“Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord: or who shall stand in His holy place? The innocent in hands, and clean of heart.” (Ps. 23:3-4)
The Blessed Virgin said to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Who else can claim this exalted purity? Who else can be always clean – always immaculate from sin?
Christ “loved the church, and delivered Himself up for it: that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life: that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish” (Eph 5:25-27).
Our Lady was preserved from the stain of sin by the preceding merits of her Divine Son. In other words, she was “pre-redeemed.” [1] The rest of us, however, must wait until birth to receive the grace of God which is abundantly poured out in Baptism.
Christ cleansed the Blessed Virgin – the perfect model and image of His Bride, the Church – by the “word of life”. What is this “Word of Life” but Himself? In the Last Gospel of the Traditional Roman Rite, St. John the Evangelist declares, “Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis” (John 1:14). “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us”. Another translation could be: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us”. God, the Lord of the Universe, took on the frailty of human nature, and chose to dwell in the pure womb of a humble virgin!
And yet Mary was not blessed primarily by her physical bearing of Christ, but by her bearing of Him within her soul. In the Gospel of St. Luke, as Our Lord was speaking to the multitudes, “a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck. But He said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it” (Luke 11:27-28).
Blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.”Beati qui audiunt verbum Dei et custodiunt illud.” In Psalm 1, David declares, “Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he shall meditate day and night” (v. 1-2). Our Lady was blessed because she meditated constantly on the Law of God – His Word. “Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). “Maria autem conservabat omnia verba haec, conferens in corde suo.”
The more the soul conserves the Word of God within, while keeping holy conferences with its Divine Spouse, the more it shall be continually cleansed from sin. In this manner, Christ can present to Himself “a glorious church” – that is a glorious soul – “not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing;” but “holy, and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27).
The soul of the Blessed Virgin was a spotless white garment. No smudge, no crease or furrow, mars her purity. All is white – one color. All is simple. All is one. Mary’s soul was set constantly on the One Thing necessary – the Unum necessarium – which is God Himself. Her soul was in a state of dispassion. She did not waver to and fro from one emotion or passion to the other. In Catholic doctrine: “From her conception Mary was free from all motions of concupiscence.” [2]
We, on the other hand, fall into defects continually. When free from one passion, we quickly fall into another. Like the bumpy wrinkles of a garment, our souls are constantly experiencing various peaks and valleys – ups and downs. “For a just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again” (Prov. 24:16). It is a continual cycle of falling and rising, rising and falling.
Is it possible to attain to a state of dispassion in this life? To a state of impassibility? Many of the desert fathers, through the purifying grace of God, reached this state.
Palladius, author of The Paradise of the Holy Fathers, writes the following of Abba Isidore – a monk of Mount Nitria: “I met him when he was an old man seventy years of age, and when he had lived fifteen years longer he departed from this world. Now to the end of his life this holy man never put on either a linen tunic or even a head-covering; he never washed, and he never ate flesh, and he never ate a full meal seated comfortably at a table; and yet, through Divine grace, his body shone. He possessed a sound and healthy body, and he was, by the grace of Christ, so fully endowed with strength that those who beheld him and who did not know him would not be persuaded that he lived a life of self-denial, and they thought and said that he must lead a life of great luxury and that he must eat abundantly of rich meats.” [3]
How was this man, laden with years of toil and abstinence, possessed with such a vigorous constitution? Palladius continues: “[H]e possessed the gift of the spirit and the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and the comprehension of divine learning, and he kept the commandments [so strictly] that at noon, the time when the brethren were wont to take their food, the mind of this holy man was carried away as it were in a slumber.” [ibid.] His brethren, after trying to persuade him to explain this state, finally attained their desire. Abba Isidore said: “My mind departed and was carried away by contemplation, and I was snatched away by the similitude of a thought, and I was fed with the food of glory, which, however, it is impossible for me to describe.” [ibid.]
In order to be fed with the food of glory, the sweetness of contemplation, the soul must – like the Blessed Virgin – “hear the word of God, and keep it” (Luke 11:28). By continually meditating on the Law of God (Ps. 1:1-2) the soul will come to possess the Word of Life – the Book of Life – within itself.
The soul will then be as Ezechiel, who received the Word from God Himself: “And I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that book: and He said to me: Son of man, thy belly shall eat, and thy bowels shall be filled with this book, which I give thee. And I did eat it: and it was sweet as honey in my mouth” (Ezechiel 3:1-3).
By treasuring the Lord in her heart, the Blessed Virgin allowed the sweetness of the Word to penetrate to her core – to the very marrow of her soul. “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Her entire being was filled with God.
Like Mary, the hermit is called to purity of body. Like Mary, the hermit is called to purity of mind. Like Mary, the hermit is called to purity of heart. Like the Blessed Virgin, the hermit is called to cling continually to God. By possessing the Word Made Flesh within herself, Our Lady was transformed into His Image. As He is, so is she. And as she is, so we may become, if we imitate her innocence, purity, and docility. In doing so, we shall be able to say, with the Immaculate Virgin, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38).
This reflection was written by an anonymous hermit. Heed, a nonprofit, was formed to support contemplative eremitic vocations. Heed’s vision is to create a community of contemplative hermits in a cloistered setting. Heed aims to accommodate those with special requirements and sensitivities. The immediate plan is to establish a hermitage in a home that needs improvements. The long-term plan is to purchase a cloistered monastery that contains a fully-consecrated traditional chapel. The maintenance and acquisition of these properties will require significant funds. For more information, please visit www.heedhiscall.org, or reach out to Mark Rose, founder and executive director, at mark@heedhiscall.org.
NOTES
[1] L. Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, TAN Books, Illinois, 1974, Book Three, Part 3, 3, ch. 2, p. 202.
[2] Ibid., Part 3, 4, p. 202.
[3] Palladius, ‘The Paradise of the Holy Fathers’, e-Catholic 2000, Volume 1, ch. 1, https://www.ecatholic2000.com/athanasius/untitled-208.shtml.
