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"The woman whom the Lord hath prepared for my Master's Son" (Gen. xxiv. 44). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the center of creation ; according to St. Paul, "the first-born of all creatures" (Col. i. 15). All things were made by Him, and in His image, and in order to lead up to Him; He is therefore the first conceived in the ideas of God. All that concerns Him is important; every such thing was foreseen and decreed from eternity. Adam, Abraham, David, the prophets, the people of Israel, were great, solely because of Him who was to spring from that stock. St. John the Baptist, who announced Him and prepared the way before His face, was sanctified from his mother's womb, and declared to be the greatest of men. There was one who stood nearer to the Messias than David, who prepared His way more than St. John, viz., the woman who bore to Him the closest of all possible relations, that of mother. Mary gave Jesus of her very substance; for nine months He lived with her life; her blood flowed in His veins, and passed from her heart to His. None could love Our Lord as His Mother did; He loved none as He did His mother. Wonderful were the privileges of the Magi, the shepherds, the Apostles; vastly more so were those of Mary. She was greater and holier, and therefore more efficiently predestinated than any other of the human race after her Child. Pay her the homage and love due to her singular and august position.
