She is not less interested now in converts than she was then. She has been praying for them ever since. "Mary's prayers shall bring them back." Let us remember this when we are dealing with them; we are not working alone. Mary, the great advocate, is pleading with Her Son. Let us bring them, as often as we can, into the Real Presence—they may be all unconscious, but He is not. He will act upon them. Virtue will go out of Him to them: they will not go empty away, for it is impossible for them to be under the direct rays of His Presence without being influenced.
Point II.—The Baby Martyrs
Their visit over, the three Kings took leave of the Holy Child and His Mother, and, warned by God not to go and give their good news to Herod, they returned to their country by another way. This so exasperated Herod that he gave an order which plunged not only Bethlehem but all the neighbourhood into the most profound grief and desolation. How the heart of Mary went out in sympathy to the bereaved mothers! How big her heart felt as it dilated to take them all in! She understood now what it meant to be the Mother of Sorrows, and that only by having this title could she have the other—Consolatrix afflictorum (Consoler of the afflicted). How quickly Simeon's prophecy was being fulfilled! Her Son was already a sign being contradicted, in those Hebrew mothers and their innocent babes. Each mother was sacrificing her babe that Mary might not have to sacrifice hers. Each babe was giving its life to save the life of Jesus. Their sufferings were all because of Jesus and Mary. How the sword pierced Mary's heart as she heard the bitter cries of mothers and children! "Poor banished children of Eve," born to sorrow and trouble! But from henceforth their cause will be espoused by a "most gracious Advocate," who will take a special interest in all troubles and sufferings that come to her children on account of the sacrifices that they make for her Son, or which are caused by their nearness to Him. At that moment of anguish the Jewish mothers were making a sacrifice, though it was an unwilling one and made in ignorance. God, in His mercy, rewards even such. Had their children lived, they might have been among the murderers of Jesus; now they are saved from all sin, they escape Purgatory, and, the first to give their lives for Him, they will follow the Lamb for ever. Happy little Innocents! Happy those who have the honour to be their mothers! Happy all those who make the least sacrifice for Him! And happy, thrice happy, the Queen of Martyrs, who is now entering into the possession of her new kingdom!
The more closely I am identified with Jesus and Mary, the more I must expect suffering. The training for the kingdom is the same, whether for Wise Men or Babes. The Wise Men learnt from the child on Mary's knee to view suffering in a new light, and they went back to their country prepared to sacrifice all for the Child and His Mother, shrinking from nothing till they laid down their lives for Him Whose star they had so diligently followed. So Simeon's sword is piercing; the Cross is already showing that the followers of the Babe are to be victims too—all is getting clearer and clearer to Mary, and as she wonders her heart is enlarged.
Colloquy with Mary.
Resolution. To follow the generosity of the Wise Men and the Babes.
Spiritual Bouquet. "Mater Dolorosa, Consolatrix afflictorum, Regina Martyrum, ora pro nobis."
Egypt
"That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spake by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called My Son." (St Matt. ii. 15.)
1st Prelude. Picture of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
2nd Prelude. Grace to believe that no circumstances in which God has placed me can hinder my spiritual life.
Point I.—The Flight into Egypt