 |
The Annunciation, early 1460s; by Willem Vrelant.The Getty Museum, L.A. |
It is referred to in the French work by Fr François Poiré called The Triple Crown of the Holy Mother of God (1630) which I translated on this blog starting on the 1st of May 2024.
I offer this annotated edition of St Bonaventure’s work as a small gift to our gentle Queen and Mother in gratitude for all her graces and favours, requesting her continued help and protection for the author and his family.
The Latin text and references are based upon Speculum Beatae Mariae Virginis (1904). The English text is based upon that attributed to Sr Mary Emmanuel O.S.B. (published by Herder in 1932). Amazon's various editions ackowledge that this text is in the Public Domain worldwide, attributing it to the text of a Dublin edition (author unknown) published in 1849.
Chapter 5 : Full of Grace
Part 1
The Grace of the Blessed Virgin Mary is True, Immense, Manifold, and Exceedingly Useful
Hail Mary, full of grace. It has been shown above how Mary, because of the pure innocence of her life, is rightly saluted with Ave. We have now to show how by the abundance of her grace she deserves the salutation “full of grace.” The words: Hail, full of grace! are therefore altogether fitting. Consider, dearly beloved, this grace which is the grace of Mary and which is a grace most admirable. Consider Mary’s grace in its truth, its immensity, its multiplicity and its utility. For the grace of Mary is a most true grace, a most immense grace, a most manifold grace, and a most useful grace.
First, let us consider the truth of the grace of Mary. Of this Gabriel saith[1]: “Thou hast found grace with God.” That grace is true which is found with God who is the Truth. He says with God and not with the devil, for the devil offers to the soul the grace of an evil prosperity, so that a man may sin more freely. Holofernes, who signifies the devil, says[2]:
“Drink now, and sit down and be merry: for thou hast found favour before me.”
Gabriel says with God and not with the world, because with the world (that is, with worldly men) false grace and false contrition are frequently found. Therefore it is said in Ecclesiasticus[3]:
“Open not thy heart to every man, lest he repay thee with an evil turn; and speak reproachfully to thee.”
Again, he says with God and not with the flesh; for the grace or favour of the flesh is false, as might be expected with beauty of body and such like. Hence it is written[4]: “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain.” For the Virgin Mary, so full of grace, condemned the false grace of the world, of the flesh and of the devil. Therefore did she find grace with God, true and pure, defiled by no base mixture, so that she could truly say[5]: “My odour is as the purest balm.” The balm of Mary is the unction of grace, with which was most abundantly perfused. Therefore St. Bernard, speaking of the text, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,” says[6]:
“That precious balm flowed upon thee with such fullness that it overflowed abundantly all around thee.”
Balm is usually mixed and thereby adulterated with honey or oil, but the balm of the Holy Spirit in Mary was not mixed, for it was adulterated neither by the honey of carnality and worldly consolation, nor by the oil of praise and flattery; but because the grace of Mary was so true and pure, therefore St. Jerome well says of her[7]:
“Whatever was done in Mary, was all purity and simplicity, all grace and truth, all mercy and justice, which hath looked down from Heaven[8].”
Those who, therefore, desire to find true grace, let them accompany Mary and, with a strong desire and zeal, approach Him in whom it is found, recalling the words of the Apostle when he says[9]:
“Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid.”
And note that whoever wishes to find, must seek, and whoever wishes to seek, must bow down. Let whoever wishes with Mary to find true grace bow down with Mary in true humility. For it is written[10]:
“The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God.”
Mary, because she most truly bowed down in her humility, found grace most true, so that she could truly say[11]: “He hath regarded the humility of his handmaid.”
Secondly, let us consider the immensity of Mary’s grace, because of which she is called “full of grace.” The grace of which she was full was certainly immense. An immense vessel cannot be full, unless that wherewith it is filled is also immense. Mary was an immense vessel, since she could contain Him who is greater than the Heavens. Who is greater than the Heavens? Without doubt He of whom Solomon says[12]:
“If heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built?”
It was not indeed the house which Solomon built, but she of whom that house was the type, which could contain God. Thou, therefore, O most immense Mary, art more capacious than the Heavens, because He whom the Heavens cannot contain was borne in thy womb[13]. Thou art more capacious than the world, because He whom the whole world cannot contain, being made man, enclosed Himself within thy womb[14]. If Mary’s womb then had such immensity, how much more had her mind? And if so immense a capacity was full of grace, it was fitting that that grace which could fill so great a capacity should also be immense. Who can measure the immensity of Mary? Behold what is said in Ecclesiasticus[15]:
“Who hath measured the height of heaven, and the breadth of the earth, and the depth of the abyss?”
Mary is heaven, as much because she abounded in heavenly purity, heavenly charity, and other heavenly virtues, as because she was the most excellent throne of God, as the Prophet saith[16]:
“The Lord hath prepared His throne in heaven.”
Mary was also the earth which brought forth for us that fruit of which the same Prophet saith[17]:
“The earth hath yielded her fruit.”
Mary is also an abyss in goodness and deepest mercy. Therefore she appeals on our behalf for the most deep mercy of her Son, as Deep calleth on deep[18]. Therefore Mary is heaven, Mary is the earth and Mary is the abyss. Who hath ever measured the height of that heaven, the breadth of that earth, the depth of that abyss? Who, I say, hath measured the immensity of Mary except Him alone who hath made her, not only in grace and glory, but in mercy so high, so wide and so deep? Therefore it is especially of her mercy that Bernard saith[19]:
“Who can search into the length and breadth and depth and sublimity of thy mercy, O blessed one? For the length of it will help all who call upon her till the last day; the breadth of it fills the whole world, so that the earth is full of her mercy; and the sublimity of it will bring about the restoration of the heavenly city, and its depth hath obtained redemption for them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death[20].”
Footnotes
[1] Luc. i. 30.
[2] Jud. xii. 17.
[3] Ecclesiasticus viii. 22.
[4] Prov. xxxi. 31.
[5] Ecclesiasticus xxi. 21.
[6] Serm. in Nativ. B. M. V. n. 5.
[7] Epist. saepe cit. n. 9.
[8] Psalm. lxxxiv.12.
[9] Hebr. iv. 16.
[10] Ecclesiasticus iii. 20.
[11] Luc. i. 48.
[12] 3 Kings viii. 27..
[13] Vide Breviar., respons. ad 1. lect. de Comm. B.M.V. See too Little Office of the B.V.M., Matins. First Lesson, R.
[14] Cfr. Breviar., festum Matern. B. M. V, respons. ad lect. 2. See hymn Virgo Dei Genitrix.
[15] Ecclesiasticus i. 2.
[16] Psalm. cii. 19.
[17] Psalm. lxvi. 7.
[18] Psalm. xli. 8.
[19] Serm. 4. de Assumt. B. M. V. n. 8.
[20] Luc. i. 79.
End of Chapter 4
+ + +
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. 30-31.30-31.
No comments:
Post a Comment