In another place, in the diocese of Salerno, during one of our missions, there was a certain man who had a great enmity against one who had offended him. One of our fathers spoke to him, and exhorted him to pardon the offence. “Father, have you ever seen me at the sermon? No, you have not, and for this reason I stay away: I see that I am damned, but I do not wish it otherwise, I must have revenge.” The father made every effort to convert him, but finding that he was wasting his words, “Take,” he said to him, “this little picture of the Madonna.” “Of what use,” said he, “is this picture?” But he took it, and as if he had never refused to pardon his enemy, he said to the missionary, “Father, do you wish any thing more than reconciliation? for that I am ready.” The next morning was appointed for the reconciliation; but when the morning came, his mind was changed, and he would do nothing. The father offered him another picture. He did not wish for it, and took it unwillingly; but behold, no sooner had he taken it, than he immediately said, “Let us be reconciled: where is Mastrodatti?” He then forgave his enemy, and afterwards made his confession.
PRAYER.
Ah, my immaculate Lady, I rejoice with thee, seeing thee endowed with so great purity. I give thanks, and make the resolution always to give thanks to our common Creator, for having preserved thee from every stain of sin, as I certainly believe; and to defend this great and peculiar privilege of thy immaculate conception I am ready, and swear to give even my life if it is necessary. I wish that all the world might know thee, and acknowledge thee for that beautiful aurora, which was always resplendent with the divine light; that chosen ark of salvation, safe from the common shipwreck of sin; for that perfect and immaculate dove, as thy divine spouse declared thee; that inclosed garden, which was the delight of God; that fountain sealed up, which the enemy never entered to trouble; finally, that spotless lily, which thou art, springing up among the thorns of the children of Adam; for whereas all are born defiled with original sin, and enemies of God, thou wast born pure, all spotless, and in all things a friend of thy Creator.
Let me, then, also praise thee as thy God himself hath praised thee when he said: Thou art all fair, and there is not a spot in thee: “Tota pulchra es et macula non est in te.” Oh most pure dove, all white, all beautiful, and always the friend of God: “O quam pulchra es, amica mea, quam pulchra es.” Oh most sweet, most amiable, immaculate Mary, thou who art so beautiful in the eyes of our Lord, do not disdain to look with thy pitying eye upon the loathsome wounds of my soul. Behold me, pity me, and heal me. Oh powerful magnet of hearts, draw also my miserable heart to thee. Thou who even from the first moment of thy life wast pure and beautiful in the sight of God, have pity on me, for I was not only born in sin, but after baptism, I again have defiled my soul with sin. Will God, who hath chosen thee for his child, his mother, and his spouse, and therefore hath preserved thee free from every stain, refuse any grace to thee? Virgin immaculate, you must save me; I will say to thee with St. Philip Neri, make me always to remember thee, and do not forget me. It seems to me a thousand years before I shall go to behold thy beauty in paradise, to praise and love thee more, my mother, my queen, my beloved, most lovely, most sweet, most pure, immaculate Mary. Amen.
DISCOURSE II.
ON THE BIRTH OF MARY.
Mary was born a saint, and a great saint, for great was the grace with which our Lord enriched her from the beginning, and great was the fidelity with which Mary at once corresponded with it.
Men are accustomed to celebrate the birth of their children with joy and feasting; but rather ought they to weep and give signs of grief and mourning, considering that these are born, not only destitute of merits and of reason, but moreover infected by sin and children of wrath, and therefore condemned to misery and death. But with reason do we celebrate, with feasts and universal praise, the birth of our infant Mary, for she came into this world an infant in age, it is true, but great in merits and in virtues. Mary was born a saint, and a great saint. But to conceive the degree of sanctity in which she was born, we must call to mind, in the first place, how great was the first grace with which God enriched Mary; and in the second, with how great fidelity Mary at once corresponded with God.
First Point.—Commencing with the first point, it is certain that the soul of Mary was the most beautiful soul that God ever created; indeed, next to the incarnation of the Word, this work was the greatest and most worthy of himself that the Omnipotent could accomplish in this world—a work, as St. Peter Damian terms it, which God alone excels: “Opus quod solus Deus supergreditur.” Hence it was that the divine grace did not descend upon Mary in drops as upon the other saints, but as David predicted: Like rain upon the fleece: “Sicut pluvia in vellus.”[1000] The soul of Mary was like wool, that happily imbibed all that great shower of graces without losing a drop. The holy Virgin, says St. Basil, drew into herself all the graces of the Holy Spirit.[1001] Hence she herself said by the mouth of Ecclesiasticus: My abode is in the fulness of saints: “In plenitudine Sanctorum detentio mea;”[1002] which St. Bonaventure thus explains: I have in fulness all that the other saints have in part;[1003] and St. Vincent Ferrer, speaking especially of the sanctity of Mary before her birth, said, that she surpassed all the saints and angels in sanctity.[1004]
The grace of the blessed Virgin surpassed the grace not only of each saint in particular, but of all the saints and angels together, as the most learned Father Francis Pepe, of the Society of Jesus, proves, in his admirable work on the grandeur of Jesus and Mary;[1005] and he asserts that this opinion, so glorious for our queen, is now common and established among modern theologians, as Carthagena, Suarez, Spinelli, Recupito, Guerra, and others, who have avowedly examined it, which was not done by the ancients; and he further relates, that the divine mother sent Father Martin Guttierez to thank Father Suarez in her name for having, with so much courage, defended this most probable opinion, which Father Segneri asserts, in his work entitled “The Servant of Mary,” was maintained by the common consent of the Faculty of Salamanca.