As the manna had the taste of every kind of food, so this Divine Infant contains in Himself every kind of consolation. Each one can find in Him what he desires, and proportionate to his capacity, provided that he possess the requisite dispositions.
SPIRITUAL FLOWERS.
No flower could be a better emblem of the resplendent virtue of Mary and her singular privilege than the lily; whose three petals may signify that she was a Virgin in her conception of Jesus, a Virgin at His birth, and a Virgin ever afterwards.—Nouet.
Mary is the Mystical Lily without spot, in which the Eternal Word espoused our nature.—The same.
The flower falls from the tree when the fruit is formed; but the Mother of God, who is the tree of life, preserves her flower and her fruit, and by an unheard-of miracle unites maternity to virginity.—The same.
As the lily lifts its stem on high, so the soul who often receives Jesus Christ should direct its hopes towards heaven in imitation of Jesus, Who is the Flower of the field and the Lily of the valley. The virtue of such a soul has roots deeper than the cedars of Lebanon, which defy the winds and the storms. In the fruitfulness of her good works and in her charity towards the poor, her glory is like that of the olive. The fragrance of her holy life and of her sweet conversation is spread around like the odour of the flowers which bud forth on Mount Lebanon in spring-time.—St. Cyril.
The Devotion of the Saints to the Angelus.
1. St. Alfonso di Liguori omitted no favourable opportunity for showing his tender devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin. Whenever he heard the clock strike, whatever might be his occupation or conversation, he interrupted it to recite the Angelical salutation, saying that one Ave Maria was more valuable than the entire world. He was most exact in the recital of the Angelus. As soon as he heard the sound of the bell, he went down on his knees, even when he happened to be in the public streets. When he became deaf he desired to be warned of the ringing of the bell, and even when at his meals he would break off and kneel down to recite it. Often was he rapt in ecstasy during this prayer from the fervour of his devotion.
2. St. Charles Borromeo, who was so celebrated for piety and learning, was not ashamed, when Archbishop of Milan, to descend from his carriage or his horse in the open streets to recite the Angelus in honour of Mary.