The Gratitude of Jesus Christ to the Virgin Mary

This truth is of the greatest honor to the Blessed Mother and to her Divine Son. It may be illustrated for us by the interchange of gifts between the Queen of Saba and King Solomon. The Queen brought him gifts, the like of which were never brought be- fore or after to Jerusalem. But she received in re- turn from Solomon such gifts as were never seen there again. There were not such precious perfumes as those which the Queen of Saba gave to Solomon the King. But Solomon the King gave to the Queen of Saba much more than she had brought to him. Thus, we have to consider what the Virgin Mary has given to Christ in order to understand what Christ gives to the Blessed Virgin in return.

In the first place, that which the commonest of mothers gives to her offspring is so great a gift that it can never have sufficient recompense. This is what St. Thomas quotes from Aristotle: "We can never give due thanks to the gods and to our parents."

Yet this gift is the least claim to gratitude which the Blessed Virgin has on our Lord Jesus Christ. She has given Him an infinitely higher good than any other mother can give her child, and she has given it with love incomprehensible to us. Thus, she surpasses all possible mothers in the substance of the gift and in the manner of its giving. And thus, Jesus Christ is under greater obligations to her than any other child can possibly be to his mother.

The Virgin Mary did not merely give life to her Son. She gave Him such life that its least moment was worth more than the lives of all creatures. The giving of it also, as St. Anselm remarks, was not shared in by a father and a mother, as is the case with other children; but the life of Christ was the gift of Mary alone.

Thus, she concurred-as the second and created cause-in the production of the Humanity of Jesus Christ. In their speculations on this mystery, great masters of theology have thought that she also concurred-as the instrumental cause-in producing that wondrous union by which the Humanity and the Eternal Word of God are joined together in one [as the Incarnate God]. Thus she would merit the title bestowed on her by Hesychius-"Instrument of the Incarnation of God."

Who can rightly appreciate what the Virgin Mary has thus given to the Redeemer, being the source of His created being as true Man and the instrument of its Hypostatic Union with His Un- created Being as true God?

Gifts are, as it were, only the body of a benefit, while love is its very soul. And from this, too, the manner of her gift increases the beneficence of Mary to her Divine Son. Its affection surpasses the under- standing even of the Angels in Paradise.

The holy mother of the Macchabees said to her sons: I know not how you appeared in my womb. The same may be said to their offspring by all other mothers; for they give life, as it were, blindly to those they know not and love not. It was not so with the Blessed Virgin. She consented that this Son Jesus should enter her chaste womb, and she excluded from it every other birth. Hence, she not only loved Christ because she had brought Him forth, but she generated Him because of her intense love for Him.

Her charity even hastened His life, for she hurried on the Incarnation with her merits and sighs and pleadings. This the Angel had already declared to the Prophet Daniel: The seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people.

St. Gregory of Nazianzen points out that "the grace of a favor given is doubled by its being prompt and speedy." The good of Christ's life was infinite in itself. How great was not the well-doing to Him of each moment that Mary the Virgin hastened His coming! How blessed were her prayers and merits that drew Him from the Bosom of the Father down to her virginal womb!

This is the sum of the gifts which this Queen of all creatures gave to her Divine King. From this we may judge the exceeding sum of the gifts which He gave her in return.

This Son of hers, on the one side, is so rich that all the treasures of the Eternal Father are in His hands; and, on the other, He owes immeasurably more to His Mother than all men together can ever owe to merely created benefactors. What shall He give in satisfaction of all that He owes her? In Him the virtue of His gratitude cannot be less than His liberality. Therefore, as many as are the gifts which His liberality has poured forth on all created beings, so many will be the gifts which His gratitude will bestow upon His Virgin Mother alone.

She, as the created cause of His Human Being, has placed Him under the greatest of all possible obligations-that for the gift of life. He cannot but respond with the highest of all possible gifts which a pure creature can receive according to the established laws of His grace. This is why St. Bonaventure lays down this proposition: "The Blessed Virgin had as great grace as a pure creature was able to receive."

This is still truer from the fact that with her alone Jesus Christ could exercise the fair virtue of gratitude. And He exercised it as a God; that is, more aboundingly than the Ocean which should bestow its waters on a single river. Solomon the King hath given to the Queen of Saba much more than she hath brought to Him.

Rightly then does St. Peter Damian name the Heart of Mary Christ's garden of delights. Else- where He could find only thorns: I am in labors from my youth. But in the Virgin's breast He found a resting-place. Unlike other children, He is brought forth from this abode, as it were, perforce. It is Thou Who hast drawn Me forth from My mother's womb from that dwelling of His delights. And His Blessed Mother-we need not wonder at it- was ever sweetly calling Him back to His rest within her Heart. May My Beloved come into His garden.

O Advocate of all mankind-Mother of Pity- Refuge of sinners the first of the redeemed and the first of the disciples of Jesus Christ, the faithful companion of all His toils and, by thy virtues, the living image of His Sacred Heart thou alone, amongst all creatures, hast given to the Creator that created being which He had not, whereby God has been made Man; and in thy Immaculate Heart thou hast prepared a Paradise of delights wherein the Eternal Word has descended from the Bosom of the Father. Thy Heart is like unto His Divine Heart, Whose happiness it is to bless and save the children of men. Therefore, with St. Bernard, we cry to thee:

"Remember, Mary, tenderest-hearted Virgin, how from of old the ear hath never heard that he who ran to thee for refuge, implored thy help, and sought thy prayers, was forsaken of God. Virgin of virgins, Mother, emboldened by this confidence I fly to thee, to thee I come, and in thy presence I, a weeping sinner, stand. Mother of the Word Incarnate, oh cast not away my prayers, but in thy pity hear and answer!"