The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-10-15
HONOR THE
VIRGIN MARY
Mission Of Love Of
Mother of
Christ.
FATHER MEGEVNEY
LAUDS HER LIFE
He Defends Custom of Devotion
TO Mary as Understood in
Catholic Church.
y HAT interest has not abated in
the lectures of Fathers Boarman

the lectures or Fathers Boarman
and Megevney at the Catholic
Cathedral was evidenced by the large
audience which gathered last evening
to hear Father Megevney who spoke on
the Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
Mary. AS the subject matter of the ad-
dress is one of the chief doctrines OF
the Catholic church, the audience was
somewhat larger than usual and sprin-
kled with many Protestants. The
Jesuit priest spoke, In part, as follows:
MANY people may have gathered treas
ures together, but thou hast surpassed
them ALL, words spoken from the Book
of Matthew.
There Is no greater doctrine than that
of the devotion TO the blessed Virgin
Mary. This is less acceptable and seem
ingly less ineligible to the non-Cath-
olic than any other and the opposition to
it is sometimes pronounced, open, but
still more frequently silent and suppress
| ed. We win find that the reasons for it
are one of two. and perhaps both. It ig
either because those who have misiudged
| the devotion do not, and have never
rightly appreciated the character and the
dignity of the mother of God. or if one
of these has appreciated the dignity he
has failed to understand the Catholics
actual position with reference to the sub
ject. Let US, then, reflect and set forth
some of the reasons why Catholics honor
her so highly.
These reasons which I ad6uce are only
a few out OF many. an innumerable host
of arguments that might be set forth.
They VIII suffice for all present pur-
poses. as they viii appeal to every faith
full, sincere and intelligent mind. Cath
olics honor the blessed Virgin Mary, in
the first place, because of her supreme
dignity. Dignity and position, as you
know, are vital to honor. The higher the
dignity of the man amongst his fellows,
dignity of the man amongst his fellow
men. the loftier his position. the more is
he entitled to honor, and, as a matter
of fact, the more honor we should show
him. Now when we e5pass over mere hui
man dignity to the dignity which was en-
joyed and is still enjoyed by the Mother
of Cod as the mother of the Man-God.
how significant all the dignity of
men must appear.
To appreciate the loftiness of her char
acter, we have only to consider how
Almighty God most honored her, because
she was to be in the course of time the
mother of His incarnated Son II reserv-
Su tleT " Db ltldI lS 10 say
by special DEGREES. AS Gods decrses are
all from eternity, he determined from
eternity that she should be conceived and
born into the world perfectly stainless.
uncontaminated by the sin OF our first
parents, free from the curse which the
sin of our first parents brought upon the
| human race, outside and except hers.
You and ] and all men were born in
sin, misconceved. We came into the
4
the world under the curse of that same
God, and il was through the instrumcu-
tality of the sacrament of baptism insti-
tuted by the Saviour OF the world, that
our sins were cancelled and the curse
removed. We cannot reasonably suppose
even for a moment that our holy God,
would ever have come down into this
world and taken human body and been
born of a woman who had never been,
even for an instant. under the dominion
of His arch enemy, Satan himself. The
very thought shames all religious sensi-
bility.
Not only was the Virgin Mary conceiv-
ed and born immaculate, and this by rea-
son of her exalted mission sn life. for it
would ill-become God for her tc have
been conceived or born IN sin and IT
would have been equally as bad for her
ever to meet with sin. Therefore by spe-
by his divine watchfulness that she not
only did not sin, but that all the graces
were showered upon her. She went on
perfecting herself from day TO day, TAX
ing on more measures of grace as each
moment fitted by. Not only that. out
she likewise conformed to the designs OF
Almighty God. In order that she might
conform perfectly and unswervingly to
these designs, Almighty God showered up
On her grace upon grace Far from
spurnIng these graces. she utilized every
single one of them, so that to the end Of
her long life she had complied perfectly
In all the farreaching and mysterious de
signs OF the Most High of her required
Consider again that when we accept
Of the blessed Virgin Mary as the Moth
er of Christ, we materially call upon the
field of our speculations, the great ms
terry OF the incarnation and the assdinp-
ton by the second person in the Trinity
in the womb OF the blessed Virgin Thi%
was a mystery which had been ordained
from all eternity. So the Father had
chosen her 70 be His most perfect me
Son had chosen her to become MS I'M
rnaculate mother. and the Holy Hhos'