We can begin to love God in this life, but it is only in the next that we shall be able to love Him perfectly. In the expression we I do not intend to speak of the Most Holy Virgin, because she is the Daughter of beautiful Love, the one only dove, the perfect Spouse. Yes; the charity of Mary surpassed that of the Seraphim. 'If all the daughters have gathered riches, thou hast surpassed them all.'
The Saints and Angels are compared to stars, but Mary is beautiful as the moon, distinguished amidst the Saints as the moon amidst the stars. As her charity surpasses in heaven that of all the blessed, so did she exercise it with greater excellence on earth; for never having sinned, even venially, her love never met with any obstacle, and thus increased at every instant. What progress, then, must she not have made in the exercise of holy love? Say not that the Most Holy Virgin, like all men, was subject to the necessities of life. It may be said, in the words of the Canticles, that her sleep was the sleep of Love, the celestial Spouse saying, 'I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not nor awake my love till she please.'
The Queen of heaven and earth granted to her chaste body that repose only which was necessary to restore its strength, in order to serve God more perfectly; and we may say that her sleep never interrupted the exercise of holy love, because it proceeded from an act of most excellent charity. Does not Saint Augustine teach that we must love our body, that it may serve us in those works which God requires of us, and because it forms part of ourselves, and is one day to share our eternal felicity?
The Most Holy Virgin, indeed, had other reasons to love her body with a virtuous love, because it was not only pure, submissive, and docile to all the functions of holy love and embalmed by Divine sweetness, but it was, moreover, the living source of the Sacred Body of Our Saviour. Thus it belonged to her in an incomparably singular manner, so that before yielding to sleep she could truly say to it, 'Rest from your fatigues, O throne of the Divinity, tabernacle of the new Covenant, ark of all Sanctity; recruit your strength through the repose which I allow you to take.'
Ah! sweet Jesus! what must have been the thoughts of your Most Holy Mother whilst sleep refreshed her body and her heart was watching! We may imagine that her most frequent thought was of her Divine Son, Who had so often slept upon her bosom as the lamb reposes upon the soft wool of its mother. She would also feel that she rested in His adorable side, opened by the lance on Calvary, as a white dove rests in the cleft of a rock. Thus her sleep, which was a sweet repose and an agreeable solace to her body, became a kind of ecstasy to her soul, through the spiritual effects and operations it produced.
If she also represented to herself her future glory, like Joseph, the saviour of Egypt, and saw herself clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet - that is to say, surrounded by the glory of her Divine Son, and resplendent with the glory of the Saints who form her crown as she rules over the universe, of which she is the Queen; or if, like Jacob, she foresaw the wonderful fruits that Angels and men would obtain through the Redemption, O! conceive, if possible, children of Mary, the delights caused by such spiritual entertainments!
There is one kind of diamond which has this special property - that nothing can diminish its fine water or the brilliancy which nature has given it. The Heart of the Virgin Mother, like this diamond, never ceased to glow with the sacred fire of love that she had received from her Divine Son. However, though the brilliancy of precious stones does not diminish, yet it does not increase; whilst the love of the Most Holy Virgin never remained in the same state, but made continual and incredible progress until she entered heaven. With good reason, then, is Our Lady called the Mother of pure Love - that is to say, the most lovable amongst all creatures, and the most beloved by her only Son, Who is loved by her as the most lovable and loving of Sons.
Spiritual Flowers
Forgetfulness of God is the sleep of the soul. The soul has been asleep all the time that it has forgotten its God. - Saint Augustine
The sleep of the Saints is a prayer before God. - Saint Jerome
It is great blindness and misery to seek repose where it is impossible to find it. - Saint Teresa
Example
Devotion to the 'Salve Regina'
Saint Bernard is celebrated for his love of the Blessed Virgin and for the praises he has rendered to her. His language is of such sweetness, that it surpasses that of all preceding ages for beauty and tenderness in discoursing of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This saint seems to have gathered together and made his own all the most loving affections of the most fervent servants. Mary was his ruling thought, and he could not restrain the transports of his heart when he spoke of her. The very mention of her name sufficed to render him ecstatic. With good reason, then, did Peter the Abbot of Saint Remigius, at Rheims, say to one of Saint Bernard's adversaries: 'If you have the courage to touch the pupil of Mary's eye, write against Saint Bernard.'
This Saint was commissioned to preach the second general Crusade throughout Europe, and when he had traversed France, Belgium and the Rhenish countries, he retired to the Abbey of Effinghem, to recollect his soul in that pious solitude. One evening the Monks were moved to tears by a discourse of Saint Bernard's in praise of Mary, and they begged him to intone the Salve Regina, which they sang every evening before her image. As the Saint could not excuse himself, he devoutly intoned the Salve with his powerful voice, and was accompanied by all the Monks. When the sweet words, Et Jesum benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exilium ostende, had been sung, all were silent (because at that time the anthem ended with these words). However, the inspired voice of Bernard continued, and he gave expression to the sentiments of his heart in the three invocations with which it is now concluded: O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria! These words were afterwards adopted by the whole Church.
It is in commemoration of this event that the Salve Regina is solemnly sung every evening in the Cathedral of Spire.
Saint Vincent de Paul used to say that no prayer is so suitable to us miserable exiles in this valley of tears as this: Salve Regina, Mater misericordiæ . . . Ad te clamamus, exules filii Hevæ.
Saint Philip Neri, having heard the confession of a famous criminal, spoke thus to him: 'My son, I shall require but little from you, and if you fulfill it I assure you that you will be saved. Promise me to place all your confidence in the Most Blessed Virgin, the Mother of Divine Grace, and for this purpose recite the Salve Regina seven times every day in her honour, and kiss the ground the same number of times, saying: "I may die this moment."' The penitent made the promise and kept it. He died holily fourteen years after, full of gratitude and love towards his good Mother Mary.
Prayer - Most amiable Heart of Mary, object of the complacency of the adorable Trinity, and worthy of the veneration of Angels and of men; Heart like unto that of Jesus Christ and its most perfect image; Heart full of goodness and compassion for our miseries! Oh, break the ice of our hearts, turn our affections towards the adorable Heart of Our Saviour, and impress on them the love of your virtues. Watch over Holy Church, protect it, and be to it an impregnable fortress, so that it may be secure amidst all the assaults of its enemies. Be you our way to God, our succour in our trials, our consolation in sufferings, our strength in temptations, and our refuge in persecutions. Above all things assist us at the point of death, when hell will exert all its efforts for our eternal ruin. Let us then, indeed, experience the power you have over the Heart of Jesus, that we may find a secure asylum in the bosom of His Mercy, and then, with you, praise Him throughout ages and ages. Amen.
Ejaculation - I sleep, O Mother, but my heart watches.
Practice - Endeavour to be reflecting upon some eternal truth when you fall asleep.
- text taken from the book A Month of Mary According to the Spirit of Saint Francis de Sales, by Father Gaspar Gilli