Mary in the Epistles by Thomas Stiverd Livius. Comments on the Epistles part 48.

THE SECOND EPISTLE OF S. PETER THE APOSTLE. CHAPTER I.

16 For we have not followed cunningly-devised fables, when we made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ: but having been made eye-witness of his majesty.

17 For he received from God the Father, honour and glory: this voice coming down to him from the excellent glory: This is my be loved Son, in whom I have pleased myself, hear ye him.

18 And this voice we heard brought from heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount.

The Apostle again grounds his claims to be believed, as to all that he taught about the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, on his having been himself with Him, and on what he had himself seen and heard. But how much was there of our Lord's life known only to Mary who dwelt with Him alone for thirty years. How many mysteries were there of which she alone was eye-witness, and wherein she alone had part. Some of these she made known to the Apostles and Evangelists, and through them, especially through S. Luke, they are revealed to us. But how many still remain concealed in the consciousness of Mary's soul.

CHAPTER III.

15 And account the long-suffering of our Lord, salvation; as also our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, hath written to you:

16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.

17 You therefore, brethren, knowing these things before: take heed, lest being led aside by the error of the unwise, you fall from your own steadfastness.

18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and unto the day of eternity. Amen.

S. Peter says that in all the Epistles of S. Paul, as well as in the rest of Holy Scripture, there are certain things hard to be understood, which, without sure guidance and explanation, may be easily taken in a perverse sense. He does not tell us what these hard things are, much less does he give the true sense of them, or explain them in this or in his former Epistle. Nor do any of the other sacred writers of the New Testament do this in their Gospels or Epistles. Hence, clearly, the right rule for interpreting Scripture is not contained in the written word. And yet the Apostle bids Christians take heed, remain steadfast, and grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of what, then, must they take heed ? The Apostle had before laid down as a first principle, which the faithful should well understand, that all that the sacred penmen wrote was under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; and that consequently Holy Scripture is of no mere private interpretation ; but, to be known in its true sense, it must have a like infallible authority to explain it. [12 Pet. i. 20,21] Hence S. Peter here bids those whom he ad dresses beware of their own private judgment of Holy Scripture, as well as the mere private judgment of others on its sense, lest they should be led aside into error and folly. To what, then, does he bid them remain steadfast ? To the teaching that had been orally preached to them by the Church. And how must they grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ ? Especially by continuing to listen with docile faith and attention to the instructions thus orally delivered to them, and to the explanations of those hard passages in the written word, that should be thus given to them by the teaching Church, which has the promise of the ever-abiding assistance of the Holy Ghost. All that the Church teaches with regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary is here included. The silence about Mary in the written word is to some one of those hard things, which by many is perverted to wrong conclusions, and to their own spiritual loss.

Mary in the Epistles by Thomas Stiverd Livius. Comments on the Epistles part 47

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF S. PETER THE APOSTLE. CHAPTER III.

1 In like manner also let wives be subject to their husbands : that if any believe not the word, they may be won without the word, by the conversation of the wives.

2 Considering your chaste conversation with fear.

3 Whose adorning let it not be the outward plaiting of the hair, or the wearing of gold, or the putting on of apparel:

4 But the hidden man of the heart in the incorruptibility of a quiet and a meek spirit, which is rich in the sight of God.

5 For after this manner heretofore the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands.

If we think of Mary, as sketched forth in the Gospel, as handed down by tradition, and as her character is impressed in the minds of the faithful—we shall find that all that the Apostle here recommends meets in her, as the great ideal model of all holy women, the bright mirror to which all should look, and wherein they may find all virtues and perfections.

22 Who is on the right hand of God, swallowing down death, that we might be made heirs of life everlasting: being gone into heaven, the angels and powers and virtues being made subject to him.

The Apostle speaks thus of Jesus Christ as Man. Where, then, is the place of her in heaven from whom He received this His triumphant Manhood ? In making the angelic choirs subject to His glorified Humanity, where does He set His own Mother Mary, to whom He Himself was on earth subject 1 ? Will He not in the glory of heaven make the angels and powers and virtues subject to her ? [See supra, Heb. i. 5.]

CHAPTER IV.

10 As every man hath received grace, ministering the same one to another: as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Mary having found grace with God, and being full of grace, ministered it to others, as the Gospel tells us, at the Visitation. She had power with her Divine Son, and she used her influence for others, as at the Marriage-feast at Cana. We may trust her for ourselves also, if only we ask her; and she will not be wanting to us: for that Faithful Virgin is a good steward of the manifold grace of God.

13 But if you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding Joy.

See what is said above, James i. 12; 1 Pet. i. 6, 9.

CHAPTER V.

1 The ancients therefore that are among you, I beseech, who am myself also an ancient, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ: as also a partaker of that glory which is to be revealed in time to come.

S. Peter rests his claim to exhort and persuade on his being an ancient, and a witness of the Passion and death of Jesus Christ. This was a ground for his authority, and for respect and attention being shown to him. And yet we know that during the Passion he followed afar off, denied his Lord, and fled to a distance through fear. How much greater consideration and honour, then, should be shown to Mary, simply on the ground of her being a witness of the same Passion and death of Jesus Christ—to her, who, not an ancient as S. Peter, but Christ's own Mother, stood the three hours long watching her Son's agony with intrepid faith and love at the foot of the Cross, deterred neither by fear, nor human respect, nor her own bitter anguish. Again, S. Peter claims to be heard and to persuade on the ground of his being a partaker of the future glory. But how much greater is Mary's claim on us here also, inasmuch as her share in glory, on account of her exceeding merits and dignity, must far surpass that of all the other Saints.

7 Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you.

8 Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.

On the grief that Mary felt at the doubt of her holy spouse Joseph, Fr. Barradas says: " The Virgin was silent, but had the greatest confidence in God, casting the care of her honour on Him, according to the words of S. Peter: Casting all your care upon Him, for He hath care of you; and of the Psalmist: ' Cast thy care upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee; He shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.' [Ps. liv. 23.] God lets not the just waver for ever: but the Virgin He did not allow to waver even for a moment. Her spouse wavered: the Virgin stood unmoved, stayed by the anchor of divine confidence : and, as Mount Sion, was settled on the foundation of firm hope; as is said in Psalm cxxiv. 1, 'They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion,' etc." [Tom. i. I. viii. c. 7 ; ap. Morales, I. iv. tr. 6.]

Innocent III., after quoting this verse (8) of S. Peter, says: u Whoever, then, feels any assault from his enemies, whether from the world, the flesh, or the devil, let him look to her who is 'terrible as an army set in array,' [Cant vi. 9.] let him supplicate Mary, that she will, by means of her Son, 'send him help from the sanctuary, and defend him out of Sion.' " [Ps. xix. 3. Serm. de Assump.]

Mary in the Epistles by Thomas Stiverd Livius. Comments on the Epistles part 46

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF S. PETER THE APOSTLE. CHAPTER I.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4 Unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that can not fade, reserved in heaven for you.

5 Who, by the power of God, are kept by faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 Wherein you shall greatly rejoice, if now you must be for a little time made sorrowful in divers temptations:

7 That the trial of your faith (much more precious than gold which is tried by the fire) may be found unto praise and glory and honour at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

The liveliness of Mary's hope, as also the surpassing glory of the heavenly inheritance reserved for her, was proportioned to the greatness of her sanctity, and dignity as Mother of God.

So, too, was her rejoicing, when she beheld again her divine Son risen from the tomb on Easter morning, in proportion to her sorrowing at the foot of the Cross : whilst her joy now in Paradise is according to the intensity of her dolours on earth. What, then, will be her praise and glory and honour at the appearing of Jesus Christ, since the trial of her faith was so great and precious ?

8 Whom having not seen, you love: in whom also now, though you see him not, you believe: and believing shall rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorified.

How much more ardently, then (S. Peter would seem to say), would you love Him had you seen Him. Indirectly, the having seen Jesus Christ is here set forth as a means and source of divine charity. Who saw Jesus as did His Mother Mary ? Who, seeing Him, loved Him as she ?

10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and diligently searched, who prophesied of the grace to come in you.

11 Searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ in them did signify: when it foretold those sufferings that are in Christ, and the glories that should follow.

Many of those things concerning the salvation to be wrought by Jesus Christ, which the prophets inquired and searched into, and foretold, they did not themselves adequately under stand— v.g., the fulness of the grace to come, the precise time, the signification of the Spirit of Christ, all His sufferings and glories. These were all perfectly revealed to Mary, on whom the Spirit of God was poured without measure ; who lived and conversed so many years with Him alone, who herself shared so intimately both in His sufferings, and in His glories.

12 To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you they ministered those things which are now declared to you by them that have preached the gospel to you, the Holy Ghost being sent down from heaven, on whom the angels desire to look.

13 Wherefore having the loins of your mind girt up, being sober, trust perfectly in the grace which is offered you in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel. What Gospel ? How many things must have been contained in the Gospel here referred to, wherewith those to whom the Apostle writes are supposed to be well acquainted, which he takes for granted as well known, and yet are not even alluded to in this Epistle. And if not in this, why should they be mentioned in any other, or, indeed, in all the Epistles put together? The Gospel, the revelation, or preaching forth of Jesus Christ, here spoken of by S. Peter, was not in writing at all, but was oral. It was impossible to set forth the Person and Nature of Our Lord Jesus Christ, without at the same time speaking of and setting forth Mary, His blessed Virgin Mother. The Apostles must surely have spoken much of her, from whom they themselves had learned so much of Him.

23 Being born again not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by he word of God who liveth and remaineth for ever.

25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel hath been preached unto you.

That word of God by which they were born again, is not contained in this Epistle, nor adequately and fully in any one, nor in all of the Epistles taken together, nor is it so contained in any of the Four Gospels, nor in all of them: nor, indeed, in the entire New Testament. But even though it were thus contained, still that word whereby they were actually born again must have been independent of the written Books of the New Testament, since these had not for the most part reached those converts to whom S. Peter writes. That word was oral; yet it endureth for ever, the word of God incorruptible in the mind of the Church. That same word was full and entire, the whole Gospel. And as it contained the doctrines of the Blessed Trinity, and of the Incarnation, which are not to be found explicitly set forth with all their bearings and developments in the written Word: so too that same Word contained the full explicit teaching of truth about Mary in all its bearings and consequences, though these may not be found in the written Word.

CHAPTER II.

12 Having your conversation good among the Gentiles : that whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may, by the works, which they shall behold in you, glorify God in the day of visitation.

13 Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God's sake: whether it be to the king as excelling.

" In the midst of an evil and perverse people," writes S. Antoninus, " the Blessed Virgin Mary above all others had her conversation so innocent and edifying, that her glorious life illumines all the Churches; for she omitted nothing that ought to be done, did nothing that ought not to be done, took part with no one in his wrong-doing, communicated not to anyone what good of hers might not be shared in, gave to no one bad example in anything, was scandalised by no one's evil act. Hence, says S. Ambrose, ' In Mary you have clear examples of probity, to know what you should avoid, and what you should choose.'" [i P. iv. tit. 15, cap. 18, § 5.]

Mary gave the most perfect example of such subjection, after that of Jesus Christ Himself, in her submission to her holy Spouse Joseph, to the Roman Emperor Augustus, and to the tyrant Herod.

20 For what glory is it, if committing sin, and being buffeted for it, you endure? But if doing well you suffer patiently; this is thanksworthy before God.

21 For unto this are you called: because Christ also suffered for us. leaving you an example that you should follow his steps.

How glorious for herself, and thanksworthy before God was Mary's enduring patience. She suffered patiently with her Jesus, and after Him the most of all others: not for any sin of her own—for she had none—but for us. Thus did Marv leave us a perfect example of suffering patiently in well-doing. Moreover, literally, she followed in Christ's steps on His way to Calvary.