XIV — MARY AND FRATERNAL CHARITY

Presence of God. — O Mother who so greatly loved men, teach me to fulfill perfectly the precept of fraternal charity.

Meditation

1 — Charity is one in its essence because one is its object: God loved in himself, God loved in neighbor. Therefore, the more a soul loves God, the more it loves neighbor. Now, if in Mary charity toward God reached abyssal depth, one must say that her charity toward neighbor was also immense. This is the property of true love of God: rather than shutting into itself the soul it invades, it throws it open to pour around itself that richness which charity has accumulated in it. Such was the characteristic of Mary’s charity: wholly taken by love for her God, wholly recollected in loving contemplation of the divine mysteries being accomplished in her and around her, she does not find in her recollection an obstacle to occupying herself with neighbor, but in every circumstance we always see her attentive and open to others’ needs; indeed, her very interior richness impels her to want to share with others the great treasures she possesses. This is the attitude in which the Gospel presents her to us when, immediately after the Annunciation, she set out “in haste” - says St. Luke - to go to Elizabeth. It would have been very sweet for her to remain at Nazareth, to adore in solitude and silence the divine Word incarnate in her womb, but the Angel has announced to her the coming motherhood of her aged cousin, and this suffices for her to feel obliged to go and offer her humble services. One can thus say that the Virgin’s first act, as soon as she became Mother of God, was precisely an act of charity toward neighbor. God gave himself to her as Son, and Mary, who gave herself to Him as “handmaid,” wanted to give herself as “handmaid” also to neighbor. Here, more than ever, the close union between charity toward God and charity toward neighbor is evident. To the sublime act of love by which, pronouncing her “fiat,” Mary gave herself totally to the Lord, corresponded her act of charity toward Elizabeth.

2 — At Jesus’ birth something similar happens again: Mary contemplates in ecstasy her divine Son, but this does not prevent her from offering Him to the shepherds’ adoration. Behold Mary’s supreme charity toward men: to give them her Jesus as soon as He is given to her; she does not want to enjoy Him alone, but wants all creatures to enjoy Him. As she presents Him to shepherds and Magi who come to adore Him, so she will one day present Him to the executioners sent to crucify Him. Jesus is everything for Mary, and Mary, in her great charity, does not hesitate to immolate Him for men’s salvation. Can one think of a greater, more generous charity? After Jesus, no one loved men more than Mary. Another aspect of Mary’s charity toward neighbor is her great delicacy. When, after three days of anguished searching, she finds Jesus in the temple, Our Lady, though she herself had suffered so much from his sudden disappearance, knows how to hide her pain behind Joseph’s: “Behold, your father and I, sorrowing, sought You” (Lk. 2, 48). Her delicate charity toward her spouse made her feel his pain so deeply as to place it before her own, which certainly was much greater. At Cana’s wedding, another trait of Mary’s delicacy: while all are occupied with the banquet, she alone, so recollected, notices the spouses’ embarrassment over lack of wine and provides for it in so discreet a way that the matter passes unnoticed even by the chief steward.

Mary teaches us that when love for God is truly full, it necessarily flows into generous love for neighbor because - says St. Thomas - whoever loves God loves all things loved by God. If, therefore, we must recognize that in our relations with neighbor we are little charitable, little attentive and solicitous to others’ needs, we must conclude that our love toward God is still very weak.

Colloquy

“With what sweetness and humility of heart, O Mary, did you go to visit Elizabeth! You, the Sovereign, go to the servant; You, the Mother of God, to the mother of the precursor... And with what delicacy at Cana did You want to help the spouses! You had pity on their embarrassment because You are merciful and full of goodness. From a fountain of tenderness, what can flow forth if not tenderness? Is it perhaps strange that a heart full of goodness should produce goodness? If, for half a day, someone holds in his hand a fragrant fruit, will he not perhaps keep its perfume for all the rest of the day? With how much virtue, then, O Mary, must your heart have been filled by infinite Goodness, which rested in you for nine months! I know, this Goodness, even before invading your womb, had invaded your heart, and even when it left your bosom it did not depart from your soul” (cf. St. Bernard).

O Holy Virgin, it is precisely this charity — fruit of your intimate union with God — that You cause to overflow upon all men, not disdaining to receive them in the wide embrace of your immense love. That same charity which wholly inflamed You with love for the Eternal inflamed You also with love for men, because You have regarded them not in themselves but in God, considering them as his creatures, as his children. That same charity which consecrated You to the service of the Most High consecrated You also to the service of humanity, and so You have loved every creature and have loved also me, though so wretched.

O Mary, it is true! also in me, from the day of my baptism, the Holy Spirit has poured out his charity; but my selfishness has arrested its development, and I, who love my God so little, also love my neighbor very little. You see, O most loving Mother, how much I need to expand my heart in charity! Awaken, therefore, and nourish in me this virtue, and grant that, by giving myself to the service of God, I may also know how to give myself to the service of my neighbor, with sweetness and humility, with readiness and generosity.