The Glories of MaryOf the virtues of the most holy Mary

St. Augustine says, that in order to obtain more certainly and abundantly the favor of the saints, it is necessary to imitate them, for when they see us practising the virtues which they practised, then they are more moved to pray for us. The queen of saints, and our first advocate, Mary, after she has rescued a soul from the grasp of Lucifer, and has united her to God, wishes her to begin to imitate her example, otherwise she will not be able to enrich her, as she would wish, with her graces, seeing her so opposed to her in conduct. Therefore Mary calls those blessed who diligently imitate her life: “Now, therefore, children, hear me; blessed are they that keep my ways.”[1541] He who loves, is like, or seeks to make himself like, the person beloved, according to the celebrated proverb: Love either finds or makes like: “Amor aut pares invenit aut facit.” Hence St. Jerome tells us, that if we love Mary, we must seek to imitate her, for this is the greatest honor we can pay her.[1542] Richard says, those are and may call themselves true children of Mary, who strive to imitate her life: “Filii Mariæ imitatores ejus.” Let the child then endeavor, concludes St. Bernard, to imitate the mother, if he desires her favor; for when Mary sees that he honors her as a mother, she will treat and favor him as a child.

Although there is little recorded in the Gospels of the virtues of Mary in particular, yet, when they tell us that she was full of grace, it is given us to understand that she had all the virtues, and all in the heroic degree. So much so, that, as St. Thomas says, whereas the other saints have excelled, each in some one particular virtue, the blessed Virgin has excelled in all, and in all the virtues has been given us for an example.[1543] And St. Ambrose also says: Such was Mary, that her life alone is the example for all.[1544] And he afterwards adds: Let the virginity and life of Mary be to you as an image, in which the form of virtue shines forth. From thence obtain the model of your life ... what you should correct, what avoid, what retain.[1545] And because, as the holy Fathers teach, humility is the foundation of all the virtues, let us in the first place consider how great was the humility of the mother of God.

Humility, says St. Bernard, is the foundation and guardian of the virtues;[1546] and with reason, for without humility a soul can possess no other virtue. Let her possess all the virtues, they will all depart when humility departs. On the other hand, said St. Francis of Sales, in a letter to St. Jane de Chantal, God so loves humility that he instantly hastens to the soul in which he sees it.[1547] This virtue, so lovely and so necessary, was unknown in the world; but the Son of God himself came on earth to teach it by his example, and he desired that in this we should especially strive to imitate him: “Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart.”[1548] And Mary, as she was the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus Christ in all the virtues, was so in that of humility, by which she merited to be exalted above all creatures. It was revealed to St. Matilda that the first virtue which the blessed mother especially practised from childhood, was humility.[1549]

The first act of humility of heart is to have an humble opinion of ourselves; and Mary always thought so lowly of herself, as was revealed to the same St. Matilda, that although she saw so many more graces bestowed upon her than upon others, she preferred all others before herself.[1550] Rupert the Abbot, explaining that passage, “Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse ... with one hair of thy neck,”[1551] says, that this hair of the neck of the spouse was precisely that humble opinion which Mary had of herself, with which she wounded the heart of God.[1552] Not that the holy Virgin esteemed herself a sinner, for humility is truth, as St. Theresa says, and Mary knew that she had never offended God; nor that she did not confess having received greater graces from God than any other creature, for an humble heart always acknowledges the special favors of the Lord, that it may humble itself the more; but the divine mother, by the greater light she had to see the infinite greatness and goodness of her God, saw still more her own littleness, and therefore more than all others did she humiliate herself, and say with the spouse of the Canticles: “Do not consider that I am brown because the sun hath altered my color.”[1553] Approaching him, I find myself black, as St. Bernard explains it: “Appropinquans illi me nigram invenio.”[1554] Yes, adds St. Bernardine, for the Virgin had always present before her eyes the divine majesty and her own nothingness.[1555] As a beggar, when she is clothed with a costly garment which has been given her, is not made proud by it, but humbles herself more before the giver, because she is reminded then more of her poverty; thus, Mary, the more she saw herself enriched, the more humble she became, remembering that all was the gift of God; whence she herself said to St. Elizabeth, a Benedictine nun: “Know for certain that I esteemed myself most abject, and unworthy of the grace of God.”[1556] And therefore, says St. Bernardine, no creature in the world has been more exalted, because no creature has ever humbled herself more than Mary.[1557]

Moreover, it is an act of humility to conceal the gifts of heaven. Mary wished to conceal from St. Joseph the grace of having been made the mother of God, although it seemed necessary to make it known to him, in order, at least, to remove from the mind of her poor spouse the suspicions he might have of her virtue, when he saw her pregnant; or at least his perplexity, for in fact St. Joseph, on the one side, unwilling to doubt the chastity of Mary, and, on the other, ignorant of the mystery, in order to free himself from perplexity, was minded to put her away privately: “Voluit occulte dimittere eam.”[1558] And if the angel had not revealed to him that his spouse was pregnant by the operation of the Holy Spirit, he would really have left her. Moreover, an humble soul also refuses praise, and gives it all to God. Behold, Mary is disturbed at hearing herself praised by St. Gabriel. And when St. Elizabeth said to her, “Blessed art thou among women ... and whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me.... Blessed art thou that hast believed, &c.,”[1559] Mary, referring all these praises to God, answered with that humble Canticle: My soul doth magnify the Lord: “Magnificat anima mea Dominum,” as if she had said: You praise me, oh Elizabeth, but I praise the Lord, to whom alone honor is due; you wonder that I come to you, and I wonder at the divine goodness in which alone my spirit exults. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour: “Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.” You praise me because I have believed; I praise my God, because he has wished to exalt my nothingness; because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: “Quia respexit humilitatem ancillæ suæ.” Hence Mary said to St. Bridget: “Why did I humble myself so far, or why have I merited so much grace, unless because I thought and knew that of and from myself I was nothing, and had nothing? therefore I would have no praise for myself, but only for the Giver and Creator.”[1560] Wherefore, speaking of the humility of Mary, St. Augustine says: Oh truly blessed humility, which has brought forth God to men, opened paradise, and liberated souls from hell![1561]

It is also a part of humility to serve others; and Mary did not refuse to go and serve Elizabeth for three months. Wherefore St. Bernard has said: Elizabeth wondered that Mary should come to visit her, but she should wonder still more that she did not come to be ministered unto, but to minister.[1562] The humble retire and choose the lowest place; and therefore, as St. Bernard remarks, Mary, when her Son was preaching in a certain house, as St. Matthew relates,[1563] wished to speak with him, but would not enter the house unbidden.[1564] Therefore, when she was in the “upper room” with the apostles, she wished to take the lowest place, as St. Luke has related: “All these were persevering with one mind in prayer, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus.”[1565] Not that St. Luke did not know the merit of the divine mother, on account of which he should have given her the first place; but because she had taken the lowest, after the apostles and the other women, therefore St. Luke described all, as a certain author remarks, just in the order of their places. Hence St. Bernard says: Justly has the last become first, who, when she was first of all, became last.[1566] Finally, the humble love contempt; therefore we do not find that Mary appeared in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when her Son was received with so much honor by the people; but, on the other hand, at the time of the death of her Son, she did not shrink from appearing in public on Calvary, through fear of the disgrace of being known as the mother of one who was condemned as a criminal to die by an infamous death. Therefore she said to St. Bridget: “What more contemptible than to be called a fool, to be in want of all things, to believe one’s self the most unworthy of all? Such, oh daughter, was my humility, this was my joy, this my entire will, with which I thought of nothing but to please my Son.”[1567]

The venerable sister Paula of Foligno was given to understand in an ecstasy how great was the humility of the holy Virgin. In relating what she had seen to her confessor, she said, scarcely able to utter the words through astonishment: “Oh the humility of the blessed Virgin! Oh father! oh the humility of our blessed Lady! In the world there is no humility, not even the lowest degree of humility, to be compared with the humility of Mary.” And our Lord, at another time, showed St. Bridget two females, one all pomp and vanity: “This one,” he said, “is Pride; but the other whom you see with her head bent down, respectful to all, having God alone in her mind, and having no esteem for herself, is Humility, and is called Mary.”[1568] By this God wished to make known to us that his blessed mother was so humble that she was humility itself.

It is not to be doubted, as St. Gregory of Nyssa says, that for our nature, corrupted by sin, there is perhaps no virtue more difficult to practise than humility. But there is no escape; we can never be true children of Mary if we are not humble. If, says St. Bernard, you cannot imitate the virginity, imitate the humility of the humble Virgin.[1569] She abhors the proud, she invites none to come to her but the humble: Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me: “Si quis est parvulus, veniat ad me.” Mary, says Richard, protects us under the mantle of humility: “Maria protegit nos sub pallio humilitatis.” The mother of God herself explained this to St. Bridget, saying: “Come, then, oh my daughter, and hide thyself under my mantle; this mantle is my humility.”[1570] And she then added, that the contemplation of her humility was a good mantle, that keeps us warm; but, as she afterwards said: “The mantle only warms him who wears it, not only in thought but in fact; thus my humility does not profit unless every one strives to imitate it. Therefore, my daughter,” she concludes, “clothe thyself with this humility.”[1571] Oh, how dear to Mary is the humble soul! St. Bernard writes: The Virgin recognizes and loves those who love her, and she is near to all who invoke her, especially to those whom she sees like herself in chastity and humility.[1572] Wherefore the saint then exhorts all those who love Mary, to be humble: Emulate this virtue if you love Mary.[1573] Marino, or Martino d’Alberto, of the Society of Jesus, through love of the Virgin, was accustomed to sweep the house and collect the filth. The divine mother once appeared to him, as Father Nierembergh relates in his Life, and as if thanking him, said: “How dear to me is this humble action done for love of me!” Then, oh my queen, I shall never be a true child of thine, if I am not humble. But do you not see that my sins, after having rendered me ungrateful to my Lord, have also made me proud? Oh, my mother, cure me; by thy merits obtain for me that I may be humble, and thus become a child of thine. Amen.

St. Anselm says, that where there is the greatest purity, there is the greatest charity: “Ubi major puritas, ibi major charitas.” The purer and more emptied of self is a heart, the more it will be filled with charity towards God. Most holy Mary, because she was all humility, and entirely emptied of self, was entirely filled with the divine love, so that she surpassed all men and all angels in love to God, as St. Bernardine teaches.[1574] Therefore St. Francis of Sales has justly called her: The queen of love. The Lord indeed has given to men the precept to love him with their whole heart: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart;”[1575] but, as St. Thomas declares, this precept will never be perfectly fulfilled by men on this earth, but in heaven.[1576] And here the blessed Albertus Magnus remarks, that in a certain sense, it would be unbecoming for God to give a commandment which none could perfectly fulfil, if the divine mother had not perfectly fulfilled it. These are the words of Albertus: Either some one fulfils this precept or no one; if any one, it is the most blessed Virgin.[1577] And this is confirmed by Richard of St. Victor, who says: The mother of our Emmanuel was perfect in all virtues. Who has ever fulfilled as she did that first commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart?” In her the divine love was so ardent, that there could be no defect of any kind in her.[1578] Divine love, says St. Bernard, so penetrated and pervaded the soul of Mary, that no part was left untouched by it, so that she loved with her whole heart, her whole soul, and her whole strength, and was full of grace.[1579] Wherefore Mary might well have said: My beloved has given himself wholly to me, and I have given myself wholly to him: My beloved to me, and I to him: “Dilectus meus mihi, et ego illi.”[1580] Ah, says Richard, well might even the seraphim descend from heaven to learn from the heart of the Virgin how to love God.[1581]

God, who is love: “Deus charitas est,”[1582] came on earth to kindle in all men the flame of his holy love; but he inflamed no heart so much as the heart of his mother, who, being entirely pure from every earthly affection, was perfectly ready to be enkindled by this blessed flame. Thus St. Jerome teaches.[1583] Hence the heart of Mary became all fire and flames, as we read of her in the sacred Canticles: The lamps thereof are fire and flames: “Lampades ejus, lampades ignis, atque flammarum.”[1584] Fire burning within, through love, as St. Anselm explains,[1585] and flames shining forth upon all, by the practice of virtue. Mary, therefore, when she bore Jesus in her arms, might indeed have called herself: Fire carrying fire: “Ignis gestans ignem,” more properly than a certain woman who was carrying fire in her hand was so called by Hippocrates. Yes, for St. Ildephonsus said: As fire heats iron, the Holy Spirit so wholly inflamed Mary that nothing was seen in her but the flame of the Holy Ghost, nothing was felt but the fire of the love of God.[1586] St. Thomas of Villanova says that the bush which Moses saw entirely in flames without being consumed, was really a symbol of the heart of the Virgin. Wherefore with reason, as St. Bernard says, was she seen by St. John clothed with the sun: And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun: “Et signum apparuit in cœlo, mulier amicta sole.”[1587] For, says the saint, she was so united to God by love that it seems as if no creature could be more united to him. Mary, then, is justly described as clothed with the sun, for she has penetrated to an incredible depth the abyss of divine wisdom, so that, as far as it is permitted to a creature not personally united with God, she appears immersed in that inaccessible light.[1588]

Therefore St. Bonaventure asserts, that the holy Virgin was never tempted by the spirits of hell: For as flies, he says, are driven away by a great fire, so from the heart of Mary, which was one flame of love, the devils fled, and did not even dare to approach her.[1589] And Richard also says: The Virgin was terrible to the princes of darkness, so that they did not presume to approach and tempt her, for the flame of charity deterred them.[1590] Mary herself revealed to St. Bridget, that in this world she had no other thought, no other desire, no other joy, than God: I thought of nothing but God; nothing pleased me but God: “Nihil nisi Deum cogitabam, nulla mihi nisi Deus placuerunt.” So that her blessed soul being, as it were, on this earth in a continual contemplation of God, the acts of love she made were innumerable; as Father Suarez has declared: The acts of perfect love which the blessed Virgin made in this life were innumerable, for she passed almost her whole life in contemplation, and was very frequently repeating an act of love.[1591] But Bernard de Bustis pleases me more when he says, that Mary did not so much repeat the acts of love in order, as other saints do, but, by a singular privilege, always actually loved God with one continued act.[1592] Like the royal eagle she kept her eye always fixed upon the divine Sun, so that, as St. Peter Damian says, neither did the actions of life prevent her from loving, nor love prevent her from acting.[1593] Thus, says St. Germanus, Mary was prefigured by the altar of propitiation, on which the fire was never extinguished by day or by night.

Neither did sleep interrupt the love of Mary for her God. For if such a privilege was given to our first parents in the state of innocence, as St. Augustine asserts, saying: Their dreams when sleeping were as happy as their life when waking: “Tam felicia erant somnia dormientium, quam vita vigilantium,”[1594] it certainly could not be denied to the divine mother, as Suarez and Rupert the Abbot believe, with St. Bernardine and St. Ambrose, who has written concerning Mary: While her body rested, her soul watched: “Cum quiesceret corpus, vigilaret animus.”[1595] Thus were verified in her the words of the wise man: Her lamp shall not be put out in the night: “Non extinguetur in nocte lucerna ejus.”[1596] Yes, for while her blessed body, with a light sleep, took its needed rest, her soul, says St. Bernardine, freely rose to God, so at that time her contemplation was more perfect than is that of any other person when awake.[1597] Therefore could she well say with the spouse in the Canticles: I sleep and my heart watcheth: “Ego dormio et cor meum vigilat.”[1598] Happy in sleep as in waking: “Tam felix dormiendo, quam vigilando,” as Suarez says. In a word, St. Bernardine asserts, that Mary, while she lived on earth, was continually loving God: “Mens Virginis in ardore dilectionis continue tenebatur.”[1599] And he adds further, that she never did any thing that she did not know was pleasing to God; and that she loved him as much as she knew he ought to be loved.[1600] Hence, according to blessed Albertus Magnus, it may be said that Mary was filled with so great charity that a greater was not possible in any pure creature on this earth.[1601] For this reason St. Thomas of Villanova has said, that the Virgin, by her ardent charity, was made so beautiful and so enamored her God, that captivated as it were, by love of her, he descended into her womb to become man.[1602] Wherefore St. Bernardine exclaims: Behold a Virgin who by her virtue has wounded and taken captive the heart of God.[1603]

But since Mary loves her God so much, she certainly requires from her servants nothing else so much as that they should love God as much as they can. And precisely this she said to the blessed Angela de Foligno one day after communion: “Angela, may you be blessed by my Son; seek to love him as much as you can.” And the blessed Virgin herself said to St. Bridget: Daughter, if you wish to bind me to you, love my Son: “Si vis me tecum devincire, ama filium meum.” Mary desires nothing more than to see her beloved, who is God, loved by all. Novarino asks why the holy Virgin, with the spouse of the Canticles, begged the angels to make known to her Lord the great love she bore him, saying: “I adjure you, oh daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love.”[1604] Did not God know how much she loved him? Why does she desire to show the wound to her beloved who gave the wound? “Cur vulnus ostendi quærit dilecto qui vulnus fecit?” The same author answers, that the divine mother did not wish by this to make known her love to God, but to us; that, as she was wounded, she might be able to wound us also with divine love: “Ut vulnerata vulneret.”[1605] And because she was wholly inflamed with the love of God, she inflames all those who love and approach her, and renders them like herself.[1606] For this reason St. Catharine of Sienna called Mary: The bearer of the flame of divine love: “Portatrix ignis.” If we also wish to burn with this blessed flame, let us always endeavor to draw near to our mother with prayers and affections.

Oh queen of love, Mary, the most lovely, the most beloved, and the most loving of all creatures, as St. Francis of Sales said to thee: Ah, my mother, thou wert always wholly inflamed with love to God; ah, deign to bestow on me at least one spark of it. Thou didst pray thy Son for that family whose wine had failed: They have no wine: “Vinum non habent,” and wilt thou not pray for us, who are wanting in love to God, whom we are under such obligations to love? Say to Jesus: They have no love: “Amorem non habent.” Do thou obtain for us this love. We ask of thee no other favor than this. Oh mother, by the great love thou hast for Jesus, graciously hear us and pray for us. Amen.

Love to God and our neighbor is commanded by the same precept: “And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God, love also his neighbor.”[1607] And St. Thomas gives it as a reason for this, that he who loves God, loves all things which God loves. St. Catherine of Genoa one day said to God: “Oh Lord, it is thy will that I love my neighbor, and I can love none but thee.” God answered her in these words: “He who loves me, loves all things loved by me.” But as there never has been and never will be one who loves God more than Mary; so there never has been and never will be one who loves his neighbor more than Mary. Cornelius à Lapide, remarking on these words: “King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus ... the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem,”[1608] says, that this litter was the womb of Mary, in which the incarnate Word dwelt, filling the mother with charity, that she might succor all who had recourse to her.[1609] Mary was so full of charity when she was on earth, that she assisted unasked, those who were in need, just as she did at the marriage of Cana, when she told her Son of the trouble of the family: They have no wine: “Vinum non habent,”[1610] and begged him to give them wine by a miracle. Oh! how she hastened to the relief of her neighbor, when she went to the house of Elizabeth on an errand of charity: She went into the hill country in haste: “Abiit in montana cum festinatione.”[1611] She could in no way show greater charity than by offering her Son for our salvation; so that St. Bonaventure says: Mary so loved the world as to give her only-begotten Son.[1612] Therefore St. Anselm addresses her in these words: Oh, blessed among women, who dost excel the angels in purity, and the saints in pity![1613] Neither does the charity of Mary for us fail, says St. Bonaventure, now she is in heaven; but is much increased there. Because now she sees more clearly the miseries of men.[1614] Hence the saint said: Great was the mercy of Mary towards the wretched when she was still an exile on earth; but it is far greater now that she is reigning in heaven.[1615] And the angel said to St. Bridget, that there is no one who prays that does not receive graces through the charity of the Virgin.[1616] Miserable should we be were Mary not to pray for us. Jesus Christ himself also said to the same saint: “If the prayers of my mother did not interpose, there would be no hope of mercy.”[1617]

Blessed is he, says the divine mother, who hears my teachings and considers my charity, in order to practise it towards others in imitation of me: “Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.”[1618] St. Gregory Nazianzen says, that there is nothing by which we may more surely gain the love of Mary, than by the practice of charity towards our neighbor.[1619] Hence, as God commands us, saying, “Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful;”[1620] so Mary appears to say to all her children: Be ye merciful, as your mother also is merciful.[1621] It is certain that God and Mary will show mercy to us, according to the charity we practise towards our neighbor. “Give, and it shall be given to you.” “For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.”[1622] St. Methodius said: Give to the poor and receive paradise: “Da pauperi et accipe Paradisum:” for, according to the apostle, charity towards our neighbor renders us happy in this life and the next: “But piety is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”[1623] St. John Chrysostom, remarking on the words of Proverbs, “He that hath mercy on the poor, lendeth to the Lord,”[1624] says, that he who assists the needy, makes God his debtor.[1625] Oh mother of mercy, thou art full of charity for all. Do not forget my miseries. Thou dost even now see them. Recommend me to that God who denies thee nothing. Obtain for me the grace of being able to imitate thee in holy charity towards God and towards my neighbor. Amen.

As the blessed Virgin is the mother of love and of hope, thus, also, is she the mother of faith. “I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and knowledge, and of holy hope.”[1626] And justly, says St. Iræneus, since Mary repaired by her faith that loss which Eve caused by her incredulity.[1627] Eve, Tertullian also says, because she chose to believe the serpent rather than the Word of God, brought death into the world; but our queen, believing the words of the angel, that she, remaining a virgin, was to become the mother of the Lord, brought salvation to the world.[1628] For St. Augustine says that Mary, giving her consent to the incarnation of the Word, by means of her faith opened paradise to men.[1629] Also Richard, commenting on the words of St. Paul, “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife,”[1630] says: This is the believing woman by whose faith the unbelieving Adam and all his posterity are saved.[1631] Hence, on account of her faith, Elizabeth pronounced the Virgin blessed: Blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished in thee that were spoken by the Lord.[1632] And St. Augustine added: Mary is more blessed by receiving the faith of Christ than by conceiving the flesh of Christ.[1633]

Father Suarez says that the holy Virgin had more faith than all men and all the angels. She saw her Son in the stable of Bethlehem, and believed him the Creator of the world. She saw him flying from Herod, and yet believed that he was the King of kings. She saw him born, and believed him to be eternal. She saw him poor and in need of food, and believed him to be Lord of the universe; laid on straw, and she believed him omnipotent. She observed that he did not speak, and she believed him to be the infinite Wisdom. She heard him weeping, and she believed him to be the joy of paradise. Finally, she saw him in death, despised and crucified, but although the faith of others might have wavered, Mary remained firm in the belief that he was God. St. Antoninus says, remarking on the words: There stood by the cross of Jesus his mother: “Stabat juxta crucem Jesu mater ejus,” Mary stood supported by her faith, which she retained firm in the divinity of Christ.[1634] And it is for this reason, says the saint, that in the office of Tenebræ, only one candle is left lighted. St. Leo, when treating of this subject, applies to the Virgin this passage of Proverbs: “Her lamp shall not be put out in the night.”[1635] On the words of Isaias, “I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the Gentiles, there is not a man with me,”[1636] St. Thomas remarks: He says a man, on account of the Virgin, in whom faith never failed.[1637] Whence the blessed Albertus Magnus says, that Mary practised then a most perfect faith. She had faith in a most excellent degree; who, even when the disciples were doubting, did not doubt. Mary, therefore, by her great faith merited to become the light of all the faithful, as St. Methodius calls her: “Fidelium fax.” And by St. Cyril of Alexandria: The queen of the true faith: “Sceptrum orthodoxæ fidei.” And the holy Church herself attributes to the Virgin, by the merit of her faith, the destruction of all heresies: “Rejoice, oh Virgin Mary, for thou alone hast destroyed all heresies throughout the world.”[1638] St. Thomas of Villanova also says, explaining the words of the Holy Spirit, “Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse ... with one of thy eyes,”[1639] that the eyes signify faith, by which the Virgin gave the greatest pleasure to the Son of God.[1640]

St. Ildephonsus exhorts us to imitate the faith of Mary: “Imitamini signaculum fidei Mariæ.” But how are we to imitate this faith of Mary? Faith is at the same time a gift and a virtue. It is a gift of God, in so far as it is a light which God infuses into the soul, and it is also a virtue in so far as it is exercised by the soul. Hence faith is given us not only to serve as a rule of belief, but also of action. Therefore St. Gregory says: He truly believes who, by his works, practises what he believes.[1641] And St. Augustine: Thou sayest, “I believe,” do what you say, and it is faith.[1642] And this is to have a lively faith, namely, to live according to our belief. “My just man liveth by faith.”[1643] It was thus the blessed Virgin lived, very differently from those who do not live according to what they believe, whose faith is dead, as St. James says: Faith without good works is dead: “Fide sine operibus mortua est.”[1644] Diogenes went about seeking a man upon earth: “Hominem quæro;” but God seems seeking a Christian among the many faithful: “Christianum quæro.” For very few are they who have the works, the greater part have only the name; but to these should be said what Alexander said to that cowardly soldier who was also named Alexander: Change either your name or your conduct: “Aut nomen, aut mores muta.” But, as Father Avila used to say: It would be better if these miserable creatures were put in confinement as madmen, believing as they do, that a happy eternity is prepared for him who lives well, and an unhappy eternity for him who lives ill, and yet living as if they did not believe this. St. Augustine therefore exhorts us to see things with Christian eyes, that is, to see according to faith: “Oculos Christianorum habete.” For St. Theresa was accustomed to say, that all sins arise from a want of faith. Let us therefore implore the holy Virgin, that by the merit of her faith she may obtain for us a lively faith. Oh Lady, increase our faith: Domina adauge nobis fidem.

From faith springs hope, for God enlightens us by faith with a knowledge of his goodness and his promises, that we may rise by hope to the desire of possessing him. Mary, then, having the virtue of an extraordinary faith, had also the virtue of an extraordinary hope, which made her say with David: “But it is good for me to adhere to my God, and to put my hope in the Lord God.”[1645] Mary was, indeed, that faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit, of whom it was said: “Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning on her beloved?”[1646] For she was always perfectly detached from affection to the world, which to her appeared a desert; and placing no confidence either in creatures or her own merits, but relying entirely on divine grace, in which alone she trusted, she always advanced in the divine love; and thus Ailgrin said of her: She ascended from the desert, that is, from the world, which she deserted and esteemed such a desert, that she turned away from it all her affection. Leaning upon her beloved; for she trusted not in her own merits, but in the grace of him who bestows grace.[1647]

And the holy Virgin plainly showed how great was her confidence in God: first, when she saw the trouble of her holy spouse, Joseph, because he knew not the mode of her miraculous pregnancy, and thought of leaving her: But Joseph ... minded to put her away privately: “Joseph autem ... voluit occulte dimittere eam.”[1648] It appeared then necessary, as we have already said, that she should discover to Joseph the hidden mystery; but no, she would not herself reveal the grace she had received; she thought it better to abandon herself to divine providence, trusting that God himself would protect her innocence and her reputation. Cornelius à Lapide makes precisely the same remark, commenting upon these very words of the Gospel: The blessed Virgin was unwilling to make known this secret to Joseph, lest she should seem to boast of her gifts, but resigned herself in perfect confidence to the care of God, trusting that he would protect her innocence and reputation.[1649] Moreover, she showed her confidence in God when, as the time for the birth of Christ approached, she saw herself in Bethlehem shut out from the lodgings even of the poor, and obliged to bring forth her Son in a stable: “And she laid him in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn.”[1650] She did not then utter a single word of complaint, but abandoning herself to God, trusted that he would assist her in her need. The divine mother also showed how much she trusted in the divine providence, when warned by Joseph that they were obliged to fly into Egypt, she set out the same night on so long a journey to a foreign and unknown country, without preparation, without money, without other company than that of her infant Jesus and her poor spouse: “Who arose and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt.”[1651] But much more did Mary make known her confidence, when she asked from her Son the favor of the miracle of wine at the marriage of Cana; for having said: They have no wine: “Vinum non habent;” Jesus answered her: “Woman, what is it to thee and to me? my hour has not yet come.”[1652] But after this answer, by which it seemed clearly that he refused her request, she, trusting in the divine goodness, directed the people of the house to do as the Son should order, because the grace was secure; Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye: “Quodcumque dixerit vobis facite.” And Jesus Christ did, indeed, order that the vessels should be filled with water, and then changed it into wine.

Let us learn then from Mary to trust in God as we ought, but principally as to what concerns our eternal salvation, in which, although our co-operation is necessary, yet we ought to hope from God alone the grace necessary for obtaining it, entirely distrusting our own strength, and saying with the apostle: I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me: “Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat.”[1653]

Ah, my most holy Lady, of thee Ecclesiasticus says, that thou art the mother of holy hope: “Mater sanctæ spei.”[1654] The holy Church says of thee that thou art hope itself: Hail, our hope: “Spes nostra salve.” What other hope then am I seeking? Thou, after Christ, art all my hope; thus St. Bernard called thee, thus I also wish to call thee: The whole reason of my hope: “Tota ratio spes meæ;” and I will always say to thee with St. Bonaventure: Oh salvation of those who invoke thee, save me: “O salus te invocantium salva me.”

Since the fall of Adam the flesh being rebellious against reason, the virtue of chastity is the most difficult for men to practise. Of all combats, says St. Augustine, those of chastity are the most severe, for the battle is daily and the victory rare.[1655] But eternal praise to the Lord who has given us in Mary a great example of this virtue. With justice, says blessed Albertus Magnus, is Mary called the Virgin of virgins, for she being the first who offered her virginity to God, without the counsel or example of others, has brought to him all virgins who imitate her.[1656] As David had already predicted: After her virgins shall be brought to the temple of the king: “Adducentur virgines post eam in templum regis.”[1657] Without counsel or example; yes, for St. Bernard exclaims: Oh Virgin, who has taught thee to please God by virginity, and on earth to lead the life of an angel?[1658] Ah! answers Sophronius, it is for this God has chosen this most pure Virgin for his mother, that she may be an example of chastity to all.[1659] Hence St. Ambrose has called Mary the standard-bearer of chastity: “Quæ signum Virginitatis extulit.”

By reason of this her purity the blessed Virgin was also called by the Holy Spirit: Beautiful as the turtle-dove: Thy cheeks are beautiful as the turtle-dove’s: “Pulchræ sunt genæ tuæ sicut turturis.”[1660] Mary, says St. Aponius, is a most chaste turtle: “Turtur pudicissima Maria.” And therefore she has also been called a lily: As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters: “Sicut lilium inter spinas, sic amica mea inter filias.”[1661] St. Denis the Carthusian, commenting on this passage, says, that she has been called a lily among thorns because all other virgins were thorns either to themselves or others; but the blessed Virgin has never been one to herself or others.[1662] For by her presence alone she infused into all, thoughts and affections of purity: “Intuentium corda ad castitatem invitabat.”[1663] And this is confirmed by St. Thomas, who says that the beauty of the blessed Virgin encouraged chastity in all who beheld her: “Pulchritudo B. Virginis intuentes ad castitatem excitabat.”[1664] St. Jerome declares himself of the opinion that St. Joseph preserved his virginity by the society of Mary, for the saint thus writes against the heretic Helvidius, who denied the virginity of Mary: Thou sayest that Mary did not remain a virgin; I take it upon myself to maintain more than that, even that Joseph himself preserved his virginity through Mary.[1665] A certain author says that the blessed Virgin so loved this virtue, that to preserve it, she would have been ready to renounce even the dignity of mother of God. This we may learn from her own answer to the archangel: “How shall this be done, because I know not man?”[1666] and from the words she afterwards added: Be it done to me according to thy word: “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum;” signifying by this that she gave her consent on the condition of which the angel had assured her, namely, that she should become a mother by means of the Holy Spirit alone.

St. Ambrose says: He who has preserved chastity is an angel, he who has lost it is a devil.[1667] According to the words of our Lord: “They shall be as the angels of God in heaven.”[1668] But the unchaste become odious to God as the devils. And St. Remigius said that the greater number of adults are lost through this vice. The victory over this vice is rare, as has been said in the words of St. Augustine at the beginning of this section; but why is it rare? Because the means for conquering it are not put in use. The means are three according to Bellarmine, and the masters of the spiritual life: Fasting, avoiding dangerous occasions, and prayer: “Jejuniun, periculorum evitatio, et oratio.” By fasting is meant mortification, particularly of the eyes and of the appetite. The most holy Mary, although she was full of divine grace, was so mortified with her eyes that she kept them always cast down, as St. Epiphanius and St. John Damascene inform us, and never fixed them on any one; they say that from her childhood she was so modest that she was the wonder of all. And hence St. Luke remarks, that in going to visit St. Elizabeth: She went with haste: “Abiit cum festinatione,” that she might not be long seen in public. Philibert relates with regard to her food, that it was revealed to a hermit named Felix, that the infant Mary took milk only once a day. And St. Gregory of Tours asserts that, during her whole life, she fasted always: “Nullo tempore Maria non jejunavit;” and St. Bonaventure adds, that Mary would never have found so much grace unless she had been temperate in food, for grace and gluttony cannot subsist together.[1669] In a word, Mary practised mortification in every thing, so that of her it was said: My hands dropped with myrrh: “Manus meæ stillaverunt myrrham.”[1670]

The second means is to fly the occasions of sin. He that is aware of the snares shall be secure: “Qui autem cavet laqueos, securus erit.”[1671] Hence St. Philip Neri said, that in this warfare cowards conquer; that is, those who avoid dangerous occasions. Mary shunned as much as possible the sight of men; and therefore St. Luke says that in her visit to St. Elizabeth, she went with haste into the hill country: “Abiit in montana cum festinatione.” And a certain author remarks that the Virgin left Elizabeth before the birth of the Baptist, as we learn from the Gospel itself, in which it is said that “Mary abode with her about three months; and she returned to her own house. Now Elizabeth’s full time of being delivered was come, and she brought forth a son.”[1672] And why did she not wait till his birth? In order to avoid the conversation and visits which would follow that event. The third means is prayer. “And as I knew,” said the wise man, “that I could not otherwise be continent except God gave it.... I went to the Lord and besought him.”[1673] And the blessed Virgin revealed to St. Elisabeth, a Benedictine nun, that she had not acquired any virtue without effort and continual prayer.[1674] St. John Damascene says that Mary is pure and a lover of purity: “Pura est et puritatem amans,” and therefore she cannot endure the impure. But whoever has recourse to her will certainly be delivered from this vice by only pronouncing her name with confidence. And the venerable John of Avila says that many temptations against chastity have been overcome solely by devotion to the immaculate Virgin. Oh Mary, oh most pure dove, how many are in hell through the vice of impurity! Oh Lady, obtain for us that always in our temptations we may have recourse to thee, and invoke thee, saying: Mary, Mary, help us. Amen.

Our loving Redeemer chose to be poor on this earth in order to teach us to despise the goods of this world: “Being rich,” says St. Paul, “he became poor for your sake, that through his poverty you might be rich.”[1675] For this reason Jesus Christ says to each one who wishes to be his disciple: “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give it to the poor, and come follow me.”[1676] Behold his most perfect disciple Mary, who indeed imitated his example. Father Canisius proves that the holy Virgin could have lived in comfort on the inheritance left her by her parents, but she was content to remain poor, reserving to herself a small portion, and giving the rest in alms to the temple and to the poor. Many are of opinion that Mary also made a vow of poverty,[1677] and it is known that she herself said to St. Bridget: “From the beginning I vowed in my heart never to possess any thing in the world.”[1678] The gifts received from the holy Magi were certainly not of small value, but St. Bernard attests that she distributed them all to the poor.[1679] And we learn that the divine mother immediately gave to others the presents above mentioned, from the fact that when she went to the temple she did not offer the lamb, which was the oblation made by those who were able, as we read in Leviticus: “For a son she shall bring a lamb,”[1680] ... but she offered two turtle-doves and two young pigeons, the oblation of the poor: “And to offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.”[1681] Mary herself said to St. Bridget: “All that I had I gave to the poor, and kept nothing for myself but poor food and clothing.”[1682]

Through love of poverty she did not disdain to marry a poor carpenter, like St. Joseph, and afterwards, as St. Bonaventure relates, to support herself by the work of her hands, as sewing or spinning. An angel revealed to St. Bridget concerning Mary, that worldly riches were in her eyes vile as dirt: “Mundanæ divitæ velut lutum sibi vilescebat.” In a word, she always lived in poverty, and she died in poverty; for as Metaphrastes and Nicephorus relate, she left nothing behind her at her death but two poor garments to two women, who had assisted her during life.[1683]

He who loves riches, said St. Philip Neri, will never become a saint; and St. Theresa also said: It justly follows that he who goes in search of things lost is also lost. On the other hand, the same saint said, that this virtue of poverty is a good that comprises all other goods. I have said the virtue of poverty which, according to St. Bernard, does not consist alone in being poor, but in loving poverty: “Non paupertas, sed amor paupertatis virtus est.” Therefore Jesus Christ has said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”[1684] Blessed, because they who wish for nothing but God, in God find every good, and find in poverty their paradise on earth, as St. Francis found it in saying: My God and my all: “Deus meus et omnia.” Let us, then, according to the exhortation of St. Augustine, love that only good in which is every good: “Ama unum bonum, in quo sunt omnia bona.” And let us pray our Lord with St. Ignatius: Give me only thy love together with thy grace, and I am rich enough.[1685] And when poverty afflicts us, let us console ourselves by the thought that Jesus and his mother have also been poor like us.[1686]

Ah, my most holy mother, thou hadst in truth reason to say, that in God was thy joy: “And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,”[1687] for in this world thou didst not desire nor love any other good than God. Draw me after thee: “Trahe me post te.” Oh Lady! detach me from the world, and draw me after thee to love that one who alone merits to be loved. Amen.

It was through the affection which Mary bore to the virtue of obedience, that when the annunciation was made to her by St. Gabriel, she did not wish to call herself by any other name than that of handmaid: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: “Ecce ancilla Domini.” Indeed, says St. Thomas of Villanova, this faithful handmaid neither in act, word, nor thought, ever disobeyed the Lord, but, divested of all self-will, she always, and in all things, lived obedient to the divine will.[1688] She herself declared that God was pleased with her obedience when she said: He regarded the humility of his handmaid: “Respexit humilitatem ancillæ suæ;”[1689] for this is the humility of a servant, to be always prompt to obey. St. Augustine says, that the divine mother remedied by her obedience the evil that Eve had caused by her disobedience.[1690] The obedience of Mary was far more perfect than that of all the other saints, for all men being inclined to evil through original sin, they all feel difficulty in doing right; but not so the blessed Virgin; for as St. Bernardine says: Because she was free from original sin, there was in her no hindrance in obeying God, but she was like a wheel readily moved at every divine breath;[1691] hence her only occupation on this earth, as the same saint expresses it, was to discover and do what was pleasing to God.[1692] Of her it was said: My soul melted when he spoke: “Anima mea liquefacta est, ut dilectus meus locutus est.”[1693] Commenting on this passage, Richard says that the soul of Mary was like metal in a state of fusion, ready to take any form that was pleasing to God.[1694]

Mary proved indeed the readiness of her obedience, in the first place, when, in order to please God, she was willing even to obey the Roman emperor, and made the journey, fifty miles, to Bethlehem, in winter, being pregnant, and so poor that she was obliged to bring forth her Son in a stable. She was also ready at the notice of St. Joseph, to set out immediately on that very night upon the longer and more difficult journey into Egypt. And Silveira asks why the command to fly into Egypt was given to St. Joseph and not to the blessed Virgin, who was to suffer the most from the journey? And he answers: Lest the Virgin should be deprived of an opportunity for performing an act of obedience for which she was most ready.[1695] But above all, she showed her heroic obedience, when, in order to obey the divine will, she offered her Son to death with so much firmness that, as St. Ildephonsus says, she would have been ready to crucify him, if executioners had been wanting.[1696] Hence the venerable Bede, commenting on those words of the Redeemer to that woman in the Gospel who exclaimed: “Blessed is the womb that bore thee:” “Yea, rather, blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it,”[1697] says, that Mary was more happy through obedience to the divine will, than in being the mother of God himself.[1698]

For this reason it is, that those who love obedience are very pleasing to the Virgin. She appeared once to a religious, a Franciscan, named Accorso, in his cell, who being called by obedience to go and hear the confession of a sick person, went out, but when he returned he found Mary waiting for him, and she greatly praised his obedience. As, on the other hand, she greatly blamed another religious, who, when the bell had summoned him to the refectory, delayed in order to finish certain devotions.[1699] The Virgin, speaking to St. Bridget of the security found in obeying a spiritual father, said: Obedience has brought all the saints to glory: “Obedientia omnes introducit ad gloriam.”[1700] St. Philip Neri also says, that God requires no account of things done in obedience, having himself declared: “He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me.”[1701] The mother of God herself revealed to St. Bridget, that through the merit of her obedience she had obtained from the Lord that all penitent sinners who have recourse to her, should be pardoned.[1702] Ah, our queen and mother, pray Jesus for us, obtain for us through the merit of thy obedience that we may be faithful in obeying his will, and the commands of our spiritual fathers. Amen.

Since this earth is a place of merit, it is justly called a valley of tears; for we are all placed here to suffer, and by patience to obtain for our souls eternal life: “In your patience you shall possess your souls,”[1703] said our Lord. God gave us the Virgin Mary as an example of all virtues, but especially as an example of patience. St. Francis of Sales, among other things, remarks, that at the nuptials of Cana Jesus Christ gave an answer to the most holy Virgin, by which he seemed to pay but little regard to her prayers: Woman, what is that to thee and to me? “Quid mihi et tibi est, mulier?” precisely for this reason, that he might give us an example of the patience of his holy mother. But why seek further? The whole life of Mary was a continual exercise of patience, for, as an angel revealed to St. Bridget, the blessed Virgin lived always in the midst of sufferings.[1704] Her compassion alone for the sufferings of the Redeemer was enough to make her a martyr of patience; wherefore St. Bonaventure says: The crucified conceived the crucified: “Crucifixa crucifixum concepit.” When we spoke of her dolors, we considered all she suffered, as well in her journey and life in Egypt, as during the whole time she lived with her Son in the workshop of Nazareth. But the presence of Mary on Calvary, with her dying Jesus, is alone enough to show us how constant and sublime was her patience: There stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother: “Stabat juxta crucem Jesu mater ejus.” Then, by the merit of this her patience, as blessed Albertus Magnus remarks, she became our mother, and brought us forth to the life of grace.[1705]

If we desire then to be the children of Mary, we must seek to imitate her patience. And what, says St. Cyprian, can enrich us more with merit in this life, and glory in the other, than bearing sufferings with patience?[1706] God said by the mouth of the prophet Osee: I will hedge up thy way with thorns: “Sepiam viam tuam spinis.”[1707] St. Gregory remarks on this passage, that the ways of the elect are hedged with thorns: “Electorum viæ spinis sepiuntur.” For as a hedge of thorns protects the vine, so God encompasses his servants with tribulation, in order that they may not become attached to the earth; therefore St. Cyprian concludes, patience delivers us from sin and from hell: “Patientia nos servat.” And it is patience that makes the saints: “Patience hath a perfect work,”[1708] bearing in peace the crosses that come to us directly from God, as sickness, poverty, &c., as well as those that come to us from men, such as persecutions, injuries, &c. St. John saw all the saints with palms, the emblem of martyrdom, in their hands. “After this I saw a great multitude ... and palms were in their hands;”[1709] signifying by this that all men must be martyrs by the sword, or by patience. Be then joyful, exclaims St. Gregory: We can be martyrs without blood, if we preserve patience.[1710] If we suffer the afflictions of this life, as St. Bernard says, patiently and joyfully: “Patienter, et gaudenter,” oh, how much every pain endured for God will obtain for us in heaven! Hence the apostle encourages us in these words: “Our tribulation, which is momentary and light, worketh for us ... an eternal weight of glory.”[1711] Beautiful are the instructions of St. Theresa on this subject: “He who embraces the cross,” she says, “does not feel it.” And again: “When a person resolves to suffer, the pain is over.” And if we feel our crosses heavy, let us have recourse to Mary, who is called by the Church: The comforter of the afflicted: “Consolatrix afflictorum;” and by St. John Damascene: The remedy for all sorrows of the heart: “Omnium dolorum cordium medicamentum.” Ah, my most sweet Lady, thou, though innocent, didst suffer with so much patience, and shall I, who am deserving of hell, refuse to suffer? My mother, to-day I ask of thee the grace not to be exempt from crosses, but to support them with patience. For the love of Jesus I pray thee to obtain for me nothing less than this grace from God; through you I hope for it.

No soul on this earth has ever followed so perfectly as the blessed Virgin that great lesson of our Saviour: We ought always to pray, and not to faint: “Oportet semper orare, et non deficere.”[1712] From no other, says St. Bonaventure, can we better take example, and learn the necessity of persevering in prayer, than from Mary. Mary gave an example, that we ought to follow and not faint.[1713] For the blessed Albertus Magnus asserts, that after Jesus Christ, the divine mother was the most perfect in the virtue of prayer, of all who ever have lived or ever will live: “Virtus orationis in B. Virgine excellentissima fuit.”[1714] First, because her prayer was continual and persevering. From the first moment in which she had life, and with life the perfect use of reason, as we have said above in the Discourse on her Nativity, she began to pray. And, moreover, that she might devote herself more to prayer, she wished, when a child of only three years, to shut herself up in the retirement of the temple; where, as she herself revealed to St. Elizabeth (virgin), among the other hours that she allotted to prayer, she was accustomed to rise at midnight and go to pray before the altar of the temple.[1715] And, in order to meditate on the sufferings of Jesus, according to Odilone, she also frequently visited the places of our Lord’s nativity, passion, and burial.[1716] Moreover, her prayer, as St. Denis the Carthusian has written, was wholly recollected, free from all distractions, and every irregular inclination.[1717]

Therefore the blessed Virgin, through her love of prayer, had so great a love of solitude, that, as she said to St. Bridget, when she lived in the temple she even abstained from intercourse with her holy parents. St. Jerome, meditating on the words of Isaias—“Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel”[1718]—says, that in Hebrew the word virgin properly signifies a retired virgin; so that Mary’s love of solitude was already predicted by the prophet. Richard says that the angel addressed her in the words, The Lord is with thee: “Dominus tecum,” on account of her great love of solitude.[1719] And St. Vincent Ferrer asserts that the divine mother never went from home, except to go to the temple, and then she went entirely recollected, having her eyes always cast down.[1720] When going to visit St. Elizabeth, she went with haste: “Abiit cum festinatione;” and from this St. Ambrose says virgins should learn to shun the public eye. St. Bernard teaches that Mary, through her love of prayer and solitude, was always careful to avoid conversation with men.[1721] Hence she is called by the Holy Spirit the turtle-dove: Thy cheeks are beautiful as the turtle-dove’s: “Pulchræ sunt genæ tuæ sicut turturis.”[1722] Which words Vergellus thus explains: The turtle-dove is a lover of solitude, and is an emblem of the unitive power of the soul.[1723] So the Virgin always lived solitary in this world, as in a desert, and therefore it was said of her: Who is this that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke? “Quæ est ista quæ ascendit per desertum, sicut virgula fumi?”[1724] On which words Rupert the Abbot says: Thus thou didst ascend by the desert, having a solitary soul: “Talis ascendisti per desertum animam habens solitariam.”

Philo said that God speaks to souls only in solitude: “Dei sermo amat deserta.” And God himself declared this by the prophet Osee, when he said: I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart: “Ducam eam in solitudinem, et loquar ad cor ejus.”[1725] And hence St. Jerome exclaims: Oh solitude, in which God familiarly converses with his servants![1726] Yes, says St. Bernard, because the quiet and the silence that is enjoyed in solitude, force the soul to leave the earth in thought, and to meditate on the things of heaven.[1727] Oh, most holy Virgin, obtain for us a love of prayer and solitude, that detaching ourselves from the love of creatures, we may aspire only after God and heaven, where we hope one day to see thee, to praise and love with thee thy Son, Jesus, forever and ever. Amen. “Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits.”[1728] The fruits of Mary are her virtues.

None has appeared like unto thee, in all time before or after thee.[1729]

Thou alone, oh woman without equal, hast been pleasing to Christ.