Mother Of God
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We cannot conceive the greatness of Mary’s dignity in being made the Mother of God, but we may learn from her divinely inspired lips the cause of this mysterious elevation, which so far surpasses our limited conceptions. “The Lord,” says she in the canticle with which she responded to the pious congratulations of Elizabeth, “has regarded the humility of His handmade.” It was then the humility of Mary, in a special manner, rendered her the object of God’s complacency.
If we are to form any estimate of the perfection of this virtue in her, by the elevated dignity with which God rewarded it, how great must have been the humility of her, who, enjoying more abundant graces than God had bestowed on any other creature, was still particularly agreeable to God by the humility with which her other extraordinary virtues were accomplished? St. Bernard when inculcating the necessity of this virtue, says of Mary, “Without humility, I am certain that even her virginity would not have been acceptable to God; for although she pleased Him by her virgin purity, still, it was her humility that caused her to be made the Mother of God.
By the mystery of the Incarnation our nature has been wonderfully ennobled. Jesus Christ, as the Son of Mary, is our brother, being made in all things like unto us—without sin. If then, the humility of Mary was so wonderfully rewarded, we should remember our obligation to practice this virtue, as that which will most assimilate us to our divine model, Jesus Christ, the first-born of many brethren, and to Mary, His mother by nature, and ours by adoption. This is the only condition on which we can hope to be co-heirs with Him in that glory which He has acquired by humbling Himself “to death, even to the death of the cross”.
Let us learn humility of Him, who the Lord of all, God of God, Light of Light—annihilated Himself according to the expression of the Apostle, by taking on Him the lowliness of our nature, and whose whole life was a continual practice of the most profound humility.
Let us look on the translucent rewards He has bestowed on the humility of His Mother, and let us learn from her bright example to imitate Jesus, and “be meek and humble of heart.”
