The first fruits of redemption passed through Mary, Mary: Day 209

Last updated on: February 15, 2016 at 3:30 am by Pete Socks

The first fruits of redemption passed through Mary, Mary: Day 209 2016-01-02T10:57:34-05:00 Pete Socks

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The first fruits of redemption passed through Mary

St. Alphonsus explains how Mary’s visit to St. Elizabeth reveals that the very first fruits of her Son’s redemption came through her as a channel, and all the other fruits have come to us in the same way.

When Mary reached the house of her kinswoman, she greeted her
cousin Elizabeth (see Lk 1:40). St. Ambrose here remarks that Mary was the first to greet her. But Mary’s visit was not at all like the visits of worldly people, which for the most part consist in ceremony and outward show, devoid of all sincerity. Instead, Mary’s visit brought with it a heap of graces. The moment she entered that dwelling, at her first greeting, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit; and St. John the Baptist, the son in her womb, was cleansed from original sin and sanctified. For this reason, the unborn child gave a sign of joy by leaping in his mother’s womb. He wished in this way to manifest the grace he had received by means of the Blessed Virgin.

St. Elizabeth declared this was true: “When the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy” (Lk 1:44). In this way, as Bernar- dine de Bustis remarks, in virtue of Mary’s greeting St. John received the grace of the Spirit of God that sanctified him: “The voice of the greeting, entering her ears, descended to the child, and by its power he received the Holy Spirit.”

All these first fruits of Christ’s redemption passed through Mary as the channel through which grace was communicated to John the Baptist; the Holy Spirit to his mother, Elizabeth; the gift of prophecy to his father, Zechariah; and so many other blessings to the whole house. If these were the first graces we know about that the Eternal Word granted on earth after his incarnation, it’s quite correct to believe that from then on, God made Mary the universal channel, as she is called by St. Bernard, through which all the other graces would pass that our Lord is pleased to dispense to us. —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
What does it mean to say that “God made Mary the universal channel . . . through which all the other graces would pass that our Lord is pleased to dispense to us”? Why is it fitting for her to be this channel?

CLOSING PRAYER
From the “Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace”:
O Lord Jesus Christ, our Mediator with the Father, graciously grant that whoever goes to you in search of blessings may be gladdened by obtaining them all through her.

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