Bronchain Meditations: August 15

Mary’s Assumption

Preparation. - “The holy Mother of God,” says the Church in the divine office of this day, “has been raised to the heavenly mansions above the choirs of angels.” We shall contemplate, first, her glorious Assumption, and secondly, the virtues that made her worthy of it, and then we shall resolve to aspire, as she did, to heavenly glory by a pure, humble and devoted life, which will one day raise us near her in the splendors of heaven.

I. Mary’s Glorious Assumption

Most magnificent was the display King David made, when he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem; but how much more splendid and brilliant was the entrance of Mary, the Ark of the New Testament, into the heavenly Jerusalem! Jesus Himself accompanied her at the head of the Angelic choirs. “Who then is that Virgin that is so greatly honored by the King of kings? Who is that Woman coming and leaning on the Prince of peace?” And Mary’s cortege replies: “It is the Immaculate Virgin, the Queen of the universe, the Mother of our God.”

Soon the eternal vaults resounded with praises and blessings. The angels, archangels and principalities congratulated their Queen on the gifts and privileges with which God had adorned her; the powers, virtues and dominations exalted her immense power with the Lord; and the thrones, cherubim and seraphim were heard singing hymns to her, and protesting to her with all the heavenly court their entire submission and inviolable fidelity.

Let us consider also the loving expressions of all the saints welcoming her in their turn. The patriarchs who had so ardently desired her coming; the prophets who had hailed her from afar as the dawn of our deliverance; the virgins and martyrs, who congratulated her on her incomparable purity and her invincible constancy in suffering; all proclaimed her together as the most Blessed, as alone deserving of all the bliss and blessings of heaven and earth. - Then the three divine Persons themselves lovingly receiving her, the Father as His Daughter, the Son as His Mother, the Holy Ghost as His Spouse, placed her on an exalted throne, the most glorious after that of the Redeemer.

Who will enable us to rise in thought to the glory enjoyed by our Queen and Mother? And how did she deserve it? Was it by enjoying honors and pleasures, or by seeking earthly riches? No; it was by denying herself, by renouncing all that the world esteems; it was by loving a hidden, poor and mortified life; by following step by step, the divine Model of the predestined; by faithfully corresponding with the light and graces of the Holy Ghost.

O my amiable Queen, from thy exalted throne, deign to cast a sweet look on me, and enable me to realize the nothingness of worldly dignities, riches and pleasures, compared with the goods of eternity. Impart to me a love of solitude, recollection and mental prayer, so that I may daily resume fresh strength in practicing the virtues which raised thee to so exalted a place in heaven. “The holy Mother of God has been raised to the heavenly mansions above the choirs of angels.”

II. The Virtues Which Specially Glorified The Virgin-Mother

Ever since the Incarnate Wisdom declared that, “he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted” (Luke 18. 14), humility, observes St. Bernard, has become the only way that exalts us before God. Why was the Blessed Virgin placed the first in the highest heaven? Was it no because she ever strove to be the last on earth? Her self-abasement in the presence of God was so profound, so continual; her docility, resulting therefrom, was so perfect, that she never failed to correspond fully with every grace bestowed upon her. Hence how great the holiness she thus acquired, a holiness truly worthy of the Mother of God! Like the violet that conceals itself, the holiest of virgins, aspired to remain hidden and forgotten; but the King of glory, smitten by her perfume, transplanted her from earth to heaven, as the most ravishing Flower of all creation.

To the attractions of her humility were added those of her purity. Nothing is more welcome than innocence in the sojourn of the angelic spirits. How great the rejoicings at the Immaculate Virgin’s entrance into glory! The thrice holy God calls her “His love, His dove, His beautiful one” (Cant. 2. 10). Though a daughter of Adam, the prevaricator, she knew, by her virginal candor, how to deserve to reign over the nine choirs of angels, by surpassing them all in innocence and purity.

But if her purity opened to Mary the gates of her kingdom, just as her humility took her up from this world and raised her to heaven, it was charity that prepared her throne. Is it not, indeed, divine love that imparts to our actions and sufferings the highest degree of supernatural merit? This divine love, so great in Mary as to be beyond our comprehension, enabled her to attain the sublime holiness that places her at the right of her adorable Son. Without sanctifying grace, or charity, all our virtues are dead, for they lack the bond that unites and consolidated them, the sap that nourishes them and enables them to bring forth fruits of life.

O Jesus, my Redeemer, I thank Thee for having so magnificently rewarded Thy holy Mother and ours. Through her all-powerful intercession with Thee, enable me to imitate her, first, in her humility, by placing myself in spirit below every one; secondly, in her purity of heart, by avoiding every deliberate fault, every attachment and imperfection; and thirdly, in her perfect charity, by loving Thy infinite goodness in itself and in the souls created after Thy image and redeemed by Thy infinitely precious blood.

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Servant of God

Charles Louis Laurent Bronchain was born of excellent parents, September 4, 1829, at Frameries, near Mons in Belgium. From his early boyhood he was distinguished for his piety. As an altar boy he was modest and recollected, and was wont after serving Mass to remain as close as possible to the priest. Being asked why he acted thus, he replied: "I do this, because I wish to be nearer to the good God." When he saw people going to holy communion, he was filled with a holy envy, and would say to himself: "When shall I also have the happiness of receiving our Lord?" We may easily imagine his joy and happiness when this favor was vouchsafed to him for the first time. When out walking with his playmates, he always managed to bring them near a church and induced them to enter it with him to pay homage to our divine Saviour in the Sacrament of His love.

During the six years he studied at the "Petit Seminaire de Bonne Esperance," he was universally admired and respected for his modesty, piety, charity, and other virtues. Heeding the divine call to a more perfect life, he, with the consent of his parents, renounced the world and the brightest prospects of success, and entered in 1850 the Redemptorist Novitiate at St. Trond. The following year he made his profession and was sent to Wittem to prosecute his studies. As novice and student, Louis Bronchain was a model to his companions in regular observance, charity, love of prayer, and study, and self-denial. After his ordination in 1857, he labored zealously for some years in the ministry and in giving missions.

In 1865 he was appointed Master of Novices. To his novices he was ever a tender and loving father, giving them the example of every virtue. His life was practically a continual prayer. Rising very early every morning to be able to devote more time to it, he would spend hours in meditation before the Blessed Sacrament. Though very severe towards himself and addicted to corporal austerities, he, like a true saint, was always cheerful and full of charity and condescension towards others, and of solicitude in supplying the wants of his novices. His health failing, he was relieved of his heavy burden in 1870. From that time until his death, his life was one of continual suffering, borne with wonderful patience and resignation. As long as he was able he labored for his fellow-religious, and for the salvation of souls. Being an able spiritual director, he enabled his many penitents to make great progress in the spiritual life. As for himself he was an “interior man,” such as he describes in his “Meditations.” He died June 2, 1892, in the odor of sanctity.

Father Bronchain spent his years of suffering in composing spiritual works, which passed through many editions during his lifetime and have done incalculable good to souls. They are, like the works of St. Alphonsus, whose spirit he possessed in a remarkable degree, noted for the solidity of their doctrine, the simplicity and popularity of their language, and especially for that sweet unction which induces the practice of virtue, horror of sin, and especially the love of Jesus and Mary.

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August 15

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Servant of God

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