ON THE ASSUMPTION OF THE B. V. MARY
SERMON 1
The waters increased and bore up the ark and it rose high above the earth [Gen 7:17]. Such is the excellence of the Virgin, attained by her today in her assumption, that no tongue can express it, neither a human nor an angelic tongue. Most fortunately the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture prefigured the assumption in many likenesses, indicated it beforehand in many metaphors, and foretold it in many prophecies. The assumption is prefigured in the lifting up of the ark as in the text above. It is prefigured in the lifting up of the cloud over the tabernacle of the covenant: the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the covenant, and settled down in the wilderness of Paran. Then the Israelites set out company by company [Num 10:11-12. 18]. It is prefigured in the rising of the small cloud out of the sea: Look, a little cloud no bigger than a person’s hand is rising out of the sea [1 Kings 18:44]. It is prefigured in the soaring of an eagle: Is it not at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes its nest on high [Job 39:27]? In the Song of Solomon 8:5 the angels admire her going up as one who is delicate: Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? They admire her going up like a column of smoke: What is that coming up from the wilderness, like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense [Song 3:6]. They admire her rising like the dawn: Who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun [Song 6:10].
Among all the figures and metaphors, the text quoted above from Genesis can be quite satisfactorily applied to her. The assumption is described in this text from three points of view: firstly, in the principle acting above; secondly, in the person lifted above or the action above; thirdly, in its completion or the result of this action above.
The principle acting above is the influence of divine grace. The assumption does not come from nature but from divine grace. The text says: The waters increased. The increase of waters is an increase of grace, because in Scripture the waters represent grace as the Saviour said: ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water’. Now he said this about the Spirit which believers in him were to receive [Jn 7:38-39]. The angel greeted Mary as one filled with these waters: Greetings, favoured one etc [Lk 1:28].
The subject acted upon from above or lifted above is the Virgin Mary as prefigured in the ark: they bore up the ark. A Psalm comments on this: Rise up, O Lord, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might [Ps 132:8]. The Psalm says, Lord Jesus Christ, rise from the dead, go up to the place of quiet at the right hand of God the Father and may the ark of your might, that is the Virgin, your Mother, accompany and follow you; you made her holy for yourself so that the Holy One among the saints might be born.
The completion of this action above is the excellence of the glory to which the glorious Virgin is raised today: it rose high above the earth. There is a double reference, one to the starting point, the lowness of earth, and the goal, the height of heaven. She was raised above the earth and so Jerome[1] says:
Today the glorious and ever Virgin is taken from the earth, from this present unworthy world. Secure in her stainless glory she reaches the heavenly palace where raised up with Christ she reigns forever as queen of the world.
Therefore the text says: The waters increased and bore up the ark and it rose high above the earth.
I. I will speak first of all about the significance of this ark that prefigures, as has been said, the Virgin Mary. I will speak but briefly on this since it refers more to her birth than to her assumption. It is fitting to understand the ark as referring to the Virgin Mary when one reflects on its fourfold cause. The fourfold cause is the efficient, material, formal and final causes. Who built this ark? From what material was it built? How was it made? For what purpose was it arranged or destined?
1. Who built the ark? Certainly, it was the eternal Worker or Architect. Although God in wisdom made the ark, as well as every human being and every creature, eternal Wisdom made the Virgin in a singular and special way as a dwelling made for God: Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars [Prov 9:1]. ‘This one and that one were born in it’, for the Most High himself will establish it [Ps 87:5]. It is said of the builder of this ark: Noah built an ark to save his household [Heb 11:7]. According to the saints,[2] Noah represents Christ. Noah means ‘consoler’ or ‘consolation’[3] and Christ was sent to bring consolation: The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, to comfort all who mourn [Isa 61:1-2]. Simeon waited for this comfort: Looking forward to the consolation of Israel [Lk 2:25]. Noah built the ark, that is, Christ built Mary for himself and formed her to save his household, that is, for the salvation of the Church, the house of God: The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel [Isa 5:7]; Christ was faithful over God’s house as a son, and we are his house [Heb 3:6].
2. Secondly, Mary is understood and prefigured by the ark from the point of view of its material cause. If you ask from what material did eternal Wisdom make the Virgin Mary, the remote material was the royal stock, namely, the family of David: A shoot shall come from the stump of Jesse [Isa 11:1]. A shoot, that is, the Virgin Mary, came from the stump of Jesus, the father of David. From this shoot came a flower, Christ who was conceived in this virgin and who was the true Nazarene, a name meaning ‘flowering’,[4] in the flower-bearing town of Nazareth: The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth and the virgin’s name was Mary [Lk 2:26-27]; and so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazarean’ [Mt 2:23].
But if you ask from what actual material was she made, this question is answered in Genesis 6:14. Noah was commanded: Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. Noah was ordered to make the ark from cypress wood, that is, smooth, hewn, polished and bituminized wood. This wood, held together with the strongest glue, represents the Virgin Mary, who was made from polished wood, that is, from a soul and body in which after her sanctification there was nothing in her that could offend the eyes of anyone, nor could she displease God in her body, her soul, nor in thinking and feeling. She was made from bituminized wood, that is, from a body and soul living together in utmost peace and joined in perfect harmony since in her there was no repugnance, no rebellion of the flesh against the spirit, no rebellious movement against reason. This is indicated in Exodus 25:10 where there is the command: You shall make an ark of acacia wood. Acacia wood is incorruptible wood like hawthorn as stated in a Gloss.[5] Undoubtedly this represents nothing other than the incorruption of Mary’s flesh and spirit. It is said to be like hawthorn because even though she was sanctified, there remained in her, as in her Son, the likeness of sin.[6] The likeness of sin is a palanquin, that is a carriage, that the true Solomon made himself from the wood of Lebanon [Song 3:6]. Lebanon means ‘whiteness’[7] and clearly signifies purity.
3. Thirdly, Mary is prefigured in the formal cause of the ark. If you ask how this ark was made, listen to Scripture: The length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, and finish it to a cubit above [Gen 6:15-16]. The ark was proportioned exactly to the measurements of a human body. Augustine, in The City of God[8] and in Contra Faustum,[9] says that the length is six times the width and ten times the height. The length is measured from the top to the feet, the width is measured from one side of the chest to the other, the height from the spine of the back to the stomach. Whoever wishes to measure a human person must do so in this way while the person is lying down. Similarly, the length of the ark was six times its width and ten times its height.
In a spiritual sense the Virgin Mary was of such measurements; she was formed and arranged in this way. She had the length of hope and perseverance in good works all of which were done for the praise and glory of the most blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The perfection of her works or merits and the correctness of her intention are represented by a hundred tripled.
She had the width of charity in everything that should be loved out of charity and in this is the fulness of the Law: Love is the fulfilling of the law [Rom 13:10]. This love is represented by the number fifty arrived at by taking ten five times. Five things are to be loved from charity, namely, God, one’s own soul, the soul of a neighbour, one’s own body, the body of a neighbour,[10] and in that order.
She had the height of desire based on faith in the Trinity and represented by the number three hundred.
That the height of the ark was finished to a cubit represents a mind recollected and united to what is heavenly. The base of the ark was perfect humility because Mary herself says: He has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant [Lk 1:48]. The four sides, the four cardinal virtues, according to Augustine,[11] are the art of acting correctly, namely, prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance because she did everything prudently, justly, strongly and with temperance.
4. Fourthly, Mary is understood and represented by the ark from the point of view of its final cause. As stated in Genesis 7:3, the reason for building the material ark was to save all species of life. What else does the ark represent other than Mary who conceived and carried in her womb the Saviour of all? Hence the angel said to Joseph the spouse of Mary:
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins [Mt 1:20-21].
For this and because of this, God made an ark, the Virgin Mary, that God might rest in her and live in her both in the ark of her womb and of her mind. We read: My Creator chose the place for my tent [Sir 24:8]. Augustine says[12]:
The Creator and Lord of every nature created a virgin so as to be able to create from the Virgin. God the maker made a Mother from whom God could take flesh when wanting to be conceived from her flesh. When the conception took place, God took the reality of flesh from the Virgin in such a way that when the child was born God preserved the integrity of a virgin in the Mother. God was made the Son of Mary, and the Virgin Mary was made the Mother of God’s only begotten whom the Father bore in eternity and the Virgin conceived in time. This Virgin whom God, who was to be born from her, so prepared and filled with grace that God might have as the fruit of her womb the person whom from the beginning the universe recognized as Lord. The universe was to see born as a subject him whom, in the unity of the Father’s substance, both human and angelic creation knew and adored as the Most High.
In this humble, narrow ark the great God who holds all things together was contained, as the Church sings: ‘The one who holds the world in a hand, was held in the ark of a womb’.[13] O glorious Virgin, ‘I do not know how to praise you because heaven itself cannot contain the One whom you bore in your womb’.[14] Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb [Lk 1:42].
II. This ark, the Virgin Mary, in whom the waters increased, that is, the abundance of divine grace, is today raised up to heaven. Four things hinder movement especially movement upwards. When these things are present, the waters have a contrary effect, namely, a confusion of contraries, a weakening of a subject, a lack of desire and a defect in the vehicle. But divine grace like material water purifies or cleans as it pushes out a contrary, strengthens as it comforts a subject, stimulates as it changes affection or desire, carries along as it drives one upwards.
1. Firstly, a confusion of contraries hinders movement. This is clear because fire added and joined to earthly material, no matter how much it tries, cannot be carried upwards. The weight of the mind is love, as Augustine says[15]: ‘My weight is my love, by it I am taken to wherever I am taken’. Love has a power to assimilate and transform and ‘it transforms a lover into the person loved’.[16] If then our love is mixed with earthly weight, necessarily it tends downwards, and cannot be lifted upwards; for this reason the Saviour said: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God [Mt 19:24]. The Apostle says: But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction [1 Tim 6:9]. Similarly, if our love is mixed with carnal foulness, of necessity it fouls and stains the mind and so cannot enter the court of heaven into which nothing defiled gains entrance [Wis 7:25]. The Apostle says: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable [1 Cor 15:50].
But divine grace poured into the mind cleanses the affections from everything earthly, makes one despise the things of earth and without a doubt raises to heaven the lover of things heavenly. Ezekiel 36:25-26 says of this water:
I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you.
This purifying grace cleanses the soul from every carnal stain, even renewing the soul by changing one who loves what is earthly into one who despises the earthly and loves what is heavenly. With this water Christ washes the feet, that is, the affections of the disciples.[17]
The most blessed Virgin Mary was most pure desiring nothing in her flesh, most pure in not loving anything temporal. So, once the tent of her flesh was loosened, she immediately passed to the heavenly region and afterwards with this flesh she was glorified.
If we wish to follow Mary into heaven, let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of body and soul [2 Cor 7:1]. Let us detach ourselves from all temporal and earthly desire so that unimpeded and unburdened we may be ready to be taken to God.
2. Secondly, a weakening of a subject hinders movement. This can be seen clearly in a sick and infirm person who is unable to climb a difficult mountain; rather, on seeing the mountain the person may turn to despair. There is a threefold sickness of the heart: natural, penal and culpable, or from original or actual sin. Sin not only weakens and enervates, indeed it corrupts nature, according to Augustine[18]: ‘sin is a corruption of a way of life, of a species and of the natural order’. Natural sickness hinders, because weakened nature by its own power is unable to be taken into heaven without divine help; penal sickness hinders even more; culpable sickness hinders the most in that as long as the sickness lasts, no one can be taken into heaven. But when perfect divine grace is infused into the soul, it strengthens and helps natural weakness, heals penal and culpable weakness, so that the soul is perfectly healed, comforted and strengthened to pass immediately to heaven.
Of this effect of spiritual water, Judges 15:19 says:
Then the Lord opened a great tooth in the jaw of an ass,[19] and water came from it. When Samson drank, his spirit returned, and he revived.
The ass represents Christ as man. Genesis 49:11 says in the blessing of Judah from whose tribe Christ was born according to the flesh: Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine. It is fitting for Christ to be represented by an ass because he carried the burden of our sins; just as water flowed from the mouth of a dead ass, so from Christ, dead on the cross for us, there flowed the graces by which drooping souls are revived and healed.
Since the most blessed Virgin Mary was full of grace, indeed most full, in that she was so close to her Son, the source of graces, she was healed and sanctified from original sin before her birth,[20] preserved free from any actual sin, and so fortified and invigorated she ascended into heaven by the swiftest route.
And we, if it is our strongest wish to follow her upwards, must ask with bitter tears for these healing and comforting waters so that when our last day and end of life come, we will be taken up to heaven without delay.
3. Thirdly, a lack of desire hinders movement. Human beings are moved by want and desire so that they are moved only to what is loved and wanted; unless they be stimulated in some way, they do not move. So it is that people without devotion, bitter people, people who enjoy no divine sweetness and experience no spiritual consolations, are not moved towards God, indeed they rather disdain what is divine and become dull in themselves. Grace and glory differ only as perfect differs from imperfect.[21] When divine grace, a foretaste of eternal happiness, is poured into the heart the grace so affects the soul as to make it melt completely from love and a desire for heaven. Whoever drinks from these waters does not thirst again; the more it thirsts, the more strongly is it borne above. The waters to drink are the waters from the fountain of the Saviour: With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation [Isa 12:3]. He leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul [Ps 23:2-3]. No one is converted to God other than people taught and nourished by these waters. These are the waters of wisdom from which devout souls drink and are delighted: She will give him the water of wisdom to drink [Sir 15:3]. Those who during life have drunk and been affected by these waters, will later, on their last day, be led immediately to the fountain of life from which anyone who drinks will not be thirsty forever:
They shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,
for he who has pity on them will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them [Isa 49:10].
Since the most blessed Virgin Mary was not only refreshed in these waters, not only drank from but was full of these waters, so while she lived here in the body, in her heart she was in heaven; later, on the day of her assumption she was totally immersed in the fountain of life.
If we wish to follow her we must thirst most ardently for this water because no one thirsting is denied; later at the Lord’s invitation we will be inebriated on the abundance of your house and we will drink from the river of your delights [Ps 36:8].
4. Fourthly, a defect in a vehicle hinders movement. This is clear from observing that when people search out an easier, faster and more convenient way of movement, they make use of beasts of burden or chariots. The water of grace flowing from the first principle carries, leads and brings back to the final goal, namely, God: ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ who is and who was and who is to come [Rev 1:8]. We see that water supports heavy weights as is clear with ships. But water only goes up as much as it comes down.[22] And since the water of grace, as already said, comes out of and down from the first principle, so it brings back to the first principle as its final goal. Of this water we read: Those who drink of the water that I will give them, it will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life [Jn 4:14]. The sense is causal, that is, it means the water will take them up to eternal life.
And since these waters in their utmost force and fulness flowed in the heart of Mary, indeed the eternal fountain of living waters was born and gushed forth in Mary and from Mary, so it is not surprising if they carried her and made her rise even fly towards heaven.
If we wish to follow her, not as equals, but at least in some way like her, we have to go to this fountain to which all are invited and which is offered for free: Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters [Isa 55:1]; and: let anyone who is thirsty, come to me and drink [Jn 7:37-38]. I say, let us hasten to this fountain and if we are afraid, let Mary our Mediatrix intercede for us as she is the mother of grace. Through her intercession and help may we be carried into heaven by these waters.
III. These waters carried the ark, that is, the Virgin Mary, high above the earth. Today the Virgin Mary is carried, raised up and exalted by a fourfold grandeur, namely, to the grandeur of a lofty dignity, of evident truth, of a honey flavoured and sweet pleasantness and of an eternal tranquility and stability.
1. Firstly, Mary was raised to the height of power and to a lofty dignity. And rightly so for according to the Evangelist: All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted [Lk 14:11]. This agrees with Job 5:11: He sets on high those who are lowly. Therefore, the more one humbles himself or herself, the more will he or she be exalted, and the one who does this the most will be most exalted. The blessed Virgin humbled herself more than any other creature and so rightly is exalted above every creature. The Church sings: ‘The Virgin Mary is exalted high above the choirs of angels’.[23] The text of Micah 4:1 can fittingly be applied to this exaltation: In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills. This mountain is the Virgin Mary from which mountain, according to the prophecy of Daniel, a stone was cut out, not by human hands [Dan 2:34]. The stone is Christ, the corner stone [Eph 2:20], conceived not by human effort but only by the power of the Holy Spirit.[24] This mountain has been prepared as the highest of the mountains and above the hills, because Mary exceeds in glory every angelic dignity represented by the mountains and every human dignity represented by the hills. Although she was in fact the queen of the world after becoming the Mother of God, she became truly its queen after she conceived and gave birth to the King of kings. However today, hurrying and going to meet Christ the King accompanied by all the choirs of saints and all the hierarchies of angels, she was assumed to the royal throne. Her throne was placed alongside the throne of her Son, as prefigured in 1 Kings 2:19 where it is said that Solomon rose to meet his mother, that he bowed down to her and had her sit on her throne: he had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat at his right.
Today, these signs are fulfilled as the undefiled Mother and Virgin goes to the height of the throne and sits in glory on a throne of the kingdom next to Christ. Jerome[25] says:
We are to believe that today every heavenly army arrayed in columns comes in festive style to meet the Mother of God, surrounds her with powerful light and leads her to the throne prepared for her before the creation of the world with praises and spiritual canticles.
He also says: ‘Nor is it wrong to believe that the very Saviour of all, as far as we can understand, met her in full festive style and placed her with joy beside him on a throne’. This is what David long before had forecast: At your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir [Ps 45:9] certainly with the adornment of the saints surrounding her. For this reason the angels were in wonder: Who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army with banners [Song 6:10].
In her ascent she shone like the dawn of a new light, protected and surrounded by many columns of saints, so it is said: terrible as an army with banners. If indeed it was terrible that she be protected by virtues like an army with banners, in this angels supported her; fair as the moon, indeed more beautiful than the moon because already without defect in herself she glittered illuminated by heavenly splendour; bright as the sun from the splenour of virtues because the sun of righteousness [Mal 4:2] chose to be born from her.[26]
Let every age, every sex, every state be glad and rejoice on this solemn day, let every knee be bent and every tongue confess that the glorious Virgin Mary is to the glory of her Son, just as the Son is to the glory of God the Father [Phil 2:11]. Whoever is in need, seek out this helper who is powerful in helping; whoever is in trouble, seek out this consoler who is powerful in consoling; whoever is in sin and without grace, seek out this intercessor and mediatrix whose Son can refuse nothing to his Mother; whoever is righteous, seek out this guide and leader to glory for she is the gate of heaven and the door of paradise.
2. Secondly, Mary was raised up to a grandeur of evident truth. She contemplates and sees eternal truth more directly and clearly than any other creature. The reason for this is because vision corresponds to and follows faith as a reward follows merit, for as Augustine[27] says: ‘vision is the reward of faith’. Hence, when faith is deeper, more sincere and purer, there necessarily follows a clearer and more direct vision. The blessed Virgin Mary had the most pure, sincere and firm faith which is why holy Elizabeth called her blessed: Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the angel [Lk 1:45]. In fact, only in her at the time of the passion did faith remain stable and unshaken; others either lost faith or at least hesitated.[28] She was like the ark in which the seed of salvation remained. Now she is filled and illuminated more by the light of truth and gazes more directly on truth itself.
Again, according to Augustine,[29] ‘we see much in proportion to our similarity, we see less in proportion to our dissimilarity’. No one doubts, no one is ignorant that Mary was most like and conformed to Truth, for she conceived and gave birth to Wisdom itself, and so there is no doubt that she contemplated more clearly and directly. For this reason Bernard[30] says of her wisdom while she was on earth: Mary
penetrated the deepest abyss of divine wisdom, beyond what one could believe, and as much as she endured the condition of a personal union of a creature, seems to be immersed in inaccessible light.
‘What could she not have discerned of God, when divine Wisdom was hiding in her?’[31] Gregory[32] says of other blessed: ‘What do they not see when they see the One who sees everything?’ So I believe it can more truly be said of her that there is nothing she does not see.
Therefore, if any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask her and it will be given to you [Jas 1:5], for Wisdom comes to us through her. Of this dignity we read: See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up and shall be very high [Isa 52:13]. If this is said of the servant it must be understood to be truer of the Mother and queen. We are not to beg for wisdom on soft skins,[33] nor from mortal humans; let us aspire and long for that truth and skill by which all things were made; let us go back to the very fountain of wisdom, from where the saints drew truth to the full.
3. Thirdly, Mary was raised to the height of honey flavoured and sweet pleasantness. She fed and drank from eternal delights more than any other creature. The reason for this is that those who mourn here, will be comforted there [Mt 5:4]. Those who here mourn more and are more afflicted, will be more comforted there. What person was more afflicted, tasted more bitterness than the Virgin Mary whose soul was pierced by a sword of sorrow in the hour of the passion of her Son, as Simeon had prophesied [Lk 2:35]. She could say: All you who pass by, look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow [Lam 1:12]? Who was more compassionate towards the sorrows and sins of her neighbours? How much, do you think, she was affected by sorrow when she saw God dishonoured? She afflicted herself also with a discipline of penances and so is now filled with consolations and abounds in delights more than any other creature.
Again, love is the source and principle of pleasure; hence, where something is loved more, there is the pleasure greater. There is no doubt that the Virgin Mary loves the Father, Son and Holy Spirit more than any other creature and so is more delighted in God than any other creature. How great, do you think, is her happiness, with what joy is she filled on seeing the Father whose Son she conceived, on seeing the Son whom she conceived, carried, gave birth to and nourished, on seeing the Holy Spirit by whose power she conceived? Undoubtedly, she is totally immersed in an abyss of pleasure. We read of this height of sweetness: For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure [2 Cor 4:17]. This means that troubles and afflictions are short because momentary, easy and not lasting because they are light; but consolation and joy that replace troubles in the height of glory, are eternal, lasting and fixed. Consolation and joy are experienced for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure and replace troubles and afflictions.
Each person should reflect on what Gregory[34] says, namely, that ‘here what delights is momentary, but there what torments is eternal’. Conversely, what torments here is momentary, while there what delights is eternal. Therefore, it is better and more useful to be tormented here for a time and then to be consoled eternally with the holy angels rather than experience delight for a time here and afterwards be tormented in eternal fires with the devil and his angels.
4. Fourthly, Mary was raised to the height of tranquility and eternal stability, and this is the perfection of glory and happiness. Anyone who is not secure in his or her possessions is not blessed because fear is a great misfortune. Anyone who can or has to die is not blessed because for a rational creature death is a great, even the greatest misfortune.
Further, anyone who can be disturbed or upset is not blessed because disturbance and being upset are a type of punishment. And so happiness, beatitude, and glory are perfected in security, in immortality, in quiet and tranquility, as Augustine proves in many places.[35] For this reason it is said of the heavenly Jerusalem: He strengthens the bars of your gates, he blesses your children within you, he grants peace within your borders [Ps 147:13-14]. This is possible only in eternal and unchanging good and so another text says: Jerusalem, built as a city that is bound firmly together [Ps 122:3].[36] ‘Together’ is something not changed or altered. Augustine[37] says: ‘You are always present to them as they cling to you with all their affections, having nothing in the future to look to, nor casting back into the past for anything to remember’. Therefore, where there is a greater share in that highest and unchanging good there will be more tranquility, security and peace. Since the blessed Virgin Mary has a higher share in the highest good, she remains stable, unshaken, untroubled and completely at peace for all eternity.
Of this peace we read: He makes peace in his high heaven [Job 25:2], that is, in the blessed in whom is perfect love, utmost peace and undivided unity. And we read in Isaiah 33:15-16,
Those who walk righteously and speak uprightly,
who despise the gain of oppression,
who wave away a bribe instead of accepting it,
who stop their ears from hearing of bloodshed
and shut their eyes from looking on evil,
they will live on the heights,
their refuge will be the fortresses of rocks.
For such people the merit of justice and the reward of glory meet. Justice consists in acting correctly and in innocence, in doing good and turning away from evil.[38] It is justice to act correctly in what is done: Those who walk righteously make progress in good works, and in speech: and speak uprightly.
Innocence consists in two things, namely, to harm no one,[39] and not to inflict injury on property or people. On property, by not wanting something in a disordered way: who despise the gain of oppression, for avarice is a disordered desire for some temporal object[40] and ‘this is the mother of false accusation because from harm done to one person goods are added to another’.[41] Justice does not act in a disordered way: who wave away a bribe instead of accepting it whether the bribe is offered by word, by gesture or by some service. On persons, justice is debased and harm inflicted in two ways: in a person giving consent: who stop their ears from hearing of bloodshed, that is, ‘lest they consent to sin’; and in approving something in others: and shut their eyes from looking on evil, and this is to approve evil. There follows the reward of glory in two things: in relation to the heavenly place: they will live on the heights; and in relation to a stable condition: their refuge will be the fortresses of rocks; in the fortresses of rocks, that is, between the saints who are fixed in a stable and immovable way, ‘because they are founded on a firm rock’.
IV. The Virgin Mary, represented by the ark, has been raised, not only in her soul but also in her body, to this height by the fulness of grace as indicated by the increase of the water. Mary was not assumed with her body without passing through death, but even though by the condition of flesh she left the body and in death her soul was truly separated from her body, ‘however she was not held by the bonds of death’.[42] Raised up and rejoined to her body she was glorified equally in body and soul and, clothed in the robe of immortality, she reigns in heaven.
Even though[43] at one time there was doubt about this, and the venerable doctor Jerome[44] spoke about it rather ambiguously, however, it is now piously believed by all. The outstanding doctor Augustine[45] of happy memory seems to assert it in a sermon or small book that he edited on the Assumption. While no direct authority for it can be found in Scripture, it is not contrary but rather in accord with the authority of Scripture; many arguments confirm it and since God could have done this, it was fitting for God to do it. There are seven arguments for it about which something can be said from the aforementioned work of Augustine.
1. The first argument is based on the unity of the substance of flesh in mother and child. Since the flesh of a child is taken from the flesh of the mother, there is but one substance of flesh in both. Christ the Son of God did not exempt his Mother from the general sentence of death because he did not wish her to be different, and since the Son died so too the Mother died. However, as the flesh of the Child was not corrupt, for David says: You do not let your faithful one see the Pit [Ps 16:10], and Peter says: His flesh did not experience corruption [Acts 2:31], nor should the flesh of the Mother, from whom the Son took his flesh, be allowed to corrupt, to be reduced to ashes nor return to dust. Therefore, Mary’s flesh was reunited to her soul and she was glorified in both soul and body.
2. The second argument is because of her total incorruption. There was a multiple sentence cast against woman. The first sentence was against all women for we read in Genesis 3:16, I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, and your husband will rule over you. God increased the pangs of Mary when a sword of sorrow pierced her soul in the suffering of her Son [Lk 2:35], but she conceived only once and was not ruled over by a husband. The Virgin was not to be ruled over by a husband, because she conceived of the Holy Spirit and her body remained wholesome with her virginity intact. She gave birth without pain because she was pregnant without any trace of sin or loss from sexual intercourse, her integrity was intact, and she remained wholesome with the modesty of virginity. Therefore, God wanted the Mother, beyond the sentence cast against all women, to be kept immune from a corruption of integrity and a violation of modesty in conceiving and childbirth. God was able to and ought to have preserved her from the corruption of death and burning, even beyond the general human condition. So we say that the Mother of the Lord underwent death as a human condition, but was not held by the bonds of death,[46] for the Lord wanted to be conceived and born from her without any corruption in her.
3. The third argument is to save the honour of the Mother. It was written in the Law: Honour your father and your mother [Ex 20:12; Deut 5:16]. If Christ came not to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill them [Mt 5:17], then just as he honoured the Father as he ought to: I honour my Father [Jn 8:49], so too should he have honoured his Mother. If then it is a reproach on the human condition to suffer corruption and the worm, just as Christ remained free of this reproach, so he should have kept his Mother free because the same flesh is in a mother and her child. Just as she was honoured in her life in the conception and birth of Christ, so undoubtedly one must feel that she has been honoured in her death with a special grace.
4. The fourth reason is on account of her manifold title of dignity and holiness. Such was Mary’s dignity that she merited to be the Mother of the Saint of saints. Just as the Son was the Saint of saints so it is that the Mother who carried him is the woman Saint of saints; in her was that precious treasure, the tabernacle of God, the dwelling of God, the throne of God. No decay of corruption, no turning to ashes ought to follow such holiness and such dignity. Therefore, in no way does it seem right or in accord with reason that the most holy body from which Christ took flesh and in which the divine nature was united to a human nature, so that the Word became flesh and lived among us [Jn 1:14], should be given as food to worms and then become most lowly dust.
5. The fifth argument is on account of the perfect imitation and conformity of the Mother and Son. The Mother was perfectly conformed to her Son and was the main imitator of Christ. Christ said: Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also [Jn 12:26]. Mary, the main imitator of Christ not only by her footsteps but out of reverence, followed the Lord in a sense of piety, religious faith and a most strong feeling of love, so that never could she be turned aside from this faith and love, she who knew that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit at the message of the angel. Mary was a servant of Christ in a role of special duties for she conceived, carried, gave birth to, fed at her breast, cared for and hid him from the face of Herod. Therefore, she should be where Christ is and not only in the way other saints are with Christ but by some special title, since he repays to all according to their work [Ps 62:12; Mt 16:27; Rom 2:6]. And if: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones [Ps 116:15], then the death of Mary was most precious, she who was so surrounded with grace. In her life Mary was endowed with grace more than any others, and this should not be lessened in her death, but where Christ is, she is to be placed in body and soul.
Further, if Mary was most conformed to Christ as a mother in purity and royal dignity, the Mother should not be separated from the Son, the queen from the king, not only in her soul but also in her body. Therefore, Mary, the Mother of Christ, the queen of heaven, was glorified with Christ in her body and soul and received into heaven.
6. The sixth argument is on account of the sure record of resurrection. Augustine[47] says: ‘Christ our Lord came to heal both sexes’, and so he became man born from a woman. Perfect healing, perfect deliverance was made clear in the resurrection. Therefore, resurrection should be made clear in both sexes as a sign of perfect healing. The perfect healing for the male sex was made clear and shown in Christ. In no other woman could it or should it have been more fittingly shown than in the Mother of Christ who in life was free from every corruption. This is stated in a Psalm: His throne shall endure before me like the sun, it shall be established forever like the moon, an enduring witness in the skies [Ps 89:36-37]. The Mother is the throne of the Son, and in the eyes of the Son she is bright as the sun in the adornment of her soul, and like a perfect moon in the adornment of her undefiled body; and so she is an enduring witness to the resurrection.
7. The seventh argument is because of Mary’s complete happiness, for as Augustine says towards the end of Super Genesim ad litteram,[48] ‘the body because of its desire to be in charge holds back the soul lest the soul be totally taken up with the highest good’. This does not apply to the soul of Christ that was united to the Word in a unity of person and because of this personal union was not held back in any way nor did it suffer loss of glory. The fulness of glory is in taking up the second robe. It was not fitting or proper for the Mother of God, the queen of heaven, to suffer any loss of glory; therefore, it was necessary, even though from the condition of flesh her soul was separated from the body, that later she be glorified with her body.
In the same book Augustine[49] points out examples from Scripture. He says:
The divine will kept safe in the crackling fires not only the bodies of the three young men but also kept their clothing from being burnt [Dan 3:19-27]; why then could he not do for his own Mother what he did for this clothing? The divine will kept Jonah, beyond the normal course of nature, undamaged in the belly of a whale [Jon 2:10]; will God not go beyond nature to keep the Mother undamaged? Daniel was saved from the demanding hunger of lions [Dan 6:16-27]; why then would not Mary, endowed with such merits of dignities be kept intact?
An actual test can be applied here for, as Jerome[50] says, although her body was buried in the valley of Jehoshaphat, it has never been found there, nor has anyone found to where it was moved. The bodies of other saints and their relics that had lain hidden were revealed by the Lord, as is clear for blessed Stephen,[51] Gervase and Protasius[52] and many similar cases as recorded in the histories. The Lord revealed these sacred relics and holy bodies that they be given due reverence and fitting honour. These cases are a sign and argument that Mary’s body was once buried in the earth but now risen and glorified it has been reunited to her most pure soul in heaven. No one should wonder nor think it less than fitting that she, who in life went beyond every law of nature, should now be above angelic and human creatures, and in death also should not be held by the laws of mortal human nature.
Unless God has revealed this to someone, I do not think anyone knows what length of time passed between the separation of her soul and body and their reunion and glorification. There is a tradition, even though it is not fully authentic, that it was revealed to a holy and devout lady[53] that the glorious Virgin and Mother gave birth to the Saviour at the age of fifteen; then in the second year after the ascension of the Lord and as much more as is needed to reach the month of August, when her assumption is celebrated, she died; finally after forty days, that is 24 September, her flesh and unstained body prepared with angelic care were taken up and reunited to her glorious soul.
And so the glorious Virgin and Mother, glorified both in soul and body, was assumed and seated at the right hand of her Son, according to the text: The waters increased and bore up the ark and it rose high above the earth. This is the holy ark that contained Christ as the hidden Word not only in her heart but also in her body. This is what John saw: Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple [Rev 11:19]. Jesus Christ our Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit reigns forever and ever, brings us into this heaven and temple by the merits and prayers of his Mother who has been assumed into heaven.
SERMON 2
A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars [Rev 12:1]. Today’s feast is ranked before the feasts of all the saints, with the exception to some extent of the feast of All Saints in which both Mary and all the saints are honoured. The reason is that Mary is above every other creature in dignity and today she ‘has been exalted high above the heavens’.[54] This exaltation and glorification are the subject of today’s feast. Blessed John in the text quoted above expresses excellently this exaltation, glorification and beatification.
John describes and praises these in a fourfold way: firstly, as something to wonder at and he puts it as a topic for our contemplation, saying: A great portent appeared in heaven. According to Augustine,[55] ‘A portent is something that impresses on the senses and conveys a knowledge of something beyond itself’; hence a sign holds within itself the thing to which it points. In this case John says a great portent because signs can be miracles or wonders and, according to Augustine,[56] a miracle is something difficult and out of the ordinary beyond the understanding and expectation of the person observing’. This great portent is something great pointing to something wonderful.
By heaven is understood in Scripture the Church either militant, triumphant or both. And indeed everything concerning this most holy Virgin is completely wonderful, something to be admired in the Church. She was wonderful in her sanctification, her life and life style, her conception of the Son of God, her birth, her assumption as a creature and woman to be exalted above all the orders of angels, as has already been said. When the Lord told Ahaz to ask God for a sign either in heaven or on earth, he refused to ask for such a sign, and so the Lord promised to give a sign to the house of Israel, saying: Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel [Isa 7:14].
Secondly, he describes and praises her as delightful, and puts her forward to us as a delight of spiritual consolation, saying: a woman clothed with the sun. The use of the word woman here does not refer to corruption or weakness but rather to keenness of understanding and fertility. She was at the one time a mother and a virgin, so John 19:26 says: Woman, here is your son as the Lord commended her to John. But when the fulness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman etc. [Gal 4:4]. This woman is the glorious Virgin Mary, Mother of the Son of God, said to be clothed with the sun, that is, clothed with the sun of righteousness [Mal 4:2], the eternal God, the most blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This clothing represents complete conformity to and assimilation into God. This is a common way of speaking. When we want to say that one person is like or acts like another, we say this one imitates the other or acts like the other. Sacred Scripture uses the same way of speaking: Not in quarreling or jealousy but put on the Lord Jesus Christ [Rom 13:13-14], that is, let us be perfectly conformed to and imitate Christ. Because this conformity and imitation are elegant and a most proper adornment like beautiful clothing, they are fittingly called clothing, so that John is saying the Virgin Mary is adorned or clothed with the sun of righteousness, namely, God, that is, fully conformed to the most blessed Trinity. Perfect beatitude, perfect happiness is nothing other than perfect conformity.[57] There is nothing more beautiful, more delightful than this just as the sun is more beautiful and delightful than any other object we can perceive; and so 1 John 3:2 says:
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.
Thirdly, John describes her as venerable and presents her to us as an example of humility, saying: with the moon under her feet. The moon represents the Church. In the Song of Solomon 6:9 we read: Who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon? It is well said that the moon is beneath the feet of the Virgin Mary, because every gathering of the just in the Church militant and of the blessed in the Church triumphant is spread at her feet and venerates her humbly. Every rational creature, whether on earth or in heaven, is subject to her and she is placed before all. This is well illustrated in Job 25:5-6: If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less a mortal, who is a maggot, and a human being, who is a worm! She it is who is pre-eminent over the condition of blessed souls, the blessed angels and the saints on earth, so that no creature can be compared to her. The moon can also represent that every creature changes, as Gregory[58] says in Moralia in his comment on this text: ‘the moon wanes in its monthly cycles’. The moon is said to be under her feet because, rising above the changes in creatures, she is immovably fixed in God.
Fourthly, John describes her as desirable, and presents her to us as an incentive for true devotion when he says: and on her head a crown of twelve stars. By head is understood the higher part of the soul on which the image of God is impressed. By its very nature and name, a crown points to glory, since a crown is put on the head as a sign of glory: You have crowned them with glory and honour [Ps 8:5]. Because the numbers are in the form of a circle they represent eternity. The number twelve, a number expressing abundance and overflowing, represents the fulness of glory, a fulness that consists in the twelve fruits or joys enjoyed by the saints in heaven and these are represented by the twelve stars. Therefore, the words and on her head a crown of twelve stars indicate nothing other than the heart and soul of the glorious Virgin Mary in so far as she has been glorified with eternal and perfect glory in these higher parts of her person. If we pay close attention, we see that the blessed Virgin Mary is being presented as one adorned as the bride of the eternal king, with the sun for clothing, the moon for her footstool or carpet, and the twelve stars for her crown.
I. John says: A great portent appeared in heaven etc. The most blessed Virgin Mary appeared and appears to those gazing at her as a sign of forgiveness and reconciliation for penitents, as a sign of direction for the more advanced, and as a sign of triumph for all who struggle. She is a sign of pardon, life and victory. If you are a sinner and are penitent, rejoice because a sign of reconciliation has appeared; if you are righteous and proficient in the way of righteousness, rejoice because there is a sign indicating the way for you; if you are struggling and in difficulty, rejoice because you have a sign of triumph and support.
1. The Virgin Mary appeared to penitents as a sign of forgiveness and reconciliation. Eve was the beginning of deviation, Mary the beginning of reconciliation; Eve was the beginning of condemnation, Mary the beginning of salvation; Eve was the beginning of sin, Mary the beginning of grace and so the angel greeted her, saying: Greetings, favoured one,[59] and so that ‘the curse on Eve might be changed into the blessing on Mary’,[60] the name ‘Eva’ is changed to ‘Ave’. In Esther 4:11 this is well illustrated: All nations know that if any man or woman goes to the king Ahasuerus inside the inner court without being called, there is no escape for that person, unless the king stretches out the golden sceptre to that person as a sign of clemency. Esther entered to beg for her people and the king held out to her the golden sceptre [Esth 5:2]. King Ahasuerus represents God, the king of the whole universe, who made a decree that no one may enter the heavenly palace unless called by grace. Anyone who would intrude rashly and proudly will die. The first angel arrogantly and imprudently intruded wanting the dignity of prelate when he said: I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God [Isa 14:13]. The first parents imprudently intruded wanting to have knowledge of good and evil [Gen 3:6]. The first angel was cast out of heaven with his followers, while the first parents were cast out of paradise with all their successors.
The Church has to be entered with humility as represented by Esther. The eternal God extends the golden sceptre as a sign of clemency, of reconciliation by grace and forgiveness, and of a wonderful condescension. God did this in coming down through Mary to the Church and to the whole human race. Isaiah 11:1 speaks of this: A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse.[61] The shoot is golden because of the brightness of wisdom and the glitter or glow of love. It is also implied in Genesis 9:13 where the Lord says: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth, that is, in one of the clouds of which the most excellent is Mary: The Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt [Isa 19:1]. The Lord placed the bow on this cloud and by the bow we understand the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, true God and made true man. The heavenly bow is of three colours signifying the triple substance in Christ. Just as the heavenly bow is generated from a ray of the sun falling on a moist and concave cloud[62] in the very belly of the cloud, so the Lord became incarnate and was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. Just as after the rainbow most sweet rain falls from a cloud, so after the conception of the Son of God a plentiful and health giving grace came from the Virgin Mary, because from his fulness we have all received, grace upon grace [Jn 1:16]. A sinner who is penitent needs grace, so this person is to go with boldness to the throne of grace, because grace and mercy will be found and forgiveness in time of need [Heb 4:16].
2. The Virgin Mary appeared also as a sign of guidance for the proficient and for all making progress. Mary was and is a teacher of virtues, a way of life, a rule of conduct, a form of discipline, a mirror of goodness and an example of all perfections, so that whoever imitates her cannot fall into error. Should you find yourself in some ambiguity or worry, look at the sign, gaze and reflect on Mary. She is the model for the building of the tabernacle of the Church militant: And see that you make them according to the pattern for them which is being shown you on the mountain [Ex 25:40]. She is the true light and morning star [Job 11:17], that those who sail the waves of this world cannot be in danger when they watch her but under her direction they come to the harbour of eternal happiness.[63] And so the Lord says to preachers: Prepare the way for the people, build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, lift up an ensign for the peoples [Isa 62:10]. A highway is prepared for people by the healing of preaching, the way becomes smooth by an unraveling and explanation of Scripture, the stones are cleared by the removal of hindrances and obstacles, an ensign is raised for the people when the life of Mary is praised, exalted and held up so that all people may look at and imitate her as a sign.
The whole life of Mary is a sign, a record and a teaching of most immaculate purity, for, even though she was conceived in original sin, she was sanctified before her birth,[64] so that afterwards she committed no sin, and after conceiving the Son of God she was so strengthened that she could not commit sin nor did any stain of sin remain in her. Anselm[65] says: ‘It was fitting that the Virgin who was to be the Mother of God should shine with a purity than which nothing greater could be thought of under God’. And Augustine, On nature and grace,[66] after naming almost all the Fathers of the Old Testament, none of whom could be said to be without sin, stated when he came to the Virgin Mary: ‘Of her alone, when there is question of sin, I want no question raised for to her was given to conquer all sin, she who merited to conceive and bear the Son of God’.
Mary’s whole life was a sign of deepest humility; it was of this that she gloried most in her canticle: He has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant [Lk 1:48]. She says the same thing in the Gospel: Here am I, the servant of the Lord [Lk 1:38]. Since the sickness of pride was completely eliminated by her humility she was filled with every beauty of grace.[67]
Her whole life was a sign of goodness and maturity in dress, gesture, walking, appearance and speech. As befitted a virgin she was in all things modest, mature, serious and obliging. Ambrose,[68] commenting on the text of Luke 1:39 and 56, says: Mary went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country and remained there for about three months: The Virgin went in haste so as not to be seen in public; she was there for three months not because she was pleased to be in another house but because she was not happy moving around.
Her whole life was a sign of strictest poverty, for while staying in the temple she lived a difficult enough life supported by her manual work.[69] After marrying the carpenter she waited in Bethlehem until the time for her to deliver her child and she wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger [Lk 2:6-7]. When the time of her purification had been completed, according to the Law [Lev 12:6-8], she had to offer a lamb for her first-born. But she was so poor that she could not offer a lamb and so offered a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons [Lk 2:24]. Her whole life was a sign of most prudent discretion. When the angel announced to her the conception of the Son of God saying: And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son etc. [Lk 1:31], she did not argue nor give a hasty consent but asked how: How can this be since I am a virgin [Lk 1:34]? On hearing how, she immediately gave her consent and as she consented she conceived the Son of God by the Holy Spirit. The shepherds came to adore the Saviour born according to the sign given them by the angels and there came also angels singing: Glory to God in the highest [Lk 2:14]. When the shepherds returned home, the text notes: But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart [Lk 2:19].
Her whole life was a sign of most lively faith. Elizabeth commended her faith: Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord [Lk 1:45]. After the death of her Son, as all the Apostles doubted, only in the Virgin did faith remain intact,[70] just as in the ark of the covenant a golden urn with manna was preserved [2 Chron 5:10; Heb 9:4].[71]
Her whole life was a sign of most intelligent hope. It was also a sign of devotion and attention to God. She was always concerned with God in her deepest sighs, meditation and vehement desires, as when the disciples were devoting themselves to prayer together with certain women including Mary the mother of Jesus [Acts 1:14].
Her whole life was a sign of careful work. She diligently served Elizabeth when she was giving birth; earlier in the temple, as it is believed, she served the ministers of the temple and the poor most courteously. Finally, she served her Son nourishing him with all care and eagerness as when she carried him to Egypt and back.
Finally, her whole life was a sign of the strongest love for God and neighbour. To neighbours she most generously gave her Son so that it can be said of her what is said of the Father, namely, he so loved the world that he gave his only Son [Jn 3:16]. Christian, whoever you are, if you want to make progress in the way of God, you have an infallible sign in Mary, provided you want to follow her lead and walk in her footsteps.
3. The Virgin Mary appeared as a sign of victory and triumph. She is such a sign in her complete overpowering of the devil as could be expected because she gave birth to the power of God. It was not Eve, the first parent who gave in to the temptation of the devil, who crushed the head of the serpent [Gen 3:15], that is, of the ancient enemy, for this was done by the Virgin Mary. She is Judith who cut off the head of Holofernes with his own sword [Jdt 13:10]; she is weak Jael who struck the head of Sisera with a piece of rock [Judg 4:21]. Because she conquered all, for us she is a sign of victory so that whoever while being tempted carries in his or her heart the memory of Mary and asks for her help, cannot be overpowered.
This is prefigured in Isaiah 11:12: He will raise a signal for the nations, and will assemble all the outcasts of Israel. Soldiers customarily gather around some standard towards which they look, because as long as they stand together at the standard, they cannot be conquered. But should it happen that they turn their backs to the enemy and are scattered, unless they have been completely conquered, there is still some hope of victory if they come back to the standard and regroup. The blessed Virgin Mary is such a sure sign of power that an enemy is deterred and thrown down at the sight of her, while her followers are strengthened, comforted and regrouped for she is terrible as an army with banners [Song 6:4]. Under the sign of this unconquerable leader we should be strong and triumph over the enemy, so that we act strongly and strenuously, not in a weak way like people terrified at the sound of a driven leaf [Lev 26:36].
It is said also of this sign: I will soon lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples [Isa 49:22]. Although in Scripture the word nations refers to Gentiles, peoples is taken as a name for Judah. We can take the word peoples to refer to the faithful who are united by law and rite. Hand is understood in Scripture as a reference to the Son of God; the Psalmist asked for the help of this hand: Stretch out your hand from on high [Ps 144:7]. Signal refers to the most holy Virgin Mary. God the Father stretches out his hand, that is, his power, his Son, to the nations so as to destroy or change their wildness. God holds out a sign to the peoples because God has raised the Virgin to heaven to be a help and assistance for believers and faithful. Christian, whoever you are, when beset by temptations, provided you are not fainthearted but attack strongly and persevere with firmness, you have in Mary a sign of help. If you look on her with an attentive heart, hold her memory impressed on your heart and devoutly invoke her in every temptation, in every trial, you will find in her a helper; in her you will overcome every hostile power and repel every attack of the enemy.
II. The text goes on: clothed with the sun. These words describe as delightful the assumption and glorification of the Virgin Mary and puts them before us as a comfort for our spiritual consolation. As has been said, clothed with the sun, that is, clothed in a robe of glory, namely, a triple quality by which the soul is made perfectly conformed to the most blessed Trinity, in which perfect glory and happiness are found. Among all other bodies the sun has powerful effectiveness, shining brightness and pleasing influence; Mary is fully empowered by the power of the Father, perfectly enlightened by the wisdom of the Son, and perfectly remade with the close sweetness of the Holy Spirit. Because of this, Mary possesses or holds truth in her memory, she sees truth keenly in her mind, she enjoys truths delightfully and sweetly in her will; or ‘she lives in eternity, shines in truth, and rejoices in goodness’.[72]
1. Therefore, in so far as the sun has a powerful effectiveness, Mary is said to be clothed with the sun by which she is strengthened. Of all the things in this world, the sun has greater power and more powerful effectiveness. It is the principle of growth, vegetation and preservation in all lesser things: by the power of the sun all things are generated, so the Philosopher says that it is the father of all things growing in the earth,[73] and in Physica[74] he says that ‘one person and the sun generate another person’; by the power of the sun all things vegetate, live, are preserved, and so by its setting in the zodiac vegetable matter corrupts.[75]
Today the glorious Virgin is clothed with this power of the eternal Sun whose power is found in three things. Firstly, in not suffering: the holy souls and the blessed spirits as so fortified and made strong that they can suffer no disturbance, are immune from every passion, are far removed from every trouble; they experience no sadness, impatience, sorrow, hatred nor anger.
Secondly, it consists in not failing: the holy souls and the blessed spirits have been so confirmed and made strong that no weakness at all can befall them; hence they do not sin, lie, wish evil, suffer any misfortune, evil of guilt, evil of punishment.
Thirdly, it consists in doing and acting: the holy souls and the blessed spirits are made all-powerful over their wills just as God is in command of the divine will, as Anselm says: whatever they want will be, whatever they do not want will not be; so Anselm, De similitudinibus[76]: ‘Whatever a blessed person wants to do will be done, since the Omnipotent will agree with all the decisions of their will’. Therefore, what they do will be what they want to do, and what they do not want to do will not be done. Of this power of the blessed, Augustine[77] says:
Mortals hold on to justice; power is given to those who are immortal, such power in fact that compared to it the power of any people said to be or called powerful on earth, is seen to be a ridiculous weakness.
If the power of the blessed is so great, how great must be the power of the Mother of God, the queen of heaven? In fact whatever she pleases she does in heaven and on earth [Ps 135:6]. The text of Sirach 43:2 can be applied to this power and effectiveness of the sun: The sun, when it appears, proclaims as it rises. As has been said, the sun is what brings out living forms, so when it appears, when it returns to us in the zodiac, it proclaims the emergence of forms from possibility to actuality. And so the text of Revelation 1:16 can be applied to the blessed Virgin: Her face was like the sun shining with full force.
2. Secondly, in so far as she has a shining brightness, she is said to be clothed with the sun on account of the brightness of wisdom by which she is enlightened. The sun has more light than any other body in the universe, in fact it is the source of light, so that not only do bodies on earth but also heavenly stars share in this light. Scholars prove this by the fact that when the earth comes between the Moon, Mercury and the sun, the shadow of the earth causes an eclipse. But the eternal, unchanging Sun, that is, Truth and uncreated Wisdom, just like the sun, brightens and enlightens so that it understands and makes other things understandable,[78] to the extent that without its rays nothing could be understood. It not only knows or can be known as truth, but it is the principle and cause of all knowledge, as the wonderful doctor Augustine teaches in many places.[79]
The glorious Virgin today is clothed in this brightness and in the rays of the eternal Sun, so that she contemplates immediately and directly eternal light by which all things are made understandable, eternal wisdom in which all things are held together, eternal skill by which all things were made, and the eternal mirror in which all things are reflected. She knows God perfectly with a most blessed knowledge, and in God she knows what is above, within and below. Gregory says: ‘What do they not see when they see the One who sees everything?’[80] Perhaps she knows everything without change or interruption, for as Augustine says in The Trinity[81]: ‘Perhaps our thoughts will not be changeable going hither and thither, but in one glance we will see all our knowledge’. Therefore, as Augustine says in The City of God[82]: ‘Knowledge will be sure and wonderful in the place where wisdom is drunk from its very source without difficulty and with ease’. I conclude with Anselm, De similitudinibus[83]:
In the future life the wisdom of the blessed will be such that what they want to know of some matter, they will know fully. The blessed person will be filled with the perfect wisdom which is God and will gaze on it face to face. While it gazes on Wisdom, the blessed will see the nature of the entire matter which is seen more clearly in Wisdom than in itself. Then the just will know everything that God makes knowable, both things past and things yet to be in the future. There, all things will be known by individuals and individuals will be known by all others. Nothing will be hidden concerning one’s country, race, family, what one did in life,
whether good or bad, not for one’s confusion but rather for the praise of God and the extolling of divine mercy.[84] If all the blessed are to be filled with such knowledge, such wisdom, how much more the most blessed Virgin who gave birth to and conceived Wisdom itself. Of this shining of the sun we read: What is brighter than the sun [Sir 17:31]? The sun looks down on everything with its light [Sir 42:16]. This sun will never set on these blessed: your sun shall no more go down [Isa 60:20].
3. Thirdly, in so far as the sun has a pleasing effect, Mary is said to be clothed with the sun because of the sweetness of the inner pleasantness by which she is refreshed. Nothing is pleasant without the shining of the sun, nothing pleasing, but when the sun shines it adorns everything, and makes everything pleasant; so holy Tobit 5:12 said: What joy is left for me any more? I lie in darkness like the dead who no longer see the light. The eternal Sun is the highest good and for this Sun rational creatures were made. Because of this, there is nothing apart from or less than this Sun that is able to satisfy, for this Sun alone suffices to satisfy desire and it delights perfectly; it is good in itself, good simply, good by essence, perfect good. Everything else is not good by its essence, but by sharing, and so it is good only partially, imperfectly, only as a shadow and image of the highest good. Those who cling to such goods, who love them, who take delight in them, are always unhappy; but all who enjoy the highest good, cling to it perfectly, take delight in it, are blessed.
For perfect delight, three things of necessity must come together. These are not found in any created good but come together perfectly in uncreated good. The first is perfect conformity or likeness: a rational creature is not like anything else in the same way as it is like that good in whose image and likeness it is made.
The second is perfect union: no created good is perfectly united to a mind because it is not united by essence and truth but by its form. Things themselves do not enter or slip into the mind but only their forms or likenesses, according to Augustine[85] and also the Philosopher.[86] Uncreated good is united to the mind by its essence and by truth, more closely than the mind itself, according to Augustine;[87] so no created good delights perfectly because only uncreated good is perfectly similar and closely united. According to Algazeles,[88] delight is a joining of like to like and the understanding of this.
The third is a perfect cause for delight so that something delights in itself. But nothing delights in itself unless it is good in itself. The highest good delights because it is good in itself and is the cause of delight.
Further, if more can be desired or thought of, it is not perfect delight. With any created good more and better can always be desired and considered; hence it does not perfectly delight. Uncreated good delights and nothing better, nothing other, nothing further can be thought of, considered or desired, in fact it exceeds all and so completes and absorbs every wish and desire: Satisfies you with good [Ps 103:5]. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights [Ps 36:8].
However, if other saints and blessed enjoy this good perfectly, are perfectly delighted, it will be enjoyed by and delight incom-parably more the one who incomparably loves more, clings more closely and is more perfectly conformed. Of the sweetness of this sun and its pleasant influence we read: Light is sweet, and it is pleasant to see the sun [Eccl 11:7] and the sun of justice is indeed sweet and pleasant. Whatever sweetness, whatever pleasure, whatever joy is found in other good and