HOW SWEET THE LOVE OF MARY IS

"HOW SWEET THE LOVE OF MARY IS - Hear Saint Bernard, who exclaims, "O Great, O Merciful, O Most Amiable Mary, thou canst not be named without enkindling love; the thought of thee consoles the affections of those who love thee: Thou never returnest to our memory without that sweetness that is natural to thee." (S. Bernardus apud Liguori. Glor. Mar.). Listen to Saint Anthony of Padua, who says, "She is joy to the heart, honey to the mouth, and sweet melody to the ear." (Anton. Pav. apud Bonav. Spec. c. viii). Blessed Henry Suso cries out, "O Mary, what must thou thyself be, since thy name alone is so sweet!"

       "But, above all, give ear to Saint Bonaventure, whose enamored heart, at every moment transported with love, breaks forth in a thousand ways: "How great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lady, which thou hast prepared for them that love thee and hope in thee!" (S. Bonav. Stim. Amor. p. 3. c. xvi). "How amiable are thy words to them that love thee, how sweet are the drops of thy graces!" (Idem in Psal. Domine in virtute). "Thy spirit is sweeter than honey, and thy inheritance is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb." (St. Bona. in Ps. Verba mea). "Her memory is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, and her love is sweeter than all spices." (Id. in Ps Notus in Judaea). "She has taken from my heart all sadness and grief, and has inundated it with her sweetness." (Id. in Ps. Voce mea). "O My Sweet Lady, the mere thought of whom sweetens every affection, whose beauty rejoices the eye of my mind! O Lady, who ravishest hearts by thy sweetness, hast thou not stolen my heart? Where, I pray thee, hast thou placed it? Tell me, that I may be able to find it. Hast thou placed it in thy bosom? Perhaps thou hast placed it there that thou mightest warm and inflame it. O Ravisher of Hearts, when wilt thou restore me my heart? Wherefore dost thou steal the hearts of the simple? Why dost thou do violence to thy friends?" (Id. in Stim. Amor. p. 5. c. xix).

       "Oh, he indeed had felt how sweet is the love of Mary; but you shall also experience this, and so shall I, if we but make a trial, however slight it may be.

       "God, the provident Author of Nature, most attentive to whatever conduces to our good, has given all things a special natural inclination to all that is necessary and proper for them, and therefore has placed a singular pleasure and delight in the actions necessary for the sustenance of the individual, or the conservation of the species. In the same manner has He acted in the order of grace, which is much more necessary for us. He knows what great good and advantage the love of Mary, His Most Holy Mother, is to us, and has therefore instilled into us, even from our most tender years, a particular confidence, tenderness, and inclination towards her, and has infused into her devotion, service, and love, I know not what sweetness and delight, which ravishes us towards her, and which goes on, ever increasing more and more, as our confidence and love towards her increase. I shall bring no other proof of this than yourself and your own experience, and I am sure that, if you do not wish falsely to deceive yourself, you will frankly confess that you have felt in yourself, even from the cradle, if I may say so, a special tenderness towards this Amiable Lady, and so great sweetness of affection and piety in her service, that it dilates your heart, and fills you with consolation, much more than all the delights and pleasures you have ever felt on this earth.

       "Nor is this special providence of grace without a reason, since, as I have before said, the service and love of Mary are of much more importance to the life of the soul, than any external action to the preservation of the life of the body; and therefore God has willed that the interior delight of her devotion should be much greater than any pleasure of the senses. Or, rather, Mary, according to Richard of Saint Victor, makes her servants feel all sweetness and delight, even sensibly. "In Mary," he says, "each sense finds its own pleasure, its own delight." It is her thought and her care to render happy and contented those who love her, and to compensate them a hundred and a thousandfold for the pleasures of which they deprive themselves for love of her."

Extracts taken from the book "The Love of Mary", Chapter "Fourth Day", by Roberto D., Hermit.

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