St. Alphonsus de Liguori

The Offering that Mary made of herself to God was prompt without delay, and entire without reserve.

There never was, and never will be, an offering on the part of a pure creature greater or more perfect than that which Mary made to God when, at the age of three years, she presented herself in the temple to offer Him, not aromatical spices, nor calves, nor gold, but her entire self, consecrating herself as a perpetual victim in His honour. She well understood the voice of God, calling her to devote herself entirely to His love, when He said, “arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come!” (Song of Solomon 2:10). Therefore her Lord willed that from that time she should forget her country, and all, to think only of loving and pleasing Him: “Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; and forget thy people, and thy father’s house” (Psalm 45:10-11). She with promptitude and at once obeyed the divine call. Let us, then, consider how acceptable was this offering which Mary made of herself to God; for it was prompt and entire. Hence the two points for our consideration are, first, Mary’s offering was prompt and without delay; secondly, it was entire and without reserve.

First Point. – Mary’s offering was prompt. From the first moment that this heavenly child was sanctified in her mother’s womb, which was in the instant of her Immaculate Conception, she received the perfect use of reason, that she might begin to merit. This is in accordance with the general opinion of theologians, and with that of Father Suarez in particular, who says, that as the most perfect way in which God sanctifies a soul is by its own merit, as Saint Thomas also teaches, it is thus we must believe that the Blessed Virgin was sanctified: “To be sanctified by one’s own act is the more perfect way.

Therefore it is to be believed that the Blessed Virgin was thus sanctified.” And if this privilege was granted to the angels, and to Adam, as the angelic Doctor says, much more ought we to believe that it was granted to the Divine Mother, on whom, certainly we must suppose that God, having condescended to make her His Mother, also conferred greater gifts than on all other creatures. “From her,” says the same holy Doctor, “He received His human nature, and therefore she must have obtained a greater plenitude of grace from Christ than all others.” “For being a mother,” Father Suarez says, “she has a sort of special right to all the gifts of her Son;” and as, on account of the hypostatic union, it was right that Jesus should receive the plenitude of all graces, so, on account of the divine maternity, it was becoming that Jesus should confer, as a natural debt, greater graces on Mary than He granted to all other saints and angels.

Thus, from the beginning of her life, Mary knew God, and knew Him so that “no tongue” (as the angel declared to Saint Bridget) “will ever express how clearly this Blessed Virgin understood His greatness in that very first moment of her existence.” And thus enlightened, she instantly offered her entire self to her Lord, dedicating herself, without reserve, to His love and glory. “Immediately,” the angel went on to say, “our Queen determined to sacrifice her will to God, and to give Him all her love for the whole of her life. No one can understand how entire was the subjection in which she then placed her will, and how fully she was determined to do all according to His pleasure.”

But the Immaculate Child, afterwards understanding that her holy parents, Joachim and Anne, had promised God, even by vow, as many authors relate, that if He granted them issue, they would consecrate it to His service in the temple; as it was, moreover, an ancient custom amongst the Jews to take their daughters to the temple, and there to leave them for their education (for which purpose there were cells contiguous), as it is recorded by Baronius, Nicephorus, Cedrenus, and Suarez, with Josephus, the Jewish historian, and also on the authority of Saint John Damascen, Saint George of Nicomedia, Saint Anselm, and Saint Ambrose, and, as we may easily gather from the Second Book of Machabees, where, speaking of Heliodorus, who besieged the temple, that he might gain possession of the treasure there deposited, says, “Because the place was like to come into contempt … and the virgins also that were shut up came forth, some to Onias.” Mary hearing this, I say, having scarcely attained the age of three years, as Saint Germanus and Saint Epiphanius attest–the latter of whom says, “In her third year she was brought to the temple”–an age at which children are the most desirous and stand in the greatest need of their parents’ care, she desired to offer and solemnly to consecrate herself to God, by presenting herself in the temple. Hence, of her own accord, she requested her parents, with earnestness, to take her there, that they might thus accomplish their promise. And her holy mother, says Saint Gregory of Nyssa, “did not long delay leading her to the temple, and offering her to God.”

Behold now Joachim and Anne, generously sacrificing to God the most precious treasure that they possessed in the world, and the one which was dearest to their hearts, setting out from Nazareth, carrying their well-beloved little daughter in turns, for she could not otherwise have undertaken so long a journey as that from Nazareth to Jerusalem, it being a distance of eighty miles, as several authors say. They were accompanied by few relatives, but choirs of angels, according to Saint George of Nicomedia, escorted and served the Immaculate little Virgin, who was about to consecrate herself to the Divine Majesty. “How beautiful are thy steps, O prince’s daughter!” O, how beautiful (must the angels have sung), how acceptable to God is thy every step, taken on thy way to present and offer thyself to Him! O noble daughter, most beloved of our common Lord! “God Himself, with the whole heavenly court,” says Bernardine de Bustis, “made great rejoicings on that day, beholding His spouse coming to the temple.” “For He never saw a more holy creature, or one whom He so tenderly loved, come to offer herself to Him.” “go then” (says Saint Germanus, archbishop of Constantinople), “go, O Queen of the world, O Mother of God, go joyfully to the house of God, there to await the coming of the Divine Spirit, who will make thee the Mother of the Eternal Word.” “Enter with exultation the courts of the Lord, in expectation of the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the Conception of the only-begotten Son of God.”

When the holy company had reached the temple the fair child turned to her parents, and on her knees kissed their hands, and asked their blessing; and then, without again turning back, she ascended the fifteen steps of the temple (according to Arius Montano, quoting Josephus), and as we are told by Saint Germanus, presented herself to the priest, Saint Zachary. Having done this, she bade farewell to the world, and renouncing all the pleasures which it promises to its votaries, she offered and consecrated herself to her Creator.

At the time of the deluge a raven sent out of the ark by Noah, remained to feed on the dead bodies; but the dove, without resting her foot, quickly “returned to him into the ark” (Gen. 8:9). Many who are sent by God into this world unfortunately remain to feed on earthly goods. It was not thus that Mary, our heavenly dove, acted; she knew full well that God should be our only good, our only hope, our only love; she knew that the world is full of dangers, and that he who leaves it the soonest is freest from its snares: hence she sought to do this in her tenderest years, and as soon as possible shut herself up in the sacred retirement of the temple, where she could better hear His voice, and honour and love Him more. Thus did the Blessed Virgin in her very first actions render herself entirely dear and agreeable to her Lord, as the holy Church says in her name: “Rejoice with me, all ye who love God; for when I was a little one I pleased the Most High.” For this reason she was likened to the moon; for as the moon completes her course with greater velocity than the other planets, so did Mary attain perfection sooner than all the Saints, by giving herself to God promptly and without delay, and making herself all His without reserve. Let us now pass to the second point, on which we shall have much to say.

Second Point – The enlightened child well knew that God does not accept a divided heart, but wills that, as He has commanded, it should be consecrated to His love without the least reserve: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Hence from the first moment of her life she began to love God with all her strength, and gave herself entirely to Him. But still her most holy soul awaited with the most ardent desire the moment when she might consecrate herself to Him in a more solemn and public way. Let us, then, consider with what fervour this loving and tender Virgin, on finding herself actually enclosed in the holy place, first prostrate, kissed that ground as the house of her Lord: and then adored His Infinite Majesty, thanked Him for the favour she had received in being thus brought to dwell for a time in His house, and then offered her entire self to her God, wholly, without reserving anything–all her powers and all her senses, her whole mind and her whole heart, her whole soul and her whole body; for then it was, according to many authors, that to please God “she vowed Him her virginity,” a vow which, according to the Abbot Rupert, “Mary was the first to make.” And the offering she then made of her entire self was without any reserve as to time, as Bernardine of Bustis declares: “Mary offered and dedicated herself to the perpetual service of God”; for her intention was to dedicate herself to the service of His Divine Majesty in the temple for her whole life, should such be the good pleasure of God, and never to leave that sacred place. O, with what effusion of soul must she then have exclaimed, “My beloved to me, and I to Him!” (Song of Solomon 2:16). Cardinal Hugo paraphrases these words, saying, “I will live all His, and die all His.” “My Lord and my God,” she said, “I am come here to please Thee alone, and to give Thee all the honour that is in my power; here will I live all Thine, and die all Thine, should such be Thy pleasure; accept the sacrifice which Thy poor servant offers Thee and enable me to be faithful to Thee.”

Here let us consider how holy was the life which Mary led in the temple, where, as “the morning rising” (Song of Solomon 6:10), which rapidly bursts out into the full brightness of mid-day, she progressed in perfection. Who can ever tell the always-increasing brightness with which her resplendent virtues shone forth from day to day: charity, modesty, humility, silence, mortification, meekness. This fair olive-tree, says Saint John Damascen, planted in the house of God, and nurtured by the Holy Ghost, became the dwelling-place of all virtues; “led to the temple, and thenceforward planted in the house of God, and cultivated by the Spirit, she as a fruitful olive-tree became the abode of all virtues.” The same Spirit says elsewhere, “that the countenance of the Blessed Virgin was modest, her mind humble, her words proceeding from a composed interior were engaging.” In another place he asserts that she turned her thoughts far from earthly things, embracing all virtues; and thus exercising herself in perfection, she made such rapid progress in a short time, that she merited to become a temple worthy of God.

St. Anselm also speaks of the life of the Blessed Virgin in the temple, and says that “Mary was docile, spoke little, was always composed, did not laugh, and that her mind was never disturbed. She also persevered in prayer, in the study of the sacred Scriptures, in fastings, and all virtuous works.” Saint Jerome enters more into detail. He says that Mary thus regulated in her life: In the morning until the third hour she remained in prayer; from the third hour until the ninth she employed herself with work; and from the ninth hour she again prayed until the angel brought her her food, as he was wont to do. She was always the first in watchings, the most exact in the observance of the Divine law, the most profoundly humble, and the most perfect in every virtue. No one ever saw her angry: her every word carried such sweetness with it that it was a witness to all that God was with her.

We read in St. Bonaventure’s Life of Christ, that the Divine Mother herself revealed to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary that “when her father and mother left her in the temple, she determined to have God alone for her Father, and often thought how she could please Him most.” Moreover, as we learn from the Revelations of Saint Bridget, “she determined to consecrate her virginity to Him, and to possess nothing in the world, and to give Him her entire will.” Besides this, she told Saint Elizabeth that of all the commandments to be observed she especially kept this one before her eyes: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God”; and that at midnight she went before the altar of the temple to beg that He would grant her the grace to observe them all, and also that she might live to see the birth of the Mother of the Redeemer, entreating Him at the same time to preserve her eyes to behold her, her tongue to praise her, her hands and feet to serve her, and her knees to adore her Divine Son in her womb. Saint Elizabeth, on hearing this, said, “But Lady, wast thou not full of grace and virtue?” Mary replied, “Know that I considered myself most vile and unworthy of Divine grace, and therefore thus earnestly prayed for grace and virtue.” And finally, that we might be convinced of the absolute necessity under which we all are of asking the graces that we require from God, she added: “Dost thou think that I possessed grace and virtue without effort? Know that I obtained no grace from God without great effort, constant prayer, ardent desire, and many tears and mortifications.”

But above all we should consider the revelation made to Saint Bridget of the virtues and practices of the Blessed Virgin in her childhood, in the following words: “From her childhood Mary was full of the Holy Ghost, and as she advanced in age she advanced also in grace. Thenceforward she determined to love God with her whole heart, so that she might never offend Him, either by her words or actions; and therefore she despised all earthly goods. She gave all that she could to the poor. In her food she was so temperate, that she only took as much as was barely necessary to sustain her body. Afterwards, on discovering in the sacred Scriptures that God was to be born of a Virgin, that He might redeem the world, her soul was to such a degree inflamed with Divine love, that she could desire and think of nothing but God; and finding pleasure in Him alone, she avoided all company, even that of her parents, lest their presence might deprive her of His remembrance. She desired, with the greatest ardour, to live until the time of the coming of the Messiah, that she might be the servant of that happy Virgin, who merited to be His Mother.” Thus far the Revelations of Saint Bridget.

Ah, yes, for the love of this exalted child the Redeemer did indeed hasten His coming into the world; for whilst she, in her humility, looked upon herself as unworthy to be the servant of the Divine Mother, she was herself chosen to be this Mother; and by the sweet odour of her virtues and her powerful prayers she drew the Divine Son into her virginal womb. For this reason Mary was called a turtle-dove by her Divine Spouse: “The voice of the turtle is heard in our land” (Song of Solomon 2:12). Not only because as a turtle-dove she always loved solitude, living in this world as in a desert, but also because, like a turtle-dove, which always sighs for its companions, Mary always sighed in the temple, compassionating the miseries of the lost world, and seeking from God the redemption of all. O, with how much greater feeling and fervour than the prophets did she repeat their prayers and sighs, that God would send the promised Redeemer! “Send forth, O Lord, the Lamb, the ruler of the earth” (Isaiah 16:1). “Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just!” (Isaiah 45:8)

In a word, it was a subject of delight to God to behold this tender Virgin always ascending towards the highest perfection, like a pillar of somke, rich in the sweet odour of all the virtues, as the Holy Ghost Himself clearly describes her in the sacred Canticles: “Who is she that goeth up by the desert as a pillar of smoke, of aromatical spices, of myrrh and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer?” (Song of Solomon 3:6). “This child,” says Saint Sophronuius, “was truly God’s garden of delights; for He there found every kind of flower, and all the sweet odours of virtues.” Hence Saint John Chrysostom affirms, that God chose Mary for His Mother in this world because He did not find on earth a Virgin more holy and more perfect than she was, nor any dwelling more worthy than her most sacred womb. Saint Bernard also says, “that there was not on earth a more worthy place than the virginal womb.” This also agrees with the assertion of Saint Antoninus, that the Blessed Virgin, to be chosen for, and destined to the dignity of the Mother of God, was necessarily so great and consummate in perfection as to surpass all other creatures: “The last grace of perfection is that which prepared her for the conception of the Son of God.”

As, then, the holy child Mary presented and offered herself to God in the temple with promptitude and without reserve, so let us also present ourselves this day to Mary without delay and without reserve; and let us entreat her to offer us to God, who will not reject us when He sees us presented by the hand of that blessed creature, who was the living temple of the Holy Ghost, the delight of her Lord, and the chosen Mother of the Eternal Word. Let us also have unbounded confidence in this high and gracious Lady, who rewards, indeed, with the greatest love the homage that she receives from her clients, as we may gather from the following example.

EXAMPLE

We read in the life of Sister Domenica del Paradiso, written by the Dominican Father Ignatius del Niente, that she was born of poor parents, in the village of Paradiso, near Florence. From her very infancy she began to serve the Divine Mother. She fasted every day in her honour, and on Saturdays gave her food, of which she deprived herself, to the poor. Every Saturday she went into the garden and into the neighboring fields, and gathered all the flowers that she could find, and presented them before an image of the Blessed Virgin with the Child in her arms, which she kept in the house. But let us now see with how many favours this most gracious Lady recompensed the homage of her servant. One day, when Domenica was ten years of age, standing at the window, she saw in the street a lady of noble mien, accompanied by a little child, and they both extended their hands, asking for alms. She went to get some bread, when in a moment, without the door being opened, the saw them by her side, and perceived that the child’s hands and feet and side were wounded. She therefore asked the Lady who had wounded the child. The mother answered, “It was love.” Domenica, inflamed with love at the sight of the beauty and modesty of the child, asked him if the wounds pained him? His only answer was a smile. But, as they were standing near the statue of Jesus and Mary, the lady said to Domenica: “Tell me, my child, what is it that makes thee crown these images with flowers?” She replied, “It is the love that I bear to Jesus and Mary.” “And how much dost thou love them?” “I love them as much as I can.” “And how much canst thou love them?” “As much as they enable me.” “Continue, then,” added the lady, “continue to love them; for they will amply repay thy love in heaven.”

The little girl then perceiving that a heavenly odour came forth from those wounds, asked the mother with what ointment she anointed them, and if it could be bought. The lady answered, “It is bought with faith and good works.” Domenica then offered the bread. The Mother said, “Love is the food of my Son; tell Him that thou lovest Jesus, and He will be satisfied.” The child at the word love seemed filled with joy, and turning towards the little girl, asked her how much she loved Jesus. She answered that she loved Him so much, that night and day she always thought of Him, and sought for nothing else but to give Him as much pleasure as she possibly could. “It is well,” He replied; “love Him, for love will teach thee what to do to please Him.” The sweet odour which exhaled form those wounds then increasing, Domenica cried out, “O God! this odour makes me die of love.” If the odour of a child is so sweet, what must that of heaven be? But behold the scene now changed; the Mother appeared clothed as a Queen, and the child resplendent with beauty like the sun. He took the flowers and scattered them on the head of Domenica, who recognizing Jesus and Mary in those personages, was already prostrate adoring them. Thus the vision ended. Domenica afterwards took the habit of a Domicaness, and died in the odour of sanctity in the year 1553.

PRAYER

O beloved Mother of God, most amiable child Mary, O that, as thou didst present thyself in the temple, and with promptitude and without reserve, didst consecrate thyself to the glory and love of God, I could offer thee, this day, the first years of my life, to devote myself without reserve to thy service, my holy and most sweet Lady! But it is now too late to do this; for, unfortunate creature that I am, I have lost so many years in the service of the world and my own caprices, and have lived in almost entire forgetfulness of thee and of God: “Woe to that time in which I did not love thee!” But it is better to begin late than not at all. Behold, O Mary, I this day present myself to thee, and I offer myself without reserve to thy service for the long or short time that I still have to live in this world; and in union with thee I renounce all creatures, and devote myself entirely to the love of my Creator. I consecrate my mind to thee, O Queen, that it may always think of the love that thou deservest, my tongue to praise thee, my heart to love thee. Do thou accept, O most holy Virgin, the offering which this miserable sinner now makes thee: accept it, I beseech thee, by the consolation that thy heart experienced when thou gavest thyself to God in the temple. But since I enter thy service late, it is reasonable that I should redouble my acts of homage and love, thereby to compensate for lost time. Do thou help my weakness with thy powerful intercession, O Mother of Mercy, by obtaining me perseverance from thy Jesus, and strength to be always faithful to thee until death; that thus always serving thee in life, I may praise thee in Paradise for all eternity. Amen.

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