"Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them." (Matthew 5:17)
Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
"Of all the truths which I have been putting forward with regard to our Blessed Lady and her children and servants, the Holy Ghost gives us an admirable figure in the Scriptures. It is in the history of Jacob, who received the benediction of his father Isaac, by the skill and pains of Rebecca, his mother. This is the history, as the Holy Ghost relates it. Esau having sold Jacob his birthright, Rebecca, the mother of the two brothers, who loved Jacob tenderly, secured this advantage to him many years afterwards by an address most holy but most full of mystery.
Isaac, feeling himself very old, and wishing to bless his children before he died, called his son Esau, who was his favourite, and commanded him to go out hunting, to get him something to eat, in order that he might bless him afterwards. Rebecca promptly informed Jacob of what had passed, and ordered him to go and take two kids from the flock. When he had given them to his mother, she prepared for Isaac what she knew he liked. She clothed Jacob in the garments of Esau, which she kept, and covered his hands and his neck with the skin of the kids, so that his father, who was blind, might, in hearing Jacob's voice, think at least by the skin of his hands that it was Esau his brother.
Isaac, having been surprised by the voice, which he thought was Jacob's voice, made him come near him. Having touched the skins with which his hands were covered, he said that the voice truly was the voice of Jacob, but that the hands were the hands of Esau. After he had eaten, and, in kissing Jacob, had smelt the odour of his perfumed garments, he blessed him, and wished for him the dew of heaven and the fruitfulness of earth. He made him lord over all his brethren, and finished his blessing with these words, "Cursed be he that curseth thee, and let him that blesseth thee be filled with blessings."
Isaac had hardly finished these words when Esau entered, and brought with him what he had captured while out hunting, in order that his father might eat it, and then bless him. The holy patriarch was surprised with an incredible astonishment when he understood what had happened. But, far from retracting what he had done, on the contrary he confirmed it, for he saw too plainly that the finger of God was in the matter. Esau then uttered great cries, as the holy Scripture remarks, and loudly accusing the deceitfulness of his brother, he asked his father if he had but one benediction; being in this point, as the holy Fathers remark, the image of those who are too glad to ally with the world, and are fain to enjoy the consolations of heaven and the consolations of earth both together. At last Isaac, touched with the cries of Esau, blessed him, but with a blessing of the earth, subjecting him to his brother. This made him conceive such an envenomed hatred to Jacob, that he waited only for his father's death, in order to kill him. Neither would Jacob have escaped death, if his dear mother Rebecca had not saved him from it by her industries, and by the good counsels which she gave him, and which he followed.
Before explaining this beautiful history, we must observe that, according to the holy Fathers and the interpreters of Scripture, Jacob is the figure of Jesus Christ and the predestinate, and Esau that of the reprobate. We have but got to examine the actions and conduct of the one and the other to form our judgment about this.
1. Esau, the elder, was strong and robust of body, adroit and skilful in drawing the bow, and in taking much game in the chase.
2. He hardly ever stayed in the house; and putting no confidence in anything but his own strength and address, he only worked out of doors.
3. He took very little pains to please his mother Rebecca, and indeed did nothing for that end.
4. He was such a glutton, and loved eating so much, that he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
5. He was, like Cain, full of envy against his brother Jacob, and persecuted him beyond measure.
Now this is the daily conduct of the reprobate.
1. They trust in their own strength and aptitude for temporal affairs. They are very strong, very able, and very enlightened in earthly business; but very weak and very ignorant in heavenly things, — In terrenis fortes, in coslestibus debiles.
2. It is on this account that they are hardly at all, or at least very little, at their own homes, — that is to say, in their own interior, which is the inward and essential house which God has given to every man, to live there after His example; for God always rests in Himself. The reprobate do not love retirement, nor spirituality, nor inward devotion; and they treat as little, or as bigots, or as savages, those who are interior or retired from the world, and who work more within than without.
3. The reprobate care next to nothing for devotion to our Blessed Lady, the Mother of the predestinate. It is true that they do not hate her formally. Indeed, they sometimes praise her, and say they love her, and even practise some devotion in her honour. Nevertheless they cannot bear that we should love her tenderly, because they have not the tendernesses of Jacob for her. They find much to say against the practices of devotion, in which her good children and servants faithfully employ themselves in order to gain her affection, because they do not think that devotion necessary to salvation; and they consider, that provided they do not hate our Lady formally, or openly despise her devotion, it is enough. Moreover, they imagine that they are already in her good graces, and that, in fine, they are her servants, inasmuch as they recite and mumble certain prayers in her honour, without tenderness for her, or amendment in themselves.
4. The reprobate sell their birthright; that is to say, the pleasures of paradise. They sell it for a pottage of lentils; that is to say, for the pleasures of the earth. They laugh, they drink, they eat, they amuse themselves, they gamble, they dance, and take no more pains than Esau did to render themselves worthy of the benediction of their Heavenly Father. In a word, they think only of earth, and they love earth only; and they speak and act only for earth and for its pleasures, selling for one moment of enjoyment, for one vain puff of honour, and for a morsel of hard metal, yellow or white, their baptismal grace, their robe of innocence, and their heavenly inheritance.
5. Finally, the reprobate daily hate and persecute the predestinate openly and secretly. They feel the predestinate as a burden to them, they despise them, they criticise them, they counterwork them, they abuse them, they rob them, they cheat them, they impoverish them, they drive them away, they bring them low into the dust; while they themselves are making fortunes, are taking their pleasures, getting themselves into good positions, enriching themselves, aggrandising themselves, and living at their ease.
As to Jacob, the younger:
1. He was of a feeble constitution, meek and peaceful. He lived for the most part at home, in order to gain the good graces of his mother Rebecca, whom he loved tenderly. If he went abroad, it was not of his own will, nor through any confidence in his own industry, but to obey his mother.
2. He loved and honoured his mother. It was on this account that he kept at home. He avoided everything which could displease her, and did everything which he thought would please her; and this increased the love which Rebecca already had for him.
3. He was subject in all things to his dear mother. He obeyed her entirely in all matters, — promptly, without delaying, and lovingly, without complaining. At the least token of her will, the little Jacob ran and worked; and he believed everything she said to him. For example: when she told him to fetch two kids, and that he should fetch them in order that she should prepare something for his father Isaac to eat, Jacob did not reply that one was enough to make a dish for a single man, but without reasoning he did what she told him to do.
4. He had a great confidence in his dear mother. As he did not lean in the least on his own ability, he leant exclusively on the care and protection of his mother. He appealed to her in all his necessities, and consulted her in all his doubts. For example: when he asked if instead of a blessing, he should not receive a curse from his father, he believed her and trusted her, when she said that she would take the curse upon herself.
5. Lastly, he imitated as far as he could the virtues he saw in his mother. It seems as if one of his reasons for leading such a sedentary life at home was to imitate his dear mother, who was virtuous, and kept herself removed from bad companies, which corrupt the morals. By this means he made himself worthy to receive the double benediction of his beloved father.
Such also is the conduct which the predestinate daily observe.
1. They are sedentary, and home-keepers, with their Mother. In other words, they love retirement, and are interior. They give themselves to prayer; but it is after the example and in the company of their Mother the holy Virgin, the whole of whose glory is within, and who, during her whole life, so much loved retirement and prayer. It is true that they sometimes appear without, in the world; but it is in obedience to the will of God, and that of their dear Mother, to fulfil the duties of their state. However apparently important their outward works may be, they esteem still more highly those which they do within themselves, in their interior, in the company of the Blessed Virgin. For it is within that they accomplish the great work of their perfection, compared with which all their other works are but infant sports. It is on this account that, while sometimes their brothers and sisters are working outwardly with much energy, success, and skill, in the praise and with the approbation of the world, they, on the contrary, know by the light of the Holy Ghost that there is far more glory, more good, and more pleasure, in remaining hidden in retreat with Jesus Christ their Model, in an entire and perfect subjection to their Mother, than to do of themselves wonders of nature and grace in the world, as so many Esaus and reprobates do. Gloria et divitice in domo ejus, — "Glory for God and riches for men are to be found in the house of Mary." Lord Jesus, how sweet are Thy tabernacles. The sparrow has found a house to lodge in, and the turtle-dove a nest for her little ones. Oh, happy is the man who dwells in the house of Mary, where Thou wert the first to make Thy dwelling! It is in this house of the predestinate that he receives succour from Thee alone, and that he has disposed the steps and ascents of all the virtues, to raise himself in his heart to perfection in this vale of tears. Quam dilecta tabernacula tua! — "How lovely are Thy tabernacles!"
2. The predestinate tenderly love and truly honour our Blessed Lady as their good Mother and Mistress. They love her not only by mouth, but in truth. They honour her not only outwardly, but in the bottom of their hearts. They avoid, like Jacob, everything which can displease her; and they practise with fervour whatever they think will make them find favour with her. They bring to her, and give her, not two kids, as Jacob did to Rebecca, but their body and their soul, with all that depends on them, figured by the two kids of Jacob. They bring them to her, (1) that she may receive them as things which belong to her; (2) that she may kill them, and make them die to sin and self, in stripping them of their own skin, and their own self-love, and by this means to please Jesus her Son, who wills not to have any for His disciples and friends but those who are dead to themselves; (3) that she may prepare them for the taste of our Heavenly Father, and for His greatest glory, which she knows better than any other creature; and (4) that by her cares and intercessions this body and soul, thoroughly purified from every stain, thoroughly dead, thoroughly stripped, and well prepared, may be a delicate meat, worthy of the mouth and the blessing of our Heavenly Father. Is not this what the predestinate do, who relish and practise the perfect consecration to Jesus Christ by the hands of Mary, which we are now teaching them, by way of testifying to Jesus and Mary an effective and courageous love? The reprobate tell us loudly enough that they love Jesus, and that they love and honour Mary; but it is not with their substance, it is not up to the point of sacrificing to them their body with its senses, their soul with its passions, as the predestinate do. These last are subject and obedient to our Blessed Lady, as to their good Mother; after the example of Jesus Christ, who, of the three-and-thirty years He lived on earth, employed thirty to glorify God His Father, by a perfect and entire subjection to His holy Mother.
3. The predestinate obey Mary in following exactly her counsels, as the little Jacob did those of Rebecca, who said to him, Acquiesce consiliis meis, — "My son, follow my counsels;" or like the people at the marriage of Cana, to whom our Lady said, Quodcumque dixerit vobis, facite, — "Whatever my Son shall say to you, that do." Jacob, for having obeyed his mother, received the blessing, as it were, miraculously, although naturally he would not have had it. The people at the marriage of Cana, for having followed our Lady's counsel, were honoured with our Lord's first miracle, who there changed the water into wine at the prayer of His holy Mother. In like manner, all those who, to the end of time, shall receive the benediction of our Heavenly Father, and shall be honoured by the wonders of God, shall only receive their graces in consequence of their perfect obedience to Mary. The Esaus, on the contrary, lose their blessing through their want of subjection to the Blessed Virgin.
4. The predestinate have also a great confidence in the goodness and power of our Blessed Lady, their good Mother. They call incessantly for her help. They look upon her as their polar star, to lead them to a good port. They lay bare to her their pains and their necessities with much openness of heart. They attach themselves to her mercy and her sweetness, in order to get the pardon of their sins by her intercession, or to taste her maternal sweetnesses in their pains and wearinesses. They even throw themselves, hide themselves, and lose themselves in an admirable manner in her loving and virginal bosom, that they may be set on fire there of pure love, that they may be cleansed there from their least stain, and fully to find Jesus, who dwells there, as on His most glorious throne. O what happiness. "Think not," says the Abbot Gueric, "that it is happier to dwell in Abraham's bosom than in Mary's; for it is in this last that our Lord has placed His throne," — Ne credideris majoris esse felicitatis habitare in sinu Abrahce quam in sinu Marice, cum in eo Dominus posuerit ihronum suum.
The reprobate, on the contrary, putting all their trust in themselves, only eat with the prodigal what the swine eat. They eat earth like the toads, and, like the children of the world, they love only visible and external things. They have no relish for the sweetnesses of Mary's bosom. They have not that feeling of a certain resting-place, and a sure confidence, which the predestinate feel in the holy Virgin, their good Mother. They are miserably attached to their outward hunger, as St. Gregory says, and make not so much as a pretence of having any taste for the sweetness which is prepared within themselves, and within Jesus and Mary.
5. Lastly, the predestinate keep the ways of our Blessed Lady, their good Mother; that is to say, they imitate her. It is in this point that they are truly happy and truly devout, and carry more especially the mark of their predestination. This good Mother says to them, Beati qui custodiunt vias meas; that is to say, "Blessed are they who practise my virtues, and with the help of divine grace walk in the footsteps of my life. During life they are happy in this world, through the abundance of graces and sweetnesses which I impart to them from my fulness, and more abundantly than to others, who do not imitate me so closely. They are happy in their death, which is mild and tranquil, and at which I am ordinarily present myself, that I myself may conduct them to the joys of eternity; and, lastly, they shall be happy in eternity; for never has any one of my good servants been lost, who imitated my virtues during life.
The reprobate, on the contrary, are unhappy during their life, at their death, and for eternity, because they do not imitate our Lady in her virtues, but content themselves with sometimes being enrolled in her confraternities, reciting some prayers in her honour, or going through some other exterior devotion. O holy Virgin, my good Mother, how happy are those (I repeat it with the transports of my heart), — how happy are those who, not letting themselves be seduced by a false devotion towards you, faithfully keep your ways, your counsels, and your orders! But how unhappy and accursed are those who abuse your devotion, and keep not the commandments of your Son: Maledicti omnes qui declinant a mandatis tuis!— "Cursed are all who fall from Thy commandments."
Let us now turn to look at the charitable duties which our Blessed Lady, as the best of all Mothers, fulfils for the faithful servants who have given themselves to her after the manner I have described, and according to the figure of Jacob.
I. She loves them: Ego diligentes me diligo, — "I love those who love me."
She loves them (1) because she is their true Mother; and a mother loves her child, the fruit of her entrails; (2) she loves them out of gratitude, because they effectively love her as their good Mother; (3) she loves them because, being predestinate, God loves them, — Jacob dilexi, Esau autem odio Iiabui; (4) she loves them because they are all consecrated to her, and are her possession and her inheritance, — In Israel hereditare. She loves them tenderly, and more tenderly than all other mothers put together. Throw, if you can, all the natural love which all the mothers of the world have for their children, into the one heart of one mother for one only child. Surely that mother will love that child immensely. Nevertheless it is true that Mary loves her children yet more tenderly than that mother would love that child of hers. She does not love them only with affection, but with efficacy.
Her love for them is active and effective, equal to that of Rebecca for Jacob, and far beyond it. See what this good Mother, of whom Rebecca was but the type, does to obtain for her children the blessing of our Heavenly Father.
1. She is on the look-out, as Rebecca was, for favourable occasions to do them good, to aggrandise and enrich them. She sees clearly in God all goods and evils, all prosperous and adverse fortunes, the blessings and the cursings of God; and then she so disposes things from afar, that she may exempt her servants from all sorts of evils, and heap upon them all sorts of goods; so that if there is a good fortune to make in God by the fidelity of a creature to any high employment, it is certain that Mary will procure that good fortune for some of her true children and servants, and will give them the grace to go through it with fidelity. It is a Saint who says, Ipsa procurat negotia nostra.
2. She also gives her clients good counsels, as Rebecca did to Jacob, Fili mi, acquiesce consiliis meis, — "My son, follow my counsels." Among other counsels, she inspires them to bring her the two kids; that is to say, their body and soul, in order to consecrate them, to make a pottage agreeable to God, and to do everything which Jesus Christ her Son has taught by His words and His examples. If it is not by herself that she gives these counsels, it is by the ministry of the Angels, who have no greater honour or pleasure than to descend to earth to obey any of her commandments, and to succour any of her servants.
3. When they have brought to her and consecrated to her their body and soul, and all that depends on them, without excepting anything, what does that good Mother do? Just what Rebecca did of old with the two kids Jacob brought her. (1) She kills them, and makes them die to the old Adam. (2) She flays, and strips them of their natural skin, their natural inclinations, self-love, their own will, and all attachment to creatures. (3) She cleanses them of their spots, their vilenesses, and their sins. (4) She dresses them to the taste of God, and to His greatest glory; and as it is Mary alone who knows perfectly what that divine taste is, and what that greatest glory of the Most High, it is Mary alone who, without making any mistake, can accommodate and dress our body and soul for that taste infinitely exalted, and for that glory infinitely hidden.
4. This good Mother, having received the perfect offering which we make to her of ourselves, our own merits and satisfactions, by the devotion I am describing, strips us of our old garments; she makes us her own, and so makes us worthy to appear before our Heavenly Father. (1) She clothes us in the clean, new, precious, and perfumed garments of Esau the elder, — that is, of Jesus Christ her Son, — whom she keeps in her house, — that is to say, whom she has in her own power. She is the treasurer and eternal dispenser of the merits and virtues of her Son, which she gives and communicates to whom she wills, when she wills, as she wills, and in such quantity as she wills; as we have seen before. (2) She covers the neck and hands of her servants with the skins of the kids she killed; that is to say, she adorns them with the merits and value of her own proper actions. She kills and mortifies, it is true, all that is impure and imperfect in them, but she neither loses nor dissipates one atom of the good which grace has done there. On the contrary, she preserves and augments it, to make it the ornament and the strength of their neck and their hands; that is to say, to fortify them, and to help them to carry the yoke of the Lord, which is worn upon the neck, and to work great things for the glory of God, and the salvation of their poor brethren. (3) She bestows a new perfume and a new grace upon their garments and adornments, in communicating to them her own garments, merits, and virtues, which she bequeathed to them by her testament, when she died; as said a holy religious of the last century, who died in the odour of sanctity, and learnt this by revelation. Thus all her domestics, faithful servants and slaves, are doubly clad in the garments of her Son and in her own: Omnes domestici vestiti sunt duplicibus, — "All her domestics are clothed in double clothing." It is on this account that they have nothing to fear from the cold of Jesus Christ, who is white as snow, — a cold which the reprobate, all naked, and stripped of the merits of Jesus and Mary, cannot for one moment bear. (4) Finally, she enables them to obtain the blessing of our Heavenly Father, though, being but the youngest born and indeed only adopted children, they have no natural right to have it. With these garments all new, most precious, and of most fragrant odour, and with their body and soul well prepared and dressed, they draw near with confidence to the Father's bed of repose. He understands and distinguishes their voice, which is the voice of the sinner; He touches their hands, covered with skins; He smells the good odour of their clothes; He eats with joy of that which Mary their Mother has dressed for Him, recognising in them the merits and the good odour of His Son and of His holy Mother.
1. First, then, He gives them His double benediction, the benediction of the dew of Heaven, De rore coelesti,—that is to say, of divine grace, which is the seed of glory; Benedixit nos in omni benedictione spiritali in Christo Jesu; and then the benediction of the fat of the earth, De pinguedine terrce, — that is to say, the good Father gives them their daily bread, and a sufficient abundance of the goods of this world.
2. Secondly, He makes them masters of their other brethren, the reprobate. But this primacy is not always apparent in the world, which passes in an instant, and where the reprobate are often masters, — Peccatores effdbuntur et ghriabuntur; vidi impium superexaltatum et elevatum. But it is nevertheless a true primacy; and it will appear manifestly in the other world for all eternity, where the just, as the Holy Ghost says, shall reign over the nations, and command them, — Dominabuntur populis.
3. Thirdly, His Majesty, not content with blessing them in their persons and their goods, blesses also those who shall bless them, and curses those who shall curse and persecute them.
II. The second duty which our Blessed Lady fulfils towards her faithful servants is, that she furnishes them with everything, both for their body and their soul.
She gives them double clothing, as we have just seen. She gives them to eat the most exquisite meats of the table of God; for she gives them to eat the bread of life, which she herself has formed. A generationibus meis implemini, — My dear children, she says, under the name of divine Wisdom, be filled with my generations; that is to say, with Jesus, the fruit of life, whom I have brought into the world for you. Venite, comedite partem meum et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis; comedite, et bibite, et inebriamini, carissimi, — Come, she repeats to them in another place, eat my bread, which is Jesus, and drink the wine of His love, which I have mixed for you. As it is Mary who is the treasurer and dispenser of the gifts and graces of the Most High, she gives a good portion, and indeed the best portion, to nourish and maintain her children and her servants. They are fattened on the Living Bread. They are inebriated on the wine which brings forth virgins. They are borne at the bosom of Mary, — Ad libera poria bimini. They have such facility in carrying the yoke of Jesus Christ, that they feel nothing of its weight, because of the oil of devotion which has made it soften and decay, — Jugum eorum putrescere faciet a facie olei.
III. The third good which our Lady does to her servants is, that she conducts and directs them according to the will of her Son.
Rebecca guided her little Jacob, and gave him good advice from time to time; either to draw upon himself the blessing of his father, or to avert from himself the hatred and persecution of his brother Esau. Mary, who is the Star of the Sea, leads all her faithful servants to a good port. She shows them the paths of eternal life. She makes them avoid the dangerous places. She conducts them by her hand along the paths of justice. She steadies them when they are about to fall; she lifts them up when they have fallen. She reproves them like a charitable mother when they fail; and sometimes she even lovingly chastises them. Can a child obedient to Mary, his foster-mother and his enlightened guide, go astray in the paths of eternity? Ipsam sequens non devias, — "If you follow her," says St. Bernard, "you cannot wander from the road." Fear not, therefore, that a true child of Mary can be deceived by the evil one, or fall into any formal heresy. There where the guidance of Mary is, neither the evil spirit with his illusions, nor the heretics with their subtleties, can ever come, — Ipsa tenente, non comas.
IV. The fourth good office which our Lady renders to her children and faithful servants is, to protect and defend them.
Rebecca, by her cares and artifices, delivered Jacob from all the dangers in which he found himself, and particularly from the death which his brother Esau would have inflicted on him, because of the envy and hatred which he bore him; as Cain did of old to his brother Abel. Mary, the good Mother of the predestinate, hides them under the wings of her protection, as a hen hides her chickens. She speaks, she humbles herself, she condescends to all their weaknesses, to secure them from the hawk and the vulture. She puts herself round about them, and she accompanies them, like an army in battle array, ut castrorum acies ordinata. Shall a man, who has an army of a hundred thousand soldiers around him, fear his enemies? A faithful servant of Mary, surrounded by her protection and her imperial power, has still less to fear. This good Mother and powerful princess of the heavens would rather despatch battalions of millions of angels to succour one of her servants than that it should ever be said that a faithful servant of Mary, who trusted in her, had had to succumb to the malice, the number, and the vehemence of his enemies.
V. Lastly, the fifth and the greatest good which the sweet Mary procures for her faithful clients is, to intercede for them with her Son, and to appease Him by her prayers.
She unites them to Him with a most intimate union, and she keeps them unshaken in that union. Rebecca made Jacob come near to his father's bed. The good man touched him, embraced him, and even kissed him with joy, being content and satisfied with the well-dressed viands which he had brought him; and having smelt with much contentment the exquisite perfume of his garments, he cried out, Ecce odor filii met siout odor agn pleni, cui benedixit Dominus, — "Behold the odour of my son, which is like the odour of a full field that the Lord hath blest." This odour of the full field which charms the heart of the Father is nothing else than the odour of the virtues and merits of Mary, who is a field full of grace, where God the Father has sown His only Son, as a grain of the wheat of the elect. Oh, how a child, perfumed with the good odour of Mary, is welcome with Jesus Christ, who is the Father of the world to come! Oh, how promptly and how perfectly is such a child united to his Lord! But we have shown this at length already. Furthermore, after Mary has heaped her favours upon her children and faithful servants, and has obtained for them the benediction of her Heavenly Father, and union with Jesus Christ, she preserves them in Jesus, and Jesus in them. She takes care of them, watches over them always, for fear they should lose the grace of God, and fall back into the snares of their enemies. In plenitudine detinet, — she detains the Saints in their fulness, and makes them persevere to the end, as we have seen. This is the interpretation of [the history of Jacob and Esau] that great and ancient figure of predestination and reprobation, so unknown, and so full of mysteries."
Source: "A Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin" by the Venerable servant of God, Louis-Marie Grignon De Montfort (2nd Edition); pages 127-149; Burns and Lambert (copyright 1863)