Saturday, 19 July 2025

Part III : The Crown of Goodness : Chapter 4 : § 1.1-3

Chapter 4 : The Third Star or Splendour of the Crown of Goodness of the MOTHER OF GOD

She is a source of Favour for her children

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

Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac (Poggi, 2020)
Favour is the eldest daughter of Love, or perhaps it is better to say that Favour is nothing other than Love itself, being so strong and fervent; and that it is found in a person endowed with power, such as a King or a Monarch. We have just been discussing the love of the MOTHER OF GOD towards her children and it seems that I should speak about her as a source of Favour before moving on to the other consequences of this same Love, and proceeding to her other great Splendours of Goodness.

§ 1. The Holy Virgin is a source of Favour for her children

 1   Just as God is the source of fair Love, so too He is the source of holy Favour. The great St Denis has written of this in an inspired way in Chapter IV of his work on the Divine Names[1], where he says: 

By reason of His overflowing goodness, God willed to communicate Himself in creatures, creating them, perfecting them and attracting them unto Himself ; all this flows from a divine principle which is the extreme goodness of His love, reaching out from the sovereign good and coming back to the same.  

He goes on to add that:
 
The property of this Love is to produce ecstasy[2] and to transport, so to speak, the lover outside of himself so as to transform him into the thing loved.  

The great Apostle of France says of this ecstasy that : 

it has its origin in love, not only the love felt by creatures whom God causes to come out of themselves so that He may unite them to their Creator (as to their origin and their unique source of happiness), but also the love of God when, through a wondrous condescension and  an intense communication of His goodness, He unites Himself in such a way to His creatures that He keeps back nothing for Himself, sharing all with them. 

This Ecstasy seems so close in meaning to what we commonly call Favour that, if it is not actually Favour itself, then I cannot think how else we can explain the word. If we are to judge things by their effects, who would not agree that an effect of this ecstasy is revealed in the way God chose man, the lowest of the rational creatures, to be raised higher than the Angels and to be seated at His own right hand, granting him a favour which was capable of causing envy in heaven?  Who will not agree that another effect of the same ecstasy was that, out of all the peoples of the earth (who were all floundering in a state of ignorance and error), He should have chosen and favoured the Hebrew people alone, giving them knowledge of Himself, His law, His worship and His altars? Here are the words of Moses[3], his Lawgiver : Behold heaven is the Lord’s thy God, and the heaven of heaven, the earth and all things that are therein. And yet the Lord hath been closely joined to thy fathers, and loved them and chose their seed after them, that is to say, you, out of all nations, as this day it is proved.  Who will not agree that a third effect of this ecstasy was the most particular choice he made of certain persons in the generality of this people, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses , as well as many others mentioned in Scripture?

Footnotes
[1] On the Divine Names, Chapter IV. Attributed by some to Dionysius (Denis) the Areopagite and by others to Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite.
[2] ecstasy : from ἔκστασις : being taken or placed outside of oneself;  in late Greek the etymological meaning received another application, viz., ‘withdrawal of the soul from the body’(OED).
[3] Deut. x. 14-15.

 2   If we now turn our gaze towards the Son of God made man, was it not an effect of this ecstasy that, out of the great number of Disciples that He had, He should have called twelve Apostles to be His companions and those with whom He would have more familiar dealings, so that He might communicate to them all that He had learned from His Father[1], and give them with good reason the pleasing name of Friends? Was it not an effect of this ecstasy that out of this small number He chose to honour three with His most special favour and, moreover, that amongst these three there was one who would be the Beloved disciple who rested his head upon His bosom, and who received as his inheritance the dearest thing He possessed, namely the most sacred Virgin, His Mother? If all these signs of extraordinary goodwill are not so many signs of Favour; if the affection from which they proceed is not itself Favour, and if those who receive these Favours should not be called Favourites, for my part I cannot imagine what other use there could be for this this name which the world esteems so highly. If, on the contrary, we can agree that Favour and what the inspired St Dennis calls Love’s ecstasy are one and the same thing, then we are in consequence forced to accept that the Love which is found in God is the most excellent idea of Favour that we could possibly have. From this it follows that the more powerfully He imprints the image of His greatness and His sublime perfections in someone, the greater the recipient’s inclination will be to communicate himself by means of Favour. From this it follows, as I shall be explaining shortly, that Kings and Sovereigns (who are like so many moving statues animated by the Divinity), have hearts which are for the most part more susceptible to this love than others, in proportion to the means they have of showing it.

Footnotes
[1] John xiii.

 3   Taking into account what we have just been considering, I am no longer surprised either that the Holy Virgin should have been the Favourite par excellence of the most august Trinity, or that she herself should have been given the power to dispense Favour and make people feel its effects. Amongst all simple creatures, she approaches closer to God than any other. It must accordingly follow that, after the Favourites of His divine Majesty, those of the Virgin occupy the first rank. Such a conclusion will not appear strange to anyone who realises that this must follow from her role and status as MOTHER OF GOD and Queen of the universe. It follows no less from the pious thoughts and authority of several Doctors of the Church who believe that the grace which the Angelic Ambassador mentioned in his message to her was nothing other than Favour. Origen reserved judgement on this question[1], saying that he did not recall that the Greek word here used was found in any other part of Sacred Scripture[2]. It is nevertheless the case that St Basil of Seleucia[3], St Peter Chrysologus[4] and Saint Andrew of Candia[5] gave to this word the meaning that I have and are of the opinion that God, who was Himself the author of this message, wanted to make known to the Virgin that she had received His Majesty’s Favour over all the creatures on earth, and was being given the power to share with her children this same Favour. 

Footnotes
[1] Homil. 6 in Lucam.
[2] The Greek word used in Luke i. 28 is κεχαριτωμένη, which in some Bibles is translated as (highly) favoured. Whilst the exact word is not found elsewhere, commentators mention two other uses of a word with the similar components: 1) κεχαριτωμένῳ, in Sirach xviii. 17. ; and 2) ἐχαρίτωσεν, in Eph. i. 6.
[3] Orat. in Annuntiat.
[4] Serm. 142.
[5] John xiii
.👑   👑   👑


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.



© Peter Bloor 2025 

No comments:

Post a Comment