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Brookline Carmel Bulletin
January 22, 1961
Cogitatio Sancta
(Holy
Meditation)
Given the fact of Jesus’
birth, the Marriage between Mary and Joseph becomes plainly intelligible. Let us listen to that great Marian saint,
Bernard of Clairvaux. Lest paraphrase
distort the beauty of his thoughts, his words, taken from the Carmelite
Breviary, the Feast of the Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are reproduced
here in their entirety:
“It was fitting that the Sacred Mystery of divine counsel be kept hidden for a time from the Prince of this world. Not because God was afraid that, were He to wish to do the work openly, it could be prevented by him, but because He does what He wills not only with power but with wisdom, too. Just as, in all works He is accustomed to observe a certain propriety of times and events for the sake of the beauty that comes with order, so also, in this so magnificent a deed, namely, our Reparation, He wished to make manifest His Prudence as well as His Power. Then again, it was meet that He should dispose all things, both of Heaven and of Earth, with sweetness. As in Heaven, where by casting out the Rebellious One He confirmed the others in peace, so here upon earth, where He was going to overthrow the Envious One, He gave us first a very necessary example of His humility and meekness. He tempered the work with wisdom in order to appear sweet to His own, and powerful to his enemies. For what good would it do if the devil was conquered by God, and we were still to remain proud? Mary, therefore, had to be espoused to Joseph, since thereby this Holy Mystery would be kept hidden from dogs (worldly people) and her Virginity would be attested to by her Spouse; the modesty of the Virgin would be spared, and her good name guaranteed. What could be more prudent? What more worth of Divine Providence? By such a plan a witness was admitted to the secrets of Heaven, the enemy was excluded, and the reputation of the Virgin Mother was preserved intact.”
But if we consider the
Marriage of Mary and Joseph before the Annunciation, it is not so easily
intelligible. After all, there was a
time when Mary didn’t have the slightest inkling that she would become the
Mother of God, and when Joseph never dreamed that his wife-to-be would conceive
by the power of the Holy Ghost. What
was their attitude toward their impending marriage in those days? How was it they became engaged in the first
place? It seems that the only way to
explain it is to say that Mary had to marry Joseph in order to remain a Virgin
forever, and that Joseph had to take her as his wife in order to carry out his
determination to lead a life of perfect Chastity.
The desire to consecrate
oneself to God completely in a life of perfect Chastity is so far beyond the
power of human nature that we are forced to admit that it is a pure gift of
God. Even nowadays there are ‘good’
Catholics who cannot ‘see’ that such a state is far more exalted than
Matrimony. In the days of Mary and
Joseph it was unheard of. Why, didn’t
the Jewish people consider it their sacred duty to raise up children to
Abraham, who would one day be the citizens of the glorious Messianic
Kingdom? Well, the descendants of David
considered it doubly sacred, and urgent, too.
For from the seed of the Royal Prophet would spring the Captain who
would lead God’s people Israel. It
isn’t surprising, then, that Mary and Joseph should want to keep their desires
hidden from their kinfolk, who would have protested vigorously. Besides, such clearly divine inspirations
were too sacred to disclose and lay open to public comment and discussion. So they must have waited patiently and
resignedly, trusting in God, as their families went seeking out a suitable
spouse for each. We can only imagine
what was their holy joy when they discovered, having been left alone to discuss
the prearranged union, that they were kindred souls, both possessed of the
selfsame desire to belong entirely to God.
How happy, indeed, to find in the very Institution they had resolved to
forego the means to implement their desires.
In effect, each wanted to make a vow of Chastity. Marriage made it possible. We know that a vow is not valid unless it is
accepted by God. So, only a lawful
superior, God’s representative can validly accept a vow. When they became engaged (espoused), Joseph
became Mary’s lawful superior, for according to the Jewish concept of Espousal,
marital rights were transferred, though the right to make use of them was
withheld till after the Nuptials. He
was able, therefore, to consent to her vow to remain a virgin, and accept it in
God’s name. In her turn, Mary was able
to consent to and accept Joseph’s.
It is fitting to point
out, too, that Mary and Joseph were genuinely in love with one another, and
found in their marriage a profound sense of personal fulfillment, since
psychologically as well as physically man and woman are complementary. His love for her (he was not an old
man) must have been warm, intense and virile, though free of the faintest
breath of carnal desire. And Mary must
have nourished a thoroughly feminine though spotlessly pure love for
Joseph. We might very well hold up the
pre-marital Mary and Joseph, still unaware of God’s designs, as an example for
courting and engaged couples to imitate.
They could learn from those Holy Souls that the quality to look for
above all else in a spouse is a strong, stable love for God. It is the only foundation for marriage that
will weather. By it, their love for one
another is purified, ennobled and rendered capable of bearing supernatural
fruit.
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