IS IT LAWFUL TO HONOR THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY AS A SAINT, TO INVOKE HER AS
AN INTERCESSOR, AND TO IMITATE HER AS A MODEL.
I. Is It Lawful To Honor Her?
The sincere adorers and lovers of our Lord Jesus Christ look with
reverence on every object with which He was associated, and they conceive
an affection for every person that was near and dear to Him on earth. The
closer the intimacy of those persons with our Savior, the holier do they
appear in our estimation, just as those planets which revolve the nearest
around the sun partake most of its light and heat.
There is something hallowed to the eye of the Christian in the very soil
of Judea, because it was pressed by the footprints of our Blessed
Redeemer. With what reverent steps we would enter the cave of Bethlehem
because _there_ was born the Savior of the world. With what religious
demeanor we would tread the streets of Nazareth when we remembered that
_there_ were spent the days of His boyhood. What profound religious awe
would fill our hearts on ascending Mount Calvary, where He paid by his
blood the ransom of our souls.
But if the _lifeless_ soil claims so much reverence, how much more
veneration would be enkindled in our hearts for the _living_ persons who
were the friends and associates of our Savior on earth! We know that He
exercised a certain salutary and magnetic influence on those whom He
approached. “All the multitude sought to touch Him, for virtue went out
from Him and healed all,”(210) as happened to the woman who had been
troubled with an issue of blood.(211)
We would seem, indeed, to draw near to Jesus, if we had the happiness of
only conversing with the Samaritan woman, or of eating at the table of
Zaccheus, or of being entertained by Nicodemus. But if we were admitted
into the inner circle of His friends—of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, for
instance—the Baptist or the Apostles, we would be conscious that in their
company we were drawing still nearer to Jesus and imbibing somewhat of
that spirit which they must have largely received from their familiar
relations with Him.
Now, if the land of Judea is looked upon as hallowed ground because Jesus
dwelt there; if the Apostles were considered as models of holiness because
they were the chosen companions and pupils of our Lord in His latter
years, how peerless must have been the sanctity of Mary, who gave Him
birth, whose breast was His pillow, who nursed and clothed Him in infancy,
who guided His early steps, who accompanied Him in His exile to Egypt and
back, who abode with Him from infancy to boyhood, from boyhood to manhood,
who during all that time listened to the words of wisdom which fell from
His lips, who was the first to embrace Him at His birth, and the last to
receive His dying breath on Calvary. This sentiment is so natural to us
that we find it bursting forth spontaneously from the lips of the woman of
the Gospel, who, hearing the words of Jesus full of wisdom and sanctity,
lifted up her voice and said to Him: “Blessed is the womb that bore Thee
and the paps that gave Thee suck.”
It is in accordance with the economy of Divine Providence that, whenever
God designs any person for some important work, He bestows on that person
the graces and dispositions necessary for faithfully discharging it.
When Moses was called by heaven to be the leader of the Hebrew people he
hesitated to assume the formidable office on the plea of “impediment and
slowness of tongue.” But Jehovah reassured him by promising to qualify him
for the sublime functions assigned to him: “I will be in thy mouth, and I
will teach thee what thou shalt speak.”(212)
The Prophet Jeremiah was sanctified from his very birth because he was
destined to be the herald of God’s law to the children of Israel: “Before
I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother I knew thee, and before thou
camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee.”(213)
“Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost,”(214) that she might be worthy
to be the hostess of our Lord during the three months that Mary dwelt
under her roof.
John the Baptist was “filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s
womb.”(215) “He was a burning and a shining light”(216) because he was
chosen to prepare the way of the Lord.
The Apostles received the plenitude of grace; they were endowed with the
gift of tongue and other privileges(217) before they commenced the work of
the ministry. Hence St. Paul says: “Our sufficiency is from God, who hath
made us _fit_ ministers of the New Testament.”(218)
Now of all who have participated in the ministry of the Redemption there
is none who filled any position so exalted, so sacred, as is the
incommunicable office of Mother of Jesus; and there is no one,
consequently, that _needed_ so high a degree of holiness as she did.
For, if God thus sanctified His Prophets and Apostles as being destined to
be the bearers of the Word of life, how much more sanctified must Mary
have been, who was to bear the Lord and “Author of life.”(219) If John was
so holy because he was chosen as the pioneer to prepare the way of the
Lord, how much more holy was she who ushered Him into the world. If
holiness became John’s mother, surely a greater holiness became the mother
of John’s Master. If God said to His Priests of old: “Be ye clean, you
that carry the vessels of the Lord;”(220) nay, if the vessels themselves
used in the divine service and churches are set apart by special
consecration, we cannot conceive Mary to have been ever profaned by sin,
who was the chosen vessel of election, even the Mother of God.
When we call the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God, we assert our belief in
two things: First—That her Son, Jesus Christ, is true man, else she were
not a _mother_. Second—That He is true God, else she were not the _Mother
of God_. In other words, we affirm that the Second Person of the Blessed
Trinity, the Word of God, who in His divine nature is from all eternity
begotten of the Father, consubstantial with Him, was in the fulness of
time again begotten, by being born of the Virgin, thus taking to Himself,
from her maternal womb, a human nature of the same substance with hers.
But it may be said the Blessed Virgin is not the Mother of the Divinity.
She had not, and she could not have, any part in the generation of the
Word of God, for that generation is eternal; her maternity is temporal. He
is her Creator; she is His creature. Style her, if you will, the Mother of
the man Jesus or even of the human nature of the Son of God, but not the
Mother of God.
I shall answer this objection by putting a question. Did the mother who
bore us have any part in the production of our _soul_? Was not this nobler
part of our being the work of God alone? And yet who would for a moment
dream of saying “the mother of my body,” and not “_my_ mother?”
The comparison teaches us that the terms parent and child, mother and son,
refer to the persons and not to the parts or elements of which the persons
are composed. Hence no one says: “The mother of my _body_,” “the mother of
my _soul_;” but in all propriety “my mother,” the mother of me who live
and breathe, think and act, _one_ in my personality, though uniting in it
a soul directly created by God, and a material body directly derived from
the maternal womb. In like manner, as far as the sublime mystery of the
Incarnation can be reflected in the natural order, the Blessed Virgin,
under the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, by communicating to the Second
Person of the Adorable Trinity, as mothers do, a true human nature of the
same substance with her own, is thereby really and truly His Mother.
It is in this sense that the title of _Mother of God_, denied by
Nestorius, was vindicated to her by the General Council of Ephesus, in
431; in this sense, and in no other, has the Church called her by that
title.
Hence, by immediate and necessary consequence, follow her surpassing
dignity and excellence, and her special relationship and affinity, not
only with her Divine Son, but also with the Father and the Holy Ghost.
Mary, as Wordsworth beautifully expressed it, united in her person “a
mother’s love with maiden purity.” The Church teaches us that she was
always a Virgin—a Virgin before her espousals, during her married life and
after her spouse’s death. “The Angel Gabriel was sent from God ... to a
Virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, ... and the Virgin’s name
was Mary.”(221)
That she remained a Virgin till after the birth of Jesus is expressly
stated in the Gospel.(222) It is not less certain that she continued in
the same state during the remainder of her days; for in the Apostles’ and
the Nicene Creed she is called a Virgin, and that epithet cannot be
restricted to the time of our Saviour’s birth. It must be referred to her
whole life, inasmuch as both creeds were compiled long after she had
passed away.
The Canon of the Mass, which is very probably of Apostolic antiquity,
speaks of her as the “glorious _ever Virgin_,” and in this sentiment all
Catholic tradition concurs.
There is a propriety which suggests itself to every Christian in Mary’s
remaining a Virgin after the birth of Jesus, for, as Bishop Bull of the
Protestant Episcopal Church of England remarks, “It cannot with decency be
imagined that the most holy vessel which was once consecrated to be a
receptacle of the Deity should be afterwards desecrated and profaned by
human use.” The learned Grotius, Calvin and other eminent Protestant
writers hold the same view.
The doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary is now combated by
Protestants, as it was in the early days of the Church by Helvidius and
Jovinian, on the following grounds:
First—The Evangelist says that “Joseph took unto him his wife, and he knew
her not _till_ she brought forth her first-born son.”(223) This sentence
suggests to dissenters that other children besides Jesus were born to
Mary. But the qualifying word _till_ by no means implies that the chaste
union which had subsisted between Mary and Joseph up to the birth of our
Lord was subsequently altered. The Protestant Hooker justly complains of
the early heretics as having “abused greatly these words of Matthew,
gathering against the honor of the Blessed Virgin, that a thing denied
with special circumstance doth import an opposite affirmation when once
that circumstance is expired.”(224) To express Hooker’s idea in plainer
words, when a thing is said not to have occurred until another event had
happened, it does not necessarily follow that it did occur after that
event took place.
The Scripture says that the raven went forth from the ark, “and did not
return _till_ the waters were dried up upon the earth”(225)—that is, it
never returned. “Samuel saw Saul no more _till_ the day of his
death.”(226) He did not, of course, see him after death. “The Lord said to
my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand _until_ I make thy enemies thy
footstool.”(227) These words apply to our Savior, who did not cease to sit
at the right of God after His enemies were subdued.
Second—But Jesus is called Mary’s _first-born_ Son, and does not a
first-born always imply the subsequent birth of other children to the same
mother? By no means; for the name of first-born was given to the first son
of every Jewish mother, whether other children followed or not. We find
this epithet applied to Machir, for instance, who was the only son of
Manasses.(228)
Third—But is not mention frequently made of the brethren of Jesus?(229)
Fortunately the Gospels themselves will enable us to trace the maternity
of those who are called His brothers, not to the Blessed Virgin, but to
another Mary. St. Matthew mentions, by name, James and Joseph among the
brethren of Jesus;(230) and the same Evangelist and also St. Mark tell us
that among those who were present at the Crucifixion were Mary Magdalen
and Mary the mother of James and Joseph.(231) And St. John, who narrates
with more detail the circumstances of the Crucifixion, informs us who this
second Mary was, for he says that there stood by the cross of Jesus His
mother and His Mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen.(232)
There is no doubt that Mary of Cleophas is identical with Mary, who is
called by Matthew and Mark the mother of James and Joseph. And as Mary of
Cleophas was the kinswoman of the Blessed Virgin, James and Joseph are
called the brothers of Jesus, in conformity with the Hebrew practice of
giving that appellation to cousins or near relations. Abraham, for
instance, was the uncle of Lot, yet he calls him brother.(233)
Mary is exalted above all other women, not only because she united “a
mother’s love with maiden purity,” but also because she was conceived
without original sin. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception is thus
expressed by the Church: “We define that the Blessed Virgin Mary in the
first moment of her conception, by the singular grace and privilege of
Almighty God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the
human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin.”(234)
Unlike the rest of the children of Adam, the soul of Mary was never
subject to sin, even in the first moment of its infusion into the body.
She alone was exempt from the original taint. This immunity of Mary from
original sin is exclusively due to the merits of Christ, as the Church
expressly declares. She needed a Redeemer as well as the rest of the human
race and therefore was “redeemed, but in a more sublime manner.”(235) Mary
is as much indebted to the precious blood of Jesus for having been
_preserved_ as we are for having been _cleansed_ from original sin.
Although the Immaculate Conception was not formulated into a dogma of
faith till 1854, it is at least implied in Holy Scripture. It is in strict
harmony with the place which Mary holds in the economy of Redemption, and
has virtually received the pious assent of the faithful from the earliest
days of the Church.
In Genesis we read: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and
thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head.”(236) All Catholic
commentators, ancient and modern, recognize in the Seed, the Woman and the
serpent types of our Savior, of Mary and the devil. God here declares that
the enmity of the Seed and that of the Woman toward the tempter were to be
identical. Now the enmity of Christ, or the Seed, toward the evil one was
absolute and perpetual. Therefore the enmity of Mary, or the Woman, toward
the devil never admitted of any momentary reconciliation which would have
existed if she were ever subject to original sin.
It is worthy of note that as three characters appear on the scene of our
fall—Adam, Eve and the rebellious Angel—so three corresponding personages
figure in our redemption—Jesus Christ, who is the second Adam;(237) Mary,
the second Eve, and the Archangel Gabriel. The second Adam was
immeasurably superior to the first, Gabriel was superior to the fallen
Angel, and hence we are warranted by analogy to conclude that Mary was
superior to Eve. But if she had been created in original sin, instead of
being superior, she would be inferior to Eve, who was certainly created
immaculate. We cannot conceive that the mother of Cain was created
superior to the mother of Jesus. It would have been unworthy of a God of
infinite purity to have been born of a woman that was even for an instant
under the dominion of Satan.
The liturgies of the Church, being the established formularies of her
public worship, are among the most authoritative documents that can be
adduced in favor of any religious practice.
In the liturgy ascribed to St. James, Mary is commemorated as “our most
holy, immaculate and most glorious Lady, Mother of God and ever Virgin
Mary.”(238)
In the Maronite Ritual she is invoked as “our holy, praiseworthy and
immaculate Lady.”(239)
In the Alexandrian liturgy of St. Basil, she is addressed as “most holy,
most glorious, immaculate.”(240)
The Feast of Mary’s Conception commenced to be celebrated in the East in
the fifth, and in the West in the seventh centuries. It was not introduced
into Rome till probably towards the end of the fourteenth century. Though
Rome is always the first that is called on to sanction a new festival, she
is often the last to take part in it. She is the first that is expected to
give the key-note, but frequently the last to join in the festive song.
While she is silent, the notes are faint and uncertain; when her voice
joins in the chant, the song of praise becomes constant and universal.
It is scarcely necessary for me to add that the introduction of the
festival of the Conception after the lapse of so many centuries from the
foundation of Christianity no more implies a novelty of doctrine than the
erection of a monument in 1875 to Arminius, the German hero who flourished
in the first century, would be an evidence of his recent exploits. The
Feast of the Blessed Trinity was not introduced till the fifth century,
though it commemorates a fundamental mystery of the Christian religion.
It is interesting to us to know that the Immaculate Conception of Mary has
been interwoven in the earliest history of our own country. The ship that
first bore Columbus to America was named Mary of the Conception. This
celebrated navigator gave the same name to the second island which he
discovered. The first chapel erected in Quebec, when that city was founded
in the early part of the seventeenth century was dedicated to God under
the invocation of Mary Immaculate.
In view of these three great prerogatives of Mary—her divine maternity,
her perpetual virginity and her Immaculate Conception—we are prepared to
find her blessedness often and expressly declared in Holy Scripture.
The Archangel Gabriel is sent to her from heaven to announce to her the
happy tidings that she was destined to be the mother of the world’s
Redeemer. No greater favor was ever before or since conferred on woman,
whether we consider the dignity of the messenger, or the momentous
character of the message, or the terms of respect in which it is conveyed.
“The Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee called
Nazareth to a virgin ... and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the Angel
being come in said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee;
blessed art thou among women. Who, having heard, was troubled at his
saying and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.
And the Angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with
God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus.... The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the most high shall overshadow thee, and therefore,
also, the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God.”(241) The Almighty does not send to Mary, a prophet or priest, or any
other earthly ambassador, nor even one of the lower choirs of angels, but
He commissions an Archangel to confer with her.
_“__Hail full of grace!__”_ Gabriel does not congratulate her on her
personal charms, though she is the fairest daughter of Israel. He does not
praise her for her exalted ancestry, though she is descended from the
Kings of Juda. But he commends her because she is the chosen child of
benediction. He admires the hidden virtues of her soul, brighter than the
sun, fairer than the moon, purer than angels, he sees before him,
“Our tainted nature’s solitary boast,”
one that alone escaped the taint of Adam’s disobedience.
As the precious diamond reflects various colors according as it is exposed
to the sun’s rays, so did the soul of Mary, from the moment that the “Sun
of Justice” shone upon her, exhibit every grace that was prompted by the
occasion.
St. Stephen and the Apostles were also said to be full of the Spirit of
God. By this, however, we are not to understand that the same measure of
grace was imparted to them which was given to Mary. On each one it is
bestowed according to his merits and needs. “One is the glory of the sun,
another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars, for
star differeth from star in glory;”(242) and as Mary’s office of Mother of
God immeasurably surpassed in dignity that of the proto-martyr and of the
Apostles, so did her grace superabound over theirs.
_“__The Lord is with thee.__”_ “He exists in His creatures in different
ways; in those that are endowed with reason in one way, in irrational
creatures in another. His irrational creatures have no means of
apprehending or possessing Him. All rational creatures may indeed
apprehend Him by knowledge, but only the good by love. Only in the good
does He so exist as to be with them as well as in them; with them by a
certain harmony and agreement of will, and in this way God is with all His
Saints. But He is with Mary in a yet more special manner, for in her there
was so great an agreement and union with God that not her will only, but
her very flesh was to be united to him.”(243)
_“__Blessed art Thou among women.__”_ The same expression is applied to
two other women in the Holy Scripture—viz., to Jahel and Judith. The
former was called blessed after she had slain Sisara,(244) and the latter
after she had slain Holofernes,(245) both of whom had been enemies of
God’s people. In this respect these two women are true types of Mary, who
was chosen by God to crush the head of the serpent, the infernal enemy of
mankind. And if they deserved the title of blessed for being the
instruments of God in rescuing Israel from temporal calamities, how much
more does Mary merit that appellation, who co-operated so actively in the
salvation of the human race!
The Evangelist proceeds: “And Mary, rising up in those days, went ... into
a city of Juda; and she entered into the house of Zachary and saluted
Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of
Mary the infant leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy
Ghost, and she cried out with a loud voice and said: Blessed art thou
among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to
me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, as soon as
the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb
leaped for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those
things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.”(246)
There is joy in Mary’s heart in being chosen to become the mother of the
world’s Redeemer. She wishes by her visit to communicate that joy to her
cousin. The Sun of Justice is shining within her. She desires to diffuse
His rays through Elizabeth’s household. She is laden with spiritual
treasures. She must share them with her kinswoman, especially as she is
none the poorer in making others richer.
The usual order of salutation is here reversed. Age pays reverence to
youth. A lady who is revered by the whole community honors a lowly maiden.
An inspired matron expresses her astonishment that her young kinswoman
should deign to visit her. She extols Mary’s faith and calls her blessed.
She blends the praise of Mary with the praise of Mary’s Son, and even the
infant John testifies his reverential joy by leaping in his mother’s womb.
And we are informed that during this interview Elizabeth was filled with
the Holy Ghost, to remind us that the veneration she paid to her cousin
was not prompted by her own feelings, but was dictated by the Spirit of
God.
Then Mary breaks out into that sublime canticle, the Magnificat: “My soul
doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior,
because He hath regarded the humility of his handmaid, for behold from
henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”(247) On these words I
shall pause to make one reflection.
The Holy Ghost, through the organ of Mary’s chaste lips, prophesies that
all generations shall call her blessed, with evident approval of the
praise she should receive.
What a daring prophecy is this! Among the wonderful predictions recorded
in Holy Scripture, I can recall none that more strongly commands my
admiration. Here is a modest, retiring maiden, living in an obscure
village in a remote quarter of the civilized world, openly announcing that
every age till the end of time, should pronounce her hallowed. We have no
reason to question this prophecy, for it is recorded in the inspired pages
of the Gospel. And we know also without the shadow of a doubt that the
prophecy has been literally fulfilled. For, in every epoch, and in every
Christian land from the rising to the setting sun, her _Magnificat_ has
daily resounded.
Now the Catholic is the only Church whose children, generation after
generation, from the first to the present century, have pronounced her
blessed; of all Christians in this land, they alone contribute to the
fulfilment of the prophecy.
Therefore, it is only Catholics that earn the approval of Heaven by
fulfilling the prediction of the Holy Ghost.
Protestants not only concede that we bless the name of Mary, but they even
reproach us with being too lavish in our praises of her.
On the other hand, they are careful to exclude themselves from the
“generations” that were destined to call her blessed, for, in speaking of
her, they almost invariably withhold from her the title of _blessed_,
prefering to call her _the Virgin_, or _Mary the Virgin_, or _the Mother
of Jesus_. And while Protestant churches will resound with the praises of
Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel, of Miriam and Ruth, of Esther and Judith of
the Old Testament, and of Elizabeth and Anna, of Magdalen and Martha of
the New, the name of Mary the Mother of Jesus is uttered with bated
breath, lest the sound of her name should make the preacher liable to the
charge of superstition.
The piety of a mother usually sheds additional lustre on the son, and the
halo that encircles her brow is reflected upon his. The more the mother is
extolled, the greater honor redounds to the son. And if this is true of
all men who do not choose their mothers, how much more strictly may it be
affirmed of Him who chose His own Mother, and made her Himself such as He
would have her, so that all the glories of His Mother are essentially His
own. And yet we daily see ministers of the Gospel ignoring Mary’s exalted
virtues and unexampled privileges and parading her alleged imperfections;
nay, sinfulness, as if her Son were dishonored by the piety, and took
delight in the defamation of His Mother.
Such defamers might learn a lesson from one who made little profession of
Christianity.
“Is thy name Mary, maiden fair?
Such should, methinks, its music be.
The sweetest name that mortals bear,
Were best befitting thee.
And she to whom it once was given
_Was half of earth and half of heaven_.”(248)
Once more the title of _blessed_, is given to Mary. On one occasion a
certain woman, lifting up her voice, said to Jesus: “Blessed is the womb
that bore thee and the paps that gave thee suck.”(249) It is true that our
Lord replied: “Yea, rather (or yea, likewise), blessed are they who hear
the word of God and keep it.” It would be an unwarrantable perversion of
the sacred text to infer from this reply that Jesus intended to detract
from the praise bestowed on His Mother. His words may be thus correctly
paraphrased: She is blessed indeed in being the chosen instrument of My
incarnation, but more blessed in keeping My word. Let others be comforted
in knowing that though they cannot share with My Mother in the privilege
of her maternity, they can participate with her in the blessed reward of
them who hear My word and keep it.
In the preceding passages we have seen Mary declared blessed on four
different occasions, and hence, in proclaiming her blessedness, far from
paying her unmerited honor, we are but re-echoing the Gospel verdict of
saint and angel and of the Spirit of God Himself.
Wordsworth, though not nurtured within the bosom of the Catholic Church,
conceives a true appreciation of Mary’s incomparable holiness in the
following beautiful lines:
“Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrossed
With the least shade of thought to sin allied;
Woman! above all women glorified,
Our tainted nature’s solitary boast;
Purer than foam on central ocean tost,
Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn
With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon
Before her wane begins on heaven’s blue coast,
Thy image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween,
Not unforgiven, the suppliant knee might bend
As to a visible power, in which did blend
All that was mixed and reconciled in thee
Of mother’s love with maiden purity,
Of high with low, celestial with serene.”
To honor one who has been the subject of divine, angelic and saintly
panegyric is to use a privilege, and the privilege is heightened into a
sacred duty when we remember that the spirit of prophecy foretold that she
should ever be the unceasing theme of Christian eulogy as long as
Christianity itself would exist.
“Honor he is worthy of, whom the king hath a mind to honor.”(250) The King
of kings hath honored Mary; His divine Son did not disdain to be subject
to her, therefore should we honor her, especially as the honor we pay to
her redounds to God, the source of all glory. The Royal Prophet, than whom
no man paid higher praise to God, esteemed the friends of God worthy of
all honor: “To me Thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly
honorable.”(251) Now the dearest friends of God are they who most
faithfully keep His precepts: “You are My friends, if you do the things
that I command you.”(252) Who fulfilled the divine precepts better than
Mary, who kept all the words of her Son, pondering them in her heart? “If
any man minister to me,” says our Savior, “him will My Father honor.”(253)
Who ministered more constantly to Jesus than Mary, who discharged towards
Him all the offices of a tender mother?
Heroes and statesmen may receive the highest military and civic honors
which a nation can bestow without being suspected of invading the domain
of the glory which is due to God. Now is not heroic sanctity more worthy
of admiration than civil service and military exploits, inasmuch as
religion ranks higher than patriotism and valor? And yet the admirers of
Mary’s exalted virtues can scarcely celebrate her praises without being
accused in certain quarters of Mariolatry.
When a nation wishes to celebrate the memory of its distinguished men its
admiration is not confined to words, but vents itself in a thousand
different shapes. See in how many ways we honor the memory of Washington.
Monuments on which his good deeds are recorded are erected to his name.
The grounds in which his remains repose on the banks of the Potomac are
kept in order by a volunteer band of devoted ladies, who adorn the place
with flowers. And this cherished spot is annually visited by thousands of
pilgrims from the most remote sections of the country. These visitors will
eagerly snatch a flower or a leaf from a shrub growing near Washington’s
tomb, or will strive even to clip off a little shred from one of his
garments, still preserved in the old mansion, to bear home with them as
precious relics.
I have always observed when traveling on the missions up and down the
Potomac, that whenever the steamer came to the point opposite Mount Vernon
the bell was tolled, and every eye was directed toward Washington’s grave.
The 22nd of February, Washington’s birthday, is kept as a national
holiday, at least in certain portions of the country. I well remember that
formerly military and fire companies paraded the streets, and that
patriotic speeches recounting the heroic deeds of the first President were
delivered, the festivities of the day closing with a social banquet.
As the citizens of the United States manifest in divers ways their
admiration for Washington, so do the citizens of the republic of the
Church love to exhibit in corresponding forms their veneration for the
Mother of Jesus.
Monuments and statues are erected to her. Thrice each day—at morn, noon
and even—the Angelus bells are rung, to recall to our mind the Incarnation
of our Lord, and the participation of Mary in this great mystery of love.
Her shrines are tastefully adorned by pious hands and visited by devoted
children, who wear her relics or any object which bears her image, or
which is associated with her name.
Her natal day and other days of the year, sacred to her memory, are
appropriately commemorated by processions, by participation in the banquet
of the Eucharist, and by sermons enlarging on her virtues and
prerogatives.
As no one was ever suspected of loving his country and her institutions
less because of his revering Washington, so no one can reasonably suppose
that our homage to God is diminished by our fostering reverence for Mary.
As our object in eulogizing Washington is not so much to honor the man as
to vindicate those principles of which he was the champion and exponent,
and to express our gratitude to God for the blessings bestowed on our
country through him, even so our motive in commemorating Mary’s name is
not merely to praise her, but still more to keep us in perpetual
remembrance of our Lord’s Incarnation, and to show our thankfulness to Him
for the blessings wrought through that great mystery in which she was so
prominent a figure. There is not a grain of incense offered to Mary which
does not ascend to the throne of God Himself.
Experience sufficiently demonstrates that the better we understand the
part which Mary has taken in the work of redemption, the more enlightened
becomes our knowledge of our Redeemer Himself, and that the greater our
love for her, the deeper and broader is our devotion to Him; while
experience also testifies that our Savior’s attributes become more
confused and warped in the minds of a people in proportion as they ignore
Mary’s relations to Him.
The defender of a beleaguered citadel concentrates his forces on the outer
fortifications and towers, knowing well that the capture of these outworks
would endanger the citadel itself, and that _their_ safety involves _its_
security.
Jesus Christ is the citadel of our faith, the stronghold of our soul’s
affections. Mary is called the “Tower of David,” and the gate of Sion
which the Lord loveth more than all the tabernacles of Jacob,(254) and
which He entered at His Incarnation.
So intimately is this living gate of Sion connected with Jesus, the Temple
of our faith, that no one has ever assailed the former without invading
the latter. The Nestorian would have Mary to be only an ordinary mother
because he would have Christ to be a mere man.
Hence, if we rush to the defence of the gate of Sion, it is because we are
more zealous for the city of God. If we stand as sentinels around the
tower of David, it is because we are more earnest in protecting Jerusalem
from invasion. If we forbid profane hands to touch the ark of the
covenant, it is because we are anxious to guard from profanation the Lord
of the ark. If we are so solicitous about Mary’s honor, it is because “the
love of Christ” presseth us. If we will not permit a single wreath to be
snatched from her fair brow, it is because we are unwilling that a single
feature of Christ’s sacred humanity should be obscured, and because we
wish that He should ever shine forth in all the splendor of His glory, and
clothed in all the panoply of His perfections.
But you will ask: Why do you so often blend together the worship of God
and the veneration of the Blessed Virgin? Why such exclamations as
_Blessed be Jesus and Mary_? Why do you so often repeat in succession the
Lord’s prayer and the Angelical salutation? Is not this practice
calculated to level all distinctions between the Creator and His creature,
and to excite the displeasure of a God ever jealous of His glory?
Those who make this objection should remember that the praises of the Lord
and of His Saints are frequently combined in Holy Scripture itself.
Witness Judith. On returning from the tent of Holofernes, she sang:
“_Praise ye the Lord, our God_, who hath not forsaken them that hope in
Him, _and by me His handmaid_, He hath fulfilled His mercy which He
promised to the house of Israel.... And Ozias, the prince of the people of
Israel, said to her: _Blessed art thou, O daughter_, by the Lord the Most
High God, above all women upon the earth, _Blessed be the Lord_ who made
heaven and earth ... because He hath so magnified thy name this day, that
thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men.”(255)
Witness Ecclesiasticus. After glorifying God for His mighty works, he
immediately sounds the praises of Enoch and Noe, of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, of Moses and Aaron, of Samuel and Nathan, of David and Josias, of
Isaiah and Jeremiah, and other kings and prophets of Israel.(256)
Elizabeth, in the same breath, exclaims: “Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”(257)
And Mary herself, under the inspiration of Heaven, cries out: “My soul
_doth magnify the Lord_, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior....
For, behold from henceforth all generations _shall call me blessed_.”(258)
Here are the names of Creator and creature interwoven like threads of gold
and silver in the same woof, without provoking the jealousy of God.
God jealous of the honor paid to Mary! Will a father be jealous of the
honor paid to his child, especially of a child who reflects his own image
and likeness, and exhibits those virtues which he had inculcated on her
tender mind? And is not Mary God’s child of predilection? Will an
architect be envious of the praise bestowed on a magnificent temple which
his genius planned and reared? Is not the living temple of Mary’s heart
the work of the Supreme Architect? Must she not say with all of God’s
creatures: “Thy hands (O Lord) have made me and formed me.” Is it not He
who has adorned that living temple with those rare beauties which we so
much admire? Has she not declared so when she exclaimed: “He that is
mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is His name!”(259)
God jealous of the honor paid to Mary! As well might we imagine that the
sun, if endowed with intelligence, would be jealous of the mellow, golden
cloud which encircles him, which reflects his brightness and presents in
bolder light his inaccessible splendor. As well imagine that the same
luminary would be jealous of our admiration for the beautiful rose, whose
opening petals and rich color and delicious fragrance are the fruit of his
beneficent rays.
Hence in uniting Mary’s praise with that of Jesus we are strictly
imitating the sacred Text. We are imitating Joachim, the High Priest, and
the people of God in Bethulia, who unite the praises of Judith with the
praises of Jehovah.
We are imitating the sacred writer of Ecclesiasticus who, after extolling
God for His mighty works, sounds the praises of Enoch and Noe, of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, of David and Josiah, of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and other
Kings and Prophets of Israel.
We are imitating Elizabeth, who exclaimed in one breath: “Blessed art thou
(Mary) among women and blessed is (Jesus) the fruit of thy womb.”
And as no one ever suspected that the encomiums pronounced on Judith and
the virtuous Kings and Prophets of Israel detracted from God’s honor, so
neither do we lessen His glory in exalting the Blessed Virgin. I find
Jesus and Mary together at the manger, together in Egypt, together in
Nazareth, together in the temple, together at the cross. I find their
names side by side in the Apostles’ and the Nicene Creed. It is fitting
that both should find a place in my heart, and that both names should
often flow successively from my lips. Inseparable in life and in death,
they should not be divorced in my prayer. “What God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder.”
II. Is It Lawful To Invoke Her?
The Church exhorts her children not only to honor the Blessed Virgin, but
also to invoke her intercession. It is evident from Scripture that the
Angels and Saints in heaven can hear our prayers and that they have the
power and the will to help us.(260) Now, if the angels are conversant with
what happens on earth; if the Prophets, even while clothed in the flesh,
had a clear vision of things which were transpiring at a great distance
from them; if they could penetrate into the future and fortell events
which were then hidden in the womb of time, shall we believe that God
withholds a knowledge of our prayers from Mary, who is justly styled the
Queen of Angels and Saints? For, as Mary’s sanctity surpasses that of all
other mortals, her knowledge must be proportionately greater than theirs,
since knowledge constitutes one of the sources of celestial bliss.
If Stephen, while his soul was still in the prison of the body, “_saw_ the
glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God;”(261) if Paul
“_heard_ secret words”(262) spoken in paradise, is it surprising that Mary
hears and sees us, now that she is elevated to heaven and stands “face to
face” before God, the perfect Mirror of all knowledge? It is as easy for
God to enable His Saints to see things terrestrial from heaven as things
celestial from earth.
The influence of Mary’s intercession exceeds that of the angels,
patriarchs and prophets in the same degree that her sanctity surpasses
theirs. If our heavenly Father listens so propitiously to the voice of His
servants, what will He refuse to her who is His chosen daughter of
predilection, chosen among thousands to be the Mother of His beloved Son?
If we ourselves, though sinners, can help one another by our prayers, how
irresistible must be the intercession of Mary, who never grieved Almighty
God by sin, who never tarnished her white robe of innocence by the least
defilement, from the first moment of her existence till she was received
by triumphant angels into heaven.
In speaking of the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, we must never lose
sight of her title of Mother of our Redeemer nor of the great privileges
which that prerogative implies. Mary was the Mother of Jesus. She
exercised toward Him all the influence that a prudent mother has over an
affectionate child. “Jesus,” says the Gospel, “was subject to
them”(263)—that is, to Mary and Joseph. We find this obedience of our Lord
toward His Mother forcibly exemplified at the marriage feast of Cana. Her
wishes are delicately expressed in these words: “They have no wine.” He
instantly obeys her by changing water into wine, though the time for
exercising His public ministry and for working wonders had not yet
arrived.
Now, Mary has never forfeited in heaven the title of Mother of Jesus. She
is still His Mother, and while adoring Him as her God she still retains
her maternal relations, and He exercises toward her that loving
willingness to grant her request which the best of sons entertains for the
best of mothers.
Never does Jesus appear to us so amiable and endearing as when we see Him
nestled in the arms of His Mother. We love to contemplate Him, and artists
love to represent Him, in that situation. It appears to me that had we
lived in Jerusalem in His day and recognized, like Simeon, the Lord of
majesty in the form of an Infant, and had we a favor to ask Him, we would
present it through Mary’s hands while the Divine eyes of the Babe were
gazing on her sweet countenance. And even so now. Never will our prayers
find a readier acceptance than when offered through her.
In invoking Our Lady’s patronage we are actuated by a triple sense of the
majesty of God, our own unworthiness and of Mary’s incomparable influence
with her Heavenly Father. Conscious of our natural lowliness and sins, we
have frequent recourse to her intercession in the assured hope of being
more favorably heard.
“And even as children who have much offended
A too indulgent father, in great shame,
Penitent, and yet not daring unattended
To go into his presence, at the gate
Speak to their sister and confiding wait
Till she goes in before and intercedes;
So men, repenting of their evil deeds,
And yet not venturing rashly to draw near
With their requests, an angry Father’s ear,
Offer to her their prayers and their confession,
And she in heaven for them makes intercession.”(264)
Do you ask me, is Mary willing to assist you? Does she really take an
interest in your welfare? Or is she so much absorbed by the fruition of
God as to be indifferent to our miseries? “Can a woman forget her infant
so as not to have pity on the fruit of her womb?”(265) Even so Mary will
not forget us.
The love she bears us, her children by adoption, can be estimated only by
her love for her Son by nature. It was Mary that nursed the Infant Savior.
It was her hands that clothed Him. It was her breast that sheltered Him
from the rude storm and from the persecution of Herod. She it was that
wiped the stains from His brow when taken down from the cross. Now we are
the brothers of Jesus. He is not ashamed, says the Apostle, to call us His
brethren.(266) Neither is Mary ashamed to call us her children by
adoption. At the foot of the cross she adopted us in the person of St.
John. She is anxious to minister to our souls as she ministered to the
corporal wants of her Son. She would be the instrument of God in feeding
us with Divine grace, in clothing us with the garments of innocence, in
sheltering us from the storms of temptations, in wiping away the stains of
sin from our soul.
If the angels, though of a different nature from ours, have so much
sympathy for us as to rejoice in our conversion,(267) how great must be
the interest manifested toward us by Mary, who is of a common nature with
us, descended from the same primitive parents, being bone of our bone, and
flesh of our flesh, and who once trod the thorny path of life that we now
tread!
Though not of the household of the faith, Edgar A. Poe did not disdain to
invoke Our Lady’s intercession, and to acknowledge the influence of her
patronage in heaven.
“At morn—at noon—at twilight dim—
Maria! thou hast heard my hymn;
In joy and woe—in good and ill—
Mother of God, be with me still!
When the hours flew brightly by,
And not a cloud obscured the sky,
My soul, lest it should truant be,
Thy grace did guide to thine and thee;
Now, when storms of fate o’ercast
Darkly my present and my past,
Let my future radiant shine,
With sweet hopes of thee and thine.”
Some persons not only object to the invocation of Mary as being
unprofitable, but they even affect to be scandalized at the confidence we
repose in her intercession, on the groundless assumption that by praying
to her we ignore and dishonor God, and that we put the creature on a level
with the Creator.
Every Catholic child knows from the catechism that to give to any creature
the supreme honor due to God alone is idolatry. How can we be said to
dishonor God, or bring Him down to a level with His creature by invoking
Mary, since we acknowledge her to be a pure creature indebted like
ourselves to Him for every gift and influence that she possesses? This is
implied in the very form of our petitions.
When we address our prayers to her we say: _Pray for us sinners_, implying
by these words that she herself is a petitioner at the throne of Divine
mercy. To God we say: _Give us our daily bread_, thereby acknowledging Him
to be the source of all bounty.
This principle being kept in view, how can we be justly accused of
slighting God’s majesty by invoking the intercession of His handmaid?
If a beggar asks and receives alms from me through my servant, should I be
offended at the blessings which he invokes upon her? Far from it. I accept
them as intended for myself, because she bestowed what was mine, and with
my consent.
Our Lord says to His Apostles: “I dispose to you a kingdom, that you may
eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and may sit upon thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel.”(268) And St. Paul says: “Know you not that
we shall judge angels, how much more things of this world?”(269) If the
Apostles may sit at the table of the Lord in heaven without prejudice to
His majesty, surely Our Lady can stand as an advocate before Him without
infringing on His rights. If they can exercise the dread prerogative of
judges of angels and of men without trespassing on the Divine judgeship of
Jesus, surely Mary can fulfill the more modest function of intercessor
with her Son without intruding on His supreme mediatorship, for higher is
the office of judge than that of advocate. And yet, while no one is ever
startled at the power given to the Apostles, many are impatient of the
lesser privilege claimed for Mary.
III. Is It Lawful To Imitate Her As A Model?
But while the exalted privileges of Mary render her worthy of our
veneration, while her saintly influence renders her worthy of our
invocation, her personal life is constantly held up to us as a pattern
worthy of our imitation. If she occupies so prominent a place in our
pulpits, this prominence is less due to her prerogatives as a mother, or
to her intercession as a patroness, than to her example as a Saint.
After our Lord Jesus Christ, no one has ever exercised so salutary and so
dominant an influence as the Blessed Virgin on society, on the family and
on the individual.
The Mother of Jesus exercises throughout the Christian commonwealth that
hallowing influence which a good mother wields over the Christian family.
What temple or chapel, how rude soever it may be, is not adorned with a
painting or a statue of the Madonna? What house is not embellished with an
image of Mary? What Catholic child is a stranger to her familiar face?
The priest and the layman, the scholar and the illiterate, the prince and
the peasant, the mother and the maid, acknowledge her benign sway.
And if Christianity is so fruitful in comparison with Paganism, in
conjugal fidelity, in female purity and in the respect paid to womanhood,
these blessings are in no small measure due to the force of Mary’s
all-pervading influence and example. Ever since the Son of God chose a
woman to be His mother man looks up to woman with a homage akin to
veneration.
The poet Longfellow pays the following tribute to Mary’s sanctifying
influence:
“This is indeed the blessed Mary’s land,
Virgin and mother of our dear Redeemer!
All hearts are touched and softened at her name
Alike the bandit with the bloody hand,
The priest, the prince, the scholar and the peasant
The man of deeds, the visionary dreamer
Pay homage to her as one ever present!
And if our faith had given us nothing more
Than this example of all womanhood,
So mild, so merciful, so strong, so good,
So patient, peaceful, loyal, loving, pure,
This were enough to prove it higher and truer
Than all the creeds the world had known before.”(270)
St. Ambrose gives us the following beautiful picture of Mary’s life before
her espousals: “Let the life,” he says, “of the Blessed Mary be ever
present to you in which, as in a mirror, the beauty of chastity and the
form of virtue shine forth. She was a virgin not only in body, but in
mind, who never sullied the pure affection of her heart by unworthy
feelings. She was humble of heart, serious in her conversation, fonder of
reading than of speaking. She placed her confidence rather in the prayer
of the poor than in the uncertain riches of this world. She was ever
intent on her occupation, ... and accustomed to make God rather than man
the witness of her thoughts. She injured no one, wished well to all,
reverenced age, yielded not to envy, avoided all boasting, followed the
dictates of reason and loved virtue. When did she sadden her parents even
by a look?... There was nothing forward in her looks, bold in her words or
unbecoming in her actions. Her carriage was not abrupt, her gait not
indolent, her voice not petulant, so that her very appearance was the
picture of her mind and the figure of piety.”
Her life as a spouse and as a mother was a counterpart of her earlier
years. The Gospel relates one little circumstance which amply suffices to
demonstrate Mary’s super-eminent holiness of life, and to exhibit her as a
beautiful pattern to those who are called to rule a household. The
Evangelist tells us that Jesus “was subject to them”(271)—that is, to Mary
and Joseph. He obeyed all her commands, fulfilled her behests, complied
with her smallest injunctions; in a word, He discharged toward her all the
filial observances which a dutiful son exercises toward a prudent mother.
These relations continued from His childhood to His public life, nor did
they cease even then.
Now Jesus being the Son of God, “the brightness of His glory and the
figure of His substance,”(272) could not sin. He was incapable of
fulfilling an unrighteous precept. The obvious conclusion to be drawn from
these facts is, that Mary never sinned by commanding, as Jesus could not
sin by obeying; that all her precepts and counsels were stamped with the
seal of Divine approbation, and that the Son never fulfilled any
injunction of His earthly Mother which was not ratified by His Eternal
Father in heaven.
Such is the beautiful portrait which the Church holds up to the
contemplation of her children, that studying it they may admire the
original, admiring they may love, loving they may imitate, and thus become
more dear to God by being made “conformable to the image of His Son,”(273)
of whom Mary is the most perfect mirror.