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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260627
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260628
DTSTAMP:20260620T214322Z
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UID:15105-1782518400-1782604799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:A reading from “The Divine Motherhood” by \nANSCAR VONIER \n◊◊◊ \nLet us always bear in mind the great truth that the Blessed Virgin’s \nmaternity was a most natural maternity in the sense that she fully responded to \nit\, was not overwhelmed by it\, that there was no separation between her and her \noffspring; Christ came from her as her own dear child\, the fruit of her own \nblessed womb. I am right\, therefore\, in asserting that Mary’s maternal function \nin the conception of Christ was raised to an incredibly high plane of vitality so as \nto make her maternity not only an instrumental\, but a natural maternity. \nIf Mary’s mission had been merely to minister the human element to the \nWord when he became flesh\, her maternity would have been just instrumental; \nit would have existed only to serve a higher purpose. But Mary’s role is more \nthan that; she is permanently the Mother of God; her maternity is not a \ntransient ministration\, but an abiding dignity that makes her share with God the \nFather\, in literal truth\, the parenthood of Jesus Christ. \nA threefold hypothesis may make this point clearer still. We can think of a \nwoman being made a mother by the direct productive act of God; in that case the \noffspring of that mother would not be divine\, but human. Then there can be the \nconception in a woman’s womb of a divine person\, as happened in the \nincarnation\, but the woman being merely instrumental to the production of the \nbody; in such a case it would be divine maternity in the most restricted \nphysiological sense. Thirdly\, there is the glorious possibility of perfect divine \nmaternity with all the graces and privileges\, with all the rights and splendors\, of \none who shares to the full\, with God the Father\, the parenthood of the God \nIncarnate. Such is Mary’s maternity; such is the meaning of Elizabeth’s \nsalutation\, or rather the salutation of the Holy Spirit through the mouth of \nElizabeth\, when full of the divine Spirit she cried with a loud voice: Blessed are \nyou among women\, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And whence is this to \nme\, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? \nElizabeth was the first creature to call Mary “the Mother of God”; she gave \nus the grandest title of our Lady: “Mother of God.” The archangel\, indeed\, had \nsaid as much\, but only by implication; Elizabeth\, the happiest of human \nmothers\, has the privilege of having spoken for the first time the words “Mother \nof God.” When\, moreover\, in the same breath she calls blessed the Mother and \nthe fruit of her womb\, bestowing the same encomium on the two lives which \nwere not yet disjoined\, she gives us an additional reason for saying that Mary’s \nmaternity had been raised to the divine plane of dignity and perfection\, where \none and the same blessedness holds mother and offspring wrapped in a \nmatchless sanctity.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-the-bvm-11/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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