THE UNION OF CHARITY AND HUMILITY IN THE HEART OF MARY AT THE
INCARNATION.
GOD is One; hence He loves unity and union, and hates all that is not
in accordance with this unity. The reason is this--that as He is
perfect in all His attributes, He must have a sovereign love for all
that is perfect, and unity is perfection. He must also be averse to
all disunion, because whatever is disunited is so far imperfect.
As then God wished to show us how dear to Him is union, He effected
three distinct modes of union in the Most Holy Virgin on the day of
His Incarnation.
Firstly, He united the Divine to the human nature; and so admirable
and sublime is this union, that it infinitely surpasses all that human
or angelic intelligence can comprehend. Nor could the Seraphim or
Cherubim have ever imagined anything so wonderful. Indeed, two
opposite extremes were to meet--the Divine Nature, which is essential
perfection, and human nature, the deepest misery: the contraries being
the greatest that can be conceived. Nevertheless, God in His Wisdom
and infinite Goodness was able to find a method of uniting the two
natures so intimately through His Incarnation in the womb of Our Lady
that in one Person man was made God and God became Man, without
disparagement to His Deity.
The second union was that of Maternity with Virginity. This certainly
is most admirable and beyond all the laws of nature. A virgin becomes
a mother, and remains still a virgin after maternity. This miraculous
and supernatural union could only be effected by the omnipotent hand
of God, Who granted this privilege to Mary; and as this union has been
effected in her alone, so she alone will be eternally both a Virgin
and a Mother, and the Mother of a Son Who is both God and Man.
The third union accomplished by God in our glorious Lady was that of
the most ardent charity with the most profound humility.
Reflect on these two virtues, and you will ask how it is possible that
charity can be united with humility, if the nature of one is to soar
on high, and that of the other to abase itself? Naturally, indeed, it
is impossible but God, Who is One, and Who loves and desires unity,
manifested the greatness of His power by uniting these two dissimilar
virtues in the soul of Mary.
In her, charity was so united to humility that one depended on the
other, and whilst her charity continues humble, her humility is ever
full of charity. Charity raised her soul above all creatures, and
humility abased it below them all, and yet the union of these two
virtues was continuous.
To what a high degree of humility and charity did not the Most Holy
Virgin attain at the moment of the Incarnation! Ponder her words to
the Archangel: _Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum_--
'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy
word.' No sooner did she hear herself proclaimed the Mother of God,
the Queen of Angels and of men, than she abased herself beneath all,
saying: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord!' This is a great act of
humility.
The Most Holy Virgin in that moment had so clear a knowledge of the
misery and nothingness of human nature, and of the infinite distance
between God and man, that, seeing herself raised above all creatures,
she abased herself beneath them all, considering her own nothingness
and the infinite greatness of God Who had chosen her for His Mother.
True it is, then, that Mary never humbled herself so profoundly as
when she pronounced these words: _Ecce ancilla Domini_--'Behold the
handmaid of the Lord!'
But see how the Most Blessed Virgin united the most perfect charity to
her humility when consenting to the proposal the Angel made her in the
Name of God: _Fiat mihi secundum verbum_--'Be it done unto me
according to Thy word'--were her words; and thus, by charity, she was
raised above the Cherubim and Seraphim, and at that very moment the
Eternal Son of God took flesh in her virginal womb, and she became His
Mother!
Let us learn from the example of Our Lady that humility does not
merely consist in diffidence in ourselves, but it must be accompanied
by confidence in God. This confidence in God is produced by this
diffidence in ourselves and in our own powers. This confidence is also
the source of generosity of soul, of which Our Blessed Lady gives an
example on this occasion when she says the words: 'Be it done unto me
according to Thy word.' It is true, would she say, that I am unworthy
of this grace, in regard to what I am only in myself; but as all that
is good in me is from God, and as that which you announce to me is His
Most Holy Will, I believe that it can and will be done, and,
therefore, let it be accomplished in me!
Humility conceals the virtues of a soul, in order the better to
preserve them; nevertheless, when charity requires, it allows them to
be known for their increase and perfection. Thus it resembles those
plants which close their beautiful flowers at night and open them only
when the sun is high, so that people speak of those flowers as
sleeping during the night. Humility, in the same way, conceals all our
virtues, and never allows them to appear, except for the exercise of
charity, which, being a celestial, Divine gift, not an acquired
virtue, is truly as a sun amidst all the virtues, and should always
rule over them. Hence the humility, which is prejudicial to charity,
is undoubtedly a false humility.