In consequence of Adam's sin the origin of life was tainted; a curse had fallen on maternity. The child, the delight and hope of his parents, was a new addition to the ranks of sinners, and an heir to labour and sorrow. The mother's pride was accompanied by deep humiliation. She was accounted unclean, and for forty or eighty days she remained in seclusion, forbidden to enter the temple of God or touch any holy thing. Then she came as a transgressor to offer sacrifice for sin, and to be readmitted to the privileges she had lost. The Blessed Virgin was the first exception ; in bearing her Divine Son, the Holy One of God, she had contracted no defilement actual or legal. She was the first one exempt from the law, but she submitted with wonderful humility to conceal her claims. Rather than contract defilement, she had been ready to forego the glory of the Divine Maternity, and now she resigns the credit of that which she valued so much, and places herself in the ranks of ordinary women. How strange that she, the Immaculate, should be accounted unclean, and secluded from all that was holy, because infinite Holiness had taken up its abode with her! So, in this world, must holiness always be secret, and the presence of God pass unrecognized. Nay, God's favours often become a reproach, fidelity is accounted a crime, good deeds bring more hostility on us than our sins. If this should happen to you for God's sake, "rejoice and be exceeding glad" (Matt. v. 12).
