The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1876-05-28
The CosoastiOn Of the blessed virgin.

inspirations of the Catholic Church, "a replete
| with the beauty of holiness % with the wisdom
of divine truth.
This touching manifestation of q peoples
veneration for the mother of their Lord,-as
displayed by the browning of her statues with
garlands of flowers, or with circlets Of gold,
and made typical of that coronation with o
diadem of glory which She has received from
the hands of her Divine Son,-is more than o
mere ceremony. 1t is q lesson for all Christ
ians, full of encouragement and love it is q
symbol of the victory and joy reserved for
| those who battle to the close it is vision of
the rest and glory which await the heroic
soldiers of the Cross; 1t is q revelation Of that
"exceeding great reward" which God has pre-
| pared for those who love Him I
The Month of May-the fairest Of the year
is well calculated to awaken in the hearts of
Christians, fervent devotion towards our
Blessed Lady; and to remind them, by the
| very perfume of the flowers laid upon her
shrine, Of the honor and respect paid to her in
all the ages of the past.
The flowers of our gardeps, which the hand
| of affection lays upon her affairs, should re-
mind us of that exquisite Rose of filial love
which the glorious Council of Ephesus laid at
her feet when, in refutation of the HISTORIAN
And as we link the fifth century with the
! nineteenth, we find that the whitest and
| loveliest blossom ever fashioned by nature or
by art, is but feeble type of that resplendent
Lily which the hand of our Sovereign Pontif
offered to her honor, in the dogma of the I'm
maeulate Conception.
The golden-eyed forget-me-nots, or the royal
purple panses which we scatter at her feet,
ind Of IF
which too easily forgotten by the busy
minds of men. One of these souvenirs of
thought should be the fact that Columbus
named the good ship which bore him to the
New World-Santa Msria-ftting tribute to
her whose intercession lovingly and confidently
invoked, will, one day, bear us all to new and
better world.
Again it is well to remember that the mighty
river which sweeps across our continent, bear.
ing upon it's waters SO much of the riches of
earth, was called by its earliest discoYerer.
River of the Immaculate Conception, in honor
of Her who bore upon her bosom the Oliver of
all good gifts, and who still conveys to Us so
much of heavenly grace and blessings.
Bat whatever reflections arise to mind from
out our May meditations, there are few more
beautiful or consoling than those evoked by
this ceremony of the Coronation.
The Church teaches us to see in Esther, "the
beautiful maiden" of low estate, who was ele-
waited to the dignity of Qneen of the Persian
Empire, figure of the Blessed Virgin, the
| peerless and stainless one,-who was raised
from her lowly footstool of Nazareth to be
mistress of all hearts, and Queen of Angels and
| of men.
Esther, by her interoession with Assuerus.
| obtained the deliverance of her people from
| the fearful doom pronounced against them !;
and Mary, the mother of the King, by her low
ing intercession, obtains for the children of her
race exemption from eternal death, and q life
everlasting and all-blessed.
! Growing q person has always been, in
ancient times, invested with one of two signif-
cations-either as q sacrifcial offering, as q
| royal ceremony victim or q sovereign re-
ceives this symbolical conservation, and the
| fate reserved is either death or glory. Does
not this fact bring to mind the bitter browning
of Him who was offered a victim for the sins of
men, and do not His lowly humiliations and
His crown of cruel thorns contrast most low
ingly with tie glory He bestows upon His
blessed mother, and with the diadem OF shining
stars with which he crowns her foreheadi
He was our victim, Drowned for the sacrifice
and He gives Mary as our Sovereign Lady,
crowned for the salvation of her people.
Crown of thorns and GROWN of glory! Let
us ever bear in grateful remembrance the
SORROWS of the one, and the grsoes of the
other; and while, with contrite hearts, we
compassionate the sufferings of our Lord, let
US pour out thanks for the glory of our Lady.
! But it is upon its lesson of encouragement
that we should chiefly rest our thoughts while
meditating upon the mystery of the coronation
as explained in the holy rosary, or as develop
ed in the closing exercises of the Month of May
Mordecai said to Esther "Who knows whether
thou art not therefore come to the Kingdom
that thou highest be ready for such time as
thisF" and we, poor suppliants, appeal to our
dear Lady with the same earnest cry: "Thou
art come to the Kingdom that thou highest
be ready for such time as this"
!. Tho world to-day is full of Hamans plotting