WE read in the Gospel that the Angel Gabriel visited Our Lady in the
town of Nazareth; and, as the word 'Nazareth' signifies 'flowers,'
well is the Church represented in this town! What, in fact, is the
Church but a house or a town adorned with flowers? All actions
performed according to her laws are as so many flowers.
Mortifications, humiliations, prayers--in short, all pious exercises
are acts of virtue, which, like most beautiful flowers, diffuse a
pleasing fragrance before God. Most justly, then, may we call the
Christian religion a garden of flowers, that are delightful to the
sight and most salutary to those who breathe the air impregnated by
their fragrance. Our Lady herself was a flower distinguished for
beauty and excellence above all other flowers--a flower of
incomparable fragrance, possessed of the power of producing many other
flowers: _Hortus conclusus, soror mea, sponsa--'Thou,'_ says the
sacred Spouse in the Canticles, _'art a garden enclosed:'_ a garden
all studded with the most magnificent flowers that can be produced.
Now, tell me to whom belong so many charming and sweet-scented
flowers, with which the Church is so gloriously adorned, but to the
Most Holy Virgin, since they were produced by her example? It is
through her that Holy Church is so well furnished with roses in the
martyrs who were invincible in their constancy; with every kind of
flower, in the confessors who were nursed in her bosom; and with sweet
violets, in so many holy widows, who lowly, humble, and hidden,
diffuse the most odoriferous sweetness. In fine, is it indeed not to
her that belong, in a special manner, so many lilies of purity and
spotless virginity, innocent souls, bright and clear as a resplendent
mirror? There can be no doubt, that if so many virgins have
consecrated their hearts and bodies to His Divine Majesty, by
indissoluble vows, it was that they might imitate the example of the
Most Holy Virgin.
She was the first to consecrate her body, her heart, and her whole
self to God, by the vow of virginity. Hardly had she been _drawn_ by
God than she quickly drew after her a large number of souls who
consecrated themselves to God in like manner, under her sacred
auspices, in order that they might run in the way of inviolable
chastity and virginity: _Adducentur regi virgines post eam_. You,
beloved souls, were seen by the glorious Virgin, when she exclaimed:
_Curremus--'We shall run,_ thus assuring her Beloved that many would
follow her standard, and that under her protection they might combat
and vanquish every kind of enemy.
What an honour for us to be able to walk under the standard of the
Queen of Virgins! Our Lady is undoubtedly the honour, the Protectress,
and model of all Christians, of men and women of all classes who live
virtuously; yet, undoubtedly, young virgins contract by their
virginity a closer alliance with her than other Christians, for their
resemblance to her in purity enables them more easily and more closely
to approach her. [1]
It is said that when the Angel came down from heaven to venerate the
spotless Virgin, and announce to her the Incarnation of the Son of God
in her most chaste womb, she was alone in her room. Faithful souls are
here instructed to have a love of retirement from the world, but this
is not enough; they ought also to retire within themselves that they
may lead a solitary life, and thus render themselves better prepared
to enjoy the conversation of their Beloved. Each should look upon his
heart as a celestial cabinet where he lives alone with Him. O faithful
souls, if you conceal yourselves thus, the Angels will know how to
find you, as the Archangel Gabriel found Mary because she was alone.
Nothing should be so pleasing to holy virgins and to true Religious as
this state of withdrawal, because they then contemplate better the
beauty of their Divine Spouse dwelling in the depths of their hearts.
On this account the Psalmist said that 'All the beauty of the King's
Daughter is within'--_Omnis gloria filiae regis ab intus_. The
greatest diligence is necessary to preserve and increase this interior
beauty, and at the same time to guard it continually from everything
that could tarnish it, remembering that although men see only the
exterior, the Divine Spouse penetrates into the inmost recesses of the
heart. This is the motive which induces the loving spouse (I speak of
a soul consecrated to the Divine service, in order to please God
alone), to live retired within her own heart, and thus prepare an
acceptable abode for His Divine Majesty. It is on this account that
solitude is so much recommended to religious persons; its utility is
seen by the diligence with which Our Lady practised it, and which
merited for her the sublime privilege of being chosen to be the Mother
of God!
Our Lord being the only rest of those who have abandoned all worldly
cares in order to listen to Him speaking to their hearts in solitude,
it follows that if they do not attend to the interior word of Jesus
Christ that solitude becomes a long martyrdom to them. Instead of
being the habitation of peace and tranquillity their solitude is a
cause of sadness and disquiet.
Those who lead like Martha a life of great activity may still enjoy
the tranquillity of Mary, if they are careful to refer all their works
to God: this _one aim_ being _the eye which touches the heart of the
Divine Spouse_. In order not to lose the security of our habitation,
we must seek it, not so much in a _cell_, as in _God Himself_. Thrice
happy are they who dwell in this House, which not only belongs to God,
but is God Himself, for He will be their abiding rest throughout ages
of ages.
[1] _It is the opinion of a Doctor of the Church that the Holy Virgin
Mary instituted some congregations of young girls, and that when she
lived at Ephesus with the Apostle St. John she gave rules and
constitutions to one of them. How happy were those Religious to have
been instituted by the Queen of Doctors, who gathered her wisdom from
her Son, who is the Wisdom of the Eternal Father!_--'Month of Mary.'
_St. Francis of Sales._