The Virtues of Mary

(Saint Alphonsus Liguori)

Introduction

Saint Augustine says that if we wish to win the favor of the saints with greater certainty and in greater abundance, we must imitate them. When they see us imitating their virtues, they are more inclined to pray for us. As soon as the queen of saints and our chief advocate, Mary, delivers a soul from the grasp of Lucifer and unites it to God, she wants it to imitate her. Otherwise, she cannot enrich the soul with graces. Mary called blessed those who imitate her life diligently: Now, therefore, children, hear me; blessed are they that keep my ways (Prov 8:32). There is a proverb that lovers come to resemble the persons they love: "Love either finds or makes lovers alike." Saint Sophronius urges us to strive to imitate Mary if we love her, because this is the best way to please her: "My beloved children, serve Mary, whom you love. You will prove that you love her if you endeavor to imitate her." Richard of Saint Lawrence says: "They are true children of Mary and can call themselves true children, who strive to imitate her life." "Let a child, then," concludes Saint Bernard, "imitate his mother, if he wants to have her favor; for when Mary sees herself treated as a mother, she will treat him as her child."

Although the Gospels have little to say about Mary's virtues in detail, we do learn from them that she was full of grace, and this implies that she possessed all virtues in a heroic degree. "So much so," says Saint Thomas, "that whereas other saints excelled in some particular virtue - one in chastity, another in humility, another in mercy - the Blessed Virgin excelled in all, and is offered to us as a model of all." Saint Ambrose says: "Mary was so outstanding that her life was a model for everybody." And he concludes with the words: "Let the virginity and the life of Mary be ever before your eyes like an image, in which the form of virtue is resplendent. You will learn from that image how to live, what to correct, what to avoid, and what to retain."

Since humility is the foundation of all the virtues - as the Fathers of the Church teach - let us consider in the first place how great Mary's humility was.

Mary's Humility

"Humility," says Saint Bernard, "is the foundation and guardian of the virtues." He is right, for without it no other virtue can exist in the soul. Were a soul to possess all the virtues, all would disappear were humility to go. But, on the other hand, as Saint Francis de Sales wrote to Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, "God loves humility so much, that whenever he sees it, he immediately goes there." This beautiful and necessary virtue was unknown in the world in early days. But the Son of God came on earth to teach it by his example, and he willed that we should endeavor to imitate him in that virtue particularly: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart (Mt 11:29). Since Mary was the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus in the practice of the virtues, she naturally excelled in the practice of humility. For this reason, she deserved to be exalted above all other creatures. It was revealed to Saint Matilda that it was humility in which the Blessed Mother particularly excelled, even from her very childhood.

The first effect of humility of heart is a lowly opinion of oneself. Mary always had such a humble opinion of herself that, as was revealed to the same Saint Matilda, although she saw herself enriched with more graces than all other people, she never put herself ahead of anyone. Abbot Rupert, commenting on the passage of the sacred Canticles: You have wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse...with one hair of your neck (Cant 4:9), says that the humble opinion Mary had of herself was the hair with which she wounded the heart of God. Not that Mary considered herself a sinner. Humility is truth, as Saint Teresa remarks, and Mary knew that she had never offended God. She also knew that she had received more graces from God than all other creatures. A humble heart always acknowledges the special favors of the Lord in order to humble itself all the more. But the Blessed Mother, because of the greater light which made her aware of the infinite greatness and goodness of God, was also aware of her own nothingness. That is why she humbled herself more than everybody else, saying with the sacred Spouse: Do not stare at me because I am swarthy, because the sun has burned me (Cant 1:5). That is, as Saint Bernard explains it: "When I approach him, I find myself black." This is true, says Saint Bernardine, because the Blessed Virgin was always vividly conscious of the majesty of God and her own nothingness. When a beggar is given a costly gift, he does not show off with it in the presence of the donor. He receives it humbly and remains conscious of his own poverty. So when Mary saw herself enriched with grace, she humbled herself; reminding herself that it was all God's gift. That is why she told Saint Elizabeth of Hungary that she looked upon herself as a worthless creature and unworthy of the grace of God. And that is why Saint Bernardine says that "after the Son of God, no one in the whole world was ever so exalted as Mary, because no one ever humbled himself to the extent that she did."

Moreover, it is characteristic of humility to conceal heavenly gifts. Mary wished to conceal from Saint Joseph the favor which made her the Mother of God. At the same time it seemed necessary to reveal the secret to him, if only to remove from his mind any suspicions as to her virtue which he might have entertained on seeing her pregnant. Saint Joseph, on the one hand, did not wish to doubt Mary's chastity; and yet on the other hand, being unaware of the mystery, he was minded to have her put away privately (Mt 1:19). And he would have done so had the angel not revealed to him that his spouse was pregnant by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

Again, a soul that is truly humble does not allow herself to be praised. And if praises are showered on her, she refers them all to God. Mary was disturbed at hearing herself praised by Saint Gabriel. She was also disturbed when Elizabeth said: Blessed are you among women....And how have I deserved that the mother of my Lord should come to me?...Blessed is she who has believed (Lk 1:42,43,45). Mary referred everything to God, and replied in the humble words of her canticle: My soul magnifies the Lord (Lk 1:46). This was the same as saying: "You praise me, Elizabeth, but I praise the Lord, to whom alone all honor is due. You wonder why I have come to visit you, while I wonder at the divine goodness that has come to me. And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior (Lk 1:47). You praise me because I have believed; but I praise my God, because he has exalted my nothingness. He has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid (Lk 1:48)." Our Lady said to Saint Bridget: "I humbled myself so much, and have merited so much grace, because I knew that of myself I possessed nothing. That is why I did not want to be praised. I desired only that praise be given to the Creator and Giver of all things." Referring to the humility of Mary, an ancient author says: "O truly blessed humility, which has given God to men, opened heaven, and delivered souls from hell!"

It is also characteristic of humility to serve others. Mary did not hesitate to go and help Elizabeth for three months. Saint Bernard aptly remarks: "Elizabeth wondered why Mary had come to visit her; but - what is still more remarkable - that she came not to be ministered to, but to minister."

Humble persons are usually retiring and choose the least honorable places for themselves. Therefore, as Saint Bernard remarks, "when Jesus was preaching in a house (as we learn in Saint Matthew), Mary, wishing to speak to him, would not enter of her own accord but remained outside, and did not avail herself of her maternal right to interrupt him." And when she was with the Apostles waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit, she chose the lowest place, as Saint Luke relates: All these with one mind continued steadfastly in prayer with the women and Mary, the Mother of Jesus (Acts 1:14). Saint Luke was not ignorant of the Blessed Mother's merits, which should have caused him to name her first. However, Mary had taken the last place among the Apostles and the women. And therefore he described them, as an author remarks, in the order in which they were. Saint Bernard says: "The last has rightly become the first, because being the first of all she became the last."

Finally, people who are sincerely humble do not look for favor. In fact, they love to be despised. That is why we note that Mary did not show herself in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday when the people received Jesus with so much honor. On the other hand, at his death, she did not hesitate to appear on Calvary. She was undeterred by fear of the ridicule she would incur when it became known that she was the mother of the criminal. On one occasion, Mary said to Saint Bridget: "What is more humbling than to be called a fool, to be in need of things, and to believe oneself the most unworthy of all? Such was my humility, O daughter. It was my constant joy and desire to please my son in this way as much as I could."

Venerable Sister Paola of Foligno was privileged to see in an ecstasy how great the humility of the Blessed Virgin was. Giving an account of it to her confessor, she was so filled with astonishment that she could only say: "Father, you can never understand how great the humility of the Blessed Virgin was! There is no humility in the world comparable to the humility of Mary." On another occasion, Our Lord showed Saint Bridget two women. The one was all glamour and vanity. "She is pride," he said, "but the other one whom you see with her head bowed, courteous to all, devoted to God alone, and considering herself as a nobody, is humility, and her name is Mary." God chose that way of letting us know that Mary is the personification of humility.

There can be no doubt, observes Saint Gregory of Nyssa, that of all the virtues there is perhaps none more difficult for our nature to practice, tainted as it is by sin, than humility. At the same time, we cannot evade this truth: We can be true children of Mary only if we are humble. "If you cannot imitate the virginity of the Blessed Virgin," says Saint Bernard, "imitate her humility." She detests the proud, and invites the lowly to come to her: Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me (Prov 9:4). Richard of Saint Lawrence writes: "Mary protects us under the mantle of her humility." The Blessed Mother explained to Saint Bridget what her mantle was. "Come," she said, "and hide yourself under my mantle. This mantle is my humility." She then added that meditation on her humility was a cloak or mantle with which we could warm ourselves. But since a mantle gives this service only to those who wear it and not to those who merely think about it, she said: "Mary's humility will not help anybody except those who endeavor to imitate her." And she concluded with these words: "Therefore clothe yourself, my daughter, with this humility." O how devoted Mary is to humble souls! Saint Bernard says: "She recognizes and loves those who love her. And she is ready to help all that call on her, especially those who resemble her in chastity and humility." So the saint exhorts all those who love Mary to be humble: "Strive to imitate this virtue of Mary, if you really love her." Marinus or Martin d'Alberto, of the Society of Jesus, used to sweep the house and collect the trash out of love for the Blessed Virgin. One day Mary appeared to him, as Father Nieremberg relates in his life, and thanked him saying: "I am very much pleased by this humble action which you do for love of me."

It follows then, O my Queen, that I can never really be your child unless I am humble. But surely you understand that my sins, after having made me ungrateful to my Lord, have also made me proud? O Mary, you must provide the remedy. By the merit of your humility, make me truly humble, and help me in that way to become your child. Amen.

Mary's Love for God

Saint Albert says that "where we find the greatest chastity, there we find also the greatest charity." The more pure a heart is and the more empty of self, the more it is filled with love for God. Because Mary was thoroughly humble and thoroughly unselfish, she was filled with divine love. "Her love for God surpassed that of all men and angels," writes Saint Bernardine. Saint Francis de Sales beautifully calls her "the queen of love."

God has indeed given man the command to love him with his whole heart: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart (Mt 22:37). However, Saint Thomas declares: "This commandment will be fulfilled by men fully and perfectly only in heaven, not on earth. On earth it is fulfilled only imperfectly." On this subject, Saint Albert the Great remarks that, in a certain sense, it would be unfitting for God to give a commandment that could never be perfectly fulfilled. But this would have been the case if Our Lady had not fulfilled it perfectly. The saint says: "Either someone fulfilled this precept, or no one did. If anyone did, it must have been the Blessed Virgin." Richard of Saint Victor confirms this opinion when he says: "The mother of our Emmanuel practiced all virtues as perfectly as possible. Whoever fulfilled the first commandment the way she did: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart? Divine love burned so ardently in her that no defect of any kind could come close to her." Saint Bernard says: "Divine love penetrated and filled the soul of Mary to such an extent that no part of her was left untouched. She loved with her whole heart, with her whole soul, with her whole strength, and she was full of grace." Therefore Mary was in a position to say: My lover belongs all to me and I to him (Cant 2:16). "Even the Seraphim," according to Richard, "might have come down from heaven to learn how to love God from the heart of Mary."

God, who is love, came to earth to kindle the flame of his divine love in the hearts of all people. But in no heart did he kindle so much love as in the heart of his mother. Her heart was entirely free from all earthly loves and fully prepared to burn with this precious flame. Saint Sophronius says that divine love inflamed her so much that nothing earthly could enter her heart. She was, so to speak, incandescent with divine love. The heart of Mary became all fire and flames, as we read of her in the sacred Canticles (Cant 8:6); fire burning within through love, as Saint Anselm explains it, and flames shining without by the example she gave in the practice of virtue. When Mary was in this world and held Jesus in her arms, she could well be called "fire carrying fire"; and with far more reason than the woman spoken of by Hippocrates who was called this because she carried fire in her hands. Saint Ildephonsus says: "The Holy Spirit heated, inflamed, and melted Mary with love, as fire does iron; so that nothing was seen in her but the flame of this Holy Spirit, and nothing was felt but the fire of the love of God." Saint Thomas of Villanova says that the bush seen by Moses, which burned without being consumed, was a true symbol of Mary's heart. And Saint Bernard rightly says that Mary was seen by Saint John clothed with the sun: And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun (Apoc 12:1). She was so closely united to God by love, and she penetrated the abyss of divine wisdom so deeply, that apart from personal identification with God, it would seem impossible for a creature to have a closer union with him.

Saint Bernardine of Siena maintains that the Most Blessed Virgin was never tempted by hell. He says that "as flies are driven away by a great fire, so the evil spirits were driven away by her ardent love. They did not even dare to approach her." Richard of Saint Victor says: "The Blessed Virgin was such a terror to the princes of darkness that they did not dare to come near her. The fire of her charity kept them off." Our Lady revealed to Saint Bridget that she never had any thought, desire, or joy in this world, but only in and for God: "I thought of nothing but God; nothing pleased me except God." Since her blessed soul almost continually contemplated God while on earth, the acts of love she performed were innumerable. Father Suarez writes: "The acts of perfect charity Mary performed in this life were without number. Practically speaking, her whole life was spent in contemplation, and while she was in that state she constantly repeated acts of love." A remark of Bernardine de Bustis pleases me even more. He says that Mary did not repeat acts of love as other saints do; her whole life was one continual act of love. By a special privilege, she was always actually expressing love for God. As a royal eagle, she always kept her eyes fixed on the divine Sun of Justice. As Saint Peter Damian says: "The duties of an active life did not prevent her from loving, and love did not prevent her from performing her duties." That is why Saint Germanus says that the altar of propitiation, on which the fire was never extinguished day or night, was a symbol of Mary.

Sleep was no obstacle to Mary's love. Saint Augustine asserts: "The dreams of our first parents, when sleeping in their state of innocence, were as happy as their lives were when they were awake." And if they had such a privilege it certainly was not denied to our Blessed Lady, as Suarez, the Abbot Rupert, and Saint Bernardine fully admit. Saint Ambrose also holds this opinion. He says: "While Mary's body rested, her soul watched." She verified in herself the words of the Holy Spirit: At night her lamp is undimmed (Prov 31:18).

While her blessed body found its necessary repose in sleep, according to Saint Bernardine, her soul freely winged its way to God. In fact, she was then wrapped in more perfect contemplation than the average person when awake. And so she could well say with the spouse in the Canticles: I was sleeping, but my heart kept vigil (Cant 5:2). "She was as happy in sleep as when awake," says Suarez. In short, Saint Bernardine asserts that as long as Mary lived in this world she continually loved God: "The mind of the Blessed Virgin was always wrapped in the ardor of love." The saint adds moreover: "She never did anything except what divine Wisdom revealed as pleasing to him. She loved God as much as she thought he should be loved by her." As a matter of fact, according to Saint Albert the Great, we can say that Mary was filled with such great love for God that no creature on earth could possibly possess more. Saint Thomas of Villanova maintains that Mary by her ardent charity became so attractive to God, that he was captivated by her love and descended into her womb to become man. This thought caused Saint Bernardine to exclaim: "See the power of the Virgin Mary! She captured the heart of God!"

But since Mary loves God so much, there is nothing she wants us to do more than to love him as much as we can. This is what she told Blessed Angela of Foligno one day after holy Communion: "Angela, may you be blessed by my son. And on your part, may you endeavor to love him as much as possible." She also said to Saint Bridget: "Bridget, if you want me to love you, love my son." Mary desires nothing more than to see her beloved, who is God, loved. Novarinus asks why the Blessed Virgin begged the angels to make known to the Lord the great love she had for him in the words of the spouse in the Canticles: I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love (Cant 5: 8). Was God not aware how much she loved him? "Why did she try to show the wound of love to her beloved, since it was he who had inflicted it?" He answers that Mary wished to make her love known in that way to us, not to God. She wanted us also to be wounded with divine love, just as she was wounded. He continues: "Because Mary was all on fire with love of God, all who approach her and are close to her are also inflamed with this same burning love, for she makes them like herself." This is why Saint Catherine of Siena called Mary "the bearer of fire," meaning the bearer of the fire of divine love. If we want to burn with this blessed flame, let us try always to draw nearer to Mary by our prayers and our devotions.

O Mary, you are Queen of love. Of all creatures, you are the most lovable, the most beloved, and the most loving, as Saint Francis de Sales said. My own sweet Mother, you were always and in all things inflamed with love for God. Give me at least a spark of your fervor. You intervened with your Son on behalf of the spouses at Cana. Will you not also pray for us who are so wanting in the love of God, whom we are under such great obligation to love? Say of us: "They have no love," and obtain this love for us. This is the only grace we ask for. O Mother, graciously hear and pray for us. Amen.

Mary's Love for Her Neighbor

Love of God and love of neighbor are commanded by God in the same precept: And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also (1 Jn 4:21). Saint Thomas says that the reason for this is that the person who loves God loves all that God loves. One day, Saint Catherine of Genoa said: "Lord, you say that I should love my neighbor, but I can love no one but you." God replied to her in these words: "Everybody who loves me loves what I love." But since there never was and never will be anyone who loved God as much as Mary did, so there never was and never will be anyone who loves her neighbor as much as she did. Father Cornelius à Lapide commenting on this passage from the Canticles: King Solomon has made him a litter of the wood of Libanus...the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem (Cant 3:9,10), says that "this litter was Mary's womb in which the Incarnate Word dwelt, filling it with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem. Christ, who is love itself, infused into the Blessed Virgin the greatest possible amount of charity, so that she could be helpful to all who appeal to her."

While Mary was on earth, her charity was so great that she was on the alert to help the needy even without being asked. We see this clearly in the case of the marriage feast at Cana when she reminded Jesus of the family's distress: They have no wine (Jn 2:3). She asked him to perform a miracle. How quickly she always acted when there was need to relieve her neighbor! When she went to the house of Elizabeth to fulfill a duty of charity, she went into the hill country with haste (Lk 1:30). But she could not display her overflowing charity more fully than she did when she offered the death of her son for our salvation. With regard to this, Saint Bonaventure says: "Mary so loved the world as to give her only-begotten Son." This also inspired Saint Anselm to exclaim: "O blessed among women, your purity surpasses that of the angels, and your charity that of the saints." "And this love of Mary for us," says Saint Bonaventure, "has not diminished now that she is in heaven. On the contrary, it has rather increased, for she is now in a better position to see the miseries of men." And therefore, the saint goes on to say, the mercy of Mary toward those in distress when she was still on earth was prodigious, but it is far greater now that she reigns in heaven. Saint Agnes assured Saint Bridget that there was no one who ever prayed for grace who did not receive it through the charity of the Blessed Virgin. We would be extremely unfortunate if we did not have Mary to intercede for us! Jesus himself, speaking to Saint Bridget, said: "Were it not for the prayers of my mother, there would be no hope of mercy."

Blessed is he that listens to my instructions, who imitates my charity, and practices that charity toward his neighbor, says Mary: Happy the man who obeys me...happy the man watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts (Prov 8:33,34). Saint Gregory Nazianzen assures us that there is no better way to make Mary love us than by practicing charity toward our neighbor. Just as Jesus exhorts us with the words: Be merciful, therefore, even as your Father is merciful, so Mary seems to say to us: "Be merciful, even as your mother is merciful." We may take it for granted that our charity toward our neighbor will be the measure by which God and Mary will show charity toward us: Give, and it shall be given to you....For with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you (Lk 6:38). Saint Methodius used to say: "Give to the poor and get paradise in return." Saint Paul maintains that charity toward our neighbor makes us happy both in this world and in the next. Godliness is profitable in all respects, since it has the promise of the present life as well as of that which is to come (1 Tim 4:8). Saint John Chrysostom commenting on these words of Proverbs: He that has mercy on the poor lends to the Lord (Prov 19:17), says: "Whoever helps the needy makes God his debtor."

O Mother of Mercy, you have everybody's welfare at heart. Be mindful of my troubles. You know them very well. Recommend me to God, who will give you everything. Ask him to let me imitate you in holy love, love for God and for my neighbor. Amen.

Mary's Faith

I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope (Ecclus 24:24). Just as Mary is the mother of love and hope, so she is also the mother of faith. Saint Irenaeus says that this is so for a very good reason, for "the evil done by Eve's unfaithfulness was remedied by Mary's faith." Tertullian confirms this by saying that because Eve believed the serpent against the warning she had received from God, she brought death into the world; but because Mary believed the angel at the Annunciation she brought salvation into the world. He puts it this way: "Eve believed the serpent; Mary believed Gabriel. What Eve demolished by her foolish credulity, Mary restored by her genuine faith." Saint Augustine says: "It was Mary's faith that opened heaven to men when she agreed to cooperate in the Incarnation of the Eternal Word." Richard of Saint Lawrence commenting on these words of Saint Paul from Corinthians: For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife (1 Cor 7:14), says: "Mary is the believing woman by whose faith the unbelieving Adam and all his posterity are saved." It was as a tribute to her faith that Elizabeth called Our Lady "blessed": Blessed are you that has believed, because those things shall be accomplished in you that were spoken by the Lord (Lk 1:45). And Saint Augustine adds: "Mary was blessed more by receiving the faith of Christ than by conceiving the flesh of Christ."

Father Suarez says that the most holy Virgin had more faith than all human beings and angels together. She saw her son in the crib at Bethlehem and believed that he was the creator of the world. She saw him flee from Herod and believed that he was the King of kings. She saw him born, yet believed him to be eternal. She saw him poor and in need of food, and believed that he was the Lord of the universe. She saw him lying on straw, and believed that he was omnipotent. She observed that he did not speak, and yet believed that he was filled with infinite wisdom. She heard him cry, and believed that he was the joy of paradise. Finally, she saw him in death, despised and crucified, and even though faith wavered in others, she remained firm in the conviction that he was God. Commenting on those words of the Gospel: There stood by the cross of Jesus his mother (Jn 19:25), Saint Antoninus says: "Mary stood there, supported by her faith, which she firmly retained in the divinity of Christ." And this is the reason why, the saint adds, in the midst of the Tenebrae service only one candle is left lighted. With reference to this, Saint Leo applies to our Blessed Lady the words of Proverbs: At night her lamp is undimmed (Prov 31:18). And with regard to the words of Isaiah: I have trodden the winepress alone, and...there is not a man with me (Isa 63:3), Saint Thomas remarks that the prophet says "a man," because of the Blessed Virgin who never failed in faith. Saint Albert the Great assures us: "Mary displayed perfect faith. Even when the disciples doubted, she did not doubt."

By her magnificent faith, therefore, Mary merited to become "a light to all the faithful," as Saint Methodius calls her; and the "Queen of the true faith," as she is called by Saint Cyril of Alexandria. Holy Church herself attributes the destruction of all heresies to the merits of Mary: "Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, for you alone have destroyed all heresies throughout the world." Saint Thomas of Villanova, explaining the words of the Holy Spirit: You have wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse...with one of your eyes (Cant 4:9), says: "These eyes denoted Mary's faith, by which she pleased the Son of God so much."

Saint Ildephonsus makes a point of urging us to imitate Mary's faith. But how can we do this? Faith is both a gift and a virtue. It is a gift of God because it is a light infused by him into our souls; it is a virtue inasmuch as the soul must strive to practice it. Hence faith must not only be the rule of our belief, but the rule of our actions as well. That is why Saint Gregory says: "That man really believes who puts what he believes into practice." And Saint Augustine: "You say 'I believe.' Do what you say and then it will be faith." To live according to our belief is what is meant by the expression "to have a living faith." My just one lives by faith (Heb 10:38). The Blessed Virgin lived very differently from those who do not live according to what they believe. Saint James declared: Faith without works is dead (Jas 2:26).

Diogenes lighted a lantern and looked around for a man on earth. But God seems to be looking for a Christian. Among the baptized on earth, there are many who perform no good works at all. The majority are Christians only in name. The words once addressed by Alexander to a cowardly soldier should be applied to these people: "Either change your name or change your conduct." Father Ávila used to say: "It would be better to lock these poor creatures up as madmen. They believe that eternal happiness is in store for those who lead good lives and an eternity of misery for those who lead bad lives. And yet they act as if they believed nothing." Saint Augustine exhorts us to look at things with the eyes of Christians, that is, with eyes that see everything in the light of faith. Saint Teresa often used to say: "All sins come from the lack of faith." Let us therefore beg our Blessed Lady, by the merit of her faith, to obtain a living faith for us. "O Lady, increase our faith!"

Mary's Hope

Hope is born of faith. God enlightens us by faith to know his goodness and the promises he has made, thereby to rise by hope to the desire of possessing him. Mary had the virtue of faith in the highest degree, and she also had the virtue of hope in the same high degree. And this enabled her to say with David: But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God (Ps 72:28). Mary was the faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit. Scripture asks regarding her: Who is this that comes up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning on her beloved? (Cant 8:5). Since Mary never relied either on creatures or on her own merits but only on divine grace in which she had the fullest confidence, she continually advanced in the love of God. Algrino said of her: "She came up from the desert, that is, from the world which she had renounced so completely that she turned all her affections away from it. She leaned upon her beloved because she did not trust in her own merits but relied entirely on God."

The Blessed Virgin gave a clear indication of her confidence in God, first of all when she saw the anxiety of Saint Joseph. Unable to understand the mystery of her pregnancy, he thought of leaving her: But Joseph...was minded to put her away privately (Mt 1:19). It then appeared necessary, as we have remarked above, to reveal the secret to him. But Mary could not bring herself to disclose the grace she had received. She thought it better to abandon herself to Divine Providence in the full confidence that God himself would protect her. This is precisely what Cornelius à Lapide says in his commentary on the words of the Gospel quoted above: "The Blessed Virgin was unwilling to reveal this secret to Joseph, lest she might seem to be boasting of her gifts. She therefore resigned herself to the care of God in the fullest confidence that he would guard her innocence and reputation." Mary showed confidence in God again when she knew that the time for the birth of Our Lord was approaching, and when she was driven even from the lodgings of the poor in Bethlehem and obliged to bring forth her child in a stable: And she laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn (Lk 2:7). She did not utter a word of complaint, but abandoned herself wholly to God. She also showed her great confidence in Divine Providence when she learned from Joseph that they had to flee to Egypt. That very night she was obliged to undertake a long journey to a strange and unknown country, without any provisions, without money, and accompanied only by her infant and her poor husband. He arose and took the child and his mother by night, and withdrew into Egypt (Mt 2:14). She showed her confidence much more when she asked her son for wine at the marriage feast in Cana. When she said: They have no wine, Jesus answered her: What would you have me do, woman? My hour has not yet come (Jn 2:3,4). Even after this answer, which seemed such an obvious rebuff, her confidence prompted her to tell the servants to do whatever her son would tell them to do. She was certain that the favor would be granted. Do whatever he tells you (Jn 2:5). And everyone knows what happened: Jesus ordered the jars to be filled with water and then changed the water into wine.

Let us therefore learn from Mary to have confidence in God - in every sphere of life - but principally in the business of our eternal salvation. This is an affair in which we must, of course, cooperate. At the same time we must hope for the necessary grace to attain the result. We must distrust our own strength and say with the Apostle: I can do all things in him who strengthens me (Phil 4:13).

O most holy Lady, Ecclesiasticus tells me that you are the mother...of holy hope (Ecclus 24:24): and holy Church, that you are "our hope." Where else need I look for hope? After Jesus, you are all my hope. This is what Saint Bernard said, and this is what I say: "You are the whole basis for my hope." And with Saint Bonaventure I will repeat again and again: "O salvation of all who call upon you, save me!"

Mary's Chastity

After the fall of Adam, man's senses became rebellious to reason. As a consequence, chastity is the most difficult of all the virtues to practice. Saint Augustine says: "Of all inner conflicts the most arduous are concerned with chastity. These battles are of daily occurrence, but victory is rare." May God be praised eternally, however, because in Mary he has given us such a shining example of this virtue. "Mary is with good reason called the Virgin of virgins," says Saint Albert the Great. "Without the advice or example of others, she was the first to consecrate her virginity to God." In this way, she led to God all who imitated her virginity, as David had foretold: After her shall virgins be brought...into the temple of the king (Ps 44:15). Without advice and without any example! Saint Bernard says: "O Virgin, who taught you to please God by your virginity and to lead an angel's life on earth?" Saint Sophronius replies: "God chose a pure virgin for his mother, that she might be an example of chastity to everybody." That is why Saint Ambrose calls Mary "the standard-bearer of virginity."

Because of Mary's purity the Holy Spirit declared that she is as beautiful as the turtledove: Your cheeks are beautiful as the turtledove's (Cant 1:9). "A most pure turtledove" is what Aponius calls her. For the same reason, Mary is also called a lily: As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters (Cant 2:2). On this passage Denis the Carthusian remarks: "Mary was compared to a lily among thorns because all other virgins were thorns, either to themselves or to others; but the Blessed Virgin was not so, either to herself or to others." She inspired everybody who saw her with chaste thoughts. Saint Thomas confirms this when he says that the beauty of the Blessed Virgin incited to chastity all who looked at her. Saint Jerome maintains that Saint Joseph remained a virgin as a result of living with Mary. Writing against the heretic Helvidius who denied Mary's virginity, Saint Jerome said: "You say that Mary did not remain a virgin. I say that not only did she remain a virgin, but that even Joseph preserved his virginity through Mary." Saint Gregory of Nyssa says that the Blessed Virgin loved chastity so much, that to preserve it she would have been willing to renounce even the dignity of Mother of God. This seems evident from her reply to the archangel: How shall this happen, since I do not know man? (Lk 1:34). And from the words she added then: Be it done to me according to your word (Lk 1:38), signifying that she gave her consent on the condition that, as the angel had assured her, she should become a mother only by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.

Saint Ambrose says that "anyone who preserves chastity is an angel; anyone who loses it is a devil." Our Lord assures us that those who are chaste become angels: They...shall be as the angels of God in heaven (Mt 22:30). But the unchaste become hateful to God, like devils. Saint Remigius used to say that the majority of adults are lost by this vice.

We have quoted Saint Augustine as saying that a victory is very seldom gained in this combat. Why is this? Because the means by which the victory may be gained are very seldom used. These means are threefold, according to Bellarmine and the masters of the spiritual life: fasting, the avoidance of dangerous occasions of sin, and prayer. 1. By fasting we mean especially mortification of the eyes and the appetite. Although our Blessed Lady was filled with divine grace, she nevertheless practiced mortification of the eyes, according to Saint Epiphanius and Saint John Damascene. Her glances were always modest and she never gazed fixedly at anyone. She was so unassuming, even from childhood, that everyone who saw her was charmed by her reserve. Saint Luke remarks that when she went to visit Elizabeth, she went with haste (Lk 1:39), in order to avoid the public gaze. Philibert relates that it was revealed to a hermit named Felix that as far as her food was concerned, when she was a baby she took milk only once a day. Saint Gregory of Tours maintains that she fasted throughout her life. Saint Bonaventure explains this: "Mary would never have found so much grace if she had not been moderate in her meals, for grace and gluttony do not go together." In short, Mary was mortified in everything, so that it was true to say of her: My hands dripped with myrrh (Cant 5:5).

2. The second means is avoidance of the occasions of sin: He that is aware of the snares shall be secure (Prov 11:15). Saint Philip Neri coined the expression: "In the war of the senses, cowards conquer." By cowards he means those who flee from dangerous occasions. Mary fled as much as possible from the gaze of men. Remember Saint Luke's remark that, in going to visit Elizabeth, Mary went with haste into the hill country. One author calls attention to the fact that Our Lady left Elizabeth before Saint John was born: And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her own house. Now Elizabeth's time was fulfilled that she should be delivered, and she brought forth a son (Lk 1:56-57). Why did Mary not wait for Saint John's birth? Because she wanted to avoid the hubbub and excitement that usually accompany such an event.

3. The third means is prayer. The Wise Man said: And as I knew that I could not otherwise be continent except God gave it...I went to the Lord and besought him (Wis 8:21). Mary revealed to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary that she did not acquire any virtue without effort and without continual prayer. Saint John Damascene calls our Immaculate Mother "a lover of purity." She cannot endure those who are content to be unchaste. And if anybody appeals to her to be delivered from unchastity she will certainly help him. All he has to do is call upon her confidently. The Venerable John of Ávila used to say that many have conquered impure temptations merely through devotion to Mary Immaculate.

O Mary, most pure dove, how many are now in hell on account of impurity! Most gracious Lady, obtain for us the grace always to fly to you in our temptations, and always to invoke your name, pleading: "Mary, Mary, help us!" Amen.

Mary's Poverty

Our Redeemer chose to be poor on earth, so that we could learn from him to despise worldly things. Being rich, says Saint Paul, he became poor for your sake, that through his poverty you might be rich (2 Cor 8:9). Jesus exhorts each one who wishes to be his disciple: If thou will be perfect, go sell what you have, and give to the poor...and come, follow me (Mt 19:21).

Mary, his most perfect disciple, imitated his example most perfectly. Saint Peter Canisius proves that Mary could have lived in comfort on the property she inherited from her parents, but she preferred to remain poor. Retaining only a small portion for herself, she distributed the rest to the Temple and the needy. Many authors even believe that Mary made a vow of poverty. Perhaps the basis for this is what she said to Saint Bridget: "From the beginning I vowed in my heart that I would never possess anything on earth." The gifts she received from the wealthy Magi were surely not of little value. But we are assured by Saint Bernard that she distributed them to the poor through the hands of Saint Joseph. It is quite clear that Mary immediately disposed of these gifts from the fact that at her purification in the Temple she did not offer a lamb, as was prescribed in Leviticus for those who could afford it (Lev 12:6), but two turtledoves or two pigeons, which was the offering prescribed for the poor (Lk 2:24). Mary told Saint Bridget: "I gave to the poor all that I could, and only kept a little food and clothing for myself."

Because of her love of poverty she was willing to marry Saint Joseph who was only a poor carpenter. She helped maintain the family by working with her hands, by spinning or sewing, as Saint Bonaventure assures us. The angel told Saint Bridget that "worldly riches were of no more value in Mary's eyes than dirt." She always lived poor, and she died poor. Metaphrastes and Nicephorus tell us that at her death she left nothing except two simple dresses. She left these to the two women who had served her during the later years of her life.

Saint Philip Neri used to say that "no one who loves the baubles of the world will ever become a saint." We may add that Saint Teresa said on the same subject: "It follows that anyone who chases after perishable things is in danger of perishing himself." But, on the other hand, she adds that the virtue of poverty is a treasure that comprises in itself all other treasures. She says the "virtue of poverty," for as Saint Bernard remarks, poverty does not consist merely in being poor, but in loving poverty. Therefore Jesus Christ said: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:3). Such persons are blessed because they do not desire anything but God and find everything in God. Poverty for them is paradise on earth. This is what Saint Francis meant when he exclaimed: "My God and my all." Let us then, as Saint Augustine exhorts us, "love that one good in which all good things are found." Let us address Our Lord in the words of Saint Ignatius: "Give me only your love and your grace, and I shall be rich enough." "When we have to suffer from poverty," says Saint Bonaventure, "let us console ourselves with the thought that Jesus and his mother were also poor like ourselves."

Most holy Mother, you had good reason to say that your whole joy was in God: And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. In this world you desired and loved nothing but God. Draw me...after you (Cant 1:3). O Lady, detach me from the world, that I may love him alone, who alone deserves to be loved. Amen.

Mary's Obedience

Mary loved obedience so much that when the angel made his astonishing announcement, she chose in response to call herself merely a servant: Behold the handmaid of the Lord (Lk 1:38). According to Saint Thomas of Villanova, "this faithful servant never opposed the will of her Master in thought, word, or deed. Completely despoiled of any will of her own she lived always and in all things obedient to the will of God." She herself made it known that God was pleased with her obedience, for she said: He has regarded the humility of his handmaid (Lk 1:48). The humility of a servant consists precisely in a willingness to obey promptly. Saint Irenaeus says that by her obedience Mary repaired the evil done by Eve's disobedience: "As Eve by her disobedience caused her own death and that of the entire human race, so Mary by her obedience became the cause of her own salvation and that of all mankind." Mary's obedience was much more perfect than that of the other saints. All other men are prone to evil and find it difficult to do good because of original sin; but not so Mary. Saint Bernardine writes that because Mary was free from original sin, she did not find it difficult to obey God. "She was like a wheel," he says, "which was easily turned by every inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Her only object in the world was to keep her eyes constantly fixed on God, to learn his will, and then to perform it." The Canticles refer this saying to her: My soul melted when my Beloved spoke (Cant 5:6). As Richard of Saint Lawrence explains it: "My soul was as metal, liquefied by the fire of love, ready to be molded into any form, according to God's will."

Mary proved her love for obedience first of all when, to please God, she obeyed the Roman emperor and undertook the long journey to Bethlehem. It was winter. The distance was seventy miles. Mary was pregnant and so poor that she had to give birth to her son in a stable. She was equally obedient when she undertook on the very same night that Saint Joseph suggested it, the longer and more difficult journey to Egypt. The Carmelite Father Silveira asks why the command to flee to Egypt was given to Saint Joseph rather than to the Blessed Virgin since she was to suffer the most from it? And he answers: "So that Mary might not be deprived of the opportunity to perform an act of obedience, for which she was always most ready." Our Blessed Lady showed her heroic obedience above all when, in conformity with God's will, she offered her son to death. And this with such perfect abandonment, as Saint Anselm and Saint Antoninus remark, that had there been no executioners waiting for him on Calvary, she herself would have been ready to crucify him. Venerable Bede explains Our Lord's answer to the woman in the Gospel who exclaimed: Blessed is the womb that bore you...Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it (Lk 11:27,28). He says that Mary was very blessed by being the Mother of God, but was even more blessed by always loving and obeying his divine will.

For this reason, all who love obedience are highly pleasing to our Blessed Lady. She once appeared to a Franciscan friar named Accorso, who was in his cell. While Mary was still there, obedience required that he go to hear the confession of a sick person. He went, and on his return found that Mary had waited for him. She commended him highly for his obedience. On the other hand, she censured another religious who had remained to finish some private devotions after the refectory bell had rung.

Mary once spoke to Saint Bridget about the confidence with which one ought to obey one's spiritual director, and said: "It is obedience that brings chosen souls to glory." As Saint Philip Neri used to say: "God demands no accounting of things done by obedience, since he himself said: He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me (Lk 10:16)." Mary revealed to Saint Bridget that it was through the merit of her obedience that she obtained such great power that no sinner who appealed to her with a desire to mend his ways would fail to obtain pardon, however great his crimes.

Most sweet Queen and Mother, intercede with Jesus for us. By the merit of your obedience obtain that we may be faithful in obeying God's will and the injunctions of our spiritual guides. Amen.

Mary's Patience

Since the world is a place of meriting, it is rightly called a valley of tears. We are placed here to suffer, so that by patience we may bring our own souls to life eternal, as Our Lord himself says: By your patience you will win your souls (Lk 21:19). God gave us the Blessed Virgin as a model of all virtues. But particularly as a model of patience. Saint Francis de Sales commenting on the marriage feast at Cana, remarks that it was precisely for this reason that Our Lord's answer to the Blessed Virgin seemed to pay but little attention to her request: Woman, what is that to you and to me? (Jn 2:4). He did this to give us an example of his mother's patience. But why do we have to look for examples? Mary's whole life was one continual exercise of patience. The angel said to Saint Bridget: "As a rose grows up among thorns, so did the Blessed Virgin grow up among tribulations." Her compassion for the sufferings of the Redeemer was enough in itself to make her a martyr of patience. Saint Bonaventure says: "A crucified Mother conceived a crucified Son." In speaking of her sorrows, we have already mentioned how much she suffered during her journey to Egypt and during her stay there, as well as during the time she spent with her son in the house at Nazareth. But what Mary had to endure when her son was crucified on Calvary is enough in itself to show how constant and steadfast her patience was: There stood by the cross of Jesus his mother. It was then, according to Saint Albert the Great, that she brought us forth to the life of grace.

If then we wish to be children of Mary, we must strive to imitate her patience. "What can enrich us with greater merit in this life," asks Saint Cyprian, "or with greater glory in the next, than the patient endurance of sufferings?" Divine Wisdom said, by the prophet Osee: I will hedge in her way with thorns (Osee 2:6). Saint Gregory adds: "The way of the elect is hedged with thorns." As a hedge of thorns protects a vineyard, so God protects his servants from attaching themselves to the earth by surrounding them with tribulations. Saint Cyprian concludes, therefore, that it is patience that delivers us from sin and hell. It is also patience that produces saints: Let patience have its perfect work (Jas 1:4). Patient souls bear in peace not only the crosses that come immediately from God, such as sickness and poverty, but also those that come from men - persecution, injuries, and the like. Saint John saw all the saints carrying palm branches, the emblem of martyrdom, in their hands: After this I saw a great multitude...and palms were in their hands (Apoc 7:9). This meant that all adults who are saved must be martyrs in some sense, either through shedding their blood for Christ or through the practice of patience. Saint Gregory urges us to take courage, maintaining that "we can be martyrs without the executioner's sword, by merely preserving patience." "Provided, of course," adds Saint Bernard, "that we endure the trials of this life not only patiently but willingly and with joy." What fruit every pain borne for God's sake will produce for us in heaven! The Apostle encourages us, saying: For our present light affliction, which is for the moment, prepares for us an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor 4:17). Saint Teresa's reflections on this subject are beautiful. She used to say: "Those who embrace the cross do not feel it." And again: "Once we have made up our minds to suffer, there is no more pain."

When our crosses weigh heavily upon us, let us have recourse to Mary whom Holy Church calls "comforter of the afflicted," and whom Saint John Damascene calls "the remedy for all the sorrows of the heart."

O my sweet Lady, you who were innocent endured suffering with so much patience. Why do I, who deserve hell, refuse to suffer at all? My mother, I now ask you for this favor - not to be delivered from crosses, but to bear them patiently. For the love of Jesus, I beg you to obtain this grace from God. I confidently hope for this from you.

Mary's Spirit of Prayer

No other soul on earth ever practiced so perfectly as the Blessed Virgin the great lesson taught by our Savior that we must always pray, and not lose heart (Lk 18:1). No one can give us a better example, says Saint Bonaventure, of how necessary it is to persevere in prayer. Saint Albert the Great asserts that, after Jesus Christ, our Blessed Lady excelled all souls who ever existed or ever will exist in her spirit of prayer. Her prayer was continual and persevering. From the very first moment that she had the use of reason (which was, as we have said in the discourse on her Nativity, the first moment of her existence) she began to pray. So that she could devote herself still more to this pious practice, she retired into the solitude of the Temple when she was only three years old. There, as she revealed to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, in addition to the other hours set aside for prayer she always rose at midnight and went before the altar to offer her petitions to God. Later in life (as we learn from Odilo), so as to meditate more fervently on the sufferings of Jesus, she frequently visited the places of Our Lord's nativity, passion, and burial. Moreover, she prayed with the most complete recollection of spirit, free from every distraction and inordinate affection. Nor did any exterior occupation ever interfere with the light of her unceasing contemplation, as Denis the Carthusian assures us.

Because of her love of prayer, Mary was so enamored of solitude that, as she told Saint Bridget, when she lived in the Temple she avoided association even with her own parents. Saint Jerome comments on the words of the prophet Isaiah: The virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel (Isa 7:14). He says that in Hebrew the word "virgin" properly means a "retired virgin." So we see that the prophet even foretold the love Mary would have for solitude. Richard of Saint Lawrence says that the angel addressed her in these words: The Lord is with you, because of her great love for seclusion. That is why Saint Vincent Ferrer maintains that Mary "left her house only to go to the Temple, and that when she did so her demeanor was modest and she kept her eyes cast down." For the same reason, when she went to visit Saint Elizabeth she went with haste.

This prompted Saint Ambrose to admonish virgins to avoid the world and public appearances as much as possible. Saint Bernard claims that it was Mary's love of prayer and solitude that prompted her " to avoid the society of men and useless conversation with them." The Holy Spirit called her a turtledove: Your cheeks are as beautiful as the turtledove's (Cant 1:9). According to Vergello, this is a reference to Mary's love of seclusion and her spirit of recollection. Turtledoves were known to seek solitude and to flee from association with other birds. Mary lived such a retired life in the world that the words of Canticles apply to her: Who is she that goes up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke? (Cant 3:6). Commenting on these words, the Abbot Rupert says: "You came up as from a desert, because you had a soul that loved solitude."

Philo assures us that "God only speaks to souls in solitude." Holy Writ says the same thing in the prophecy of Osee: I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart (Osee 2:14). "Happy solitude!" exclaims Saint Jerome, "where God converses familiarly with his own." "Yes," says Saint Bernard, "solitude and silence force the soul to leave the thought of earth behind and to meditate on heavenly things."

Most holy Virgin, help us to love prayer and retirement, so that we may detach ourselves from the love of creatures and may aspire only to God and heaven where we hope one day to see you, to praise you, and to love you, together with Jesus, your son, for ever and ever. Amen.

Come over to me, all you that desire me, and be filled with my fruits (Ecclus 24:26). Mary's fruits are her virtues. "There has never been anyone like you, nor shall there ever be. You alone of all women, without any rival, have pleased the Lord."