Part II : The Crown of Power : Chapter 2 : § 5.5-6

Chapter 2 : The First Star or Splendour of the Crown of Power 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).

She alone had the power of drawing down to earth the divine Word

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020)

§ 5. The fourth quality of the Holy Virgin which drew down the divine Word: Her obedience and assent to the divine will

 5   We have just seen how eloquently St Bernard addresses Heaven’s beloved daughter who, finally convinced by so many reasons, moved by our wretched condition and confident in the divine will, was no longer able to refuseher consent – on which depended her own happiness, our unique good, and the highest glory of God. 

Pay heed, O Blessed spirits, and let all creatures hold their peace; let there be silence in Heaven, on earth and in hell: for it is the MOTHER OF GOD who now speaks. Behold, she says, the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word[1].

This means, according to Saint Andrew of Crete[2]: I have no more objections to the implementation of His Majesty’s wondrous designs; I am now ready to receive my Lord and my God within my womb, my heart is willing to cooperate in the fulfilment of all that He might wish and my will is prepared to obey Him in all things.

I am merely a blank canvas, says Theophylactus[3]; let the divine artist apply whatever strokes and colours He chooses; I am His work, which He may use in accordance with His good pleasure; it is enough for me if He can draw His glory from me.

What more do you want? asks St Eucher : She heard, she gave her assent and she conceived.

What blessed obedience, cries the incomparable Saint Augustine[4], what matchless grace, what humility in speech, fashioning a body for the Creator who fashioned all things! For with her assent God accomplished at one stroke in her what He had for long promised through His Prophet[5], saying that obedience was more pleasing to Him than sacrifice, and that the knowledge of God was more pleasing than holocausts. Indeed, obedience carried off the prize, before all the victims in the world, and submission before all the sacrifices that had ever been offered to God. This consent was the highpoint of her happiness and the foundation for the glory that she herself had prophesied when she said that from henceforth all generations would call her blessed[6]. 

The pious Lawrence Justinian cannot find the words to describe the peace and joy she feels in her heart and the benefits that her reply brought to the world.

It is indeed remarkable, he says[7], that a single word could fill all Heaven with joy, overwhelm the Angels with happiness, cause the rebirth of hope in a captive world, terrify the Demons, give satisfaction to the heavenly messenger and singular consolation to the Holy Fathers detained in Limbo[8]. It is impossible to describe how earnestly they awaited a favourable reply: on the one hand, they could not abandon hope in their deliverance – but on the other hand the modesty and restraint of the Virgin made them apprehensive. When they finally learned the good news about her assent, as with one voice they offered up endless prayers of thanks to God, saying: Blessed to be the Lord God of Israel; because he hath visited and wrote the redemption of his people[9].

Footnotes

[1] Luke i. 38.

[2] Serm. de Annuntiat.

[3] In Expositione Missus est.

[4] Serm. 18 de Sanctis

[5] Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams.1 Kings (1 Samuel) 22.

[6] Luke i. 48.

[7] Serm. de Annuntiat.

[8] Limbo: the "limbus patrum" - the temporary place or state of the souls of the just who, although purified from sin, were excluded from the beatific vision until Christ's triumphant ascension into Heaven.

[9] Luke i. 68.

 6   We now come to a point at which I might have a serious fear of overstepping the mark and if Saint Bernadine of Sienna were not such a great theologian and saint, I would be hesitant about presenting readers with the conclusion that he proposes. He maintains that:

By the act of faith, obedience and submission that the glorious Virgin practised in her assent, she merited for herself more than everything ever merited by all creatures taken together, meaning all Angels and men in their actions, in their thoughts, in their words and all the sufferings of their lifetime.

I believe we can get used to his idea: 

if we take into account (and here is the argument of this great servant of the Virgin) that her action was so heroic and so noble that by it she merited for herself dominion over the universe, the plenitude of all God’s graces, of all the virtues, of all the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, of the beatitudes, of freely bestowed graces, of virginity and fruitfulness conjoined, and what is still more, the title and the honour of being MOTHER OF GOD[1]. Accordingly, as the prize for what she did is higher and more sublime than the reward given for all the merits of the Saints together, we can truly say by her assent alone the Virgin won more than all the greatest things they ever did.

Most adorable Princess, I honour thee with all my heart and revere thine own as the sanctuary of God and the most noble place in all the world. Blessed be a thousand times this true altar of incense, blazing continually with thy holy desires and fervent prayers which drew our God down from Heaven. Blessed art thou in thy sacred body and thy virginal soul – uniquely beloved of Him who feedeth among the lilies[2]. May all the souls of the elect cause to resound within thine ears the shouts of acclamation and joy with which the chaste Judith was once honoured, so that everyone may know that God hath strengthened thy heart, and thou hast done manfully, because thou hast loved chastity; and therefore thou shalt be blessed forever[3]. Blessed art thou too in thy humility, by which thou hast been most pleasing to the Prince of Heaven. Finally, blessed are thy sacred lips, and the sweet words of consent they spoke for the benefit of all the children of Adam. I offer thee thanks for all the favours that we have obtained through thee, praying that they may truly be prized and cherished – and if not as much as they truly deserve, then at least as much as we are able, and for as long as we gather the fruits therefrom.

Footnotes

[1] Tom. II Concionum, Serm. 51, c. 1.

[2] Cant. ii. 16.

[3] Judith xv. 11.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >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. 

© Peter Bloor 2025