Visitation of the
Blessed Virgin Mary ~ Adapted from the Glories of Mary,
St. Alphonsus de
Liguori
Mary is the Treasurer
of all Divine Graces; therefore, whoever desires Graces, must have recourse to Mary;
and he who has recourse to Mary may be certain of obtaining the Graces he
desires.
FORTUNATE
does that family consider itself which is visited by a royal personage, both on
account of the honour that redounds from such a visit, and the advantages that
may be hoped to accrue from it. But still more fortunate should that soul
consider itself which is visited by the Queen of the world, the most holy
Virgin Mary, who cannot but fill with riches and graces those blessed souls
whom she deigns to visit by her favours. The house of Obededom was blessed when
visited by the ark of God: "And the Lord blessed his house." (2
Samuel 6:10) But with how much greater blessings are those persons enriched who
receive a loving visit from this living ark of God, for such was the Divine Mother!
This was abundantly experienced by the
house of Saint John the Baptist; for Mary had scarcely entered it when she
heaped graces and heavenly benedictions on the whole family.
After the
Blessed Virgin had heard from the Archangel Gabriel, that her cousin Saint
Elizabeth had been six months pregnant, she was internally enlightened by the
Holy Ghost to know that the Incarnate Word, who had become her Son, was pleased
then to manifest to the world the riches of His mercy in the first graces that
He desired to impart to all that family. Therefore, without delay, according to
Saint Luke, " Mary rising up . . . went into the hill country with
haste." Rising from the quiet of contemplation to which she was always
devoted, and quitting her beloved solitude, she immediately set out for the
dwelling of Saint Elizabeth; and because " charity beareth all things;"
and cannot support delay, as Saint Ambrose remarks on this Gospel: ' The Holy
Ghost knows not slow undertakings;''' without even reflecting on the arduous journey
ahead, this tender Virgin, I say, immediately undertook it. On reaching the
house she salutes her cousin: “And she entered into the house of Zachary, and
saluted Elizabeth." Saint Ambrose here remarks, that Mary was ' the first
to salute' Elizabeth. The visit of Mary, however had no resemblance with those
of worldlings, which, for the greater part, consist in ceremony and outward
demonstrations, devoid of all sincerity; for it brought with for it an
accumulation of graces. The moment she entered that dwelling, on her first
salutation, Elizabeth was filled for it brought with it an accumulation of
graces.
Elizabeth
was filled with the Holy Ghost, and Saint John was cleansed from original sin,
and sanctified; and therefore gave that mark of joy by leaping in his mother's womb;
wishing, thereby, to manifest the grace that he had received by the means of
the Blessed Virgin, as Saint Elizabeth herself declared: " As soon as the
voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for
joy."
Mary was the
channel through which grace was communicated to the Baptist, the Holy Ghost to
Elizabeth, the gift of prophecy to Zachary, and so many other blessings to the
whole house, the first graces, which, to our knowledge, the Eternal Word had
granted on earth after His Incarnation, it is quite correct to believe, that
from thence forward God made Mary the universal channel, as she is called by
Saint Bernard, through which all the other graces which our Lord is pleased to
dispense to us should pass. With reason, then, is this Divine Mother called the
treasure, the treasurer, and the dispenser of Divine graces. Saint Bernard affirms, that our Lord ' has
deposited the plenitude of every grace in Mary, that we may thus know that if
we possess hope, grace, or anything salutary, that it is from her that it
came.' Of this we are also assured by Mary herself, saying, "In me is all
grace of the way and of the truth;" in me are all the graces of real
blessings that you men can desire in life. Yes, sweet Mother, and our hope, we
know full well, says Saint Peter Damian,' that all the treasures of Divine
mercies are in thy hands.' that which she seeks she finds, and cannot be
frustrated.' If we then desire graces, we must go to this treasurer and
dispenser of graces; for it is the sovereign will of the giver of every good
thing, and we are assured of it by the same Saint Bernard, that all graces
should be dispensed by the hands of Mary: ' For such is His will, who is
pleased that we should have all by Mary.' All, all, and he who says all,
excludes nothing.
Let us then,
O devout clients of Mary, rouse ourselves to greater and greater confidence
each time that we have recourse to her for graces. That we may do so, let us
always remember two great prerogatives of this good Mother; her great desire to
do us good, and the power she has with her Son to obtain whatever she asks.
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