by
Fr. Peter Richard Kenrick (1840)
"Behold a virgin shall conceive and
bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." — Isaiah vii. 14
In the days of Achaz, king of Juda, about
742 years before the birth of Christ, Jerusalem was besieged by the united arms
of the kings of Israel and Syria. They threatened the city, not only with the
usual consequences of a successful siege, but also with the destruction of the
royal house of David, in the place of which they proposed to establish another
dynasty. It was in these trying circumstanses, when to all human appearance the
affairs of Juda were desperate, that God renewed to the house of David, by his
prophet Isaiah, the promise he had made to that faithful servant, "to
make his seed endure for evermore, and his throne as the days of heaven." (Ps. 88, 30.) Achaz did not comply
with the prophet's admonition, "to ask a
sign;" but covering his
indifference and faithlessness with the cloak of affected respect, he said, "I will not ask,
and I will not tempt the Lord." Turning
from this ungrateful son of David, to the house or family of that faithful
servant of God, the prophet said: "The Lord
himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and his name shall be called Emmanuel." By this prophecy they were assured
that the designs of their enemies for the destruction of David's race should
not be realized. The event foretold by the prophet was not, indeed, to occur
for several centuries after; but the truth of the prediction was manifested by
the fulfilment of other prophecies, made by him on the same occasion, and which
were accomplished within a few years.
Every detail of the great plan for the
redemption of man, is calculated to fill us with admiration: everywhere do we
find the evidence of the sovereign wisdom which designed, and of the
omnipotence which executed it. The virginal birth of the Messiah was a
necessary part of the divine economy of the incarnation. It was necessary that
God and man should be united in the person of the Redeemer; but as every
ordinary descendant of Adam is involved in his transgression, and as God could
not assume a nature sullied with sin, hence the necessity of his being born of
a virgin, that thus he might assume our nature, without participating in our
guilt. Wonderful union of wisdom and power! How profound should be our
reverence for a mystery in which every thing is so worthy of God —in which His
justice, mercy, and holiness are so signally displayed! And what should be our
veneration for that favoured creature, whom God employed as the handmaid of His
mercy, in the most sublime and affecting of all mysteries!
Before the fruitful virginity of Mary, this
virtue was but little known among men. It is true, that among all nations it
was held in veneration, probably because all nations had more or less distinct
notions that the great Redeemer, the hope of whom glimmered through the
darkness of Gentile traditions, was to be born of a virgin. But it was not till
the accomplishment of Isaiah's prediction in the son of Mary that "the daughters
saw her, and called her blessed" (Cant.
vii. 8.) and that the psalmist's words were verified: "After her shall
virgins be brought to the king." (Ps.
xliv. 15.) Wherever the name of Mary has been borne by the ministers of the
Gospel of her Divine Son, innumerable virgins, in every age, and every clime,
of all ranks and conditions of life, have consecrated to the "king of ages,
immortal and invisible," the
purest affections of their hearts; and have found, in the relinquishment of all
earthly pleasures, and in the entire and undivided dedication of their whole
being to God, a purer, more tranquil, and more enduring happiness, than falls
to the lot of souls of a less heroic character. Let us raise our eyes to
heaven, and behold Mary, encircled with this glorious group, "these
first-fruits to the Lamb and to God," who sing "as it were a
new canticle," which
they alone can sing, and "follow the Lamb
whithersoever he goeth;" (Apocalypse,
xiv. 3, 4;) then shall we conceive the extent and nature of the title by which
we address her, "Holy Virgin of
Virgins!"
EXAMPLE
Catherine Tegahkouita, of the Iroquois
nation, was left an orphan in the fourth year of her age; from which time she
lived with her aunt, whom she obeyed with fidelity and affection. She devoted
much of her time to manual labour, by which means she avoided idleness, and
unnecessarily appearing abroad. When she attained a suitable age, her friends
pressed her to marry, but she always found some pretext for deferring it, and
this through a love of purity, which was the more extraordinary as she was not
yet a Christian. She was baptized on Easter Sunday, in 1676, when she took the
name of Catherine.
Shortly after, she had to endure a great
persecution. The malice of her enemies exposed, her innocence to the greatest
dangers; so that she determined on privately leaving her friends and she
accordingly went to a colony of converted Iroquois in the French settlement,
where she made her first communion. While there, she was once obliged to
accompany the nation to a hunt, and to remain for some time in the forests; but
this was but for her an occasion of showing how God may be served in every
circumstance. She fastened a cross to the trunk of a tree which overhung a
rivulet, and made this retired spot her oratory. At the hour when Mass was said
in the settlement, she would kneel down before it, and beg of her guardian
angel to assist for her at the holy sacrifice, and to apply to her its fruit.
Having afterwards had occasion to go to
Montreal, where, for the first time, she saw some nuns, she was so charmed with
their modesty, that she wished to imitate their manner of living, and gave no
rest to her confessor until he permitted her to make a vow of perpetual
chastity, — a tiling, perhaps, before unexampled among the Indians. She made
her vow on the day of the Annunciation. Catherine always spoke of Mary with
transports of joy. She learned her litany by heart, and recited it privately
every evening after the night prayers, which were said in the cabin. In fine,
after having led an innocent and penitential life, like St. Aloysius of Gonzaga,
she died in the midst of the most abundant and sweetest consolations.
PRAYER
Behold, my God, the most holy and most pure
of Virgins, surrounded by the daughters of Sion, who celebrate her glory. I
adore the wonders of thy power manifested in her person; and I humbly beseech
thee to make me an imitator of her virtue, according to the measure of grace
which thou art pleased to impart to me. My soul is dedicated to thee in
baptism; may it be ever pure and worthy to be admitted to the nuptials of the
Lamb. Let Mary be my model here below ; and may she present me hereafter to my
heavenly Spouse, Christ Jesus, who with thee and the Holy Ghost, livest and
reignest, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
PRACTICE
Devoutly recite the canticle of the "Magnificat," and endeavour to conceive with what
sentiments of joy and gratitude it was first chanted by Mary.
ASPIRATION
May He, O Mary, who was born of thee to
save us, through thy prayers receive us.
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