Chapter XII MARY A ROD OR STEM, AND A FLOWERING STEM

"The Lord is with thee." Having seen how the Lord was with Mary, as the sun is with the dawn which goes before it, let us now see how the Lord is with Mary as the flower is with the budding stem. For Mary is that rod of which it is said in Isaias: "There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall ascend from that root, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of piety, and He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord" (Is. XI.) Let us place these words before the eye of our mind, and direct our consideration first to the rod and then to the flower.

First consider, that this rod, this royal rod, is the Virgin Mary, as St. Ambrose testifies, saying in speaking to the Blessed Virgin: "Thou thyself, who hast brought forth the Lord, art of the land of Israel; thou hast grown into a rod, the rod from the root of Jesse; thou hast arisen and flowered, O rod of Aaron; thou hast flowered and brought forth." For Mary is a rod smoking with incense, a rod of wood, a rod of gold, a rod of iron. Mary is a rod smoking to beginners, a rod of wood to those who are advancing, a rod of gold to the perfect, a rod of iron to the incorrigible and the demons.

I say that the Virgin Mary is as a smoking rod to beginners and to penitents. Of this rod it is said in the Canticle of Canticles: "Who is she that cometh up from the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer?" (Cant. III, 6.) The desert is the heart of the sinner, which is indeed devoid of grace and virtue. The aromatical spice, the sweet incense of the soul, is the aspiration of hope for pardon. The Blessed Virgin Mary, therefore, came up from the desert as a pillar of smoke, when, by her prayers, the heart of the sinner received the smoking incense of pardon. This smoke is generated from the aromatical myrrh of contrition, and of incense in confession, and from all the powders of the perfumer in manifold satisfactions. No desert doth the Virgin Mary abhor, no sinner doth she despise; but wherever she passes, she spreads the sweet incense of pardon. Excellently, therefore, does St. Bernard say: "Thou dost not abhor or despise any sinner, however foul, if he but sighs to thee, and begs with a repentant heart for thy pardon; thou drawest him from the abyss of despair with thy loving hand, thou breathest upon him the remedy of hope, and embracest him, the outcast of all the world, with maternal affection, thou cherishest him and dost not desert him, until he is reconciled with the tremendous Judge."

Again, Mary is the rod of wood, the rod which is flowering to those who are advancing. Of this rod it is said in the Book of Wisdom that the rod of Aaron, which was of wood, bore fruit and flowers. By the flowers are signified virtues, which, after the passing of the devilish winter, rise up in hearts, as it is well said in the Canticle: "Now the winter is over and gone, and flowers have appeared in our land." Let the winter, therefore pass, let that torpor in which charity grows cold, pass, and then the flower of virtue will appear again. Oh, with what flowers the flowering Virgin hath abounded, as St. Bernard says, speaking to her: "Thou art as a garden-plot of holy perfumes, planted by the heavenly Perfumer, delectably flourishing with the flowers of all virtues." As flowers signify virtues, so fruits denote the works of the virtues. Of these it is well said: "By their fruits you shall know them." When, therefore, we advance in virtues and in the works of the virtues, we advance by the examples and merits of Mary, and then the Virgin Mary is to us a rod of wood, flowering and fruitful.

Likewise the Virgin Mary is to the perfect and contemplative a golden rod. We read that Esther; with two maidens went to King Assuerus, and when she had become faint from exceeding fear, the King held out to her the golden scepter to console her. Esther means "raised up" or "hidden," and is a figure of the contemplative soul, whom God raises up in contemplation and hides in the hidden place of His face from the tumult of men. This soul by contemplation enters into Christ the King. The two maidens by whose help she enters are the two powers of the soul, the intellect, which proceeds by way of knowledge, and the affections, which follow by love. The soul which has thus entered into Christ, sometimes faints away by a kind of stupor, when she recognizes the inaccessible brightness of the divine glory, or the terrible severity of the divine justice. The golden rod, the royal scepter, is the Virgin Mary. Golden indeed by her charity, royal by her nobility; golden by her purity, royal by her justice; golden by her incorruption and virginal integrity, royal by her domination and power. This is the happy rod, which is extended with clemency to comfort the contemplative soul, when the happy Virgin Mary, by contemplation and devotion of this soul, which is so loving and sweet, enters into it; so that from this the soul is strengthened against fear of the divine splendor and justice. The contemplative soul of St. Anselm desired this rod to be extended to it, when he exclaimed: "O Virgin fair to look upon, lovable to contemplate, delightful to love, who transcendest the capacity of the heart, give thyself, O Lady, to the weak soul who followeth thee."

Likewise the Virgin Mary is as an iron rod to the demons and incorrigible sinners. To this rod we may apply that word of the Psalm: "Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron." O Mary, rod of gold to the perfect, rod of gold to the hard, rod of gold to men, rod of iron and hard to the demons, keep the demons from us I This, Lady, we ask, and we ask it devoutly with Innocent: "Hail, loving Mother of God, who from the dignity by which thou art Mother of God, hast power to restrain the demons, restrain the demons lest they hurt us; command the angels to guard us." Thus, therefore, the Blessed Virgin Mary is to us a rod of smoke or incense in our conversion, a flowering rod in our lives, a golden rod in our contemplation, an iron rod in our defense. St. Bernard, admiring and worthily contemplating this rod, saith: "O Virgin, sublime rod, to how great a height thou raisest thy summit even unto Him who sitteth on the throne, unto the Lord of Majesty, for thou castest deep down thy roots in humility."

Let us now consider the flower of this rod; let us consider in the royal rod, and in the Virgin Mary a fourfold flower, a precious flower, a flower of virginity, of virtuous reputation, of miraculous fecundity, and of glorious immortality.

Of this flower consider, first, in Mary the flower of precious virginity, which is virginity itself. Of this it is said in Isaias: "The desert shall rejoice and shall flower as a lily." Mary can fittingly be said to be a desert, who was so willing to be alone, who was in her voluntary solitude visited by an angel. Therefore St. Ambrose well says: "Alone in the inner part of her house, she whom no man could see, he found her alone without a companion, alone without a witness." In what manner this desert, the Virgin Mary, should rejoice, let her say herself: "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior." This desert of earth flowered like a lily by virginity. O angelical lily! O heavenly flower! O truly heavenly flower! whom that supercelestial Bee hath so loved. For St. Bernard saith: "That Bee who feedeth among the lilies, who dwelt in a flowering fatherland, when He flew to Nazareth, which is interpreted a flower, flew towards thee, and came to the sweet smelling flower of thy perpetual virginity, he rested upon it, he embraced it." The flower of virginity has as many petals, so to speak, as the conditions and praises of virginity. Oh, how greatly the crowns of this flower were multiplied by Mary! St. Ambrose says: "In the whole world the flower Mary weaves unfading crowns, and keeps the royal court of purity with immaculate affection, until integrity perseveres to the palm of victory, that in maidens it may grasp the trophy of sanctity, and in the footprints of the Virgin Mary, attain to the heavenly bridal chamber."

Secondly, consider in Mary the flower of virtuous reputation, of manners and of life, and hear what she herself says: "My flowers are the fruits of honor and riches" (Ecclus. XXIV, 23.) Of these it is also said: "Our bed is flowering." Behold, we find flowers in the earth, and in the bed. The earth is the mind of the active (souls); the bed is the mind of contemplatives. The earth, I say, is the mind bearing fruit in good actions; but the bed is the mind seeking quiet in contemplation. Let the mind be active, or let it be contemplative, it should always be beautiful with flowers. Note also that the flower of honesty, of a good reputation, yea, the flower of any virtue has, as it were, as many petals as it has good and meritorious works to show. Oh, how flowering was that earth, how flowering was the bed of Mary, who in the flowering virtue of her life flourished in the beauty of every virtue, as St. Bernard testifies, saying: "Thou art the casket of holy perfumes, O Mary, gathered by the heavenly Perfumer, delightfully blooming with the beautiful flowers of every virtue, among which three are excellent above all, the violet of humility, the lily of chastity, and the rose of charity."

Thirdly, consider in Mary the flower of her miraculous fecundity. This flower is the Son of the Virgin, of whom it is said: "There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall arise from its root." Oh, how beautifully this flower came forth, being born without sin, and how sadly was it crushed by dying, as it were like a sinner, according to that word: "Like a flower he goeth forth and is crushed." Oh, how white in His going forth, and how ruddy in His bruising was this flower! A flower, I say, delightful to the angels and most useful to men for life. St. Bernard saith: "The flower is the Son of the Virgin, a flower white and ruddy, a flower on whom the angels long to look, a flower by whose perfume mortals live again." Happy the wood which produces such a flower! Happier the stem or rod which in the wood produces this flower ! Happy above all the flower, without whom there can neither be wood nor rod happy! Truly a most happy flower, in which the Holy Ghost so rested that without Him no one could have the grace of the Spirit. St. Jerome testifies to this, saying: "The Holy Ghost, who in the vast wood of the human race had found no rest, at last rested upon this flower, so that without Christ no one could be wise, no one could have understanding, or counsel, or fortitude, or learning, or piety, or the fear of the Lord." This flower has, as it were, as many petals as it had ministries and examples. If thou desirest to have this flower, thou must bend its stem down to thee by prayer. If the flower is exceedingly high by its divinity, the stem is flexible by its love. And if the flower is most rare, because neither in Heaven nor on earth is there found another one, it is nevertheless most common, like a flower not enclosed in a garden, but in a field exposed to all passersby. Therefore, well could Christ say: "I am the flower of the field." He can be called a flower of the field, not only because it is openly exposed to the view of all, but also because it is produced without human culture. This St. Bernard hath in mind when he says: "The field flourishes without any human aid, it is not sowed by anyone, not harrowed by the plough, not made fertile with manure; thus indeed did the womb of the Virgin flower, so did the chaste and entire interior of Mary like pastures of eternal greenness produce Him whose beauty sees not corruption, whose glory will never fade."

Fourthly, consider the flower of gracious immortality, of which it is said in Numbers that the rod of Aaron bore at the same time both flowers and fruit. The rod of Aaron prefigures the Virgin Mary. In the straightness of the rod is prefigured the integrity of Mary; in the flower, the beauty of her glorified body; and in the fruit, the beatitude of her soul. It is to be noted that in youth the body is most beautiful, as it is said: "In the morning it blooms and fades." But the flower perishes in death, as it is said in Isaias: "The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen." It will flower again in a glorious resurrection, according to the Psalmist: "My flesh has flowered again." This flower of the glorification of the body has, as it were, as many petals as the glorified body has gifts and rewards. And certainly the holy Doctors seem to hold it as probable, and strive with some show of reason to prove, and the pious sense of the faithful always held, that the Blessed Virgin was taken up body and soul into Heaven, and that her body and soul are now in glory. St. Augustine says: "I hold that Mary is in Christ and with Christ; in Christ, because in Him we live and move and have our being; with Christ, because she is assumed into glory." Therefore we worthily believe that Mary rejoices with ineffable joy both in body and soul, in her own Son, by her own Son; nor has she ever felt the sting of corruption because no stain was communicated to her integrity in bringing forth her Son, because she begot Him who is the whole and perfect life of all; let her be with Him, whom she bore in her womb; let her be with Him, who bore Him, nursed Him, and fed Him. Mary is the Mother of God, the servant of God, the nurse of God, the follower of God. According to this belief she can now say: "My flesh hath flowered again." And according to this she has at the same time both fruit and flowers: as flower, her glorified body; and for fruit, her glorified spirit. A flower indeed in the beauty of her glorious body; and fruit in the unspeakable pleasure of her soul. We must note that, according to the aforesaid fourfold flower, the Virgin Mary has a fourfold flower of virginity, and a fourfold flower of fecundity; she has the flower of good repute and the flower of humility; she has at the same time in her Child the flower of humanity and the fruit of the divinity; she has at the same time the flower of immortality in the body and the fruit of blessed pleasure in the soul. Let us, therefore, discern these flowers in the virginal rod, and gather these new flowers of joy from the virginal garden, which St. Bernard saw gathered and commended to us, when, speaking to Mary, he said: "Thy most holy womb, O Mary, is to us a garden of delights; because from it we gather the flowers of manifold joys as often as we think in our minds how great a sweetness flowed thence over the entire world." Therefore, most sweet Virgin Mary, behold, the Lord is truly with thee, as the flower is with the stem which produced it. Grant that the Lord may also be with me, yea, with all of us, and give to us this flower, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.