22 December 2010: Novena for Christmas -- Day 7

The humility of the Blessed Virgin

“... My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour; for he has looked with favor on his lowly handmaid. Yes, from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name, and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.

"He has shown the power of his arm, routed the proud of heart, pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. The hungry he filled with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, mindful of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” (cf Lk 1:46-55) “Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then returned home.” (cf Lk 1:56)

In the ‘Magnificat’ is to be found the deepest meaning of true humility. “Mary is not seen amidst the palms of Jerusalem, nor at the hour of the great miracles (except the first one at Cana). But she doesn’t flee from the degradation of Golgotha: there she stands by the Cross of Jesus, His Mother.” (cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 507)

The virtue of humility is truth (St Theresa of Avila, “Sixth Mansion”, 106), of what we are and are worth before God and our fellow men. It is also an emptying of ourselves to allow God’s grace to work in us. “The rejection of appearances and of superficiality; expression of the depth of the human spirit; a condition for its greatness.” (John Paul II, “Angelus”, 4 March 1979)

Humility should never be confused with timidity, faint-heartedness or mediocrity. It is not opposed to awareness of our talents, nor to their full use with rectitude of intention. Humility broadens one’s outlook and recognises that all the good in us, of nature or of grace, belongs to God alone “for of his fulness we have all received” (1 Cor 1:4).

God is all that is great in us; of ourselves we are defective, weak. Before God we are as “debtors who do not know how to discharge our debts” (cf Mt 18:23-5).

“Thus we go to Mary as the Mediatrix of all graces, to the Mother of mercy and tenderness to whom no one has ever had recourse in vain: abandon yourself full of confidence in her maternal womb; ask her to obtain for you this virtue which she prized so dearly.

"Don’t worry about not being heard. Mary will ask it for you from that God who exalts the humble and crushes the proud, and, since Mary is all-powerful with her Son, you will most certainly be heard.” (cf J Pecci [Leo XIII], “Practice of humility”, 56)

Humility is at the root of all the virtues. Without humility everything else is “like a huge heap of hay which the first gust of wind scatters far and wide. The devil ignores devotions not founded on humility. He can get rid of them anytime.” (St Jean Vianney, [The Curé d’Ars], “Sermon on humility”) A humble person easily makes friends, regardless of status or age-groups.

Humility makes charity consistent: “the dwelling place of charity is humility”. (St Augustine, “On Virginity”, 51) Forgeting about self leads to interest in other people and concern for them. Many sins against charity result from faults of vanity, pride, selfishness; the desire to stand out. Humility and charity “are the mother virtues; the others follow as chickens do the mother hen.” (St Francis de Sales, “Letters”)

Humility disposes us to patience with our defects and those of others. We will learn from Jesus and Mary on how to get along with, and to understand, everyone -- defects and all. If we try to see others as Our Lord does, it will be easy to accept them as he does. Let us ask our holy Mother to obtain for us the virtue of humility which we badly need.

“No creature ever surrendered herself to the plans of God more humbly ... The humility of the handmaid of the Lord is the reason we invoke her as cause of our joy ... Mary becomes the Mother of the Divine Word, and is filled with joy. May the joy of our good Mother, spread to all of us, so that we may continually greet her, our Holy Mother Mary, and become more like Christ, her son.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Friends of God”, 109)

Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 1:199-204

The Most Charitable Heart of Mary

‘Love’ is probably the most abused word in the English language. It is correct to express our love for God and our souls, people and God’s creation, what is holy, good and beautiful. But it is wrong to say that we love animals, money; that we love to ‘eat, drink and be merry’. We only ‘like’ all these things.

‘Charity’ is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. The most noble and meritorious virtue, it is a gift infused in us by God at Baptism together with faith and hope.

Our love of God and neighbor indicates the object of charity: God and His infinite perfections and our neighbor, a creature of God like us, whom He created in His image. St Augustine says, “Charity has two arms: with one it embraces God, with the other, our neighbor”.

The Blessed Virgin Mary loves and enjoys God. She loves and wants to help us children of God, all that is holy, good and beautiful. Mary’s charity was the greatest whether for God or to her neighbor. Her deep love of God surpassed that of the greatest Saints at the end of their lives. St Bernardine adds, it excelled that of all the Angels.

Mary’s love was always constant. She did not love God like other Saints with frequent acts of charity. Mary loved God with one continuing act of charity.

Ref: cf Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, p33

Victory

608 “Mary’s humble song of joy, the ‘Magnificat’, recalls to our minds the infinite generosity of the Lord towards those who become like children, towards those who abase themselves and are sincerely aware they are nothing.”

615 “I have come to see that every ‘Hail, Mary’, every greeting to Our Lady, is a new beat of a heart in love.”

621 “The ‘Holy Rosary’: the joys, sorrows, and glories of the life of Our Lady weave a crown of praises, repeated ceaselessly by the Angels and the Saints in heaven -- and by those who love our Mother here on earth.

“Practise this holy devotion every day, and spread it.”

Ref: St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”

Our Lady of Chartres in Beauce. This church, built in the time of the apostles, after being several times demolished, was rebuilt in its present form by St Fulbert, fifty-fifth bishop of Chartres. — Sebastien Rouillard, Parthen., c. 5. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com); (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm).

‘Notre Dame de Chartres’, Mother of Youth. Beauce, France. 1935. [See Jul 13; Aug 6, 17; Oct 17; Dec 31]. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html).