Part three, Chapter 11: Mary's Heart, the Harp of King David

Mary's Heart, the Harp of King David

THE mysterious harp of King David, mentioned in several passages of Sacred Scripture, is another symbolic picture of the Holy Heart of Mary. it is an excellent representation because her pure Heart was indeed the harp of the true David, namely Our Lord Jesus Christ. He fashioned it with His own bands; He alone always possessed it. No other fingers but His ever evoked its melodies, because her virginal Heart never vibrated with sentiments, affections or impulses other than those inspired by the Holy Ghost.

The strings of this royal harp are the virtues of Mary's Heart, especially her faith, hope, love of God, charity towards her neighbor, religion, humility, purity, obedience, patience, mercy, hatred of sin, love of the cross. On these twelve strings the Divine Spirit played with wondrous harmony melodious canticles of love which so greatly charmed the ears of the Eternal Father that He forgot His anger against sinners, He laid aside the thunderbolts wherewith He vowed to destroy mankind and gave His own Son to be the Saviour of humanity.

Sacred Scripture tells us that King David employed his harp specially on four great occasions and we we Jesus, the Son of David, using His mystical harp to accomplish four infinitely greater achievements.

In the first instance, David, the man of God, by the mere sound of his harp, put to flight the evil spirit which possessed Saul. Similarly, the new David used the Heart of His loving Mother as a sublime harp and consequently freed by its divine music the human race that grovelled under the evil dominion of Satan.

The prophet David also employed His harp to sing many psalms and canticles to the honor and glory of God, Our true David, likewise, sang with His instrument five types of canticles in praise of the Most Blessed Trinity. The first were canticles of love, the strongest, purest, most perfect love that ever was or shall be. The second were canticles of praise and than~thanksgiving for the benefits of divine goodness on behalf of all creatures, for the Blessed Virgin Mary did not limit herself to thanking

God for the infinite favors she received from His hand, but she praised Him unceasingly for the graces He pours on all created beings. The third were canticles of sorrow, of anguish and bereavement at the time of the sufferings and death of her beloved Son. The fourth were canticles of triumph for all the victories won by herself as general of the great King's armies over His enemies and, we may truly say, over Himself, having so often disarmed divine vengeance when it stood ready to destroy the world and punish its innumerable crimes. The fifth were canticles of prophecy to announce the great designs of God for the future, many of which were foretold by the Queen of Prophets in the wonderful canticle she composed when greeting her cousin St. Elizabeth.

The third purpose for which King David used his harp was to praise God and especially to praise Him with joy. In like manner, Christ the second David, not only attuned His holy Mother's Heart to praise and bless His divine Majesty in every way, but He also induced Mary to seek her joy and bliss exclusively in His praises, and in all the acts she performed for His glory and in His service.

King David chose as the fourth function of his harp to excite and attract other men to the praise of God, with hearts full of joy and gladness Eke his own. So too Christ the King attracts innumerable souls to the love and praise of His heavenly Father by the sweet sound of His precious harp, that is, by means of the blessed Heart of His glorious Mother. 'The extraordinary virtues of her vibrant Heart resound so loudly and harmoniously throughout the entire Christian Church that numberless persons of all ranks and conditions find themselves urged to imitate the perfections which adorn it, thus beginning to carry out on earth what the angels and saints achieve in Heaven. I n other words, they place their entire contentment and felicity in all that concerns the sovereign Monarch in Heaven and earth.

Another point worthy of special mention is that Christ, our adorable David, possesses many other harps given to Him by the Eternal Father to satisfy His boundless desire to hear the praise of God unceasingly in every place, at every time, in all things and in every way.

His first and sovereign harp is His own Sacred Heart. It is this harp that He speaks of when He says: "I will sing to thee with the harp, thou holy one of Israel." (1) On this harp, in fact, He sang continually during His mortal life on earth, and will forever sing in the glory of heaven a thousand canticles of love, praise and thanksgiving to His heavenly Father, in His own home as well as in the name of all His members and of all creatures God has made. But the love that inspires these canticles (1). Ps. 70, 22.

is infinitely higher, their song is immeasurably holier than those of the canticles He sings on His second harp, which we have just described, namely the Heart of His peerless Mother.

These two Hearts and these two Harps are nevertheless so closely attuned that in a certain sense they constitute one single harp, vibrating in unison, giving forth but one sound and one song, singing the same canticle of love. If the first sounds a canticle of praise, the second echoes it with its own chords. If the Heart of Jesus loves God the Father, Mary's Heart unites in that love; if the Heart of Jesus pours itself out in thanksgiving before the Most Holy Trinity, Mary's Heart sings an identical hymn of gratitude. The Heart of Mary loves and hates all that the Heart of Jesus loves and hates. What rejoices the Son's Heart rejoices the Heart of the Mother as well; what crucifies the Heart of the Son likewise nails the Mother's Heart to the Cross. "Jesus and Mary," says St. Augustine, "were two mystical harps. What sounded on the one, also sounded on the other, even though no one touched it. When Jesus was in sorrow, Mary was in sorrow; when Jesus was crucified, Mary was crucified." (2)

The Eternal Father gave His Divine Son innumerable other harps, namely, the hearts of all the angels and saints, on which to praise and glorify His Almighty Father while they were pilgrims on earth, and forever to praise and glorify Him in blissful eternity. All the glory, honor and praise that ever was or will be rendered to God the Father by the angels and saints was and will be rendered through His Divine Son, Jesus Christ. "By Him, and with Him, and in Him, is to thee, God the Father Almighty, all honor and glory." These are the harps mentioned in several passages of the Apocalypse,(3) where St. John tells us that God permitted him to behold the Saints all holding harps on which they sang many canticles i n honor of the Lamb of God. But a learned author,(4) in his commentaries on the Apocalypse notices a striking difference between these harps and the harp of the Mother of God. The former, while on earth, were often discordant, because of human weakness and frailty, and they sometimes wearied of praising God; hence it was necessary to tune them from time to time and urge them to do their duty. The harp of the Queen of all Saints, on the other hand, never suffered any weakening or interruption in its song, having praised and glorified the Most Blessed Trinity with a changeless love and the most perfect harmony. Hence Viegas says that Our Lady did not exclaim, as t hough exhorting herself: Magnificat, anima mea, (2). Serm,. de Pass. Dom. (3). Apoc. 5, 8; 14, 2; 15, 2 (4). Viegas, in Apoc.

Dominum, but Magnificat "anima mea Dominum; (5 ) not "0 my soul, magnify the Lord," but " M y soul cloth magnify the Lord." The Eternal Father has given His Beloved Son yet another harp, which like the hearts of all Christians is meant to chant the praises of His Holy Name, and this harp is your own heart. Beware lest you follow the miserable example of those who take away from Christ the hearts given to Him by the Heavenly Father and purchased by His Precious Blood. Unlike an ordinary instrument, the harp of your heart cannot remain silent. It must be played either by the hand of God or by the hand of the devil. Either it will sing the divine canticles of Our Lady and of the saints, or it will echo the cursed and unhappy songs of the worldlings here below in dishonour to God its Maker, and vibrate eternally with the blasphemies and horrid dirges of the damned in hell.

To make your heart. a harp of Our Saviour, the true David, you must pluck out the strings of vice and replace them with the strings of virtue, which must be set in tune with the peace and charity of the hearts of your fellow- men. Sound your harp in unison with the inspired paeans of true Christians, of the angelic host and of the saints, above all with the sublime Harp of the Heart of Mary, Queen of all saints, joining in the chorus of praise Rod love of Almighty God, led by the Royal Harpist, Our Lord, "singing with one voice: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts." (5). Luke 1, 46. 79-