Meditation: The Choice of a State of Life: Conformity to the Holy Will of God in the Choice (11): Simplicity of Mary During her Childhood

Simplicity of Mary During her Childhood

The virtue of Christian simplicity is most pleasing to God. The divine Word assures us that He takes His pleasure and delight in those who walk in simplicity before His Countenance: "His will is i n them that walk sincerely" (Prov: 11, 20). This virtue shuns multiplicity in thoughts, desires, affections, words and actions, and employs all the exertions of the soul, mind and heart in pleasing God. It causes moderation in speech, it eliminates useless actions which serve to dissipate the mind and distract the heart from Him who should be the only object of its thoughts and affections.

Simplicity detests that curiosity which is eager to see, to hear and to know things that are not at all necessary to render it more pleasing to God. It is the sworn enemy of duplicity, artifice and disguise, of lying and deceit. It causes the soul to pursue the straight road of candor, frankness and dove-like sincerity, turning neither to the right nor the left. It chooses by preference simple and plain taste in eating, speaking, walking and dressing, and has a horror of the novel fashions of the world, which are vain and frivolous.

To what an eminent degree this holy simplicity adorned our amiable Mary! The Holy S pirit says of her. "Thy eyes are as those of doves" (Cant. 1, 14)

Give thanks to God for the glory tendered Him by this most Holy maiden in her practice of the virtue of shining simplicity.

Our Obligation to Imitate the Innocence and

Simplicity of Mary

Adore the designs of the Son of God towards you when He pronounced these words: "Be ye therefore as wise as serpents and simple as doves" (Matt. 10, 16). For you were present before His eyes, He bore you in His mind and in His heart, which was filled with ardent desire to behold you adorned with simplicity for the glory of His Father and the salvation of your soul.

Endeavor to acquire this virtue. Examine your failure to observe simplicity in your intentions, desires and affections; by excess in words; by curiosity of the eyes, ears and mind; by artifice, lying and deceit; by aversion to simple food, clothing, lodging or furniture; by your inclination to follow worldly vanities. All these vanities are opposed to the spirit of the Blessed Virgin Ask pardon for all your faults and promise to eliminate all that is contrary to Christian simplicity. Imitate the simplicity of your heavenly Queen, that you may be of the number of those whom St. Paul calls the simple children of God, who are without reproach (Phil. 2, 15), in whom He delights. You may repeat: "For our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity of heart and sincerity of God, and not in carnal wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conversed i n this world" (2 Cor. 1, 12).

Ejaculatory prayer: "(Be) blameless, and sincere children of God." Simplices filii Dei (Phil. 2, 15)

214-

The Humility of the Blessed Virgin

in Her Admirable Childhood

Why God Loves Humility

THERE are three reasons why God loves humility and hates presumption, pride and ambition.

God, who is the essential Truth, loves truth. He hates lying because it is the enemy of truth. As truth and humility are one, so pride and falsehood are one.

Humility is simply a lowly opinion of ourselves and true consciousness of our own misery and nothingness. It is only the truth to assert that we are nothing but sin and misery. What is pride but a high esteem of ourselves in the belief that we are something, which belief is only falsehood and deceit? "For if any man think himself to be some thing, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself," says St. Paul (Gal. 6, 3) - God who is infinite Justice, hates injustice as the enemy of justice and, consequently, His own enemy. Humility is that justice which renders to God the honor and glory which are His due, and pride is that injustice which robs God of His glory to attribute it to self.

Idolatry is an abomination in the sight of God for it renders to creature the sovereign honor due to God alone; the virtue of religion is loved by God because it renders Him His due. Now, pride causes the sinner to make an idol of self, and put himself in God's place, since he prefers himself to God when his own interests, his satisfactions, his own will and desires are at stake. But, God loves humility, inasmuch as it is animated by the spirit of religion, which refers to God the honor and glory of all things.

Adore in the heart of the great God His infinite love for humility and His hatred of pride. Beg Him to enkindle in your heart some portion of His love for humility and His detestation of pride.

Humility of Mary During her Childhood

God inspired in the heart of the pure Virgin Mary His own intense love for humility, and abhorrence of pride. She possessed, even from her infancy, a far greater horror of pride and ambition, and a far deeper love for humility than did all the saints together. It was the first virtue that she practised. She abased and humbled herself before all. She esteemed herself, and would have been happy to be treated by others, as the last of all creatures.

By the marvelous radiance of her Immaculate Conception, she beheld herself susceptible to the guilt of the children of Adam, except that God miraculously preserved her, and she considered that she might have been capable of all the sins in the world, whose source is original sin.

It was this humility which attracted to her the countless graces which rendered her worthy to be the Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth. Give thanks to Almighty God who resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, and offer Him all the glory that this maiden accorded to His majesty by her practice of richest humility during her childhood and throughout the rest of her life.

Our Need of Humility

The practice of humility is not only a counsel of perfection but also a precept of obligation, since our Saviour Himself has declared that unless we become little and humble as children, we shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18, 3)

Consider the frightful castigation the just anger of God has hurled upon the apostate angels, upon Core, Dathan and Abiron and many other proud persons. This realization should help us to hate pride,

which is so detestable before God. On the other hand, consider the prodigious humility of our Saviour, of His Blessed Mother and of all the Saints.

Excite in yourself a true desire to practise this virtue and to shun its opposite. Examine well your thoughts, desires, affections, your words and actions, to see if they reveal anything contrary to humility. See what esteem you hold for yourself, what motives actuate you, how you bear humiliations and corrections, how you react to honor and praise. See if you love to speak about yourself and to your own advantage, if you obey without murmuring, if you prefer yourself to others or indulge in envy of them, if you perform your actions to gain applause and esteem, if you are vain and worldly in your choice of clothing and lodging.

Humble yourself profoundly before God at sight of all the faults of which you have been guilty. Beg Our Lord and His Holy Mother to repair them. Offer to the Eternal Father the glorious honor of their profound humility. Take a strong resolution for the future to guard yourself against pride and to practise this counsel of the Holy Ghost: "Humble thyself in all things: and thou shalt find grace before God: for ... he is honored by the humble" (Ecclus. 3, 20-20 Ejaculatory prayer:

"Humble thyself in all things: and thou shalt find grace before God." Humilia te in omnibus, et coram Deo invenies gratiam (Ecclus. 3 , 2 0 ) .

217-

The Obedience of the Blessed Virgin Mary

in Her Admirable Childhood

Submission of the Blessed Virgin to God's Will

WE HAVE been placed in the world for one purpose only, to do God's will. This is our first beginning and our last end, and consequently our sovereign good. In His holy will as in our centre, we ought to find repose of mind, peace of heart, our perfect felicity and true paradise. As our own will is opposed to the will of God, we should regard and hate it as His sworn enemy and our own foe. We should treat self-will as a beast of prey, a ravening wolf, a ferocious lioness, the source of hell, for without i t there would be no hell. It is the mother of all the abominations of the earth. Self-will is a venomous serpent, a detestable homicide that kills body and soul at the same time, an execrable deicide that kills God insofar as it is able.

Our blessed Lady, by the light of her incomparable grace, saw clearly this monster of self - will and renounced it utterly, although she was not corrupted nor depraved by sin as we are. She united herself inseparably to the divine will, seeking all her glory and contentment and joy i n following it everywhere and in all things, with entire submission and perfect obedience.

Let us praise Almighty God for having given her this grace, and offer to His Divine Majesty all the glory she rendered Him by the practice of obedience, in reparation for our rebellion against God and our disobedience to the divine will.

Obedience of the Blessed Virgin to her Parents

And Superiors

Let us consider that the Blessed Virgin was obedient, not only directly to God, but to His will as manifested by His commandments, by the law of Moses, by her parents and superiors, in whom she perceived and honored God, whose voice she obeyed as the voice of God. She followed literally the injunction of St. Peter: "Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God's sake" (I Peter 2 , 13). Never was there obedience so simple because never was there humility so profound. Her obedience was unquestioning, prompt and joyous for this thrice holy maiden had no other delight than to follow the most adorable will of God, pointed out to her by those who held His place.

Give thanks to the divine majesty, and offer God the honor tendered Him by the obedience constantly practised by His little Handmaid in reparation for your faults against this virtue.

NEED TO RENOUNCE OUR OWN WILL TO Do

The Will of God

Let us consider that all our happiness consists in following the divine will of God, manifested to us by His commandments and those of His Church, by the obligations of our %state of life and by those who represent God to us. Obedience is the mother of happiness.

To follow God's will we must renounce our own, for they are diametrically opposed, since man's will is perverted, corrupted and poisoned by sin.

Let us regard our own will as the sworn enemy of our salvation, and even of our happiness i n this life. There is nothing on earth nor in hell we should fear more than self-will for it is the source of all the miseries and evils of earth and hell. It is a dragon which will strangle us if we do not crush it. Fear it more than all the demons for they are chained

dogs that can bite only those who come within their reach, but self-will is a serpent which we bear in our very selves.

Let us work, then, to crush this reptile. Examine the faults we have committed through self - will, in thought, word, deed and omission. Let us ask God's pardon, pray to Him and to His most holy Mother for the grace of amendment.

Finally, let us engrave upon our heart these words: "The blessing of God follows the obedient everywhere, and His malediction is inseparable from disobedience." Follow the example of Jesus and Mary in their submission to the divine will, that you may become like Jesus Christ: "The man of m y own will" (Isa. 46, it).

Ejaculatory prayer: "An obedient man shall speak of victory." Vir obediens loquetur victorias (PROV. 21, 28).

220-

The Charity and Meekness of the Blessed Virgin Mary

in Her Admirable Childhood

Love of the Blessed Virgin for All Mankind

CONSIDER that God chose the Blessed Virgin from the first moment of her life to establish her in the place of Eve, as Queen and Mother of all the living. He bestowed upon her at the same time a universal love for all mankind. Grace and charity are one and the same thing, therefore it follows that the charity of the infant Mary at the commencement of her life was far greater than that of all the saints. And as her grace multiplied from moment to moment, so did her charity, until it reached so high a degree that it was comprehensible only to that of God Himself.

Consider also that when the Eternal Father chose this glorious Mary, to communicate to her His divine Paternity, He made her at the same time a participant in His paternal love for His W ell - beloved Son and for all His other children. Therefore, her heart burned with a love proportionate to her dignity of Mother of God, and of the children of God.

It was this charity which drew her, when yet an infant, to solicit with tears and prayers the advent of the Saviour, and by her ardor to advance the moment of the Incarnation. It was this charity, joined to her humility and virginal purity, that disposed her to become the Mother of the Redeemer.

Let us thank the God of charity, and offer Him the glory which accrued to Him from the love of the Immaculate maiden for Him and her charity towards mankind. Let us ask her to repair our deficits in the love of God and of our fellowmen.

Meekness of the Blessed Virgin

The holy Virgin, among all pure creatures, is the most powerful in heaven and on earth. She shares in the infinite omnipotence of God. She participates in the immense wisdom of the Son of God, and in the sweetness, benignity and gentleness of the Holy Ghost, the infusion of Whose potent and benign gifts has filled her virginal heart with incomprehensible sweetness. Except the Son of God, never has there been beheld upon earth, nor will there ever be again one so gentle, so gracious, so delectable, so merciful as this lovely maiden. Her benign charity extended itself even to her cruelest enemies, the enemies of the Saviour of the world, for she knew by divine revelation, and by reading the Prophets, that the Messiah was to be persecuted and crucified by the perfidious Jews, who would vent upon the Saviour all their hatred and cruelty. Instead of praying heaven to punish these murderers, the spirit of charity and benignity animated His most sweet handmaid to pray for these miserable wretches in the words which the all-merciful Redeemer would one day utter from His Cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23, 34)

0 all amiable maiden, I am not astonished that the divine Spouse exclaims: "Thy lips, m y Spouse, arc as a dropping honey-comb, honey and milk arc under thy tongue" (Cant. 4, it). And He continues, "Thy spirit is sweet above honey" (ECCLUS. 2. 27). Holy Mother Church cries out in the same strain: "0 clement, 0 loving, 0 sweet Virgin Mary." Immortal thanks be given to the Holy Spirit for having filled thee with the nectar of heavenly sweetness and transformed thee into His own divine gentleness. May the Eternal Father receive in satisfaction for my sins against meekness, the honor thou hast given Him by its perfect practice.

We Should Strive to Imitate the Charity and

Meekness of the Blessed Virgin

If we desire to be among the true children of the benign Jesus and the gentle Mary, let us strive to imitate them in these virtues. Let us weigh often these words of the Holy Ghost: "But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves" (I Peter 4, 8). "God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him" (1 John 4, 16). "Shewing all mildness towards all men" (Tit. 3, 2). "Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things" (1 Cor. 13, 4-7)

Above all, let us listen to the Saviour, who says: "This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15,12). "Learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart" (Matt. 11,29).

Let us make profitable use of these holy precepts. Examine the faults we have committed against them in any way. Pray the Son of God and His holy Mother to repair our defects, and to impart to us a share in their admirable charity and incomparable sweetness.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"For my spirit is sweet above honey." Spiritus enim meus super mel dulcis (Ecclus. 24, 27)

223-

The Silence of the Blessed Virgin Mary

in Her Admirable Childhood

Silence of Our Lord During his Life

THE virtue of silence is most agreeable to God. The Son of God, the Eternal Word of the Father, came into the world to converse with men. He had many great and important things to say to them, yet He was silent throughout the greater part of His life. His Infancy passed in silence, He was silent in His hidden life up to the age of thirty years, in the solitude of the desert and in the anguish of His bitter Passion, without ever dispensing Himself, although He had weighty reasons for so doing.

When the holy kings came from afar to adore Him, when cruel Herod sought to kill Him, He maintained His wonderful silence. And not content with observing it in His mortal and passible life , He yet continues it in His glorious life, in the holy Sacrament of the Altar, where He has resided i n the continual silence of two thousand years.

Among the reasons for our Saviour's observation of silence there are three Principal ones.

By silence He wishes to teach us that He came upon earth principally and primarily to honor His Eternal Father. He knew perfectly well the means by which He could best accomplish this, and His choice of silence is an infallible proof that it is a most excellent means of honoring God and pleasing Him.

Again, He lived a silent life to repair the dishonor done to God by sins of the tongue.

Finally, by the practice of silence He merited and acquired for us the grace to make beneficial and worthy use of the gift of speech.

Let us thank the Son of God for the example He has given us of this virtue, and beg of Him the grace to profit thereby.