SERMON 9

SERMON 9

On the visitation of blessed Mary

On the seven words of the glorious virgin in which seven levels or steps in love are implied

How sweet are your words to my palate [Ps 118:103 (119:103 )]! ‘Make me worthy to praise you, sacred Virgin’,[1] and do not look down on the poor service of your servant as you consider his not insignificant devotion to your praises. Deign, heavenly queen, to come to my help, in this topic of your sublime meanings, as to one navigating across vast seas without an oarsman or the blessing of a heavenly breeze. Help me so that I who desire, trusting in your grace, to declare, at least by stammering, the meaning of your words may be able to explain it with the help of your grace. May the divine guest of your dwelling be favourable so that, having kindled in me zeal for piety to praise his Mother, he does not refuse to be present as a pious listener from heaven.

What mortal, unless protected by a divine oracle, would presume with uncircumcised, even polluted lips to utter anything small or great of the true Mother of the God man; the Father predestined her from eternity to be the eternal Virgin, the Son chose her as a most worthy Mother, the Holy Spirit prepared her as a dwelling of all graces? With what words may I, a little person, state the highest meanings spoken by the most holy mouth of the virginal heart, for which the tongue of all the angels would not suffice? For in Matthew 12:35 the Lord says: A good person out of a good treasure brings forth good things. What word can be used as a theme? Who among pure people can be thought of as a better person than she who merited to be made the Mother of God, who for nine months in her heart and womb was hostess to God? What is a better treasure than the divine love with which the heart of the Virgin was afire as if in a furnace? From this heart, as from a furnace of divine heat, the blessed Virgin spoke good words, that is, words of most ardent charity. Just as from a vessel full of the finest and best wine only the best wine can come, or just as from a furnace of the highest heat only glowing heat can come out, so indeed from the Mother of Christ there could come out nothing other than a word of the highest and extreme divine love and ardour. It pertains to a wise lady and mother to speak but few words, but words that are true and full of meaning. Therefore:

On seven occasions, as if only seven words of wonderful meaning and virtue were spoken by the most blessed Mother of Christ to show mystically that she was filled with a sevenfold grace. With the Angel she spoke only twice, Luke 1:34-38: How shall this be done etc., and: Behold the handmaid of the Lord. With Elizabeth also twice, Luke 1:44-55, namely, when greeting her and, secondly, when praising her, she said: My soul glorifies the Lord etc. She spoke twice to her Son, once in the Temple in Luke 2:48: Son, why have you done this to us? Secondly, at the wedding in John 2:3: They have no wine. Once to the servants in John 2:5: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do. And in all these she said very little except that she said more in praising and thanking God, namely, when she said: My soul glorifies the Lord[2]

when she spoke with God, not with other people.

These seven words were spoken according to the seven steps or acts of love following a wonderful progression and order as if they were seven flames from the furnace of her heart. As a devout person thinks and reflects on these words, he or she says with the Prophet: How sweet are your words to my palate, that is, to all my affections. Hence, this sweetness, felt by a devout soul in the words of the blessed Virgin, is an ardour of pious devotion that a soul tests experientially in the words. So the devout soul may say: How sweet are your words to my palate!

Accordingly, we may distinguish in order these seven flames of love in the words of the blessed Virgin: the first flame is of a separating love; the second, of a transforming love; the third, of a communicating love; the fourth, of a rejoicing love; the fifth, of a tasting love; the sixth, of a compassionate love; the seventh, of a perfecting love. We may divide these seven flames into three articles, so that in the first article three flames are included, in the second, only the fourth flame, and in the third, the last three flames.

ARTICLE 1

On the triple level of love shown in the triple word of the blessed Virgin

Firstly, we may consider the three first flames according to the order used by the Evangelist St Luke in 1:34-35 to describe her statements.

CHAPTER 1

How much the blessed Virgin shrank from all corruption out of love for God and that she had a shadow of corruption

The first flame is a love that separates; the nature of true love is to distance oneself away from the person loved.

The greater and stronger love is, the more it draws back and vice versa. I ask you to reflect carefully on how evident it was that the Virgin drew far back in her first word to the Angel who, in Luke 1:30.34, promised her the conception and birth of the Son of God. As one stupefied she replied: How shall this be done, because I know not man? That is, since I am in the state and vow of never knowing a man, as if she were to say: I know indeed that God has many ways by which this could be done in harmony with God’s will, but one way, as far as I am concerned and from the vow of my soul, is totally distant and foreign to my soul, namely, that I would conceive by knowing a man carnally, even if he were God.[3]

So XXVII, quaest.2, #2,[4] has: ‘Mary vowed that she would persevere as a virgin; so she said to the Angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man, that is, I have decided never to know this? There follows[5]: ‘But’, as Augustine says, ‘the blessed Virgin had decided to keep for herself in her heart a vow of virginity, but this vow of virginity was not expressed verbally; she had submitted herself to the divine pleasure when she decided to remain a virgin unless God revealed to her to do otherwise’. And he adds: ‘However, after her Son was born, what she had decided in her heart she expressed at the same time to her husband and both remained in virginity’.

Reflect carefully how much she drew back from anything contrary to her beloved, namely, to God; she hated not only any offence but even every corrupt and faulty action, as far as it could be done without offending him; as could happen in the marriage act, especially if done for a divine child. However, the blessed Virgin spoke this word because she had such hatred for this, both absolutely and for herself. Therefore, as I think, this was the main reason why the way of conceiving the Son of God, already decided on by God, was not revealed to her so that, by the Virgin’s spirit, speech and effective action, it might be shown in word, speech and work that, in fact, this act of such fervent love would be made evident at its highest level.[6]

CHAPTER 2

The transformation by which the blessed Virgin was joined to God in the conception of the Son of God

The second is a flame of transforming love uniting the one loving with the one loved and vice versa.

Even though this flame is the first of all, in its completion and actual practice it is second because it is never fully experienced, nor is it fully reached in any actual exercise, unless a person be first fully practised in flight from and hatred of anything contrary to and everything that is a hindrance to a full possession of the beloved, of his favour and pleasure. Note how much this flame shone in the second word of the Virgin by which, as she consented to the conception of the Son of God, she said to the angel: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word. A loving union of a soul with God has to be, on the part of the soul, humble, submissive, prompt and serving, or compliant in everything. For this reason, the Virgin, first of all as such a person, showed herself to God and to the conception of the Son of God saying: Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Because the Virgin should also be both reverent and confident, sweetly and entreatingly desirous, but not beyond the measure fixed for her by God, she added: be it done to me according to your word; as if she were to say: I would not dare to ask for this of myself, but neither am I unwilling nor do I dare to distrust a promise of God, nor ask and desire anything above or below God’s word spoken to me through you. Therefore, according to your word let the conception of the Son of God be done to me by God, in the way it has been announced to me through you.

It is as if in this word there is more clearly expressed long obedience, when she says: Behold; deep humility, when she adds: the handmaid of the Lord; broad charity when she adds: be it done to me; high faith when she concludes: according to your word; so that it may shine forth clearly that only the blessed Virgin is such a person worthy to understand more than all others, be they angels or saints, the breadth, and length, and height and depth [Eph 3:18] of the incarnation of the Son of God. Hence, devout soul, contemplate:

the action and ascent of divine love and wonderful transformation of that soul, in that she so dared that, constantly and with full consent, she would dare to desire and seek to be the Mother of the Most High God and for God to be her Son. Furthermore, the goal and consent of this desire, teaches its height; for the goal was the highest fulfilment of this desire. Just as in a young woman, given the prior consent of the king and the young woman, when a solemn and trustworthy messenger to the one chosen and the one officially appointed conveys his message and the young woman subsequently expresses her consent and when this is conveyed fully to the king or to his messenger, there is established immediately between them an unbreakable marriage bond. So, but much higher and unchangeably, with the previous consent of God announced through the Angel to the Virgin, immediately following the full consent of the Virgin, there exists an ineffable and completely inseparable union of Christ to Mother and of Mother to Christ, the Son of God.

Earlier in this treatise, Sermon 8, Article 1, Chapter 3,[7] the great merit deriving from this virginal consent is explained.

CHAPTER 3

With what fervent speed the blessed Virgin hastened to share the love and grace of her Son

The third is a flame of one communicating.

Therefore, it is the nature of true love to impress others, as far as possible, with the one loved and the love, just as it is the nature of fire to ignite and set fire to everything around it according to its inflammability. For this reason, in the third word of the Virgin with which she greeted Elizabeth, the impression made immediately was so strong, that John in the womb of the mother was sanctified and gladdened with joy in Christ, and the mother was filled so much with the Holy Spirit that she felt within her the one conceived and the incarnation of the Son of God that occurred a short time before, so that rejoicing she could say to the Mother of Christ: Blessed is the fruit of your womb.

But Luke, in 1:39-45, wanting to show this in fuller detail arranges three things in order: firstly, the greeting of Mary; secondly, the rejoicing of John; thirdly, the delight of Elizabeth.

Firstly, I say, he places the greeting of Mary but he says before this: Mary rising up in those days went into the hill country, namely, so as to communicate immediately the grace and love of her Son for John and his parents, ‘into a city of Judea, that is, into Jerusalem that was situated in the mountains’,[8] and she entered into the house of Zachary; Gloss[9]: ‘Namely, so that the young woman might be of service to the old pregnant woman’; and saluted Elizabeth, for together with a sign of humility, she displayed kindness by her word.

Secondly, he lists the rejoicing of John when he says: And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leapt in her womb. For ‘whoever first receives the influence of the Word of God, recognizes first the power of the greeting and visitation; and because he could not reply in words from the womb of his mother, he longed to break forth at meeting him’.[10] Hence, ‘a Gloss[11] says: “Because he could not speak, he greets with a rejoicing spirit and begins his role of precursor”. He senses the coming of the Lord; the Holy Spirit moves John’s free will to recognize the coming of the Saviour, and so he rejoiced in happiness’.[12]

Thirdly, he states the joy of Elizabeth and so adds the words:

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed are you that has believed because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to you by the Lord.

But note how great was the fulness of grace communicated to John before the presence of the word of God and by the words from the virginal mouth. His mother was filled by the Holy Spirit with merits, was allowed to recognize the mystery of the incarnation, to call out from excitement, to proclaim the Virgin to be blessed, to understand the dignity of the Virgin and herself to be unworthy of this visitation. For the Holy Spirit who filled her with humility did not leave her empty.[13]

Behold, how great a communication of the Holy Spirit and divine love occurred at the greeting of the blessed Virgin.

ARTICLE 2

On the abundant rejoicing of the glorious Virgin when she sang her ‘Magnificat’

Secondly, we may consider the fourth flame which is rejoicing love, ‘that by its nature always praises and sings of the beloved’.[14] ‘For while the blessed Virgin was praised for her faith by blessed Elizabeth and the blessed fruit of her womb was glorified, with her soul taken up in the highest contemplation, she gave it all back to God as she said: My soul magnifies the Lord.[15] In this canticle she glorifies, magnifies and thanks God for the multitude of her great gifts: firstly, for particular gifts; secondly, for general gifts; thirdly, for singular gifts. And the canticle contains ten verses according to the prophetic word in Psalm 32:2 [33:2]: Sing to him with the lyre, the harp of ten strings. This can be used as a theme when preaching only on the canticle.

CHAPTER 1

How by rejoicing the blessed Virgin thanked God for the gifts given to her

Firstly, the blessed Virgin thanked and praised God for particular gifts, namely, gifts given specifically to her. She did this in three ways: firstly, by praising; secondly, by rejoicing; thirdly, by giving examples.

Firstly, she thanks God by praise and so she says: My soul magnifies the Lord. ‘She does not say: my tongue because every tongue is deficient in praising God; but soul that can understand more than the tongue can express’.[16]

As if she would say: The Lord has done great things for me [Ps 125:3 (126:2)] when he made himself within my womb, and so made me great even above the height of all the angels. But this is all from him and not from me; and I do not make myself great, by vainly attributing this to myself, but my soul magnifies the Lord, referring his gift back entirely to him. As Bede says in Super Magnificat[17] the blessed Virgin fully acknowledges her greatness, but refers it all back to God. Hence, speaking in the person of the Virgin, he says: My soul magnifies the Lord, namely, in voice, work and affection. Every creature indeed magnifies the Lord, but my soul more than others. Nothing so wonderful was done in any creature as was done in my soul. So my soul magnifies the Lord.[18]

Secondly, the Lord is thanked by rejoicing and so she says: And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. From the praise of God there rightly follows a lifting up of the spirit and soul; ‘as if she were to say, according to a Gloss[19]: My spirit has rejoiced beyond every creature and beyond itself, and now in the immensity of gladness I have danced in God my Saviour, that is, in Jesus who, while being for all, is mine in a singular way’. In Luke 1:31, the Angel said to her: You shall call his name Jesus which means ‘salvation’.[20] She exalted in the Son whom she bore in her womb; as if she were to say: ‘In everything I feel, in all that I discern, I spend my whole life in contemplating his greatness and keeping his precepts; no prosperity puffs me up, no adversity breaks me, but my spirit delights only in remembering him, in his unending deity, for whom my flesh was fertile in a conception in time’. As if she were to say as did Hugo:

Over the salvation I see prepared for the human race, I rejoice with my whole being. I see also that what is to be taken from me is what I believe has to be offered for me. Truly, beloved Virgin Mary, brought into the wine cellar to the King, your bridegroom, inebriated with the abundance of his house, you have breathed out the memory of his sweetness and rejoiced in his justice. You have seen the majesty, you have tasted the sweetness; and what you have drawn in, you have set before others. There are two things the good angels and the human spirit draw from that spring of goodness by eternal contemplation, namely, the majesty of the incomprehensible God and ineffable goodness; one brings forth chaste fear, the other gives love. They venerate the majesty of God and love God’s goodness, lest love be lost without reverence or penal reverence without love. The soul of the blessed Virgin was raised up to this contemplation and in her words she expressed wonderfully the sweetness of the heavenly homeland that she understood in a wonderful way. When she set herself to glorify God, she declared openly the majesty to be venerated and which she had seen in the eternal vision. But when she stated that she rejoiced in her salvation, she showed she had savoured the taste of an inner sweetness.

So Hugo.[21]

God is thanked by giving examples. But ‘she who ascended so high in the contemplation of the majesty of God, gave back to him all the good that was in her, and finally, retreating into deep humility, she used herself as an example and said: Because he has regarded the humility of his handmaid’:

namely, by choosing me before others to be made the Mother of my Saviour; Proverbs 31:29 says: Many daughters have gathered together riches but you have surpassed them all. I say, he has regarded the humility of his handmaid. In fact, he has regarded it in three ways. Firstly, by inspiring so that I might choose humility before other gifts, Luke 1:38: Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Secondly, by accepting so that through him I might conceive God; Bernard[22]: ‘Although she pleased by virginity, she conceived by humility’. Thirdly, by lifting up so that I might ascend by humility above the heavens; Psalm 8:2: Your magnificence is elevated above the heavens. Also, he regarded humility, not nobility and height because the Lord looks on the lowly and the high he knows afar off [Ps 137:6 (138:6)]. Not beauty because charm is deceitful and beauty is vain [Prov 31:30]. Not power because the Lord has put down the mighty from their seat [Lk 1:52]. Not wisdom because God has made foolish the wisdom of this world [1 Cor 1:20]. Not virginity because there are foolish virgins; Matthew 25:2 says: Five of them were foolish.[23]

Finally, she does not list racial closeness, development of skill, eloquence, human prudence, riches or any such things for the sake of drawing God’s attention. She is silent about greater things: she does not draw attention to her sanctification in the womb, her prayer, contemplation, guarding of the senses; and, what is more wonderful, does not parade her faith, is silent about her hope and does not mention her exceeding charity. All her virtues were acted out in silence, she glories only in the humility regarded by the Lord: Because he has regarded the humility of his handmaid. Moreover clearly, from an opposite point of view, she was the first woman to give birth to all her children from a stronghold of goodness. And then Lucifer with his followers was cast strongly from the highest thrones to the seats in the underworld.[24]

So a Gloss[25] says: ‘See how poorly she thinks of herself, attributing all to the grace of God. Before her God she shows that she is humble but so sublime was she in the height of heavenly grace that what nature lost in the first parents by pride, it would receive in Mary by humility’. ‘Consequently, the Word of God assumed in her, through the merit of her humility, the substance of flesh that he would unite to himself; and then in this flesh, previously cast down, he regarded the nature to be raised up by mercy.’ But because from this humility she understood how much she was to be exalted, she went on to say:

Behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed, namely, of heaven, of earth and of hell. Of heaven, for the angels whom she restored; of earth, for the people she reconciled; of hell, for the captives she freed. This is the mystery spoken of in Judith 15:10: You are the glory of Jerusalem, namely, of the heavenly Jerusalem whose ruins you repaired for the angels; you are the joy of Israel, for the captives you freed; you are the honour of our people, namely, for the people for whom you gave birth to a brother and to one who reconciles. Or all generations, that is Jews and Gentiles, male and female, angels and humans, poor and rich, great and small, servants and free, just and wicked, and briefly all kinds of generations because they all bless her.[26]

Similarly, Bernard[27] says when commenting on this text: O extended heart of Mary, Mother of God, you have seen with shining eyes at one time all creatures who are to be gathered into true happiness! Behold, she says: her word is of one looking and explaining; behold, I now see that the future is from me, the fruit comes forth from me, how many and what great good come through me not only for me but for all generations. The number of angelic ruins will be restored by the one born though me, and the generation of humans, cursed in Adam, will be reborn to eternal happiness through the blessed fruit of my womb.

So Bernard.[28]

And adding the reason for this gratitude, she says: For he that is mighty has done great things to me and holy is his name; as if she were to say:

That all generations shall bless me, I do not attribute to myself, I do not ascribe it to my merits, but rather to the one who has done great things to me. It is a great thing that I am a virgin and also a great thing that I am a mother; better than both these together is that I am a mother and a virgin; but the greatest thing, if you take note of it, is whose mother I am, namely, of the only begotten Son of God and the Saviour of all. Although these great things may be done to all in a general way, for me they were done in a singular way, and to my inestimable glory they were powerfully done in me and from me by the Holy Spirit. So my soul magnifies the Lord because he has done great things to me, things I know from experiencing them. Of what kind they are I do not state because not even an angelic ear can understand them fully. These great things are the greatest not only to creatures, but they are the greatest and unsurpassable even to the One who is powerful, in fact all powerful, and holy is his name. Indeed neither more powerful, nor wiser things could have been done than what were done in me, namely, when human nature was joined to the Word, so that the one making is the same as the one to be made; he is my Son Jesus, the God who is blessed over all, and he was made for the salvation of all; but by an eternal arrangement and my immense love they were done for my singular glory.

Note, however, that by speaking so subtly the blessed Virgin held on to the utmost humility. That she was able to give birth to the Son of God and receive other great things, she did not attribute to her power, but to the One who is mighty, the One who wanted to honour power in the humility of the Virgin. And while she was most holy so as to bring forth the Holy of holies, she did not attribute this to her own power but to the holiness of the One who wanted to show the holy name. God wanted to cleanse most fully a woman who was the beginning of sin, so that a woman might be the Mother of all the holiness to be poured out into every vase of grace. All this is implied when she says: He is mighty and holy is his name. As if she wished to say: since woman is the lowest of all rational creatures and totally infected with uncleanness, such would I have been unless God had preserved me by grace, and so he that is mighty has done great things in me[29] and holy is his name. God was never able to show this more fittingly than when a woman was raised up above every creature and made the very Mother of all grace and purity by her holiness.

CHAPTER 2

How the blessed Virgin thanks God for the gifts given in mercy to angels and humans

Secondly, the blessed Virgin thanks God for general gifts: firstly, for gifts of mercy; secondly, for gifts of justice; thirdly, for gifts of mercy and justice.

Firstly, I say, for gifts of mercy. So she says: ‘And his mercy, begun in me, will be extended from the generation of the first person unto generations of people, that is, unto all the generations of the world who in spirit were seen as believers’.[30]

There was one first generation of persons that then expanded into many generations; but distinct from all others was the generation of the Jewish people for as long as they held to the worship of the one God. The words of God were first entrusted to them, and so the Son of God was sent first to the sheep of Israel, so that mercy be shown first to them and then to all. What the Lord says in Hosea 1:10, the Apostle quotes in Romans 9:25 when he says: I will call that which was not my people, my people; and was not my beloved, my beloved; and her that had not obtained mercy, one that has obtained mercy. And in Romans 11:32: For God has included all in unbelief, that he may have mercy on all. And in Wisdom 11:24-25 there is written: You have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and the text continues: and you hate none of the things you have made.[31]

Therefore, as the Prophet says in Psalm 102:17 [103:17]: And his mercy is from eternity and unto eternity, not in any random way but upon them that fear him; because the Holy Spirit flees from the proud and rests upon the humble, the meek and the one who trembles at his words.[32] So the blessed Virgin adds: to them that fear him. ‘In fact no one is excluded from the mercy of God except those who cut themselves off from the mercy of God by impenitence’. However, in a higher sense we can say that the blessed Virgin in the highest light of contemplation saw that by her merits after the Son she greatly benefited the blessed angels in giving them grace and glory. This happened when they saw in faith, and by the merit of the counsellor of God and angels, that the Virgin would be born and that they, the angels, would be graced and glorified by God, as explained in more detail in the Lenten sermon, n. 60, De christiana religione, Articles. 2 and 3.[33] The blessed Virgin speaks in this sense when she says: And his mercy is from the generation of angels to the generations of humans; but of both she says: to them that fear him as will be evident below.

Secondly, the blessed Virgin thanks God for gifts of justice. As was foretold, the blessed Virgin understood in the highest light:

that the gifts of God enlighten, vivify and transform the elect towards God, while the reprobate heap up for themselves greater judgments of divine severity from their hardness, obstinacy and ingratitude. Hence, the great gifts of the elect are often blindness to the reprobate, especially to those who, presuming on their own justice, glory in their actions. Hence, the Lord, in John 9:39, says: For judgment I came into this world, that they that see not, may see, and those who see, may become blind. And, in Luke 2:34, Simeon says: Behold, he is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many. Therefore, the sacred enlightened Virgin contemplating this process, names first the most sublime gifts of the mercy of God that have been distributed and are to be distributed on the elect among both angels and humans who fear God. She then turns her attention to the general judgments against the reprobate, describes the process of the providence of God in respect to a rational creature, and expounds what proud demons or humans merit. And because Christ by the vigour of his virtues, more than can be described, brought honour to God the Father, not only in sanctifying by mercy the elect among both angels and humans, but also by overcoming the reprobate by conquering; so to express this she says: He showed might in his arm.[34]

It is a common saying that when someone does something significant against an enemy, the power is attributed to the arm. But these words of the Holy Spirit spoken through the mouth of the Virgin are not to be lightly reduced to a narrow sense; they can and should be spread high and wide. For the arm mentioned by the blessed Virgin, with which God showed power, is the eternal Son of the eternal Father, made the Son of the Virgin in time.[35]

For three reasons he is called the arm of God: firstly, because of creation; secondly, because of conservation; thirdly, because of struggling.

Firstly, because of creation:

Human beings use their arms for work; the Father created everything through the Son; John 1:3: All things were made by him. Secondly, because of conservation or maintenance, because humans give support with their arms; so also the Father by his Son; Hebrews 1:3: Upholding all things by the word of his power. Thirdly, because of struggling, because a person fights and overcomes with the arm; as the Father fights and overcomes by his Son.[36]

So in Psalm 76:16 [77:15] the Prophet says:

With your arm you have redeemed the children of Jacob and of Joseph, that is, the elect of Jews and Gentiles, namely all nations that are saved. He says the children of Jacob, that is, the circumcised, and the children of Joseph, that is, the uncircumcised. Joseph means ‘increase’[37] and he went to the Gentiles in Egypt; for this reason the Gentiles are represented through him.[38]

‘By this arm the Father fought the devil, took hold of hell and overcame the world’.[39] Rightly then does the blessed Virgin say: He has shown might. For greater certainty he mentions the past, or speaks of the fall of the angels, as is shown at greater length in sermon 60 De Christiana religione.[40] With his arm, that is, with his Son:

the Father not only worked powerfully and strongly, but also emphatically has shown might, because he has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. In this text she shows the presumptuous pride of the reprobate by speaking of their conceit in which they think themselves as being better than others and do not turn to God in a reverence of humility. Also, she shows the most passionate and malicious wickedness because from a heartfelt affection for their own honour they lift themselves up against a precept of God. So she says: of their heart. Hence, by this they are shown to be strong lovers of their own honour.[41]

Or it can be put another way: He has scattered the proud. ‘I say, he has scattered in the conceit of their heart, that is, according to the inclination of their heart, something that no one can resist’,[42] so that in this the disposition of divine vengeance against pride might be implied, according to the prophetical text in Psalm 88:11 [89:10]: You have humbled the proud one as one that is slain, ‘that is, Lucifer, whom you cast out of paradise, not slain because he did not have a body, but as one that is slain because he has a spirit’.[43] And the Psalm continues: with the arm of your strength you have scattered your enemies. ‘Who are the enemies of God other than proud devils and people who despise God’s commandments and make little of God’s rule? Indeed, God scattered the devils when they were condemned with Lucifer; and God either humiliates or damns proud people’;[44] and so God scatters them.

Thirdly, the blessed Virgin thanks God for gifts of justice and mercy together. So she continues and says: He, namely, Christ has put down the mighty, that is, the demons, from their seat: note the effect of justice; and has exalted the humble, namely, the angels who made themselves humble before Christ and the blessed Virgin, as stated in sermon 60 De christiana religione[45]: note the effect of mercy.

Indeed, it is for God’s justice to put down to the depths those who wickedly seek the heights; and also it is seen to be for God’s mercy to lift up the humble who persevere in virtue. Hence, in Job 5:11, there is written: Who sets up the humble on high, and comforts with health those who mourn. These things were spoken for the humble. For the putting down of the powerful proud and the lifting up of the humble, Sirach 10:17-18 says more clearly: The Lord[46] has overturned the thrones of proud princes and has set up the meek in their stead; this can be applied to the angels. The text goes on: God has made the roots of proud nations to wither, and has planted the humble of these nations; this can be applied to human beings. In Luke 14:11 the Lord repeated this, saying: All who exalt themselves, will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

What the blessed Virgin then adds applies only to human beings. So she says: He has filled the hungry with good things: note the mercy. This hunger is not of the body but of a rational animal hungry to arrive at what is true and best. When grace was given to a rational animal, its hunger is increased, so that it might strive with impatience to be freed from sins, to cling to virtues, to hardships that threaten, not cease from striving for death and always undertake work for as long as necessary. He who is mighty has filled with good things those who are hungry in this way. Nature abhors a vacuum, but when emptied of what is earthly they will be filled with what is heavenly. Before Jesus was born, his Mother, already carrying him in her womb preached what he was to preach. Later, in Matthew 5:6, he says: Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill. And, in Psalm 106:9 [107:9], the Prophet says: He has filled the empty soul with good things. Rightly, a soul unceasingly desiring good things will be filled with good things. He who is mighty always does this since he knows the strong desire by which a soul is lifted up to virtue. In Psalm 145:7 [146:7], the Prophet says this: Who gives food to the hungry. Food, namely, of virtues that feed the soul, and food of his Body and Blood that he has prepared for all the faithful. In fact, this is proper to virtue as well as to the goodness and wisdom of God, namely, that after eating, further hunger follows and what is tasted rekindles desire. So, in Sirach 24:19, there is said of wisdom: They that eat me, shall yet hunger; and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. This showed that the soul that has virtue is further enkindled to desire it all the more.

Of what kind is the fulness of the proud and reprobate the blessed Virgin shows when she adds: and the rich he has sent empty away: note justice. They are left empty since the soul cannot be filled with what is transitory. Such a rich person is the one addressed by Christ in the seventh church as in Revelation 3:17: Because you say, I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing.

Note the triple presumption of spiritual graces. For those who trust in themselves on the basis of personal justice, attribute the riches of wisdom to themselves by saying: because I am rich. They presume on the riches and treasures of justice and so add: and made wealthy. Nor do people blinded by vain glory think that adequate virtue is absent for they do not recognize personal weakness, and so they say: and have need of nothing. Note how these rich people see themselves. But note how God sends such rich people away empty. For there is added: and you know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. For, in a triple way, God sends away a triple presumption.

Firstly, the presumptuous think they have an abundance of the riches of wisdom, but note how Christ sends them away empty because he says: and you know not that you are wretched. They are miserable who are empty of all, even natural riches; so the presumptuous are genuinely miserable because they do not have a sense of natural wisdom by which they are able to assess personal deficiencies. Of such, in Romans 1:22 is said: Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools.

Secondly, the presumptuous claim to be rich, that is, by having riches of many merits before God; but Christ sends them away empty, in fact calls them wretched. Therefore, they are wretched whose misery is so great that others rightly grieve over them, and especially when the things they think are profitable to them are turned into an increase of misfortune. Such are the presumptuous for the good things they do are changed into faults against them. The good things they do are not done for the right reason because they refer the good to their own and not to God’s glory; Hence, in Matthew 6:23, the Lord says to such: If then the light that is in you is darkness, the darkness itself, how great shall it be! For if in the presumptuous the light of good works, by which they and others through them should be enlightened, is the darkness of sins, that is, if the good they do becomes sin, the darkness itself, that is, works that of their nature are sins, how great, that is, how serious they will be! How serious indeed are the sins of the presumptuous when actions meritorious in themselves become sins!

Thirdly, the presumptuous claim to need nothing, that is, they are sufficient in themselves. See how Christ sends them away empty when he says to them that they are not sufficient in themselves, since they are poor, blind and naked. They are poor in necessities, blind in light and direction, naked from a need for clothes. Hence, they quickly perish in their necessities; the poor from hunger, the blind from dangers of the way, the naked from cold, unless they are protected by mercy. Therefore, the proud are unfortunate because those who rely on themselves rather than on God do not merit mercy from God. The vainglorious really fight against God for they want to be self sufficient in what God alone guarantees and provides. Hence, they make themselves God and try to grow rich of themselves. Rightly then does God take away from them the bread of life and understanding [Sir 15:3] so that from a lack of virtue they might grieve in spiritual hunger. God takes from them their direction so that they might incur innumerable dangers of sins and punishments. Nor does God give to those who say they have need of nothing the clothing of a good life so that in everything they might find themselves to be inadequate, namely, in an understanding of what is true, in choosing good, and in acting justly.[47]

Note how God sends the rich away empty.

CHAPTER 3

How the blessed Virgin thanks God for the gift of the incarnation of the Son of God

Thirdly, the blessed Virgin thanks God for singular gifts, all of which are included in the Son of God assuming human nature. As if she were to say: The Lord has done great things in me, so that his mercy might be spread out to all people and the rightness of his justice be spread among the reprobate, and to complete this:

He received Israel his servant, that is, a faithful people received its son, Jesus incarnate and a child, as Isaiah 9:6 says: A child is born to us and a son is given to us.

Or Israel, that is, the Jewish people to whom he was first sent because he was first promised to them; so there follows: being mindful of his mercy, namely, as already promised to the Jewish people.

Or it can be better expressed by saying that Israel is in the accusative case in this way: he received, that is, the Lord received by the incarnation, Israel his servant, the Jewish or faithful people and this is human nature;[48]

or: He received Israel his servant:

that is, calling the man Jesus the servant of the divinity because she served him in the highest reverence of humility. She says that she had received this God because she was united personally to him; and he truly became Israel because he truly saw and enjoyed the divinity. The whole multitude of the elect can also be called a servant of God, on account of the reverence of humility and the union of love received in Jesus himself by a grace of adoption; and it becomes Israel through the beatific vision. The holy Virgin, understanding that this was done unchangeably in the merit of Christ, rejoiced that it was realized completely even though it remains in the future for the people of the elect. So she says: He received Israel his servant, because by the One conceived in me in grace, already the number of the elect was adopted. And God did this mindful of his mercy, not because of our justice; God redeemed people not because of human merit but from a gift of the most divine kindness. Pious Jesus then received our nature, he received also our lawsuit, wiped out the sentence in mercy, and by his most loving death made full amendment to the justice of God. But because God waited until the fulness of time, in a certain sense it was thought that the Father had forgotten to send his Son; finally however, God was mindful of his mercy, that is, actually did what was awaited. And because this most high and wonderful gift was promised to the holy Fathers, especially to Abraham, and preached by the prophets, she adds: As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever, to whom it was promised that such things would be done.[49]

With these words, the blessed Virgin concluded her canticle full of praise, full of thanks to God, and stressing mercy and justice to the fullest.

ARTICLE 2

On the three last flames of words of the blessed Virgin

Thirdly, we are to examine the three last flames of love of the Virgin shown in her three last words.

CHAPTER 1

On the double general taste of divine love that the blessed Virgin experienced

Firstly, we reflect on the fifth flame of love in the Virgin and this is a savouring love. The nature ‘of this love is inwardly to taste, savour and discern separately the various delights of the person loved or the particular characteristics and differences of the divine taste’.[50] Christ contains in himself two kinds of tastes which include in them all the other differences of divine tastes: the first is a taste of sweetness, the second a taste of sorrow or bitterness; and these are included in the fifth word of the Virgin.

Firstly, there is a taste:

of the gentlest sweetness, and the beginning of her fifth word shows how the blessed Virgin tasted it; in an admirable drinking and in a wonderful singularity of the most delicate sweetness she called Jesus her Son, as he was sitting among the doctors in the temple, and she said in Luke 2:48: Son, why have you done so to us? In no other text of Scripture is it written that she called him Son except in this fifth word. The word son comes from ‘filos’, the word for love, and in the mouth of the mother it bore a taste of the most delicate and heartfelt sweetness, especially when it is so great and of such a kind as is the sonship of God.

Further:

the sign of all love is surpassed in this word: Son; nothing more effective can be uttered than to say: Son. All the feelings of mothers are moved when they address their child with a filial name. The Virgin Mother was not able to restrain her affection any longer, when she exclaimed in words of vivid love, with no other form of address other than that he is the Son and she the Mother.[51]

No number of words could serve other than the name of Son. And she adds: Son, why have you done so to us? These are not words of blame but of wonder, so that, in a mystical sense, there is an indication that when the bridegroom goes away from a soul the mind, in such an experience, wonders at the ways of God’s wisdom, nor can it understand the highest ways of the bridegroom in his absence and return, even though he remains loving in many ways. For some reason, Christ, the wisdom of God, as one caring for his Mother and leading her on the way of love, wanted his Mother to experience this and for the Virgin to express it in her own words.

‘Secondly, there is a taste of sorrow or utmost bitterness as stated by the pious Mother with the bitterest sorrow, when she says: Behold, your father and I have sought you sorrowing.[52] ‘The humble Virgin gives way to her husband whom she names first and herself afterwards; since it is the norm of all good customs and virtues that women learn to defer to their husbands, not only in other things but also in speech.’[53] In a mystical sense:

this distressing taste, arising from the loss of the beloved, is bitter, instructive and formative for the mind in its radical separation from the one loved; by this a soul totally dependent on him cannot rest, is always jealous, lest he is away because of some fault. From this it follows that she goes about seeking the beloved, asks help from everyone so as to find the one her affection loves. The Mother herself shows that this sorrow was in her in a most virulent form when she said: We have sought you sorrowing.[54]

‘And because most holy Joseph shared these tastes, the blessed Virgin calls him in the singular the father of Christ.’[55]

The blessed Virgin, filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment of the Conception of the Son of God, did not need to be exercised in such things. Nevertheless, as an example for us, Jesus reasonably put himself in this position with her to show in a mystical sense how much a soul benefits from such an experience of sorrow arising from an absence of the beloved and from a solicitous search. For the beloved returns to a soul in a more abundant sweetness, unless a fault of negligence has made her unworthy. Similarly, when Jesus was found again the blessed Virgin expresses in a singular way the most delicate taste of having a son and of this love when she said: Son.[56]

The Apostle Paul experienced these two tastes of love as he showed when, in Philippians 4:12, he says: I know how to abound, namely, in spiritual consolations, and to suffer need, namely, in their absence and in the enduring of adversities. And in 2 Corinthians 1:8 he says: We would not have you ignorant, brethren, of our tribulation, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure above our strength, namely, of nature not of grace, so that we were weary even of life, namely, from a certain natural weariness. Ambrose[57]: So that we despair by a certain natural diffidence even of living. It is sure, however, that it is more difficult to bear a like trouble with strength coming only from a virtuous habit and efforts of a will conditioned by it, than to do this assisted by other helps of the habit and will.[58] It does not seem that the Apostle in his suffering had any help from spiritual tastes and sweetness. For, so that the strength of his virtue might be further tested, it would seem that God stopped such spiritual infusions. So also, at the time of the passion, Christ felt no infusion of joy from the habit and act of his glory in the nature that was suffering so that the bitterness of his passion might be somewhat lessened. In Matthew 27:46, the Lord expresses this more clearly in the words: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? As if he were to say: Out of love for the human race, I have been handed over by you to suffering and the reproaches of an ignominious death; so that you, Father, from a zeal for justice, seem to have forgotten the blessed union and unshakable communion in which in the Person of God this sorrowing nature is inserted. From this it is clear that the highest peak of patience is to suffer patiently without an infusion of spiritual consolation, rather than to endure it with such infusions; it is more perfect to suffer need for consolations when suffering, than to abound in consolations.

Brother Jacapone da Todi wanted to express this in a letter he wrote to John of Alverna who was seriously ill and deprived of the usual consolations of his spirit. On the back he wrote in the vernacular:

‘To Brother John of Alverna, - who is in the grip of a fever,

I send this letter to him, - it should be read to him.’[59]

Letter of Brother Jacopone da Todi on the double meaning of divine love

I have regarded and think it to be something great to abound in knowing about God. Why? Because in this humility is practised with reverence. But I have regarded and think it to be the greatest thing to fast and suffer need for God. Why? Because in this, faith is practised without evidence, hope without expectation of a reward, love without signs of pleasure. These foundations are in the holy mountains [Ps 86:1 (87:1)]. By these foundations a soul ascends to that solid mountain on which one may taste honey out of the rock, and oil out of the hardest stone [Deut 32:13].

At the end he writes in the vernacular:

Farewell, Brother John, farewell. – Do not regret the pain you suffer.

Between the anvil (?) and the hammer – you make a beautiful vase.

But the vase has to be heated – so that the blow falls on a solid base.

If you strike while it is cold – it will break.

If it is broken, it has no use – but is put with the rubbish (?).

Convince yourself to ask – for the Lord to give you

Every misfortune and ill health – and to find the world displeasing.

Misfortune indeed is glorious – if it not a result of sin.

If a person suffers from sin - …… (?).[60]

CHAPTER 2

With how much love the blessed Virgin has compassion on our needs and misfortunes

Secondly, we consider the sixth flame of love which is loving sympathy.

By this love one experiences in pious compassion the lack of the double taste spoken of in the preceding chapter, and one carries with anxiety the lack of the spiritual joy and song of Christ, and one feels much more sorrow over the multitude of sins and defects that exist in the unfortunate states of this life. After the first two flames of love, by which one rightly moves towards the beloved, there follows the third that impresses itself on the beloved. In the same way after the last two, namely, the fourth and fifth by which again one goes directly to the beloved, there follows the sixth by which the lack of spiritual wine, widespread in the world, is experienced with compassion and pointed out to the beloved. This is the word of wonderful compassion and kindness with which the sweetest Mother of Christ, our advocate on earth and in heaven and as a kind mother on behalf of us, her unfortunate and weak children who are to be pitied from all sides, says to her beloved Firstborn: They have no wine [Jn 2:3]. She does not say this to accuse or reproach us but rather to influence Christ to show kind mercy to us, so that he might give us the best wine, rich in divine tastes and full of all the virtues,[61]

that are necessary for our salvation.

There are in wine an excellence, a sweetness and warmth: an excellence of colour, sweetness of taste and warmth of strength, all of which are drawn from water. The most prudent Mother wanted to show to her kind Son, Jesus, in a mystical sense, that the world was unaware of a clear knowledge of his person, the sweetness of a refreshment of the eternal Godhead, and the strength of his mighty power. Hence, she asked him to enlighten the darkened mind, change the wavering affection and strengthen the failing effort; that is, that he would do whatever would enlighten faith, encourage hope and enkindle charity.[62]

The Virgin Mother knew that every creature was subject to weakness, overcome by need, lacked proper joy, was subject to most ugly wretchedness and confused from a lack of genuine good, while delighting in the passing things of the world, for example, in marriage. For this reason she made a request to her son, saying: They have no wine. She did not do this to inform him who knew everything, but the Virgin Mother made her request as if the care of all things was her responsibility and, conscious of being the advocate of all people, and that she was made the Virgin Mother of the Creator for the sake of all, she took on the role of advocate and kind helper, when she saw a need as if there was no need to make her aware by requests, for the whole attention of her kindness was directed towards us, and conscious of our need and recognizing herself as a mother of kindness for all people, worried over her children, she intercedes with her divine Son even for things not requested of her,[63]

saying: They have no wine. ‘If she does this even when not asked, what will she do when asked? If she did this while a pilgrim what will she do when she reigns in heaven? If she asks this of her Son while subject to a temporal death, what will she ask when he has conquered death, recalled his immortal flesh from the tomb, is established in heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and possessing the empire’ of all things? Afterwards, this short word had such wonderful efficacy and power with her beloved son, Jesus, and affected so much her beloved the Evangelist John, that he was brought to the nuptials of virginal chastity and to the peak of the highest contemplation, so that just as by the third flame and word John the Baptist was wonderfully sanctified in the womb of his mother, so by the sixth and seventh words the Evangelist John was brought to spiritual nuptials with Christ.

CHAPTER 3

How much the blessed Virgin encourages us to obey in all things that are pleasing to and commanded by God

Thirdly and finally, we consider the seventh flame of love of the glorious Virgin and it is called perfecting love.

The order of divine grace demands that we, in order to make up what we lack, should join ourselves to the prayers of the blessed Virgin Mother. In this we need to be informed and encouraged by our superiors and so the seventh flame of love is added. It is not only ourselves but also all others who must try with all possible effort not only to observe and perfectly fulfil all the precepts of Christ, but also all his counsels, words and wishes; because the wishes, gestures and actions of Christ are in some way also words. This is what the blessed Virgin taught the servants so that they might get wine, when she said: Whatsoever he, namely, Jesus my Son, shall say to you, do you [Jn 2:5].

Literally this means that ‘it is certain that Christ would do what she requested. It seems that she sensed in her spirit how the miracle would be worked, namely, that Christ would direct the servant as to what they had to do; so she said to them: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do you’.[64]

But it has to be noted in the mystical sense:

That, in Romans 13:10, the Apostle says: Love is the culmination of the law, that is, the full observance of the law; and how, in Matthew 2:40, is said: On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets, because the whole of Scripture is fulfilled in love of God and neighbour; so in this last word of the Virgin and the last flame of love is included and understood everything that is contained in the whole divine law and all the words of God.

So she says to all: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do you, that is, obey the divine will. Nor without the wonderful light of the wisdom of God is the blessed Virgin reduced to the obedience that the Lord and the Apostle related to a full love for the law. For:

that I might show obedience and love, even more that I might speak of obedience and charity as first laid down by God and are not in any way different. Love for the beloved is always subject to obedience; and it is subject more truly, the stronger the love; and it clings more closely when it obeys attentively. For this reason, love that is ignorant of negligence comes from obedience, obeys without fail, takes on all that is possible, practises all the virtues, carries this yoke with pleasure, clings tenaciously, accepts an unchanging affection, is not affected by many things, loves one, even though, for the sake of the one, it does many things. It restricts desires to one, for the sake of the one it subjects itself to one or several, reduces the ten or the two commandments to one, one in one other, one from one other, so that forever it might enjoy the one and be with all the blessed in the one.[65]

Rightly, therefore, does the blessed Virgin say to all: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do you; because everything pleasing to God is to be done in obedience. Nor did the most blessed Virgin teach this without first doing it herself. For this reason, it is right that in this word her most divine words receive the perfection of perfect love. The Son of the blessed Virgin, the Lord Jesus Christ, in mercy gives us all these things; he lives and reigns glorious and victorious with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever.