Vita, dulcedo - 06

XXII.-MARY IS OUR LIFE, BECAUSE SHE OBTAINS FOR US PERSEVERANCE.

In the following words of the Book of Proverbs, which are applied to her by the Church, Mary says: Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors-(Prov. viii. 34)-as if she would say: Blessed is he that hears my voice and is constantly attentive to apply at the door of my mercy, and seeks light and help from me. For clients who do this Mary does her part, and obtains them the light and strength they require to abandon sin and walk in the paths of virtue. For this reason Innocent III beautifully calls her “the moon at night, the dawn at break of day, and the sun at mid-day.” She is a moon to enlighten those who blindly wander in the night of sin, and makes them see and understand the miserable state of damnation in which they are; she is the dawn, that is the forerunner of the sun, to those whom she has already enlightened, and makes them abandon sin and return to God, the true Sun of Justice; finally, she is a, sun to those who are in a state of grace, and prevents them from again falling into the abyss of sin.

Learned writers apply the following words of Ecclesiasticus to Mary: Her bands are a healthful binding-(Ecclus. vi. 31). “Why bands?” asks: St. Laurence Justinian, “except it be that she binds her servants and thus prevents them from straying into the paths of vice.” And truly this is the reason for which Mary binds her servants. St. Bonaventure also, in his commentary on the words of Ecclesiasticus frequently used in the Office of Mary, My abode is in the full assembly of saints-(Ecclus. xxiv. 16), says that Mary not only has her abode in the full assembly of Saints, but also preserves them from falling, keeps a constant watch over their virtue that it may not fail, and restrains the evil spirits from injuring them. Not only has she her abode in the full assembly of Saints, but she keeps the Saints, there by preserving their merits that they may not lose them, by restraining the devils from injuring them, and by withholding the arm of her Son from striking sinners. In the Book of Proverbs we are told that all Mary’s clients are clothed with double garments. For all her domestics are clothed with double garments-(Prov. xxxi. 21). Cornelius a Lapide explains what this double clothing is. He says that it “consists in her adorning her faithful servants with the virtues of her Son and with her own”; and thus clothed they persevere in virtue.

Therefore St. Philip Neri, in his exhortations to penitents, used always to say: “My children, if you desire perseverance be devout to our Blessed Lady.” St. John Berchmans, of the Society of Jesus, used also to say: “Whoever loves Mary will have perseverance.” Truly beautiful is the reflection of the Abbot Rupert on this subject in his commentary on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. He says that, “if this dissolute youth had had a mother living he would never have abandoned the paternal roof, or at least would have returned much sooner than he did”; meaning thereby that a son of Mary either never abandons God, or, if he has this misfortune, by her help he soon returns.

Oh, did all men but love this most benign and loving Lady, had they but recourse to her always and without delay in their temptations, who would fall? Who would ever be lost? He falls and is lost who has not recourse to Mary. St. Laurence Justinian applies to Mary the words of Ecclesiasticus: I have walked in the waves of the sea-(Ecclus. xxiv. 8), and makes her say: “I walk with my servants in the midst of the tempests to which they are constantly exposed, to assist and preserve them from falling into sin.”