"O thou most beautiful among women." Canticles 5:9.
Do you ever read seed catalogues, especially the announcements of flower growers? Ordinarily I don't either, because I do not have the gift of the "green thumb," the talent of a good gardener. However, while giving a mission for a priest who was quite a flower fancier, I learned a little about the care of flowers in their early stages.
On the floor of the clothes closet in the guest room assigned to me were several glass jars with some fairly good-sized bulbs in each. In a light vein I asked the pastor if he was raising onions. He showed me the catalogue from which he had ordered the bulbs. There, I read the directions for their care:
"Keep them in a dark room where there is just enough warmth to start them growing slowly. This will cause the bulbs to throw out roots while the leaves remain at comparative rest. This is very important. If exposed to light and too much heat, the leaves will be stirred to sprout rapidly, while the roots have not yet had a chance to reach and spread out to insure a sufficient supply of nourishment. Result: a weak and imperfect flowering. Let the roots spread and grow first. Then gradually increase the light and heat, and you will have flowers like those illustrated above."
Whether the good father ever reaped such rosy results, I did not make it a point to find out, but often since the thought has occurred that here was an illustration from nature of the importance of the hidden life as a preparation for public work. It is an apt illustration of the girlhood of the Mother of God. In this case the Father of all reared the most beautiful Flower that ever grew.
Of Mary's hidden life Scripture tells us nothing. Of her presentation in the temple, which we celebrate November 21, the inspired writings give no word. Nevertheless, we do have the testimony of tradition, which in turn is based on accounts from apostolic times. For instance, in the Proto-evangelium of St. James, which is apocryphal, we read:
"And the child was two years old, and Joachim said: 'Let us take her up to the temple of the Lord, that we may pay the vow which we have vowed, lest perchance the Lord send to us, and our offering be not received.'
And Anna said: 'Let us wait for the third year, in order that the child may not seek for father and mother.'
And Joachim said: 'Invite the daughters of the Hebrews that are undefiled, and let them take each a lamp, and let them stand with the lamps burning, that the child may not turn back, and her heart be captivated from the temple of the Lord.'
And the priest received her, and kissed her, and blessed her, saying: 'The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, on the last of the days, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel.'
And he set her down upon the third step of the altar, and the Lord God sent grace upon her; and she danced with her feet, and all the house of Israel loved her."
Another book called The Nativity of Mary adds this note:
"But the parents having offered up their sacrifice, according to the custom of the law, and perfected their vow, left the Virgin with the other virgins in the apartments of the temple, who were to be brought up there, and they returned home."
St. John of Damascus expresses the belief of the early Christians in a way that brings out our thought of Mary's hidden life being like that of a plant or flower being nurtured for better things:
"The Holy Virgin first saw the light in Joachim's house hard by the Probatica and was brought to the temple. There, having been planted in the House of God, and nourished by the Spirit, like a fruitful olive tree, she became the home of every virtue, turning her mind away from every carnal and secular desire, and thus keeping her soul as well as her body virginal, as was meet for her who was to receive God into her bosom: for as He is holy, He finds rest among the holy."
It is believed that the girl Mary remained in the temple until her fourteenth year. What did Mary do during those tender years? What occupied her heart, her head and her hands? We know there was a set schedule of balanced prayer and labor followed by these maidens in the temple.
A great deal of time was devoted to prayer - alone and with others. There were three set times for prayer: morning prayer at sunrise; afternoon prayer about three o'clock; evening prayer at sunset.
In between the praises of God Mary worked at weaving and working with wool. In addition she and the other girls took care of the sick who came to them, helped to keep the sacred precincts clean, and devoted much time to the poor.
In such an atmosphere, hidden from the world, barred from the blazing sun of public gaze, Mary grew in virtue and grace. Always "full of grace," the cloistered Maid developed in purity and patience, in charity and humility, and in the spirit of prayer. Her heart sank deep roots into the sources of grace. Her development was hidden.
She was giving herself to God. Would that we could do that in some small measure. She was setting the pattern for those who would serve the Lord through the centuries. May ours be the prayer of the Church on the feast of the Presentation:
"O God, who didst will that Blessed Mary ever-virgin, the dwelling of the Holy Ghost, should today be presented in the temple, grant, we beseech Thee, that, through her intercession, we may merit to be presented in the temple of Thy glory. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord."
Amen.
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Adapted from Feasts of Our Lady
by Msgr. Arthur Tonne
