Nativity of our Lady: Mary's Sublime Vocation
by VP
Posted on Sunday September 08, 2024 at 01:00AM in Meditations
Giotto di Bondone: Scenes from the Birth of Our Lady
"Mary was born in order to be the Mother of Jesus. : "Of whom was
born Jesus." This is the principle of all her privileges, the summing up
of all her praises. (...) It is as the Mother of the Redeemer of
mankind that she will be the refuge and advocate of sinners. She is the
aurora which precedes and ushers in the morning sun. (...) Certain it is
that if men had known the blessings which Mary's nativity drew upon
them, there would have been throughout the whole world a repetition of
that which occurred among the Jews at their having been preserved from
death through the meditation of Ester. "A new light seemed to rise, you,
honor, dancing in all peoples...wonderful rejoicing." (Est. viii.
16,17).
You also, O Priests, were born for a sublime destiny! Accomplish it faithfully, and you shall be the cause of an unspeakable joy for heaven and earth. To give Jesus to the world, and with Jesus to give it all blessings, such is your vocation, and such was the vocation of Mary. This is the reason why the holy Virgin has such a warm affection for good priests and lavishes upon them such truly maternal cares.
Source: September 8, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin p444. Meditations for the Use of the Secular Clergy, from the French of Father Chaignon, S.J. Volume 2. 1907