Blessed is he, says the divine mother, who hears my teachings and considers my charity, in order to practise it towards others in imitation of me: “Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.”[1618] St. Gregory Nazianzen says, that there is nothing by which we may more surely gain the love of Mary, than by the practice of charity towards our neighbor.[1619] Hence, as God commands us, saying, “Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful;”[1620] so Mary appears to say to all her children: Be ye merciful, as your mother also is merciful.[1621] It is certain that God and Mary will show mercy to us, according to the charity we practise towards our neighbor. “Give, and it shall be given to you.” “For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.”[1622] St. Methodius said: Give to the poor and receive paradise: “Da pauperi et accipe Paradisum:” for, according to the apostle, charity towards our neighbor renders us happy in this life and the next: “But piety is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”[1623] St. John Chrysostom, remarking on the words of Proverbs, “He that hath mercy on the poor, lendeth to the Lord,”[1624] says, that he who assists the needy, makes God his debtor.[1625] Oh mother of mercy, thou art full of charity for all. Do not forget my miseries. Thou dost even now see them. Recommend me to that God who denies thee nothing. Obtain for me the grace of being able to imitate thee in holy charity towards God and towards my neighbor. Amen.
SECTION IV.
OF THE FAITH OF MARY.
As the blessed Virgin is the mother of love and of hope, thus, also, is she the mother of faith. “I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and knowledge, and of holy hope.”[1626] And justly, says St. Iræneus, since Mary repaired by her faith that loss which Eve caused by her incredulity.[1627] Eve, Tertullian also says, because she chose to believe the serpent rather than the Word of God, brought death into the world; but our queen, believing the words of the angel, that she, remaining a virgin, was to become the mother of the Lord, brought salvation to the world.[1628] For St. Augustine says that Mary, giving her consent to the incarnation of the Word, by means of her faith opened paradise to men.[1629] Also Richard, commenting on the words of St. Paul, “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife,”[1630] says: This is the believing woman by whose faith the unbelieving Adam and all his posterity are saved.[1631] Hence, on account of her faith, Elizabeth pronounced the Virgin blessed: Blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished in thee that were spoken by the Lord.[1632] And St. Augustine added: Mary is more blessed by receiving the faith of Christ than by conceiving the flesh of Christ.[1633]
Father Suarez says that the holy Virgin had more faith than all men and all the angels. She saw her Son in the stable of Bethlehem, and believed him the Creator of the world. She saw him flying from Herod, and yet believed that he was the King of kings. She saw him born, and believed him to be eternal. She saw him poor and in need of food, and believed him to be Lord of the universe; laid on straw, and she believed him omnipotent. She observed that he did not speak, and she believed him to be the infinite Wisdom. She heard him weeping, and she believed him to be the joy of paradise. Finally, she saw him in death, despised and crucified, but although the faith of others might have wavered, Mary remained firm in the belief that he was God. St. Antoninus says, remarking on the words: There stood by the cross of Jesus his mother: “Stabat juxta crucem Jesu mater ejus,” Mary stood supported by her faith, which she retained firm in the divinity of Christ.[1634] And it is for this reason, says the saint, that in the office of Tenebræ, only one candle is left lighted. St. Leo, when treating of this subject, applies to the Virgin this passage of Proverbs: “Her lamp shall not be put out in the night.”[1635] On the words of Isaias, “I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the Gentiles, there is not a man with me,”[1636] St. Thomas remarks: He says a man, on account of the Virgin, in whom faith never failed.[1637] Whence the blessed Albertus Magnus says, that Mary practised then a most perfect faith. She had faith in a most excellent degree; who, even when the disciples were doubting, did not doubt. Mary, therefore, by her great faith merited to become the light of all the faithful, as St. Methodius calls her: “Fidelium fax.” And by St. Cyril of Alexandria: The queen of the true faith: “Sceptrum orthodoxæ fidei.” And the holy Church herself attributes to the Virgin, by the merit of her faith, the destruction of all heresies: “Rejoice, oh Virgin Mary, for thou alone hast destroyed all heresies throughout the world.”[1638] St. Thomas of Villanova also says, explaining the words of the Holy Spirit, “Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse ... with one of thy eyes,”[1639] that the eyes signify faith, by which the Virgin gave the greatest pleasure to the Son of God.[1640]
St. Ildephonsus exhorts us to imitate the faith of Mary: “Imitamini signaculum fidei Mariæ.” But how are we to imitate this faith of Mary? Faith is at the same time a gift and a virtue. It is a gift of God, in so far as it is a light which God infuses into the soul, and it is also a virtue in so far as it is exercised by the soul. Hence faith is given us not only to serve as a rule of belief, but also of action. Therefore St. Gregory says: He truly believes who, by his works, practises what he believes.[1641] And St. Augustine: Thou sayest, “I believe,” do what you say, and it is faith.[1642] And this is to have a lively faith, namely, to live according to our belief. “My just man liveth by faith.”[1643] It was thus the blessed Virgin lived, very differently from those who do not live according to what they believe, whose faith is dead, as St. James says: Faith without good works is dead: “Fide sine operibus mortua est.”[1644] Diogenes went about seeking a man upon earth: “Hominem quæro;” but God seems seeking a Christian among the many faithful: “Christianum quæro.” For very few are they who have the works, the greater part have only the name; but to these should be said what Alexander said to that cowardly soldier who was also named Alexander: Change either your name or your conduct: “Aut nomen, aut mores muta.” But, as Father Avila used to say: It would be better if these miserable creatures were put in confinement as madmen, believing as they do, that a happy eternity is prepared for him who lives well, and an unhappy eternity for him who lives ill, and yet living as if they did not believe this. St. Augustine therefore exhorts us to see things with Christian eyes, that is, to see according to faith: “Oculos Christianorum habete.” For St. Theresa was accustomed to say, that all sins arise from a want of faith. Let us therefore implore the holy Virgin, that by the merit of her faith she may obtain for us a lively faith. Oh Lady, increase our faith: Domina adauge nobis fidem.
SECTION V.
OF THE HOPE OF MARY.
From faith springs hope, for God enlightens us by faith with a knowledge of his goodness and his promises, that we may rise by hope to the desire of possessing him. Mary, then, having the virtue of an extraordinary faith, had also the virtue of an extraordinary hope, which made her say with David: “But it is good for me to adhere to my God, and to put my hope in the Lord God.”[1645] Mary was, indeed, that faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit, of whom it was said: “Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning on her beloved?”[1646] For she was always perfectly detached from affection to the world, which to her appeared a desert; and placing no confidence either in creatures or her own merits, but relying entirely on divine grace, in which alone she trusted, she always advanced in the divine love; and thus Ailgrin said of her: She ascended from the desert, that is, from the world, which she deserted and esteemed such a desert, that she turned away from it all her affection. Leaning upon her beloved; for she trusted not in her own merits, but in the grace of him who bestows grace.[1647]
And the holy Virgin plainly showed how great was her confidence in God: first, when she saw the trouble of her holy spouse, Joseph, because he knew not the mode of her miraculous pregnancy, and thought of leaving her: But Joseph ... minded to put her away privately: “Joseph autem ... voluit occulte dimittere eam.”[1648] It appeared then necessary, as we have already said, that she should discover to Joseph the hidden mystery; but no, she would not herself reveal the grace she had received; she thought it better to abandon herself to divine providence, trusting that God himself would protect her innocence and her reputation. Cornelius à Lapide makes precisely the same remark, commenting upon these very words of the Gospel: The blessed Virgin was unwilling to make known this secret to Joseph, lest she should seem to boast of her gifts, but resigned herself in perfect confidence to the care of God, trusting that he would protect her innocence and reputation.[1649] Moreover, she showed her confidence in God when, as the time for the birth of Christ approached, she saw herself in Bethlehem shut out from the lodgings even of the poor, and obliged to bring forth her Son in a stable: “And she laid him in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn.”[1650] She did not then utter a single word of complaint, but abandoning herself to God, trusted that he would assist her in her need. The divine mother also showed how much she trusted in the divine providence, when warned by Joseph that they were obliged to fly into Egypt, she set out the same night on so long a journey to a foreign and unknown country, without preparation, without money, without other company than that of her infant Jesus and her poor spouse: “Who arose and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt.”[1651] But much more did Mary make known her confidence, when she asked from her Son the favor of the miracle of wine at the marriage of Cana; for having said: They have no wine: “Vinum non habent;” Jesus answered her: “Woman, what is it to thee and to me? my hour has not yet come.”[1652] But after this answer, by which it seemed clearly that he refused her request, she, trusting in the divine goodness, directed the people of the house to do as the Son should order, because the grace was secure; Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye: “Quodcumque dixerit vobis facite.” And Jesus Christ did, indeed, order that the vessels should be filled with water, and then changed it into wine.