Part eight (*), Chapter V1: Heart of Mary, Empire of the Divine Will

Heart of Mary, Empire of the Divine Will

AFTER the most amiable Heart of Jesus there never was nor will be, in Heaven or on earth, any heart where the adorable will of God reigns so perfectly and gloriously as in the admirable Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In the first place, the glorious Virgin always esteemed and revered the Divine Will as her origin and principle, the source of her being and her life, to which she constantly referred her use of thew gifts as to their first cause.

Secondly, she considered and honored. the Divine Will as her last end and as the center of her existence, knowing full well that she existed in the world only to accomplish and do the Creator's Will in all things. To this end all her thoughts, words and actions were directed, and in this amiable center her pure Heart exclusively sought and found its sovereign contentment and complete rest.

Thirdly, Mary considered and respected the Divine Will as ruler and sovereign, whose every order was so dear and precious, that she would have preferred a thousand deaths to the slightest disobedicnce.

Fourthly, Our Lady considered and loved God's holy Win as her true Paradise, where she found sublime delights, because not only did she desire everything that God ordained, but she willed her acceptance in the manner most pleasing to Him. Hence, as God Himself derives infinite pleasure from the operation of His decrees, so did our heavenly Virgin receive the greatest joy and happiness from her faithful fulfilment of the Divine Will.

Fifthly, Mary considered God's holy Will not only in itself, but also manifested in the will of SL Joseph, her most worthy Spouse, in die edicts of the pagan emperor Augustus, in the whole Mosaic law, and in every disposition of divine Providence towards her Divine Son, herself and all other creatures. She loved the most holy Will of God in all these aspects, and subjected herself as lovingly as when she considered it directly in its essence.

The sixth illustration of the perfect reign of the Divine Will in Mary's

Heart is shown by the fact that, although this incomparable Virgin owed obedience to none save God Himself, and while as Mother of God and Queen of Heaven and earth she held sovereign sway over all creatures, she nevertheless practiced very faithfully what the Holy Ghost was to teach later on through St. Peter: "Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God's sake," (1) Mary was, in fact, always ready to yield not only to her superiors, but to her equals and even her inferiors, preferring the will of others to her own, whenever it was not contrary to the good pleasure of Almighty God.

What else shall I say? I may add that the most pure Virgin's love for the sweet Will of God was so intense, that it truly constituted the soul of her soul, the spirit of her spirit and the heart of her heart. This spirit and heart caused her to live a heavenly life, animated every power of her soul and all her interior and exterior senses, was the principle of all her actions, and inspired her to loving acceptance of all her afaictions.

I hear my Saviour tell us: "I came down from Heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me." and "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me that I may perfect His work." (2) The Blessed Mother can indeed truly repeat after Him: "I am in the world only to do the will of my Creator and I find my supreme pleasure in its constant fulfilment." We read in the works of St. Gertrude that one day she made the following request of her divine Spouse: "I ask, dear Lord, and I desire with all my heart that thy most praiseworthy Will be accomplished in me and in all thy creatures, in the manner most pleasing to thee." (3) If Saint Gertrude possessed such great love for the Will of her divine Spouse, what shall we say, what can we think of the Queen of all saints, whose love for the Will of Him who is her God, her Creator, her Saviour, her Brother, her Son, her Father and her Spouse, was greater than the love of all angels and men together?

We can certainly say that Mary's incomparable love of the Divine Will formed her and identified her with it. Hence God could well say to her first of all what He says of His Church through the Prophet Isaias: "Thou shalt be called my pleasure" (4) which is equivalent to saying: Thou art m y Heart, my love, my Bride, my beloved in whom I am delighted and well pleased; because thy love for my Divine Will is so great that thou art identified with it. (1). 1 Peter, 2, 13. (2). John 6, 38; 4, 34 (3). Legat. div. piet. lib. 3, cap. 11. (4). Isa. 62, 4.

Finally, the adorable Will dwelt in the Blessed Virgin's holy Heart as in its own home, holding its keys as uncontested Master. God's Holy Will dwelt there as in its kingdom, enjoying complete and sovereign sway. Mary's blessed Heart was the triumphal car of the Divine Will bearing atriumph over all its enemies. It was the Heaven of the glory of God's Eternal Will, a paradise where everything was subject to its orders, nothing contrary to it, and all things were consecrated to its praise and worship.

Mary's obedience to God's adorable Will caused Mary to utter the divine Fiat, more admirable, in a way, than the Fiat whereby God created the universe. God's Fiat created the world, but Mary's Fiat was the oc. casion by which God became man and man, God. St Bernard says: "We were all created by God's eternal word, and behold we die; in thy brief answer, namely, Fiat, we find a new being and are called back to life." (5) "I dare affirm of the Blessed Virgin," writes St. Anselm, "what St. John has said of the eternal Word; namely, that as nothing was made without Him, so also nothing was made without her. The great God accomplishes more through the Blessed Virgin's Fiat than through His own. Why? Because God's Fiat was a Fiat of command, whereas the Blessed Virgin's Fiat was a Fiat of obedience." (6)

What greater praise could be pronounced concerning the obedience to be glorious Mother of our Saviour? How admirablel "Nothing is made save through Mary's hands," says St. Bernard, "and God Himself be. came man only after that admirable Virgin had said Fiat." I&t us harken also to St. Andrew of Jerusalem, who says: "God or. dered light to be, and all things are made. The Blessed Virgin says: Be it done unto me according to Thy word, and the greatest of all things was accomplished. God's Fiat is a Fiat of command; the Fiat of the Mother of God is a Fiat of obedience. By God's command heaven and earth were made: by the Blessed Virgin's obedience, the admirable in. carnation of the eternal Word followed." (7)

The final act of submission and obedience to the Divine Will that sprang from holy Mary's maternal Heart was her consent to that adorable Will concerning the Passion and death of her beloved Son. This consent she gave with such wonderful obedience, that if such had been (5). Homil. 4 sup. Miss. est (6). De Excel. Virg. cap. 11. (7). Dixit Deus: Fiat lax et facta est lax, fiat firmamentum, ceteraque et facta sunt. Dixit Virgo: Fia mihi secundum verbum tuum, et factum est opus omnium maximum. Dei fiat secutum est caelum operaque reliqua, quae caeli ambitus complectitur. Obedientis Virginis fiat secuta est admiranda divini Verbi incarnatio. Serm. de Assumpt. B. V.

the Eternal Father's Will, she would have been as ready to crucify and sacrifice Christ with her own hands, even as Abraham prepared to sacrifice his only son Isaac, yet with incomparably greater love and obedience.

Thus the Divine Will ever reigned in the most Holy Heart of the Queen of Heaven, and thus will it ever be. May we riot truly say, therefore, that adorable Will of the Almighty possesses her admirable Heart more mightily, more magnificently and more gloriously by far than all other h than ever were or shall be in Heaven and on earth? It pos,,sses =te authority and power over Mary's Heart, where it will reign forever, where it will eternally receive the veneration, homage and adoration of all the angels and saints.

Infinite and eternal glory, then, to that adorable Will for all the marvels it has ever wrought in the pure Heart of the Mother of God! Unending praise and thanksgiving be to her most admirable Heart for all the love and honor that its most perfect submission and obedience have ever tendered and shall forever render to the adorable Will of the Heavenly Father! 240-