Chapter 10 : The Ninth Star or Splendour of 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) |
Mary is the Queen of virtues
§ 3. The Holy Virgin possessed to an exceptional degree all the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, together with the Beatitudes
1 The infinite charity of our heavenly Father was not satisfied with having given us the virtues to steer us towards moral and honourable actions through our own choice, using our own free will helped by His operating grace. He went further and generously gave us the gifts of the Holy Spirit by which we submit ourselves to the inspirations coming to us from the Holy Spirit. Now, just as there are vessels at sea which are not only driven forward by the strokes of their oars but also make use of favourable winds, so too our hearts are driven forward by two forces, being propelled not only by the movement of right reason and by virtuous habits but also and more effectively by the power of the Holy Spirit which fills the sails in our hearts enabling us to make the great voyage to the port of perfection.
This extra help is given us for two main reasons. The first arises from the fact that we encounter a great many difficulties which can prove too much for our virtue alone to overcome. Consider how in the performance of tragedies, for example, the deus ex machina will appear quite out of the blue when there is no other way of resolving the drama’s imbroglio save by an intervention from the gods above. In the same way we can find ourselves in situations where our virtue is wanting in courage or strength and we need extraordinary help to get us out of our difficulties.
The second reason arises from the fact that God who is master of His graces will gaze with beneficence on someone and decide to help him make progress towards a higher degree of holiness. In such a case, He does not hold back the movement of the Holy Spirit and this allows the person to advance at a very different rate than were he relying on the ordinary virtues alone. It is the opinion of several Doctors very well-versed in spiritual direction that the norm for ordinary men is to be ruled by the virtues and by the interior principle of reason with the benefit of prevenient grace. The norm, however, for Saints and those signally devoted to the service of God is to be led by the gifts of the Holy Spirit who, with the help of these gifts, enables them in very little time to perform wonders of virtue.
Concerning this, we should also note that in our souls reason has certain intellectual faculties which help to put us on the path to goodness, these being the virtues. In the same way, it is reasonable that the Holy Spirit should have His own equivalent to these, namely those dispositions that are interior, permanent and habitual, serving as a point of entry for Him so that He is able to move us in an extraordinary manner. These dispositions are none other than the gifts of the same Holy Spirit whose actual motions are in this context called Spirits by the Prophet Isaiah[1], inasmuch as they are like winds that fill our sails and like instruments used by the Holy Spirit to help us in the works we perform through His inspiration. These gifts are seven in number, namely: the gift of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord. The Holy Spirit has to use them to fill our whole soul with all His powers, in the same way as He did when He filled the whole house where the Apostles were sitting. This means that there is no faculty within us not provided with the disposition necessary to receive these movements.
Footnotes
[1] Isai. xi. 2-3.
2 Let us move on from habits to the actions that proceed from them[1], since they are not all cast from the same mould and they do not all have the same value or the same name. If they are ordinary and common as is the case with most who are at the beginning of their progress, being in the midst of sinful inclinations or wanting in fervour, we can give them the general name acts of virtue. There are others who progress beyond this showing joy and contentment ; we see this in those who, having vanquished their vices and bad habits, walk on the path of virtue just as if they were crossing a beautiful meadow. We can call these fruits of the Holy Spirit forasmuch as they attained their maturity and sweetness. They bring the contentment and satisfaction we expect from a tree that we planted and cultivated with care that finally bears fruit pleasing to the eye and to the taste. Note that we do not call them simply fruits but we say they are fruits of the Holy Spirit. This is because He, like a fount of love and sweetness, pours into our souls the joy and satisfaction that is found in performing good works. This helps us to lose our taste for the delights of sensual pleasures and to make us understand through experience that we have a heart capable of savouring sweetness and pleasure in things different from those we have in common with beasts.
Now, although strictly speaking there are as many fruits of the Holy Spirit as there are good works performed with joy and satisfaction, St Paul the Apostle mentions twelve of them[2]: charity, joy, peace, patience, longanimity, goodness, benignity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity; We can suppose these were represented by the fruits on the tree of life[3], each ripening in divers times according to the twelve months of the year. The reason for this is that all the other fruits can be linked to these, or these ones seem sufficient to maintain man in a state of repose, tranquillity and joy, whether He looks towards God, to himself or whether he turns to what is around or beneath him. For when there is something from God and from himself together, charity fixes it and keeps it attached to the sovereign good, whence flow necessarily joy, the second fruit of the Holy Spirit, and peace, which is the third, coming to the help of joy to establish and stabilize it. Patience enables him to withstand calmly and in a recollected way the trials and tribulations of life. Longanimity takes away the languor experienced when people are frustrated in obtaining what they seek. These five fruits help to fortify a person’s sense of tranquillity, confident that it cannot be troubled or altered.
Concerning all around him, meaning his neighbours, the next four gifts cause the soul to open up and to blossom. Goodness takes over the heart and leads it to wish nothing but good things for others and the removal of all sadness and bitterness. Benignity leads him to as generous as he can. Faith or fidelity is ever-present in his speech, giving him an innocence and candour in all his dealings with others.
As for those powers which, as God once said to Cain[4], shall be under him, they will all be contained and controlled by the last three fruits. Modesty impedes all indecency in exterior movements; continency halts interior movements in their beginnings; chastity rejoices in the peace and sweet purity that continence or the particular grace of God have produced.
Through all this it may be seen that the Holy Spirit, by means of these twelve fruits, floods the soul with a peaceful serenity, driving away all the dank shades of fog and cloud that would fill it with their darkness.
Footnotes
[1] S. Th., I-II, q. 59 et 60.
[2] Galat. v. 22-23.
[3] Apoc. xxii. 2.
[4] the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it. Gen. iv. 7.
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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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