21st October : Our Lady Of Gifts
21st October
Our Lady Of Gifts
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Mary is the Most Generous of Mothers – Can Our Spiritual Mother, Mary, understand all needs individually? As the Mother of Sorrows, there is no pain we can suffer that is beyond her comprehension, for she has herself endured far more – poverty, cold, scanty means of sustenance, exile, anxiety, temporary loss of her Son in the temple, and the final parting in the pain-filled night of Golgotha. But as Cause of Our Joy, she can exult with us too, for if her pains surpass the comprehension of any other creature, so too did her joys.
But we may ask the question in another sense, that is: Is it possible for Mary, who in spite of her greatness, to remain a mere creature, to know and to care for the many detailed needs of so great a multitude of her children? Is not this almost attributing divinity to her?
The answer is: By no means does this surpass her ability to know or her love and desire to care for us, to help us; for she is truly Our Lady of Gifts.
The Great St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, “No blessed intellect fails to know…all the things that pertain to it.” For in that great heavenly vision – of which St. Paul says “Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what things God has prepared for those who love Him” – there is contained all knowledge’ then since all individual needs do pertain to Mary, our Spiritual Mother, she must be able to see all.
Nor is this too much for a mere creature; for although we her children are very numerous, yet our number is still limited; and her mind in Heaven is illuminated by a degree of the light of glory so great as to be literally beyond our comprehension. Pope Pius IX tells us that her holiness, even at the start of her life on earth, was so great that “none greater under God can be thought of, and no one, except God, can comprehend it.” But we must still add that that continued to increase constantly throughout all her life – for every soul must either go forward or backward in the spiritual life. What then must it have been at the moment of her entrance into the vision of God!
Nor are our needs too extensive for her love. For in every soul, love of God and love of neighbor grow together; so that, although these loves are not equal, they are proportional. If then her love of God at the start was so great that no creature can comprehend it; and if that love grew steadily through so wonderfully generous a life as was hers – and if her love of us, her children, is in proportion to that incomprehensible love; it is best simply to concede that her love for us is also beyond all created ability to comprehend.
And, according to her love for us, will be the GIFTS she showers upon us her children!
