OF THE OBEDIENCE OF MARY.
It was through the affection which Mary bore to the virtue of obedience,
that when the annunciation was made to her by St. Gabriel, she did not
wish to call herself by any other name than that of handmaid: Behold the
handmaid of the Lord: “Ecce ancilla Domini.” Indeed, says St. Thomas of
Villanova, this faithful handmaid neither in act, word, nor thought,
ever disobeyed the Lord, but, divested of all self-will, she always,
and in all things, lived obedient to the divine will.[1688] She herself
declared that God was pleased with her obedience when she said: He
regarded the humility of his handmaid: “Respexit humilitatem ancillæ
suæ;”[1689] for this is the humility of a servant, to be always prompt
to obey. St. Augustine says, that the divine mother remedied by her
obedience the evil that Eve had caused by her disobedience.[1690] The
obedience of Mary was far more perfect than that of all the other saints,
for all men being inclined to evil through original sin, they all feel
difficulty in doing right; but not so the blessed Virgin; for as St.
Bernardine says: Because she was free from original sin, there was in her
no hindrance in obeying God, but she was like a wheel readily moved at
every divine breath;[1691] hence her only occupation on this earth, as
the same saint expresses it, was to discover and do what was pleasing to
God.[1692] Of her it was said: My soul melted when he spoke: “Anima mea
liquefacta est, ut dilectus meus locutus est.”[1693] Commenting on this
passage, Richard says that the soul of Mary was like metal in a state of
fusion, ready to take any form that was pleasing to God.[1694]
Mary proved indeed the readiness of her obedience, in the first place,
when, in order to please God, she was willing even to obey the Roman
emperor, and made the journey, fifty miles, to Bethlehem, in winter,
being pregnant, and so poor that she was obliged to bring forth her Son
in a stable. She was also ready at the notice of St. Joseph, to set out
immediately on that very night upon the longer and more difficult journey
into Egypt. And Silveira asks why the command to fly into Egypt was given
to St. Joseph and not to the blessed Virgin, who was to suffer the most
from the journey? And he answers: Lest the Virgin should be deprived of
an opportunity for performing an act of obedience for which she was most
ready.[1695] But above all, she showed her heroic obedience, when, in
order to obey the divine will, she offered her Son to death with so much
firmness that, as St. Ildephonsus says, she would have been ready to
crucify him, if executioners had been wanting.[1696] Hence the venerable
Bede, commenting on those words of the Redeemer to that woman in the
Gospel who exclaimed: “Blessed is the womb that bore thee:” “Yea, rather,
blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it,”[1697] says, that
Mary was more happy through obedience to the divine will, than in being
the mother of God himself.[1698]
For this reason it is, that those who love obedience are very pleasing
to the Virgin. She appeared once to a religious, a Franciscan, named
Accorso, in his cell, who being called by obedience to go and hear the
confession of a sick person, went out, but when he returned he found
Mary waiting for him, and she greatly praised his obedience. As, on the
other hand, she greatly blamed another religious, who, when the bell
had summoned him to the refectory, delayed in order to finish certain
devotions.[1699] The Virgin, speaking to St. Bridget of the security
found in obeying a spiritual father, said: Obedience has brought all the
saints to glory: “Obedientia omnes introducit ad gloriam.”[1700] St.
Philip Neri also says, that God requires no account of things done in
obedience, having himself declared: “He that heareth you, heareth me;
and he that despiseth you, despiseth me.”[1701] The mother of God herself
revealed to St. Bridget, that through the merit of her obedience she
had obtained from the Lord that all penitent sinners who have recourse
to her, should be pardoned.[1702] Ah, our queen and mother, pray Jesus
for us, obtain for us through the merit of thy obedience that we may be
faithful in obeying his will, and the commands of our spiritual fathers.
Amen.