September 8: The Birth of Humanity’s Sole Boast

The Virgin

  Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost

With the least shade of thought to sin allied;  

Woman! above all women glorified,  

Our tainted nature’s solitary boast;  

Purer than foam on central ocean tost;  

Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn  

With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon

 Before her wane begins on heaven’s blue coast;  

Thy Image falls to earth.

Yet some, I ween,

 Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend,  

As to a visible Power, in which did blend  

All that was mixed and reconciled in Thee

 Of mother’s love with maiden purity,  

Of high with low, celestial with terrene!

William Wordsworth

“And the virgin’s name was Mary” (Lk 1:27). Let us also say a few words about  this name, which means “star of the sea” and is most suitably fitting for a  virgin mother. For she is most appropriately compared to a star, because, just  as a star emits its rays without being corrupted, so the Virgin gave birth to  her Son without any injury to her virginity. When the star emits its rays, this  does not make it less bright, and neither does the Son diminish his Mother’s  virginal integrity. She, therefore, is that noble star risen from Jacob, whose  ray gives light to the whole world, whose brightness both shines forth in the  heavens and penetrates the depths. It lights up the earth and warms the spirit  more than the body; it fosters virtues and dries up vices. Mary, I say, is the  distinguished and bright shining star, necessarily lifted up above this great  broad sea, gleaming with merits, giving light by her example.

Oh, if any of you recognizes that he is caught between storms and tempests,  tossed about in the flood of this world, instead of walking on dry land, keep  your eyes fixed on the glow of this star, unless you want to perish, overwhelmed  by the tempest!

If the winds of temptations surge, if you run aground on the shoals of troubles,  look to this star, call upon Mary!

If you are tossed by the winds of pride or ambition or detraction or jealousy,  look to this star, call upon Mary!

If anger or greed or the allurements of the flesh dash against the boat of your  mind, look to Mary!

And if you are troubled by the enormity of your sins, confused by the foulness  of your conscience, terrified by the horror of the Judgment, so that you begin  to be swallowed up by the pit of sadness, the abyss of despair, think of Mary!

In dangers, in straits, in perplexity, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let her  name be always in your mouth and in your heart, and, if you would ask for and  obtain the help of her prayers, do not forget the example of how she lived.

If you follow her, you will not go astray. If you pray to her, you will not  despair. If you think of her, you will not be lost. If you cling to her, you  will not fall. If she protects you, you will not fear; if she is your guide, you  will not tire; if she is favorable to you, you will reach your goal. Thus you  will experience personally how rightly it was spoken: “And the Virgin’s name was  Mary.”

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux