The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-03-31
What house is not embellished with an
image of Mary? What Catholic child
is a stranger to her familiar face?

The priest and the layman, the schol-
ar and the illiterate, the prince and the
peasant, the mother and the maid, ac-
knowledge her benign sway.
And if Christianity is so fruitful in
comparison with paganism in conjugal
fidelity, in female purity and in the
respect paid to womanhood, these
blessings are in no small measure due
to the force of Mary's all-pervading in
fuence. Ever since the Son of God
chose woman to be His Mother, man
looks up to woman with homage akin
to veneration.
The poet Longfellow pays the follow
ing tribute to Mary's sanctifying infu-
ence:
This is indeed the blessed Mary's land,
Virgin and Mother OF our dear Re-
deelner!
All hearts are touched and softened at
her name;
Alike the bandit with the bloody hand,
The priest, the prince, the scholar and
the peasant,
The man OF deeds, the visionary
dreamer,
Pay homage to her as one ever present!
And if our faith had given us nothing
more
Than this example of all womanhood,
So mild, so merciful, so strong, so
good,
So patient, peaceful, loyal, loving,
pure,
This were enough to prove it higher
and truer
Than all the creeds the world had
known before.
! ST. Ambrose gives the following beau
tiful picture of Marys life before her
espousals: Let the life," he says, "of
the Blessed Virgin be ever present to
you, in which, as in mirror, the beauty
Of chastity and the form Of virtue shine
forth. She was virgin not only in
body, but in mind, who never sullied
the pure affection of her heart by un-
worthy feelings.
"She was humble of heart, serious in
her conversation, fonder OF reading than
of speaking. She placed her confidence
rather in the prayer of the poor than
in the riches of this world. She was
ever intent on her occupations, and ac-
customed TO make God, rather than
man, the witness of her thoughts She
injured no one, wished we'll to all, rev.
erenced age, yielded not to envy, avoid
ed all boasting, followed the dictates ol
reason, and loved virtue. When did she
sadden her parents even by look?
There was nothing forward in hel
| looks, bold in her words, or unbecom-
ing in her actions. Her carriage was
not abrupt, her gait not indolent, he1
voice not petulant, so that her very ap-
pearance was the picture of her mind
and the figure of piety.'
| Her life as spouse and as mother
was counterpart Of her earlier years
The gospel relates one little circum-
stance which amply sufices to demon
strate Mary's supereminent holiness ot
life, and to exhibit her as beautiful
pattern to those. who are called in to
rule rule a household The evangelist tells tell
us that Jesus "was. subject to them,
that,is, to Mary and Joseph, He obeyed
all her commands, fulfilled her behests
complied with her smallest injunctions
lin a word, He discharged toward hel
all the filial observances which dutifu
son exercises toward prudent mother
! These relations continued from His
childhood to His public life, nor die
they cease even then.
Now Jesus being the Son of God, tthe
brightness of His glory and the figure
of His substance" could not sin. He
was incapable of fulfilling an unright.
eous precept. The obvious conclusion
to be drawn from these facts is tina,
Mary never sinned by commanding, as
Jesus could not sin by obeying; that ali
her precepts and counsels were stamped
with the seal of divine appreciation, and
that the Son never fulfilled any injunc
ton of His earthly mother which wa:
not ratified by His Eternal Father in
1 heaven. AZ s
| Such is the beautiful portrait whicl,
the church holds up to the contempla,
ton of her children, that, studying it,
they may admire the original, admirine
they may love, loving they may imi-
tate and thus, by the constant daily
contemplation OF the highest, most per
feet ideal Of wonanhood, become moro
near to God by being made conform
able to the image OF His Son." of whom
Mary is the most perfect mirror.
Major-Gen. Wesley Merritt. who said
| "wc have ot1tproWn the constit,,