CONFERENCE VI.
Second conference on the gift of fortitude.
Summary.
Introduction, 1.
Repetition and application of the text, 2-4. - Threefold division of the argument, 5. - Part I. The Blessed Virgin brought forth the price of our redemption as strong and holy. Her threefold holiness. First, the holiness of uncorrupted chastity, 6. - Second, the holiness of ready obedience, 7. - Third, the holiness of full benevolence, 8.
Six figures of the Virgin, three in history, three in words: these signify six properties of divine love, 9-11.
We ought to imitate the Blessed Virgin in these things, but not Eve: a rebuke of sin, especially of lust; one must beware of women, 12-14.
Part II. She herself paid that price as strong and devout. She offered her Son beneath the cross to pay the price of the world, 15.
On the devotion of the Blessed Virgin: this is threefold, 16.
She paid the price first by the devotion of divine veneration; hence she is praiseworthy above all: the impiety of men is rebuked, 17. - Second, by the devotion of compassion toward Christ: suffering with Christ, 18. 19.
Third, by the devotion of mercy toward the world: the Blessed Virgin, devout mother of Christians: devotion is commended to all, 20. 21.
Part III. She herself possesses that price as strong and valiant. She was valiant in three ways: first, fighting manfully by crushing the head of the serpent, 22.
Second, nobly triumphing over the devil, as Judith over Holofernes, 23.
Third, reigning sublimely, as Esther crowned, 24.
1. Who shall find a valiant woman? etc.
Pray for us, for you are a holy woman. The last word was the word of the priests to Judith: and it can be our word to the most glorious Virgin, who is full of holiness and grace, that she may pray for us to obtain grace and wisdom: wisdom for knowing the truth, and grace for doing the truth. These two things we ought to seek from God. For this purpose we come to the sermon, that we may have good understanding and carry away the affection of penance. But we need prayer for this; and because we are dull and slow, therefore we need the intercession of the glorious Virgin, that through her intercession we may implore the divine assistance, that we may be able to say something, etc.
2. Who shall find a valiant woman, etc. In the evening we touched upon that word, which is Solomon's word applied to the glorious Virgin, in which he commends her for three things: first, for the strength of spiritual fortitude: second, for the fruitfulness of supernatural conception: and third, for the discernment of salutary counsel.
And rightly are these three joined together: because the strength of fortitude spiritual was the beginning of the supernatural conception, and the gift of counsel was as it were the complement, because that Virgin, who was to conceive Christ, the Son of God, the power of God and the wisdom of God, had to be strong and prudent: strong in virtue and prudent through wisdom. And therefore the Wise Man, wishing to explain the conception of the Virgin, sets forth first the spirit of fortitude and then adds the gift of counsel; because she, upon whom the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety and the spirit of the fear of the Lord was to rest, had to be filled with the sevenfold spirit of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but especially with the spirit of fortitude and counsel.
3. Moreover, in that he says: Her price is from afar and from the uttermost boundaries, the glorious Virgin is understood to be commended for the supernatural fecundity of her conception. This I do not have from myself, but Bernard says: "If our salvation and that of all, if the restoration of innocence is placed in the hand of a woman: it is necessary that a strong woman be sought, who is needed for so great a work"; and he adds: "Not from the earth, not from the nearby heaven, but from the highest heaven is his going forth ."
Her price therefore is from afar and from the uttermost boundaries. This is the price of which the Apostle says: You have been bought with a great price; bear and glorify God in your body. That the price is great, the Apostle Peter says: You were redeemed not with corruptible gold or silver from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood as of a Lamb unspotted and undefiled. This had to be a great price, by which the whole world and the entire human race was to be redeemed; because man could not make satisfaction, since no single man could be worth all men, nor could any creature. Nothing was sufficient to redeem the entire human race unless it possessed human nature and a nature above every creature; therefore it was necessary that it possess both a divine and a human nature.
4. Where shall that price be found? Certainly nowhere except in the womb of the glorious Virgin. Whence Isaiah: Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel. — Emmanuel is interpreted God with us. It was not fitting for the Virgin to have a son unless he were God, nor for God to have a mother unless she were a Virgin. That price could not be found except in the Virgin. It is from afar and from the uttermost boundaries, because in him the highest is joined with the lowest, and the first with the last. That price is from afar, by which the entire human race is redeemed: because what is redeemed is the lowest, therefore it is the highest: because what is redeemed is the last, therefore it is the first. Man among creatures was created last.
5. Far off and from the uttermost boundaries is her price; and whose is this price? The price of this woman, the blessed Virgin, is that by which we may be able to obtain the kingdom of heaven; or it is hers, that is, taken from her, paid through her, and possessed by her: taken from her in the incarnation of the Word; paid through her in the redemption of the human race; and possessed by her in the attainment of the glory of paradise. She herself brought forth that price, paid it, and possessed it: therefore it is hers as originating, as paying, and as possessing. This woman brought forth that price as strong and holy; paid it as strong and compassionate; and possessed it as strong and vigorous.
6. I say first that she brought forth that price, namely God and man. The blessed Virgin brought him forth as a strong and holy woman, with the holiness, I say, of uncorrupted modesty, the holiness of ready obedience, and the holiness of full benevolence.
First, I say, the blessed Virgin brought forth that price as strong and holy with the holiness of uncorrupted modesty. Whence in Ecclesiasticus: Grace upon grace is a holy and modest woman; and the Angel said: Hail, full of grace, because she was holy and modest: holy in flesh and modest in mind. The Apostle: The unmarried woman and the virgin thinks on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and in spirit. On that text: The Angel Gabriel was sent, etc., Bernard says: " Gabriel was sent to the Virgin, such as the Apostle describes, holy in mind and body, not newly nor by chance discovered, but chosen from eternity, foreknown by the Most High and prepared for himself, guarded by Angels, prefigured by the Patriarchs, promised by the Prophets." To this Virgin Gabriel had to be sent as a bridesman. She alone pleased the Most High. Likewise Bernard: "The royal Virgin, resplendent with the twofold beauty of her mind, drew upon herself the gaze of the citizens of heaven, so that she both inclined the heart of the King to desire of her and drew the heavenly messenger down to herself from on high."
7. Second, the blessed Virgin brought forth that price as strong and holy with the holiness of prompt obedience. Whence in Ecclesiasticus: Everlasting foundations upon a solid rock, and the commandments of God in the heart of a holy woman. The Church had to be founded: therefore it was necessary to lay the foundations, namely the commandments of God, and it was necessary that they be placed in some person. This could not be except in the glorious Virgin; Psalm: His foundations are in the holy mountains: a man is born in her, and the Most High himself has founded her. He says: The commandments of God in the heart of a holy woman, that is, of the glorious Virgin. She was not idle, she was not one who knew and did not act, but she was obedient. Therefore in her heart these commandments of God were founded. It is said in the Gospel: Everyone who hears the word of God and does it is like one who builds his house upon a firm rock; but he who hears and does not do it is like one who builds upon sand.