the-glories-of-mary

404 GLORIES OF MARY.
God without great effort, constant prayer,
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dent desire, and many tears and penances."
But above all, we should consider the rev*
lations made to St. Bridget, of the virtues and
exercises practised by the blessed Virgin in her
childhood, in these words: "Even from an in
fant Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit, and
as she increased in age, she increased also in
grace. Even from that time she resolved to
love God with all her heart, so that he should
never be offended by her actions or her words,
and for this reason all the goods of earth were
despised by her. She gave
all she could to the
poor. In her food she was so temperate that
she only took what was absolutely necessary to
support life. Discovering then from the sacred
Scriptures, that this God was to be born from a
virgin to redeem the world, her spirit was so
kindled with divine love that she desired and
thought only of God; and taking pleasure only
in God, shunned the conversation even of her
parents, that they might not hinder her from
thinking on God. And more than all did she
desire that the coming of the Messiah might be
in her day, that she might be the servant to that
happy Virgin Avho merited to be his mother.
Thus the revelation made to St. Bridget.*
Ah, for love of this exalted child the Redeem
er hastened his coming into the world, for whilst
she through her humility did not esteem herself
worthy of being the servant of the divine moth*
*L,2.et. l,3.c.a