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11. The Visitation
Sermon for the Feast of the Visitation, July 2, 1621, concerning the admirable unions of contraries effected by God, especially the union of charity and humility as practiced by Our Lady at the Annunciation and Visitation, the pride and frivolity of human beings (especially of women, St. Elizabeth's reception of the Holy Spirit at the Visitation and what this teaches us about our reception of the Holy Spirit, our relationship to the angels and saints and what we should ask them for, and the visits of Our Lady to us and in what way we should desire and respond to them.
God, who is One, loves unity and union; and all that is not unified is displeasing to Him, as the great Apostle Paul says: One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.[1] [Gal. 3:20; Eph. 4:5-6]. But if He sovereignly loves what is united and conjoined, He is the enemy of disunion, for what is disunited is imperfect, disunion being caused only by imperfection. Being the Master and Lover of union, then, Our Lord has established three admirable unions in the sacred Virgin Our Lady, exclusive of the natural union of soul and body.
Now this natural union of soul and body is so excellent that all the philosophers have not yet exhausted nor defined their admiration of it, seeing that God has conjoined soul and body with so strict a joining that the body, without ceasing to be body, and the spirit, without ceasing to be spirit, form nevertheless only one person. This natural union is so exalted that we cannot give it the admiration due to it; indeed, it is the work of a God most high and a Lover of unity.
But it is not of this natural union of soul and body in Our Lady that I wish to speak, inasmuch as it is universal and common to the rest of humankind; I wish to dwell on three other admirable unions which God effected in her.
The first is that of the Divine Nature with human nature in her sacred womb, which is so elevated a mystery that it infinitely surpasses all that human and angelic understandings can conceive or comprehend. Never would the thought of so admirable a union have dared to enter the mind of any angel, cherubim or seraphim, for these two natures, the Divine and human, are so far removed from each other, and there is so great a distance between them, that no angelic creature could have thought that God had willed to effect this union. Divine Nature is the highest, and human nature is the lowest; Divine Nature is sovereign perfection, while human nature is sovereign misery. They are then two extremes, two great opposites; nevertheless, God has effected so admirable a conjoining of these two natures in the womb of the Virgin that they constitute only one Person, so that man is God, and God, without ceasing to be God, is man.
The second union which He effected in Our Lady was that of maternity with virginity, a union which is absolutely outside the course of nature, for it unites two things which it is impossible to find together in nature. Indeed, never was there seen nor did the thought exist that a mother was virgin, and that a virgin, without ceasing to be virgin, was mother. It is, then, a miraculous and supernatural union, effected by the all-powerful hand of God, who gave this privilege to our glorious Mistress; and as this union has happened in her alone, so will she alone remain ever Virgin and Mother at the same time.
The third union is that of a very exalted charity and a very profound humility. The union of these two virtues is certainly admirable inasmuch as they are greatly removed from each other, so that it seems that they could never meet in one same soul. Charity elevates the soul on high, and the more it increases and is perfected, the more also it exalts and elevates the soul in which it dwells. Humility does just the contrary: It abases the soul in its own esteem and in the esteem of all creatures, having for its proper effect that the greater the humility, the more it lowers in its own eyes the soul in which it dwells[2]. You see a little of the opposition between these two virtues and you say: How can we harmonize, unite and join together humility and charity since the nature of one is to ascend on high and that of the other to descend downward? It is impossible on the natural plane.
It is true that none but God could effect the union of these two virtues; but He who is one sole God wills and loves unity, and delights in displaying the greatness of His power by bringing about these admirable unions. Now, He has united charity and humility in the holy Virgin in such wise that there could be no charity in her without humility nor humility without charity; charity remaining humble and humility charitable; charity exalting the soul above all creatures and above itself, and humility abasing it below all — these two virtues remaining nevertheless conjoined in such wise that one cannot subsist without the other.
It is on this last union that I will dwell, which will lead me into the subject of this feast; for what is the Visitation of Our Lady to holy Elizabeth if not a meeting of humility and charity, or a summary of the effects of these two virtues practiced by the holy Virgin toward her cousin?[3] Humility and charity have only one object. God as they "tend toward union with Him: nevertheless they pass from God to the neighbor, and it is in this transfer that they attain their perfection. Certainly our most glorious Mistress practiced these two virtues in a sovereign degree at the time of the Incarnation[4] when, the Angel Gabriel having announced this ineffable Mystery to her, she responded: I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me as you say [Lk. 1:38], For while he was declaring her Mother of God and Queen of angels and men, while he was giving her to understand that she was to be exalted above all creatures angelic and human, she was lowering herself at the feet of all, saying; I am the chambermaid of the Lord. Great humility this! The holy Virgin had then such a clear knowledge of the misery of our nature and the distance between God and man that, seeing herself exalted and chosen above all, she abased herself to the lowest depths of her nothingness before the incomprehensible and inexhaustible abyss of the immense goodness of God.
It is true that she never humbled herself so profoundly as when she said: I am the servant of the Lord. But after having made acts of so perfect a humility and self-annihilation and having abased herself as low as she could, she immediately brought forth acts of charity, adding: Let it be done to me as you say. For in giving her consent and acquiescence to what the angel announced that God had asked of her, she demonstrated the greatest charity conceivable. You see then how at this moment God united charity and humility in the holy Virgin. In saying: I am the servant of the Lord, she abased herself to the profound abyss of her nothingness, but at the same time she was raised above the cherubim and seraphim by her charity when she added; Let it be done to me as you say. For at that moment the Divine Word took flesh in her virginal womb, and by this means she became Mother of God.
Behold how humility is joined to charity in Our Lady and how her humility exalts her; for God looks upon the lowly to raise them up [Ps. 113:7; 138:6]; that is why, seeing this holy Virgin humble herself beneath all creatures, He casts His eyes upon her and exalts her above all. This is what she herself makes us understand by the words of her sacred canticle [Lk. 1:48]: Because the Lord has looked upon my abjection, my lowliness and my misery, all nations shall call me blessed.[5] It is as if she had meant to say to St. Elizabeth: You proclaim me blessed [Lk. 1:45], and it is true that I am, but all my happiness proceeds from the fact that God has looked upon my abjection and my lowliness.
However, Our Lady was not satisfied with having thus humbled herself before the Divine Majesty, for she well knew that humility and charity are not in their perfection until they are transmitted to the neighbor. From the love of God proceeds love of the neighbor; and the great Apostle says; The greatness of your love for your brothers will be directly proportioned to the greatness of your love for God. [Cf. Rom. 13:8; Gal. 5:14; Eph. 5:1-2]. St. John teaches us this when he writes: How can it be that you love God, whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor, whom you do see? [1 Jn. 4:20].
If then we wish to prove that we do indeed love God, and if we wish others to believe us when we assure them of this, we must love our brothers well, serve them and assist them in their necessities. Now the holy Virgin, knowing this truth, set out promptly, says the Evangelist, proceeding in haste into the hill country of Judah [Lk. 1:39], into the town of Hebron, or, as others say, Jerusalem (it matters little), to serve her cousin Elizabeth in her advanced age and pregnancy. In this she manifested great humility and charity; for as soon as she saw herself Mother of God, she humbled herself to the point of immediately setting out on the road to go help and assist that good woman. It may not have been at that very hour, nor even on the very same day that she learned it, for I leave it to you to think that this holy Virgin remained in her little home, recollected and ravished in awesome wonder, meditating on this profound and incomprehensible Mystery that had been wrought in her. 0 God, what sweetness and delight did she not feel in her heart from the knowledge of this marvel! Oh, how many holy conversations and loving colloquies between the Son and the Mother!
She did not then leave on the very day of the Incarnation, but some days later, and proceeded in haste into the hill country of Judah. But what humility this! She goes to become the chambermaid and servant of her who was in everything and in every way inferior to her; for although St. Elizabeth was of noble extraction since she was of the tribe of Levi, being married to a high priest [Lk. 1:5], and on the maternal side she belonged to the house of David, yet for all that she was as nothing compared to the Virgin. Our Lady is Queen of Heaven and of earth, of angels and of men; yet these titles that we give her serve only to assist our poor understandings to picture her to ourselves in some fashion that we might comprehend her greatness a little, since she is sovereignly greater than all we can say of her. If we wish to give her a name worthy of her excellence, we must name her Mother of God;[6] for this word is so exalted that all the titles, praises, and commendations we could give her are contained in it, What humility, then, is that of the holy Virgin, when she has been chosen and declared Mother of the Eternal Word; she calls herself the servant of the Lord, and, as a chambermaid, sets out on her way to serve that good Elizabeth in her advanced years, O my God! How great and profound was that humility which she demonstrated in greeting her cousin, for the Evangelist notes that Our Lady, as the more humble, was the first to offer the greeting. [Lk 1:40].
But what blessings and graces entered this home with the sacred Virgin! We know this from the words of St. Elizabeth who, in a spirit of prophecy, cried out in a voice clear and distinct: But who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? Then continuing, she said: Blest is she who trusted that the Lord's words to her would be fulfilled. Blest are you among women, and blest is the Fruit of your womb, Jesus. Yes, this Fruit is not only blest but it is He who gives all blessings; and your coming has brought me so much happiness and consolation that the baby leapt in my womb for joy. [Lk. 1:42-45].
O God! Who can imagine the sweetness and delights that flowed into the heart of St. Elizabeth at this Visitation? How she pondered this great Mystery of the Incarnation and the graces and favors that the Lord had granted her! What loving words, what divine conversations were held between St. John in his mother's womb with his dear Master whom he knew and adored in the womb of Our Lady! What blessings and enlightenments this dear Saviour of our souls poured forth into the heart of His forerunner! At that moment He bestowed upon him the use of reason; but I will not speak of that at the present because I remember well having spoken to you about it on former occasions.[7]
I will touch upon only these two or three points with you in passing, to console and comfort your spirits. The first is that St. John had the use of reason; the second, that he was sanctified in his mother's womb; and the third, that he was filled with wisdom and the knowledge of God and divine mysteries and therefore he loved Him, adored Him, and leapt for joy. While yet in their mothers' wombs, Our Lord and St. John the Baptist knew each other, conversed together, and loved each other, having the use of affection, judgment and reason. The rest of us are indeed alive in the maternal womb, but we do not yet have the use of our faculties; we are there as a mass of flesh, and although we have our senses, still we cannot make use of them. St. John must have recognized the Saviour in the womb of Our Lady, since at His arrival he leapt for joy in his mother's womb; he must also have loved Him, for we do not leap for joy over the coming of those we neither know nor love. Now St. Elizabeth gave testimony to this truth by the words she spoke to the Virgin.
But what did Our Lady do amidst all these praises and benedictions? She did not react as women of the world who, if they are extolled, instead of humbling themselves exalt themselves the more. Man is so subject to pride and presumption that we can apply to him what Aristotle, that ancient philosopher, says of the horse — namely, that there is nothing so haughty. Indeed, if you watch a horse, do you not see his pride in his mane, his head, his whole bearing? He strikes the cobblestones impatiently and makes sparks fly with his hooves. Likewise, see some young dandy, some young fool; do you not mark his pride, his presumption and vanity? Notice his gait, his bearing, how he struts and carries his head high; in short, he exhibits a thousand follies and pompous gestures which are all marks of his pride and overweening conceit. Now consider a man on horseback: We do not know which is the more haughty, the horse or its rider; it seems as if they compete with each other in displaying their vanity.
Certainly, man is greatly subject to this pride and presumption, but when this vice enters the heads of women it produces even greater ruin and destruction; and because women are so subject to the desire of making a good impression on others, they are constrained to give particular attention to guarding and preserving this impression. The weakness of their sex leads them to this; The slightest thing arouses their vanity; oftentimes they fabricate thoughts and opinions of themselves which make them think themselves far superior to others. This ordinarily happens to weak minds; and the more imperfect they are, the more subject to such foibles, foolishness and pomposity. We have an example of this in that senseless, foolish and impudent Cleopatra. What impertinences and extravagances did she not resort to in order to glorify herself![8] And Eve, the first woman, on merely being told that she was created to the image of God, became so presumptuous that she wished to make herself like Him; with this end in view, she listened to and did all that the enemy suggested to her [Gen. 1:27; 3:5-6].
But the sacred Virgin came to regain by her humility what the first Eve had lost by her pride; thus, she reversed Eve's pride and presumption by her humility. When the angel calls her Mother of God, she, plunging herself into the abyss of her nothingness, calls herself His chambermaid; and when Elizabeth proclaims her blest among women, she replies that this blessing arises from the fact that the Lord had looked upon her lowliness, her littleness, her abjection. O God, what a good sign in the spiritual life is humility of heart! It is a good indication that we have received divine graces efficaciously when these graces abase and humble us, and we see that the greater these graces are, so much the more do they profoundly annihilate the heart before God and creatures; so that, like the holy Virgin, we find all our happiness in the realization that the eyes of the Divine Goodness have looked upon our poverty and misery!
Profound humility and ardent charity, as much toward God as toward the neighbor, are thus the fruits produced in Our Lady's heart by the grace of God. Charity made her go in haste to the home of Zechariah, for although she was pregnant, her Divine Child was not burdensome to her, so that she experienced no encumbrance on the way. As she had conceived Him by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit [Lk. 1:35], she carried Him without inconvenience and brought Him forth without pain — Our Lord reserving her pangs of childbirth for the day of His Crucifixion, which His holy Mother must witness.