IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 |50 ■^" Mm ■^ i2ii 12.2 V] /] 7: -^ '^ ^'^ V '>> >^ '^ mj£f'i>-\ 1 w McMASTER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 1 pastoral Xcttcc John Walsh — />// the (Iran' of Gnd and the appointmrnt of the Holy Sec, A rrhhishop of Toronto. To the Cleriiji, llelinious and Faith fid of the Arehdioeene, Health and lienedietion in the Lord. Dearly Beloved Brethren,— On tlie approach of the heau- tifiil month of May, sacred to our Blessed Lady, we deem it a duty to address you some remarks on devotion to the august ^lother of God, and on the spiritual fruits that may he gathered therefrom. What the month of May is in the order of nature, that, in the mind of the church, the Blessed Virgin is in the order of Grace. Afay is the springtime of the year, the month of hope and promise, the harbinger of the bright Summer, the fairest and most beautiful queen of the year, decked out in all its fresh young beauty, and fragrant with blossoms and liowers. " Winter is now past, the rain is over and gone, the tlowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come, the voice of the turtle is heard, the fig-tree hath put forth her green figs, the vines in flower yield their sweet smell." (Canticles, ii. 12-18). The cold, stormy winter is past, Nature has risen from its tomb, and has awakened into a new life. The voice of Spring is heard on the hills and in the valleys, and' behold the fields are robed in brightest 'green, the trees bring forth' leaves and blossoms, the gardens are fragrant with flowers, the woods are vocal with the sweet music of singing birds, 'the air is resonant with sounds of joy and gladness, and all liature is clothed with a vesture of the most varied beauty. Now, tlu! Illcsst'd Vir<^iii was the Springtime of that season of Ki'iice and uicrcy. and spiritual beauty, and perfection, with which onr Divine Hedeenier Messed and enriched the earth. At her approiich th(^ s[)iritu!il winter of the world disa])i»eared, th(! s[)rin^'tinu? of hope and prouiiso for numkind had come, soon to be followed hy the Sunnner of Christ's richest blessings and }j;raees. She was the day-star that appeared .ibove the darkened horizon of a fallen world, to herald t!ie risin<^ of the Sun of eternal justice. Mnry was the fairest Hower in the garden of God. She was the Hower of the field and the lily of the valley. She was the fairest, the most beautiful, and the most perfect of God's creatures. She was never stained by the sin of origin or of action, no thought allied to sin ever darkened her pure soul, no shadow of evil ever dimmed the brightness of luir virginal purity. She was indeed " our tainted nature's solitary boast." Hence the ins})ired writer, uazing on the vision of her peerless beauty and perfection, as it appeared to iiis fai-reaching gaze, exclaimed : " Who is she that coineth tV.rtli like the morning rising, fair as f ' Moon, beautiful as the Sun." (Canticles vi., V. !).) It was, then, a happy thought of the church, who, like her Divine Master, doeth all things well, to associate the beautiful month of ^lay with devotion to the lilessed ^'irgin, and to make its natural beauty and loveliness — its hopes and its promises — svmbolize the moral beautv and loveliness of Marv, and the blessed hopes and promises which she brought to the wearied hearts and despairing souls of mankind. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin consists chiefly in honorhig, ven- erating and loving her, and in earnestly and fervently invoking her powerful and most salutary intercession. All christians should honor, venerate and love our Blessed Lady, because (a) of the prominent place she has occupied in the economy of human redemption and reparation, because //) of her trans- cendent sanctity and dignity, and because (c) God himself honored h(^r above all other creatures, by bestowing on her the nnspe.akctnd! and incomparable privilege of the Divine ]\rater- nitv. McMASTER UNIVERSITY UBRAf 1. The Blessed Mother of God has occupied a prominent place in the work of our redemption, and has ever been asso- ciated with our Divine Saviour in the scheme of man's salva- tion and in the dispensation of His graces and mercies. Our Lord is the inexhaustible fountain of grace ; Mary is its channel. Our Lord is ilie Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, our Father, our Creator, our Lord, our all, the God of our heart, the God that is our portion forever. It is needless to tell you, dearly beloved brethren, for you are per- fectly convinced of it, that our Saviour is the author and finisher of our Faith, that He is the life of our life, the Way, the Truth, and the Life ; that it is His precious blood that has redeemed the world, that He is the only mediator of redemption between God and man ; that there is no other name under heaven, save the holy name of Jesus, whereby we can be saved ; and that no soul can ever enter heaven, except through the merits of the sufferings and death of Christ. To Him alone are divine worship and adoration due. All this is Catholic truth and teaching. But as it has pleased God to rule the natural world, and to preserve and direct its marvellous harmonies by secondary agents and laws, so in the supernatural order it pleases Him to make use of secondary agents to carry out His merciful behests. Now such is the position of Mary in the divine plan of man's salvation. She actively co-operated, but only as a secondary agent, with our Blessed Lord, in the great scheme of the world's reparation* As Eve, by her infidelity, actively co-operated in bringing on the fall of the human race in Adam, so Mary, by her superlative virtues, and her unswerving fidelity to grace, had a part in its restoration. Scarcely had the divine justice passed sentence on our guilty parents, at the gates of Paradise, when in love and pity God pronounced a sentence of mercy and of hope. He said to the serpent, " I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed ; she shall crush thy head and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel " (Genesis iii. c, 14 v.) Between Eve and the serpent there arose a friendship that brought ruin and death on mankind ; between Mary, the wiiiiuii of [)r()i»lK'cy, Jiiid tlio serpent tluTo sluiU l)c iin etcniiil eimiity, an undying liostility, ii.id slio, thr()n;j;li her seed, tho inciirnjite (lod, sluill l)riii;j! li'*' 'iH'^ salvation to mankind. Tho woman Mary, and licr seed, Jesus Christ, haA'e crushed and destroyed tlie serpent's head, tlie one nK'tliatcIif, the other iiii- mcdidtclif ; ^fary crushes tlie serpent's head hy {giving hirth to Jesus, and Jesus hy the might of His own divine power and virtue. When St. Paul instituted a contrast hetweeii the Ih'st Adam and the second, he suggested tin; existence of a similar contrast hetween T^ve and Mary, and this contrast is constantly dwelt upon hy the Christian Fathers. Their teaching on this suhjeat, when summarized, is substantially as follows : — (a). That Mary is the new and second Eve, as Christ is the new and second Adam ; and therefore, as Adam was a tyi)e of Jesus, so Eve was a type of IMary, and that as Eve was an active and efiicient agent in the ruin of num, Mary was an active and etHcient agent in his redemption and salvation. (/>). The enmity hetween thin second Eve and tiie serpent is in every wa}' similar to that which existed hetween the serpent and the second Adam ; and, consequently, it is deadly, im- placable, and without interruption, {c). In Mary the fall of Eve is restored ; the prudence, the obedience, and the faith of the former making reparation for the imprudence, the dis- obedience and the unbelief of the .latter, (h). God who con- demned Eve, crowns ^Eary with glory, {c). As death Howed from the first Eve, so did life from the second ; as all that is evil came through Eve, so through Mary comes all that is good; as Adam was renewed in Christ, so is Eve in Mary. (/). B3' Mary salvation and life is within tlie reach of all, as by Eve all fell into ruin and death. (//). It is only on account of Mary that Eve is, and is called the mother of the living, (h). Mary raised Eve from her tall, restored Adam, despoiled hell, and opened the gates of paradise ; (/)• a curse was pronounced upon Eve; it is abolished by Mary, who is altogether blessed ; {k). as we all die through Eve, so do we all live through Mary, we gain the adoption of sons, and return to our pristine dignity. (/). The new Virgin hath expiated the evil deed of the old: \ and (III). liiHtly, as all censun; Eve, so all pmiHc Afary. The whole force of these r/;///7//(«f'« (le[)en(lH on" the liypotheHis uit<»n whieh they are fouiuled ; namely, that Mary is a bein-,' wholly different from all other memhers of the human race, in the un- sjxitted parity, and in the superabundant holiness which adorned and which filled her from the first moment of her exist- ence ; that she was not merely the physical instrument of our Lord's taking flesh but as an intelligent and responsible cause of it, her faith and obedience being accessories to the Incarna- tion and gaining it as her reward, that she co operated in our salvation not merely by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon her but by specific holy acts — the effects of the Holy Ghost within her soul ; tliat as Eve was the cause of ruin to all, ^fary was the cause of salvation. In the annunciation when an archangel announces to her on the part of God that she was to become the mother of the world's redeemer we see clearly the prominent part she played in the mystery of the Incarnation and therefore in the scheme of man's redemption. What an awful moment for the immortal hopes and eternal interests of mankind that was ! Mary is a free agent, and she could if she so pleased, reject the grace and the inexpressible dignity offered to her. She for a moment suspends her consent, and God and nature are, as it were, kept in suspense and expectation, so necessary was it for mankind that she should freely and actively co-operate in the work of their redemption and their salvation. Her consent was neces- sary for the mystery of the Incarnation, and it was only when she gave it, when she said her '\fiat," that the decrees of God regarding this stupendous mystery ran on to their fulfilment, and that the work of the redemption of the world was inaugu- rated. " God was pleased so to arrange it," says St. Thomas, " that it might be shown that there is between the Son of God and human nature a certain spiritual marriage ; and therefore in the Annunciation the consent of the Virgin was waited for, as the representative of all human nature." (Lib. iii. Art. BO.) " Answer, Blessed Virgin," says St. Augustine, " why do you hesitate about giving life to the world '? The gate of heaven n onc' sliiit l>v the sill of Adiiiii is (tpciicd. iiiul llif ccU'stinI iiiii- IdiHsiidor luiH pas'scd. tliroiij^'li it to conic to you (lod is at the {^ato. and ho awaits the aii^'d whom you detain- O BU^sstsd Viii^'in, all tho captive aj^'es conjure thee to ^ive thy consent, lie who was olVendcul has taken the lirst step, he has taken away the holt hy which our iiii<|uity had closed the j^'ale of heaven. We shall he permitted to enter there if you '^ive your coiiHcnit. Est iiiihix inliliiH, si assiiisiis tuns I'lirrit iiiiinninh(tii(t." (Ser. 17 in Natal J)oni.) Such, in the thou-^dit of the holy Fathers and of Catholic tlieol();,'y. is the i)roniineni; place the lilessed Vir^'in occni)ies in the divine scheme of man's srlvatioii. \\v should, therefore, honor, V(3nerat(! and love lu'r. And what shall we say of her sanctity and innnaculatc in licr conception? or on the otluM- tluit she should he honored with an assumption, and exalted as a (pieen with a crown of twelve stars, with the rulers of day and ni}^ht to do her service'.' yivu sonietinu.'S wonder that we call her Mother of life, of mercy, ot salvation ; what are all these titles compared to that one name, ^fother of (iod?" (), how j^featly should we honor, how fervently should we love lu^r whom (lod himself iionored ahove all creatun^s hv raisiiifi; her to the unapproachahle and incomparahhi dij^mity of hein<^' His own Mother. She herself, heinj^ inspired hy the Holy host, proi)hesit!d that "all