THE DEATH OF MARY WAS SWEET AND TRANQUIL.
As the peaceful morning dawns, not by fits and starts, but steadily and gradually, so that its progress is scarcely perceptible, so did Divine love increase in the heart of Our Lady, the glorious Virgin Mary. Her progress in charity was tranquil, uniform and uninterrupted, so that she continually pursued her course towards the Divinity Whom she loved.
Consider that love is, in its nature, calm, tranquil, and full of sweetness, and becomes violent only when it meets with some opposition. But if its dominion in a soul be undisputed, and if nothing oppose its progress, then it works steadily and gains its victories with ease. We may understand, then, how the heart of the Mother of pure Love experienced all its power, without any impetuous movement, for in her there was no resistance to overcome.
Observe the course of great rivers: when the bed is not level and the current is encumbered with masses of rock, the waters splash and foam, and roll back again with a great noise; but when the bed is smooth the waters flow on placidly and without effort. Such is the case with holy love, when it meets with obstacles,—and where does it not find them? It is constrained to struggle with a kind of violence against the human inclinations that oppose it; to use force, and make great efforts in order to bend the will, to remove impediments, and to open a passage for itself to the heart it seeks to possess. In the Blessed Virgin, however, everything favoured and seconded the attractions of grace and of Divine love, and although her love was incomparably greater than that of any other creature, it continually went on increasing with the greatest calm and sweetness.
If iron were not held down by its weight it would find no obstacle to the continued attraction of the magnet, and its strong and even motion would continually increase in proportion as the iron and magnet drew nearer to each other. Thus it was with the Most Holy Virgin at her death. As there was nothing in her that could impede the action of Divine love, she became more and more closely united to her adorable Son through sweet ecstasies, until she became, so to speak, immersed in the bosom of His goodness; and thus, without even knowing it, she quitted her body and was reunited to her Divine Son in heaven.
It was fitting that as love had produced the sorrows of death in this Divine Mother at the foot of the Cross, so death should in its turn, produce the sovereign delights of love. Ah! may this Most Holy Virgin obtain for us, by her prayers, grace to live in holy love, and may it alone be the object of all our desires, and of all the affections of our hearts!
SPIRITUAL FLOWERS.
St. Gregory says that the pomegranate, by its bright red colour, its beautiful corona, and numerous seeds so well arranged, sweetly represents charity. Charity is red, by the ardour with which it burns for God, is adorned with the variety of every virtue, and obtains and wears for ever the crown of eternal rewards.—St. Francis of Sales.
Bees never sting so sharply as when they are themselves mortally wounded. How can we fail to be wounded with love for our adorable Saviour, when we contemplate Him wounded for us, even unto death and the death of the Cross; to be wounded, I say, with a wound the more painfully loving, as His was more lovingly painful; nor can we ever love Him as much as His death and His love merit.—The same.