation of his goodness and love is
concerned. The first place after God himself, in the distribution of divine
Charity, was due to that Soul and that Person, who was at the same time
uncreated God and created man; for the highest grace and participation of love
naturally was to be found where existed the closest and most intimate union with
God, as it existed and as it will exist forever in Christ our Lord.
The second place is due to his most holy Mother Mary, in whom
charity and divine love found its resting place in an especial manner. For,
according to our way of apprehending, the uncreated Charity could not be quieted
until It should find a creature to which It could communicate Itself in such
great plenitude, that the love and affection of the whole human race should in
its entirety be reproduced in that Creature alone. It was intended that this
chosen Creature should in Herself be endowed with the gifts of charity, without
the shortcomings and defects common to the rest of mortals infected with sin, so
that She by Herself would be able to supply the balance of creation and make for
it the greatest possible return of love. Mary alone was chosen among all
creatures to imitate the Sun of justice in charity (I Cant. 4, 9), and
faithfully to copy this virtue from its Original. She by Herself knew how to
love more ardently and perfectly than all the rest of creatures combined, to
love God entirely for his own sake, purely, intensely and without defect, and
also loving creatures for God's sake and in a manner similar to Him. She alone
adequately followed the impulse of charity and her generous inclination of
loving the highest Good as highest Good, without any side intentions; and of
loving the creatures on account of their participation in God, without the
thought of a return or reward of her love. And in perfect imitation of the
uncreated Charity, Mary by her charity was able and knew how to love in such a
way as to make better that which is loved; for by her love She made better
heaven and earth and all things that exist outside of God.
If the charity of this great Lady were put in the balance
with that of all the men and angels, hers would outweigh theirs by far; for She
by Herself exceeded them all in her knowledge of the essence and qualities of
the divine Charity and consequently only Mary knew how to imitate It with
adequate perfection and above all the powers of intellectual creatures. In this
excess of love and charity She repaid and satisfied the debt of infinite love
due to the Lord from creatures, as far as He could demand a return of them, for
their return was not to he infinite in value, that being impossible. Just as the
love and the charity of the most holy soul of Jesus Christ was in its greatness
proportionate to the hypostatic union, so the love of Mary was great in
proportion to the excellence conferred upon Her by the eternal Father, when He
appointed Her as the one, who as Mother was to conceive and bear his Son for the
salvation of the world.
Thence we understand that all the gifts and the blessings of
creatures depend in some manner on the love and charity of the blessed Virgin
toward God. In Her alone it was possible that divine Charity could exist in this
world in its highest and ultimate perfection. She paid the whole debt of charity
at a time when all men were unable to pay or even to understand the greatness of
their debt. She, by her most perfect charity, obliged the eternal Father to
sacrifice his most holy Son for Herself and in Redemption of the whole world;
for if Mary had loved less and if her charity had been defective, the proper
preparation for his Incarnation would have been wanting. But as soon as any
creature was found, which resembled God so closely as She, it was, so to say,
but a natural consequence that He should descend to Her as He did.
All this is the meaning of the words of the Holy Ghost when
He calls Mary the mother of beautiful love (Eccli. 24, 24), as has already been
explained correspondingly in regard to hope. These words to Mary signify: Mary
is the Mother of Him, who is our sweetest love, Jesus, our Lord and Redeemer,
who became the most beautiful among men by a divine, infinite and uncreated
beauty, and by a human nature which was to be without guilt or blemish and to
which no beauty of grace that could be communicated by the Divinity, was wanting
(I Pet. 2, 22). She is also the Mother of beautiful love, for She alone
engendered in her soul the perfect love and charity and the most beautiful
affection. All the rest of the creatures combined could not attain the beauty
and faultlessness of her Charity for theirs was not worthy to be called
absolutely beautiful. She is the Mother of our love; for She drew it toward the
earth for us; She cultivated it for us; She taught us to know and practice it;
there is no other creature in heaven or on earth that could be such a teacher of
this beautiful love for men or angels. Therefore all the saints are but rays of
this Sun. and streamlets flowing from this ocean; so much the better will they
know how to love, the more they participate in this love and charity of most
holy Mary, and in as far as they succeed in imitating and copying it more
exactly.
The sources of this charity and love of our princess Mary
were her profound knowledge and wisdom, derived as well from her infused faith
and hope, as also from the gifts of science, intellect and wisdom given to Her
by the Holy Ghost; but the greatest of all the sources of her love were the
intuitive and abstractive visions of the Divinity. Through all these mediums She
reached the highest knowledge of the uncreated Charity drank of it at its very
fountain, and as She thus learned, how God was to be loved for his own sake and
the creature for the sake of God, also how to practice and execute this love
with the most intense and fervent desire. Moreover, as the power of God found no
impediment or hindrance, no inadvertence, ignorance or imperfection, nor any
tardiness of the will in this Queen, it could operate in Her according to his
pleasure. This was not possible in other creatures, since in none of them it
found the same disposition as in most holy Mary.
In Her was the fulfillment of that great natural and divine
precept: "Thou shalt love thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole
soul, and with thy whole strength." Mary alone satisfied this obligation
and debt for all men, which in this life and before seeing God they neither knew
nor could ever fulfill entirely. This Lady fulfilled it more perfectly during
her pilgrimage than the saints even in the state of beatitude. Moreover She also
satisfied the intentions of God in regard to this precept, namely that it remain
not unfruitful and as it were frustrated on the part of wayfaring men; for most
holy Mary by Herself sanctified and fulfilled it entirely for all of them,
supplying by her charity all that was wanting in the fulfillment of this precept
among men. And probably if God had not foreknown that Mary our Queen would be
among the number of the mortals, He would not have given this command in this
form. But on Her account He was pleased to give it; to Her we owe not only this
command of perfect charity, but also the adequate fulfillment of it among men.
0 most sweet and most beautiful Mother of beautiful love and
charity! Let all the nations know Thee, let all generations bless Thee, and let
all the creatures magnify and praise Thee! Thou alone art the perfect One, the
beloved One, the chosen Mother of uncreated Charity. It formed Thee and selected
Thee to shine like the sun in thy most beautiful and most perfect love (Cant. 6,
9)! Let all us miserable children of Eve approach this sun in order to be
enlightened and inflamed. Let us approach this Mother in order to be born again
in love. Let us approach this Teacher in order to be taught the love, affection
and charity which is without defect. Love is a disposition which is pleased and
satisfied with the thing loved. Affection is a selection and separation of the
beloved from other of the same kind, and charity implied in addition to these, a
high appreciation and esteem for the goodness of the beloved. All this we will
learn from the Mother of true love, who is called by that name precisely because
her love possesses all these qualities. In Her we learn to love God for his own
sake, resting satisfied in Him with all our heart; to give Him a separate place
in all our love from all that is not God, for loving Him, together with other
things, only diminishes our love of God. We learn to appreciate Him and esteem
Him above gold and above all precious things, for in comparison with Him all
precious things are of no value, all beauty is ugliness, and all that is great
and estimable in carnal eyes, becomes contemptible and valueless. Of the effects
of this love of the most holy Mary, this whole history treats and of them heaven
and earth are full. Therefore I will not stay to describe more particularly what
no human tongue, nor words of men or angels can convey.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The
Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.)
My daughter, if I desire in maternal affection, that thou
follow me and imitate me in all the other virtues, then more especially do I
make known and declare to thee my desire to see thee follow me in the virtue of
charity, for this is the end and the crowning glory of all other virtues. I
desire that thou exert thy utmost powers to copy in thy soul, with the greatest
perfection, all that thou hast learnt of my charity. Light up the lamp of thy
faith and reason in order to find this drachm of infinite value, and after thou
hast (Luke 15, 8) found it, forget and despise all that is earthly and
corruptible. In thy own mind consider again and again, ponder and take heed of
the infinite reasons and causes that make God lovable above all other things. In
order that thou mayest be sure that thou lovest Him perfectly and truly, search
within thyself for the following signs and effects of that love; whether thy
thought and meditation dwell continually on God, whether his commands and
counsel find in thee no repugnance or remissness, whether thou fearest to offend
Him, whether thou seekest immediately to appease Him after having offended Him,
whether thou grievest to see Him offended and rejoicest to see Him served by all
creatures, whether thou desirest and art delighted to speak continually of his
love; see whether thou delightest in the memory of his presence, whether thou
grievest at thy forgetfulness of Him and at his absence from thee, whether thou
lovest what He loves, and abhorrest what He abhors, whether thou seekest to draw
all men towards his friendship and grace, whether thou prayest with confidence;
see whether thou receivest with gratitude his benefits, whether thou dost not
waste them but rather turnst them to good account for his honor and glory,
whether thou strivest to extinguish in thyself all the movements of the
passions, which retard thee or hinder thee in thy loving aspirations and in thy
works of virtue.
The right order of this virtue is to love God above all the
creatures, then to love oneself, and him who is nearest to oneself, namely, our
neighbor. God must be loved with the whole understanding, without deceit, with
the whole will, without reserve or division, with the whole mind, without
forgetfulness, without diminution, without negligence or remissness. The motive
of charity in loving God is none else than God Himself; for He must be loved for
his own sake, being the highest Good and most perfect goodness and holiness.
Loving God for such motives causes the creature to love itself and the
neighbor and itself; for both belong to one and the same God, from whom they
derive their origin, their life and activity. He that loves God truly for
Himself will also love all that is of God and all that in some way participates
in his goodness. Therefore charity looks upon the neighbor as a work and a
participation of God and makes no distinction between friend or enemy. Charity
looks only upon that which is of God and which pertains to Him in others, no
matter whether the neighbor is friendly or hostile, a benefactor or a
persecutor. It attends only to the difference in the participation of the divine
and infinite goodness and according to this standard it loves all in God and for
God.
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