Nothing is
easier to man than love, because the heart has neither enjoyment nor
life without it; this we have already seen and proved, and everyone
is a witness of this to himself. Moreover, it is the same thing to
see, to contemplate a good and amiable object, and to love it,
because we feel ourselves carried away, and borne almost towards it.
Now, if Mary be that object so amiable, that a more amiable may
not be found among creatures, what obstacle or impediment shall
delay, hold back, and detain our heart from running and flying to
her? Even a little knowledge of her, such as may be obtained by
reading, by hearing, and by meditating on her incomparable
perfections, her benefits and her love, suffices to set us on fire,
and make us melt towards her.
Even when
she was in this world, in a most advanced age, the people crowded to
see her. "Great is the concourse of people desiring to see
and hear the Queen of Heaven" (S. Ign. apud Joann,
Viguer, 75, 4), wrote the blessed martyr Ignatius to the
Evangelist Saint John; and Saint Denis the Areopagite considered
himself most happy to be presented to her by the same holy
Evangelist. [Extract from chapter 6: Now, indeed, I no longer
wonder that Saint Denis the Areopagite, at the first sight of this
Great Lady, although still clothed with mortal flesh, would have
fallen at her feet to adore her as God, had he not been withheld by
faith, as he himself testifies. (Nieremb. Trop. Mar., l. 5, c.
2. Boz., l. 9, c. 9. Locr., l. 3, c. 1. Revil. in Paternica apud.
Sogneri. Devot. Mariae, p. 1, c. 4). The Apostles and the first
Christians were right to erect magnificent temples to her while still
living, as did Saint James in Caesaraugusta, Saint John in Asia,
Saint Peter in Rome, the disciples of the Prophet Elias upon Mount
Carmel, Saint Martha in Marseilles, the holy Magi in Cranagor, and
Queen Candace in Ethiopia.] What attractions, then, must she now
possess from that glory, from which the great endowments of her most
beautiful body, and of her most innocent soul, have received the last
consummation of perfection? Let those fortunate souls instruct
you, whose hearts, after contemplating for a short time this Most
Luminous Sun, were so inflamed and consumed by its celestial fire,
that to give vent to their seraphic ardor, one calls her "Captivator
of Hearts," as Saint Bernard; another, like Saint
Bonaventure, "My Heart, My Soul," and Saint Ephraim
of Syria, "The Strong and Sweet Hope of My Soul."
Saint Anselm, beside himself with love, exclaims: "O Most
Beautiful and Lovely Mary, where dost thou hide thyself from the eyes
of my heart? Wait for a poor, weak soul which follows after thee, and
hide not thyself from a heart which seeks thee, and sees thee but
little."
You cannot
believe that she is deaf to these voices, or that, with haughty
greatness, she sees not, or heeds not the prayers and tears of those
who love her and seek her. She knows all, she sees all, even the
least motions of our soul; and oh! How pleasing and acceptable they
are to her! She knows well how to return our love with equal
love—with equal love? Ay, with a love inestimably greater; with a
love which cannot be surpassed, cannot be equalled. "I know,
My Lady," said Saint Peter Damian to her, "I know
that thou art most kind, and that thou lovest us with an invincible
love." (Serm. de Nativ. B. V.). In a transport of
love, the blessed Alphonsus Rodriguez, of the Society of Jesus, thus
addressed her: "O My Most Amiable Lady, I love thee more than
I love myself; but alas! Thou dost not love me as I love thee."
"Not so, my Alphonsus," she answered; "I
love thee more than thou canst love me; and know," she
continued, "that thy love is as far from mine, as is earth
from Heaven." "Oh, sweet contest of love!"
adds the author who relates it, "in which to be conquered or
to conquer, is equally desirable and glorious; but in which she must
conquer, who is the most powerful in loving, whose love is not only
more tender, but also stronger and more effectual."
(Burghes, in Societ. Mar.).
But she
complains, that she calls on those that are deaf, that her love is
not returned, that it is contemned, that she is rejected for the most
unworthy objects. "Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this!"
she cries out with Jeremiah; "they have forsaken me, the
fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that can hold no water." (Jerem. 2:12, 13).
But yet,
you will say, it is those chosen souls, immaculate and holy, those
chaste and innocent doves, and high-soaring eagles, that have wings
to fly; but can I, a wretch, full of misery and sin, can I hope
that this Sublime Queen will deign, I will not say, to love me, but
even to cast an eye upon me? Yes, Parthenius, she goes about seeking
for lovers; and the further we are from her, the more she approaches
us in seeking us; the more wretched we are, the more she pities us,
and our very miseries force that loving heart to relieve us, and to
love us still more tenderly. She would not be the Queen of Mercy,
if in her kingdom there were no objects of mercy; and to such, more
than to any others, she says: "Come to me, all ye that are
burdened, and I will refresh you." "Come to her,"
says Saint Bonaventure, "ye that labor and are burdened, and
she will refresh your souls. 'Come over to me, all ye that
desire me, and be filled with my fruits.'" (Ecclus. 24:26).
"Approach unto me, all you who desire my love, and I will
not reject you, I will not despise you, but will heap upon you those
goods with which I abound through my greatness and my noble
generation, which made me to be the Mother, Daughter, and Spouse of
God. And happy is the soul that yields himself to such sweet
invitations, and, from an ungrateful enemy, becomes a faithful
friend; from a stranger, becomes a servant; and from an unfaithful
one, becomes a most dear and faithful spouse." (S.
Laurent. Justin, de cast, con. verb. et anim. c. xxi).
"However
great may be a man's sins," said this Most Amiable Lady to
Saint Bridget, "if he return to me with his whole heart, and
with true amendment, I am immediately ready to receive him; neither
do I consider how much he has sinned, but with what intention and
will he returns. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly
the mercy of my Son hath made me merciful; and he is
miserable, who will not, when he can, approach mercy."
(Sta. Brigit. in Revelat. lib. 2. c. 23).
What say
you now, Parthenius? Are you yet convinced that it is very easy to
love Mary, that your love pleases her above all things, that she
desires, ardently desires it, and goes diligently in search of it?
Are you persuaded that she keenly feels, that it pains her not to be
loved, and that she regards not, cares not for the past vileness,
misery, faithlessness, and ingratitude of him who sincerely wishes
and resolves to love her? Yes, certainly you are convinced; you are
persuaded of this. Take courage, then, and strong resolution. Let us
love her who so greatly loves us, so greatly desires our love, our
good. Oh! Ungrateful and foolish that we are; we have perhaps been
lost in the pursuit of one who fled from us, who despised us, and
sometimes even hated us; and shall we not yield ourselves to the love
of her who has so long sought for, and so highly prizes our poor
heart? "O
Great Virgin, singularly chosen by God, and elevated above all in
Heaven, how admirable and how lovely are thy eyes, and their most
pleasing rays! Turn them upon us. Attract and draw us to thee, and
obtain for us amendment of life, increase of grace, and the
possession of eternal glory." (S. Bonavent)
Extracts
taken from the book "The
Love of Mary", Chapter "Third
Day", by Roberto D., Hermit.
https://archive.org/details/TheLoveOfMary
Related articles:
https://against-all-heresies-and-errors.blogspot.com/2017/08/is-it-sinful-to-venerate-the-most-holy-virgin-more-devoutly-than-christ.html
https://against-all-heresies-and-errors.blogspot.com/2017/08/how-sweet-the-love-of-mary-is.html
Please contact me if you want to receive a free 1 page copy (or copies) of this article in leaflet form for your own use and/or for the distribution to others in order to spread the Love of Mary and the knowledge of Her Greatness. Included in the leaflet is Chapter "Third Day"; Chapter "Second Day"; and Chapter "Fourth Day".
Related articles:
https://against-all-heresies-and-errors.blogspot.com/2017/08/is-it-sinful-to-venerate-the-most-holy-virgin-more-devoutly-than-christ.html
https://against-all-heresies-and-errors.blogspot.com/2017/08/how-sweet-the-love-of-mary-is.html
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