not; they were words full of mystery and full of meaning; her mingled
feelings of pain and relief, of sorrow and joy, would prevent her from
seeing the gist of their meaning at once; but as time went on, and her
spiritual horizon increased, she would understand more and more what His
"Father's business" was, though perhaps not till she stood at the Foot
of the Cross did she understand the words in all their fulness.
"_Why hast Thou done so?_" It is a question Mary often puts to her other
children--sometimes in surprise and amazement, sometimes in anxiety and
sorrow, sometimes in love and tenderness. Well for us if we can always
answer, like our Elder Brother: The "Father's business." This is an
answer which will always satisfy the flame of love within her which
prompts the question.
_Colloquy_ with Mary, asking for grace that I may be so taken
up with my "Father's business" that I cause her no anxiety.
_Resolution._ To put my "Father's business" first, to-day.
_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Why hast Thou done so to us?"
Nazareth
"_And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was
subject to them. And His Mother kept all these words in her
heart. And JESUS advanced in wisdom and age, and grace with
GOD and men._" (St Luke ii. 52.)
_1st Prelude._ JESUS, Mary, and Joseph going back to
Nazareth.
_2nd Prelude._ Grace to go there too, and to study its
lessons.
_Point I._--MARY WITH JESUS AND JOSEPH
The lesson has been given now; JESUS has shown His parents that He is
the Son of GOD before He is the Son of Mary; that GOD'S will, and GOD'S
business, and GOD'S work, are the reasons for His being on earth. Now,
because He is perfect man, He will live for eighteen years in subjection
to His parents, to show us that subjection is one of GOD'S laws; that
the Father's business can only be done by a perfect submission to His
will and to His orders, expressed and given by those under whom His
providence places us. All the direction needed for the spiritual life is
contained in these two sentences: "_I must be about My Father's
business_," and "_He was subject to them_." The Father's business is to
be done in His way--not in mine; it will only be done by a perfect
submission of my will to His, by subjection all along the line, by the
crushing of self.
His Mother kept all these words in her heart. As she went home she was
pondering and meditating again. She had no need to make a "_Composition
of Place_," as she had to do a few hours ago, for her Boy was at her
side once again; it was upon His words that she was meditating. They had
made her realise that He was a man now, that He would have "business" to
do that she must no longer expect wholly to understand. No doubt she
prepared herself in her meditation to be ready from henceforth to find
that His sweet, childish, obedience was over. Just as we, in our
meditations, make the sacrifice beforehand about something that we
dread, and then when we come up to it during the day, it is not there!
But GOD is pleased, nevertheless, that we made our sacrifice. One of the
many uses of meditation is that we may be fore-armed for the day's
battles. So it was with Mary. When she got back to Nazareth, it is true
that there was a change; it is true that the boyhood of her Son was fast
passing into manhood; but His subjection was the same--only it was far
more touching to His Mother's heart just because He was no longer a
child.
And what was Mary's part? If JESUS was "subject," Mary had to command;
if JESUS obeyed, it was because Mary gave her orders--and this till He
was thirty years old! What an absolute repression of self and of her own
ideas there must have been in Mary before she could bring herself to
give an order to Him Whom she was worshipping as her GOD! With what
reverence, and honour, and humility, and searchings of heart, and
preparation, and care she would give her orders! Only the knowledge that
it was His wish that she should stand in GOD'S place to Him, could have
given her courage. Her authority over Him was GOD'S authority, and it
was only by constantly referring it to GOD that she dared to maintain
it.
What a lesson Mary gives here to parents and superiors and to all whose
duty it is to command others! Whether they have to command the unruly
and the unsubmissive, or those whom they know to be in every way
superior to themselves, a few thoughts suggested by the contemplation of
Mary commanding her Son at Nazareth may help to make easier a position
which must often be irksome and difficult:--
1. GOD has put me into this position because He intends me to
be His delegate.
2. My orders are all given in His Name, and all my authority
refers back to Him.
3. My only sure weapons are--_humility_, that is, a real
belief in my own weakness; and _self-effacement_, to the
extent of letting those who are under me see, not me, but
GOD, in my orders.
4. I must see JESUS in all whom I command. If they are
thankless and unruly, they are nevertheless amongst His
"least brethren," and He wants them trained to live with
their Elder Brother in His Father's house. If they are
already so like Him in their docility and humility that the
very sight of them makes me adore GOD in them, I will
remember that Mary gave her orders to JESUS because GOD
wished it; and that thought will give me courage to be His
faithful representative and to give those under my care every
possible opportunity of advancing in wisdom and grace by the
submission of their will.
5. I must be firmly persuaded that GOD never puts anyone into
a position without giving the grace to fill it. Mary needed
far more grace to command JESUS than ever I shall need!
_Point II._--MARY A WIDOW
Neither sacred nor profane history gives the exact date of that sad day
in Mary's life when death deprived her of her beloved spouse. Joseph had
shared all Mary's sacred joys and sorrows from her school-days. He it
was who had trained her Son in His work as a carpenter; and to him alone
could she speak freely of Him. What a wonderfully happy and blessed
death must have been St Joseph's--the last people he saw, JESUS and
Mary; his last messages given to JESUS and Mary; all he had to leave,
left to JESUS and Mary; the last words he heard, those of JESUS and
Mary! He is the _Patron of a good death_: that is, he will help those
who invoke him, to die with JESUS and Mary.
And now from henceforth Mary will have no one to talk to about her Son,
no one to share her joy in all these new lessons which she is ever
learning from Him. But, on the other hand, from henceforth her Son will
be her _all_. He, who later raised the dead man because "he was the only
son of his mother and she was a widow," knew how to wipe away the tears
from His Mother's eyes. He knew how to be to her more than a husband.
From henceforth the Son and the Mother were all in all to each other--He
her sole support, and she keeping the little home for Him alone. They
were alone for their meals, and alone in the evenings when the day's
work was done. It may have been during those blessed evenings that JESUS
explained to Mary what His "Father's business" was, so that she might
understand all about it; that He unfolded to her the wonderful plan of
Redemption; that He told her about His public life, about the Church
that He was going to found, and which she was to nurse during its
infancy. Perhaps He told her, too, of the extension of the
Incarnation--His great secret, the Blessed Sacrament. Who had a greater
right to know it than Mary, through whose means the Incarnation took
place? And as the time of the Hidden Life drew to a close, He would
explain to her that His "Father's business" was calling Him away from
Nazareth, that He would have to give up His home and His life with her,
but that they would still work together for the Redemption of the world,
their interests would still be one. Oh, blessed converse! The secrets of
JESUS and Mary! More than ever was her heart being enlarged; more than
ever would she have need to ponder these things in her heart. With the
undivided attention of such a Master, what progress she must have made
in virtue and in grace!
_Point III._--MARY ALONE
But the day came at last when her Son was to leave their little home.
Mary knew that it would come; again she had made her sacrifice
beforehand, and she was ready. She was saying her _Fiat_ while Simeon's
ever-active sword was piercing her heart. There was the last meal, the
last kiss, the last blessing--and He was gone. She watched Him till He
was out of sight and then turned to her empty house. It would never be
the same again. Never again would she have Him all to herself. But Mary
was a "valiant woman," and no grief of hers would spoil her Son's work.
Three thoughts supported her in her trial; and the same three will
support us in our trials too.
1. This separation was GOD'S will--and that was always dearer
to Mary than _anything_ else.
2. The very sacrifice of her Son that she was called upon to
make, was a proof of her union with Him and with His
interests.
3. The knowledge that the separation was no real separation.
It is true that never again will He come in from His work and share the
simple meal with her; true that there will be no more talking over their
plans together; but such a perfect union as theirs cannot be broken by
separation. Does not everything in the house speak of Him? Mary has had
her time of _consolation_; now she is to have her time of _desolation_.
Let me learn from her how to act under these changed conditions, which
are sure to be mine at some time or other in my life. How does Mary act?
Does she sit still and mourn over the days that are gone? Not at all.
She acts as though they were _not_ gone; as though there were no
difference between consolation and desolation; there _is_ no difference
really, but faith and love must be very strong before this fact can be
grasped. Mary does her work as usual with her Son and for her Son. Her
heart is with Him all the time; everything reminds her of Him, and she
is thinking of Him, talking to Him, telling Him everything just as she
did before. How far am I like her?
"Sedes sapientiae, ora pro nobis."
_Colloquy_ with Mary, asking her to get me grace to ponder
over these wonderful mysteries.
_Resolution._ Never to allow myself to make any change in my
spiritual life during a time of desolation.
_Spiritual Bouquet._ "He was subject to them."
Mary's Sixth Word
"_The Mother of JESUS saith to Him: They have no wine._" (St
John ii. 3.)
_1st Prelude._ The Marriage Feast.
_2nd Prelude._ Grace to remember the interest that Mary takes
in her children.
_Point I._--"THEY HAVE NO WINE"
It looks, from the context, as though Our Blessed Lady were staying in
the house at Cana where the wedding feast took place, for while St John
tells us that JESUS and His disciples were _invited_, he says that "the
Mother of JESUS was _there_." We need not suppose that she remained long
at Nazareth after her Son began His public ministry--it is more probable
that she stayed with friends in the neighbourhood of His work. After
this first miracle of her Son's, she went with Him and His disciples to
Capharnaum, but "remained there not many days," St John tells us. (chap.
ii. 12.) At all events, she was at Cana at the time of the marriage
feast, and it may be that it was in St John's house that she was
staying; for there is a very old tradition which tells that the
bridegroom was none other than John himself. If the tradition be true,
it lends an additional significance to this sixth word of Our Lady; for,
as St Bernardine suggests, it would probably be the miracle produced by
this word which made him decide to give up the wedded state, even before
he had entered upon it, for one of perpetual virginity--a decision which
endeared him to the hearts of Our Lord and His Blessed Mother.
Eighteen years had passed since Mary's last recorded word. It was spoken
to Our Lord Himself, as also was this one. St Bernardine calls the sixth
word "a word of compassionating love" (_flamma amoris compatientis_). We
shall see why as we continue our meditation.
It is not difficult to picture that little family feast in which JESUS
and Mary took part. Their presence produced, as it ever must, joy,
peace, and harmony. But now, apparently, there was going to be a hitch
in the proceedings; Mary's watchful eyes noticed that the wine was
running short; she wanted to save the newly married pair from any
confusion and humiliation that would spoil their mirth on this glad day,
and she showed her _compassionating_ love by anticipating their need.
Mary is the same now; she is full of compassionating love, pity, and
thought for her children; she anticipates their needs and will save
them, if possible, from the dangers which threaten them, by telling
JESUS. What a comfort it should be to me to remember that I have a
Mother in Heaven who is looking out for the difficulties and dangers
which threaten me, and doing her best to avert them! How far am I like
my Mother in this? Do I, by my tact and forethought and observation, try
to smooth away difficulties and avert little unpleasantnesses that I see
lying in the path of another? To what extent is this _flamma amoris
compatientis_ burning in me? Do others feel that if I am there, not only
will there be more joy and mirth, but also more harmony and good
feeling--in short, that things are sure to run smoothly, because one of
Mary's children--"a child of Mary"--is there. The Mother of JESUS was
there.
_Point II._--THE ANSWER OF JESUS
JESUS, too, had noticed that the wine was running short, and He knew
that He was going to work a wonderful miracle of transubstantiation,
foreshadowing the miracle worked at every Mass. He knew also that He
would not work the miracle till His Mother had intervened. At Nazareth
He made her a participator in all His work. Though separated from Him,
she was still to have her share; and her share was _prayer_--the great
work of intercession. By this means, doubtless, she had had her share in
her Son's Baptism, in the Fasting and Temptation in the wilderness, in
the calling of the first six Apostles. Now, in this first miracle, He
will give a lesson to these Apostles and show them the position His
Mother is to occupy in His Church. She understands that He addresses her
as "Woman" rather than as Mother, to show them that He, and they too,
must be detached from all natural affections and ties. He has His
Father's business to do, and they have been chosen to help Him in it,
and she is acting in her _official_ position as Intercessor. My hour for
working this miracle is not yet come, but now that you have spoken it
soon will come, seems to be the meaning of His answer. It was by this
miracle that JESUS manifested forth His glory, "so that His disciples
believed on Him."
And one of Mary's reasons for saying: "They have no wine," and thus
asking for the miracle, may have been that she knew it would confirm the
faith of the new Apostles in her Son.
What a loving, compassionating Mother she already is! How her heart is
enlarging to take in all that concerns her Son--His work, His interests,
His miracles, His Apostles! She notices the needs, and just hints them
to JESUS; there is no need to explain and go into details; they
understand each other--it is heart-to-heart work. If the flame of
compassionating love is burning in her heart, it is because it has been
lighted at the fire of the Sacred Heart.
In after years, especially during the Passion and after the Ascension,
when the Apostles must so often have turned to Our Lady for consolation,
help, and direction, how they would look back to the time of the feast
in Cana of Galilee, when they heard her say her first _official_ word:
"They have no wine"! And how the remembrance of it would strengthen
their faith, not only in Him, in Whom from that moment they "believed,"
but also in her whom He had then so clearly pointed out as His
co-worker, and as the one from whom they might expect help in their
needs.
If Mary did so much for her children when she was on earth, without even
being asked; and if she supplied needs, of which they were scarcely
conscious, what will she not do now, when, as the great Intercessor at
her Son's right hand in Heaven, she hears the entreaties of her children
on earth? She still co-operates with JESUS; her work is still to find
out the needs of her children and to tell Him of them. When I am in
need, perplexity, or trouble, what a consolation and strength it would
be to remember that this very need of mine is a subject of conversation
between JESUS and Mary; and that, when His hour is come, her pleadings
for me will be heard, and the need will be supplied!
_Colloquy_ with the Mother of Compassion. "Mater
misericordiae, ora pro nobis."
_Resolution._ To try to-day to prevent little
unpleasantnesses happening to others.
_Spiritual Bouquet._ "The Mother of JESUS was there."
Her Seventh Word
_His Mother saith to the waiters: "Whatsoever He shall say to
you, do ye."_ (St John ii. 5.)
_1st Prelude._ The Marriage Feast. Mary speaking to the
waiters.
_2nd Prelude._ Grace to obey.
_Point I._--LOVE'S CONSUMMATION--OBEDIENCE
The perfect understanding that existed between Mary and her Son made her
quite sure from His answer that all would be well, that a miracle would
be worked, and the need supplied; and so she prepared the way for it by
speaking her seventh recorded word. It is to the waiters that she
speaks--to those whose work it is to minister to the needs of JESUS and
His brethren. "Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye." St Bernardine
calls this word "a flame of consummating love," (_flamma amoris
consummantis_), because Mary shows by it that her love for her Son and
for all her other children is so great, that she desires that all should
obey Him, and accomplish His commandments perfectly. She is not content
with loving and serving Him herself, the flame of love that makes her
own obedience so perfect, burns that others too may consummate their
love by their obedience: "Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye." If you
want my Son to show you some special favour, be very careful about your
obedience.
Mary's word is for _all_ her children, but it is intended principally
for the waiters, to whom it was primarily addressed. It is those who
have, in any way, to minister to JESUS under the guise of His "least
brethren," who have to remember so specially that they are to do only
what _He_ says--that they are only His agents waiting for His orders.
How much better His servants would do their work if they carried out His
Mother's direction, and did all that He says and only what He says! His
"least brethren," who are sick, would never feel neglected, would never
hear that impatient word which makes them long to get up, and wait on
themselves, instead of being left to the tender mercies of the servants
of JESUS and Mary! His "least brethren" who are tiresome and difficult
to get on with--perhaps only because they are lonely and in need of
sympathy--would be quite sure of never getting an unkind, cutting, or
thoughtless word from those who are waiting on JESUS and Mary; it is
what _He_ saith that they will say and do--nothing else.
And amongst the waiters themselves there would be no jealousies, and
heart-burnings, and envyings, and criticisms; no thinking that others
are preferred to them, that they are left out and taken no notice of,
that their services are not wanted. The waiters would remember that they
are waiting upon _His_ Brethren, and that they have no right to do or
say or plan anything that He does not tell them; and if He tells them
nothing for the moment, and they have to stand by, and see others do His
work, they are nevertheless His servants, waiting for His next orders.
"Whatsoever He shall say, do." Obedience, then, is love's consummation.
Mary's love--strong flame though it is--cannot get beyond obedience;
there is nothing higher; it is the proof, the crown, the consummation of
love. When, for the moment, her request seems unheeded--even
rejected--her consolation is: "Whatsoever He shall say" will be right;
whatever it is, it will be the answer for me. "_Ecce ancilla Domini._"
Behold the servant waiting.
_Point II._--RESULT--WATER CHANGED TO WINE
The waiters have not long to wait for their orders. When His Mother has
prepared us and we are standing waiting ready to do "whatsoever" He
shall say, the order is quite clear. We know exactly what He means, and
what it is that He wants done; and though the order may seem
unreasonable, and we run the risk of humiliating ourselves before
others, yet we shall do it, for His Mother said: "Whatsoever." And by
doing it we shall prove that our love, like hers, is a consummating
love--a love that finds its consummation in obedience. This kind of love
is like a fairy's wand; it changes all that it touches, water is wine
everywhere--that is, we get the best out of everything; not perhaps
immediately, or at any rate we are not so quick to _detect_ the "good
wine" as the steward of the feast was; the path of obedience is often,
as it was for Mary, a path beset with difficulty and sorrow; but love
has touched it, the result is the same, the water _is_ changed, and
changed into "_good_ wine." It would not be good for us to drink of it
to the full now. GOD reserves the good wine till the end, and when we
have well drunk of the cup of suffering and sorrow here, He will hand us
the cup of joy that inebriates. Here we may only "_taste_ and see that
the Lord is sweet"; (Ps. xxxiii. 9); but one day, when the _flamma
amoris consummantis_ is perfected in us, when we have done all that He
saith to us, and paid our debts even to "the last farthing," (St Matt.
v. 26), then we shall drink to the full of the joy of His countenance,
(Ps. xv. 11), and He will say: "I have inebriated the weary soul, and I
have _filled_ every hungry soul." (Jer. xxxi. 25.)
_Colloquy_ with Our Lady, asking that I may always hear her
voice telling me to obey her Son.
_Resolution._ To remember that obedience turns water into
wine.
_Spiritual Bouquet._ "Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye."
Who is my Mother?
"_My mother and my brethren are they who hear the word of GOD
and do it._" (St Luke viii. 21.)
_1st Prelude._ Our Lady standing waiting on the outskirts of
the crowd.
_2nd Prelude._ Grace to "hear the word of GOD and do it."
_Point I._--HIS MOTHER STANDING WITHOUT
This one incident in which Mary is mentioned between the time of the
Marriage at Cana and Holy Week, happened during the second year of her
Son's ministry. We do not know whether or not she had been near Him
during this time. According to the opinion of some, she was one of the
little band of women who followed Him about, to minister to His needs
and those of His Apostles. But whether she followed Him actually or not,
we know that her spirit was ever with Him, and that she followed Him
with her prayers, and interest, and sympathy, _knowing_ Him more as He
manifested Himself more by His healing and miracles, and therefore
_loving_ Him and _imitating_ Him more, and _therefore_, growing in
grace, of which she was ever full. Such, we are quite sure, is a true
picture of Mary, though this one instance at Capharnaum is the only
occasion on which we are able to make an actual picture of her.
Her Son had probably come to Capharnaum for a rest after one of His
missionary rounds; it may be that He had come to have a little time of
refreshment with her. And she and His brethren--His relatives--went to
meet Him, desiring to speak to Him. We are not told what it was that
they were so anxious to tell Him. When they arrived He was already
addressing a crowd which was _sitting_ about Him, and which was so great
that His Mother and His brethren could not get near Him; and so "they
_stood_ without"--on the outskirts--and thus attracted the notice of
someone who attracted _His_ notice; someone, in fact, who interrupted
Him in the middle of His discourse, by telling Him that His Mother and
His brethren wanted Him. Such is the simple incident, and by it Mary
affords her Son the opportunity of giving two most important lessons to
His Apostles, and also to those who would, during all time, have any
kind of apostolic work to do.
_Point II._--A LESSON ON INTERRUPTIONS