Joseph, son of David, fear not to take to thee Mary
thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost (St. Matt. i. 2O)
Mary brought forth her Son in poverty and
humiliation. She had been slighted and scorned.
No room was found for her in the inn. In the
cave where the ox and ass are stabled, the Mother
of God brought into the world the King of kings.
O blessed humiliation! O happy poverty! You
are the marks that God is going to do a great
work: where you are absent, we cannot expect
lasting and solid fruit.
How Mary rejoiced in this humiliation! How
she welcomed such poverty as this! How could
she fail to rejoice in it, with Jesus in her arms?
If we are wise we shall pray for humiliation, for
without it we never can have the Divine Infant
for our own companion: we never can bring Him
forth in the souls of others: we must be humbled
if He is to exalt us: we must be poor in spirit if
we are to be blessed in our work.
Mary could say of Jesus as no other mother
ever said of her first-born son: He is mine and
mine alone. Every other son has an earthly father
who has a share in his begetting: Jesus had no
father save His Father in Heaven. Thus He was
Mary's own Child, her sole property and possession.
What union could be more close (the Hypostatic Union alone excepted) than that of Mary
and Jesus?