Our Lady of the Atonement (Bede)

Homily - Our Lady of the Atonement (Bede)

This homily is excerpted from: MARIOLOGY: A DOGMATIC TREATISE ON THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF GOD 

Written by the REV. JOSEPH POHLE D.D

...Mary made possible the Incarnation and consequently our Redemption. The importance of this fact is pointed out by St. Jerome: “After the Virgin conceived in her womb and gave birth to her Son, the curse was wiped out; death [came upon the human race] through Eve, life through Mary.” 

St. Ambrose teaches that the sanctification of John the Baptist in his mother’s womb was due to the mediatorship of Mary. 

The Blessed Virgin... incalculably advanced the salvation of mankind by her virtuous life. As virgin, mother, and wife she furnishes a brilliant example of all virtues. 

The female sex in particular is indebted to her for its liberation from the contemptible state into which it had fallen. 

We can form an idea of the moral value of her life if we consider what would probably be the condition of the human family and civil society in general without her. The welfare of both family and State depends on the purity of woman. 

Millions of men as well as women owe the victory they have gained over the demon of impurity to the example of her who is the ideal virgin and mother. 

THE Blessed Virgin may be said after a fashion to have co-operated in the atonement, because she formed the Divine Victim in her chaste womb, prepared Him for the slaughter, and, standing beneath the Cross, offered Him up for the salvation of mankind. 

...The spiritual martyrdom which she suffered at the foot of the Cross earned for her the twofold title of “Queen of Martyrs” and “Help of Christians.” ... 

[IF WE] considered Mary’s ardent love for her Divine Son, the excruciating tortures He suffered, and the terrible blasphemies to which she was compelled to listen, 

[WE WOULD COME TO] appreciate the agony that pierced her soul during our Lord’s dolorous passion and death. 

Simeon’s prophecy: “A sword shall pierce thy soul” was so literally fulfilled under the Cross that St. Bernardine of Siena was able to say without exaggeration: “The pain suffered by the Blessed Virgin was so intense that if it were divided among her fellow-creatures, they would all die on the spot. 

The Blessed Virgin Mary, standing beneath the Cross, suffered all this for us, and thus became our mother and was declared to be such by her crucified Son Himself.”

Our Lady of the Atonement, Pray for us!

Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of the World, Have mercy upon us!

Have mercy upon us!