“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice… always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” (Saint Therese of Lisieux).
I have been reflecting very much over the last few days and weeks on the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
There is a beautiful old film released in 1948, called “The Song of Bernadette”. The film depicts the story of Saint Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes to whom Our Lady of Lourdes appeared.
It is a gorgeous old film, but in the film – to add to the drama and entertainment of the film – there is a fictional subplot which implies that after her visions of Our Lady, Saint Bernadette wished to marry a young man from her village, but was instead convinced by her parish priest to become a cloistered nun. This fictional scene is symbolic of the sacrifice of a religious vocation and it is quite heartbreaking to watch a beautiful young girl sadly resigning herself to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience, while the music swells in the background…
And I have been reflecting on that scene – not because I believe it is accurate to suspect that Saint Bernadette fell in love with a village boy – but because I think such a thing would have been impossible for her.
You see, Saint Bernadette saw the Mother of God – Queen of Heaven – several times during those apparitions at the Grotto at Lourdes.
A glorified body is the eternal body we shall have at the end of the world, when our mortal bodies will be resurrected and assumed into Heaven. A glorified body is a PERFECT body – perfectly beautiful as it was created to be in the Garden of Eden and we profess this dogma in the Creed although we may not understand exactly how it will work or come to be… When the Blessed Virgin was assumed into Heaven – Body and Soul – her Body became a GLORIFIED body.
And I have been reflecting on that vision of the Blessed Virgin. This soul – the soul of our Blessed Mother – is the MASTERPIECE of God. She was created to be the most perfect human soul ever created. The only human soul that is more beautiful than hers is the soul of her Divine Son, which was NOT created, but instead was begotten consubstantial with the Father.
That means that Our Blessed Mother is beautiful. She is the most beautiful soul to have ever been created…
The Reverend Thomas Donaghy wrote in “Inspirational Thoughts for Every Day”, “When we generously accept God’s Word, especially in the Commandments, we are doing God’s Will in all things. To live the Will of God is the greatest sacrifice and personal denial.” And this is exactly what the Blessed Virgin does – she ACCEPTS God’s Will so that she can SHARE His suffering…
You see, when a mother gives birth to a child, she is giving her child life because she is giving birth to a soul who will have the opportunity for eternal life! But Our Blessed Mother is the only Mother in the world who gave birth to a Child who ALREADY HAD eternal life! In other words, Our Blessed Mother gave birth to a Child – God – so that He would DIE!
Now, when I consider the sacrifice of such a soul, I tremble to image her beauty… And in having seen her beauty – with her physical eyes – Saint Bernadette would have had no real regret about spending her earthly life in contemplation of such beauty and in atonement of sins.
Blessed Lucia of Fatima – to whom Our Lady of Fatima appeared – spoke of the three visionaries of Fatima being CONSUMED by the desire to atone for sin because during the entire time that they saw the Blessed Virgin, they never saw her smile due to her terrible suffering for sinners. And – for love of her – the children wished to make sacrifices to atone for sin…
Saint Therese of Lisieux understood the beauty of the Blessed Virgin’s soul, for she advised, “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
And after all, isn’t that exactly what the Beautiful Blessed Virgin actually does?
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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