THE HUMILITY OF MARY
Humility, says St. Bernard, is the foundation and guardian of virtues
and with reason, for without it no other virtue can exist in a soul.
Should she
possess all virtues, all will depart when humility is gone. But, on the other
hand, as St. Francis of Sales wrote to St. Jane de Chantal, God so loves
humility, that wherever He sees it, He is immediately drawn thither. This
beautiful and so necessary virtue was unknown in the world; but the Son of God
Himself came on earth to teach it by His own example, and willed that, in that
virtue in particular, we should endeavor to imitate Him: Learn of Me, because
I am meek and humble of heart. Mary, being the first and most perfect disciple
of Jesus Christ in the practice of all virtues, was the first also in that of
humility, and by it merited to be exalted above all creatures.
It was revealed to St. Matilda that the first virtue in which the
Blessed Mother particularly exercised herself, from her very childhood, was
that of humility. The first effect of humility of heart is a lowly opinion of
ourselves. Mary had always so humble an opinion of herself, that, as it was
revealed to the same St. Matilda, although she saw herself enriched with
greater graces than all other creatures, she never preferred herself to any
one.
The Abbot Rupert, explaining the passage of the sacred Canticles, Thou
hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, . . . with one hair of thy neck, says, that the humble opinion which Mary had of herself was precisely that hair
of the spouse’s neck with which she wounded the heart of God. Not indeed that
Mary considered herself a sinner; for humility is truth, as St. Teresa remarks; and Mary knew that she had never offended God. Neither was it that she did
not acknowledge that she had received greater graces from God than all other
creatures; for a humble heart always acknowledges the special favors of the
Lord, to humble herself the more; but the Divine Mother, by the greater light
where with she knew the infinite greatness and goodness of God, also knew her
own nothingness, and therefore, more than all others, humbled herself.
As a beggar, when clothed with a rich garment which has been bestowed
upon her, does not pride herself on it in the presence of the giver, but is
rather humbled, being reminded thereby of her own poverty, so also the more
Mary saw herself enriched, the more did she humble herself, remembering that
all was God’s gift. Therefore St. Bernardino says, that after the Son of God,
no creature in the world was so exalted as Mary, because no creature in the
world ever humbled itself so much as she did. Moreover, it is an act of
humility to conceal heavenly gifts.
Mary wished to conceal from St. Joseph the great favor whereby she had
become the Mother of God, although it seemed necessary to make it known to him,
if only to remove from the mind of her poor spouse any suspicions as to her
virtue, which he might have entertained on seeing her pregnant, or, at least,
the perplexity in which it indeed threw him; for St. Joseph, on the one hand
unwilling to doubt Mary’s chastity, and on the other ignorant of the mystery, was minded to put her away privately. This he would have done, had not the
angel revealed to him that his spouse was pregnant by the operation of the Holy
Ghost.
Again, a soul which is truly humble refuses her own praise; and should
praises be bestowed on her, she refers them all to God. Behold, Mary is
disturbed at hearing herself praised by St. Gabriel; and when St. Elizabeth
said, ‘ Blessed art thou among women . . . and whence is this to me, that the
Mother of my Lord should come to me?
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| Magnificat in English at the Church of the Visitation, the place where Mary had recited it during the Visitation |
Blessed art thou that hast believed, Mary referred all to God, and
answered in that humble Canticle, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord,’ as if she
had said, Thou dost praise me, Elizabeth, but I praise the Lord, to whom
alone honor is due. Thou wonderest that I should come to thee, and I wonder at
the Divine goodness, in which alone my spirit exults:
“And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.” Thou praisest me,
because I have believed; I praise my God because He hath been pleased to exalt
my nothingness: “Because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid.” ‘It is
also a part of humility to serve others. Mary did not refuse to go and serve
Elizabeth for three months. Hence St. Bernard says: Elizabeth wondered that
Mary should have come to visit her; but that which is still more admirable is,
that she came not to be ministered to, but to minister. Those who are humble
are retiring, and choose the last places; and therefore Mary, remarks St.
Bernard, when her Son was preaching in a house, as it is related by St.
Matthew, wishing to speak to Him, would not of her own accord enter, but remained outside, and did not avail herself of her maternal authority to interrupt
Him. For the same reason also, when she was with the Apostles awaiting the
coming of the Holy Ghost, she took the lowest place, as St. Luke relates: All these were persevering with one mind in prayer, with the women and Mary the
Mother of Jesus.
Not that St. Luke was ignorant of the Divine Mother’s merits, on account
of which he should have named her in the first place, but because she had taken
the last place amongst the Apostles and women; and therefore he described them
all, as an author remarks, in the order in which they were. Hence St. Bernard
says: ‘Justly has the last become the first, who being the first of all became
the last.’ In fine, those who are humble love to be contemned; therefore we do
not read that Mary showed herself in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when her Son was
received by the people with so much honor; but on the other hand, at the death
of her Son, she did not shrink from appearing on Calvary, through fear of the
dishonor which would accrue to her when it was known that she was the Mother of
Him who was condemned to die an infamous death as a criminal.
The venerable Sister Paula of Foligno was given to understand, in an
ecstasy, how great was the humility of our Blessed Lady; and giving an account
of it to her confessor, she was so filled with astonishment at its greatness,
that she could only exclaim, ‘O, the humility of the Blessed Virgin! O, Father,
the humility of the Blessed Virgin, how great was the humility of the Blessed
Virgin! In the world there is no such thing as humility, not even in its lowest
degree, when you see the humility of Mary.’
EXAMPLE
In one of our missions, after the sermon on Mary, which it is always
customary in our congregation to preach, a very old man came to make his
confession to one of the Fathers. Filled with consolation, he said: Father, our
Blessed Lady has granted me a grace. What grace has she granted you? The
confessor asked. ‘You must know, Father, ho replied, ‘that for thirty five years
I have made sacrilegious confessions; for there is a sin which I was ashamed to
confess; and yet I have passed through many dangers, have many times been at
the point of death; and had I then died, I should certainly have been lost; but
now our Blessed Lady has touched my heart with grace to tell it. This he said
weeping, and shedding so many tears, that he quite excited compassion. The Father,
after hearing his confession, asked him what devotion he had practiced. He
replied, that on Saturdays he had never failed to abstain from milk diet, in
honor of Mary, and that, on this account, the Blessed Virgin had shown him
mercy. At the same time, he gave the Father leave to publish the fact.
PRAYER
O, immaculate and holy Virgin! O, Creature the most humble and the most
“exalted before God! Thou wast so lowly in thine own eyes, but so great in the
eyes of thy Lord, that He exalted thee to such a degree as to choose thee for
His Mother, and then made thee Queen of heaven and earth. I therefore thank
God, who so greatly has exalted thee, and rejoice in seeing thee so closely
united with Him, that more cannot be granted to a pure creature. Before thee,
who art so humble, though endowed with such precious gifts, I am ashamed to
appear — I who am so proud in the midst of so many sins. But, miserable as I
am, I will also salute thee, Hail, Mary, full of grace! Thou art already full
of grace; impart a portion of it to me. Our Lord is with thee; that Lord who
was always with thee from the first moment of thy creation has now united
Himself more closely to thee by becoming thy Son. Blessed art thou amongst
women. O Lady, blessed amongst all women, obtain the Divine blessing for us
also. And blessed is the fruit of thy womb. O blessed plant, which hath given
to the world so noble and holy a Fruit! Holy Mary, Mother of God! O Mary, I
acknowledge that thou art the true Mother of God; and in defense of this truth
I am ready to give my life a thousand times. ‘Pray for us sinners.’ But if thou
art the Mother of God, thou art also the Mother of our salvation, and of us
poor sinners; since God became man to save sinners, and made thee His Mother
that thy prayers might have power to save any sinner. Hasten then, O Mary, and
pray for us, now, and at the hour of our death. Pray always; pray now that we
live in the midst of so many temptations and dangers of losing God; but still
more, pray for us at the hour of our death, when we are on the point of leaving
this world, and being presented before God’s tribunal; that being saved by the
merits of Jesus Christ, and by thy intercession, we may come one day, without
farther danger of being lost, to salute thee and praise thee with thy Son in
heaven for all eternity. Amen.
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