July 17

Mary’s Humility

Preparation. - The privilege of celebrating the feast of Mary’s humility on this day is granted to certain institutes. Wherefore we shall see, first, what humble sentiments Mary had of herself, and secondly, how she acted in consequence. St. Bernard admonishes us to strive to imitate the humility of the Queen of saints, and that if we constantly practice this virtue in our relations with God and our neighbor, it will suffice to sanctify us.

I. Humble Sentiments Of The Mother Of God

“Humility is truth,” says St. Teresa. Hence Mary did not believe herself a sinner, for she was certain that she had never offended God. Nor did she refuse to acknowledge the graces with which she was enriched; for her Magnificat shows it, since she therein gives glory to God for the great things He had wrought in her. How then could she have lowly sentiments of herself? In this wise; the powerful light with which the Holy Ghost illumined her, enabled her to understand, beyond all expression, the infinite greatness of God and the unfathomable abyss of her own nothingness.

As a drop of water disappears in the ocean, and an atom in endless space, thus did Mary disappear in her own eyes, when comparing herself to the majesty and holiness of the Almighty, who created the universe. The outcome of this was a total forgetfulness of herself and her merit, which caused her to refer to the most High all the good that adorned her soul. Convinced of her unworthiness and weakness without grace, she was always before her Lord as a mere beggar magnificently clad, who so much the more felt her own indigence; wherefore she humbled herself in proportion to the gifts, sublime virtues and most rare privileges embellishing her interior, wherein God dwelt. Esteeming herself the least among creatures, as was revealed to St. Mechtildis, she humbles herself and placed herself in spirit below every one.

How different are these sentiments from ours! We entertain so high an opinion of ourselves, of our qualities, talents, and apparent virtues. The least remark, the slightest reprimand disturbs and irritates us, so irreproachable do we esteem ourselves! Whence come our pretensions, unless from the too exalted opinion we have of ourselves? We imagine we are somebody, but reason and faith tells us we are nothing, and even less than nothing, for we are sinners.

O Queen of humility, help me to know God and to know myself. Strip me of the deceits of pride, and clothe me with the light of truth, that I may clearly perceive my nothingness, my ignorance, my helplessness and my indigence, through the mercy of thy divine Son. Enable me to strive interiorly to despise myself, to esteem others, to have unceasing recourse to thee, and to submit in all things to whatever God pleases.

II. How Mary Practiced Humility

Let us first consider this most faithful Virgin in the great mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. She is disturbed, not by the humiliation as other creatures are, but by the praises bestowed on her by the heavenly messenger. As ambassador of Him who is Truth itself, Gabriel speaks in the name of his Master, and yet, through holy fears and holy anguish, the most humble Virgin “was troubled at his saying” (Luke 1. 29).

After having conceived the Word made flesh, the God who “emptied Himself,” she started for Hebron, with the intention of abasing herself and serving her cousin, though inferior to herself. Such is the first effect of humility, which causes us to love subjection even towards those who owe us respect. It would have been but little for so humble a Virgin to have called herself the Creator’s handmaid, did she not also become the servant of all creatures.

And how carefully she concealed the graces, gifts and privileges with which she was enriched! Content with being seen by God only, she spent her life in forgetfulness and abjection. “Nowhere do we read,” says St. Alphonsus, “that she appeared in Jerusalem when her Son entered it in triumph; but she feared not to follow Him to Calvary, and thus to make herself known as the Mother of Him, who had been condemned to an infamous death.” Did she not share in the outrages, derision and sarcasms with which Jesus was loaded? Far from shrinking from humiliation, she courageously exposes herself to the insults of the rabble, to the mockery of the pharisees, to the ill-treatment of the soldiers and executioners. O prodigy of humility! The Queen of saints considers it her duty to accompany to capital punishment Him who the princes of her nation call a seducer, a blasphemer, a magician, as one possessed of a devil; she finds delight in being disdained, insulted and reviled with Him and like HIm.

O how well calculated is her conduct to confound our pride, our vanity! Often we desire to be humbled; but is it not on account of the honors that so frequently accompany sincere humility, and not because of the desire of humiliations by which it is formed and preserved in us? Let us earnestly beseech the queen of this virtue to obtain for us the courage to embrace that which humbles us. Let us even recite the Gloria Patri, when some one applies a stinging remedy to the ulcer of our pride and self-love.

O most humble of creatures, notwithstanding my numerous sins, I am so full of vanity and self-love. Thou, on the contrary, most innocent, seekest only contempt and confusion. Deign, O Mother, to obtain for me, first, the love of a hidden, ignored and forgotten life; and secondly, the strength to keep an humble silence, when I am reproved, contradicted, repulsed, vilified, ridiculed and derided.