Our Lady
Our Lady St Bernard was among the first to call Mary 'Domina Nostra' Our Lady. She is also the Star of the Sea whose light and protection can save us from shipwreck. She is the Star of Jacob, the Royal
Road by which our Saviour came to us. Let us go to him through her.
But we see her true position in the plan of Salvation, in the mystery of Christ, in a dramatic passage on the Annunciation when
Bernard describes how not only the Angel waits for her reply, but the whole of creation — right back to Adam. The whole world awaits her answer; on it depends the coming of the Saviour for the entire human race.
She is our Mother for she gives us Jesus our Brother. She is the aqueduct who gives us water from the fountain of life springing up in the very heart of the Father. She is the model for monks for she reaches to the Godhead by her burning desire, her pure prayer, her humility and her seeking — the very things they are striving for.
May her fragrance cling to our gifts as they are offered through her hands. In a number of sermons not specifically on Our Lady, he mentions her to illustrate the particular point he is making.
Not for nothing did Dante call him 'Mary's Bernard', and in his great vision of Paradise it is Bernard the contemplative who leads the poet to the side of Mary. She smiles on him, and kneeling there he follows her eyes as she gazes on the glory of the Godhead and sees within it the outline of a Man. She has shown him the blessed
Jit of her womb.
Mary our Advocate You have already realised, I suppose, that the Virgin herself is the royal road by which the Saviour came to us. Therefore, dear Brothers, let us endeavour to ascend by it to Jesus, who by the same way has come down to us. Let us strive, I say, to go by Mary to share his grace who by Mary came to share our misery. Through you O most blessed One, Finder of grace, Mother of life, Mother of salvation, through you let us have access to your Son, so that through you he may receive us, He who was given us through you.
Let your purity excuse before him the foulness of our corruption. Let your humility, so pleasing to God, make amends and obtain pardon for our pride. Let your abounding love cover the multitude of our sins. Let your glorious fecundity supply on our behalf for a fecundity of merit. O you who are Our Lady, our Mediatrix, and our Advocate, reconcile us to your Son. Grant, O most blessed One, that he who by your consent and co-operation, made himself a sharer of our poverty and weakness may by your intercession make us sharers of his own glory and happiness.
The Annunciation Behold, Mary, the Angel now awaits your answer. We also, await from your lips the sentence of mercy and compassion.
For, the price of our salvation is now offered to you: if you will only consent, we shall at once be set at liberty. Adam, now exiled from paradise with all his miserable offspring, implores this favour of you. For this Abraham entreats you, for this David, for this all the other holy fathers, your own ancestors, who are now dwelling in the shadow of death. See the whole world prostrate at your feet, awaits your answer.
For on your word depends the consolation of the desolate, the redemption of the captives, the pardon of the condemned, the salvation of all the children of Adam, of the entire human race.
O Virgin do not delay to answer. Speak the word which all on earth, all in limbo, and even all in paradise are waiting to hear. Christ himself, the King and Lord of all, longs for your answer.
Make haste, to answer the Angel, or rather to answer the Lord through the Angel. Say the word and receive the Word.
Mary's Consent O, Blessed Virgin speak your human word and conceive the Divine Word. Pronounce the transitory word and embrace the everlasting Word.
Why do you hesitate? What do you fear? Believe, consent, and receive into your womb the Word of the Father. Let your humility take courage, let your modesty be confident.
O, happy Virgin, open your heart to faith, open your lips to consent, open your bosom to your Creator.
Behold the Desired of all nations is standing outside and knocking at your door. Oh, if he should pass by while you delay to open. Arise therefore, and make haste to open to him. Arise by faith, make haste by devotion, open by consent.
'And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.'
Star of the Sea Mary means star of the sea, and the name suits the Virgin Mother. Rightly she is likened to a star, for as a star sends forth its ray without loss to itself, so does the Virgin bear her Son without hurt to herself; and as the ray detracts not from the brightness of the star, so likewise Mary's Son takes nothing from his Mother's innocence. She is that noble Star of Jacob, whose Ray gives light to all the world, the Ray whose splendour shines in heaven and penetrates to hell.
She is that star I say, uplifted over the ocean of this world, shining by her merit and shedding light on us by her example. O you who struggle in this stormy sea, do not turn your eyes from this star, if you would escape shipwreck! When the winds of temptation arise and you run on the rocks of tribulation, look at that star, think of Mary, call on her by name. If you follow her, you will not go off course; if you cry to her, you will not give up hope; if you think of her, you will not go astray. So will your own experience teach you how rightly it is said that 'the Virgin's name was Mary'.
The Second Eve See the counsel of God; acknowledge the counsel of his wisdom, the counsel of his love. Planning to irrigate the whole ground with heavenly dew, the Lord first poured down upon the fleece this precious dew. Planning to redeem the human race he placed the whole ransom in the hands of Mary. Why was this? Possibly that Mother Eve might be exonerated by her daughter, and that the complaint of the man against the woman might be silenced for ever. Never again, Adam, will you be able to point your finger, and say to God, "The woman whom you gave me to be my companion gave me of the forbidden fruit.' But rather, in future, say: "The woman whom you gave me fed me with the fruit of heavenly blessings.'
Here indeed we have a counsel full of love. What I have told you is undoubtedly true, yet, unless I am mistaken it is not enough to satisfy you. You have enjoyed the sweetness of the milk, perhaps if we work a little longer we shall succeed in making butter. Let us therefore look more deeply and see with what tender devotion the Lord would have us honour
Mary.
For Our Lady's Birthday Life everlasting! A never failing fountain which irrigates the whole extent of the paradise of God. Now what is this fountain of life if it be not Christ the Lord? This stream from the heavenly source descends to us through an Aqueduct. It does not show all the fulness of the fountain, but it moistens our dry and withered hearts with some few drops of grace, giving more to one, less to another. The Aqueduct is always full, so that all may receive of its fulness.
You must have already guessed, dear brethren, to whom I allude under the image of an Aqueduct, which receiving the fulness of the Fountain from the Father's heart has passed it on to us, at least in so far as we could contain it. You know it was she to whom it was said, 'Hail full of grace'.
But how did this Conduit of ours, attain to the loftiness of the Fountain? How indeed, except by the ardour of her desires, by the fervour of her devotion, by the purity of her prayer? How did she reach up even to the inaccessible majesty but by knocking, by asking, by seeking? And she found what she was seeking since it' was said to her, "You have found grace with God.'
Mary gives us Jesus our Brother Exercising a motherly care for us her poor children, in all things and through all things, the Virgin Mother calms our trembling fear, enlivens our faith, supports our hope, drives away our distrust, strengthens our timidity.
You were afraid, Adam, to approach the Father; you were terrified at the mere sound of his voice, and tried to hide among the trees.
Therefore he gave you Jesus as your Mediator. What shall such a Son not be able to obtain for you from such a fatherly Father? Without doubt he will be heard for his reverence for the Father loves the Son.
Surely you are not afraid to approach Jesus also? He is your Brother and your flesh, tempted in all things as you are, yet without sin, so that he might have compassion. And this
Brother has been given to us by Mary.
And so, whatsoever you have a mind to offer to the Lord, be sure to entrust it to Mary, so that your gift shall return to the Giver of all grace through the same channel by which you obtained it.
Mary, the Garden The Lord has placed in Mary the fulness of all good. So that if there is anything of hope in us, if anything of grace, if anything of salvation, we may feel assured it has overflowed into us from her. Truly may we call her a garden of delights, which the divine 'South Wind' not merely comes and blows upon, but comes down into and blows through, causing the fragrance of its spices, that is, the precious gifts of heavenly grace to flow out and be spread around on every side.
Take away from the sky the sun which enlightens the world and what becomes of the day? Take away Mary, this Star of life's vast and spacious sea, and what is left to us but a cloud of swirling gloom and a thick and dense darkness? Therefore, my Brothers, with every fibre of our being, every feeling of our hearts, with all the affections of our minds, and with all the ardour of our souls, let us honour Mary, because such is the will of God, who would have us obtain everything through her hands. Such I say is the will of God who intends it for our benefit.