The birth of an unknown little girl in an out-of-the-way country was the greatest event since the creation of Adam that the earth had witnesed until the time of Mary's birth. This little one was destined to be the woman, blessed among all women.
Behold her cradle. Anne and Joachim are there. A birth is always a sacred thing. But here! The child resembles all children; she sleeps, she is tiny; suddenly she wakes up and smiles. From certain details, however, it is evident that she does not resemble any other child; this face is not of the earth nor is the smile, nor does one hear the little one cry.
But appearances do not matter. This little one is the most beautiful tabernacle of the living God which can ever exist. According to M. Olier, there is in her from this instant more divine grace than one can find in the accumulation of all the sanctifying grace of all the saints combined.
She is Immaculate! What splendor!
Like almost all the divine splendors that God has given the earth, it is a splendor hidden behind closed doors.
I will profit by this silence. I will be silent to admire. I will remain at the cradle, lingering in contemplation. What else do I need? Mary, I have Mary. Mary is born. In a few years Jesus will come. Divine life will return to earth. But all begins here; this very little one is necessary that we might have our great God incarnate.
How I want to love this little one who is so great, Mary! I see her little heart which beats. "The Heart of Mary," Bossuet will say, "is the first source of the Blood of Jesus; it is here that this beautiful river of grace has its source and flows into our veins through the Sacraments, carrying the spirit of life into the whole body of the Church."
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)
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