THE Blessed Virgin Mary surpassed all the Angels and Saints in
perfection and merit; and of all creatures none as she was so pleasing
to God. Who, indeed, ever possessed so ardent a charity and so
profound a humility? Where shall we find humility equal to that which
appeared in Mary when, in answer to Elizabeth, she confessed that the
cause of her happiness was that the Lord had deigned to regard the
humility of His handmaid, and that therefore all generations should
call her blessed?--_Quia respexit humilitatem anciliae suae; ecce enim
ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generations_.
Many Doctors of the Church are of opinion that, when Mary said, 'the
Lord hath regarded the humility of His handmaid,' it was not her
intention to speak of her virtue of humility, because, although she
was profoundly humble, she did not believe herself to be so; but that
she thought only of her lowly state, her baseness, and abjection as a
creature of God, and of the nothingness from which she had been drawn.
There are others, however, who hold a contrary, and perhaps more
probable, opinion, and say that Our Lady intended to speak of her
virtue of humility, being well aware that it was this virtue that had
attracted Our Saviour to her chaste womb. We may well believe that
Mary was aware that she possessed this virtue, and that she had no
fear of losing it, being intimately persuaded that it was the effect
of the grace of God within her and not of her own merits.
Indeed, we find the great St. Paul acknowledging that he possessed the
virtue of charity, and in such decisive terms as would seem in others
presumptuous rather than humble. He writes: 'Who shall separate me
from the charity of Christ?'--_Quis me separabit a charitate Christi?_
'Shall tribulation, or distress, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger,
or persecution, or the sword? I am sure that neither death nor life
nor Angels shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.' See Rom. viii. 35-39.
Notice the confidence with which this great Apostle speaks when he
protests that there is no power in the world, or in hell, that is
capable of separating him from the charity of his God. He believed
that he possessed this virtue of charity; and in speaking thus he
confided entirely in grace, and in his own merits _by grace_. The
glorious Virgin knew well that the virtue of humility has more power
to attract the Heart of God to our hearts than all other virtues. The
Divine Spouse in the Canticles seems to signify this, when he
expresses his admiration for the beauty of the footsteps of his
beloved: _Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui in calceamentis, filia
principis!_--'How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O Prince's
daughter!' (Cant, vii. 1), and then enumerates her other beauties.
Judith did not captivate Holofernes so much by the rare beauty of her
countenance and the splendour of her attire as by her sandals, or her
shoes, which were probably embroidered with gold.
In like manner the Eternal Father, considering the variety of virtues
that adorned Our Lady, was in admiration of her beauty; but when He
cast His eyes upon her sandals He was so pleased that He sent His Only
Son to become Incarnate in her chaste womb. What is signified by these
sandals or shoes of Mary but her humility? These articles are the
least valuable part of our attire, and the soonest covered with dust.
Now, the spirit of true humility continually abases the souls who
possess it, and annihilates them in their own eyes, and keeps them
under the feet of everyone. Such is the property of this virtue of
humility, which is the foundation of the whole spiritual life. It was
this lowliness that the Lord looked upon in the Most Holy Virgin with
so much complacency, and this look of His formed her whole greatness:
_Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae, ecce enim ex hoc beatam me
dicent omnes generations_. All generations shall call her blessed
_because_ God had regarded her.
Whichever of the two significations given to these words: God hath
regarded _the humility of His Handmaid_ be accepted, we find that the
Holy Virgin always spoke with so much humility as to leave no doubt
whatever that she considered all her happiness to proceed from her
Lord having looked upon her lowliness. On this account the words of
the Spouse of the Canticles are applied to her: _Dum esset Rex in
accubitu suo nardus mea dedit odorem suum_--'While the King was at his
repose, my spikenard sent forth the odour thereof.' The plant on which
the spikenard grows does not grow up high like the cedars of Lebanon.
But lowly as it is, it delights all by the sweetness it diffuses
around. What a precious plant was the Most Holy Virgin, who never
sought to exalt herself, although enriched by God with the most signal
favours! She was always penetrated by the sense of her own abjection
and nothingness; and in virtue of this humility she spread around,
like the spikenard plant, so sweet a perfume that it ascended to the
Throne of the Divine Majesty, and attracted the Son of God to descend
and take flesh in her immaculate womb.
We see, then, how dear humility is to God! Our Saviour taught this
truth in His memorable reply to the woman who exclaimed aloud: _Beatus
venter qui Te portavit et ubera quae suxisti_--'Blessed is the womb
that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck.' 'Yea,' said Our
Lord, 'rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep
it'--_Quinimmo beati qui audiunt verbum Dei et custodiunt illud_. That
is to say: 'My Mother is indeed blessed on account of having borne Me
in her womb; but more blessed is she on account of the humility with
which she listened to the words of My Heavenly Father, and kept them.'
And this He again taught when He said that they who heard the Word of
God and practised it were to Him as His Mother and His Brethren.