For she, in a wondrous and inestimable manner, brought forth the Savior both of all things and her own. For what virgin was so holy, that the Holy Spirit should deign to come to her? what so beautiful, that God should choose her for himself as bride? what so chaste, that she could be a virgin after childbirth? This is the temple of God, that sealed fountain, and the gate closed in the house of the Lord. For to her, as I said, the Holy Spirit descended, upon her the power of the Most High overshadowed. This is she who is immaculate in intercourse, fruitful in offspring, a virgin giving suck, nourishing the food of Angels and of men. Deservedly, therefore, is the blessed one extolled by us with singular proclamation, who furnished to the world a singular exchange.
Finally, she raised herself so high to the summits of heaven, that she received the Word who was in the beginning with God from the lofty citadel of heaven. 5. Mary most worthy of all praise. O happy Mary, and most worthy of all praise! O glorious mother! O sublime bearer of a child, to whose womb the Author of heaven and earth is entrusted! O happy kisses pressed upon the lips of the nursling, when, amid the frequent tokens of crawling infancy, He, as a true son from you, played with you His mother; while a true God from the Father, the only-begotten of God, commanded! For, conceiving your own Author, you brought forth in time as a youth Him whom you had as your Founder before the ages. O happy childbearing, joyful to the Angels, desirable to the saints, necessary to the lost, fitting for the ruined!
He who, after many injuries to the flesh He had assumed, was at the last beaten with scourges, given gall to drink, fastened to the gibbet, that He might show you a true mother, showed Himself a true man by suffering. But what shall I say, poor in wit; since whatever I shall say of you, the praise is less than your dignity deserves! If I call you heaven, you are higher. If I call you mother of the Gentiles, you go before. If I name you the form of God, you prove worthy. If I call you lady of the Angels, you are proved to be so through all. What then shall I worthily say of you, what shall I relate; since the tongue of flesh does not suffice to declare your virtues? These praises meanwhile the tongue of flesh keeps silent, which the soul within ever ardently brings forth. Now I ask that you soothe our ears with the instruments of your teachings.
Let holy hands now clap with timbrels, and let the harmony of the child-bearer resound amid swift fingers. Let the joyful choirs sing together, and let sweet-sounding songs be mingled with alternating measures. 6. To magnify is said in two ways. Let us hear, brothers, let us hear with the pious affection of the mind, let us hear how our timbrel-player, the Virgin Mary, resounds with her teachings. Let us hear, I say; and let us respond to this harmony with our conduct. Finally, when this most blessed woman, already greeted by the angel, filled with the Holy Spirit, breathed upon with the fullness of the divinity, had come to the house of her kinswoman Elizabeth, after the exultation of John in his mother's womb, after Elizabeth's wonder at the coming of the Mother of that same Lord, she chanted this canticle of praise to the Lord:
'My soul doth magnify the Lord; and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour' (Luke 1:46-47). First, then, in this place we must ask what it is to magnify the Lord: for the Creator is not made great by the creature. But we must understand that 'to magnify' is said in two ways: that is, either to make great, or to adore as great and to admire as great. For God is magnified by us when he deigns to be magnified by us. But is he magnified in the same way in us as in Mary, from whom he took flesh for our sake? 'Hail,' the angel said to her, 'full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.'
'And therefore also that Holy One which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God' (cf. Luke 1:35). Yet every holy soul is able to conceive the Word by believing, to bring it forth by preaching, to magnify it by loving. Whence also David the prophet says, 'O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together' (Ps. 33:4): as if he said, 'Sing forth with me the greatness of the Lord, proclaim it, and lift up the praises of his name with a loud voice.' Hence again he says, 'O Lord my God, thou art become exceedingly magnified' (Ps. 103:1). And as to whence he is magnified in us, the same prophet says, 'Thy mercy is magnified even unto the heavens' (Ps. 107:5). 7. God is above all to be magnified for the gift of redemption.
For thus must it be desired, that in each one of us our soul may magnify the Lord, may conceive the Word of God, may bring it forth and nourish it, may recall the loving exchanges of its own salvation—how by no preceding merits of its own it was saved from iniquity, but redeemed by the sole free goodness of God through the blood of Christ—and may say, 'My soul doth magnify the Lord.' For 'God so loved the world,' says the Gospel, 'that he gave his only-begotten Son' (John 3:16). Hence too the Apostle says, 'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all' (Rom. 8:32). O affections of wondrous tenderness! O inestimable ardour of charity! Who would not be amazed before such riches of tenderness?
And who would not tremble before charity so ineffable? Who could ever have hoped that he who was born of God before all ages should be born for mankind in time, made man of a woman? Whence it is written, 'When the fullness of time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, that he might redeem them who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons' (Gal. 4:4-5). Who, I say, could have imagined that the bearer of the world should be carried in a woman's hands, that the Bread of Angels should be fed, that the strength of the heavens should be made weak, that the life of all should die? Let the soul of Mary therefore magnify the Lord in these things; let ours magnify him too. Let us marvel, rejoice, love, praise, adore, and give him thanks;
for through that same death of our Redeemer we have been called from darkness to light, from death to life, from corruption to incorruption, from exile to our homeland, from mourning to joy, from the earth to the heavenly kingdom. 8. He who is imbued with this truth despises earthly things. What good, what depraved rejoicing is. Whatever holy soul, therefore, has been taken up with such incitements, desires nothing earthly, nothing transitory, nothing that smiles only for a time, nothing that delights only for the present: it counts laughter as mourning, and turns joy into grief; to it the world is a prison, but heaven a dwelling-place; to it there is no rejoicing in present things, because it desires to rejoice in him alone who is above all.
Whence in the holy Canticle, when the glorious Virgin said, 'My soul doth magnify the Lord; and my spirit hath rejoiced,' she pointedly added, 'in God my Saviour': as if she said, 'My soul, which magnifies the Lord, rejoices not in any other whatsoever, but in him alone whom by loving it magnifies.' For she knew there was another, blameworthy rejoicing, since the world is said to rejoice as it tends toward mourning, of whom Solomon says: 'They are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things' (Prov. 2:14). Hence the Apostle too describes not any joy whatsoever as being in the hearts of the saints, but joy in the Holy Spirit. Hence David, when he said, 'Rejoice, ye righteous,' added, 'in the Lord' (Ps. 32:1).
Hence, when he said to the Lord, 'My lips shall rejoice when I sing,' he added, 'unto thee' (Ps. 70:23). For in this exultation none of those rejoices who exults only in present things and desires not to have a share in eternal goods: to whom exile is believed to be his homeland, and death is reckoned life; whose god is his belly, and whose adornment is not in his character but in his clothing: who, when he is praised, is puffed up; and when he has been blamed, is stirred with great goads of anger: who is not humbled among the meek, but is lifted up on the fasces of pride, and gazes upon others as from the high brow of a mountain. 9. What it is to rejoice in Jesus.
But who can so fully trample down these things that, while the same vices interrupt him, he should not believe that he can be drawn away from this exultation even for a moment; since Scripture pronounces, 'The corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly habitation weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things' (Wis. 9:15)? Groaning therefore, O holy soul, whosoever thou art that exultest in the Lord, as often as thou seest thyself drawn away from this exultation, say: 'Cast me not away, O Lord, from thy face, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me: restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and stablish me with a princely spirit' (Ps. 51:11-12). And here observe more attentively what exultation she sought. For that which in Hebrew is 'Jesus,' the same in Latin is called 'Saviour' (Salutaris).
For what is this joy of Jesus, if not the contemplation of him, such as he shall come in his glory? But it must be known that they shall then enjoy this brightness who, placed here, imitate the footsteps of their Redeemer. And indeed we read that the Lord Jesus grieved, wept, was wearied from his journey, endured reproaches and insults, and took upon himself spittle, scourges, and the cross: yet we never read that he laughed or prospered in the present life. Hence plainly, hence do all the elect rejoice in hope, when they have begun to be wearied by the adversities of the world, and to be deceived by none of its prosperities falsely; knowing beyond all doubt that no other way remains by which they can penetrate the heavens.
Hence it is that the same Lord says to his disciples, 'Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and shall persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you, lying, for my sake. Rejoice in that day and be exceeding glad: for behold, your reward is great in heaven' (Matt. 5:11-12). But in these pressures and straits they could by no means stand firm, and, what is greater than this, rejoice, unless they were truly humble in the sight of God and of men. To whom their Lord says, 'Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls' (Matt. 11:29). Hence again he says, 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth' (Matt. 5:4). 10. The commendation of humility. Feigned humility.
Hence too this glorious Virgin makes plain that she is called blessed by all generations, because God regarded her humility. For she adds, 'Because he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaid; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed' (Luke 1:48). O truly blessed humility, which bore God to men, brought forth life for mortals, renewed the heavens, purified the world, opened paradise, and freed the souls of men from the nether regions! O truly, I say, glorious humility of Mary, which is made the gate of paradise, is set up as the ladder of heaven! Surely the humility of Mary was made a heavenly ladder, by which God descended to the earth. 'Because he hath regarded,' she says, 'the lowliness of his handmaid;'
'for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.' And what is it to say 'He hath regarded,' if not 'He hath approved; my humility hath pleased him'? Whence the Lord said through the prophet, 'To whom shall I have regard, but to the poor little one and the humble, and to him that trembleth at my words?' (Isa. 66:2). Hence David says to the Lord, 'Because thou hast regarded my humility, thou hast saved my soul out of its necessities' (Ps. 31:8). For many seem to be humble in the sight of men, that they may be called blessed by them: but their humility is not regarded by the Lord, because they glory falsely and not truly in humility. For if they were truly humble, they would wish to be praised by men in God, and not themselves;
their spirit would not exult in this world, but in God their Saviour; they would long for their humility to be seen not by men, but by God. There follows in this holy Canticle, 'For he that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is his name' (Luke 1:49). What great things hath he done for thee, I ask, O glorious Virgin, that thou dost deserve to be called blessed? For I think—nay, I truly believe—that, being a creature, thou didst bring forth the Creator; being a handmaid, thou didst bear the Lord; that through thee God might redeem the world, through thee enlighten it, through thee recall it to life. 11. A prayer to the blessed Virgin. Thus far, O blessed Virgin, hast thou faithfully set forth concerning thyself the things that might kindle us to the love of God: but the things that follow, thou didst prophesy for the human race.
But it was my wish to run through from there only those things that pertain to the praise of thy name. Yet these things which thou hast related concerning thyself, thou couldst not tell as thy dignity deserves. What praises, then, shall the frailty of the human race render to thee, which through thine intercourse alone found the way to recovery? Receive therefore whatever thanksgivings, however meagre, however unequal to thy merits: and when thou hast received our vows, by thy prayer excuse our faults. Admit our prayers within the sanctuary of thy hearing, and bring back to us the grace of reconciliation. Let that which through thee we offer be, through thee, excusable; let that which with a faithful mind we ask be obtainable. Receive what we offer, obtain what we ask, excuse what we fear:
for we find none more powerful by merits to appease the wrath of the Judge than thee, who didst deserve to be the mother of the Redeemer and Judge. Succour therefore the wretched, help the faint-hearted, revive the tearful; pray for the people, intervene for the clergy, intercede for the choir of monks, make supplication for the devout female sex: let all who devoutly celebrate thy name feel thy relief. Let there be in thee compassion over the afflicted, let there be a tender affection over the pilgrims of the heavens: and since thou dost behold thyself ever rejoicing, do thou thyself, we beseech thee, admit our weeping to God, and appeal to him for us as thine own Son.
For we are still afflicted here on this earth, we are persecuted, harried with injuries, assailed with reproaches; we hunger, we thirst, we endure sleeplessness, we are held in prison. But thou, in the heavenly kingdoms, art set above all the choirs of virgins; thou dost follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth (Rev. 14:4). Thou dost invite the virginal choirs, estranged from the enticements of the goading flesh, through gleaming lilies and blossoming roses, to drink at the fountains of everlasting life. Thou, in that most blessed palace of the blessed, having obtained the dignity of the first rank, wandering among the dewy plants, dost proceed on tender knee amid the loveliness of paradise and the grassy crocuses, and with happy palm dost pluck unfading violets. Thou dost sing without end, joined to the highest choirs;
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joined with the Angels and Archangels, with unwearied voice thou dost not cease to cry, 'Holy!' (Rev. 4:8). Thou standest in the chamber of the King of blessedness, adorned with gems and pearls. For thee a royal throne is set up by the Angels in the hall of the eternal King, and the King of kings himself, loving thee above all as his true mother and comely bride, unites thee to himself in the embrace of love. And no wonder if God, reigning in the heavens, deigns to rejoice with thee, whom, born of thee as a little child and man, thou didst so often kiss on earth. Possessing therefore these thy felicities, turn thyself to the salvation of our miseries. 12. How the blessed Virgin is to be honoured.
Among these things, therefore, dearest brethren, let us commit ourselves with the whole affection of our mind to the intercessions of the most blessed Virgin; let us implore her patronage with all our striving: that while we frequent her on earth with suppliant homage, she herself may deign with diligent prayer to commend us in the heavens. For there is no doubt that she who deserved to offer the price for the freeing of us all can bestow, upon those set free, an advocacy greater than all the saints. But what does it profit us to appeal to her with our voices, unless we also hold fast the examples of her humility? Let us take care, then, most beloved brethren, that we who desire to take part in the festival of this day may appear clothed in the garments of humility and charity.
Let not envy of another's felicity torment us, let not anger tear us apart even to division, let not covetousness shut Christ out from us, let not the sorrow of the world burn us up, let not its prosperity incautiously deceive us, let not luxury defile us, let not uncleanness pollute us, let not vainglory corrupt us, let not pride puff us up: so that when the blessed Mother of God has perceived us adorned with virtues, joined in charity, and founded in humility to take part in her festival, she may hasten more ardently to succour us before her Son and Lord Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour; who glorifies his saints with crowns of an everlasting kingdom, and is the eternal praise and expectation of all his elect:
to him be glory, power, might, and eternity, both now and always, throughout the immortal ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 209. On the Feast of All Saints. 1. The time of the contest is short, the prize is without end. Today, most beloved, we celebrate under one joy of solemnity the festival of All Saints, in whose fellowship heaven exults, by whose patronage the earth rejoices, by whose triumphs the holy Church is crowned: whose confession, the braver it was in passion, the more glorious it is in honour; for as the fight increased, so also increased the glory of those who fought, and the triumph of martyrdom is adorned with a manifold kind of sufferings, and through the heavier torments the rewards also were the more welcome.
While the Catholic mother Church, spread far and wide throughout the whole world, was led on in her very Head, Christ Jesus, not to fear the reproaches of the cross and death, she was strengthened more and more, not in resisting, but in enduring. And all those whom the penal prison enclosed in a glorious throng, triumphal glory inspired with an equal and like warmth of virtue to wage the contest. O truly blessed mother Church, whom the honour of divine esteem thus illumines, whom the glorious blood of conquering martyrs adorns, whom the white virginity of inviolate confession clothes! Neither roses nor lilies are lacking to her flowers.
Let each one now contend, dearest ones, for both honours, to receive the most ample crowns of dignities, either the white crowns of virginity, or the purple crowns of passion. In the heavenly camps peace and the battle-line have their own laws, by which the soldiers of Christ are crowned. 2. There follows on the same theme. For the ineffable and immense goodness of God provided even this, that he should not extend the time of labours and struggle, nor make it long or eternal; but short and, so to speak, momentary: so that in this brief and scanty life there might be struggles and labours; but in that life which is eternal, the crown and rewards of merits: so that the labours might indeed be quickly ended, but the rewards of merits should last without end:
so that after the darkness of this world they should behold the most dazzling light, and receive a blessedness greater than all the bitterness of their sufferings, as the Apostle bears witness where he says, 'The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us' (Rom. 8:18). With what a glad embrace does the heavenly city receive those returning from the battle, and run to meet those who bear trophies from the enemy laid low! With the triumphant men come women also, who together with the world have conquered their sex as well, and, with a double glory of warfare, virgins with boys passing their tender years in virtues.
But also the rest of the throng of the faithful entered the palace of the perpetual court, who observed the sincerity of the faith in unbroken discipline of the heavenly precepts, joined with peace. Therefore come now, brethren, let us set out upon the way of life, let us return to the heavenly city, in which we are enrolled and decreed as citizens. 'We are no more strangers, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God' (Eph. 2:19); and heirs also of him, but joint-heirs with Christ. The gates of this city fortitude will open for us, and confidence will grant us a broad entrance. 3. A description of the blessed life. Let us consider, then, the glorious felicity of that city, as far as it is possible to consider it. For as it truly is, no speech will suffice to comprehend it.
It is said of it in a certain place thus, that 'there sorrow and sadness and sighing shall flee away' (cf. Isa. 35:10). What is more blessed than this life? There is no fear of poverty there, no feebleness of sickness; no one is hurt, no one grows angry, no one envies; no covetousness blazes up, no desire of food, no craving for honour or ambition for power. There is no fear of the devil there, no snares of demons, the terror of hell is far off, death neither of body nor of soul, but by the gift of immortality a life full of delight. There will then be nowhere any discord; but all things harmonious, all things fitting; for there is one concord of all the saints: peace and gladness contain all things, all things are tranquil and quiet.
There is unbroken splendour, not such as now is, but as much brighter as it is happier; for that city, as it is read, 'shall not need the light of the sun, but the Lord almighty shall enlighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof' (cf. Rev. 21:23): where the saints shall shine as stars unto perpetual eternities, and 'as the brightness of the firmament they that instruct many unto righteousness' (Dan. 12:3). Wherefore there is no night there, no darkness, no gathering of clouds, no harshness of cold or of heat; but there will be a certain temperateness of things, such as 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man' (1 Cor. 2:9), save of those who are found worthy to enjoy it fully, whose names
are written in the book of life, who also 'have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night' (cf. Rev. 7:14-15). There is no old age there, nor the misery of old age, while all attain 'unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ' (Eph. 4:13). But above all these things it is to be associated with the assemblies of the Angels and Archangels, with the Thrones also and Dominions, Principalities and Powers, and to enjoy the companionships of all the heavenly and supernal Virtues, and to behold the hosts of the saints glittering more splendidly than the stars, gleaming with the faith of the Patriarchs, rejoicing with the hope of the Prophets, and the Apostles
judging the world upon the twelve tribes of Israel, the martyrs shining with the purple crowns of victory, and to behold too the virgins bearing the gleaming garlands of their choir. But of the King who sits in the midst of these, no voice suffices to speak. For that comeliness, that beauty, that power, that glory, that magnificence, that majesty escapes all speech and exceeds every sense of the human mind. For beyond all the glory of the saints it is to behold his own inestimable countenance, and to be irradiated by the splendour of his majesty. For if daily we had to endure torments, if we had to bear hell itself for a short time, that we might be able to see Christ coming in glory and be associated with the number of his saints;
would it not be worthy to suffer all that is grievous, that we might be made partakers of so great a good and of such glory? 4. By what price heaven is purchased. What will that glory of the righteous be, dearest brethren, how great the joy of the saints, when every face shall shine as the sun (Matt. 13:43), when with ranks distinguished the Lord shall begin to review his people in the kingdom of his Father, and to render to the merits and works of each one the promised rewards; to bestow heavenly things for earthly, everlasting for temporal, great for small;
to lead the saints into the vision of the Father's glory, and to make them sit together in the heavenly places, that God may be all in all, and to lavish eternity and immortality upon those who love him, unto which he restored them by the life-giving of his blood, to lead them back again to paradise, and to open the kingdom of heaven by the faith and truth of his promise? Let these things adhere firmly to our senses, let these be understood with full faith, let these be loved with the whole heart, let these be acquired by the magnanimity of unceasing works. It is laid up in the power of the doer; for the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence. This thing, O man, that is, the heavenly kingdom, seeks no other price than thyself. It is worth as much as thou art: give thyself, and thou shalt have it.
Why art thou troubled about the price? Christ delivered up himself, that he might acquire thee into a kingdom for God the Father: so do thou too give thyself, that thou mayest be his kingdom, and that sin may not reign in thy mortal body, but the spirit unto the acquisition of life. To this palm, therefore, of salutary works let whosoever desires the rewards promised for eternal ages delight to run. 5. The purple crown of the martyrs, the white crown of those who live justly. Willingly, then, brethren, and readily let us contend, let us all run in the contest of righteousness while God and Christ look on: and we who have begun to be greater than the age and the world, let us not slacken our course by any covetousness of the age and the world.
If the last day finds us unencumbered, swift, and running in this contest of work, the Lord will nowhere fail to reward our merits with a prize. He who bestowed in persecution the purple crown for passion, will himself give to those living in peace the white crown also for the merits of righteousness. For neither Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob were slain; and yet, honoured for the merits of faith and righteousness, they deserved to be first among the Patriarchs: to whose banquet is gathered whosoever is found faithful and just and praiseworthy. We ought to be mindful that we must do not our own will, but God's: for 'he that doeth his will abideth for ever' (1 John 2:17), even as he too abideth for ever.
Wherefore, dearest ones, with an undivided mind, firm faith, robust virtue, and perfect charity let us be ready for the whole will of God, keeping bravely the Lord's commandments. In simplicity preserve innocence, in charity concord, modesty in humility, diligence in administration, watchfulness in aiding those who labour, mercy in cherishing the poor, constancy in defending the truth, censure in the severity of discipline; lest anything be lacking in us for the example of good deeds. 6. How the eternal life is to be desired. For these are the footsteps which all the saints, returning to the homeland, have left us; that, cleaving to their paths, we might follow them to joys.