XV. The Coronation of the Most Blessed Virgin - Perseverance

"Be faithful unto death," says our Lord, "and I will give you the crown of life." (Apocalypse 2) It is this fidelity that God rewards in the Coronation of the Most Blessed Virgin. It is the mystery which speaks to us of perseverance. Saint Thomas of Aquin tells us that " perseverance is the virtue by which the good that is in us endures until it is consummated." In all works truly great this virtue is necessary. True and solid success is only attainable by relentless labor which triumphs over all obstacles.

The wonder is to see the constancy and efforts expended on projects which those who engage in them hardly approve in their conscience. And how can we be inconstant or slothful when there is question of accomplishing the grand design of our sanctification and of perfecting in ourselves the work of grace?

Let us bear this in mind: the innocence and virtue of our past life cannot secure our eternal happiness in the future if we prove untrue to ourselves. "No one putting his hand to the plough and looking back is worthy of the kingdom of heaven" (Luke 9) "He who persevereth to the end shall be saved." (Matthew 10) To have participation in Christ is the condition of salvation. But we are partakers with Him only "when we hold the beginning of His substance firm unto the end" (Hebrews 3) To be virtuous today is good; but the virtues run as in a race, and only one is crowned - perseverance. Other virtues merit the crown, but perseverance alone receives it. When God will have us read at His tribunal the book of our lives, He will not stop us at the first page, but we must read it even to the last; that will be the page of life and benediction if we shall have persevered in good works, otherwise a page of malediction and of eternal death.

But why should we think so seriously of perseverance? How do we know but that it is, like predestination, a gratuitous gift of God? Let us not wander from the truth and run into the recklessness of those who, considering the divine decrees as mere fatalities, do not consider themselves obliged to make any effort, under the pretext that it is necessary to let the grace of God work of itself.

In answer we must bear in mind that perseverance is a gift truly, but a gift which can be, to a certain extent, the reward of oar good-will and of our generous efforts. God allows Himself to be moved by the anxiety of a soul to receive and render fruitful the grace He imparts; for, as He tells us, "to him that hath it shall be given, and he shall abound." (Matthew 13) One grace, heartily cultivated by our correspondence with it, attracts another grace. Thus a mysterious chain of divine gifts invisibly forms itself in our lives and links them at last in heaven. To this chain of divine gifts necessarily corresponds an uninterrupted succession of strong resolutions, which renew the impulse our souls receive conjointly from grace and from our good-will. Thus, says the Angelic Doctor, "perseverance depends on fortitude," which is another word for strong and lasting resolution. Philosophers tell us that we must have a firm and constant will to acquire any virtue; how much more so that which gives duration to them all!

I deceive myself. Properly speaking, we cannot acquire perseverance; for whatever may be the relationship of our correspondence with the renewal of graces, it depends on the good-will of God to give us this final grace. Not being able to make ourselves worthy of it, let us endeavor to obtain it by humble and fervent prayer. Jesus has said: "Ask, and you shall receive." Confiding in this promise, we make our wants known to Thee, O Blessed Jesus! and we beg this final grace of Thee through the intercession of our holy Mother. And, although the number of the persevering may be small indeed, we hope to be of that small number; for Thou wilt hear the prayer so often repeated in the Holy Rosary: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of death."

- text taken from Fruits of the Rosary, by Father Jacques-Marie Louis Monsabre, O.P.