The First Glorious Mystery
"He shall reign for ever, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end." (St Luke i. 32, 33.)
1st Prelude. A picture or statue of Our Lady.
2nd Prelude. Grace to learn from Mary how to rejoice.
Point I.– Mary's Easter Day
"Of His Kingdom there shall be no end." It was to Mary that these words were said, before her Son was born; and she believed them. She knew, therefore, that He would rise again; she knew that all was not finished when she left the precious Body in Joseph's new tomb. In all probability, too, Jesus had told her, as He told the Apostles, that He would rise again on the third day. And while they "believed not nor understood," she did both. But this supernatural gift of faith, which she exercised to the full, had not the power to prevent the sword from piercing on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. She felt the full weight of all her sorrow, but she sorrowed, as all Christian mourners should do, "not without hope."
What must her expectation have been as she knelt on that Holy Saturday night counting the minutes till the day dawned! She knew that He would rise again – but would she see Him? Would He come to her? He had kept her so much in the background during His ministry, perhaps He will do so still, and it will be to those who need Him most that He will come. No, sweet Mother, the meek and lowly of heart ever attract Him; it is to the heart which desires Him most that He will come. A pure, disinterested desire to have Jesus ever proves to Him an invincible attraction. No one on earth desired to see Jesus as Mary did, and it was to her, as the traditions of the Holy Fathers testify, that He came first – as soon as the Easter Day dawned and "death could no longer be holden of Him." The Evangelists are silent about this appearance of Jesus to His Blessed Mother, for the very good reason that she told them nothing about it. There was no need to do so, as, for example, there was to tell various little details about His Birth, because God wished us to know them. At this meeting of the Son and the Mother even Angels would fear to intrude; and we ordinary mortals simply should not understand what took place, even were it narrated to us. All those to whom He appeared would take it for granted that His Mother had seen Him – why write down a thing that everybody knew? "According to thy faith be it unto thee." Mary was the only one who had faith enough to believe that her Son would rise again, and it was only natural that she should be the first to see Him. She was the one who had entered most deeply into His sorrows, and she would be the one to whom He would first communicate the Easter joy. Let us now think a little about Mary's joy.
Point II.– Mary's Joy and its Causes
What joy it must have been to Mary to see that precious Body which He had taken from her, which she had nurtured and tended and loved, which she had seen so recently covered with scars and gaping wounds! What joy it must have been to her to see It in all the beauty of Its Resurrection – to see It glorified! Her joy was so intense that the saints tell us it was only by a miracle that her body could master her soul and keep it still a prisoner. And then the consolation of knowing that never again would He suffer – the joy of seeing the Five Wounds and knowing that He would keep them always, as precious memorials of His death and of His victory over death, of His undying love for His Church, and of His right to give it all that it should ever claim, because with those wounds He had more than paid for all that it would ever need.
Mary entered into all these truths as no one else could, and therefore her Easter joy was greater than that of anybody else. Her joy was greater, too, because her love was greater. Her love for Jesus was wholly unselfish, and so was her joy; it was wholly on account of the joy of her Son. She forgot her own joy for the moment; she forgot the long exile that lay before her; she forgot everything but His joy.
Her suffering also was indirectly another cause of her joy. Our capacity for joy is in proportion to our capacity for suffering. We have seen something of what Mary's capacity for suffering was, and so we can understand in some small measure how full was her cup of joy.
Mary had other joys too, which were incidental to the joy of seeing her Son risen and glorified. She saw the saints who rose with Him, for He would be sure to present them to His Mother. Some would need no introduction – her dear spouse St Joseph, her parents St Joachim and St Anne.
Yes, Mary's joys more than made up for her sorrows. One day, if we try to receive our cup of sorrow as Mary did, that is, take it forJesus and withJesus, we too shall receive the cup of joy, and we shall be able to say with St Paul as we put the two side by side: "The sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory." (Rom. viii. 18.)
Teach me, O holy Mother of God, something of this real joy – the joy that is arrived at through faith, through suffering, through a perfect union of heart with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and through conformity to God's will; the joy of the risen life – the new life that rises out of the death to self.
Colloquy. The Regina Cœli: —
"Queen of Heaven, rejoice, – Alleluia
For He Whom thou wast made
worthy to bear – Alleluia
Hath risen as He said – Alleluia.
Pray for us to God – Alleluia."
(Anthem from Easter to Trinity.)
Resolution. To say my Fiat bravely with Mary, as the surest way of sharing her joy.
Spiritual Bouquet. "Causa nostræ lætitiæ, ora pro nobis."
The Second and Third Glorious Mysteries
"All these were persevering with one mind in prayer, with the women, and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and with His brethren." (Acts i. 14.)
1st Prelude. (1) A picture of the Ascension – Our Lady kissing the Footprints.
(2) A picture of the Descent of the Holy Ghost – a tongue of fire resting on the head of Our Lady, who is seated in the midst of the Apostles.
2nd Prelude. Grace to enter into the dispositions of Mary.
Point I.– Mary on Ascension Day
Many, no doubt, were the visits that Jesus paid to His Blessed Mother during the forty days that His glorified Body still lingered in this world of ours, as though He were loath to leave it. He was bracing her up for the time of exile that lay before her, filling her with stores of consolation upon which she would be able to draw in her times of desolation. She probably knew that the fortieth day was the last, and that, when He led His little flock out "as far as Bethania," it was His last walk with them. She knew of the "mountain appointed" where He wished all His brethren to assemble – "more than five hundred at once." (1 Cor. xv. 6.) She heard His last words, heard Him charge His witnesses: "Going, therefore, teach (make disciples of) all nations: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." (St Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.) She was not to be a witness – though she was ever the silent witness of His Humanity – but it was only fitting that she should hear all the orders that were given to her children. She heard of the promise of the Father, and that they were to stay in the city till it was fulfilled. She saw Him lift up His hands in blessing – the last blessing; she watched with the rest His glorified Body raised up from their midst – watched till "a cloud received Him out of their sight," then she knelt in humble acquiescence to God's will and kissed the ground where He had just stood – the favoured bit of earth which was the last to be touched by His blessed Feet. When she looked up, it was to see two angels asking the astonished disciples why they were gazing into Heaven, and telling them that the same Jesus who was taken up from them into Heaven would so come again as they had seen Him go. It was not to her that the angels were speaking —she was not gazing up. She knew the lesson that the others were being taught, knew that her Son was already in Heaven, sitting at the right hand of God. (St Mark xvi. 19.) When the Apostles realised sufficiently what had happened, they, "adoring, went back to Jerusalem with joy," (St Luke xxiv. 52), and Mary led them to the Cenacle to "wait for the promise of the Father," as her Son had bidden them.
Thus she taught them the lesson she would teach all her children – that the only thing to do in times of desolation and sorrow is to follow closely the commands of Jesus: "Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye." It is no use to stand gazing after what has gone; this is no time for regrets; He gave a clear command: "Go to Jerusalem and wait." We shall always find that there is no balm for sorrow like fidelity to duty. It costs something; human nature longs to stay and hug its sorrow; but it is far wiser to turn away from the loved spot and go bravely hand in hand with the Mother of Sorrows to do the next thing to which duty – that is the voice of Jesus – calls us.
Point II.– Mary on the Day of Pentecost
Nine days they spent with Mary the Mother of Jesus, persevering with one mind in prayer, (Acts i. 14), and going constantly to the Temple to praise and bless God. (St Luke xxiv. 53.) It was a Novena of prayer and thanksgiving. It was Mary's first official act as Mother of the Church. She kept the little flock together, kept them close to her Son by obedience to His last command, by intercession for the great gift that He had promised to send them, and by thanksgiving for all that He had been to them and done for them. It was the first Retreat, and they made it with Mary, the Mother of God.
What must Mary's prayers have been during those nine days! She was now more united than ever to her Son; her eye of faith saw Him at the Right Hand of God in Heaven; she saw eye to eye with Him; she knew all His interests and intentions; she had still a Mother's right to command Him; she knew that nothing in their relationship was changed, and that He would not refuse her behests in Heaven any more than He had done on earth. And so, as her eyes swept the wide horizon which was now hers, the Mother of the Church made a Novena for Pentecost, praying with all her knowledge and all her power, for the Holy Ghost to come down upon her children – to come and fill that Church of which she was the Mother, that Church which her Son had founded, for which He had given His life.
These first Retreatants had no books. They needed none – their lives were so closely bound up with the life of Jesus; the Holy Spirit prayed within them; and Mary was ever with them directing, and setting them an example. In proportion as these things are true of us are we independent of exterior help in our prayers. And the more we are able to dispense with exterior help, the more interior and real will be our prayers.
Then "when the days were accomplished" – when the Novena was over – the Holy Ghost came down as Jesus had promised that He should – came down as a tongue of fire upon each one: a proof that He had entered into each one of those expectant, faithful souls, filling each according to his capacity, and giving each the power needful to carry on the work that was appointed for him to do.
What, then, must have been the measure with which Mary was "filled with the Holy Ghost," for what was the Apostles' work compared with hers? She had always been "full of grace" – she had long been the spouse of the Holy Ghost, ever since He had overshadowed her at the Incarnation, and He had always been filling her according to her ever-increasing capacity. We have seen how, under her Son's training, her horizon was ever enlarging – how much wider it became on Calvary, how pain and joy had dilated her heart, how her intercourse with her Divine Son during those forty days had still more widened her outlook; and now, with all the fresh territory over which she was to reign, in her mind and in her heart, she had been praying – the Holy Ghost had been praying within her – for Him to come and overshadow her once again, and fill her with grace that she might be able to meet all her new responsibilities as Mother of the Church. Mary had more need of the Holy Ghost than any of the hundred and twenty souls gathered in the Cenacle; her desire to receive Him too was greater than theirs; and so we may well believe that she received Him in a fuller measure. She had no need of the gifts of tongues and miracles, which were a necessity to the Apostles, to help them in the beginning of their difficult work. Her work during the remaining years of her life was that of intercession, and it was to be carried on in secret and obscurity. The gifts she needed from the Holy Ghost were those of hiddenness, patience, humility, conformity to God's will. She needed Him in all His plenitude to pray within her with "unutterable groanings" for all the needs of the Church throughout all time. Her work was still, as it ever had been, to ponder in her heart – to meditate and hold colloquies with her Divine Son, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, about all the interests which they had in common.
Colloquy. "Our Lady of Light, Spouse of the Holy Ghost, I offer thee my whole heart, my soul and my body, to keep for Jesus, that I may be His for ever. Our Lady of Light, pray for me." (Prayer of Blessed Grignon de Montfort.)
Resolution. To think more of the Holy Spirit praying within me.
Spiritual Bouquet. "Sacrarium Spiritus Sancti, ora pro nobis." (Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, pray for us.)
Mary's Exile
"Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged." (Ps. cxix. 5.)
1st Prelude. A statue or picture of Our Lady.
2nd Prelude. Grace to learn how an exiled child of Eve should live.
Point I.– Mary's Exile
Tradition tells us that St John took the Holy Mother to his house in Jerusalem, and that it was there that she died, though she spent some of the time of her exile at Ephesus. In solitude and silence she pondered over all the wonderful mysteries of her life; she interceded for her new-born child, the Church, which had already so many needs; and she helped the Apostles by her prayers. They were soon scattered in different directions, "making disciples of all nations," as their Master had bidden them; and it would only be at rare intervals that they could come and see their Mother, and talk over their difficulties, and get the advice of her who saw eye to eye with her Son. But what a comfort and strength it must have been to them to know that she was always there, telling her Divine Son of their needs!
And during those long years – according to some opinions fifteen, to others, twenty-three – what was Mary's strength? The same as it had ever been – union with her Son. Every day, tradition tells us, she received Him in the Blessed Sacrament at the hands of St John. What Communions must those have been, when Mary said again: Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum, and her God was again incarnate within her! What made those Communions so intense? The fact that His love and desire in coming were reciprocated. The love and desire are never wanting on His side, but unfortunately there is so little of either on ours! It takes more than one to make a good Communion. A joining together of two is the meaning of the word. If the union is to be strong, fervent, real, lasting, each must do his part. Oh, teach me, dear Mother, how to receive thy Son in Holy Communion. Thy whole life was centred in Him; thy every thought was with Him; everything thou didst was done for Him; every moment of thy exile gladly borne for Him; every sigh a spiritual Communion; and when each day the glad moment of actual Communion came, it was just His embrace – He pressed thee to His Heart for a few minutes, telling thee it would not be long before thy exile would be over, and thou wouldst see His Face again. Thy Communions were an ecstasy of love – help me to put a little more love into mine; teach me to regard them as the Bread from Heaven sent specially for the exile; teach me to make them the centre of my life; teach me to live my whole life with Him, so that my Communion may never be interrupted. This should be the aim, surely, of every communicant; it is the ideal life; it is the life that Jesus intended when He said: "He that eateth Me, he shall live by Me." It is possible; but oh, how far I come short!
Point II.– The Reason for Mary's Exile
Why did her Son leave her behind to suffer so intensely, as He well knew she would, from the separation? Would not the Beatific Vision in Heaven have been better than her Communions on earth? Could not her intercession for the Church have been even more effectual had she been close to her Son's throne in Heaven? Could she not have been the Mother of Good Counsel in Heaven for those who had to guide the Church in its infancy, as she has been ever since?
We can think of many reasons why Jesus left her in exile for a time: —
1. She had to nurse the new-born Church by strengthening and encouraging the Apostles with her example, so like that of the Master Himself, and by supplying the Evangelists with many details of His life, which they could not have learnt from any lips but hers.
2. She had to establish her position as Mother of the Church – the tradition was to be handed down by the Apostles that it was she who guided, and tended, and cared for the Church during the early and tender years of its existence; that it was to her they turned in times of perplexity and doubt; that her constant intercession for them was their strength. This could not have been so had she left the earth with her Son. During those long years of exile the new child learnt to regard Mary as its Mother, and when she was taken away into Heaven, it was quite natural to it still thus to regard her, and to teach all who came after to do the same.
3. Our Lord would give her still more time to increase her merits by suffering. He wanted her crown to be the most beautiful possible, and even for the Mother of God there was only one way to make it so – the way of suffering, which intensified her love and humility and submission to God's will.
4. May not another reason have been in order that she might be the better able to sympathise with the exiled children of Eve (exules filii Evæ)? Had He taken her with Him, they would surely have felt that their Mother could not quite understand their position. And what is such an effectual barrier to sympathy as the feeling that we are not understood?
So Mary was left in exile to gain much that she could not have gained otherwise.
I am one of the exiled children of Eve. What have I got to do as an exile?
1. I have to establish my position. There is a certain place prepared for me in Heaven, which may be mine through all eternity. What is to decide whether I get it or not? The way I "pass the time of my sojourning" here. By the time my exile is over, I must so have lived that there must be no doubt about it that I belong to the Heavenly land; that I am a child of God and an heir to His Kingdom; that I seek not the things of earth but those which are above; that Heaven is my Home. And what will be my position there? Mary earned her position as Queen of Angels, of Patriarchs, Prophets, Martyrs, Virgins, as Mother of the Church. What position shall I earn? That depends, as Mary's did, on my fidelity to grace. I shall have just that degree of glory and merit to which I have attained when I am called hence to give an account of my stewardship – no less and no more. The position I have to establish, then, during my exile, is that of being known by all the inhabitants of Heaven – all the Angels and Saints – as one who is sure to join them one day. "Make your calling and election sure."
2. I have to suffer. One of the actual reasons for my being here on earth is that I may suffer– not that suffering is in itself good, but it gives me the means – perhaps the greatest means – of developing the virtues which must be mine if I am to enter the Kingdom one day. Our Lord chose for Himself and for His Mother a life of suffering, to make us understand and to show us how suffering may aid us – yes, the very same suffering which hardens the sinner. What is the secret, then, of suffering? That by means of it, and because of it, we may make Acts of Love and Contrition and Submission to God's Will. Suffering is too powerful an instrument to leave our human nature untouched by it; we must do something under it – either curseGod and die, as Job's wife advised him to do, or bless Him all the more fervently, as Job did. Let me remember, then, that one of the things I have to do as an exile is to see to it that God gets, out of each piece of suffering that He sends me, the extra love that He expected would result from it.
3. To do the work God wants me to do; to work in my little corner of His vineyard; to co-operate with Him in His great work of the salvation of souls; and to show sympathy and kindness to my fellow-exiles.
Colloquy. The Salve Regina: – "Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy; hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus: O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary." (Anthem from Trinity to Advent.)
Resolution. To learn the exile's lessons.
Spiritual Bouquet. "For we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come." (Heb. xiii. 14.)