FIRST SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF THE: 'Purification Of The Blessed Virgin
FIRST SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF THE
'PURIFICATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
MARY
"We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy z ZS temple ''—Ps, xlvii. 10.
To-day, dearest brethren, the Virgin Mother brought the Lord of the temple into the temple of the Lord.
_ Joseph also presented to the Lord, not his own, but _ his Lord's own beloved Son, in Whom He was well pleased (Matt. iii. 17).
Simeon recognised the Just = One Whom he had been expecting, and the widow Anna likewise made her profession of faith.
By these four persons was thus instituted the procession of this day's festivity, which is now celebrated in every land and by every people " with the exultation of the whole earth " (Ps. xlvii. 3). Nor should we be surprised at the smallness of this first procession, because He in Whose honour it was held was as yet but a little One.
Note, however, that it included no sinner: all who took part in it were just, all were holy and perfect.
But, O Lord, is it only such Thou hast come to Save ?
Let Thy compassion grow with the growth of Thy Body.
'"' Men and beasts Thou wilt save, O Lord, when Thou hast multiplied Thy mercy, O God!" (Ps. xxxv.
7, 8).
In the second procession, accordingly, we see multitudes going before and multitudes following after, and the Lord borne no longer by a Virgin but by an ass's colt (Matt. xxi. 7, 8). Therefore He now disdains no one, not even those who like beasts " have rotted in their filth "' (Joel i. 17). He disdains not even such,
te sae if ae have purity of ee obedience and that charity which "' covereth a mu tude of sins' (xr Peter iv. 8), He will not now consider
_ them unworthy to participate in the glory of His procession.
What is yet more: we can even see that for ourselves also He has reserved a share in the same glory, which to-day seems to have been conferred on so very few.
And what wonder that a participation — in this glory should have been reserved for us who | follow Him, since it was granted' in anticipation - (6-2 them that went before ?
Thus, holy David, king and prophet, " rejoiced that he might see this day ; he saw it and was glad'"' (John © viii. 56). For had he not seen it, how could he have ~ sung of it, ''We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy temple" (Ps. xlvii. 10)?
This © mercy of the Lord was received, therefore, by David, — it was received by Simeon, we also have received it,
"and as many as are ordained to life everlasting"
(Acts xiii. 48): for '' Jesus Christ (as) yesterday (so) — to-day, and the same for ever"' (Heb. xii. 8). But notice that it is in the midst of the temple we receive mercy, not in the angles and corners thereof, because
" there is no respect of persons with God "' (Col. ili. 25).
The mercy of the Lord is made common to all, it is offered to all, no man is excluded from it but such as deliberately reject it.
"Thy fountains (of mercy) are conveyed abroad''
(Prov. v. 16), O Lord God.
Nevertheless, they still belong to Thee, and strangers shall not partake thereof (ibid. 17). He that is Thine
' shall not see death before he has seen the Christ of —
Sa a "" (Luke ii. 26), so that he may be securely issed in peace (ibid. 29). What matter for wonder t that he should be dismissed in peace who bears mn his breast the Christ of the Lord?
For Christ is "our peace" (Ephes. ii. 14) and He "'dwelleth by faith in our hearts" (Ephes. iii. 17).
But as for thee, O miserable soul, that knowest not Jesus the Guide of the way, how wilt thou set out on the road to eternity ?
"For some have not the knowledge of God" (rvG@or; Xv. 34). How is this, brethren?
'' Because the Light __ is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light" (John iii. 19).
'And the Light _ Shineth in darkness," says the same Evangelist in _ another place, "' and the darkness did not comprehend it' (John i. 5). As much as to say: The waters of the fountain are conveyed into the streets, but the stranger does not partake of them ; mercy is found in the midst of the temple, yet is approached by none of those who are destined for everlasting misery.
O ye wretched ones, "there is standing in the midst of you One Whom you know not" (John i. 26); so that dying before you have seen the Christ of the Lord, you shall not be dismissed in peace, but rather shall be snatched away by "the roaring lions, ready to devour"
(Ecclus. li. 4).
" We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy temple."
Very different, my brethren, is this shout of joyous thanksgiving from that mournful cry of a soul in sorrow, '' O Lord, Thy mercy is in heaven, and Thy truth reacheth down even to the clouds"
(Ps. xxxv.
6).
And good cause for grief had the Psalmist when he uttered that cry.
For surely you do not imagine that the mercy of God was then in the
e = ; ras _ midst of the temple and open to all whilst it rema: the exclusive possession of the heaven-sprung spir
But when the Word was made "'a little less than t angels '' (Ps. vili. 6), when He was made the "one
Mediator of God and men" (x Tim. ii. 5), and, < "the chief corner-stone '' (Ephes. ii. 20), '' made peace through the Blood of His cross both as to the things on earth and the things that are in heaven"'
(Col. i. 20): then and thereafter we might sing, '' We have — received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy temple.""
For we also "were by nature children of wrath "' (Ephes. ii. 3), "" but now have obtained mercy""
(Rom. xi. 30).
Of what wrath were we the children, and what is the mercy we have obtained ? We were the children of ignorance, of languor, and of captivity, and we have obtained wisdom, strength, and redemption.
= The ignorance of the first woman, seduced by the old a serpent, had blinded us, the weakness of the first man, oe "drawn away and allured by his own concupiscence "'
(James i. 14), had enfeebled us, the malice of the devil, finding us deservedly abandoned by God, had reduced us to servitude.
Consequently, we were born, all of us, in the first place, absolutely ignorant of " the way of the city of our habitation' (Ps. cvi. 4) ; in the second place, weak and languid, so that even if the way of life were known to us, we should still have been impeded and held back by our want of vigour ; and in the third place, in bondage to the most wicked and cruel of tyrants, by whose heavy yoke we should still have been miserably oppressed, though neither knowledge nor strength had been wanting to us.
Un- ' doubtedly, a misery so great needed great mercy and great compassion.
And if "we are now saved from
o of Bods is. s made unto us wisdom and pence aud | 'sanctification and redemption" (x Cor. i. 30), how gilant ought we not to be, most dearly beloved, lest
: (which God forbid!) we again incurred the divine anger, our last state should be found worse er our first eit Xli. 45), as being " children of wrath," now "by nature,' but by our own free will.
_ Therefore, dearest brethren, let us lovingly embrace the mercy which "' we have received in the midst of the temple,' and after the example of the blessed
_ Anna, let us never depart from the temple of God nibs that (Luke ii. 37): "for the temple of God is holy, which you are,'' as says the Apostle (1 Cor. iii. 17).
This mercy "is nigh to you, even in your mouths and in _ your hearts '' (Rom. x. 8), since '" Christ dwelleth by faith in your hearts.'
Yes, there is His temple and there is His throne, as you do not need te be informed, unless perhaps you have forgotten what is written,
"The soul of the just man is the seat of wisdom.'* Therefore I now exhort you with all earnestness, and I should like to exhort my dearest children again and again, yea, without ever ceasing, not to walk according to the flesh, even though living in the flesh, lest you displease God.
Let us not make ourselves the friends of this world unless we desire to forfeit the friendship of God (James iv. 4). Let us " resist the devil and he will ay from us "' (ibid. 7), so that we may henceforth freely " walk in us spirit '' (Gal. v. 16) and live within our own hearts.
" For the corruptible body is a load upon the soul," enervating and enfeebling her, "and the * Cf. Seymons on the Canticle of Canticles, vol. i. ps 3i2;
_ note (Mount Melleray Translation) — —(Translator ),
nF E kee ostle Ae us that " Te wisdom of this world is ee with God" (x Cor. iii. 19); and whosoever su himself to be overcome by the wicked one is | demned to be his slave (John viii. 34). But it i our hearts we receive the mercy of the Lord, it our hearts Christ dwelleth by faith, and it is in o hearts also He "speaketh peace unto His people an Oe ee _to the heart" (Ps, IxxxXiv. 9).
Let them sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord." —Ps. cxxxvii. 5.
< All thanks to our Saviour for having so abundantly "prevented us with the blessings of sweetness"'
(Ps.
_ Xx. 4), by multiplying our joys in the mysteries of f His infancy!
It is but a few weeks ago we were cele_ brating the feasts of His Nativity, Circumcision, and = Manifestation to the Gentiles, and lo! another of these most sweet solemnities has dawned upon us to-day, the solemnity of His Presentation in the temple.
For on this day was offered to the Creator '' the noble fruit of the earth"' (Is. iv. 2); on this day the "' atoning
Victim"
(Num. v.
8), the " Victim acceptable to God "' (1 Peter ii. 5), was brought into the temple by His parents, was awaited by the holy elders, and was presented to the Lord by Mary's virginal hands. Mary and Joseph came to "offer the sacrifice of praise "'
(Ps. cvi. 22), the true ''morning oblation "
(Exod. xxix. 41), whilst Simeon and Anna received the Saviour Child into their arms.
These four persons formed the procession which is commemorated to-day with joyous festivities throughout the four quarters of the earth.
And inasmuch as we ourselves also, contrary to our custom on other solemnities,* are to have a festive * One of the charges brought by Peter Abelard against St. Bernard and his brother Cistercians was that they had all but banished processions from their solemnities:
'' Processionum fere totam venerationem a vobis exclusistis "'
(Ep. v.
SEP er ene sion to-day, it will be well, I think, to with attention the manner and the order in whi shall proceed.
We shall walk two and two, hol fire, but from fire that has been previously consecrat in the church by the blessing of the priest.
Moreover the last shall be first and the first last (Matt. xx.
in our procession, and we shall '' sing in the ways o the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord" (Ps.
CXXXvli. 5). There is a special significance, my brethren, in our proceeding thus, two and two; for it was in this order and with the purpose of commending fraternal love* and community life that Christ sent forth the seventy-two disciples, as the Evangelist informs us — (Luke x. 1). They who insist on walking alone in the — ad Bernardum).
It might be answered that a main point in ~ the Cistercian reform was the retrenchment of all luxuries, even in the domain of ceremonial worship, and the adoption of an austere simplicity in everything.
Besides, the sons of Citeaux, having to live by the labour of their hands, had no =. time for such magnificent liturgical pageants as might be witnessed at Cluny and other places: they were often even compelled, particularly during the harvest season, when the crops had to be saved and gathered in, to intermit the celebration of = Mass and to recite the diurnal hours in the open fields.
Cf.
Se Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles, vol. ii. p. 73 (Mount Melleray Translation )—(Translator ), * " Our Lord and Saviour, dearest brethren, admonishes us
; sometimes by His words, sometimes also by His actions.
For His very actions are often precepts: although performed in silence, they teach us what we ought to do.
Thus, He sent His disciples, two and two, to preach the Gospel, because there are two precepts of charity, namely, the love of God and the love of one's neighbour, and because, for the love of charity, there must be at least two.
For, properly speaking, one cannot have charity towards oneself: love must tend outwards to deserve the name of charity.
Therefore, in sending His disciples to preach, two and two, the Lord designed to insinuate that he who has no love for his neighbour should never undertake the office of preacher.''-—St. Gregory the Great, Hom. xvii. in Evang.—(Translator ).
ssion spoil the order of the procession, and Boe troublesome, not only to themselves but to he whole community as well.
"These are they who 's eparate themselves, sensual men, not having the * (Jude 19), nor "' careful to keep the unity of = Spirit in the bond of peace' (Ephes. iv. 3). But ; "it is not good for man to be alone'' (Gen. ii.
8), so neither is it permitted him to appear before the Lord with SnIDEy: hands (Exod. xxili. 15). For if even those whom " no man hath hired'"' are rebuked for remaining idle (Matt. xx. 6), what do not they
_ deserve who, although they have been hired, are found idle still?
For "faith without good works is dead"
_ James ii. 26).
But our good works must be done in _ the fervour of charity and with an ardent desire to please God, in order that we may be found with "' lamps burning in our hands "' (Luke xii. 35). Otherwise there is much reason to fear that He Who has said in the Gospel, ''I am come to cast fire on the earth, and _ what will I but that it be enkindled?"
(ibid. 49), _ finding us lukewarm will begin to vomit us out of _ His mouth (Apoc. iii. 16).
That fire whereof the _ Saviour speaks is the holy and blessed Fire Which the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world and Which we bless in the churches, according to what is written, "In the churches bless ye God the Lord"
(Ps. lxvii. 27).
Our adversary also—that malicious emulator of the works of God—he also, I say, has a fire of his own: the fire of carnal concupiscence, the fire of envy and ambition, which the Saviour came not to petadle but to quench.
And whosoever shall presume to "offer before the Lord this strange fire "'
(Levit. x. 1), even though he should have Aaron for
his father "ibid: ), he (Jer. XXXi. 30).
But in addition to the common life, and the rte al charity, and the good works, and the holy fervour of which I have been speaking, we require also humility, one of the greatest and the most necessary of the virtues, in order that " with honour we may prevent one another "'
(Rom. xii. 10), and that each one may prefer to himself — even his juniors: for that is the perfection of humility © and the fulness of justice.
Furthermore, since " God loveth a cheerful giver'' (2 Cor. ix. 7), and since one | of the fruits of charity is "joy in the Holy Ghost"
— (Rom. xiv. 17), let us "'sing'' as I have said, the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord," let us "' sing to the Lord a new canticle, because
He hath done wonderful things'' (Ps. xcvii. 1). But if in all these practices of devotion any of us should neglect to advance and to " go forward from virtue to virtue '' (Ps. Ixxxiii. 8): let such a one know that he belongs not to the Saviour's procession, but is standing still, or rather is going backwards.
For in the way of life not to advance is to fall back: there "a man never continueth in the same state'' (Job xiv. 11).
Now our spiritual progress—as I remember to have told you often already—mainly consists in this: that we never ''count ourselves to have apprehended," but that "forgetting the things that are behind and stretching forth ourselves to those that are before'
(Phil. iii. 13), we strive unceasingly to become better, and keep our imperfections constantly exposed to the eyes of divine mercy.
'THIRD SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF THE
- PURIFICATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
MARY - Blessed Virgin Mary's Purification, which was accomor plished forty days after the birth of her Divine Son,
"ag as prescribed in the law of Moses (Lev. xii. 2-4). For we read in the Book of Leviticus that a woman who, in the ordinary way, gives birth to a man-child, '' shall be unclean seven days, and on the eighth day the infant shall be circumcised"; thereafter, intent on _ cleansing and purifying herself, she abstained, such was the law, from entering the sanctuary for the space of three and thirty days, at the expiration of which she should offer her child to the Lord with the gifts enjoined.
But who does not perceive that the very first phrase of this law sets the Mother of Christ free from its obligation ? It looks, indeed, as if Moses was about to say simply, "If a woman gives birth-to a man-child she shall be unclean," but fearing to be found guilty of the crime of blasphemy against the Lord's Mother, he premised the restricting phrase, " in the ordinary way."
For where was the necessity of these words unless he foresaw that Mary was to bring forth without detriment to her virginity?
It is manifest, therefore, that this law was not made for the Mother of the Lord, since she did not give birth to her
Son in the ordinary way, as was predicted by Jeremias when he said, "the Lord hath created a new thing
¢ upon the earth." What new thing, do you ask?
| woman shall compass a man"' (Jer. xxxi. 22).
; by man's co-operation, not according to the ordinary law of human conception, shall she conceive, but. Te maining ever pure and undefiled she "' shall compass
« man,' so that, in the words of another Prophet, the _ Lord, coming in and going out by this Eastern Gate, — shall nevertheless leave it always shut (Ezech. xliv. a\et
Let us imagine, therefore, that Mary was disturbed — in mind about submitting to this ordinance of Moses, _ and argued thus with herself:
'' What need havel of purification ? Why should I abstain from entering the sanctuary, I, who, without the co-operation of man, have become the living temple of the Holy Spirit ?
Why should I not go into the temple of the Lord, who have given birth to the Lord of the temple?
In 'this virginal conception, in this child-birth, there has been nothing impure, nothing illicit, nothing that needs to be cleansed: for the Infant Whom I have brought
— forth is Himself the very Fountain of all purity, and He has come into the world to 'make purgation of sins' (Heb. i. 3). What has this legal purification to purify in me, who, spotlessly pure already, have been made purer still by my immaculate parturition?"
It is true, O most blessed Virgin, it is very true that thou hast no cause, no necessity for purification.
But, tell me, had thy Son any need of circumcision ?
Be, therefore, amongst women as an ordinary woman, because thy Child made Himself as one of the ordinary children of men.
If He willed to be circumcised, surely He wills also and much more to be offered to His
Father. Offer thy Son, then, O holy Virgin, present to the Lord the "' blessed Fruit of thy womb'' (Lukei. 42).
, Pleasing unto God" (Rom. xii. 1).
Certainly, od the Father will accept this new Oblation, this most precious Victim of Whom He says, '' This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased" fatt. iii. 17).
_ But it seems to me, brethren, that this first oblation of the Infant Saviour has about it something peculiaily sweet.
For now He is merely presented to the Lord, redeemed with innocent birds and carried home again immediately by His parents.
The time will come, = _ however, when He shall be offered, no longer in the _ temple, no longer between the arms of holy Simeon, but outside the city and between the arms of the cross.
The time will come when, so far from being redeemed Himself with foreign blood, He shall redeem all other men with His own Blood: for He is the redemption that the Father '' hath sent to His people "'
(Ps. xc. 9). That will be the " evening sacrifice," this in the temple is the '' morning sacrifice " (Exod. xxix. AI,
Ps, cxl. 2). The latter is the more joyous, but the former will have greater fulness, because in it the Victim shall have arrived at the fulness of His years, whereas in the other He is offered in His infancy.
But of both oblaaes may be understood what the Prophet predicted, " He was offered because it was His own will" (Is. hii. 7). For to-day, in the temple, He was offered, not because there was any necessity requiring this, not because He was bound by the prescription of the law, but solely because He willed it.
And with regard to the sacrifice of the cross also, it was not for His deserts He was offered thereon, or because He was unable to resist the power of the Jews, but because such was
necessity of Thine own.
But, dearest brethren, what have we to offer ? Or 'what shall we render to the Lord for all the Bina that He hath rendered to us?"
(Ps. cxv. 3). He _ offered for us the most precious victim He possessed, S _ yea, a victim the most precious that can be conceived.
— Let us, therefore, do what we can, and offer Him the — best that we have, which, namely, is our own selves.
He sacrificed Himself for thee: who art thou that hesitatest to sacrifice thyself for Him? Oh, who will grant me that so lofty a majesty may condescend to accept
_ : my poor oblation!
Lord, I can boast of but two miserable possessions : 1 mean my body and my soul. Would that I could perfectly offer them to Thee as a sacrifice of praise!
For it were better for me, it were far more glorious and advantageous, that I should be sacrificed to Thee than abandoned to myself.
'My soul is troubled within myself' (Ps. xli. 7), but in Thee my ee spirit shall rejoice (Luke i. 47), that is, if it be truly offered to Thee.
Brethren, whilst the Lord was still by His own decree destined to die, the Jews were wont to offer Him dead victims, but now:
"' I live, saith the Lord: I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live"
(Ezech.
Xxxili. 11).
The Lord, then, desires not my death, and shall I not willingly offer Him my life?
This is a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, "' an atoning sacrifice' (Exod. xxix. 33). But at the oblation of the Lord in the temple there were, so we read, three presences, and the Lord expects to find three things present
a virgin, and in the heart the simplicity and ois: of a little child.
Amen.
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THE INCARNATION AND OF THE MOTHER BY THE
SON IN THE ASSUMPTION
" Now it came to pass that He entered into a certain citadel and a certain woman received Him into her house ''—Luke x. 38.
To-day, dearest brethren, the glorious Virgin ascended to heaven, bringing with her, doubtless, to the inhabi__ tants of the holy city an abundant augmentation of . their ecstatic joys.
For she it is the voice of whose salutation of yore caused an infant, as yet enclosed in his mother's womb, to leap from an excess of gladness
(Luke i. 41). Now, if the soul of a babe unborn melted with tenderness when Mary spoke (Cant. v. 6), what, think you, must have been the exultation of those celestial spirits when they deserved to hear her voice and to see her face and to rejoice in her blissful presence ? And with regard to ourselves, most dearly beloved, how deservedly do we keep the feast of her
_ Assumption with all solemnity! What reasons for rejoicing, what motives for exultation have we not on this most beautiful day!
The presence of Mary illumines the entire world, so that even the holy city above has now a more dazzling splendour from the light of this virginal Lamp.
With good reason, therefore, do " thanksgiving and the voice of praise '' (Is. li. 3) resound to-day through the courts of heaven.
But it seems that we have as much cause
ee for lamentation as the angels have for joy. I heaven overflows with gladness from Mary's pres does it not seem to follow that this lower worl
5a We equal cause to grieve for her absence?
But let us cease to complain, because we also '' have not her
lasting city, but we seek one that is to come " (H xiii. 14), the same which the blessed Mary entere to-day.
And if we are true citizens of that heavenly Jerusalem, we ought certainly to remember it even in upon the rivers of Babylon" (Ps.
Cxxxvi. I) we ought to communicate in its gladness and to share in its joys, above all in that which to-day with a mighty stream "' maketh the city of God joyful" — ce our exile, even (Ps. xlv. 5), so that we, even we, may catch some of = the '' drops that fall upon the earth" (Ps. Ixxi. 6).
Our great Queen has gone on before us, she has gone on, I say, and has been gloriously received, so gloriously
__ that we, her poor servants, walk with confidence after our Lady, crying out to her, " Draw us: we willrun after thee to the odour of thy ointments "' (Cant. 1. 3).
Our exiled race has sent home an Advocate, who, being the Mother of the Judge and also the Mother of mercy, will be sure to advance the cause of our salvation, humbly, indeed, yet not less efficaciously.
To-day, then, most dearly beloved, this earth of ours sends up a most beautiful gift to heaven, so that by the kind intercourse of mutual giving and receiving the human order and the divine, the earthly and the heavenly, the lowest and the highest, may be bound together in a sweet alliance of holy friendship.
For thither ascends " the high fruit of the earth"' (Is. iv. 2) and thence comes down the best gifts and the perfect ce .
ascending on high, gifts (James i. 17). Therefore,
Rae eee = ee '
<= es ce es =F y Virgin, like her Divine Son, will " give gifts shall have both the power and the good-will?
She is _ the Queen of heaven, she is the Queen of mercy, and she is also the Mother of the only-begotten Son of _ God~a title which more than anything else commends
'to us the greatness of her power and her lovingkindness : unless perchance there be someone who does
_ not believe that the Son of the Most High honours His Mother, or who hesitates to believe that the very vitals of Mary " have passed into the affection' (Ps.
_ Ixxu. 7) of charity, inconsequence of having been the home wherein for nine months the " Charity That is of God" (1 John iv. 7) ''dwelt corporally " (Col. ii. Q).
It is for your consolation, dearest brethren, I have made these remarks, because I know how difficult it is to discover in such spiritual poverty as ours that perfect charity which '"' seeketh not her own "' (r Cor. xlll. 5).
But without speaking at all of the many benefits resulting to ourselves from her glorification, if we love her in truth, we ought to be glad because she goes to her Son (John xiv. 28). Yes, I repeat, we ought to rejoice with her, for otherwise, which God forbid !— we should be found utterly ungrateful to the Finder of grace (Luke i. 30). We ought to rejoice with her, because to-day she is received at her entrance into the holy city by Him Who was received by her at His entrance into the citadel (castellum) of this world. And oh! with how much honour is she received and welcomed ! with what exultation ! with what glory! There was not upon earth a worthier place than the temple of her own most blessed womb, into which Mary might receive the Son of God ; nor is there in heaven a more
« :
J | f h NY i Ae a ft iis ao Uiid .
PLN .
Age gel See aris hing: Se ge iN al ee as sit he honourable seat than the royal throne upon w
_ to-day Mary has been exalted by Mary's Son. Full bliss must be pronounced both receptions, viz., that the Son by the Mother and that of the Mother by th
Son, and ineffable both, because both inconceivable For why do we read to-day throughout the whole
Church of Christ that Gospel lesson which tells how a woman, blessed among women, received the Saviour into her house ? * (Luke x. 38-42).
In my opinion, the purpose is to enable us from that reception to form some kind of estimate of this which we are now commemorating, or rather to help us to such a realisation
_ as is possible of the inestimable glory of the second __ by comparison with the inestimable glory of the first.
Who indeed, even though he could '"' speak with the tongues of men and of angels "' (1 Cor. xiii. 1), is competent to explain how, by the descent of the Holy
Ghost and the overshadowing of the Father's power (Luke i. 35), '' the Word was made Flesh '' (John i. r4), the Word by Whom all things were made (ibid. 3) ? how the Lord of Majesty, Whom the whole created universe cannot contain (2 Par. vi. 18) was enclosed, made man, within the Virgin's womb ?
And who is able even to conceive with what splendour the glorious Queen of the universe mounted heavenwards to-day; with what mighty ardour of tenderest affection the whole multitude of the heavenly legions issued forth to meet her and to escort her to the seat of glory ; with what serenity of countenance, with what loving looks, with what joyous embraces she
* The holy preacher is taking here, in an accommodated sense, Luke x. 38, as the Church does also by appointing this
Gospel to be read on the Feast of the Assumption —(Translator ).
| igh above every _ 'ure to that eminence of honour which becomes so at a Mother and is worthy of so great a Son! Happy, loubtless, were the kisses which the Mother received rom the lips of her suckling Babe whilst she fondled
Him on her virginal lap.
But ought we not to regard as still happier those which He gives her to-day in loving salutation from His seat at the Father's right
__ hand, when she advances to the throne of Maj esty, sing__ ing her epithalamium and saying,with the Spouse in the - Canticle, '' Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth "
(Cant. i. r) ? '' Who shall declare the generation "' (Is.
_ liii. 8) of Christ ? Who shall declare the Assumption of Mary? For the glory wherewith she is crowned in heaven is as singular as the grace she found upon earth was incomparable. If 'eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man what things
God hath prepared for them that love Him "' (Gor: li. 9) : who can say or conceive what He hath prepared for her that bore Him and that loves Him—which no one doubts—with a love unparalleled? Oh, happy in truth is Mary and doubly happy in that she has both received the Saviour and has been received by the Saviour.
In both these signal honours the dignity of the Virgin Mother appears to us equally admirable, in both the condescension of the Divine Majesty appears equally worthy of praise.
" Now it came to pass," says the Evangelist, '' that He, namely, Jesus, entered into a certain citadel and a certain woman received Him into her house."'
But let us break off here and occupy ourselves rather with singing the praises of God, for this is a feast which ought to be celebrated, not so much with sermons or
what is defective in our conduct and to begin: abe te life, unto the praise and glory of Mary's Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever.
Amen.