Chapter 11 : Imitation – tenth 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).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac (Poggi, 2020) |
§ 10. On her perfect resignation and how it should be imitated by everyone
6 Humble resignation : yes, it must be like this, for who would ever question God as to why He disposes of things in such and such a manner? Is He not the potter who holds us in His hands like a piece of clay ? And what foolhardiness would it be to ask why He has made us great or small? Is He not the helmsman who steers the barque of our existence? And what presumption would it be to want to have control over the course He steers, or to inquire why He takes this route and not another? Is He not the Master of our actions and of all that we have and all that we are? What is this appearance of wanting to resist His plans? Is He not the sovereign physician of our souls? And do we seriously think that we know better than He does about what is needed for our healing? Is He not our Father, our King and our Sovereign? Shall we be so overweening as to want to interfere with the way we are governed and be admitted into His inner cabinet? Is He not managing us with infinite wisdom, goodness and prudence? How then should we behave towards His arrangements for us other than by adoring them and receiving them with complete trust? Have you never seen cases of students who had such respect for the opinions of their master that they treated them like decrees or oracles and wanted no other authority for what was being taught them except the fact that their master had spoken thus? Is it not enough for us to welcome the various accidents which befall us safe in the knowledge that God sent them and that He arranged things in this way for His glory and for our benefit? God wills it is are words which on their own are capable of making all Heaven tremble, filling hell with terror and overturning the whole of nature; and yet will they not be enough to make the tiny worms that we are comply with the laws of His Majesty !
7 We need to go beyond this, however, and ensure that our resignation is complete. For what would be the point of dividing our resignation by submitting to one of God’s commands but not to another? Are they not all holy, wise and divine? Why would we therefore make distinctions by resisting some but consenting to others? If it is a property of the sunflower that not only the flower-head but all its constituent parts turn to follow the sun, why would the human heart not follow suit in a perfection which is so natural? Why would a man not align all the plans and movements of his heart with God’s good pleasure? Is it not the thought alone of God’s good pleasure that caused the Saints to make every effort to run after God, just as animals are said to run after the panther[1], drawn by the sweetness of the odour? Is this not what made the saints embrace the Cross, turn away from worldly pleasures, willingly endure suffering and torments, happily accepting death?
The Seraphic St Catherine of Genoa esteemed this principle so highly that it was pointless asking her what she wanted or desired, for the only reply she would give was that what she wanted or desired was what she was and what she was doing at that particular moment. The essence of her spiritual teaching was that the soul, by continually practising good works according to the duties of its state, should not want or desire anything other than what it was and what it was doing in each moment of life.
Footnotes
8 We can go still further by concluding our discussion with the high point of this divine virtue, namely the peace and gentleness that we may enjoy asa consequence. The same St Catherine was wont to call this resignation the Queen of heaven and earth, forasmuch as it was not subject to anything and there was nothing that could cause it pain, sorrow or languor.
She said that if she could put into words what she saw and thought about this wondrous virtue there would be no one, however proud and stubborn he might be, whose heart she would not melt, making him have a greater hatred for his own will than for the devil and hell. She said that this resignation serves as a defensive wall between God and that which is not God; a wall so strong that if all the delights of the flesh and the world were like cannon-fire more powerful and destructive than bolts of lightning from the heavens, they would be unable to dislodge the smallest of its stones. She said that if only one spark of this celestial fire burning within her should fall into hell, it would be sufficient to transform it into Paradise and to convert the demons into Seraphim, annihilating the rebellion they had raised against God, leaving no trace of either devils or hell.Blessed Mary Magdalene de Pazzi could often be seen walking in the cloisters of the Carmelite Convent in Florence with her eyes raised to Heaven, repeating just these words :“God’s will! God’s will!”Whenever she came across another Sister, she would stop her, take her by the hand and, her face inflamed with passion, she would say to her:“Dear Sister, can you not taste the sweet gentleness hidden in these two words: God’s will? My own feeling towards them is such that if I knew it was God’s will for me suffer the pains of hell, then I would instantly cast myself into its flames.”
Let profane minds think what they will about this, but I personally have only one thought : namely, that if we had but sufficient resignation to accept everything coming from the hand of God, just as these beautiful souls did, we would enjoy the same favours and the same feeling. No matter that the hardness of my unfeeling heart might tempt me to feel otherwise, it will never be possible for me not to envy these Benjamins[1] of eternal providence who find peace and repose in God’s embrace, safe on Mercy’s lap and cradled against Love’s bosom where they have access to the sweet nourishment which never ceases to delight and from which they cannot be separated save only through their own volition. May they remain ever attached to the source of all true contentment; may they pass from the joys of this life to those of the next in order to contemplate the good which they possess already without knowing it, and may they be united in Heaven for ever to the divine will from which nothing here below has been able to separate them.
Footnotes
[1] Benjamin : the youngest (and, consequently, favourite) son of a family. See Gen. xliii. 34 & xliv. 20-22.
© Peter Bloor 2026
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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 Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.
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.
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