IN PRAISE OF MARY (IV)

This is my fourth Facebook note of this kind.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.



Ah, Lady, how can I ever begin to thank Thee for the graces Thou hast gained from Thy Son for me? Grant that I may get a Priest of Thy Son to say a Votive Mass in Thine honour. Every grace I have received from God I have received through Thee; and Thou hast lifted me up from the quagmire of sin, not once but many times. Without Thee who knows where I would be? I think I would be a wretch with such a weak and flabby will that I would not be able to resist the least temptation. I would be an unspeakable monster of vice and sin. It is true that I have sinned exceedingly greatly in my life, such that the very thought of my sins makes me tremble; but it is thanks to Thee, my Mother, that I have not died in them, as in strict justice I deserve. But God's Justice, while remaining perfectly infinite, is tempered by His Mercy, which is also perfectly infinite.

I had intended, my dearest Mother, to write, this Wednesday past, of Thine Immaculate Conception. I began to do so, but never brought the task to completion. Forgive me. I shall write of it here.




Alone of all the daughters of our first mother, Thou alone wast conceived without original sin. All her other daughters, and all her sons excepting only One, were conceived in sin: for terrible is God's Justice. Under the New Law, original sin is purged from the soul by the Sacrament of Baptism. There were some theologians who held the false view, which dishonoureth Thee, that Thou wast conceived in sin, but purified immediately, in the second instant of time, that moment immediately after the moment wherein Thou wast conceived. No! No! A thousand, ten thousand, ten thousand times ten thousand times no! Never, never, O never, was there the least hint, the least penumbra, the least simulacrum, the least shadow of a shadow of a stain of sin in Thy beautiful soul! Let nobody, nobody, say otherwise! "Tota pulchra es, Virgo Maria, et macula originalis non est in te." Non est in te, my dearest Mother, nec umquam in te fuit! Numquam! Numquam![1] Never! Never! God, in becoming man, could have chosen a Mother worthy of Himself, or a Mother unworthy of Himself. He could create a Mother who was free from original sin in the first moment of Her conception, or He could have done otherwise. Which redounds the greater to His glory? Which is more perfect? God could choose a Mother worthy of Himself; He could do it, and He has done it!




What of the fact that many theologians, of great virtue and intelligence, did not believe in what is now a defined article of the Catholic Faith? Is it possible for a large number of intelligent theologians...to be wrong?! Is it possible for theologians, even a St Thomas Aquinas, to be wrong? Yes! This is precisely why we have an infallible Church! How could an infallible Christ institute a fallible Church? Deny the infallibility of the Church that Christ instituted, you deny the infallibility of Christ. It is one thing to deny the infallibility of Christ; it is another thing to deny it and claim to be Christian.

Eve was created immaculate! God could create an Eve immaculate, and you say He could not create Mary immaculate? Shall God's own Mother be less than the mother of mankind?

Although some theologians have denied the Immaculate Conception, there has never been a time when the Church, as a whole, did not believe in it. The development of the doctrine is outlined by Bl. Pope Pius IX in the document wherein he promulgated the dogma as an article of the Faith, to be believed on pain of heresy, entitled Deus ineffabilis: a magnificent document; I recommend that it be read every year on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Mary, Thou wast not, like us sinners, conceived in sin: nor didst Thou ever commit the slightest sin: Thou wast preserved from both original sin and actual sin: and, concerning actual sin, Thou wast preserved both from mortal and from venial sin; from venial sin, both deliberate and semi-deliberate. And not only didst Thou never sin: Thou wast utterly faithful to God's grace every moment of Thy life: Thou wast free from every imperfection. Excluding the human Nature of Christ (for, let us remember, Christ Himself, the Second Person of the Trinity, is not a creature but the very Creator of Heaven and Earth - for He is God), Thou art the most perfect of all the creatures of God.


Shall we not then venerate Thee; shall we not give Thee that respect which is Thy due? Thee, Who art the Mother of God, Perpetual Virgin, ante partum, in partu, et post partum;[2] Thee, Who art the perfectest of women?



No, we do not honour Thee exceedingly. How could we possibly honour Thee exceedingly? By giving that worship to Thee which is due to God alone. We struggle to give Thee that honour which is Thy due: how can we call our praise of Thee excessive?


I once heard a woman say, and how true it is, that a person's orthodoxy can be told by his attitude to Mary. Why is this? Perhaps because "Thou alone hast destroyed all the heresies in the universal world." How right St Louis de Montfort was when he said, in his masterpiece, True Devotion to Mary, "Heretics learn and say the Our Father, but not the Hail Mary...they would rather wear a serpent round their neck than a rosary." As for those who have nothing but contempt for Our Lady, and for Our Lady's Psalter, let us pray for them; I fear for their salvation.



Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.



Saturday, 11th December, 2010



[1] The Latin reads: Thou art all beautiful, O Virgin Mary, and the original stain is not in thee. Is not in thee...nor ever was in thee! Never! Never!

[2] Before giving birth, in giving birth, and after giving birth.