the-glories-of-mary

420 GLORIES OF MARY.
saying to her: How much did I merit such a grace
to be made the mother of my Lord, if not becausa
I knew my nothingness, and humiliated myself?*
And this she declared before in her Canticle, so
fall of the deepest humility, when she said: "Be
cause he hath regarded the humility of his hand
maid . . . He that is
mighty hath done great
things to me."f Upon which words St. Law
rence Justinian remarks, that the blessed Virgin
does not say, he regarded my virginity, my inno
cence, but only my humility.J And by this hu
mility, as St. Francis de Sales remarks, Mary did
not intend to praise the virtue of her humility,
but wished to proclaim that God had regarded
her nothingness, humility, that is, nothingness:
"Humilitatem, id est and
niliilitatem," through
his pure goodness had willed thus to exalt her.
In a word, St. Augustine says that the hu
mility of Mary was like a ladder, by which our
Lord deigned to descend upon earth to become
man in her womb. And St. Antoninus confirms
this by saying that the humility of the Virgin
was her most perfect and the next preparation
to become the mother of God.J And by this ia
* TTnde promerni tantam gratlam, nisi quia cogitavi et scivi nihil a
toe ease vel habere? L. 2, Rev. c. 35.
t Qtda reepexit humilitatem ancillse suse
fecit mihi majfna
qui potens est. Luc . 4. 48, 49.
JNon ait, respexit virginitatem, inuocentiam; seu humilitatem
tantum.
Pacta est Mariae humilitas scala ccelestis, per quam Deus de.
Sup. Magn.
ecendit ad terras.
\ Ultima gratia perfectionis est prseparatio ad Filiuin Dei cone**