Humility of Mary

The Blessed Virgin Mary surpassed all the Angels and Saints in perfection and merit; and of all creatures none as she was so pleasing to God. Who, indeed, ever possessed so ardent a charity and so profound a humility? Where shall we find humility equal to that which appeared in Mary when, in answer to Elizabeth, she confessed that the cause of her happiness was that the Lord had deigned to regard the humility of His handmaid, and that therefore all generations should call her blessed? - Quia respexit humilitatem anciliæ suæ; ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generations.

Many Doctors of the Church are of opinion that, when Mary said, 'the Lord hath regarded the humility of His handmaid,' it was not her intention to speak of her virtue of humility, because, although she was profoundly humble, she did not believe herself to be so; but that she thought only of her lowly state, her baseness, and abjection as a creature of God, and of the nothingness from which she had been drawn. There are others, however, who hold a contrary, and perhaps more probable, opinion, and say that Our Lady intended to speak of her virtue of humility, being well aware that it was this virtue that had attracted Our Saviour to her chaste womb. We may well believe that Mary was aware that she possessed this virtue, and that she had no fear of losing it, being intimately persuaded that it was the effect of the grace of God within her and not of her own merits.

Indeed, we find the great Saint Paul acknowledging that he possessed the virtue of charity, and in such decisive terms as would seem in others presumptuous rather than humble. He writes:

What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written:

"For your sake we are being slain all the day;
we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:35-39

Notice the confidence with which this great Apostle speaks when he protests that there is no power in the world, or in hell, that is capable of separating him from the charity of his God. He believed that he possessed this virtue of charity; and in speaking thus he confided entirely in grace, and in his own merits by grace. The glorious Virgin knew well that the virtue of humility has more power to attract the Heart of God to our hearts than all other virtues. The Divine Spouse in the Canticles seems to signify this, when he expresses his admiration for the beauty of the footsteps of his beloved: Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui in calceamentis, filia principis! - 'How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O Prince's daughter!' (Cant, vii. 1), and then enumerates her other beauties. Judith did not captivate Holofernes so much by the rare beauty of her countenance and the splendour of her attire as by her sandals, or her shoes, which were probably embroidered with gold.

In like manner the Eternal Father, considering the variety of virtues that adorned Our Lady, was in admiration of her beauty; but when He cast His eyes upon her sandals He was so pleased that He sent His Only Son to become Incarnate in her chaste womb. What is signified by these sandals or shoes of Mary but her humility? These articles are the least valuable part of our attire, and the soonest covered with dust. Now, the spirit of true humility continually abases the souls who possess it, and annihilates them in their own eyes, and keeps them under the feet of everyone. Such is the property of this virtue of humility, which is the foundation of the whole spiritual life. It was this lowliness that the Lord looked upon in the Most Holy Virgin with so much complacency, and this look of His formed her whole greatness: Quia respexit humilitatem ancillæ suæ, ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generations. All generations shall call her blessed because God had regarded her.

Whichever of the two significations given to these words: God hath regarded the humility of His Handmaid be accepted, we find that the Holy Virgin always spoke with so much humility as to leave no doubt whatever that she considered all her happiness to proceed from her Lord having looked upon her lowliness. On this account the words of the Spouse of the Canticles are applied to her: Dum esset Rex in accubitu suo nardus mea dedit odorem suum - 'While the King was at his repose, my spikenard sent forth the odour thereof.' The plant on which the spikenard grows does not grow up high like the cedars of Lebanon. But lowly as it is, it delights all by the sweetness it diffuses around. What a precious plant was the Most Holy Virgin, who never sought to exalt herself, although enriched by God with the most signal favours! She was always penetrated by the sense of her own abjection and nothingness; and in virtue of this humility she spread around, like the spikenard plant, so sweet a perfume that it ascended to the Throne of the Divine Majesty, and attracted the Son of God to descend and take flesh in her immaculate womb.

We see, then, how dear humility is to God! Our Saviour taught this truth in His memorable reply to the woman who exclaimed aloud: Beatus venter qui Te portavit et ubera quæ suxisti - 'Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck.' 'Yea,' said Our Lord, 'rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it' - Quinimmo beati qui audiunt verbum Dei et custodiunt illud. That is to say: 'My Mother is indeed blessed on account of having borne Me in her womb; but more blessed is she on account of the humility with which she listened to the words of My Heavenly Father, and kept them.' And this He again taught when He said that they who heard the Word of God and practised it were to Him as His Mother and His Brethren.

Spiritual Flowers

Jesus Christ built His throne upon the ruins of the world. Before the fruits of grace can be gathered the flowers of prosperity must fall.

The present moment's grace may be that which will decide our eternity. - Nepveu

The Heart of Mary is a garden of delights, in which we can gather the most precious fruits. This most beautiful garden is closed against the impure spirit; it is full of Divine perfumes, cultivated by a Heavenly Hand, and adorned with the most charming flowers of virtue. Of these there are three which particularly attract our admiration, and fill the house of God with the sweetest fragrance - they are the violet of humility, the lily of chastity, and the rose of charity. - Saint Bernard

The less you seek after praise and your own interests, the more do you deserve to be praised and rewarded by God.

Example

Origin of the Rosary

The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary in its present form was instituted by Saint Dominic. But as early as the year 1094 Peter the Hermit had invented a kind of rosary of beads of wood, upon which the Crusaders, who were generally uneducated men, recited a certain number of Paters and Aves, varied according to the solemnity of the feasts.

Historians also relate that even before that time pious persons were in the habit of reciting a series of Paters and Aves upon knotted cords. In the East it was the custom to present crowns of roses to persons of distinction. Saint Gregory Nazianzen, moved by ardent piety towards the Mother of Our Redeemer, offered to her, instead of a material crown of roses, a spiritual crown of prayers. It consisted of a long string of the highest praises and most glorious titles and excellent prerogatives of Mary.

Saint Bridget, Patroness of Ireland, who lived in the fifth century, developed this pious idea of Saint Gregory by substituting for those prayers which were unknown to the people the more popular and more beautiful prayers of the Credo, the Pater, and the Ave Maria. And to regulate the number of prayers to be recited, the Saint adopted the method of the anchorets of threading beads of stone or of wood together in the form of a crown or chaplet.

The word 'Rosary' signifies a crown of roses, and the prayers, the expression of the heart's affections, of which it is composed, are spiritual roses with which we adorn the head of our dear Blessed Mother.

It is said that a holy solitary was watching one day a poor old woman reciting her rosary with great devotion, when he observed an Angel by her side holding a golden thread, upon which he strung a rose for every Ave, and a lily for every Pater; afterwards he placed this garland in the form of a crown upon the head of the old woman, and disappeared, leaving behind him a sweet fragrance of roses. This fragrance was often perceived in former days in churches, after the recital of the Rosary.

Prayer - O Mary, my good Mother! obtain for me an ardent love for your Divine Son, my Saviour Jesus Christ. From Him you can obtain all that you desire; obtain, then, for me the grace to be always so united to the Divine Will that I may never again be separated from it. I ask you not, my Mother, for earthly goods, nor honours, nor riches; but I ask of you that which you have much more at heart, the grace to love my God. Is it possible that you should refuse to assist me in a work which is so agreeable to you? No; you will help me, my good Mother - you will pray for me. Pray then, O Sacred Virgin, and cease not to pray for me, until you see me in heaven, out of danger of losing my God, and certain of loving Him throughout eternity. May I be able to thank Him for ever, with you, my good and charitable Mother, for so great a mercy. Amen.

Ejaculation - Make me like unto you, O Mary, who were so sweet and humble of heart.

Practice - Make an act of external humility in union with Mary.

- text taken from the book A Month of Mary According to the Spirit of Saint Francis de Sales, by Father Gaspar Gilli