Chapter 7 : The Sixth Star or Splendour in the Crown of Excellence of 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).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020) |
That Mary is peerless in her graces and merits
§ 4. On the greatness of Mary’s merits
Two kinds of merit
2 In the second place, we must accept that for every merit required by justice there are two conditions to be met. The first is that the action must share a certain sort of equivalence to the reward granted; failing this, God’s response in consideration of the service rendered would be more akin to courtesy and propriety than something required in justice. The second condition is that God needs to accept the good deed performed as a meritorious action and to promise a reward in consideration. As our sovereign Lord is completely independent of us and our actions, He cannot be under any obligation except one which He places on Himself. This means that through His exceptional and limitless goodness He consents to this obligation, voluntarily granting a reward for those of our little works (performed with His grace and not otherwise) which He deems to be meritorious. In effect, the Lord in His greatness comes down to the level of binding Himself under a contract with us, with His royal word serving as proof of authenticity and His truth as an irreproachable witness. Under this contract, God gives His promise (which alone can bind Him) in return for the performance of a significant action on our part. From this, we make so bold as to say that He is under an obligation and owes something to us, even though this is to speak in terms humans employ with each other.
Consider, for example, a case where these contractual formalities have been set up and a party has given his word. Once the other party has discharged his part as agreed by both in the contract, we say that the first party is under an obligation to reciprocate by doing or giving what he promised; should he refuse to do so, he may be taken to court for justice to be done, for failing to deliver what he owes in justice, being in breach of what justice requires. In the same way, God wants us to perform good works with the aid of His grace; He promises us a reward each and every time we present our good works to Him. On the basis of this, we say that He owes in justice what He promised and what we have merited ; but we should remember that if this promise is not fulfilled, we for our part have no right to seek justice in court.
3 In the third place, we should note[1] that the equivalence between an action and its reward is not such that it comes to an end even if reduced by only a little, as is the case with two quantities where one does not exceed the other by a single point. Depending on the circumstances which accompany the action, it is sufficient morally speaking if the proportion between the action and the reward is such that it may truly be said the action is worthy of such a price. We might say, for example, that the gentleman who in the Ring Race[2] wins some rich diamond merits it in justice even though he won it with very little effort and work. If this were otherwise, we should have to say that through our good works we would not merit glory and the possession of God which Sacred Scripture[3] and the Holy Fathers[4] proclaim as infinitely surpassing all the meritorious actions of the just.
Footnotes
[1] D. Th., I-II, q. 114, art. 3 ; Bellarm., lib. V de Justificat., c. 14.
[2] la course de la bague : An annual horse race in Semur-en-Auxois dating from the 17th century. The prize is a gold ring.
[3] II Cor. 4.
[4] S. Athanas. in vita S. Antonii.
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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.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
© Peter Bloor 2024
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