Mary, Model of Virtue, Mary: Day 169

Mary, Model of Virtue

If we truly love Mary, St. Alphonsus insists, we will imitate all her virtues.

St. Augustine says that to obtain the favor of the saints with more cer- tainty, and in greater abundance, we must imitate them. For when they see us practice their virtues, they are more roused to pray for us. So as soon as the Queen of Saints and our principal advocate, Mary, delivers a soul from Lucifer’s grasp and unites it to God, she desires for it to begin imitating her. Otherwise, she can’t enrich it with the graces she would desire, because it’s so opposed to her in conduct.

Whoever loves either is like the person loved or endeavors to become like that person. As the well-known proverb says, “Love either finds or makes what is like it.” For this reason, St. Sophronius urges: “My beloved children, serve Mary, whom you love; for you then truly love her, if you endeavor to imitate the one you love.” Richard of Saint Lawrence says, “Those who strive to imitate Mary’s life are and can call themselves her true children.” “Let the child, then,” con- cludes St. Bernard, “endeavor to imitate his mother, if he desires her favor. For Mary, seeing herself treated as a mother, will treat him as her child.”

There is little recorded in the Gospels of Mary’s virtues in detail. But when we learn from them that she was “full of grace” (Lk 1:28), this alone tells us that she possessed all virtues to a heroic degree. “The other saints excelled,” says St. Thomas, “each in some particular virtue: one in chastity, another in humility, another in mercy. But the Blessed Virgin excelled in all, and is given as a model of all.” St. Ambrose agrees: “Mary was such that her life alone was a model for all.” Then he concludes: “Let the virginity and life of Mary be for you as a faith- ful image, in which the form of virtue is resplendent. From that image, learn how to live, what to correct, what to avoid, and what to retain.”
—St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
What does it mean to say that “love either finds or makes what is like it”? How do I see that principle illustrated in my life?

CLOSING PRAYER
From a prayer of Venerable Pope Pius XII: Our eyes are fixed on you in admira- tion, immaculate Virgin; you who are loved by the heavenly Father above all others! Obtain for us from your divine Son the grace to reflect your sublime virtues in our conduct, according to our age and condition in life.

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