The Holy Spirit made his spouse beautiful, Mary: Day 051

The Holy Spirit made his spouse beautiful

Mary is called the spouse of the Holy Spirit. If an artist could make his bride look the way he could paint her, he would render her as beautiful as possible. So, then, St. Alphonsus reasons, the Spirit made Mary’s character exquisitely beautiful.

Since it was fitting that the Father should preserve Mary from sin as his daughter, and the Son as his mother, it was also fitting that the Holy Spirit should preserve her as his spouse. St. Augustine says: “Mary was the only one who merited to be called the mother and the spouse of God.” For St. Anselm asserts that “the divine Spirit, the love itself of the Father and the Son, came bodily into Mary. Enriching her with graces above all other creatures, he reposed in her and made her his spouse, the queen of heaven and earth.”

When he says that the Holy Spirit came into her bodily, he means with regard to the effect of his coming: for he came to form from her immaculate body the immaculate body of Jesus Christ, as the archangel had already prom- ised her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” (Lk 1:35). For this reason, says St. Thomas, “Mary is called the temple of the Lord, and the sacred resting place of the Holy Spirit. For by the operation of the Holy Spirit, she became the mother of the incarnate Word.”

Consider this: If an excellent artist had the power to make his bride look the way he could paint her, what pains would he take to render her as beautiful as possible! Who, then, would dare to say that the Holy Spirit did any less with Mary? He was able indeed to make the one who was to be his spouse as beauti- fully fit for him as possible. So he acted as it was fitting for him to act. —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Anyone who has ever been smitten by the beauty of a loved one—especially a beauty of character—knows the power of that beauty to transform the beholder. In what ways has Mary’s beauty of character attracted and transformed me?

CLOSING PRAYER
Spouse of the Holy Spirit, “behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful!” (Sg 1:15).

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