Mother St. Paul

“ Can it be that they prefer to be among the proud whom He scatters in the conceit of their heart, among the mighty whom He puts down from their seat, among the rich whom He sends away empty? Can it be that they refuse to listen to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Who tells them that Mary is blessed among women? And yet they sing the Magnificat, which tells them how ready God is to "exalt the humble" and to "fill the hungry with good things." O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, pray for all those who honour thee by singing thy Magnificat, that they may honour thee also by understanding it. ”

“ Death cometh when no man can work—when no more merit, no more reparation will be possible. The point I have then reached will be mine through all eternity. "As the tree falls, so will it lie." Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me now and at the hour of my death.
Colloquy with Mary, my Mother in Heaven, who is pleading for me; who is letting me do all my work close to her side; and who will be there at the hour of my death, to put me back into the Hands of her Son, Who gave me to her when He was on the Cross, saying: "Take this child and nurse it for Me." ”

“ Teach me, O holy Mother of God, something of this real joy—the joy that is arrived at through faith, through suffering, through a perfect union of heart with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and through conformity to God's will; the joy of the risen life—the new life that rises out of the death to self. ”

“ It is impossible for a child of Mary not to share her Mother's holy hope. A child of Mary cannot despair! When we think about death and final perseverance, what holy hope at once fills our hearts as we remember that we have put that terrible moment into the hands of our Mother! ”

“ What about our sacrifice? Are not all such things as these a part of it? We have no business to add to the trials of others by our tyrannical selfishness. Sorrow ought to brace the soul up to greater heights of sanctity; if it depresses it to a lower level of spirituality, there is something very wrong with us. We are not copying Mary, neither are we uniting our sufferings to those of Jesus—the only way of making them meritorious. Let us see to it that our grief is a source of joy and blessing to everyone else in the house. ”

“ The soul which thinks itself unworthy of being used is the one God uses, the soul which is wrapped up in seeking after its own perfection, hiding itself in its interior life, living its life in solitude with God and for God. Blessed are the Mothers of spiritual children! Yes, but rather blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it. There should be no limit to our zeal for souls, but it should be [14] covered up by an annihilation of self, and an unobtrusive humility—a humility which teaches us to act, not to talk, as if we could never be the ones chosen by God to do His work. ”

“ What Communions must those have been, when Mary said again: Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum, and her God was again incarnate within her! What made those Communions so intense? The fact that His love and desire in coming were reciprocated. The love and desire are never wanting on His side, but unfortunately there is so little of either on ours! It takes more than one to make a good Communion. A joining together of two is the meaning of the word. If the union is to be strong, fervent, real, lasting, each must do his part. ”

“ She at once closes the door against any praise given to herself: "My soul doth magnify the Lord"—He it is Whom we must praise and make much of—"and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." Mary understands what it is that is making her so full of joy. It is the presence of Jesus her Saviour. She has Him within her, Who has saved her from the stain of original sin, and Who will save her each moment that she lives from actual sin. ”

“ Ecce ancilla Domini, at the most exalted moment of her life. "Who is she?" She is the "fairest among women" because of her conformity to God's will, say those who have heard over and over again her Fiat when the sword was piercing her soul. "Who is she?" We, too, can answer the question, for we know her. We have watched her, and meditated upon her life, from the moment of her Immaculate Conception till her holy death of love and desire; and we have seen that she has always been growing in grace and in conformity to her Divine Son. ”

“ Does not a mother love to hear the voice of her babe in its cradle, even though the sounds it makes are quite inarticulate, and it cannot say what it wants? She always understands, and is able to interpret the baby language, and will give it what is good for it, though it may be all unconscious of its needs. None but the mother would recognise that the babe was calling her attention—not even the babe itself. Is not this something like my Hail Maries carelessly and lightly said? I say them because I am Mary's child; it is the most natural thing to do ”

“ Mary is the same now; she is full of compassionating love, pity, and thought for her children; she anticipates their needs and will save them, if possible, from the dangers which threaten them, by telling Jesus. What a comfort it should be to me to remember that I have a Mother in Heaven who is looking out for the difficulties and dangers which threaten me, and doing her best to avert them! How far am I like my Mother in this? Do I, by my tact and forethought and observation, try to smooth away difficulties and avert little unpleasantnesses that I see lying in the path of another? ”

“ He had kept her so much in the background during His ministry, perhaps He will do so still, and it will be to those who need Him most that He will come. No, sweet Mother, the meek and lowly of heart ever attract Him; it is to the heart which desires Him most that He will come. A pure, disinterested desire to have Jesus ever proves to Him an invincible attraction. No one on earth desired to see Jesus as Mary did, and it was to her, as the traditions of the Holy Fathers testify, that He came first—as soon as the Easter Day dawned and "death could no longer be holden of Him." ”

“ Never in vain can we appeal to our sweet Mother. And so with renewed confidence we will say our Salve, rejoicing even in this vale of tears because we have a Mother who knows all about us, and who will never forget us; whose one desire is to show us the Blessed Fruit [127] of her womb, Jesus; who will teach us to sing the Lord's song in a strange land, even as she sang her Magnificat; and who will one day, when the days of our exile are over, sing with us the ever "new song" of Redemption to "Him Who loved us and washed us in His Blood." ”

“ A human body and soul specially prepared by God to be the Tabernacle where His Son should rest—a body, we may well believe, more than usually beautiful, for that body from which He that was "fairer than the sons of men" was to take flesh, must needs be fair too. "Thou art all fair." But it was the soul which made the Tabernacle holy. Here the preparation had been special and unique. Mary's soul had a beauty all its own, for neither original sin nor any of its effects had ever touched it. ”

“ O Mary, look upon thy children who are crossing the desert of this world. The wilderness has lost all its terrors since thou with thy Son didst pass through it. Thou knowest its difficulties and its hardships; "turn, then, thine eyes of mercy towards us, and after this our exile show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus." ”

“ It was in Egypt that the Child grew, and it was there that Mary heard His first words, watched His first tottering steps, and taught Him His first (vocal) prayers. And while her Child grew in wisdom and age, Mary was growing too—growing in grace and virtue; imbibing more and more of the spirit of her Son from the services she rendered to Him; making great progress in her new school, the school of the Cross; getting daily more food for meditation and prayer; enlarging her heart and preparing herself to be a second Eve—the Mother of all living. ”

“ It is praise indeed, and praise from God Himself. But God can trust Mary with praise. She is full of humility, for she is full of grace; and God knows that she will look at things from His point of view—not from her own.
I may get some consolation from these words for myself. God sometimes gives me work to do for Him. How blessed I am to be picked out and chosen by Him! And I may be quite sure that He is with me for it. It is His own work, and He will look after it Himself; but He needs an instrument. The workman is never far from his tools, unless he has thrown them on one side as useless. ”

“ Thus she taught them the lesson she would teach all her children—that the only thing to do in times of desolation and sorrow is to follow closely the commands of Jesus: "Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye." It is no use to stand gazing after what has gone; this is no time for regrets; He gave a clear command: "Go to Jerusalem and wait." We shall always find that there is no balm for sorrow like fidelity to duty. It costs something; human nature longs to stay and hug its sorrow ”

“ And so, in obedience to the command, Mary and Joseph leave the calm and quiet and solitude of their little home, and go to face poverty and difficulties and the unknown. But Jesus is with them, and this makes them independent of exterior circumstances—their calm and quiet are unbroken, and they can find solitude even in the busy thoroughfares. Mary is communing with her Child, and is peaceful with the peace He gives. Joy, too, fills her heart as she thinks how fast the time is approaching when she will see His face. ”

“ It is the Heart of Jesus, burning already with love for sinners, which speaks to the heart of John. It is because God, Who for love of us men became incarnate, is communicating that love to her, that Elizabeth is able to grasp so clearly the mysteries by which she is surrounded. Ah, yes, Mary's third word is indeed one of communicating love, because she communicates to all around her, Jesus, Who is love. ”

“ 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. ”

“ She knows that she is offering to God the firstfruits—the earnest of what is to come; and she makes her sacrifice whole-heartedly, zealously, lovingly. She said her Fiat at the Incarnation, and she will never take it back. She is His Mother—it is with Blood drawn from her veins that He will one day redeem the world; and she offers to God now, not only the Victim Who is to be the Redeemer, but herself as a co-victim—herself to suffer with Him. "Behold the Handmaid of the Lord"—ready to give Him all that He requires. How perfectly Mary identifies herself with Jesus! ”

“ How necessary is hope to the poor banished children! Without it they would indeed be in a desperate condition; but Mary is ever inspiring them with hope. Ego Mater sanctæ spei. (I am the Mother of holy hope.) And her hope is all for her children: she has no need of it for herself. She is a true Mother—always hopeful of her children, never giving them up. ”

“ The waiters would remember that they are waiting upon His Brethren, and that they have no right to do or say or plan anything that He does not tell them; and if He tells them nothing for the moment, and they have to stand by, and see others do His work, they are nevertheless His servants, waiting for His next orders.
"Whatsoever He shall say, do." Obedience, then, is love's consummation. Mary's love—strong flame though it is—cannot get beyond obedience; there is nothing higher; it is the proof, the crown, the consummation of love. ”

“ Why are the Angels so full of interest? Was the birth of this little one so different from any other? It was indeed miraculous, but Joachim and Anne were by no means the only ones thus favoured. No, there is something beyond this which is engaging the interest of the Angels. They see in this little babe, whom Anne is offering to God, a sight to make them wonder and adore—they see a soul which has never been touched by original sin. They had seen Adam created in grace ”

“ Our Lord [103] chose for Himself and for His Mother a life of suffering, to make us understand and to show us how suffering may aid us—yes, the very same suffering which hardens the sinner. What is the secret, then, of suffering? That by means of it, and because of it, we may make Acts of Love and Contrition and Submission to God's Will. Suffering is too powerful an instrument to leave our human nature untouched by it ”

“ But God has been at work at the preparation long before we begin ours, and He is training for a most important office, namely, the salvation of the soul—the end for which He created every single child of Adam. All the chequered picture of the life of God's child forms a part of His preparation—all the ups and downs, and windings and turnings, and things that seemed at the time, perhaps, so useless. Mistakes and failures—even sin itself, He can, by means of the contrition which it causes, turn to good account, as He did in the cases of St Mary Magdalen, of St Peter, and of innumerable others. ”

“ Our land of exile is a Valley of Humiliation. It was here that Jesus came to stay, when He humbled Himself even to the death of the Cross; and here it is that He would have each one of His children wait till the humiliations of the valley have taught them to conquer self-love. ”

“ Mary earned her position as Queen of Angels, of Patriarchs, Prophets, Martyrs, Virgins, as Mother of the Church. What position shall I earn? That depends, as Mary's did, on my fidelity to grace. I shall have just that degree of glory and merit to which I have attained when I am called hence to give an account of my stewardship—no less and no more. The position I have to establish, then, during my exile, is that of being known by all the inhabitants of Heaven—all the Angels and Saints—as one who is sure to join them one day. "Make your calling and election sure." ”