Repost: The Immaculate Conception in Christian Art

[197] The thought of Mary's sinlessness from the first moment of her earthly existence has caused Christian genius to picture her in a form which abstracts from her maternal relations and presents her simply as the highest ideal of virginal womanhood. If the image of the "Mother and Child" leaves upon us the impression of her sympathy, and awakens confidence in her maternal care, the chaste beauty of Mary's lightsome figure as the Immaculata amid the stars of heaven is calculated to lift up our hearts with admiration, and to elicit the desire that it might be given to us some day to live in the sweet companionship of her sublime virtue.

No school of artists has ever realized the beauty of this virginal concept so well as the Spanish painters of the sixteenth century; and among them Bartolomé Murillo stands as leader and prince. It is pleasant to think that his genius for painting sweet pictures of the Immaculata was developed by American [198] traders from Mexico and Peru, who bought the young painter's small canvases exhibited in the booths on the grand piazza of Sevilla. They knew that they could readily dispose of these pictures to the converts in the cities of the New World, and they felt that it would bring a blessing on their trade to spread the devotion to the Madonna. But back of this demand for pretty pictures of the Virgin Queen of Heaven there was another influence which formed the "Painter of the Conception" and the school to which he belonged. These Spanish artists of the sixteenth century lived in an atmosphere of inspiring traditions. Murillo's father, as well as Juan de Castillo, a relative and his earliest instructor, were contemporaries of the great Spanish saints. They could tell the youth of the wondrous things said and done by Peter of Alcantara, John of Avila, Teresa, John of God, Francis Borgia, Louis of Granada, Bartolomio of the Martyrs, and, loveliest of all, by the little Luigi, Count of Gonzaga. Luigi, the devout boy from Lombardy, was one of the comely pages that attended Princess Donna Maria at the Spanish Court; and those who had seen him in Madrid remembered the evening hours of May in the chapel, where he might be seen kneeling on the altar steps before the statue of the sweet Madonna. And the missionary Fathers who returned to Sevilla from the far-away land of Peru too could tell young Bartolomé of a maiden Saint, Maria Rosa of Lima, who had gone to heaven the very year of little Murillo's birth, all enamored of the Madonna, so that the Indians spoke of her as an angel of the Virgin Queen.

This breath of a sainted atmosphere throughout the Castilian domain seemed to act upon the temperament of the whole nation, and produced that delicate perception of Mary's beauty as the Immaculata, which not only characterized the art of painters like Murillo, but may be recognized also in the artistic and literary products generally of that age. They carry our vision into the region of mystic beauty, creating a unique halo which surrounds the figure of Mary and lends to it a character distinct from her dignity as the Queen of Mothers.

Murillo's picture of the "Immaculate Conception" is probably the most familiar and at the same time the most perfect presentation of the subject which we can imagine. He painted the same [199] theme on a large scale more than twenty times. The best copies, with slight variations in form, are in the museums at Madrid, Sevilla, and Paris. It is said that his daughter Francesca, who afterwards became a nun, served him as a model; but we know how the beauty of her mother had first captivated the artist's fancy whilst he painted the altar-piece in the church at Pilas.

Some writers have seen in Murillo's picture of the Immaculate Conception throning upon the crescent a suggestion of the triumph of Christian virtue over the Moorish power symbolized by the half moon. But it is clear that the leading motive of the picture is suggested by a passage in the Apocalypse of St. John.[1] The beloved disciple, wrapped in prophetic vision of the future Church of Christ, sees in the heavens the magnificent image of "a great sign"—of "a woman clothed round about with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Simultaneously he describes a serpent, or rather a dragon lying in wait for the offspring of the woman that he might devour it. The whole scene is presented to St. John as if it had occurred before the creation of man, in the midst of the angels, who thereupon began to be divided in their allegiance to God. "And there was a great battle in heaven; Michael and his angels fought with the dragon . . . who seduceth the whole world." Then the holy seer hears a voice: "Now is come salvation and strength . . . and the power of Christ."[2]

Like all prophetic allusions of the Sacred Text to the Church of Christ, this vision finds a most ready application to our Blessed Lady. Hence the Immaculate Conception is represented in form of the Virgin modestly composed, her hands gracefully crossed upon her chaste bosom, the whole figure clad in a white robe, with the blue mantle suggesting "heavenly protection" lightly wrapped around her, and a golden flood of celestial brightness flowing down upon her. She is apparently supported by the crescent floating amidst the clouds, whilst her foot is set upon the head of the serpent which writhes on the earth beneath. All these notes are symbolical and point to the sinless conception of Mary, to her singular power over Satan and earthly concupiscence [200], and to the exalted position which she holds in consequence of these prerogatives among devout Christians. Mgr. Malon, Bishop of Bruges, has very elaborately explained the details of these elements to be found in most pictures of the Immaculate Conception.[3] He shows that true artistic sense forbids the introduction of any symbol that indicates the ordinary virtues which we honor in the saints. Hence there are not to be found in these pictures such emblems as the lily, or the crown (except the twelve stars), or the Holy Child.

The white robe indicates the immaculate purity of Mary's life. The blue mantle, which lightly floats about the figure, caught by the breezes of heaven, expresses her separation from earthly attachments; she was wrapt up, so to speak, in the azure mantle of heavenly contemplation, which bore her aloft under the gentle breath of Divine inspiration.

The twelve stars about her head denote her special dignity, which unites in itself all the gifts of the Prophets of the Old, and of the Apostles of the New Law. If the just, that is, the saints, are to shine like stars, she is to shine with a brilliancy surpassing them all, for she is the Queen of Saints, of Prophets, and of Apostles, who represent the combined perfection of the heavenly host. Murillo omits this halo of stars; but he does so without prejudice to the beauty of his subject, for the golden splendor of the light with which he surrounds our Blessed Lady would make the brightest star to pale away. Other painters, though they might, like C. Müller, match Murillo's Madonna in the sweetness of expression, fail in this power of suffusing a heavenly light about her fair form that makes her transfigured body float into the celestial realms on a rich translucent atmosphere.

Murillo also omits the image of the dragon which has served other artists to emphasize the contrast between the chaste sinlessness of the Immaculate Queen and the wiles of Satan, who was the cause of the first transgression. But here too Murillo is superior to the ordinary master. His Virgin Queen is born aloft by a throng of joyous angels, child-like figures that suggest the sinlessness [201] of early innocence. The only suggestion of contrast comes from the dark clouds that form the lower background of the picture, and thus supply the artistic element represented by the dragon without marring the happy atmosphere which the figure of the Immaculate, "all fair," inspires. For this reason Murillo's pictures have sometimes been called the "Ascension of the Virgin," to distinguish them alike from the image portrayed in the Apocalypse and from the "Assumption," in which latter the Eternal Father or Holy Trinity is frequently presented in order to express the act of receiving our Lady into heaven, whilst the symbols of the crescent and the serpent are omitted. No painter has ever so completely exhausted this difficult theme, preserving at the same time absolute simplicity of composition, as did Murillo, the devout lover of our Blessed Lady. There have been critics, like Cartier, who have found fault with the drawings of Murillo's figures, and others who have failed to realize the lofty concept which from the religious point of view the picture presents; but there is only one opinion regarding the marvellous [sic] effect of his coloring, which gives to his pictures of the Immaculata an almost supernatural character: the whole image seems as if it were melting away, so to speak, from the earthly to the region of the purely ideal and heavenly.

---

Footnotes:

1. Ch. 12: 1.
2. Ibid.
3. Iconographie de l'Immaculèe Conception de las très Sainte Vièrge Marie, ou de la meilleure manière de rèpresenter ce mystère. Par Mgr. J. B. Malon. Bruxelles: Goemaere. 1856.

---

Source: "The Immaculate Conception in Christian Art," American Ecclesiastical Review 27 (August 1902): 197–201.

Repost: Milk-Giver Icon | Not Scandalized by the Incarnation

On July 3, the Icon of the Virgin “Galaktotrophousa” (Γαλακτοτροφουσα, meaning “the Milk-Giver”) is celebrated. The Icon shows the Mother of God breast-feeding Christ. Not many modern icons use this composition, which may hide just how ancient and widespread this icon really is.

The specific Icon celebrated on July 3 (and January 12) dates from the 6th century A.D. and resided in St. Sabbas’ lavra (a type of monastic community). Before his death, St Sabbas prophetically stated that in time a pilgrim sharing the saint’s name, of royal lineage from Serbia, would visit, and to him the Icon of the Mother of God, the “Milk-Giver”, should be given as a blessing from the Monastery. God’s time is not like our time, and so it was not until 700 years later that the prophecy was fulfilled. The pilgrim was the Serbian prince Rastko Nemanjić, who had taken the monastic name “Sava” (i.e. Sabbas) when a youth. Coming to venerate the relics of St Sabbas, the elder’s episcopal staff fell at the young Sava’s feet. The monks inquired into the pilgrim’s identity, and hearing his name (and remembering the centuries-old prophecy) gave the Milk-Giver Icon along with another icon of the Theotokos, and St Sabbas’ staff. All three items ended up in the Hilandar Monastery on Mt Athos, which was founded by the Serbian Sava. The Milk-Giver Icon is still there to this day, in the Iconostasis of Hilandar’s church.

Like the dogmas of the Church, icons often arise as a response to heresy. In this light, it is not difficult to see why and how an icon of Mary breast-feeding the Christ-child would appear in the 6th century, and be associated with St Sabbas in particular. Sabbas was a strenuous opponent of the Monophysites, a group who believed Christ’s divine nature absorbed His human nature. The icon is a rebuttal of this position, as it shows Jesus Christ, truly God, suckling at His mother’s breast.

Monophysitism is just one flower of an all-pervasive weed that can has its root in one overriding feeling: scandal at the Incarnation. In other words, shock and revulsion at the idea that the All-Powerful Creator would take on corruptible human flesh, spend 9 months in the womb of a woman, pass through her vagina, and then spend the next few years a physically weak and helpless baby, totally dependent upon her. People have come up with a multitude of ways to deny this dogma of the Church. Another example is the Julian Heresy, which flourished in Egypt during the time of St Sabbas. Supported by the patriarch of the time, the belief was that Christ’s body was incorruptible (before His crucifixion). Again, the influence of being scandalized at the Son of God taking on human flesh is seen in this belief. A number of right-believing monks separated from the heretics and set up their own monasteries, which they named after the Theotokos, i.e. God’s human mother. One of these monasteries, the Syrian Monastery, still survives and it shouldn’t be surprising to see an ancient fresco of Christ suckling His mother there. Again, reacting against the misguided scandal of the Incarnation, the Milk-Giver Icon proclaims the Orthodox belief.

From the 6th century onwards the image of the Mother of God “Nourisher of Life” is always found without ever being common. Whenever it is found, both Mother and Child are stylized, with Mary’s exposed breast depicted proportionally smaller than is natural. This is because the icon is not painted to dwell upon the sensuality of Mary breastfeeding Jesus Christ, merely to proclaim it happened.

Copies of the Hilandar Milk-Giver Icon aside, today icons of this type are not very common, especially in Western Orthodox iconography. Is it because “scandal at the Incarnation” is no longer a problem among Christians? Don’t believe it. Even while openly proclaiming Christ’s two natures, the tendency to downplay or practically deny the humanity of Jesus is still something that lurks in the shadows. The Mother of God “Milk-Giver” Icon is still a powerful rebuttal to these beliefs, and a reminder that God’s love for us is not abstract but physical.

---

Source: "Milk-Giver Icon | Not Scandalized by the Incarnation," A Reader's Guide to Orthodox Icons blog, July 3, 2011, accessed July 18, 2015, https://iconreader.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/milk-giver-icon-not-scandalized-by-the-incarnation/.

Pressure vs. Cooperation

In common experience, we feel "under pressure" when the results of some effort depend upon us combined with the expectation of success in achieving the goal of that undertaking, whether these expectations are internal to us or external/social.

Feeling under pressure in the spiritual life is a sign of pride, a sign that the results of our progress depend principally upon our efforts. In contrast, cooperation with God removes pressure because we know that God provides a superabundance of means for our sanctification; hence any failure to achieve sanctity is not because God places an expectation without providing the means to achieve the goal, but because we failed to cooperate with those graces offered at every moment by our free resistance.

Hence as cooperation increases, pressure decreases. The Blessed Virgin was under no pressure when Gabriel extended the invitation to become the Mother of God; all the just souls of the past, the present, and the future waited on her response, united mystically to this moment every time they pray the Angelic Salutation. If the Blessed Virgin could, by means of an infused understanding from God, see this reality at the moment that Gabriel waited, the reality of all souls to be redeemed watching and waiting on the Blessed Virgin to give her fiat, she nevertheless would have felt absolutely no pressure to "make the right choice." Her only concern was to cooperate as perfectly as possible with God's will with the full humble knowledge that any positive acceptance of God's will would be provided totally by God's power, His grace not only allowing the cooperation but providing the condition by which her free will could even exercise itself without doing harm to its integrity.

Insofar as we believe that our salvation depends upon ourselves, we shall feel the pressure of perfectionism. Insofar as we believe that our salvation depends upon God and our simple cooperation, there is no pressure, no fear, only perfect love.

St. Gregory Palamas on Mary as Universal Mediatrix

It is an eternal law in heaven that the lesser shall share by means of the greater in what lies beyond being. So as the Virgin Mother is incomparably greater than all, and as many as will share in God will do so through her, and as many as will know God will acknowledge her as the one who contained Him Who Cannot be contained, and as many as will extol God will hymn her too after Him. She is the reason for everything which preceded her, the protectress of everything which came after, and the cause of eternal blessings. She is the theme of the prophets, the starting-point of the Apostles, the support of the martyrs, the foundation of teachers. She is the glory of those on earth, the delight of those in heaven, the adornment of the whole Creation. She is the beginning, source and root of good things past telling, the summit and fulfillment of everything holy.

O holy Virgin, how can I put everything about you into words? How can I express my desire? How can I glorify you, the treasure of glory? Just remembering you brings hallowing. A mere glance in your direction enlightens the mind, raising it instantly to divine heights. In you the eyes of our understanding become clear. In you our spirit is radiant with the presence of the divine Spirit. For you did not become the keeper and store of graces so as to have them for yourself, but to fill the universe with grace. For the person in charge of inexhaustible treasures oversees their distribution. Why would you shut away your wealth as it never diminishes? Share it abundantly with us, O Lady, and if we cannot contain it, enlarge our capacity, and then lavish it upon us. For you alone did not receive by measure, as all things were given into your hand.

---

Source: St. Gregory Palamas, Sermon on the Blessed Virgin (?).

Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange on Holy Church's Aids to Contemplation

[385] We recognize the fact that environment has its importance; also that a calm temperament is much better disposed to the contemplative life than a restless and agitated spirit. It may indeed be that among these [386] last, some, even though quite generous, would reach the mystical life only after a period longer than the ordinary span of life. And it is certain that bad spiritual direction often allows souls to vegetate or turns them away from infused contemplation, whereas another type of direction would definitely turn them toward contemplation.

However important these conditions may be, they remain superficial compared to others which are the chief ones. Here again the same rule holds true as in the matter of salvation, which is possible to all who possess a developed conscience, even to those not born in a Christian environment, who are strongly inclined to evil, and who have not had an opportunity to hear the Gospel preached. If they ordinarily follow the dictates of their conscience, they will be mysteriously led from grace to grace, from fidelity to fidelity, to eternal life.

Anyone who wishes to advance in the spiritual life and to prepare himself for the grace of contemplation must, to the best of his ability, use the great means which the Church gives us all. The assiduous reception of the sacraments, daily hearing of mass, frequent communion, love of the Eucharist, devotion to the Holy Ghost, filial and incessant recourse to the Sacred Heart of Jesus [1] and to the Blessed Virgin, mediatrix of all graces, are evidently necessary.

Contemplation is a fruit of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, as explained by Blessed Grignion de Montfort (True Devotion, ch. 4, art. 5). He says that, without a great love for her, a soul will attain union with God only with extreme difficulty. "It is necessary to pas through dark nights, combats, strange agonies, sharp thorns, and frightful deserts. By the way of Mary, the soul advances with greater sweetness and tranquillity. Along this way it encounters many crosses and great difficulties to [387] overcome, but our good Mother keeps so close to her faithful servants ... that, in truth, this virginal road is a path of roses in spite of the thorns." It thus leads more easily and surely to divine union. Mary, wonderful to relate, makes the cross easier and, at the same time, more meritorious: easier, because she sustains us with her gentle hand; more meritorious, because she obtains for us a greater charity, which is the principle of merit, and because, by offering our acts to our Lord, she increases their value. By reason of her pre-eminent charity, Mary merited more while performing the easiest acts than all the martyrs in their tortures.

Another great means to prepare for the grace of contemplation, a means within the reach of all interior souls, is found in the liturgy, in an ever more intimate union with the great prayer of the Church. "The graces of prayer and of the mystical state have their type and source in the hieratic life of the Church; they reflect in the members the likeness of Christ which is perfect in the body" (Fr. Clérissac, O.P., Le mystère de l'Église, p. 102). Liturgical prayer recited with recollection, in union with our Lord and His mystical body, obtains for us holy lights and inspirations which illumine and inflame our hearts. Consequently it is advisable to make mental prayer after the psalmody which prepares us for it [i.e. after the Divine Office]; just after mass and holy communion, it is well to prolong our thanksgiving, and if possible devote an hour to it [following St. Teresa of Avila's advice].

Lastly, the frequent reading of Scripture and the study of sacred doctrine, undertaken in a truly supernatural manner, are other excellent means to prepare the soul for contemplation. Thus the ancients used to say that divine reading (lectio divina) by pious study (studium) leads to meditation (meditatio), then to prayer (oratio), and finally to contemplation (contemplatio) (see 2a2ae.180.3).

---

Footnotes:

1. It is fitting to unite ever more closely devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and that to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, in order to thank our Lord for the act of supreme love by which He gave us the Holy Eucharist.

---

Source: Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Christian Perfection and Contemplation, trans. by M. Timothea Doyle (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1946), 385–387.

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin's Commentary on the Hail Mary, pt. 10: "Now and at the hour of our death"

Now

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now, through this day, through this hour, through our entire lives, in which there are constant temptations and dangers.

Now, when temptation intensifies and we run into further danger, that the Lord may not permit these temptations to become more violent and dangerous. Now when, as ever, souls are besieged by the world, the devil, and the flesh. Now when, without danger, we cannot walk down streets, nor attend spectacles and shows, nor read magazines and books, nor even look out the window, nor be properly educated at schools. Now when, with so many followers of the devil, men and women seem to have as their sole occupation to tempt men to sin and damn them.

And at the Hour of Our Death

We know not how our death shall be, nor when it shall be, nor whether it shall take us by surprise. When we arrive at our death, the devil will bring back to our minds our many sins, the rigor of divine justice, our failure to make sufficient penance, and how we constantly showed contempt for God's many graces. At that hour of our death, when the pain of infirmity will not allow us to come before You [Translator's note: perhaps the author is thinking here of being before the Blessed Sacrament or at a Church or other holy place]: may it not be sudden, but may we know clearly the gravity of the moment and have at our side a priest who may absolve us, administer Viaticum and Extreme Unction, and commend our souls while suggesting holy affections to us, and with such preparation may we breathe forth our final breath pronouncing your holy Name and the Name of your Son Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior. Amen.

Conclusion

Such is the most beautiful prayer of the Hail Mary in its two parts. It is impossible to find a more beautiful and sublime prayer in praise of Mary and in fervent supplication for graces. The Hail Mary ought to be constantly in the hearts and very frequently on the lips of all the sons of Mary. It has a supernatural efficacy to obtain from Her any grace, and above all others as the most important grace, the grace of a holy death. There exists a special devotion dedicated to this thought, called the Three Hail Marys, which was revealed to St. Matilda by God as the most efficacious way to obtain from Him, through the intercession of Mary, the grace of a happy death. The three Hail Marys ought to be recited piously every day in honor of the three great privileges which the Most Holy Trinity granted to Mary, namely: unlimited power, wisdom, and mercy. Clearly in order to obtain this grace from God, it is necessary to be worthy of it; hence we ought to avoid all sin and live an authentically Christian life, to which praying the three Hail Marys will provide a powerful help.

---

Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 458-459. Translation of this commentary is dedicated to V.G.M.S.

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin's Commentary on the Hail Mary, pt. 9: "Pray for us sinners"

Pray for Us

Because you are holy and the Mother of God and are to be for us the Queen and Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope, pray for us who are exiled in this valley of tears. You are the powerful Virgin, the clement Virgin, the faithful Virgin, Mother of Christ, Mother of divine grace. Pray for us, O Refuge of sinners, Help of Christians, Queen of the Angels. Pray for us, for you are the universal Mediatrix of all graces, and unless we beg it of you, we can have neither a holy life nor a holy death. Pray for us that God may not punish us as we deserve—for not only have we sinned, but we can sin further and condemn our very selves; for we have to navigate through the stormy sea of life, surrounded by dangers, dangers at all ages, in all states, in all occupations; for we are tempted, dying, poor, persecuted, and afflicted. Pray for us who are captivated by the deceitful things of this world, by honors and pleasures, wealth, and youth.

Sinners

All men are sinners, and even the just man falls seven times a day as Scripture testifies. Often we do not realize this because the devil deceives us. There are many who believe that they are good, but they sin against chastity, against faith, against charity; they steal, breaking the seventh commandment, but they break it in such a way that they believe that what they are doing is lawful when it isn't. 

How many sins we commit! Many venial sins, semi-deliberate, all throughout the day and in almost every single one of our works! Sins against God, by being lukewarm. Sins against our neighbor, by murmuring. Sins against our superiors, by sloppy, sluggish obedience. Sins against ourselves and those under our care, by neglecting the obligations of our state. "Pray for us, sinners," that is, we who seem to have the occupation of violating every commandment and sinning against every virtue, if not gravely, at least venially, and many times with deliberation.

We sin with our eyes, through immodest glances; with our ears, through vain conversations; with our palates, through indulging in delicacies; with our imaginations, through dangerous fantasies; with our minds, through bad thoughts; with our memories, through harmful remembrances; with our hearts, through disordered affections.

---

Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 457-458.

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin's Commentary on the Hail Mary, pt. 8: "Holy Mary, Mother of God"

Holy Mary, Mother of God

These words begin the second part of the Hail Mary, which does not appear in the Gospels. Now, we have already noted in the first part of this commentary that the second part of the prayer began to appear in the 14th century, but it was not used universally until the reform of the Roman Breviary, promulgated by Pope St. Pius V in 1568. We pick up again the pious commentary of Fr. Barcón:

1. Holy Mary. God values the sanctity of Mary more than her maternity. Hence, I should prefer Mary to be holy before being the Mother of God. And for this reason, the Church firstly calls her "Holy Mary." And in the litanies we place her sanctity before her other prerogatives, saying: Holy Mary, Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins. And it is before holiness that the angels and archangels, the cherubim and seraphim, unceasingly sing before God in heaven: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus [Holy, Holy, Holy]! 

Mary is holy because she faithfully fulfilled the will of God in all things. She is holy because, after her Son, nobody had the same degree of charity, the same humility, the same patience, or any of the other virtues to the same degree as her. She is holy in her conception, in her life, in her death. Holy in Bethlehem, in Egypt, in Nazareth, at Calvary.

Holy Mary, obtain for us from your Son celestial light to deem holiness above all the goods of the earth. 

We know how one degree of grace is of greater value than the entire good of the universe combined. We ought never waste the occasion to augment our virtues, and we ought to understand the glory that awaits in heaven for all eternity to a single work of virtue. We must believe within that we have come to earth for no other purpose than to be holy. We have come neither to be rich, nor to be praised, nor to be entertained, nor to pursue a happy life, comfortable, and more or less free of faults [as society deems them], but we are here to be chaste, humble, mortified, meek, obedient to the law of God. This is our obligation and our bliss.

2. Mother of God. No mother is a seraphim or cherubim, but all things and the celestial hierarchies are of the Lord and God. No mother is powerful, rich, the owner of great treasures and possessions, nor is any mother the master of the earth and the seas, of the air and the depths of the abyss, of the stars and the clouds, of the birds and the fields.

But the Mother of God is to be a Mother under whose care are all things: those things which, like bodies, perish, and those things which, like souls, are immortal. The Mother of God is to possess, after God, the loftiest dignity, sanctity, goodness, loving-kindness, and power. The Mother of God is to be the Mother most pure, without original sin; the Mother most chaste, the Mother most amiable, the Mother most admirable, the Mother of all Christians, the Mother of the Creator, the Mother of the Savior, the Mother of Beautiful Love, the Mother of divine grace.

3. The Mother of God is our Mother as well. We ought to recall that the life of grace was communicated to us by Mary's Son in Redemption.

Because Christ is head of the Mystical Body, of which we are the members, Mary is our Mother. Because at the foot of the Cross Christ said to Mary, "Woman, behold your son," and we are the adopted sons of God by grace, Mary is our Mother. 

And for these reasons we are obliged to reciprocate: She to love us, to defend us, to raise us, to teach us; we to love her, invoke her, reverence her, to present ourselves to her.

He who will not be safeguarded by Mary will be lost; he who will not be led by Mary will walk as a blind man; and he who will not love Mary will not know Jesus, nor will he be preserved in grace, nor will he enter glory, for She is the gate of heaven: ianua cæli [the door of heaven].

Mary, Mother of grace, Mother of mercy, defend us from the enemy and receive us at the hour of death. Show yourself to be a Mother; bring our petitions before Him who, born for us, desired to be your Son.

---

Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 456-457.

Joe Heschmeyer on Mary's Sinlessness during the Presentation

Great, concise apologetic article on how the purification of Mary at the Presentation does not disprove her sinlessness as Protestants attempt to show but rather demonstrates even more strikingly how she participated uniquely in the redemption wrought by Christ.

Shameless Popery: The Feast of the Presentation: a Smoking Gun for Mary's Sinlessness

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin's Commentary on the Hail Mary, pt. 7: "Jesus"

Jesus

This word was added by the Church to the end of the first part of the Hail Mary because it is effectively the Name of the blessed fruit of Mary: Jesus.

The Gospel of St. Luke tells us that "after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, his name was called Jesus, which was called by the angel, before he was conceived in the womb" (Lk 2:21).

Etymologically, the name of Jesus means "the salvation of YHWH," which the angel hinted at when revealing to St. Joseph the mystery of his virgin spouse: "And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins" (Mt 1:21).

St. Thomas Aquinas argues for the fittingness of the name of Jesus given to the Savior of the world since names ought to correspond to the internal essences of things, reminding us of their natures. Since we know that He is the Savior of the world, no name is more fitting than Jesus (cf. Summa Th., III, q. 37, a. 2; http://www.newadvent.org/summa/4037.htm#article2).

Fr. Luis de León [1527–1591] ends his immortal work The Names of Christ mostly explaining all the other meanings applicable to which the name of Jesus encompasses and summarizes. St. Bernard has commented on this name with his usual devotion and tenderness in his Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles, and the Church uses his other sermons in the liturgical Office for the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, but these inimitable pages truly ought to be read in their entirety.

---

Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 455.

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin's Commentary on the Hail Mary, pt. 6: "And Blessed Is The Fruit of Thy Womb"

And blessed is the fruit of thy womb

1. Exegesis. These words of St. Elizabeth reveal their full significance in the words that immediately follow: "And from where is it that the Mother of my Lord should visit me?" (Lk 1:43). Through the internal inspiration of the Holy Ghost (cf. v. 41), St. Elizabeth knew clearly that she was in the presence of the Mother of the Lord, or the Messiah announced through the prophets, which Mary carried within her womb. Hence she humbled herself before Mary, wondering exceedingly that Mary, who was not Elizabeth's neighbor but the "Mother of the Lord," should visit her. With good reason then has an excellent contemporary exegete said that "because the Holy Ghost at this moment reveals to Elizabeth the mystery of Nazareth, it seems that she did not discover this mystery only partly but was, rather, instructed about the messianic and divine prerogatives of the Son of Mary."

2. Theology. Here is the theological commentary of St. Thomas [(Expositio salutationis angelicæ, article 3: "Blessed is the fruit of your womb"; trans. by Joseph B. Collins (New York 1939); available here: http://dhspriory.org/thomas/AveMaria.htm)]:

The sinner often seeks for something which he does not find; but to the just man it is given to find what he seeks: “The substance of the sinner is kept for the just” [Prov 13:22]. Thus, Eve sought the fruit of the tree (of good and evil), but she did not find in it that which she sought. Everything Eve desired, however, was given to the Blessed Virgin. 

Eve sought that which the devil falsely promised her, namely, that she and Adam would be as gods, knowing good and evil. “You shall be,” says this liar, “as gods” [Gen 3:5]. But he lied, because “he is a liar and the father of lies” [Jn 8:44]. Eve was not made like God after having eaten of the fruit, but rather she was unlike God in that by her sin she withdrew from God and was driven out of paradise. The Blessed Virgin, however, and all Christians found in the Fruit of her womb Him whereby we are all united to God and are made like to Him: “When He shall appear, we shall be like to Him, because we shall see Him as He is” [1 Jn 3:2]. 

Eve looked for pleasure in the fruit of the tree because it was good to eat. But she did not find this pleasure in it, and, on the contrary, she at once discovered she was naked and was stricken with sorrow. In the Fruit of the Blessed Virgin we find sweetness and salvation: “He who eats My flesh... has eternal life” [Jn 6:55]. 

The fruit which Eve desired was beautiful to look upon [Gen 3:6], but that Fruit of the Blessed Virgin is far more beautiful, for the Angels desire to look upon Him: “You are beautiful above the sons of men” [Ps 44:3]. He is the splendor of the glory of the Father. 

Eve, therefore, looked in vain for that which she sought in the fruit of the tree, just as the sinner is disappointed in his sins. We must seek in the Fruit of the womb of the Virgin Mary whatsoever we desire. This is He who is the Fruit blessed by God, who has filled Him with every grace, which in turn is poured out upon us who adore Him: “Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with spiritual blessings in Christ” [Eph 1:3]. He, too, is revered by the Angels: “Benediction and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, honor and power and strength, to our God” [Rev 7:12]. And He is glorified by men: “Every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father” [Phil 2:11]. The Blessed Virgin is indeed blessed, but far more blessed is the Fruit of her womb: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” [Ps 117:26].

Let us listen now to the commentary of St. Bernard (Hom. 3 in laud. Virg. Mat., n. 5-6):

"Blessed are you among women." To these words, which St. Elizabeth spoke, we ought to add: "And blessed is the fruit of your womb." It is not because you are blessed that the fruit of your womb is blessed as well, but because He has come to you with the blessings of sweetness, you are therefore blessed. Truly is the fruit of your womb blessed, for in Him shall all nations be blessed; and from His fullness you also have received as we have as well but you in a way far more excellent than we. Thus not without reason are you blessed, blessed among women; further blessed is He, though not among men, nor angels precisely, but as the Apostle says, "above all things, God blessed for ever" (Rom 9:6). We usually speak of blessed men, blessed women, blessed earth, and to speak of other creatures which we know to have received a blessing, but singularly blessed is the fruit of your womb, being He Who is above all things, God blessed for ever. 

Blessed, then, is the fruit of your womb. Blessed in His fragrance, blessed in His savor, blessed in His beauty. 

a) It is the fragrance of this sweet-smelling fruit of which it has been said [by Isaac]: "This is the odor of my son as of a field blessed to the full by the Lord" (Gen 27:27). Is He not truly blessed to whom the Lord has bestowed His blessings? 

b) Of the savor of this fruit, one who has tasted it would say: "Taste and see how sweet is the Lord" (Ps 33:9); and in another place: "How great, O Lord, is the abundance of Your sweetness, which you have hidden and reserved for those who fear You!" (Ps 30:20). And in another place as well: "If you could only taste and see how sweet the Lord is" (1 Pet 2:3). The Fruit Himself spoke of Himself, inviting all: "Those who eat Me shall hunger even more, and those who drink Me shall thirst even more" (Sir 24:29). He was speaking of the sweetness of His savor, which when tasted excites the appetite even further. This good fruit is food and drink in this life for souls who hunger and thirst for righteousness and sanctity. 

c) You have heard of His odor, of his savor. Listen also regarding His beauty. For if it is true that the fruit of death was not only sweet to eat but also, according to the testimony of Scripture, agreeable to behold, how much more ought to be the vivifying beauty of this living fruit, upon which, as Scripture equally testifies, the angels desired to look? Contemplating this beauty in spirit and desiring to see the same in the flesh the psalmist has said: "Out of Sion comes the splendor of His beauty" (Ps 49:2). And so that you may not think that he was praising some merely ordinary beauty, remember what you have heard written in another psalm: "You surpass the beauty of all the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; thus God has blessed you for ever" (Ps 44:3).

---

Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 453-455.

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin's Commentary on the Hail Mary, pt. 5: "Blessed Art Thou Amongst Women"

Blessed art thou amongst women

1. Exegesis. These words were pronounced by St. Elizabeth during Mary's visit. St. Luke says that "Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out in a strong voice: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!'" (Lk 1:41-42). Notice the repetition of the word "blessed": the mother and the son follow the same line and the blessing of God falls on both. The phrase "among women" raises the adjective "blessed" even to the supernatural, for it is equivalent to saying "blessed are you among all women," as we translate in the Spanish. It is an eastern mode of speaking that supplies for the lack of superlatives by using the positive degree of comparison ([cf. Jdg 5:24: "Blessed among women be Jahel, the wife of Haber the Cinite, and blessed be she in her tent")].

2. Theology. Listen to St. Thomas [(Expositio salutationis angelicæ, article 1-2: "The Lord is with you"; "Blessed are you among women"; trans. by Joseph B. Collins (New York 1939); available here: http://dhspriory.org/thomas/AveMaria.htm)]:

[In the third place, t]he Blessed Virgin exceeds the Angels in purity. She is not only pure, but she obtains purity for others. She is purity itself, wholly lacking in every guilt of sin, for she never incurred either mortal or venial sin. So, too, she was free from the penalties of sin. Sinful man, on the contrary, incurs a threefold curse on account of sin. 

The first fell upon woman who conceives in corruption, bears her child with difficulty, and brings it forth in pain. The Blessed Virgin was wholly free from this, since she conceived without corruption, bore her Child in comfort, and brought Him forth in joy: “It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise” [Is 35:2]. 

The second penalty was inflicted upon man in that he shall earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. The Blessed Virgin was also immune from this because, as the Apostle says, virgins are free from the cares of this world and are occupied wholly with the things of the Lord [1 Cor 7:34]. 

The third curse is common both to man and woman in that both shall one day return to dust. The Blessed Virgin was spared this penalty, for her body was raised up into heaven, and so we believe that after her death she was revived and transported into heaven: “Arise, O Lord, into your resting place, You and the ark which You hast sanctified” [Ps 131:8]. 

Because the Blessed Virgin was immune from these punishments, she is “blessed among women.” Moreover, she alone escaped the curse of sin, brought forth the Source of blessing, and opened the gate of heaven. It is surely fitting that her name is “Mary,” which is akin to the Star of the Sea (“Maria—maris stella”), for just as sailors are directed to port by the star of the sea, so also Christians are by Mary guided to glory.

In order to explain why we ought to bless Mary among all women, the contemporary author whom we have cited above writes with piety and unction [(Fr. Barcon, S.J.)]:

For being the Mother of God, chosen and preferred above all women.
For being both mother and virgin, utterly unique among all women.
For being conceived without Original Sin, solely among all women.
For being holier than all the women saints of the world.
For being the most sweet Mother of all men.
For being our Advocate, the Refuge of sinners, the Consolation of the afflicted, the Help of Christians, the Queen of peace.
Because God—O Virgin Mary!—was pleased to look upon you, and thus, as you yourself have said, all generations shall call you blessed.
And all mortals shall invoke you and praise you and bless you.
And altars, temples, and hermitages on the heights of the mountains, in the valleys, and through all the earth shall be raised for you, and they shall be offered to you as a testimony of gratitude and love.
And they shall say: Blessed a thousand times, O Virgin of the Pillar!
Blessed a thousand times, Virgin of the Helpless!
Blessed a thousand times, Virgin of the Anguished!
Blessed a thousand times, Virgin of Montserrat!
Blessed a thousand times, Virgin of Begoña, Virgin of the Fields, Virgin of the Remedies of Fuensanta, Virgin of Guadalupe!
Blessed for being more beautiful than Rachel.
Blessed for being purer than Susannah.
Blessed for being more powerful than Esther.
Blessed for being more valiant and stronger than Judith.
Blessed for being more prudent than Abigail.
You are the joy of Israel, the honor and happiness of our people! [Cf. Jdt 15:10]
Help us, O Lady, to praise you, to bless you, and to rejoice in your company in heaven unto the ages of ages. Amen.

---

Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 451-453.

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin's Commentary on the Hail Mary, pt. 4: "The Lord Is With Thee"

The Lord is with thee

1. Exegesis. Let us listen to a contemporary exegete:

This phrase—writes Fr. Juan Leal—is related to the exhortation to rejoice and with the fullness of grace. Fr. Holzmeister has studied its remote context: 

a) In the Bible, the phrase has been applied only to those exceptional persons during special and outstanding circumstances. It is given by God to indicate a singular and difficult mission, which is being realized or about to be realized. 

b) The presence of the Lord is always active and efficacious in the success of the imposed mission.

The remote context is not enough. Its proximate meaning, which makes concrete its general meaning, has more importance. Here the context immediately speaks to us of the foretold Messianic joy and the fullness of grace. The presence of the Lord, which is the cause of joy and grace, determines its supernatural character. Although there are three phrases that grammatically make up the angel's salutation, there is a logical subordination among each. The Virgin could rejoice with this Messianic joy of the prophets because God was pleased to dwell in her in the fullness of grace and "has done great things for her," which is all proof of the exceptional presence of God with Mary. This presence had already been established, for the angel did not say, "The Lord will be with thee" but "the Lord is with thee," now and after as before. The presence of God here is dynamic on the order of the person and on the order of the mission.

 2. Theology. Let us listen in the first place to the commentary of St. Thomas Aquinas [(Expositio salutationis angelicæ, article 1: "The Lord is with you"; trans. by Joseph B. Collins (New York 1939); available here: http://dhspriory.org/thomas/AveMaria.htm)]:

[In the second place,] the Blessed Virgin excels the Angels in her closeness to God. The Angel Gabriel indicated this when he said: “The Lord is with you”—as if to say: “I reverence you because you art nearer to God than I, because the Lord is with you.” By the Lord, he means: 

1) the Father with the Son and the Holy Spirit, who in like manner are not with any Angel or any other spirit: “The Holy which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God” [Lk 1:35]. 

2) God the Son was in her womb: “Rejoice and praise, O you habitation of Sion; for great is He that is in the midst of you, the Holy One of Israel” [Is 12:6]. The Lord is not with the Angel in the same manner as with the Blessed Virgin; for with her He is as a Son, and with the Angel He is the Lord. 

3) The Lord, the Holy Ghost, is in her as in a temple, so that it is said: “The temple of the Lord, the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit,” [Benedictus antiphon from the Little Office of Blessed Virgin], because she conceived by the Holy Ghost. “The Holy Ghost shall come upon you” [Lk 1:35]. 

The Blessed Virgin is closer to God than is an Angel, because with her are the Lord the Father, the Lord the Son, and the Lord the Holy Ghost—in a word, the Holy Trinity. Indeed of her we sing: “Noble resting place of the Triune God.” “The Lord is with you” are the most praise-laden words that the Angel could have uttered; and, hence, he so profoundly reverenced the Blessed Virgin because she is the Mother of the Lord and Our Lady. Accordingly she is very well named “Mary,” which in the Syrian tongue means “Lady.”

And now let us listen, following the custom of our exposition, to the mystical commentary of St. Bernard (Hom. 3 in laud. Virg. Mat., n. 3):

The angel did not say: "The Lord is in you," but "the Lord is with you." Although God is equally in all parts in the simplicity of His substance as with all things, He nevertheless exists in a different mode in rational creatures than with others, and even among rational creatures, He exists through His efficacy in a different way, depending on whether He is in the good or the bad. In the above mode, without doubt, He exists in irrational creatures who are unable to comprehend Him. In rational creatures who can know He is there by concepts, nevertheless He can be truly grasped only by the good who love Him. It can be said that the Lord is with them only among the good who by their manner of life are united in harmony with the will of God. When they have subjected their wills to His justice, there is no indecency done to God, for they desire to do simply what He desires, and they do nothing apart from that will, by which they are especially joined to God. If these things may be said of all the saints, more particularly may they be said of Mary, to whom God was joined not only through her will but even through her flesh so that of His substance and that of the Virgin's, He formed one Christ, or put better, He formed one Christ, who was not entirely the substance of God and entirely the substance of the Virgin, despite belonging fully both to God and to the Virgin. And there were not two sons, but one son from One and the other. The angel, therefore, says, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee." Not only is the Lord, the Son, with you, to Whom you gave your flesh, but also the Lord, the Holy Ghost, by Whom you conceived, and the Lord, the Father, who begot the One you conceived. The Father, I repeat, is with you, who has given you His Son as well. The Son is with you, Who in order to work in you an admirable mystery, closed Himself within you in a most marvelous way in the hidden depths of your womb and for you guarded your virginal seal. The Holy Ghost is with you, Who with the Father and the Son sanctifies your womb. The Lord, then, is with you.

---

Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 449-451.

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin's Commentary on the Hail Mary, pt. 3: "Full of Grace"

Full of Grace

1. Exegesis. The Greek word employed by St. Luke in his Gospel is κεχαριτωμένη, which signifies highly graced [translator's note: one could also translate the Spanish as highly favored], most graceful, or according to Spanish tradition, full of grace, corresponding to the Latin of the Vulgate: gratia plena. The Greek expression employed by St. Luke is very rare in Sacred Scripture. It appears only three times in the Old Testament and twice in the New (cf. Eccl. 9:8; Ps. 17:26 [Vulgate numbering]; Lk. 1:28; Eph. 1:6). The Greek participle expresses three ideas in the Latin "full of grace": 1) the idea of grace; 2) the idea of possession, a permanent and established state of being; c) the idea of abundance. The tradition of the Jerusalem Bible is considered to be the most clear and exact: You, who have been given and are full of grace. [1]

2. Theology. First, let us listen to the magisterial commentary of the Angelic Doctor [(Expositio salutationis angelicæ, article 1: "Full of grace"; trans. by Joseph B. Collins (New York 1939); available here: http://dhspriory.org/thomas/AveMaria.htm; for the reader's benefit, I quote more of St. Thomas's commentary here than Fr. Marín originally did)]:

The Blessed Virgin was superior to any of the Angels in the fullness of grace, and as an indication of this the Angel showed reverence to her by saying: “Full of grace.” This is as if he said: “I show you reverence because you dost excel me in the fullness of grace.” 

The Blessed Virgin is said to be full of grace in three ways. First, as regards her soul she was full of grace. The grace of God is given for two chief purposes, namely, to do good and to avoid evil. The Blessed Virgin, then, received grace in the most perfect degree, because she had avoided every sin more than any other Saint after Christ. [For sin is either original, and from this she was cleansed in the womb, or mortal or venial, and from these she was free.] Thus it is said: “You are fair, My beloved, and there is not a spot in you” [Sg 4:7]. St. Augustine says: “If we could bring together all the Saints and ask them if they were entirely without sin, all of them, with the exception of the Blessed Virgin, would say with one voice: ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.’[1 Jn 1:8]. I except, however, this holy Virgin of whom, because of the honor of God, I wish to omit all mention of sin” [De natura et gratia 36]. For we know that to her was granted grace to overcome every kind of sin by Him whom she merited to conceive and bring forth, and He certainly was wholly without sin. [...]

She exercised the works of all the virtues, whereas the Saints are conspicuous for the exercise of certain special virtues. Thus, one excelled in humility, another in chastity, another in mercy, to the extent that they are the special exemplars of these virtues—as, for example, St. Nicholas is an exemplar of the virtue of mercy. 

The Blessed Virgin is the exemplar of all the virtues. In her is the fullness of the virtue of humility: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord” [Lk 1:38]. And again: “He has looked on the humility of his handmaid” [Lk 1:48]. So she is also exemplar of the virtue of chastity: “Because I know not man” [Lk 1:34]. And thus it is with all the virtues, as is evident. Mary was full of grace not only in the performance of all good, but also in the avoidance of all evil. 

Again, the Blessed Virgin was full of grace in the overflowing effect of this grace upon her flesh or body. For while it is a great thing in the Saints that the abundance of grace sanctified their souls, yet, moreover, the soul of the holy Virgin was so filled with grace that from her soul grace poured into her flesh from which was conceived the Son of God. Hugh of St. Victor says of this: “Because the love of the Holy Spirit so inflamed her soul, He worked a wonder in her flesh, in that from it was born God made Man.” “And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God” [Lk 1:35]. 

[Thirdly, t]he plenitude of grace in Mary was such that its effects overflow upon all men. It is a great thing in a Saint when he has grace to bring about the salvation of many, but it is exceedingly wonderful when grace is of such abundance as to be sufficient for the salvation of all men in the world, and this is true of Christ and of the Blessed Virgin. Thus, “a thousand bucklers,” that is, remedies against dangers, “hang therefrom” [Sg 4:4]. Likewise, in every work of virtue one can have her as one’s helper. Of her it was spoken: “In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue” [Sir 24:25]. Therefore, Mary is full of grace, exceeding the Angels in this fullness and very fittingly is she called “Mary” which means “in herself enlightened”: “The Lord will fill your soul with brightness” [Is 48:11]. And she will illumine others throughout the world for which reason she is compared to the sun and to the moon.

Following this authoritative theological commentary of the Angelic Doctor, let us listen to the mystical commentary of St. Bernard, full of mildness and affection [(Hom. 3 in laud. Vir. Mat., nn. 2-3)]:

We have here, then, what the angel presented to Mary, saying: "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee." We read in the Acts of the Apostles of St. Stephen who was "full of grace" (Acts 6:5) and of the apostles who also were "full of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:4), but quite differently from Mary; because, among many other reasons, neither in the former did the fullness of the divinity dwell bodily as it did within Mary, nor did the latter conceive by the Holy Ghost as did Mary. "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee." To what extent was she full of grace if the Lord was with her! What we ought to admire more is how the angel found the One who sent him to the Virgin already present with her. Was God faster than the angel so as to arrive on earth before His messenger? I ought not be surprised because while the King was in his rest, the nard of the Virgin was spreading its scent, and the perfume of its aroma was rising up before the presence of His glory, and in this way she found grace in the eyes of the Lord, while those around Him cried out: "Who is this, rising up from the desert as a column of smoke, formed by the perfumes of myrrh and frankincense?" (Sg 3:6). And at once the King set out from His holy place, rejoiced as a giant to run his course (Ps 18:6), and although He came from the highest height of heaven, He wished with the most ardent desire that He should arrive before His messenger to the Virgin, whom He loved, whom He had chosen for Himself, whose beauty He desired. To Him does the Church, full of rejoicing, say upon seeing Him come from the distance: "Behold how He comes leaping over the mountains, passing over the hills" (Sg 2:8).

With good reason does the King desire the beauty of the Virgin, who was doing what David, her father, said to her from long before: "Listen, daughter, and see: incline your ear and forget your people and your father's house." And if you do this, "The King shall desire your beauty" (Ps 44:11). She heard, then, and saw, not as those who hear but do not listen nor those who see but do not understand, but as one who hears and believes, as one who sees and understands. She inclined her ear to obedience and her heart to teaching, and forgot her people and her father's house. For she did not think of increasing her people through succession, nor did she intend to give the house of her father to an heir, but all the honor which she might have had from her fathers, she abandoned as if it were worthless, so that she might gain Christ (Phil. 3:8). And she did not think falsely, for she attained, without violence to the integrity of her virginity, to bear Christ for her Son. Thus with great reason may we call her "full of grace," for she both maintained the grace of virginity and, more than that, achieved the glory of motherhood.

---

Footnotes:

1. In a well-documented study on the meaning of the expression "full of grace," an excellent contemporary exegete has come to the following conclusion: "The fullness of grace is a thing of "fuller sense" [sensus plenior] pertaining to a second group, and within which are certainly contained all the graces that God has arranged to give to the Virgin Mary in preparation for her divine maternity; and within which probably are also included the same graces which God arranged to give to His Mother in electing her to the divine maternity (cf. Manuel de Tuya, O.P., Exegetical-theological Evaluation of "Hail, full of grace": Ciencia Tomista, Jan-Mar 1965 [translator's note: this year is a typo; the actual year of publication is 1956; volume number is 83], p. 27).

---

Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 447-449.

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin's Commentary on the Hail Mary, pt. 2: "Mary"

Mary

This word—Mary—figures in the Gospel text of the Annunciation, but it is not from the mouth of the angel (cf. Lk. 1:27). The Church has included it in the salutation because the angel in fact addressed its greeting to Mary.

Mary! "The most beautiful music which could be formed in [four] letters" (Pemán) [translator's note: four letters in English; five in Spanish: "María"]. It is a most sweet word, the most tender and endearing of a Christian enamored by his Mother: "And the name of the virgin was Mary" (Lk. 1:27). In the brief biography of the Virgin that was included at the beginning of this work, we indicated some of the many meanings which are attributed to the word "Mary" by philologists. Its most probable meaning is that of Lady, which can also signify Beautiful Woman, from the Hebrew root mará. And how we should desire it to have been such—the beauty and majesty of Mary always wins us over, even to the point of causing us to fall into ecstasy, which has been given to some who contemplated her heavenly qualities in this life (St. Bernadette of Lourdes, the shepherds of Fatima...) and shall constitute for us all one of the greatest accidental joys of eternal beatitude.

The eloquence and fervor of St. Bernard come from the summits of his contemplating the sweetness and beauty of the name of Mary. He commented on the significance of the Star of the sea—which is one of the many meanings attributed to the name of Mary—, writing in the inimitable style of the Mellifluous Doctor (Homily 2 on the Virgin[; cf. Second Nocturn of Matins for September 12]):

The evangelist says at the end of the verse: And the virgin's name was Mary. Let us speak a few words upon this name, which signifies Star of the Sea and very well suits the Virgin Mary, who may very appropriately be likened unto a star. A star gives forth her rays without any harm to herself, and the Virgin brought forth her Son without any harm to her virginity. The light of a star takes nothing away from the star itself, and the birth of Mary's offspring took nothing away from the integrity of her virginity. She is that noble star which was to come out of Jacob (cf. Nm. 24:17), whose rays illumine all the earth, whose splendor is most brilliant in heaven and penetrates even unto the abyss of hell, lighting up earth midway and warming souls rather than bodies, strengthening virtues and destroying vices. She, I repeat, is a clear and singular star, brilliant in merits, resplendent in example, needfully set to look down upon the surface of this great and spacious sea.

Oh! Whoever who may be battered by the frequent storms of this life's ocean: keep your eyes fixed upon this star's clear resplendence if you would not be overwhelmed by the tempest. If the hurricanes of temptation rise against you, or if you are running upon the reefs of trouble, look to the star, call on Mary. If the waves of pride, of ambition, of slander, or of envy toss you about, look to the star, call on Mary. If the billows of anger, of avarice, or of the enticements of the flesh beat violently against the little boat of your soul, look to Mary. If the memory of the enormity of your sins troubles you, if the foulness of your conscience confounds you, if the horror of judgment dreads you, and if you begin to slip into the soil of depression, into the abyss of desperation, think of Mary. 

In dangers, in difficulties, in doubts, think on Mary, invoke Mary. Let her not be apart from your mouth, let her not be far from your heart, and so that you may possess the support of her prayers, do not turn away from the example of her virtue. If you follow her, you will not go astray. If you pray to her, you will not lose hope. If you think of her, you will not perish. If she holds you in her hands, you will not fall. If she protects you, you will not be afraid. If she guides you, you will not grow weary. If she helps you, you will easily come to the door of your home safe and so will you understand in yourself why with reason it is said: And the virgin's name was Mary.

Providing an echo of the sublime thoughts of St. Bernard, the author we previously cited also writes (Cf. Barcon, pp. 91-92):

Mary signifies Star of the sea. Just as a star guides sailors to port, so does Mary guide all men to heaven, to the light of God by means of her intercession.

Just as a star gives a breath of air and hope through the gloom, so Mary gives strength to the soul in the midst of spiritual perils. 

Just as a star consoles in the midst of the tempest, so Mary, in the midst of spiritual torments, cheers and comforts us. 

Just as a star stands in the heights and can be seen by all, so Mary has been given a preferential place in our churches, our shrines and sanctuaries, and on the tops of hills and mountains. 

The Christian people express this notion of consideration towards Mary as Star of the sea when it generously ascribes to her these titles: Virgin of the Star, Virgin Guide, Virgin of Aid, of Refuge, of Hope, of Consolation, of the Helpless, of Perpetual Sorrow... 

She is star of the sea because this life is a sea far more dangerous than other seas. In the sea are gales of wind, storms of waves, and the hidden dangers of the reef. In the sea of life there are demonic temptations, temptations from other men, and temptations from our passions. 

The Virgin Mary is our Star of the sea, which dissipates the clouds of deceit and error by which the devil seduces us, the persecutions and evil example of men and the inclinations and clever seductions of our affections and passions. 

For that reason, we ought frequently to have the name of Mary on our lips and in our hearts. 

Mary signifies Lady. Lady of the angels, of men, and of grace. Lady of her Son, who is Lady of the Lord of lords. Lady, who is mistress and queen of heaven and of earth, to whom all the powers of hell are subject.

The dispenser of all graces, and therefore to whom we ought to go in life, in death, in prosperity, and in adversity. 

Oh my Lady! Oh my mother! I offer all of myself to you!  

Mary signifies bitter sea: bitter sea because of the immensity of her pains during the passion of her Son; for the sorrow of her tears in losing her Child Jesus; for the ingratitude of sinners; for sorrow because of their condemnation. 

Mary, Mother of grace, Mother of mercy, defend us from the enemy. 

---

Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 444-447. 

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin's Commentary on the Hail Mary, pt. 1: "Hail"

Among all Marian devotions, the first place incontestably belongs to the most beautiful salutation of the Hail Mary, repeated hundreds of times by all those devoted to the Virgin, above all during the recitation of the holy Rosary and which, most importantly, constitutes the Rosary's material aspect [see posts on Fr. Marin's commentary on the Rosary elsewhere]. We are going to explain the meaning of this prayer through exegesis and an examination of its spiritual content.

As is known, the Hail Mary, such as we know and pray it today, consists in two parts. The first part is formed by those words of the angel at the Annunciation: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee (Lk. 1:28), to which have been added the words pronounced by Saint Elizabeth when she was visited by Mary: Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb (Lk. 1:42). The Church has added the name of Mary at the beginning and the name of Jesus at the end. The first part is a salutation to Mary, very rich in doctrinal content, and in which nothing is asked. It is a sublime hymn of praise, absolutely disinterested.

The second part began to appear in the Church in the 14th century, but its use was not made universal until St. Pius V promulgated the Roman Breviary in 1568, mandating that it be recited at the beginning of each hour of the Divine Office, immediately following the Our Father. This part begins with the salutation to Mary accompanied by her most exalted title: Holy Mary, Mother of God, and immediately it is asked that she pray for us during the present moments of our life and, above all, at the terrible moment of our death: Pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Hardly can there be said more things of such great importance in less words.

We are going to examine now, word for word, this most beautiful prayer.

Hail

1. Exegesis. The angel begins by greeting Mary: Hail (Mary). The Latin word Ave is a conventional translation of the Greek χαῖρε, which signifies a greeting that literally means "to be full of cheer" or "well off" [translator's note: Fr. Marin says simply "alégrate," but I've included the expanded definition provided by Wiktionary.org]. This is a Greek greeting (cf. Mk. 15:18: "And they began to salute him: Hail, king of the Jews"). The angel probably employed a Hebrew formula of salutation: Shalon leka, which can be translated as peace be with you. This is the regular greeting of Jesus in the Gospel, of Saint Paul in his letters, and it has prevailed in the Catholic liturgy: Pax vobis, or peace be with you. In Spanish, the word "Hail" ("Ave") does not have any significance aside from being a greeting. We might think of these first words as saying: Rejoice, Mary, or as it is said in French, I greet you, Mary.

2. Theology. The theological explanation of the angel's salutation to Mary was described by the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas (cf. In salutationem angelicam, [article 1]) [translator's note: I've included the full article for the reader's benefit]:

We must now consider concerning the first part of this prayer that in ancient times it was no small event when Angels appeared to men; and that man should show them reverence was especially praiseworthy. Thus, it is written to the praise of Abraham that he received the Angels with all courtesy and showed them reverence. But that an Angel should show reverence to a man was never heard of until the Angel reverently greeted the Blessed Virgin saying: “Hail.” 

In olden times an Angel would not show reverence to a man, but a man would deeply revere an Angel. This is because Angels are greater than men, and indeed in three ways: 

First, they are greater than men in dignity. This is because the Angel is of a spiritual nature: “You make your angels spirits” [Ps 103:4]. But, on the other hand, man is of a corruptible nature, for Abraham said: “I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes” [Gen 18:27]. It was not fitting, therefore, that a spiritual and incorruptible creature should show reverence to one that is corruptible as is a man. 

Secondly, an Angel is closer to God. The Angel, indeed, is of the family of God, and as it were stands ever by Him: “Thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before Him” [Dan 7:10]. Man, on the other hand, is rather a stranger and afar off from God because of sin: “I have gone afar off” [Ps 44:8]. Therefore, it is fitting that man should reverence an Angel who is an intimate and one of the household of the King. 

Then, thirdly, the Angels far exceed men in the fullness of the splendor of divine grace. For Angels participate in the highest degree in the divine light: “Is there any numbering of His soldiers? And upon whom shall not His light arise?”[Job 25:3]. Hence, the Angels always appear among men clothed in light, but men on the contrary, although they partake somewhat of the light of grace, nevertheless do so in a much slighter degree and with a certain obscurity. It was, therefore, not fitting that an Angel should show reverence to a man until it should come to pass that one would be found in human nature who exceeded the Angels in these three points in which we have seen that they excel over men—and this was the Blessed Virgin. To show that she excelled the Angels in these, the Angel desired to show her reverence, and so he said: “Ave (Hail).” [trans. by Joseph B. Collins (New York 1939); available here: http://dhspriory.org/thomas/AveMaria.htm]

From his comments on the first part of the Hail Mary, we shall see with the Angelic Doctor that Mary effectively far exceeded the angels in those three things.

A contemporary author has insisted on the significance of the angelic salutation, writing piously and rightly (Fr. Javier Barcon, S.J., Learn to Pray (Bilbao 1954), p. 91):

It is a salutation similar to the one by which Christ was saluted by His Apostles after His Resurrection. A salutation of love, of confidence, of joy, of veneration. 

"God saves thee," it says: God protects thee, loves thee, sends you His joy and His holy peace. 

"God saves thee" is the salutation with which we invoke the Virgin in the most beautiful prayer of the Salve Regina. 

It is the salutation with which many still greet each other when they enter Catholic houses: "Hail Mary." 

It is the salutation with which the poor beg for alms from the door of the houses in many regions of Spain: "Hail Mary." 

It is the salutation with which the Virgin is invoked still in many parts for a peaceful night, singing: "Hail Mary, most pure." 

It is the salutation with which in many orders religious greet each other or with which they salute the Virgin at the beginning of the hour or when they begin their work. 

It is a salutation whose spirit the Christian house remembers to keep while conversing: "God bless you; may God grant us a good day, may you go with God, may you remain with God, farewell [Adiós]" [translator's note: most of these translations do not work since there are no English equivalents to more richly religious language]. These words always keep present the idea of God and the desire to do all things relying upon God and to see the providence of God within all things, guiding them. 

This salutation, so beautiful and devout, opposes those greetings and conversations of the purely natural order, which never speak of God.

---

Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 442-444.

Fr. Antonio Royo Marin on Private Revelations

As is well known, apparitions and private revelations are not an object of Catholic faith. It is not obligatory to believe in them, and because of that, it is also not heretical to deny them. But when the Church, after long and mature deliberation, has declared as "worthy for belief" a specific apparition or private revelation, frankly it would be ridiculous, rash, and reckless to insist on continuing to deny it without any foundation. Such [declaration] has occurred, for example, with the factual revelations by the Lord to Saint Juliana of Mount Cornillon, which provided the origin to the institution of the most solemn feast of Corpus Christi by Holy Church; those revelations to Saint Margaret Mary of Alacoque regarding the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and those of Lourdes and Fatima related precisely to the most holy Rosary. [...]

The history of Lourdes repeats itself, in its fundamental lines, in the 20th century in Cova da Iria, three kilometers from the small town of Fatima, Portugal, to three little shepherds: Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta. The first apparition took place on the 13th of May, 1917. On the 13th of October of the same year, her name was given to them: "I am Our Lady of the Rosary." It was at that place of more than 60,000 people that she produced the spectacular miracle of the sun.

The message of Fatima, similar to that of Lourdes, centers on the necessity of doing penance and the recitation of the Rosary. The Church declares the apparitions of Fatima as worthy of belief.

---

Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marín, La Virgen María, trans. by R. Grablin (Madrid, Spain: BAC, 1996), 460-461.

St. Louis de Montfort on True Disciples of Christ

True disciples of Jesus Christ [imitate] His poverty, His humility, His contempt of the world and His love. They will point out the narrow way to God in pure truth according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world. Their hearts will not be troubled, nor will they show favor to anyone; they will not spare or heed or fear any man, however powerful he may be. They will have the two-edged sword of the Word of God in their mouths and the blood-stained standard of the Cross on their shoulders. They will carry the crucifix in their right hand and the rosary in their left, and the holy names of Jesus and Mary on their heart. The simplicity and self-sacrifice of Jesus will be reflected in their whole behavior.

---

Source: St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin (Bay Shore, NY: Montfort Publications, 2006), 26, n. 59.

Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange on Devotion to the Blessed Virgin

Contemplation is a fruit of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, as explained by [St.] Grignion de Montfort. He says that, without a great love for her, a soul will attain union with God only with extreme difficulty. "It is necessary to pass through dark nights, combats, strange agonies, sharp thorns, and frightful deserts. By the way of Mary, the soul advances with greater sweetness and tranquility. Along this way it encounters many crosses and great difficulties to overcome, but our good Mother keeps so close to her faithful servants . . . that, in truth, this virginal road is a path of roses in spite of the thorns." It thus leads more easily and surely to divine union. Mary, wonderful to relate, makes the cross easier and, at the same time, more meritorious: easier, because she sustains us with her gentle hand; more meritorious, because she obtains for us a greater charity, which is the principle of merit, and because, by offering our acts to our Lord, she increases their value. By reason of her pre-eminent charity, Mary merited more while performing the easiest acts than all the martyrs in their tortures. 

---

Source: Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Christian Perfection and Contemplation, trans. M. Timothea Doyle (Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 2003), 386-387.

Joe Heschmeyer on Mary and the Indwelling of the Trinity

Yesterday's [N.B.: December 18, 2011] First Reading was about King David, and his plans to build a Temple for the Lord, to store the Ark. It begins (2 Samuel 7:1-3):

Now when the king dwelt in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies round about, the king said to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent." And Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that is in your heart; for the LORD is with you." 

But that night, Nathan hears in a dream that David shouldn't go ahead. God hasn't asked David to build him a Temple, and has something better in mind. Namely, God sends a message to David, via Nathan, saying (2 Sam. 7:11b-16):

Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men; but I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.'"

This prophesy was of both David's son Solomon (1 Kings 6:1), and of Christ (Hebrews 1:5). When it comes to Jesus, the Temple of Christ is His Body.

“The Lord is With You”

But here's what I missed, until Fr. Ruskamp pointed it out in his homily yesterday. When David wanted to build a Temple for God, and create a glorious place, fitting of the Ark of the Covenant, Nathan initially approved by saying, “Go, do all that is in your heart; for the LORD is with you” (2 Samuel 7:3). Compare this with the way the angel Gabriel greets Mary in Luke 1:26-33, from yesterday's Gospel reading:

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end."

It's just astonishingly clear. At the end, Gabriel explicitly references God's promise in 2 Sam. 7:11-16 that He'd establish David's throne forever. But given this, how can we deny that his greeting, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” fulfills what had been promised but deferred to David? Mary is going to build (in her womb) the Temple that David didn't get to build.

A Worthy Builder

Don't overlook how beautifully all of this Ark imagery is tied in with the idea of the Temple. We can see this in two different ways. First, as we've just seen, the passage being alluded to in Luke 1:26-33 is 2 Samuel 7:1-16. But this part came almost directly after the next parallel we see, between Luke 1:39-56 and 2 Samuel 6:2-14. Both the Old Testament passages and their New Testament fulfillments occur one right after another. That can hardly be ignored as a coincidence.

Second, David makes clear that the Temple is needed because of the Ark. Listen to how he justifies the need for a Temple: “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent” (2 Sam. 7:2). He wanted a worthy dwelling for the Ark.

And God doesn't disagree with this rationale. In fact, He blesses David for his good intentions. But He forbids David from doing the building, because David was “a man of war, and has shed blood” (1 Chronicles 28:3). The builder of the Temple needed clean hands. That God chose Mary, of all the women who have ever lived, to not only build the New Temple, but be the Gate of that Temple, and the New Ark, is an incredible testimony to her purity and sinlessness.

The Woman of Rev. 12, Revisited

Finally, this sheds more light on the identity of the glorified Woman from Revelation. It does this in two ways. First, Luke 1 (read through the lens of 2 Samuel 6-7) once again ties the Temple, the Ark, and the Mother of God together, just as we see in Rev. 11:19-12:3,

Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. 

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery.

The Woman gives birth to Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:5).

The objection to reading this passage as referring to Mary is that some of the details don't fit Mary very well: they fit the Church better. This is true, but 2 Sam. 7:11b-16 contains the answer to this objection, as well. Some of the details don't fit Christ well at all (for example: “When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men”), and fit Solomon better. Protestants have no trouble recognizing that the solution isn't that it's Solomon or Christ, but both:

Moreover, it is certain that God never anticipated that his beloved Christ would “commit iniquity,” and therefore possibly need “chastening” with the “rod of men” (2 Samuel 7:14). In a number of ways, for example, Isaiah 53 affirms the utter perfection of Jehovah’s servant, Jesus Christ. This portion of 2 Samuel 7:14-15, therefore, obviously applies to Solomon alone. 

The prophecy plainly encompasses, however, a far grander scope than that of Solomon’s day, as is suggested by the “last words” of David himself (2 Samuel 23:1ff) and the comments of several inspired New Testament writers.

So 2 Samuel 7 is about Solomon and Jesus, but some details only apply to One or the other. Why shouldn't Rev. 11:19-12:17 be understood the same way in understanding the Woman as Mary and the Church?

---

Source: Joe Heschmeyer, "How Mary Built the Temple that King David Couldn't," Shameless Popery Blog, December 19, 2011, accessed December 10, 2013, http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-mary-built-temple-that-king-david.html.

---

Christ promises a sort of Trinitarian in-dwelling for those who persevere in love and obedience: “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). The Immaculate Virgin Mary is the exemplar of this Trinitarian in-dwelling, as we see from the Annunciation.

I am thankful to Fr. Randy Soto, who showed in his homily this morning how the angel Gabriel's message to Mary consists of three distinct parts (each of which she responds to separately), and relating the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Mary and the Father (Luke 1:26-29):

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”  

But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.

It's interesting that Mary isn't described as being troubled the appearance of an angel (which would be normal: Matthew 28:5; Luke 1:13). Rather, Luke says that she was troubled by the saying, and wondered what it might mean. Luke doesn't tell us why she was greatly troubled, but let me propose one possibility [N.B.: see article copied above].

The angel calls Mary by the title Kecharitomene, or “Full of Grace,” a reference to her Immaculate Conception (which is why, confusingly, this is the Gospel for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception).

And then he tells her, “the Lord is with you,” a reference to Nathan's message to King David, after the king wanted to build the Temple (2 Sam. 7:3). It was Nathan giving a green light to proceed with the Temple, but has to backtrack on this, after God puts a stop to the plans. Elsewhere, we're told that this is because the blood on David's hands made him unworthy to build the temple (1 Chronicles 28:3).

So now, the angel Gabriel is giving the green light to Mary to build the Temple (John 2:21), after declaring her sinless. An astute Jew would recognize this for what it is: a Messianic promise.

Mary and the Son (Luke 1:30-34):

And the angel said to her,“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High;
and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever;
and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 

And Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no husband?”

So having found favor with the Father, Mary is promised that she will bear the Son, Jesus. This raises an obvious question: how can will that occur, given that Mary is a perpetual Virgin?

Mary and the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35-38):

And the angel said to her, 

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” 

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

So Mary finds favor with the Father, bears the Son, and is overshadowed by the Trinity [sic; Heschmeyer probably meant the Holy Spirit here instead of Trinity]. This is what I mean by saying that she is the exemplar of Trinitarian indwelling: after all, she literally grew the Son of God in her body.

Immaculate Mary, hope of Christians, pray for us!

---

Source: Joe Heschmeyer, "The Virgin Mary and the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity," Shameless Popery Blog, December 9, 2013, accessed December 10, 2013, http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-virgin-mary-and-indwelling-of-holy.html.