Sermon for the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1618, concerning Our Lady's fulfillment of the roles of both Martha and Mary, Our Lady's glorious death and reception into Heaven, what Our Lord won by His conquest of the devil, the envy and anxiety of Martha, how not to be anxious in the practice of virtue, and the reward which the Eternal King gave Our Lady when she entered Heaven.
Today Holy Church celebrates the feast of the glorious death or falling asleep of the most holy Virgin, and her Assumption. Many have called this feast by different names: Some call it the Assumption, others the Coronation of Our Lady, and others her reception into Heaven. There are a thousand considerations that could be made on this subject, but I will limit myself and speak of only two, namely, how this sacred Virgin received Our Lord and Master when He descended from Heaven to earth, and how her Divine Son received her when she left earth to go to Heaven.
The Gospel which we heard proclaimed at today's Mass [Lk. 10:38-42] furnishes us with sufficient matter for both propositions. This Gospel tells us that Our Lord, passing through a village named Bethany, entered a home which belonged to a woman named Martha, who had a sister named Mary Magdalene,[1] Martha was busy, eagerly preparing dinner for Our Lord, while Mary seated herself at His feet and listened to His words. Martha wanted everyone to be as solicitous to serve the Saviour as she was. So she complained to Him, and asked Him to order her sister to help her, for she thought it unnecessary for anyone to remain near Him because He knew well enough how to entertain Himself. But our Divine Master reproved her, telling her that she was anxious and upset about many things, and added: One thing only is required. Mary has chosen the better portion and she shall not be deprived of it.
These two women represent Our Lady: Martha, in the reception which the sacred Virgin gave to her Divine Son and the care she bestowed on Him while He was in this mortal life; Mary, in the reception given her by her Son in His heavenly glory.
Our Lady performed the duties of both these sisters admirably in this life, O God! What care did she not take to provide all that Our Lord needed while He was little' What eagerness, or to speak more correctly, what diligence did she not employ in order to avoid Herod's anger' What did she not do to save Him from the many dangers and misfortunes which threatened Him!
But notice, please, how excellently she practiced the role of Mary [in today's Gospel]. The holy Gospel makes special mention of the silence of Our Lady [Lk. 2:51]. Mary was silent and seated herself at the feet of her Master. She had no care but to enjoy His presence. It seems that our worthy Mistress had only this one care. Picture her in the city of Bethlehem where, after every effort is made to find her a lodging and none is found, she says not a word. She enters the stable, brings forth her Beloved Son, and lays Him in a manger [Lk. 2:7]. The Kings come to adore Him, and we may imagine what praises they offer to the Child and the Mother; but she speaks not a word. She carries Him into Egypt. She brings Him back, without speaking either to express her sorrow in taking Him there or the joy she must have felt in bringing Him back. But what is still more admirable, see her on Mount Calvary [Jn. 19:25-27]: She does not yield to outbursts of grief, nor does she utter a single word. She is at the feet of her Son and that is all she desires. It is as if she is perfectly indifferent. She seems to say; "Whatever may happen, provided I am always near Him and possess Him, I am satisfied, since I desire and seek only Him."
Notice, please, that Our Lord reproved Martha because she was anxious and not because she was careful. Our Lady took great care in serving our Divine Master, but a care which was free of trouble and anxiety. The saints in Heaven are careful to glorify and praise God, but without anxiety, for they can have none. The angels are solicitous for our salvation, and God Himself is full of care for His creatures, but with peace and tranquility. The rest of us are so miserable that we rarely have care without anxiety and upset. You will often see a man who has a great love for preaching. Forbid him to preach and you will see him troubled. Another who would like to visit and console the sick will not do so without anxiety and is even upset if he is prevented. Another has a great love for mental prayer, and although it seems that this regards only the spirit, nevertheless he fails not to be anxious and troubled if he is called away from it to do something else.
Tell me now, if Martha's only care had been to please Our Lord, would she have been so busy? Certainly not, for a single dish, well prepared, was sufficient for His nourishment, seeing that He would have had more pleasure in her listening to Him as Mary did. Martha, along with the intention and desire of providing what was necessary for her Master, had also a little self-esteem which prompted her to display the courtesy and affability with which she received those who did her the honor of visiting her, devoting herself entirely to the service proper for the exterior treatment of the Saviour. In this the good woman thought herself a good servant of God, and she esteemed herself as something. And because she greatly loved her sister, she wished her to be, like herself, eager to serve her most dear Master. Yet He took more pleasure in the attention of Mary, into whose heart He distilled, by means of His words, greater graces than we can imagine.
This corresponds to the answer He gave to the woman who is mentioned in the Gospel [Lk. 11:27-28]; You say well that blest is the womb that bore Me and the breasts that nursed Me; but I say to you that blest are they who hear the word of God and keep it.
Those persons who, like Martha, are desirous and anxious to do something for Our Lord think they are very devout and believe that this eagerness is a virtue. However, it is not so, as He Himself gives us to understand: One thing only is required, that is to have God and to possess Him. If I seek only Him, what does it matter to me if I have to do one thing or another? If I desire only His will, what will it matter to me whether I am sent to Spain or to Ireland? And if I seek only His Cross, why shall I be troubled if I am sent to the Indies, to old countries or to new, since I am certain that I shall find it everywhere?
Finally, our glorious Mistress performed the office of Martha, receiving Our Lord into her home and into her very womb, with extreme affection and devotion. She served Him with such care during the whole course of His life that nothing can be compared to it. It remains to be seen how her Son, in exchange, received her into Heaven. It was with an incomparable love and glory, with a magnificence as much above all the saints as her merits surpassed all theirs.
But before speaking of her reception into Heaven, I must tell you how and by what manner of death she died.[2] You all know the history of her glorious death. Yet I always feel urged to dwell upon the mysteries we celebrate. Our Lady and most worthy Mistress died at 63, or rather fell asleep in the sleep of death. Some will wonder at this and say: not dying? Since death is the penalty for sin and she had never committed any, why did He permit her, to die?
O mortals, how different are your thoughts from those of the saints, how distant are your judgments from those of the Divine Majesty [Cf. Is, 55:8-9]: Do you not know that death is no longer ignominious but precious [Ps. 116:15], since Our Lord and Master allowed Himself to be attacked by it on the tree of the Cross. It would not have been an advantage nor a privilege for the Holy Virgin not to die, for she had desired death since she saw it in the arms and in the very heart of her most sacred Son. Death is so sweet and so desirable that the angels would consider themselves happy if they could die. And the saints have rejoiced to suffer death, which gave them much consolation, because our Divine Saviour who is our Life [Col. 3:4] had abandoned Himself as a prey to death.
It is generally said that as the life has been, so is the death. By what death, then, do you think the Holy Virgin died if not by the death of love? O it is unquestionable that she died of love, but I do not say this because it is written. She was always, the Mother of fair love [Ecclus. 24:24, Douay]. No raptures or ecstasies are mentioned in her life because her raptures were continual. She loved with a love which was always strong, always ardent but tranquil, accompanied by great peace. And although this love was continually increasing, it did not increase by transports and outbursts; but like a gentle river it was always flowing, almost imperceptibly, toward that union, so longed for, of her soul with the Divine Goodness.
When the hour came for the most glorious Virgin to leave this life, love made the separation of her soul from her body, death being only this separation. Her most holy soul went immediately to Heaven. For what, I ask, could have prevented it, since she was all pure and had never contracted the least stain of sin? What prevents the rest of us from going directly to Heaven when we die, as Our Lady did, is that almost all of us have dust or stains on our feet which must be washed away and purified in that place called Purgatory before we enter Heaven.
The great men of this world often have assemblies which for the most part are simply useless. They fancy that their meeting place should not be bright, but dark and dimly lighted so that some ballet, or I know not what, may be performed which will appear to greater advantage in the dimness. Candles and torches give too much light. Therefore lamps furnished with perfumed oil must be brought and the continual vapors from these lamps give sweetness and delight to the company. Now, these lamps give off a still more excellent fragrance and fill the room with a greater scent when they are extinguished. In many parts of Holy Scripture we find that lamps represent the saints [Sir. 26:17; Matt. 5;16], They are lamps which have given forth continual vapors of good examples before men and have always been burning fires of the love of God. Oh, what sweet perfumes these lamps gave forth before the Divine Majesty during the course of their lives, but especially at the hour of their death! The death of the just is precious in the eyes of the Lord [Ps. 116:15], while, on the contrary, the death of the wicked He holds in horror [Ps. 34:22] inasmuch as it carries them to damnation.
Now if the saints have been blazing and fragrant fires [Song 8:6; Jn. 5:35], how much more the most holy Virgin, whose perfection surpasses that of all the blessed? Even if all their perfections were united in one, they could not be comparable to hers. She was certainly a lamp fed with perfumed oil. What perfume do you think she gave forth at the hour of her glorious death? The maidens have gone after her, attracted by the odor of her perfumes [Song 1:3-4]. The sacred soul of our glorious Mistress took flight directly to Heaven and went to give forth her perfumes before the Divine Majesty, who received her and placed kef on a throne at the right hand of her Son.
But with what triumph, with what magnificence do you think she was welcomed by her Beloved Son in return for the love with which she had received Him when He came to earth? We must believe that He was not ungrateful, but that He rewarded her with a degree of glory as much above all the blessed spirits as her merits surpassed those of all the saints combined. The great Apostle St. Paul, in speaking of the glory of the Son of God Our Lord, makes use of an argument by which we may understand the high degree of glory of His most holy Mother. He says [Heb. 1:3-7J that Jesus Christ was raised as far superior to all the cherubim and other angelic spirits as the Name He has inherited is superior to all other names. It is written of the angels: You are My servants and My messengers; but to which of them was it said: "You are My Son; I have begotten You"?
We may speak in like manner of the most holy Virgin, who is the paragon of all that is beautiful in Heaven and on earth. To whom has it been said; "You are Mother of the Almighty and of the Son of God," except to her? Therefore, well may you think that she was exalted far above all that is not God.
When the most holy soul of Our Lady left her most pure body, this body was carried to the sepulcher and returned to the earth like that of her Son. For it was most proper that the Mother should not have a greater privilege than the Son. But just as Our Lord rose at the end of three days, so did she rise at the end of three days, yet in a different manner, inasmuch as the Saviour rose by His own power and authority and Our Lady rose by the almighty power of her Son, who commanded the blessed soul of His most holy Mother to be reunited to her body. Certainly it was very fitting that this most pure body should in no way be tainted by any corruption, since that of Our Lord had been drawn from her chaste womb and had reposed in it for nine months.
The Ark of the Covenant, in which were kept the Tables of the Law [1 Kgs. 8:9; Heb. 9:4], could not be attacked by any corruption because it was made of cedar wood,[3] which is incorruptible [Ex. 25:10]. How much more reasonable that this "Ark" — in which had reposed the Master of the Law — should be exempt from all corruption. The resurrection of the most holy Virgin is declared by these words: Rise, Lord God, You and the ark of Your Majesty [2 Chr. 6:41; Ps. 132:8]. As to the word "rise," it refers to the Resurrection of Our Lord; but those which follow, "and the ark of Your Majesty," must be understood of the resurrection of His Mother. As to our bodies, they are reduced to dust whether we will it or not, and this is the tribute which we owe and must all pay because of the sin we have all committed in Adam. "You are dirt and to dirt you shall return" [Gen. 3:19; Eccl. 12:7]. The maggots devour us, and we all have reason to say to the maggots: You are "my father"; you are "my mother" [Job 17:14].
I do not know whether you ever noticed that before undertaking the combat against Goliath, the little David inquired carefully among the soldiers what would be given to the person who conquered and overthrew that great giant, the enemy of the children of God. He was answered that the king had promised great riches to the one who would be so fortunate as to defeat him. But that was not enough for the heart of David, who was generous and thought nothing at all of riches. Honors were added to riches. Not only would the king enrich him, they said to David, but he would give him his daughter in marriage, he would make him his son-in-law, and, moreover, he even promised to exempt his house from tribute [1 Sam. 17:25-27,30].
When Our Lord and Master came into this world, He inquired like His ancestor David what would be given to him who would conquer that powerful "Goliath," the devil, whom He Himself calls "the prince of this world" [Jn. 12:31; 14:30], because of the great power he had before the Incarnation of the Word. The same answer was given to Him as to David: The King will enrich the one who overcomes this cruel Goliath. And that this may be so, listen to what is said by the Eternal Father: I will appoint him king and will give him full power over all that is in Heaven and on earth [Ps. 2:6-8; Heb. 1:2]. But Our Lord would not have been satisfied if it had not been added that: The King has promised that He will give him His daughter in marriage.
Now the daughter of the King, that is to say of God, is no other than glory. Our Divine Master was always most glorious and always possessed all glory. As to the supreme part of His soul, it was always united and joined inseparably to the Divinity from the moment of His Conception. But the glory that was promised to Him was the glorification of His body. Nevertheless, He would not even then have been satisfied if it had not been added that His house would be exempt from tribute. Now what is the house of Our Lord if not the most holy and virginal flesh of Our Lady? She was then exempt from tribute by the merits of her Son. That is, she was raised up before she had received any blemish or deterioration in the sepulcher.
What is there left for us to say now except to see whether we can in some way imitate the Assumption of our glorious and most worthy Mistress? As to our body, we cannot imitate her until the day of the Last Judgment, when the bodies of the blessed will rise glorious and those of the reprobate will be damned forever. But as to her soul, which went to be united and joined inseparably to the Divine Majesty, let us see how we might imitate her in this. It is said in the Gospel that Martha, into whose home Our Lord entered, was anxious and hastened here and there to treat Him well — while Mary seated herself at the Saviour's feet, where she listened to His words. And while Martha was taking care to nourish the body of her Master, Mary relinquished all other care for the one care of nourishing and sustaining her soul. This she did by listening to Our Lord.
Martha was touched by a little twinge of envy. Extremely few are free of it, however spiritual they may be. And the more spiritual they are, so much the more subtle and imperceptible is the envy. It acts so dexterously that it is difficult to discover it. When we praise someone and reserve a little of the praise that we know is due, what prompts this if not our envy of his virtues? But Martha gives her little blow and casts her little dart of envy under cover of a pleasantry, and this is all the more subtle. Master, she said, are You allowing my sister not to help me, leaving me to do the household tasks all alone? Tell her to help me.
Our Lord is incomparably good; and although He well knew her imperfection, He did not reprove her severely, but most lovingly, for this Gospel is all love. The Evangelist notes that He called her by name, saying: Martha, Martha, you are anxious and upset about many things; one thing only is required. Mary has chosen the better portion and she shall not be deprived of it.
But let us say a few words on these little suggestions of envy that our self-love produces, which are certainly like little foxes that damage and destroy the vineyards [Song 2:15]. Listen to religious when they speak of their Institute. They always esteem it above all others; "It is true," they say, "that the Order you speak of demands great perfection, but mine goes even further. Oh, I do not speak of myself but only of the great perfection to which they aspire in this house." Beware! For in the end you will turn back on yourself without even perceiving it. Another will say: "I am miserable and can do nothing of any value, but such a sermon as I preached …", and he will not hesitate to use these words when the preaching of another is praised. Thus when we hear someone praised, we say a little word in passing to attract attention to ourselves.
Let us return to Martha, who was so anxious. Certainly the rest of us can do nothing without anxiety, or, to speak more correctly, without using great care as to our exterior. We must know that there are two aspects in us which constitute only one person, the exterior and the interior. The interior always tends to union with the Divine Majesty and takes the necessary means to attain to this union. The exterior is whom we see, who looks, who speaks, who touches, who listens. It is he who is anxious in the exercise of the virtues which concern the commandment of love of the neighbor, while the interior practices the love of God. These two aspects thus exercise themselves in the observance of the two principal commandments upon which, as upon two pillars, are founded and fulfilled the whole Law and the prophets as well [Matt. 22:40]. The ancient philosophers said that we must view the end before we begin the work. But we do just the contrary, for we are anxious in the performance of the work undertaken rather than in considering what must be its end.
Let us speak a little more clearly. The end of our life is death; therefore, we ought to think carefully of what our death should be and how we can achieve this so as to make our life correspond to the death we desire. For it is certain that as is our life, so will our death be; and as is our death, so has been our life.
Let us now examine how our exterior can do nothing, not even the practice of virtue, unaccompanied by extreme solicitude. The ancients who counted the virtues numbered a multitude of them, and in the end they still fell short. Let us enter upon this assessment of the virtues to see if we can learn to practice them without undue anxiety.
We must be very careful in the practice of modesty. Observe that person who intends to practice it. She begins by making an agreement with her eyes [Job 31:1]. They shall only look at necessary things, nothing else. When not intended for flight, hawks are hooded in order to be carried more easily on the handle. She does the same to her eyes, for she draws over them their natural hood, which are the eyelids, that they may look at only what is necessary.[4] She also takes great care to practice continual modesty of demeanor, that she may not forget herself and yield to levity.
What attention is needed to practice patience and not give way to anger! Cassian writes that it is not sufficient to avoid the occasions of speaking and conversing with people. Avoiding its practice is not the means of acquiring the virtue. For he relates that, being alone in the desert, if he rose in the night and took his tinder box to light his candle and the flint did not strike fire, he flew into a passion and threw it onto the ground.[5]
Certainly we must be very careful not to yield to impatience, but, 0 my God! To be spiritually valiant, never to allow ourselves to be discouraged in doing good — this can only be accomplished by giving great attention to observing discretion. I say the same for constancy, perseverance, affability, prudence, temperance, and especially temperance in our words. What a bridle must we not put upon our tongue to prevent it from running through the streets like a runaway horse and entering into the house of the neighbor, even into his life, either to censure or control it, or to take from him a little of the esteem which we know is his due.
But, you will ask me, what is the remedy for avoiding so much solicitude, since I must exercise myself in virtue? Indeed this care is very praiseworthy, provided it is free of anxiety and eagerness. Nevertheless, I will give you a remedy which will free you from so much anxiety. Since Our Lord says that one thing only is required, which is to be saved, we are not required to multiply the means of advancing toward our salvation, although advancement is always necessary. I tell you in one word: Have most holy love and you will have all the virtues. That this is true, listen to the great Apostle; Love is gentle, it is patient, it is kind, it is condescending, it is humble, it is affable, there is no limit to its forbearance [7 Cor. 13:4-7]. In short, it comprises in itself all the perfections of the other virtues, but much more excellently than they do themselves.[6] Love has but one single act, which is one of joining and union. To love God above all things is the first commandment; to love the neighbor above all that is not God is the reflection of the first commandment [Matt. 22:37-39].
The most holy Virgin, our glorious Mistress, practiced both these loves in the reception she gave to her Son. She loved Him and received Him as her God, and she received Him, loved Him and served Him as her neighbor. We cannot have one of these loves without the other [7 Jn. 4:20-21]. Do you love God perfectly? Then you love the neighbor perfectly. In the measure that one of these loves increases, the other also increases. Likewise, if one diminishes, the other will soon grow less. If you have the love of God, do not be troubled or anxious about the exercise of the other virtues. For you will not fail to practice them when the opportunity presents itself- I say this of any virtue whatsoever: patience, meekness, modesty, and so of the rest.
Rabbits have little ones every three weeks. We find many leverets, flies by the thousands, countless gnats, but extremely few eagles. The elephant bears only one calf, the lioness never more than one lion.[7] Thus the exercise of Martha includes a number of acts, but that of Mary, which is love, has only one, which is, as we have said, that of joining and union.
It seems that, in a certain sense, the Assumption of Our Lady was more glorious and triumphant than the Ascension of Our Lord, because at the Ascension only the angels came to meet Him, but at the Assumption of His most holy Mother the King of Angels came Himself. Therefore, the angelic hosts exclaimed in astonishment: Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning on her Lover? [Song 8:5].
By this we may understand that although Our Lady ascended to Heaven as an all-pure being, yet notwithstanding her purity she was nevertheless leaning on the merits of her Son, in virtue of which she entered into glory. And just as there was never such an abundance of perfumes seen in the city of Jerusalem as the Queen of Sheba carried with her when she went to visit the great King Solomon, who in exchange made her presents according to his greatness and royal magnificence [1 Kgs. 10:1-2,10]; likewise, I say, never were there seen so many merits and so much love carried to Heaven by any pure creature as the most holy Virgin brought there at her glorious Assumption. In reward for this the eternal and great King, the Almighty God, gave her a degree of glory worthy of her greatness, and also power to distribute to her clients graces worthy of her liberality and magnificence. Amen.
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[1] The passage does not in fact identify Martha's sister as Mary Magdalene, but only as Mary.
[2] Cf. Sermon for August 15, 1602; St. Francis de Sales' Treatise on the Love of God, Book 7, Chapter 13 and Chapter 14.
[3] Actually, Scripture speaks of acacia wood, rather than cedar wood— or, in the Douay version, of setim wood.
[4] Cf. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 2.
[5] Cf. The Spiritual Conferences of St. Francis de Sales (Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1962), III, "On Constancy"; X, "On Obedience".
[6] Cf. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 11, Chapter 8 and Chapter 9.
[7] Cf. Treatise on the Love of God, Book 10, Chapter 7.
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