IV — MOTHER OF GOD

Presence of God. — Holy Mother of my God, make me feel the beatings of your heart that beat in unison with God’s heart!

Meditation

1 — Divine motherhood is the source of all Mary’s privileges; Mary is the Father’s beloved daughter, preserved from original guilt, she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit, overshadowed by his power, precisely because she was chosen as mother of the Incarnate Word. All Mary’s greatness and glories are explained in view of her divine motherhood; indeed, her very existence is explained in view of her destination to so lofty an office. If God had not established the Incarnation of his Son in the womb of a Virgin, we would not have had that masterpiece of grace and loveliness that is Mary Most Holy, we would not have had her smile, her maternal caresses. We therefore love and honor Our Lady precisely because she is Mother of God, Mother of Jesus, and by loving her thus in relation to God, our devotion to her only makes our love for God, for Jesus, deeper and more delicate.

“Mater Dei, Mater Creatoris,” we invoke in the litanies: two titles that seem contradictory in their terms and yet express a great reality, because Mary, being a creature, is truly mother of her Creator, mother of the Son of God to whom she gave a human body, fruit of her womb and blood. Here, more than ever, one sees how Mary’s dignity touches the threshold of infinity: God can make a greater world, a wider heaven, but He cannot make a pure creature more exalted than Mary, since being Mother of God is the highest dignity granted to a mere creature (cf. St. Bonaventure).

And to one who wonders how it is that the Gospel says so little about Mary, St. Thomas of Villanova replies: “What more are you seeking? Let it suffice you to know that she is the Mother of God. It was enough to say of her: de qua natus est Jesus, from whom Jesus was born.” Yes, O Mary, for me to fall in love with you, it is enough to know that You are the Mother of my God.

2 — Although from all eternity God had predestined Mary as mother of his Son, He did not, however, will that she become so unconsciously; but when the hour came to realize his plan, He willed to ask the consent of the humble Virgin.

The Angel’s announcement reveals to Mary the lofty vocation God reserves for her: “You shall conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus” (Lk. 1, 31). Mary asks, and the Angel explains the mystery of divine motherhood that will be wrought in her without harming her virginity. What can Mary do, then, except adhere? It is not the first time her will is lost in the Lord’s: from the beginning of her existence she lived in the state of perfect union with God; her characteristic is precisely full conformity of human will with divine will. Therefore Mary with all the love of her soul gives her consent, says her fiat: she accepts voluntarily; she abandons herself voluntarily to God’s action. At once the mystery is accomplished and the Virgin bears God present in her not only spiritually - as all souls in grace - but also physically. The Word of God, says St. Peter Damian, is present in her “by identity” of nature, since He is one thing with her, as a son is one thing with his mother. Identity of nature in flesh and blood, in bodily life that Mary communicates to the Son; identity of grace in the superabundance of supernatural life that the Son communicates to the Mother; identity of affections, desires, sentiments that Christ’s Heart imprints on Mary’s heart. No one more than the Virgin Mother can say: “I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2, 20).

Immense, wondrous mystery! And in the background of this mystery we find the yes of a little human creature. God created man free and therefore, though desiring to work great things in him, does not will to do so without his consent. God wants to transform us with his grace, wants to sanctify us, but to do so He awaits our yes. Let our yes be full and total like Mary’s and God will accomplish his work in us.

Colloquy

“To You, Lord God, I give thanks from the inmost part of my heart, because You deigned to give us, unworthy as we are, your divine nature and, being born of the Virgin, You wished to be nourished with milk, to be held in her lap, and to be subject to her, You who preserve and govern all. And You deigned to enlighten me, wretched one, so that I know You have a Mother, and granted so much to me, most unworthy, that I may and dare to greet her... Oh, with what devotion should my heart pour itself out toward you, Virgin Mary! My mouth ought to abound in marvelous sweetness while I greet you, sweet and kind Lady, and bless the fruit of your womb. Oh, how can it be that in greeting you I do not delight so greatly as to put all things in oblivion for you and for your Fruit? And what can You hear more willingly than the greeting in which You are recognized as Mother of God? You wish that men rejoice in you so that their affection may always return to Him whose Mother You are, for You desire nothing other than to be greeted and known as Mother of God. Hail, therefore, O Mary, and truly hail! O marvelous hail!, by which demons are put to flight, sinners set free, children refreshed; the Angel congratulates you, the Word is incarnate in your womb, and You become Mother of God. To You therefore may the whole creation sing hail without end... With all reverence, honor, and devotion we must greet you, O Most Blessed Virgin, and the more one seeks who approaches you with reverence and devotion. These You love, these You nourish, these You take as children. Oh, blessed is he who has the grace to serve you, who embraces you with affection, who imitates you in works! Oh, happy is he who does everything to conform himself to you, Mother of God! This is certainly he who, despising every creature, clings to God alone with singular love and, crucified with Christ, longs for the salvation of souls” (cf. St. Bonaventure).