MARY IS A MODEL TO RELIGIOUS PERSONS IN HER PRESENTATION IN THE
TEMPLE. [1]
GOD had commanded all the Hebrews to visit the Temple, but all, rich
and poor, were forbidden to enter it empty-handed: _Non apparetis in
conspectu meo vacuus_. The offering, however, was not the same for
all. The rich were to give according to their riches, the poor
according to their poverty, and thus all were able to observe the
precept. From this we may understand that when seculars come to God
and offer Him the desire and will, they entertain to follow and
observe His Divine commandments. He will be satisfied with this
offering, and if they put it in practice faithfully, they will obtain
eternal life. But let those souls who are rich in means for doing
great things for the glory of God, such as religious persons, beware
lest they present themselves with the offering of the poor--that is,
of seculars; for God will not be satisfied with such an offering. Our
Lord, in calling you, my dear sisters, into Holy Religion, enriched
you with His graces, and on this account He requires much from you;
that is, He will have your offering to be of all that you are, and of
all that you possess, without any reserve.
The Blessed Virgin, in her Presentation, made an offering pleasing to
God; offered not only the dignity of her person (the most excellent
amongst pure creatures), but all that she possessed. How happy are the
Religious who, by means of their vows, have consecrated all to God,
dedicating to Him their bodies, their hearts, and all that they
possess; renouncing riches by the vow of poverty, pleasures by the vow
of chastity, and their whole will by the vow of obedience! Worldlings,
you may enjoy your riches if you will, but do not abuse them, nor
wrong anyone. The pleasures that Holy Church permits are lawful; you
are not prohibited in a thousand circumstances from following your own
will, provided it be not contrary to that of God. But you, Religious,
should offer all to God, without any reserve. He wishes your offering
to be entire, such as is the gift He makes to you of Himself in the
Divine Sacrament of the Altar. Forget not that you cannot deceive Him,
and if you say that you wish to consecrate yourselves perfectly to His
Divine Majesty, and do not really do so, you are in danger of being
punished like Ananias and Sapphira, who lied to the Holy Ghost.
Now, the Blessed Virgin was always perfectly obedient to the Will of
God, from the first instant of her conception, without ever changing
or suspending for a moment the resolution she had formed to serve Him.
Do we not daily experience how changeable is man in his good
resolutions? How often, even in one hour, do we not like and dislike
the same thing, and allow ourselves to be moved by excessive joy or
excessive sadness! This was not the case with Our Lady; she hourly
became more perfectly united to God, and merited fresh graces, and the
more she received, the more did she render her soul worthy to receive
them. By these means she was always strengthening her first
resolution, so that the only change that could have been perceptible
in her was the progress she made from one degree of perfection to
another, through the practice of every virtue. It was for this purpose
that she wished to retire into the Temple, not through any need she
had of this retreat, for her perseverance was assured by her
consecration at the first moment of her existence, but in order to
instruct us, who are so changeable and inconstant, that it is our duty
to make use of every means in our power to strengthen and preserve our
good resolutions.
Imitate the Most Holy Virgin also in this. Dedicate, therefore,
yourselves entirely to God; and whenever you renew your consecration,
you will acquire new strength and vigour in the service of His Divine
Majesty. Renew your resolutions, renew them frequently and with
fidelity, to the end of your life. This was the careful practice of
all the Saints of both the Old and of the New Testament. Our nature is
of itself weak and easily depressed when there is a question of
virtuous resolutions. The earth itself has its periods of weakness,
and refuses to be always yielding its produce; so it lies barren in
winter. But when the spring arrives it renews itself, and having
recovered fresh vigour, it gives us the benefit of its fruits.
For this reason Holy Church, like a wise Mother, puts before us from
time to time, during the course of the year, special festivals, to
animate us to renew our good resolutions. Who will not renew his soul
on the solemn festivals of Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, by holy
affections and firm resolutions to live more virtuously? But besides
the observance of all these festivals, it has ever been a laudable
custom for persons more especially consecrated to God, such as
Religious, to choose one day in particular during the course of the
year upon which to renew their vows, and by so doing to obey the great
Apostle, who counsels us to confirm our vocation.
Divine Providence has permitted for our instruction, that Our Lady
should renew in her Presentation the sacrifice which she had made of
her whole self at the moment of her Immaculate Conception. Do you,
then, religious souls, make this renewal in imitation of her, and do
it with great fervour of spirit, with profound humility, and ardent
charity. Place your hearts, your souls, and your entire being in the
hands of this Holy Virgin; she will present you to the Most Holy
Trinity, and you will obtain a thousand blessings in this life, and
will be enabled to arrive at eternal glory in the next.
[1] It is an ancient and well-grounded tradition that Mary was led to
the Temple to be presented to the Lord at three years of age, and that
she dwelt in that sacred abode until the age of fourteen that is to
say, as long as was permitted by the laws of the Sanhedrim. St.
Bonaventure relates to us the life led by the Most Holy Virgin in that
voluntary retirement. 'We may learn,' says this Father, 'what Mary did
in the Temple from her own revelations to one of her faithful
servants, supposed to be St. Elizabeth.' Amongst other things we read
as follows: 'As soon as I was left in the Temple by my parents, I
determined in my heart to look upon God as my Father. I often
considered what I could do to merit His grace, and I began to instruct
myself in His holy law. But of all the Divine precepts, these three
principally occupied my attention: (1) Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with thy whole heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength; (2) thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; (3) thou shalt
hate thy enemy.
'I kept the commandments in my heart, and I quietly embraced all the
virtues that they contain. It is thus that I wish you to conduct
yourself. In fact, the soul can possess no virtue whatever if it do
not love God with all its powers, because it is from this love alone
that the fulness of grace (without which virtue will never be
preserved in the soul) descends to us; but it will pass like running
water and vanish if the _soul hates not its enemies_, which are _sin
and vice_. He who desires to acquire and preserve grace must accustom
his heart, then, to the exercise of this love and of this hatred, and
it is in this that I wish to be imitated by you.'
The faithful servant of Mary, having heard these words, replied: 'My
sweetest Lady, wast thou not already full of grace and virtue?' The
Blessed Virgin replied: 'Be certain that I believed myself to be the
vilest sinner, and, like you, unworthy of grace. You perhaps believe,
my daughter, that all the grace which I possessed was acquired without
difficulty. But it was not so. On the contrary, I received no grace or
favour without constant prayer, ardent desire, deep devotion, and many
tears, with long afflictions, excepting, however, the grace of
sanctification, which was given to me from my conception in my
mother's womb, and, as far as I knew, I never said or thought of
anything but what was pleasing to my God.' She added: 'Be assured also
that no grace descends into the soul, except through the channel of
prayer and corporal mortification. But as soon as we have given to God
all that we possess, He Himself comes quickly to dwell within us,
bringing with Him such inestimable gifts that the soul feels her heart
to fail; she loses the remembrance of having ever done or said
anything acceptable to God, and she becomes more and more vile and
contemptible in her own eyes.'--_Maria Regina e Madre Dei Santi_, by
l'Abate Guyard, Vic. Gen. of Montalbano.