The glory of the blessed virgin Mary in heaven - 10

Let us consider how exalted was the throne to which our Lady was raised in Heaven. "If the mind of man," says St. Bernard, "can never comprehend the immense glory prepared by God in Heaven for those who love Him, as St. Paul assures us, who then can ever comprehend the glory God prepared for His beloved Mother!"

I. Let us consider how exalted was the throne to which our Lady was raised in Heaven.

"If the mind of man," says St. Bernard, "can never comprehend the immense glory prepared in Heaven by God for those who on earth have loved Him, as the Apostle tells us, who can ever comprehend the glory God prepared for His beloved Mother, who, more than all men, loved Him on earth; nay, even from the very first moment of her creation, loved Him more than all men and Angels united? Rightly, then, does the Church sing that Mary, having loved God more than all the Angels, "the Mother of God has been exalted above them all in the heavenly kingdom." Exaltata est sancta Dei Genitrix super choros Angelorum ad coelestia regna. Yes, she was exalted, says the abbot Guerric, above the Angels; so that she sees none above her but her Son, Who is the only-begotten of the Father.

Hence it is that the learned Gerson asserts that, as all the orders of Angels and Saints are divided into three Hierarchies, so does Mary of herself constitute a Hierarchy apart, the sublimest of all, and next to that of God. And, says St. Antoninus, as the mistress is, without comparison, above her servants, so is "Mary, who is the sovereign Lady of the Angels, exalted incomparably above the angelic hierarchies." To understand this, we need only know what David said: The Queen stood on thy right hand (Ps. xliv. 10). And as an ancient author says, these words are explained as meaning that "Mary is placed at the right hand of God."

II. It is certain, as St. Ildephonsus says, that Mary's good works incomparably surpassed in merit those of all the Saints, and therefore her reward must have surpassed theirs in the same proportion; for "as that which she bore was incomprehensible, so is the reward which she merited and received incomprehensibly greater than that of all the Saints." And since it is certain that God rewards according to merit, as the Apostle writes, who will render to every man according to his works (Rom. ii. 6), it is also certain, as St. Thomas teaches, that the Blessed Virgin, "who was equal to and even superior in merit to all men and Angels, was exalted above all the celestial orders." "In fine," adds St. Bernard, "let us measure the singular grace that she acquired on earth, and then we may measure the singular glory which she obtained in Heaven"; for, "according to the measure of her grace on earth is the measure of her glory in the kingdom of the Blessed."