Mary, Mirror of Justice, Mary: Day 163

Mary, Mirror of Justice

If Mary is called a Mirror of Justice, whose justice did she reflect? Blessed John Henry Newman observes that it was the justice of her Son, with whom she lived so closely.

When Our Lady is called the “Mirror of Justice,” it is meant to say that she is the mirror of sanctity, holiness, supernatural goodness. But what is meant by calling her a mirror? A mirror is a surface which reflects, such as still water, polished steel, or a looking glass.

What did Mary reflect? She reflected our Lord—but he is infinite sanctity. She then, as far as a creature could, reflected his divine sanctity, and therefore she is the Mirror of Sanctity, or as the Litany says, of Justice.

Do we ask how she came to reflect his sanctity? It was by living with him. We see every day how alike people get to each other who live with those they love.

All of us perceive this; we are witnesses to it with our own eyes and ears—in the expression of their features, in their voice, in their walk, in their language, even in their handwriting, they become like each other; and so with regard to their minds, as in their opinions, their tastes, their pursuits. And again doubtless in the state of their souls, which we do not see, whether for good or for bad.

Now, consider that Mary loved her divine Son with an unutterable love; and consider too she had him all to herself for thirty years. Don’t we see that, as she was full of grace before she conceived him in her womb, she must have had a vast incomprehensible sanctity when she had lived close to God for thirty years? A sanctity of an angelical order, reflecting back the attributes of God with a full- ness and exactness of which no saint upon earth, or hermit, or holy virgin, can even remind us. Truly then she is the Mirror of Divine Perfection.
—Blessed John Henry Newman, Meditations and Devotions

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
When I look in a mirror, I see both the best and the worst of my appearance. Might Mary serve as a mirror for me in a second sense in that, when I look at her moral perfection, I see more clearly my own flaws in comparison?

CLOSING PRAYER
Mary, Mirror of Justice, most holy, most wise, pray for us who seek to follow your example and the example of your Son.
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