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112.1 First Point
Let
us give thanks with the whole Church for the honor the Most Blessed Virgin
received on this day, to become the Mother of God. This is the greatest
honor any mere creature can ever receive. Saint Ambrose declares that it
was the greatness and excellence of Mary's faith which procured this favor
for her.
In this role she has become an object of veneration for the angels
themselves, who, though much higher by nature, are nevertheless far
beneath her in view of the dignity she received on this day.
Still, this dignity only leads her to humble herself, because at
the time when the angel declares to her that she is the Mother of God, and
honors her as such, this admirable virgin has no other reply except that she
is the servant of the Lord.[i]
Saint Ambrose cannot help marveling at such a response in the mouth of
this holy virgin at the very moment when she is chosen to be the Mother of
God.
Let us profit today from such a great example; may all the graces
God gives us, no matter how remarkable they may be, incline us also to
humble ourselves below everyone else.
112.2
Second Point
God's
goodness shines out in this mystery no less than the Most Blessed Virgin's
humility. The Son of God, says Saint Paul, although he possesses
divine nature and takes nothing from God by regarding himself as God's
equal, nevertheless empties himself on this day and takes on the nature of
a slave, making himself like us except for sin.[ii]
This was, as the angel says to the Most Blessed Virgin, that
he might deliver his people from their sins,[iii]
as he committed himself by clothing himself with human nature, as he
committed himself, seeing that the holocausts which were the most
excellent sacrifices of the Old Law were not sufficiently pleasing to God
to take away our sins, he offers himself in sacrifice and says to his
eternal Father, Today I come into the world to do your holy will[iv]
and to accomplish all justice.[v]
It was for this purpose the prophet Isaiah says that he bore all our
sins and took upon himself all our weaknesses.[vi]
Let us do what we can by irreproachable conduct to achieve what the
Son of God did in this mystery for all people, which is to destroy sin
entirely.[vii]
112.3 Third Point
If
God gives us so many signs of his goodness toward us on this holy day, we
also have the advantage of receiving a great number of graces. Indeed,
Jesus Christ himself says in the Gospel that he came into this world
only to give us life and to give it to us in abundance.[viii]
It is by him and in him, says Saint Paul, that a general
reconciliation of all things with God has taken place. By the blood which
he shed on the cross, peace has been restored in heaven and on earth.[ix]
It is he also, according to the same Apostle, who, though we had
strayed far from God and had become his enemies, has reestablished us in
grace to make us holy, without blemish and without blame before him.[x]
It is he, too, according to the same Apostle, who has made us
worthy to share the lot of the saints.[xi]
This day, therefore, is a day of joy and blessings for us, since it
was on this day that God who is rich in mercy, as Saint Paul says, out
of the infinite love with which he has loved us sent his own Son,[xii]
even when we were dead by our sins and by our crimes, to give us new life
in Jesus Christ in order to manifest to future ages the magnificence of
the riches of his grace through the goodness he has had for us in Jesus
Christ. If, then, we enjoy such abundant graces to save
ourselves[xiii]
and to become perfect saints,[xiv]
as Saint Paul says, we are indebted for all this to what Jesus Christ
did for us on this day by becoming man out of love for us.[xv]
Let us show him our gratitude by the holy use we make of these graces.
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The
date of this feast was determined by the relation between the feast of
Christmas and the visit of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, a period of nine
months. From its inception this feast was the celebration of the
Incarnation of Christ, rather than the honor of the Most Blessed Virgin.
This explains in part why De La Salle focuses in his meditation more on
the mystery of the Incarnation than on Mary.
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