Mary's Charity Towards God
TAKEN FROM THE GLORIES OF MARY
by Saint Alphonsus Liguori
with Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, 1931
St. Anselm says that "wherever there is the greatest purity, there is
also the greatest charity." The more a heart is pure, and empty of
itself, the greater is the fullness of its love towards God. The most
holy Mary, because she was all humility, and had nothing of self in
her, was filled with Divine love, so that "her love towards God
surpassed that of all men and Angels,'" as St. Bernardine writes.
Therefore St. Francis de Sales with reason called her "the Queen of
love."
God has indeed given men the precept to love Him with their whole
heart, Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with thy whole heart;
[Matt. 22:37] but, as St. Thomas declares, "this commandment will be
fully and perfectly fulfilled by men only in Heaven, and not on earth,
where it is only fulfilled imperfectly." [2. 2, q. 44, a. 6] On this
subject, Blessed Albert the Great remarks, that, in a certain sense, it
would have been unbecoming had God given a precept that was never to
have been perfectly fulfilled. But this would have been the case had
not the Divine Mother perfectly fulfilled it. The Saint says, "Either
some one fulfilled this precept, or no one; if anyone, it must have
been the most Blessed Virgin." Richard of St. Victor confirms this
opinion, saying, "The Mother of our Emmanuel practised virtues in their
very highest perfection. Who has ever fulfilled as she did that first
commandment, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with thy whole heart?
In her Divine love was so ardent that no defect of any kind could have
access to her." "Divine love," says St. Bernard, "so penetrated and
filled the soul of Mary, that no part of her was left untouched; so
that she loved with her whole heart, with her whole soul, with her
whole strength, and was full of grace." Therefore Mary could well say,
My Beloved has given Himself all to me, and I have given myself all to
Him: My Beloved to me, and I to Him.
[Cant. 2:16] "Ah! well might even the Seraphim," says Richard, "have
descended from Heaven to learn, in the heart of Mary, how to love God."
God, Who is love, [1 John 4:8] came on earth to enkindle in the hearts
of all the flame of His Divine love; but in no heart did He enkindle so
much as in that of His Mother; for her heart was entirely pure from all
earthly affections, and fully prepared to burn with this blessed flame.
Thus St. Sophronius says that "Divine love so inflamed her, that
nothing earthly could enter her affections; she was always burning with
this heavenly flame, and, so to say, inebriated with it." Hence the
heart of Mary became all fire and flames, as we read of her in the
sacred Canticles: The lamps thereof
are fire and flame; [Cant.
8:6]
fire burning within through love, as St. Anselm explains it; and flames
shining without by the example she gave to all in the practice of
virtues. When Mary, then, was in this world, and bore Jesus in her
arms, she could well be called, "fire carrying fire;" and with far more
reason than a woman spoken of by Hippocrates, who was thus called
because she carried fire in her hand. Yes, for St. Ildephonsus said,
that "the Holy Ghost heated, inflamed, and melted Mary with love, as
fire does iron; so that the flame of this Holy Spirit was seen, and
nothing was felt but the fire of the love of God." St. Thomas of
Villanova says, that the bush seen by Moses, [Exod. 3:2] which burnt
without being consumed, was a real symbol of Mary's heart. Therefore
with reason, says St. Bernard, was she seen by St. John clothed with
the sun: and there appeared a great
wonder in Heaven, a woman clothed with the sun;
[Apoc. 7:1] "for," continues the Saint, "she was so closely united to
God by love, and penetrated so deeply the abyss of Divine wisdom, that,
without a personal union with God, it would seem impossible for a
creature to have a closer union with Him."
Hence St. Bernardine of Siena asserts that the most holy Virgin
was never tempted by Hell; for, he says: "As flies are driven away by a
great fire, so were the evil spirits driven away by her ardent love; so
much so, that they did not even dare approach her." Richard of St.
Victor also says, that "the Blessed Virgin was terrible to the princes
of darkness, so that they did not presume to tempt or approach her; for
the fire of her charity deterred them."
Mary herself revealed to St. Bridget, that in this world she
never had any thought, desire, or joy, but in and for God: "I thought,"
she said, "of nothing but God, nothing pleased me but God;" so that her
blessed soul being in the almost continual contemplation of God whilst
on earth, the acts of love which she formed were innumerable, as Father
Suarez writes: "The acts of perfect charity formed by the Blessed
Virgin in this life were without number; for nearly the whole of her
life was spent in contemplation, and in that state she constantly
repeated acts of love." But a remark of Bernardine de Bustis pleases me
still more: he says that Mary did not so much repeat acts of love as
other Saints do, but that her whole life was one continued act of it;
for, by a special privilege, she always actually loved God." As a royal
eagle, she always kept her eyes fixed on the Divine Sun of Justice:
"that," as St. Peter Damian says, "the duties of active life did not
prevent her from loving, and love did not prevent her from attending to
those duties." Therefore St. Germanus says, that the altar of
propitiation, on which the fire was never extinguished day or night,
was a type of Mary.
Nor was sleep an obstacle to Mary's love for God; since, as St.
Augustine asserts, "the dreams, when sleeping, of our first parents, in
their state of innocence, were as happy as their lives when waking;"
and if such a privilege were granted them, it certainly cannot be
denied that it was also granted to the Divine Mother, as Suarez, the
Abbot Rupert, and St. Bernardine fully admit. St. Ambrose is also of
this opinion; for speaking of Mary, he says, "while her body rested,
her soul watched," verifying in herself the words of the wise man: Her lamp shall not be put out in the night.
[Prov. 31:18] Yes, for while her blessed body took its necessary repose
in gentle sleep, "her soul," says St. Bernardine, "freely tended
towards God; so much so, that she was then wrapped in more perfect
contemplation than any other person ever was when awake." Therefore
could she well say with the Spouse in the Canticles, I weep, and my heart watcheth.
[Cant. 5:2] "As happy in sleep as awaking," as Suarez says. In fine,
St. Bernardine asserts, that as long as Mary lived in this world she
was continually loving God: "The mind of the Blessed Virgin was always
wrapped in the ardor of love." The Saint moreover adds, "that she never
did anything that the Divine Wisdom did not show her to be pleasing to
Him; and that she loved God as much as she thought He was to be loved
by her."
Indeed, according to Blessed Albert the Great, we can well say that
Mary was filled with so great charity, that greater was not possible in
any pure creature on earth. Hence St. Thomas of Villanova affirms, that
by her ardent charity the Blessed Virgin became so beautiful, and so
enamoured of her God, that, captivated as it were by her love, He
descended into her womb and became man. Wherefore St. Bernardine
exclaims, "Behold the power of the Virgin Mother: she wounded and took
captive the heart of God."
But since Mary loves God so much, there can be nothing that she so much
requires of her clients as that they also should love Him to their
utmost. This precisely she one day told Blessed Angela of Foligno after
Communion, saying, "Angela, be thou blessed by my Son, and endeavor to
love Him as much as thou canst."
She also said to St. Bridget, "Daughter, if thou desirest to bind me
to thee, love my Son." Mary desires nothing more than to see her
Beloved, Who is God, loved. Novarinus asks why the Blessed Virgin, with
the Spouse in the Canticles, begged the Angels to make the great love
she bore Him known to our Lord, saying, I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if
you find my Beloved, that you tell Him that I languish
with love.
[Cant. 5:8] Did not God know how much she loved Him? "Why did she seek
to show the wound to her Beloved, since He it was Who had inflicted
it?" The same author answers, that the Divine Mother thereby wished to
make her love known to us, not to God; that as she was herself wounded,
so might she also be enabled to wound us with Divine love. And "because
Mary was all on fire with the love of God, all who love and
approach her are inflamed by her with this same love; for she renders
them like unto herself." For this reason St. Catherine of Siena
called Mary "the bearer of fire," the bearer of the flames of Divine
love. If we also desire to burn with these blessed flames, let us
endeavor always to draw nearer to our Mother by our prayers and the
affections of our souls.
Ah, Mary, thou Queen of love, of all creatures the most amiable, the
most beloved, and the most loving, as St. Francis de Sales addressed
thee,---my own sweet Mother, thou wast always and in all things
inflamed
with love towards God; deign, then, to bestow at least a spark of it on
me. Thou didst pray thy Son for the spouses whose wine had failed: They
have no wine.
[John 2:3] And wilt thou not pray for us, in whom the love of God, Whom
we are under such obligations to love, is wanting? Say also, "They have
no love," and obtain us this love. This is the only grace for
which we ask. O Mother, by the love thou bearest to Jesus, graciously
hear and pray for us. Amen.
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