Part IV : How to give thanks to the Mother of God : Chapter 4 : § 5.1-3

Chapter 4 : Love – a third feature of the gratitude we owe the Mother of God

Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré’s Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac (Poggi, 2020)

§ 5. The fifth sign of love: Having a tender and fervent love for her dear Son

 1   Consider all the flowers of Springtime, all the harvests gathered in Summer’s heat, all the fruits collected in the cool of Autumn and all the beautiful frosts in Winter : even when taken together, these cannot compare with the motives the adorable Jesus gives our hearts for loving Him. His excellence deserves the loving response of our hearts, His gracious descent to the level of His creatures gains their attention, the help He provides wins them over, His gentleness enraptures them, His love keeps them safe and, after all this, respect for the Mother of love causes them to take wings and soar to meet Him whom her soul cherishes. 

 2   His excellence deserves this since, consider what is Jesus other than the honour of earth and of heaven, the glory of Paradise, the cause of rejoicing for the pure Spirits, the Head of the Church, the first-born of the Elect, the terror of Demons and the great Conqueror of the universe? What else is He than the King of Majesty, the Judge of the living and the dead, the Sovereign Pontiff, the unique Mediator between God and men, the Lord whose name is Admirable, the Prince of Peace, the Angel of Great Counsel[1] and the Father of the world to come? The God-man awaited by the ages, whom the prophets foretold, whom the Angels announced, whom men received, whom the demons feared, whom all creatures have blessed? A God so united to man that He lost nothing of what He was; a man so united to God as to be elevated in a way beyond the power of words to describe. A God brought down into the midst of earthly things but without dishonour; a man raised up unto the throne of God but without prejudice to his dependence. A God humanized, without admixture of substance; a man divinized without confusion of nature. In short, a God-man of whom the nations are His inheritance, whose domain includes all the ends of the earth; and whose appanage includes all the perfections of nature, grace and glory. The holy Intelligences might put this in a better way but they would not say anything more excellent.    

Footnotes

[1]  Isaiah ix. 6. Septuagint. 

 3   If on account of His excellence Jesus merits all the love of our hearts, what will be the effect of the wonderful condescension that He showed towards us by uniting Himself to our human nature? 

It was then, says the pious St Bernard[1], that the precious unction of His divinity was poured liberally into the womb of the glorious Virgin, from whence its fragrance spread to the four corners of the earth, drawing the hearts of men to follow Him and to love Him.

As for the Blessed Spirits, writes the same Saint[2], they experience sufficient joy on high from the pleasing odour of this heavenly perfume even when enclosed in the bosom of the Eternal Father. 

Even before it was spread on earth, the Angels had penetrated into the bottomless depths of God’s incomprehensible judgments, being frequently employed in their implementation. The Archangels knew the secrets of uncreated Wisdom, of which they were the interpreters. The Virtues were sufficiently assured of the power of His Majesty concerning the alteration and overturning of the order of created nature, since He so frequently made use of them in this connection. The Powers provided peremptory proof of the Creator’s omnipotence. The Principalities had unquestionable evidence of His sovereignty over the Empires and the Nations of the earth. The Dominations had perceived and brought to fruition His caring and loving Providence in a thousand ways. The Thrones were in a position to judge the infinite Greatness of Him who was enthroned over them. The Cherubim were so perspicacious that they could penetrate the treasures of knowledge and truth hidden in the Word of the Eternal Father. The Seraphim understood that if they were on fire with love, this was only as a result of the fiery rays of His infinite charity. In short, all these glorious Spirits had powerful reasons for plunging themselves into love of the divine Word whom they contemplated face to face, without any veiling. Men, however, were not so spiritual, and they needed a sign or feature more tailored to their human nature before they could feel invited to offer Him their love. This was the miracle which God made known upon the earth when He gave us Jesus, the lover and the love of our hearts, more captivating than anything imaginable. After such an extreme act of condescension and such a close friendship as the one by which He willed to bind Himself to us, then he who does not love the Lord Jesus deserves to be struck by all the anathemas in the world and all the lightning bolts of Heaven, according to the words of St Paul[3].   

Footnotes

[1] Serm. 15 in Cant.

[2] Serm. 19.

[3] If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha. 1 Cor. xvi. 22.

© Peter Bloor 2025 

👑   👑   👑

The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen. 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting. Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv. 30-31.