Consideration for the 5th Day
We have already considered the life that the Infant Jesus lived in the womb of his most pure Mother. Let us also consider today the life that Mary lived at the very same time. It is necessary for us to dwell a little on this if we want to understand, within what is possible for our limited capacity, the sublime mysteries of the Incarnation and the way we need to correspond to them.
Mary did not stop anticipating the moment when she would enjoy the beatific vision on earth: the face of God incarnate. She was on the verge of seeing that human face that would light up the heavens for all eternity. She was going to read filial love in the very same eyes whose rays would forever spread joy to millions of chosen ones. She was going to see that countenance every day, at all hours, at every instant for many years. She was going to see him in the apparent ignorance of infancy, in the particular enchantments of youth, and in the reflective serenity of a more mature age.
She would do anything she wanted with that divine face; she could squeeze it against hers. With all the freedom of a mother’s love, she would cover with kisses the lips that would pronounce the sentence for all mankind. She would contemplate him at her pleasure while he was asleep or awake, until she had memorized everything about him. How ardently she desired the coming of that day.
Such was the life of expectancy of Mary; it was inaudible in and of itself, but it was nonetheless the magnificent prototype of every Christian life.
Let us not be content with contemplating Jesus abiding in Mary. Let us think that he also abides in us in essence, potential, and presence. Yes, Jesus is born continually in each of us through the acts that he makes us capable of doing and through our cooperation with grace. In that manner, any soul that is in the state of grace is the perpetuation of the womb of Mary, an interior Bethlehem without end. After each communion Jesus abides in us during some moments really and substantially, as God and as man, because the same infant that abided in Mary is also the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.
What is all this, if not a participation in the life of Mary during those marvelous months, and an expectation so full of delights like hers?