Birth of the Virgin, Orsola Maddalena Caccia, c.1635
Pinacoteca Malaspina, Pavia
The glory of the Virgin was all within
For a long time I have wondered and been at a loss to understand why the evangelists should have spoken at such length about John the Baptist and the apostles, and yet told us so little about the Virgin Mary, who in life and distinction excels them all.
Being at a loss, as I say, to understand this, all I can think is that it pleased the Holy Spirit that it should be so. It was by the providence of the Holy Spisit that the evangelists kept silent, because the glory of the Virgin, as we read in the psalms, was all within, and could more truly be thought of than described.
The most important fact of her life, that Jesus was born of her, is enough to tell her whole story. What more do you want to know? What further inquire would you make concerning the Virgin? It is enough for you that she is the Mother of God. What beauty, I as you, what virtue, what perfection, what grace, what glory does not befit the Mother of God? (St Thomas of Villanova OSA)
From Tradition Day By Day, compiled and edited by John E. Rotelle OSA, Augustinian Press 1994
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