Article III — Figure of This Consecration in the Story of Jacob and Rebecca

Of all the truths I have just set forth concerning the Blessed Virgin and her children and servants, the Holy Spirit gives us an admirable figure in Holy Scripture in the story of Jacob, who received the blessing of his father Isaac through the care and industry of his mother Rebecca. Here is the story as the Holy Spirit relates it; afterward I shall add its explanation.

Esau having sold Jacob his birthright, Rebecca, the mother of the two brothers, who loved Jacob tenderly, secured this advantage for him many years later by a stratagem wholly holy and full of mystery. For Isaac, feeling very old and wishing to bless his children before dying, called his son Esau, whom he loved, and commanded him to go hunting for something to eat, so that he might bless him afterward. Rebecca promptly informed Jacob of what was happening and commanded him to go and take two young goats from the flock. When he had given them to his mother, she prepared them for Isaac in the way she knew he liked. She clothed Jacob in Esau's garments, which she kept, and covered his hands and his neck with the skins of the young goats, so that his father, who could no longer see, might, on hearing Jacob's voice, at least believe by the hair on his hands that it was his brother Esau. Isaac, surprised by his voice, which he thought was the voice of Jacob, made him come close. Having touched the hair of the skins with which he had covered his hands, he said that the voice was indeed the voice of Jacob, but the hands were the hands of Esau. After he had eaten, and had smelled, while kissing Jacob, the fragrance of his perfumed garments, he blessed him and wished for him the dew of heaven and the fertility of the earth. He made him the master of all his brothers, and concluded his blessing with these words: "Cursed be he who curses you, and blessed be he who blesses you." Scarcely had Isaac finished these words when Esau entered and brought what he had caught in the hunt, so that his father might bless him. The holy patriarch was struck with incredible astonishment when he recognized what had happened; but, far from retracting what he had done, he confirmed it, because he saw too clearly the finger of God in this course of events. Esau then uttered cries of rage, as Holy Scripture tells us; and, loudly accusing his brother of deceit, he asked his father if he had but one blessing — being in this, as the holy Fathers note, the image of those who are happy to ally God with the world, wishing to enjoy at the same time the consolations of heaven and those of earth. Isaac, moved by the cries of Esau, did at last bless him, but with a blessing of the earth, subjecting him to his brother; which caused him to conceive so venomous a hatred against Jacob that he waited only for his father's death to kill him. And Jacob would not have escaped death if his dear mother Rebecca had not saved him by her resourcefulness and the good advice she gave him and which he followed.

Before explaining this story, which is so beautiful, we should note that, according to the holy Fathers and the interpreters of Holy Scripture, Jacob is the figure of Jesus Christ and of the predestinate, and Esau the figure of the reprobate. We need only examine the actions and conduct of each to judge of this.

First, Esau, the elder, was strong and robust of body, skillful and clever at drawing the bow and at catching much game in the hunt. Second, he hardly ever stayed at home, and, placing his confidence only in his strength and skill, worked only outdoors. Third, he took little trouble to please his mother Rebecca and did nothing for her sake. Fourth, he was so greedy and such a lover of his own belly that he sold his birthright for a dish of lentils. Fifth, he was, like Cain, full of envy toward his brother Jacob, and persecuted him beyond all measure.

Here is the daily conduct of the reprobate. First, they rely on their own strength and skill for temporal affairs. They are "very strong, very capable, and very enlightened for earthly things, but very weak and very ignorant in the things of heaven": In terrenis fortes, in coelestibus debiles.

This is why, second, they do not remain at home, or only very little — that is, in their own interior, the interior and essential dwelling that God has given each person to live in, after his own example, for God always dwells within himself. The reprobate do not love retirement, spirituality, or interior devotion, and they treat as narrow-minded, pious busybodies, or hermits, those who are interior and withdrawn from the world and who work more within than without. Third, the reprobate care little about devotion to the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of the predestinate. It is true that they do not formally hate her; they give her praise at times; they say they love her; they even practice some devotion in her honor. But they cannot endure that she should be loved tenderly, because they have not the tenderness of Jacob toward her. They find fault with the practices of devotion to which her good children and servants are faithful in order to win her affection — because they do not believe this devotion to be necessary for salvation; they think that as long as they do not formally hate the Blessed Virgin or openly despise devotion to her, that is enough and they have won her good graces; that they are her servants, by reciting and mumbling a few prayers in her honor, without any tenderness for her or any amendment in themselves. Fourth, the reprobate sell their birthright — that is, the joys of paradise — for a dish of lentils — that is, the pleasures of the earth. They laugh, they drink, they eat, they amuse themselves, they gamble, they dance, without troubling, like Esau, to make themselves worthy of the blessing of the heavenly Father. In three words: they think only of the earth, love only the earth, speak and act only for the earth and its pleasures, selling for a moment of pleasure, for a vain puff of honor, for a piece of hard, yellow, or white earth, their baptismal grace, their robe of innocence, and their heavenly inheritance. Fifth, the reprobate hate and persecute the predestinate daily, openly or in secret. They are a burden to them; they despise them, criticize them, mock them, insult them, rob them, deceive them, impoverish them, drive them out, and trample them in the dust — while they themselves make their fortune, take their pleasures, hold advantageous positions, grow rich, grow great, and live at their ease.

As for Jacob, the younger: first, he was of a delicate constitution, gentle and peaceful, and ordinarily stayed at home to win the good graces of his mother Rebecca, whom he loved tenderly. If he went out, it was not of his own will, nor from confidence in his own skill, but to obey his mother. Second, he loved and honored his mother, and this is why he stayed at home; he avoided everything that could displease her and did everything he thought would please her, which increased the love Rebecca bore him. Third, he was submissive to his dear mother in all things; he obeyed her entirely, promptly, without delay, and lovingly, without complaint. At the slightest sign of her will, little Jacob ran and worked. He believed everything she told him. For example, when she told him to go and fetch two young goats and bring them to her to prepare food for his father Isaac, Jacob did not reply that one would be enough to prepare a meal for a single man; but without arguing, he did what she had told him. Fourth, he had great confidence in his dear mother. Since he did not rely at all on his own ability, he relied solely on the care and protection of his mother. He called on her in all his needs and consulted her in all his doubts. For example, when he asked her whether, instead of his father's blessing, he might not receive his curse, he believed her and trusted in her when she told him that she would take the curse upon herself. Fifth, he imitated, as far as he could, the virtues he saw in his mother. And it seems that one of the reasons he stayed at home was to imitate his dear mother, who was virtuous and kept away from the bad company that corrupts morals. By this means, he made himself worthy of receiving the double blessing of his dear father.

Here also is the daily conduct of the predestinate:

First, they stay at home with their Mother — that is, they love retirement; they are interior. They devote themselves to prayer, but after the example and in the company of their Mother, the Blessed Virgin, whose whole glory is within, and who during her whole life so loved retirement and prayer. It is true that they sometimes appear outwardly in the world, but it is in obedience to the will of God and of their dear Mother, to fulfill the duties of their state. However great the things they may appear to do outwardly, they still esteem far more what they do within themselves, in their interior, in the company of the Blessed Virgin, because there they carry on the great work of their perfection, compared with which all other works are but children's games. This is why, while their brothers and sisters sometimes labor outwardly with great effort, industry, and success, amid the praise and approval of the world, they know by the light of the Holy Spirit that there is far more glory, good, and joy in remaining hidden in retirement with Jesus Christ, their model, in entire and perfect submission to their Mother, than in performing by themselves wonders of nature and grace in the world, like so many Esaus and reprobate.

Gloria et divitiae in domo ejus — "Glory for God and riches for man are found in the house of Mary."

Lord Jesus, "how lovely are your tabernacles! The sparrow has found a house to dwell in, and the turtledove a nest for her young. Oh, how happy is the man who dwells in the house of Mary, where you first made your dwelling! It is in this house of the predestinate that he receives his help from you alone, and that he has arranged ascents and steps of all the virtues to raise himself in his heart to perfection in this valley of tears."

Quam dilecta tabernacula! etc.

Second, they love tenderly and truly honor the Blessed Virgin as their good Mother and Mistress. They love her not only in word, but in truth. They honor her not only outwardly, but from the bottom of the heart. They avoid, like Jacob, everything that could displease her, and they practice with fervor everything they believe can win her good will. They bring her and give her, not two young goats, as Jacob gave Rebecca, but their body and their soul, with all that depends on them — prefigured by the two young goats of Jacob — so that: first, she may receive them as something that belongs to her; second, she may kill them and make them die to sin and to themselves, by stripping them of their own skin and their self-love; and, by this means, to please Jesus her Son, who wants for his disciples and friends only those who are dead to themselves; third, she may prepare them to the taste of the heavenly Father and for his greater glory, which she knows better than any creature; fourth, so that through her care and her intercession, this body and this soul, well purified of every stain, well dead, well stripped, and well prepared, may be a delicious dish, worthy of the mouth and the blessing of the heavenly Father. Is not this what the predestinate will do who relish and practice the perfect consecration to Jesus Christ through the hands of Mary that we teach them, to show Jesus and Mary an effective and courageous love?

The reprobate say well enough that they love Jesus, that they love and honor Mary, but not at the cost of their substance; not to the point of sacrificing their body with its senses, their soul with its passions, as the predestinate do. The predestinate are submissive and obedient to the Blessed Virgin as to their good Mother, after the example of Jesus Christ, who, of the thirty-three years he lived on earth, spent thirty in glorifying God his Father by a perfect and entire submission to his holy Mother.

Third, they obey her by following her counsels exactly, as little Jacob followed those of Rebecca, who said to him: Acquiesce consiliis meis — "My son, follow my counsels." Or as the guests at the wedding of Cana, to whom the Blessed Virgin said: Quodcumque dixerit vobis facite — "Do whatever my Son tells you."

Jacob, for having obeyed his mother, received the blessing as if by miracle, though naturally he should not have had it. The guests at the wedding of Cana, for having followed the Blessed Virgin's counsel, were honored with the first miracle of Jesus Christ, who there changed water into wine at the prayer of his holy Mother. So likewise, all those who to the end of time shall receive the blessing of the heavenly Father and shall be honored with the wonders of God will receive his graces only as a consequence of their perfect obedience to Mary. The Esaus, on the contrary, lose their blessing for want of submission to the Blessed Virgin.

Fourth, they have great confidence in the goodness and power of the Blessed Virgin, their good Mother. They call unceasingly upon her help. They look to her as their polar star to guide them safely to port. They lay open to her their troubles and their needs with great openness of heart. They cling to her mercy and her gentleness, to obtain the pardon of their sins through her intercession, or to taste her maternal sweetness in their pains and weariness. They even cast themselves, hide, and lose themselves in a wonderful manner in her loving and virginal bosom, to be set on fire there with pure love, to be purified there from the least stains, and to find Jesus there fully, who dwells in her as on his most glorious throne. Oh, what happiness! "Do not think," says Abbot Guerric, "that it is a greater happiness to dwell in the bosom of Abraham than in the bosom of Mary, since the Lord has placed his throne there": Ne credideris majoris esse felicitatis habitare in sinu Abrahae quam in sinu Mariae, cum in eo Dominus posuerit thronum suum.

The reprobate, on the contrary, putting all their confidence in themselves, eat with the prodigal son only what the swine eat. Feeding with the toads only on the earth, and loving only things visible and outward like the worldly, they do not taste the sweetness of the bosom of Mary. They do not feel a certain sense of reliance and confidence that the predestinate feel toward the Blessed Virgin, their good Mother. They wretchedly love their hunger outside, as St. Gregory says, because they will not taste the sweetness that is all prepared within themselves and within Jesus and Mary.

Fifth, the predestinate keep the ways of the Blessed Virgin, their good Mother — that is, they imitate her. And it is in this that they are truly happy and devout, and that they bear the mark of their predestination, as this good Mother tells them: Beati qui custodiunt vias meas — "Blessed are those who practice my virtues, and who walk in the footsteps of my life," with the help of divine grace. They are happy in this world during their life, by the abundance of graces and sweetness that I communicate to them from my fullness, and more abundantly than to others who do not imitate me so closely. They are happy in their death, which is gentle and peaceful, and at which I ordinarily assist, to lead them myself into the joys of eternity. They shall be happy in eternity, because no one of my good servants who imitated my virtues during his life has ever been lost.

The reprobate, on the contrary, are unhappy during their life, at their death, and for all eternity, because they do not imitate the Blessed Virgin in her virtues, contenting themselves with occasionally joining her confraternities, reciting some prayers in her honor, or performing some other exterior devotion. O holy Virgin, my good Mother, how happy are they — I repeat it with transports of my heart — how happy are those who, not letting themselves be led astray by a false devotion to you, faithfully keep your ways, your counsels, and your commands! But how "unhappy and accursed are those who abuse devotion to you, not keeping the commandments of your Son!" Maledicti omnes qui declinant a mandatis tuis!

Here now are the charitable duties that the Blessed Virgin, as the best of all mothers, renders to her faithful servants who have given themselves to her in the manner I have described, and according to the figure of Jacob.

I. She loves them. Ego diligentes me diligo — "I love those who love me." She loves them: first, because she is their true Mother — and a mother always loves her child, the fruit of her womb; second, she loves them out of gratitude, because they truly love her as their good Mother; third, she loves them because, being predestinate, God loves them: Jacob dilexi, Esau autem odio habui — "I have loved Jacob and hated Esau"; fourth, she loves them because they have consecrated themselves entirely to her and are her possession and her heritage: In Israel haereditare — "Take Israel for your heritage."

She loves them tenderly, and more tenderly than all mothers together. Gather, if you can, all the natural love that all the mothers in the world have for their children into one single heart of a mother for an only child: certainly that mother would love that child greatly. Yet it is true that Mary loves her children still more tenderly than that mother would love hers.

She does not love them only with affection, but with effectiveness. Her love for them is active and effective, like that of Rebecca for Jacob — and even more so. Here is what this good Mother, of whom Rebecca was but the figure, does to obtain for her children the blessing of the heavenly Father:

First, she watches, like Rebecca, for favorable opportunities to do them good, to advance and enrich them. Since she sees clearly in God all goods and evils, all good and bad fortunes, the blessings and the curses of God, she arranges things from afar to exempt her servants from every kind of evil and to fill them with every kind of good. So that if there is a good fortune to be gained in God by the fidelity of a creature in some high charge, it is certain that Mary will procure this good fortune for one of her good children and servants, and will give him the grace to fulfill it faithfully. Ipsa procurat negotia nostra — "She herself manages our affairs," says a saint.

Second, she gives them good advice, as Rebecca gave Jacob: Fili mi, acquiesce consiliis meis! — "My son, follow my counsels!" Among other counsels, she inspires them to bring her two young goats — that is, their body and their soul — to consecrate them to her so she may make of them a dish pleasing to God, and to do everything that Jesus Christ her Son has taught by his words and examples. If she does not give them these counsels in person, she does so through the ministry of the angels, who have no greater honor and pleasure than to obey one of her commands, to descend to earth and help one of her servants.

Third, when one has brought and consecrated to her one's body and soul and all that depends on them, without any exception, what does this good Mother do? What Rebecca of old did with the two young goats that Jacob brought her: first, she kills them and makes them die to the life of the old Adam; second, she strips them of their natural skin, their natural inclinations, their self-love, their self-will, and every attachment to creatures; third, she purifies them of their stains, filth, and sins; fourth, she prepares them to the taste of God and for his greater glory. And since she alone perfectly knows this divine taste and this greater glory of the Most High, she alone can, without error, accommodate and prepare our body and soul for this infinitely exalted taste and this infinitely hidden glory.

Fourth, this good Mother, having received the perfect offering we have made to her of ourselves and of our own merits and satisfactions through the devotion I have described, and having stripped us of our old garments, makes us worthy and fit to appear before our heavenly Father. First, she clothes us with the clean, new, precious, and fragrant garments of Esau the elder — that is, of Jesus Christ her Son — which she keeps in her house, that is, which she has in her power, as the universal and perpetual treasurer and dispenser of the merits and virtues of her Son Jesus Christ, which she gives and communicates to whom she wills, when she wills, as she wills, and as much as she wills, as we have seen above. Second, she covers the neck and hands of her servants with the skins of the slain and flayed young goats — that is, she adorns them with the merits and the value of their own actions. She kills and mortifies, it is true, whatever is impure and imperfect in them, but she does not lose or waste the good that grace has worked in them. She keeps it and increases it, to make it the ornament and the strength of their neck and their hands — that is, to strengthen them and to help them carry the yoke of the Lord, which is borne on the neck, and to work great things for the glory of God and the salvation of their poor brethren. Third, she gives a new perfume and a new grace to their garments and adornments, by communicating to them her own garments, her merits, and her virtues, which she bequeathed to them at her death by her testament, as a holy religious woman of the last century, who died in the odor of sanctity and learned this by revelation, has said. So that "all her household, her faithful servants and slaves, are doubly clothed — with the garments of her Son and with her own":

Omnes domestici vestiti sunt duplicibus.

This is why they have nothing to fear from the cold of Jesus Christ, white as snow — a cold which the reprobate, wholly naked and stripped of the merits of Jesus Christ and of the Blessed Virgin, cannot endure.

Fifth, she at last obtains for them the blessing of the heavenly Father, although, being only the younger and adopted children, they should not naturally have it. With these garments, all new, most precious, and of the sweetest fragrance, and with their body and soul well prepared, they approach with confidence the bed of rest of their heavenly Father. He hears and distinguishes their voice, which is the voice of a sinner. He touches their hands, covered with skins; he smells the good fragrance of their garments; he eats with joy what Mary their Mother has prepared for him, recognizing in them the merits and the sweet fragrance of his Son and of his holy Mother. First, he gives them his double blessing: the blessing "of the dew of heaven" — De rore coelesti — that is, of divine grace, which is the seed of glory: Benedixit nos in omni benedictione spiritali in Christo Jesu — "He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus." And the blessing "of the fatness of the earth" — De pinguedine terrae — that is, this good Father gives them their daily bread and a sufficient abundance of the goods of this world. Second, he makes them masters of their other brothers, the reprobate. Not that this supremacy always appears in this world, which passes in an instant, where the reprobate often dominate: Peccatores effabuntur et gloriabuntur; Vidi impium superexaltatum et elevatum — "Sinners shall boast and glory; I have seen the wicked highly exalted and lifted up." But it is true nonetheless, and it will appear manifestly in the other world for all eternity, where the just, as the Holy Spirit says, "shall dominate and command the nations": Dominabuntur populis. Third, his Majesty, not content with blessing them in their persons and in their goods, blesses also all those who bless them, and curses all those who curse and persecute them.

II. The second charitable duty that the Blessed Virgin exercises toward her faithful servants is that she provides for them in all things, for body and soul. She gives them double garments, as we have just seen. She gives them the most exquisite dishes from the table of God. She gives them the bread of life, which she herself formed: A generationibus meis implemini — "My dear children," she says to them under the name of Wisdom, "be filled with my generations" — that is, with Jesus, the fruit of life, whom I brought into the world for you.

Venite, comedite panem meum et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis; comedite, et bibite, et inebriamini, carissimi — "Come," she repeats to them elsewhere, "eat my bread, which is Jesus; drink the wine of his love, which I have mixed for you."

Since she is the treasurer and dispenser of the gifts and graces of the Most High, she gives a generous portion — and the best — to nourish and sustain her children and servants. They are fattened with the living bread; they are made drunk with the wine that brings forth virgins. "They are carried at Mary's breast" — ad ubera portabimini. They have such ease in bearing the yoke of Jesus Christ that they scarcely feel its weight, because of "the oil of devotion which makes it dissolve": Jugum eorum putrescere faciet a facie olei.

III. The third good that the Blessed Virgin does for her servants is that she leads and guides them according to the will of her Son. Rebecca guided her little Jacob and gave him good advice from time to time — either to draw upon him his father's blessing or to help him avoid the hatred and persecution of his brother Esau. Mary, who is the Star of the Sea, leads all her faithful servants to safe harbor. She shows them the paths of eternal life. She helps them avoid dangerous steps. She leads them by the hand along the paths of justice. She sustains them when they are about to fall. She raises them up when they have fallen. She reproves them as a charitable Mother when they are at fault; and sometimes she even lovingly chastises them. Can a child obedient to Mary, his nursing mother and his enlightened guide, go astray on the paths of eternity?

Ipsam sequens non devias — "In following her," says St. Bernard, "you do not go astray."

Do not fear that a true child of Mary will be deceived by the evil one, or fall into any formal heresy. Where Mary's guidance is, there neither the evil spirit with his illusions nor heretics with their cunning are found: Ipsa tenente, non corruis — "While she holds you, you do not fall."

IV. The fourth good office that the Blessed Virgin renders to her children and faithful servants is that she defends and protects them against their enemies. Rebecca, by her care and industry, delivered Jacob from all the dangers in which he found himself, and particularly from the death that his brother Esau would apparently have inflicted on him, out of hatred and envy, as Cain once killed his brother Abel. Mary, the good Mother of the predestinate, hides them under the wings of her protection, as a hen hides her chicks. She speaks, she stoops, she accommodates herself to all their weaknesses, to protect them from the hawk and the vulture. She surrounds them and accompanies them "like an army drawn up in battle array" — Ut castrorum acies ordinata. Can a man surrounded by a well-ordered army of a hundred thousand soldiers fear his enemies? A faithful servant of Mary, surrounded by her protection and her imperial power, has even less to fear. This good Mother and powerful princess of heaven would sooner dispatch battalions of millions of angels to help one of her servants than it should ever be said that a faithful servant of Mary, who trusted in her, succumbed to the malice, the numbers, and the strength of his enemies.

V. Finally, the fifth and greatest good that the loving Mary procures for her faithful devotees is that she intercedes for them with her Son and appeases him by her prayers. She unites them to him by a most intimate bond, and she keeps them in him.

Rebecca made Jacob approach the bed of his father, and the good man touched him, embraced him, and even kissed him with joy, being content and satisfied with the well-prepared food he had brought him. And having smelled with great delight the exquisite fragrance of his garments, he exclaimed:

Ecce odor filii mei sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Dominus — "Behold the fragrance of my son, which is as the fragrance of a full field that the Lord has blessed."

This full field whose fragrance enchants the heart of the Father is none other than the fragrance of the virtues and merits of Mary, who is a field full of grace in which God the Father has sown, like a grain of wheat of the elect, his only-begotten Son. Oh, how welcome before Jesus Christ — who is the Father of the age to come — is a child perfumed with the sweet fragrance of Mary! How quickly and how perfectly he is united to him! We have shown this more at length above.

Moreover, after she has filled her children and faithful servants with her favors, after she has obtained for them the blessing of the heavenly Father and union with Jesus Christ, she preserves them in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ in them. She guards them and watches over them always, lest they lose the grace of God and fall back into the snares of their enemies.

In plenitudine detinet — "She keeps the saints in their fullness," and makes them persevere to the end, as we have seen. This is the explanation of this great and ancient figure of predestination and reprobation, so little known and so full of mysteries.