Today, as we see our faith and our culture in such a state of ruin around us, we remember the greatest of graces brought to us through the simplest words of a very young Jewish maiden.
“God ordered light to be, and all things are made. The Blessed Virgin says: ‘Be it done unto me according to Thy word’, and the greatest of all things was accomplished. God’s Fiat is a Fiat of command; the Fiat of the Mother of God is a Fiat of obedience. By God’s command heaven and earth were made: by the Blessed Virgin’s obedience, the admirable incarnation of the eternal Word followed.”
The most pure Virgin’s love for the sweet Will of God was so intense, that it truly constituted the soul of her soul, the spirit of her spirit and the heart of her heart. This spirit and heart caused her to live a heavenly life, animated every power of her soul and all her interior and exterior senses, was the principle of all her actions, and inspired her to loving acceptance of all her affections. I hear my Savior tell us: “I came down from Heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” and “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me that I may perfect His work” (John 6, 38; 4, 34).
The Blessed Mother can indeed truly repeat after Him: “I am in the world only to do the will of my Creator and I find my supreme pleasure in its constant fulfillment.” We read in the works of St. Gertrude that one day she made the following request of her divine Spouse: “I ask, dear Lord, and I desire with all my heart that Thy most praiseworthy Will be accomplished in me and in all Thy creatures, in the manner most pleasing to Thee.”
If Saint Gertrude possessed such great love for the Will of her divine Spouse, what shall we say, what can we think of the Queen of all saints, whose love for the Will of Him who is her God, her Creator, her Savior, her Brother, her Son, her Father and her Spouse, was greater than the love of all angels and men together? We can certainly say that Mary’s incomparable love of the Divine Will formed her and identified her with it. Hence God could well say to her first of all what He says of His Church through the Prophet Isaias: “Thou shalt be called my pleasure” (Isa. 62, 4), which is equivalent to saying: Thou art my Heart, my love, my Bride, my beloved in whom I am delighted and well pleased; because thy love for my Divine Will is so great that thou art identified with it.
Finally, the adorable Will dwelt in the Blessed Virgin’s holy Heart as in its own home, holding its keys as uncontested Master. God’s Holy Will dwelt there as in its kingdom, enjoying complete and sovereign sway. Mary’s blessed Heart was the triumphal car of the Divine Will bearing a triumph over all its enemies. It was the Heaven of the glory of God’s Eternal Will, a paradise where everything was subject to its orders, nothing contrary to it, and all things were consecrated to its praise and worship.
Mary’s obedience to God’s adorable Will caused Mary to utter the divine Fiat, more admirable, in a way, than the Fiat whereby God created the universe. God’s Fiat created the world, but Mary’s Fiat was the occasion by which God became man and man, God. St Bernard says: “We were all created by God’s eternal word, and behold we die; in thy brief answer, namely, Fiat, we find a new being and are called back to life.”
“I dare affirm of the Blessed Virgin,” writes St. Anselm, “what St. John has said of the eternal Word; namely, that as nothing was made without Him, so also nothing was made without her. The great God accomplishes more through the Blessed Virgin’s Fiat than through His own. Why? Because God’s Fiat was a Fiat of command, whereas the Blessed Virgin’s Fiat was a Fiat of obedience.”
What greater praise could be pronounced concerning the obedience to be glorious Mother of our Savior? How admirable! “Nothing is made save through Mary’s hands,” says St. Bernard, “and God Himself became man only after that admirable Virgin had said Fiat.”
Let us harken also to St. Andrew of Jerusalem, who says: “God ordered light to be, and all things are made. The Blessed Virgin says: Be it done unto me according to Thy word, and the greatest of all things was accomplished. God’s Fiat is a Fiat of command; the Fiat of the Mother of God is a Fiat of obedience. By God’s command heaven and earth were made: by the Blessed Virgin’s obedience, the admirable in. carnation of the eternal Word followed.” The final act of submission and obedience to the Divine Will that sprang from holy Mary’s maternal Heart was her consent to that adorable Will concerning the Passion and death of her beloved Son.
This consent she gave with such wonderful obedience, that if such had been the Eternal Father’s Will, she would have been as ready to crucify and sacrifice Christ with her own hands, even as Abraham prepared to sacrifice his only son Isaac, yet with incomparably greater love and obedience. Thus the Divine Will ever reigned in the most Holy Heart of the Queen of Heaven, and thus will it ever be.
May we not truly say, therefore, that the adorable Will of the Almighty possesses her admirable Heart more mightily, more magnificently and more gloriously by far than all that ever were or shall be in Heaven and on earth? It possesses the authority and power over Mary’s Heart, where it will reign forever, where it will eternally receive the veneration, homage and adoration of all the angels and saints. Infinite and eternal glory, then, to that adorable Will for all the marvels it has ever wrought in the pure Heart of the Mother of God!
Unending praise and thanksgiving be to her most admirable Heart for all the love and honor that its most perfect submission and obedience have ever tendered and shall forever render to the adorable Will of the Heavenly Father!
(St. John Eudes. “The Admirable Heart of Mary“ )
The above is offered to help us strengthen our wills through devout imitation of Our Mother’s most pure will, that is, her Immaculate Heart, the only sure means we have to stay firmly devoted to Our Lord Jesus Christ as these times harden towards hell. Those who have allowed themselves to slacken towards indifference will be swept away. We must pray always for them, for they can no longer help themselves.
Remember – Our Lady needs us to obey: First Saturdays of Reparation, daily rosary, at least 5 mysteries, wear her brown scapular and live your Total Consecration to her Immaculate Heart, offering daily duties in reparation and for the conversion of poor sinners.
Open your hearts to the Lord and serve Him only: and He will free you from the hands of your enemies. With all your heart return to Him, and take away from your midst any strange gods” (I Kings 7:3)
† Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of our hearts, Mother of the Church, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of poor sinners, especially our Pontiff.
† Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy kingdom come! Viva Cristo Rey!
† St. Joseph, protect us, protect our families, protect our priests.
† St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
